This is a list of the programs presented at our General Meetings. The General Meetings are held at the Naperville Municipal Center and are open to the public.
The gates to many research “brick walls” may often be opened by a thorough analysis of the records. Using examples of typical research documents, this presentation will demonstrate how clues for further research are often found “between the lines.” Maureen…
Contextual records are everywhere, not just in the National Archives! Once you have established what units your service member was in and where they served, it is time to explore unit-level records. In this program, you’ll explore: The second part…
All the records DID NOT burn. Have you ever wondered what dad or grandpa did in the war? What happened to your uncle, who died? What was training and combat like? How did Grandpa get wounded? What happened to the…
Learn about the many ways you can access cool details about your ancestors by using school records like yearbooks, school schedules, teacher’s registers, school newspapers, alumni directories and much more. This is one class you won’t want to ditch. Tina…
I love timelines and tables! They correlate the evidence revealing gaps and overlaps. A timeline of the life of an ancestor can tell us about their movements, their relationships, and their life choices. If we look at the changes in…
We talk a great deal about the leaves and roots of our family tree, but how many of us venture into the tree, digging out lesser-known stories and hidden (or hiding) facts? In recent vernacular (ca 1960), “spelunkers” are the…
Locality research is key to making progress in genealogy research. Understanding the history, geography, records, and repositories for the research locality is the foundation for building a solid research plan and finding additional information about your ancestor. Diana Elder, AG®,…
Mark your calendar. Our next meeting will be held ONLINE on Thursday, January 11, 2024, at 7:00 PM (Central) via Zoom. Registration and topic details will be posted soon. We are busy planning another year of great programs for you.…
This meeting is co-sponsored by FVGS and the Naperville Public Library. Your immigrant ancestors are the foundation of your roots in the U.S. Why did they come? The voyage itself. Entering the U.S. ports. How to find emigration, immigration, and…
Most of us know to look in cemetery records but miss a valuable resource: the funeral home. This lecture looks at the history of funeral homes and the records they kept. We will also look at a case study showing…