If you ask a group of genealogists what the U.S. National Archives (NARA) has for genealogical research, the most likely answers will be pension records and census. These are valuable resources in our family information quest, but a listing of other NARA holdings of value for our research would easily fill up many pages. Beyond NARA, other federal agencies contain helpful research information. This lecture is designed to acquaint you with other federal records that may hold some of those elusive family details. The examples will have you eagerly awaiting time at NARA.
11:30 AM (EDT)
World War I Era U.S. Alien Registrations
The U. S forced registrations of non-citizen Germanic people during WWI. Both males and females over the age of 14 had to register. Some registrations still exist, as do some abstracts, name lists, and court battles. An ancestor may have been interred in a prison camp or had personal property seized. Businesses and schools underwent significant changes for protections. Minnesota required registrations of all non-citizens from every country and those records are available today. All the forms asked for extensive family and background information, including place of birth, family members serving in the military against the U.S. and other helpful family history details.
12:30 AM (EDT) Lunch break
1:45 PM (EDT)
They Joined, They Associated:
Finding Records of Germanic Organizations and Other Collections
U. S. libraries, historical societies, archives, and university library special collections sections hold the records from many organizations that our Germanic ancestors joined. The organization may have been a German heritage, charitable, religious, resettlement, political, social, or insurance entity. As our parts of our families migrated, so did the records. There may be substantial information on places of origin, relatives, migration, and other details buried away in a manuscript collection. Finding these collections with records of membership, donations, necrologies, stories, activities, and more has become easier in recent years. Many free finding aids online and off lead you to these research nuggets that represent hundreds of years of material.
3:00 PM (EDT)
German Research Gems:
Back Issues of Genealogical and Historical periodicals
They sit on library shelves and a vast number are digitized and online today. Genealogical and historical societies and other organizations in the U.S. have been publishing periodicals for decades. Articles have covered culture, migration, ethnicity, military, churches, cemeteries, and other aspects of German ancestry. Specialized finding aids, print and online access, and indexes are covered as we delve into the gems these back issues hold.
Registration:
$35.00 for MAGS Members / $50.00 for Non-members
You can register online
here or you can mail payment (noting “2022 Spring Conference” on the check) to:
Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society
ATTN: Cheyenne Cashin
20650 Hope Spring Terrace, Unit 403
Ashburn, VA 20147-2950
email: registration@magsgen.com
You can visit Paula's website to learn more about her.
