The Great War: Researching your World War I Jewish Ancestors:
When the United States entered World War I in 1917-the government had recently moved from an emerging power to a global world power. Researching your ancestors or other military family members in the 20th century can sometimes be very challenging. Coupled with the losses of records in the monumental fire in St. Louis, Missouri in 1973 and stricter privacy laws in place in many states-this lecture examines and focuses on new ways to reconstruct military service for family members who served their country during the wars including records of draft registrations, war casualties, troop manifests, and many other related records. This lecture will bring a particular focus on soldiers of Jewish origin.
Secret Societies: Finding Your Jewish Ancestors in Fraternal Organizations.
Many of our ancestors joined fraternal orders or organizations — these associations of people were bound together for philosophical, religious, literary, social, athletic, or philanthropic purposes. Some of these organization of Jewish origin included; B’nai B’rith International, Free Sons of Israel, Independent Orders of the Sons of Benjamin and Abraham among others that have deep roots in the Hebrew culture. Discover the rich history and genealogical material that await you with membership records, historical research, and photographs of your family who may have belonged to one or more of these secret societies.
New York City Urban Genealogical Research: Tracing Your Jewish Ancestry.
Numerous persons and families of Jewish origin and heredity can trace their genealogy to the Empire State. New York City as one of the largest urban center offers many genealogical resources. Between the American Revolution and the Civil War-several key urban cities along the eastern seaboard populations increased dramatically. In 1790 New York’s population was about 33,000 persons, and by 1860 more than 1 million persons lived in the metropolitan area. This lecture offer a unique prospective into the various genealogical records and resources in New York City metropolitan area relating to records of particular interest to genealogists covering vital records, map sources, federal records, church records, court records, and many other related sources.