This lecture explains how a significant population of German-speakers came to reside in France and explores the peculiarities of researching ancestors of Alsace, Lorraine, and Elsass-Lothringen. It discusses when, why and how people from these areas came to the United States during the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth centuries. Research challenges include: records kept in French, German and Latin; shifting national borders; peculiar surnames; and Catholic, Protestant and Jewish residents. Indispensable Websites are reviewed, as well as books and manuals, and the large body of records available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

 

John Philip Colletta is one of America’s most popular genealogical lecturers. Knowledgeable, experienced and entertaining, he resides in Washington, D.C. For twenty years, while laying the foundation for his career in genealogy, he worked half-time at the Library of Congress and taught workshops at the National Archives. He received his Ph.D. from Catholic University.

 

Today Dr. Colletta teaches diverse audiences nationwide how to reconstruct their family’s past from scraps of information found in old written records, maps, newspapers, photographs, tombstones and heirlooms.  He lectures nationally, teaches at local schools, and conducts programs for the Smithsonian Institution’s Resident Associate Program. He is a faculty member of the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (University of Georgia, Athens) and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. He has also taught for Boston University’s Certificate in Family History program. He is the author of several books, many articles, and a 15-lesson genealogy course. His books will be available for sale after the lecture.