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.

American Ancestors has one of the largest collections of genealogical papers in the United States. Learn how these unique items can benefit your genealogical research. We will provide research case studies and highlights from our special collections.

For many living in New England during the 17th through 19th centuries, their livelihood and even survival was inextricably linked to the sea. In this webinar we will provide a brief history of mariners in New England, discuss major ports and sources of industry, highlight key records, and demonstrate how to reconstruct your ancestor’s life on the sea and along the shore.

When we think of Christian records, we may immediately think of baptism and marriage records. While these are crucial records, there are many more! This lecture will look at what records exist, what information is provided, and how they differ among denominations. 

Ireland has a unique and rather confusing system of land divisions, all of which need to be known and understood to effectively and accurately look for your ancestors. 

Unclear as to what date “21 1mo 1708/9” refers to? What about “4 Mary”? While dates are foundational to your family history research, they’re not always straightforward in the record or follow a modern calendar system. This online lecture will go over common calendar systems that you may encounter in your research, discuss how to interpret and record them, and suggest several online conversion tools to understand these dates in familiar terms.

This lecture will provide you with key strategies to leverage the information you find in Christian church records: how to use church records in conjunction with civil records, how to use them as vital record substitutes, how to identify witnesses, and generally how they can be used to break down brick walls in your family history research. 

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, American cities seemingly sprang up overnight as new industries, new immigrant populations, and new opportunities blossomed. Finding your ancestor in a growing metropolis can be tricky. Luckily there are several resources, records, and research strategies available to assist you in your search. We will discuss some of these key sources and techniques for researching your urban ancestry.

Do you have ancestors from the Deep South? In this webinar, we will address key challenges in researching families from South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana and offer tips and solutions for getting ahead. Topics include migration and settlement patterns, what to do when vital records are not available, how to leverage land, probate, and tax records, and finding confederate records. The session concludes with tips for conducting African American research in the region.

 Learn about the various colonial wars that 17th and 18th New Englanders participated in.  We will discuss published and manuscript resources, and how to "Adopt the Regiment" to learn more about your ancestor through associated records.