One-hundred eighty-two years ago today – January 26, 1837 – Michigan became an official U.S. state. Damn, I totally forgot to buy a birthday card! What were you doing on that day besides maybe being a future gleam in some ancestor’s eye? I have a feeling I may have been a future gleam in the eye of my ancestor named Sylvester Black, whom lived in Michigan’s Tuscola County and died in 1884 while taking a walk in a snowstorm (he was in his 80s). He is buried in Vassar’s Riverside Cemetery. I like to speculate that he was out walking in a snowstorm because he was out visiting a mistress (LOL)! I’ve always felt a kinship with this gent, because we share the same birthday of February 11.

How much do YOU know about the state of Michigan? Take this quiz I wrote to find out!