Colonial Migrations to 1770

Montana has 56 counties, and there’s a plethora of sources available across this 4th largest state. You’ll get a quick tour of Montana genealogy treasures online. Also, a tour of Montana sites and their specific genealogy databases available from archives and local history societies, along with a site-specific guide telling of the latest archives, museums, libraries and historical/genealogical societies open to aid in your search for ancestors, and ghost towns and mining camps, too! We’ll experience historical Montana maps available online, learn how to plan a specific trip to maximize the archives and local historical sites where other records (taxes, poll taxes, road taxes, poor taxes, boulevard districts, real estate additions, types of directories available per area, etc.), and note the specific genealogy and history societies/museums available to provide local helps. You’ll have access to a 30+ page (online) of the resources and references noted in the presentation.

Learn about the different types of census records and substitutes that can place your ancestors in New Spain or Mexico. This class will discuss why the records were created, where to find them, and what type of information they contain.

Religious records are essential in genealogy research. Do you know all ancestors’ religions? Review the Protestant Reformation and religions in the U.S. Find your ancestor.

Government Policy in Australia, particularly from Federation until the 1980s, meant that many Australians with indigenous roots have lost connection with family and community. Between adoption, state foster care, missions, hiding ethnicity, and relocation, it is often difficult to know where to start and haw to analyse records. This webinar will present how to start your research, looking at repositories, institutions, and community records that will assist, both indigenous specific and general, in compiling a genealogy or family history.

Just who was creating the documents genealogists typically turn to first? What rules did they follow? How long did they have to complete their job? How big is an enumeration district? These questions, and more, probably occur to anyone doing extensive research in the U.S. Census reports. This talk reviews the staffing, training, search for accuracy, penalties for non-cooperation, and bureaucracy of the U.S. Census from 1790 through 1950.

After the end of the Civil War in 1865, African Americans began leaving the areas where they had been enslaved. Many went to North to larger towns where work was more plentiful. But less discussed is that a number went West to farm, using the Homestead Act of 1862 to claim land of their own. Other settled in and helped develop some all-Black towns in Kansas and Oklahoma. Still others headed to the Pacific Coast for work. What can we find out about these settlers’ lives? Where can we find records?

Alberta is unique among the 10 Canadian provinces. It was the last of the three Prairie provinces to be opened to homesteading, which meant land in that province was available just as quality homesteading land dried up in the United States. That brought a rush from south of the border, and the American influence is still felt today. There has been another mass influx of people eager to work in the energy industry. Many of the key sources used in researching your ancestors or cousins in Alberta are also unique, so local knowledge is essential. This session identifies those sources for you, and will help you get results in your searches.

The 46th state has a much longer history and more available records than most people realize. You may have discovered a possible link to Oklahoma, a Choctaw word meaning “red people.” Or perhaps you want to search for an elusive ancestor who may have hidden in Indian Territory or Oklahoma Territory, the “Twin Territories” that combined to become Oklahoma. This introduction to Oklahoma genealogical research will highlight the unique records that were created due to our unusual and exciting history.

U.S. Migration patterns trended from the east to west coasts as Manifest Destiny played out in our American ancestors’ lives. Did they write letters? Yes, they did. Did they keep a diary? Likely. But, have those documents survived, and if so where might they be located? Follow through historical documents the 100+year Westward Migration of one family who created, saved, and handed down pertinent historical documents pinpointing their migration from Kentucky to Illinois in the early 1830s, chronicled an overland journey to the California Gold Rush 20 years later in 1850, then later emigrated from Illinois to Kansas in the early days of the Civil War. Discover what brought one descendant to Kansas City, Missouri, after World War II. Where’s their next stop? This case study is studded with potential research avenues for any genealogist, anthropologist, archivist, cartographer, or automobile enthusiast.