Please note the date change for this meeting. The Copeland Center is not available on our usual meeting date.
Kathy C, Sherry H, Carol D, Mary P, Rana W, Chris H – Family History – Sharing More Than Just Dates. Kathy & Jeff Clark are working on putting a PowerPoint together for this. 10-15-minute talks. Items will be on display.
Dr. Gregory Sumner is Chair of the History Department at the University of Detroit Mercy. He will speak on the little-remembered subject of the 6,000 German and Italian POWs housed in camps across Michigan during WWII. They mostly behaved well, supplied help during the labor shortage, and many later became U.S. Citizens.
By the war’s end in 1865, nearly 3 million young men and a few hundred women served in the civil war. They left their homes in large cities, towns, and small villages for an adventure of a lifetime; our presenters will look at one of these communities, Wyandotte, Michigan. The soldiers would serve their country in many far-flung locations throughout the United States. Ultimately, some would die, but most returned to civilian life, and a few suffered the traumas from personally experiencing war.
What started for them as a keep me busy project during covid, updating the correct number of soldiers in the city, ended up being over a 260-page book. By using as our foundation earlier books such as Proudly We Record and Historical Society notes that listed as few as 35 to a higher number of 112 soldiers from Wyandotte. The authors have been able to add and correct these numbers up to over 140. Along the way, they corrected the spelling of a few first and last names. They deleted a few names listed as Civil War but were Spanish American War soldiers.
You would be mistaken if you think this is just a civil war history; it’s more than a war story; for those that survived the war, it was a small-time frame of their existence but an important one. These veterans’ lives did not end when they were mustered out and discharged. Through many hours of research online, old newspapers, military books, and state archives, they have brought new information about the soldiers, such as the location of their birth, family members, occupation before and after the war, same with profession, location, and death date.
The authors:
Mary Johna Wein is the President of the Wyandotte Historical Society—director of the Friends of Wyandotte Cemetery and the Webpage of the same name.
Marty Bertera has published several civil war books and has worked in the film industry on historical films and documentaries. He also built the large diorama at Raisin River National Park in Monroe, Michigan, of Frenchtown in 1812, along with dioramas for other local museums
The Brownstown DDA and Brownstown Historical Society will present a vintage baseball match between the Brownstown Volunteers vx. the Detroit Franklins, on Saturday, June 17, 2023, at 1:00 pm. The match will take place at Thorn Park, 23555 King Rd, Brownstown Charter Twp, Michigan.
This presentation will identify the Polish communities in Michigan with emphasis on neighborhoods in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Wyandotte. In this talk, we will outline a plan to research our immigrant ancestors in Michigan.
Join us for a special program commemorating Women’s History in the Civil War. Joann Puffer Kotcher, Vietnam War Donut Dolly, one of the first women allowed in a combat zone, will discuss the riveting stories of women in the Civil War. The crash of cannons tore these brave young women out of their China-doll, domestic rolls. Hundreds served incognito as soldiers, and spies. Hundreds more managed businesses and plantations, nursed the wounded and dying, collected donations for soldier relief, and thousands fled the advancing armies. The Civil War brought destruction and upheaval to women’s lives, and, ironically, astounding progress. Come meet these women. From chaos came the seeds of today’s emancipation of women, from the right to vote, to ownership of property, to today’s battlefield and boardroom. Never say, “No good can come from war.” History gives us the power to see the future.
Tattletale Sounds is the latest book on the Great Lakes most famous shipwreck. Diver/historian Ric Mixter has interviewed dozens of men who built, sailed and explored the wrecksite, visiting the Fitzgerald himself in the Delta submersible in 1994. His book separates legend from fact with 300 pages of photos, diagrams and first person accounts of the largest ship ever lost on the inland seas.
Dinner will be at 6:00 pm, Program and meeting will follow at 7:00 pm.
Doors open at 5:30 pm.
Kathy’s Power Point Presentation featuring photographs by John Duguay and Sandy Blakeman, two Ecorse photographers who recorded Ecorse History and the history of Ecorse. Ecorse People Power. Photos of Ecorse people and their contributions to the city. Ecorse, Downriver and the World. How Ecorse fits into the cosmic scheme of things. Her books include – A Brief History of Ecorse, Ecorse Along the Detroit River, Downriver Prohibition, Downriver Back in the Days, and Granny Godfroy Grows Up. Her email address will be available if anyone wants to buy them she will either send them an email link or mail them a print copy.
