Genealogists find important sources in many places, and yearbooks and other materials generated by high schools or colleges and their class reunions can be a great place to look.
My 50th high school reunion is coming up and I am on the team hunting down missing classmates. With the Internet, it’s easier to track people, if you have information to start with — and we do.
We have 1960s addresses for everyone in our class, leading to city directories and their parents. We have material from our numerous prior reunions. We are tracking down others via Ancestry.com’s U.S. Public Records Index, where you can match an address with a birth date, cross referencing, of course, to the Social Security Death Index.
A great free site that links older information with current addresses is www.advancedbackgroundchecks.com. GenealogyBank has obituaries since 1977 and includes our hometown newspaper. Sometimes, just a Google search with the person’s full name yields something. Some states have more records online than others.
Yearbooks can be found on Ancestry.com, and our high school is there, as are many other high schools and colleges. There are other sites dedicated to posting yearbooks or annuals. Two that charge are: www.archives.com and www.e-yearbook.com. Those with free access include www.mocavo.com, www.old-yearbooks.com and www.thisoldyearbook.com.
Check your local city or county historical society, local archives, or the heritage room at your local public library to see whether they have a yearbook collection or if they want old yearbooks donated to enhance their collection. If you don’t want yours, don’t throw it away; give it to a book dealer or book sale, or sell it on eBay.
Many a missing ancestor or relative can be found in yearbooks.
Gwinnett genealogy workshop
A genealogy workshop will be held from 9 a.m. until 12:45 p.m. March 29 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 3355 Sugarloaf Parkway, Lawrenceville. It’s free and is sponsored by local Daughters of the American Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution chapters, the Georgia Genealogical Society and the LDS church.
Four 45-minute sessions will be held, with a choice of three lectures to attend during each session. DAR members will discuss military records and online research. SAR members will address graveyard research, Cherokee lineage and area genealogy collections. GGS members will discuss genealogy proof standards and Georgia land lotteries. LDS members will discuss using Familysearch.org and other online research sites.
For the schedule and to register, contact Terry Manning at temanning@aol.com or 770-564-8822.
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