Catalog of Lectures

The first Scandinavians arrived in North America nearly 1,000 years ago on Viking ships. Today, an estimated 11 million Americans have Scandinavian ancestry. This webinar will provide an introduction to essential records, repositories, and strategies for exploring your Scandinavian roots, focusing on Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. You’ll learn how to address challenges in Scandinavian research including language barriers, common names, patronymic surnames, name changes, and more. We will also discuss the historical context that transformed the region and influenced the lives of your ancestors.

Our colonial war ancestors may appear in a variety of sources: militia rolls, payment for services, town records, and manuscript materials such as account books and correspondence. Luckily, many of these materials have been transcribed and published or are available online. This lecture will point you to both original and published records and provide useful tips for evaluating other published materials you may encounter. 

There are hundreds of resources available physically and online through the New England Historic Genealogical Society and other New England repositories to assist you with researching African American ancestors. This online lecture will highlight useful collections including court and account records, local histories, original manuscripts, rare documents, and online databases, plus provide advice for searching for less obvious source material in archives and repositories in New England.

The American War of Independence was not only a fight for freedom from a tyrannical world superpower. For the thousands of Black soldiers who fought for the patriot cause, and even more—tens of thousands—for the Loyalists, emancipation was on the line. In this online lecture, we will provide a brief history of Black soldiers during the Revolutionary War and their motivations for joining either side; and discuss several resources, records, and strategies for piecing together the service and stories of individuals.

Learn about researching your Colonial era Ancestors. After a short introduction to European settlement along the eastern seaboard, we will discuss published and other resources for learning about your ancestor. The available resources will differ depending on region: New England, mid-Atlantic or Southern colonies.  

Breaking through the 1870 brick wall to discover more about ancestors prior to the end of slavery can prove challenging. Changing surnames, families ripped apart, and identifying the former enslaver are just a few roadblocks when researching enslaved families. This session will dive deep into creating a research strategy and organizing the records uncovered. We will also provide tips for making sense of all the information unearthed in the search and constructing a proof argument when records are limited. Best suited for those with intermediate-advanced genealogical skills.

As in much of genealogy, you must rely on multiple records and strategies to piece together your ancestor’s life. This is especially true for tracing ancestors on the move. This  class will provide some essential strategies and research tools to understand your ancestor’s movements, providing several practical examples and case studies along the way. 

Pennsylvania played a critical role in the formation of America and its principles of government. While the colony was at the center of a nation-making movement in the 18th century, it was also during this period that Pennsylvania saw several localized changes: the start of passenger lists and city directories; boundary shifts; westward expansion; greater record keeping around land, probate, court, military, taxes; and more. In this lecture we will look at tracing your ancestors during this pivotal period.

If your ancestor had the right to vote, you can find a wealth of information in their voting records. These records can help you to verify the exact years your ancestor lived in a certain location, locate your ancestor on a state census, identify when your ancestor was naturalized, and more. Join our expert as they discuss where to find voting records, the information they contain, and how to use them to advance your family history research.

In this lecture, our expert will discuss the historical context of Ohio’s settlement—from early fur traders in the 18th century, to westward-bound homesteaders, African Americans travelling in the Great Migration of the 20th century, and beyond. You will learn how this history shaped the records available for your Ohio Ancestors.