Welcome to the Kalamazoo Valley Genealogical Society!

We serve historians and genealogists who are interested in the Kalamazoo River Valley region.

Dear Members and Friends of KVGS,

It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to our exciting, new website.  It is a labor of love brought to you by a committee consisting of Mary Hodges, Janet Wright, Selma Comstock, Tom Wrench, Kristi Burns, Sue Pawlak, and Emily Dood.  After many years of discussion and planning, your Board of Directors, with the help of a professional developer, has put together a new format for a website. This website will carry our society into the future and we hope you will find it as exciting as we do. It offers so much opportunity for growth! 

 

Many thanks to Tom Wrench who created and has managed the KVGS website since its inception seventeen years ago.  At that time, websites were created and managed by webmasters who needed to know "code" to create websites.  Now, our society is moving to a company that specializes in websites for genealogical societies and which is based on templates using Word, Excel, .jpg, and other basic computer technologies.  It allows other KVGS members to assist Tom Wrench with creating and updating the KVGS website as well as allowing members to update their own information and renew their membership.

 

Kalamazoo Valley Genealogical Society was founded in 1958 by a group of folks who desired coming together for the sole purpose of promoting the collecting of and the study of their ancestors.  The mission statement says the purpose of the society “is to foster genealogical interest and activities in southwestern Michigan; provide education in genealogical research techniques; publish and make available genealogical materials and work to ensure access to and the preservation of public records”.

 

I would like to thank the members of this society for allowing me to serve as its President.  It is my goal to work with the Board in bringing programs from which we can be well informed and proud of their content, as well as helping all of us keep up with the ever-changing technology.  Fortunately, we have a membership with many talents who are willing to share what they know with those of us who are totally stumped by many of the developments.  Looking forward to working together in the future.

Most sincerely,
Emily Dood, President