WHAT IS NEW??

June 2010- Have added a new section on the May Francis Heath Memorial Project, new audio files from the John Migas Garden Tour, and in the "Web Links and Documents" section Winifred Cummings Autograph book has been added with inscriptions from many local young people from the 1890s. A Section for miscellaneous newspaper clippings has also been added.

April 2010- Kit Lane's wonderful historical sections from the SDHS Newsletters (1996-2008) have been placed on-line (507 pages of local history).

March 2010- A section of "Clippings About Saugatuck-Douglas Buildings" has been added which provides collected clipping about Saugatuck and Douglas buildings being built, expanded, and torn or burned down. So far the clippings cover from 1868 to 1906.

Oct. 12, 2009- A link has been added to the Michigan Death Records 1897-1920; permission has been received to place 1928 and 1953 Sanborn maps on our map page; Saugatuck Business Section from the 1863 Gazateer has been added to "Web Links and Documents"; Saugatuck Riverside and Douglas Cemetery internments are being incrementally updated based on 1897-1920 death certificates.

August 12, 2009- Link has been added to the 1880 Michigan Pioneer Society article about Saugatuck. A link has been added to Michigan Naturalization Records.

July 24, 2009- Based on a reply from the Sanborn Company, the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Saugatuck and Douglas have been added for the years 1910 and 1916. Local search engine links have been placed on the online research center.

June 15, 2009- Interments at the All Saints Episcopal Chruch Memorial Garden, Saugatuck have been posted. Approximately 400 new obituaries have been harvested from The Holland Sentinal using the Newspaper Archives web site (See the Web Links and Documents section for link). 260 of these are for Riverside and Douglas cemeteries. Also a new section has been added of 'Newark in 1850' which gives the census data from that time with links to biographical info on the people who lived here then.

May 3, 2009- Gravestone photos have been harvested for Hutchins cemetery and obits and genealogical data posted. Plummerville Cemetery is about 90% complete. Interments at the Douglas Community Church "Henry Clay Alexander Memorial Garden" have been posted. Links have been added for the LDS "Family Search" and Surname Forum web sites. A new section has been added to solicite and share personal stories/memories of the Saugatuck/Douglas area.

Feb. 21, 2009- Herrick Obits have been harvested for all of Riverside and Douglas, and most of Taylor cemeteries. Social security death records have been reviewed for Riverside, Douglas, and Taylor internments and dates of birth/death updated. About 75% of the History of Western Allegan County has been cropped to individual article, posted on relevant interments and in the new section for that book. 1,400+ pages of Dutcher Lodge Masonic records, starting from 1866, have been copied and the Member Ledger posted to the web. A web section has been started of Saugatuck High School Yearbooks/graduating senior photos. 103 initial records have been added to begin coverage of Hutchins Cemetery.

Nov. 11, 2008- VETERAN'S DAY-Thank a vet for your freedom. Obits are being harvested from the Herrick Library collection. Hundreds have been captured and posted for Riverside Cemetery, more will be gathered incrementally for the other cemeteries. Family write-ups are being copied from Kit Lane's "The History of Western Allegan County, Michigan" (WACM for short) and posted with the relevant internment record at "Find-a-Grave". A new section has begun which will eventually include each article and photograph from this book in an online directory.

Nov. 1, 2008- Gibson cemetery has been surveyed and posted. The newer section of Plummerville has been photographed and posted, but work is still in process on the older section. We have completed posting the gravestone photos for Riverside (taken by Pam Aalderink) except for some which could not be deciphered. The Township office will try to identify these over time and we will post them as available. A link has been added to Allegan County Land Records, with dates ranging from 1833 through 1868.

Oct. 20, 2008- Dick Haight has turned on his "Historic Photo Blog" and moved some initial photo directories into it. The software he's written allows automatic generation of a compressed photo, and lets viewers post information which they may have about a particular photo. Search is possible by both the photo file name as well as any text entered into the "blog". Way to go Dick!

Oct. 7, 2008- The work on Loomis Cemetery has been completed-154 internment records, and a copy of the final data on disk has been given to the Ganges Twp Clerk. A beginning has been made with the Gibson Cemetery in Laketown Twp. The Saugatuck Criminal Docket beginning in 1885 has been copied and posted, and the Saugatuck Drain Commisioners Record beginning in 1886 has been copied and posted.

Sept. 24, 2008- We have finished posting all 1,348 gravestones on the 1,917 internments at the Douglas Cemetery. A start has been made in surveying and uploading the internments at the Loomis Cemetery (Ganges Twp). In the "Oral History" window, links have been inserted to summary write-ups by John Shack of selected tapings which include text and photos. The work on Douglas Cemetery has been completed and a copy of the final disk given to the Saugatuck Twp Office.

Aug. 18, 2008- A link has been added to the Social Security death index information, and the posting of gravestone photos for the graves at the Douglas Cemetery is partially complete. And 370 new death certificates have been posted, thanks to the archives of Saugatuck Township.

Aug. 1st, 2008- The survey and posting of Taylor Cemetery has been completed. Thanks to Charles Hancock for his help. The first batch of gravestone photos have been gathered and posted for a full survey of the Douglas Cemetery

July 7, 2008- A link has been added to the free ancestry search on Rootsweb.
Look for your ancestors among the millions of records added by others.

July 1, 2008- Have added a new link which presents on-line browsing and search for 5 of the books published by the SDHS. Also the gravestone photo count for Taylor Cemetery is now up to 986 records, and 963 for the Riverside photos.

June 14, 2008- 490 new gravestone photos have been added to the Riverside internments at FIND-A-GRAVE. Thanks to Pam Aalderink for copying these.

June 8, 2008- A new GRAVESTONES section has been added containing monument photographs which have been posted to Riverside (472) Douglas (9) and Taylor (591) Cemetery records.

May 28, 2008- The total of obituary clippings in the Virtual Research Center pass the 7,000 mark.

May 5, 2008- A new section has been added to display death records from the old Douglas Community Hospital. Thanks to Howard Vanderbeck for scanning these records.

Feb. 18, 2008- A section has been added with an initial assortment of Property Assessment Record. Thanks to Aaron Sheridan of the Saugatuck Township Office for scanning many years worth of these records. More will be added, incrementally.

Feb. 9, 2008- A section has been added of Obituary Records which have been captured from the COMMERCIAL RECORD.

Jan. 9, 2008- A BIOGRAPHY section has been added with over 150 initial entries.