Does your family have 19th century Michigan roots? If so, you may be able to join the Pioneer Certification Program offered by the Michigan Genealogical Council.
Families residing in the state before Jan. 26, 1837, when Michigan became a state, can be designated Pre-Statehood families. Those who settled in Michigan before Dec. 31, 1880, are considered Michigan’s First Families.
The Clarkston Genealogy Society is offering a workshop on Saturday, Jan. 25, from 10:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. at the Clarkston Independence District Library to help people understand and fill out the Michigan Genealogical Council’s new Pioneer and First Family certification forms.
“Some people may only have to go back three generations to their grandfather’s records,” said Clarkston Genealogy member Vesta DeRiso.
Others may have to go back six or seven generations. George White and Sharlene Miller, Independence and Springfield Township residents, can go back to 1835 when their family came to Michigan from New Jersey with other pioneer families, the Vliets, Gulicks, Pettys, Addises, and Van Sickles.
The workshop will help participants fill out the forms and add their family’s history to the Michigan Archives. Application for the program is $25 per family. Contributors will receive a certificate and a pin. The Michigan Genealogy Society is gathering the information to honor the pioneers.
The workshop is provided free by the Clarkston Genealogy Society. Registration is appreciated on the Clarkston Independence Library site, CIDLibrary.org. Participants are asked to bring a family tree if available, and any birth, marriage, and death certificates available.
Members of the society will be available to explain the program and to help using Ancestry.com.

– Joette Kunse