BRIGHTON - Get ready to celebrate Family History Month with a visit to St. John’s Church Museum and Family Heritage Center in Brighton on Sunday, Sept. 27 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Family History Month is celebrated every October in the United States.
Visitors to the St. John’s Family Heritage Center will receive a free set of genealogy worksheets and a free on-site web search on the meaning of their surname.
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“In recognition of Family History Month, we’ll be providing visitors to St. John’s Family Heritage Center with a free set of four types of genealogy worksheets to help with their research, and we’ll do a free online search for the meaning of their surname and provide a printout,” said Jill Wagenblast, co-founder of St. John’s Church Museum and Family Heritage Center.
The family heritage center has church records for baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and deaths dating back to the church’s founding in 1870. Many obituaries are also available, including some from the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s. These and other resources are available to anyone doing genealogy research.
The museum includes a variety of artifacts and documents representing the 156-year history of St. John’s UCC. Currently, there’s also an exhibit of 50 wedding photos covering the decades from the 1880s to 2020s, and an eight-foot-wide wall display featuring a giant family tree including some of the founders and charter members of the church. Surnames appearing in the church founders’ tree include Bohn, Bott, Brummer, Geisler, Heidemann, Lauck, Oertel, Schafer and Schroeder.
St. John’s Church Museum and Family Heritage Center is part of St. John’s United Church of Christ, located at 216 North Street in Brighton. The museum and heritage center is on the second floor of the church’s education building, with access to a stairlift for anyone who may need assistance to the second floor.
