Decoding Secret Societies: Finding Your Female Fraternal Ancestors

Were your ancestors members of the Masons? Did your family have membership with the I.O.O.F. or another secret society. Discover the rich history and genealogical material that await with membership records, historical research, and photographs of family who may have belonged to one or more of these secret societies.

The United States Postal Service can trace its roots to 1775 to the Second Continental Congress; where Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General. Officially created in 1792; and elevated to a cabinet department in 1872; and changed in 1971 to an official Government agency. These records are an overlooked genealogical source to locate family members who may have worked with the postal system.

The passage of the Social Security Act of 1935 during the height the new deal era and the great depression would provide stability to our nation. By decoding the meaning of the series of numbers, ordering the applications of the social security cards, and understanding how delayed births played an…

Finding descendants and searching collateral lines of your family history is very rewarding and provides many otherwise unknown details to your family story as the methodology of conducting this type of research is taught. Focus is given to provide actual case study of doing this kind of research.

Many persons can trace their origins to the Empire State. New York City being 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 strikingly. In 1790 New York’s population was about…

Researching your World War 1 ancestors can be challenging. With the losses of records by fire in St. Louis in 1973 and stricter privacy laws; this lecture focuses on ways to reconstruct military service for family who served their country including records of draft registrations, war casualties, troop manifests, and…

The Merchant Marines have always played a pivotal and important role in American history. Without their efforts and sacrifice the wars of the twentieth century could have turned out very differently. A series of acts passed by Congress in 1916, 1920, and 1936 would officially organize the Merchant Marines into…

This second session will be broken into two groups of records that relate to your ancestors who fought in the Civil War.

The city of Philadelphia dates back to October 27, 1682 when William Penn laid out plans to construct a magnificent city. Records available to genealogists stretch back to the seventeenth century when the city was first founded. The area grew very quickly, and by the time of the Revolutionary War…