Coming up this Saturday will be a presentation at the Hartford Public Library on the history of the Pottawatomi People in Van Buren County.
Joyce Beedie is the President of the Van Buren Regional Genealogical Society and tells us they’ve been hoping to have an expert on Pokagon history come and speak for a while. Then they found Cecil Wilson Jr, a historical research specialist for the Pokagon Band. He’ll be giving a presentation starting at 11 a.m.
Beedie says the Pottawatomi People have been in the region longer than anyone and are an integral part of the Southwest Michigan community. She wanted to honor their heritage by having an expert come and speak.
“We are fortunate enough to have received at the library funds to have a Pokagon Children’s Room in the library when they built it back five years ago,” Beedie said. “So, they have been very kind to the library and we just want to make sure that they are recognized as part of our community.”
Beedie says Saturday’s presentation isn’t the only one being held at the Hartford Public Library by the Van Buren Regional Genealogical Society. In fact, they offer a presentation every third Saturday of the month, March through October.
“We have a presentation open to the public, free of charge, and it has to do with either genealogy or local history.”
Past subjects have included the Polar Bears of World War I. They were soldiers that served in the American North Russian Expeditionary Force. A future presentation will focus on artificial intelligence.
Everyone’s welcome to any one of the engagements.
