Discussion: Wondering why your immigrant ancestor chose to live in Cleveland over Pittsburgh? Little Rock over Los Angeles? Memphis over Miami? The answers might lie in the records of the Industrial Removal Office, a scary name for a good organization.The IRO, founded in 1901, assisted immigrants in finding employment and better living conditions, and helped assimilate them into American society. IRO agents, often working in partnership with B’nai B’rith or other Jewish fraternal groups, spread around the USA securing jobs, and then immigrants would be sent to those locations to establish a new life.

 

Renée Carl was born in St. Louis, raised in Chicago, and is now living in Washington, DC, left the public policy world for professional genealogy, finding that researching dead people is easier than working with Congress. Since launching Eastern European Mutt, her genealogy company and blog, Renée serves private clients and other researchers. She is a regular at the National Archives, Library of Congress and US Holocaust Memorial and Museum, and partners with researchers in Europe, Australia and Israel. Renée graduated from Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cultural Anthropology and is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and JGSGW.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note - This class was originally scheduled in Nov 2018 but was cancelled due to snow.  
Many of the early settlers of the American Colonies came to find religious freedom.  The church was an important part of our ancestors' lives.  In small communities it was often the center of their social lives.  The records kept vary from one denomination to another.  Even the denominations that kept very few records can play a very critical part in documenting our ancestors, especially in the time-period before vital records began.

 

To register, please send an email with your name, phone number, class subject, and date of class to Amy Breedlove at albreedlove@comcast.net

 

Discussion:  Whether you are adopted or simply do not know the parentage of an ancestor there are strategies for using DNA with your genealogy to bring greater success in these cases. In this lecture you will learn tips for successfully incorporating your DNA results into traditional genealogy research, how to reach out to matches, plus learn about the pitfalls and setbacks which can come with this type of research.