The Livonia Civic Center Library welcomes and encourages all genealogists and researchers to use the Library’s genealogical resources in the library or access these resources remotely.
The focus of the collection extends beyond Livonia and Michigan to encompass the United States and Europe. Genealogy books can be looked up on the library catalog, but the Collection also includes:
Check out our Genealogy at the Library series hosted by Carl Katafiasz and learn all about the resources available at the Livonia Public Library to help your research and discovery.
Obituary Information
Obituary Information
A researcher may make requests for obituary information by mail. We charge a research fee of $10 per name submitted with a date of death. This fee includes copying the obituary and is payable in advance. Payment is required even if no record is found. Please print out and fill in our Obituary Request Form. Send the form, along with a check or money order payable to Livonia Public Library to:
Obituary Requests
Livonia Public Library
32777 Five Mile Road
Livonia, MI 48154
As we do not give refunds when an obituary is not found, please check the following two obituary resources before submitting a request:
1. The Livonia Observer Obituary Index and The Detroit News Obituary Index featured below. If the person that you’re searching for is listed in either of the indexes, fill in the obituary request form and submit the $10 per name fee.
2. If the person is not in the Livonia Observer Index, try Legacy where you can find full text obituaries from 2001 to the present free of charge.
For requests regarding residents who died outside Livonia, we suggest using the Detroit Public Library or the State Library of Michigan.
Livonia Observer Obituary Index
Livonia Observer Obituary Index
These indexes cover obituaries from the Livonia Observer newspaper from June 1955 – December 31, 2014. Last name beginning with A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZAll names 2015 +
This index covers obituaries from the Livonia Observer newspaper from January 2015 to the present. This list will be updated quarterly.Detroit News Obituary Index
Detroit News Obituary Index
Currently, this index covers obituaries from the Detroit News newspaper from January 1, 1980 – December 31, 2001. Please Note: we are in the process of converting our index to pdf format in alphabetical order by last name. As new letters are completed, they will be added below. Last Name begins with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZNaturalization Record Index
Naturalization Record Index
This Naturalization Record index was compiled from the Detroit Society for Genealogical Research Magazine. From the spring of 1991 through the fall of 2008, the society published transcriptions of Naturalization Records of the Recorder’s Court, Detroit, Michigan in their quarterly magazine. In total over 5000 surnames were cited. These records contain a wealth of information for novice and advanced researchers alike. The index is alphabetized by surnames, while also providing volume, date, and page the information can be found upon in the magazine.
Last Name beginning A thru F
Last Name beginning G thru L
Last Name beginning M thru R
Last Name beginning S thru Z
Patron Directory of Wayne County 1876
Patron Directory of Wayne County 1876
Land owner directory from the Plat map book titled: “Illustrated Historical Atlas of Wayne County, MI 1876”.Livonia Ago
Livonia Ago
Take a step back in time.
Bentley and Franklin High School Yearbooks are available to view digitally at the Bennett Civic Center Library.
Bentley High School Yearbooks:
1953-1971
Franklin High School Yearbooks:
1963-1973
Bentley High Alumni Album (October 1961)
The Bentley Echo (March 1961)
Bentley High PTA Newsletter (1959)
Newspaper Research
Newspaper Research
Michigan Genealogical Resources Program Websites
Websites mentioned in the Michigan Genealogical Resources Program
Stemmons Publishing Collection
The Western Wayne County Genealogical Society has generously donated a phenomenal cd resource to the Civic Center Library’s genealogical collection. The Stemmons Publishing collection is a 10 cd set containing over 700 books in excess of over 230,000 pages of genealogical information. Click here to view a description of the titles available on the cds.
Western Wayne Genealogical Society Publications
Index of Western Wayne Genealogical Society publications housed at the Robert and Janet Bennett Civic Center Library. Click here to view a list.