Virtual via Zoom Meeting Registration Now Open!   Join us for our next Virtual Research Sunday for individual research help via ZOOM Video Conferencing. Register for one 30-minute appointment with a knowledgeable consultant or translator for one of the following services: Consult with an experienced researcher for help with a specific research question Work with a strategist to plan your next steps Get translation help with a document written in Bulgarian, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian,…

Researching our Eastern European ancestry remains challenging in many countries, where missing records may lead to frustrating “brick walls”. This presentation offers guidance in using the region’s historical events and geography to help fill in gaps and move past brick walls.  It shows you ways to identify your ancestors, find the places where they lived, and trace their migrations. Bio: Amy Wachs, past president of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland,  has been involved in Jewish genealogy for over 30…

Old family photos, documents, and heirlooms are vitally important in preserving your family's past. Learn how to organize and store these special items safely, and discover an easy step-by-step process for deciding what to retain in your collection and what to give to relatives or institutions. Finally, you will get ideas for preparing a "genealogical will" to preserve your family's photos, documents, and heirlooms for future generations. Bio: Marian Burk Wood is a popular speaker and author. Her Planning a Future…

This presentation is for you if you’ve done a great job finding your ancestors, but you’re not sure where to start to locate their living descendants. Learn tips and tricks that you can use to safely and respectfully discover the identities of your living cousins and perhaps make new connections. Bio: Nicka Smith is a professional photographer, speaker, host, and documentarian with more than 20 years of experience as a genealogist. She hosts BlackProGen LIVE, an innovative web show about…

Finding Presidents' (and Your) Ancestors in the Strangest Places You might think that U.S. presidents are a breed apart from your ancestors, but they are not. They also arrived on ships and also came face-to-face with the census taker. This talk will show you how to search for presidential records, and, in the process, it will teach you how to search for your ancestors' records. There are similar problems with both searches, including misspellings and incorrect dates, and we'll learn…

When It Takes a Village: Applying Cluster Research Techniques Researching our ancestors involves not only finding their origins, tracking them through different times and places, and viewing them in their social context, but also looking at their relatives, associates, and neighbors. This presentation shows how to apply cluster and collateral research techniques to your genealogical research problems. Topics include research planning, commonly used resources and documents, and a case study following individuals’ migrations from Europe to the U.S., overcoming name…

Joint program between the Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts and the JGSGB  If you’d like to go beyond JewishGen and JRI-Poland to find vital records for your Polish-Jewish ancestors, this program will introduce you to major websites such as Metryki, GenBaza, Szukajwarchiwach (the Polish State Archives), Geneteka, and FamilySearch.  Our speaker, Julie Szczepankiewicz, will also review U.S. records that contain the specific places of origin of your immigrant ancestors, suggest resources to decipher misspelled place names, and identify the registry…