The museum often receives requests to research historic Ferndale people or family names. Such research can be very time consuming for the museum's limited resources. So, we offer the resources & tips below to help you search!

 

AREA NEWSPAPERS: The museum has nearly all copies of the Ferndale Gazette (1927-1979) in our archives. Unfortunately they are not online yet due to the costs required to do so. However, the Royal Oak Tribune (which extensively covers Ferndale topics well before and after the Ferndale Gazette) is online for free! The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press are also online for free to Michigan residents through the Library of Michigan.

 

LIBRARY OF MICHIGAN: The Library of Michigan provides powerful resources to Michigan residents for free! This includes access to normally paid resources like Newspapers.Com and some elements of Ancestry.Com. It also includes Sanborn maps, local and international newspapers, military records, and a treasure trove of searchable history! Here is a GUIDE to get you started.

 

R.L. POLK BOOKS (1920s-1950s): These fragile books provide a glimpse of who lived at a street address in the past. They list addresses with names (reverse of phonebook listing we are familiar with) and often include family members at that address. They also list names with address and businesses (like a phonebook). Due to their fragility access is limited - but museum staff will be available to help. A few such books are also available on Ancestry.com, local museums, and libraries (a list is HERE).

 

U.S. CENSUS RECORDS: These offer an interesting history of who lived at an address. It can sometimes be tedious to find specific info and hard to read old hand-written records, but usually worth the search! Data are delayed 72 years to protect living individuals. These are available in the museum, and many places online (i.e. Ancestry.com and official Census site HERE).

 

Silman Home Built in 1879 at Woodward & Silman

 

GENEOLOGY SOURCE: Extensive family history, census records, and other valuable family data are available at FamilySearch.org for free. This is the Church of Latter-day Saints' recently improved website and well worth a visit HERE.

 

Ferndale Family 1910s

 

CITY COUNCIL MINUTES: The City of Ferndale maintains over 30 years worth of City Council Minutes online. If the person you are looking for owned property or a business in Ferndale, served as a city volunteer / employee, or otherwise made a large impact in Ferndale they may be shown in City Council Minutes. Visit the city website HERE to start your search. The museum has 100 years of City Council minutes on file.

 

OAKLAND COUNTY CLERK/REGISTRAR OF DEEDS: This is not part of our museum, but is a valuable source of family history based on a street address! We have found death certificates, wills, and other interesting family info at this site. Deeds and mortgage documents are online HERE since the late 1960s for a small fee.

 

GOOGLE: Google will often provide interesting clues and results when searching for historic and family names. Enter as much of the name as possible (first, middle, & last) or at least initials, usually in quotes. Include the city or some other identifying term to narrow the results. Then follow-up on all clues found....

 

 

 

 

 

VISIT THE MUSEUM

While visiting the Ferndale Historical Museum you can work with a volunteer to explore yearbooks, home records, R.L. Polk books, and other resources (some listed below). We suggest calling ahead of time to be sure the museum will be open. Our map is HERE.

 

BOOKS: The museum sells 3 books packed with detailed Ferndale history. While visiting the museum reader copies are available. Sales of the books help support the museum, and they are available online HERE. The museum also has countless books on a variety of subjects to help your research!

 

YEARBOOKS: Once you know if/when a person attended Ferndale schools it can be fun to see their faces in school yearbooks! The museum has a complete collections of yearbooks with more info HERE.

 

 

BINDER ARCHIVES: If you know an address of a person you can lookup the history of their home and possible learn more about them. The museum maintains a collection of binders documenting owners and history of Ferndale buildings by street address. This documentation effort was started in 1995 by Diane O’Neill and is updated often with sales history. There is a page for each Ferndale residence. Many have a photo with history attached. Some are blank waiting for the story to be written. Current homeowners are welcomed to add history, photos, wallpaper swatches, etc., to share with future homeowners!

Fulton Cabin 1850s East of Woodward, North of 8 Mile

 

 

If you have exhausted the above resources, and need further help, feel free to contact the museum as shown below. Please explain what you have found, where you have already looked, and what you are still looking for. A volunteer will try to help when time is available.

If you have a story to tell about a Ferndale resident, or how you documented family history, please consider sharing. We would welcome your story, add it to our files and possibly include it in a future newsletter!

 

info@ferndalehistoricalsociety.org

Thank You!