Historical Society to Offer Help with African-American Family Trees

Those with experience attempting to construct their family trees know genealogy is hard work. Tracing a line of decenents often requires a crash course in property, tax, birth and death records, but amateur genealogists with knowledge of such sources may run into road blocks here and there.

Joseph Carvalho III, former executive director of the Sprinfield Museums, will conduct a program at the Windsor Historical Society specifically targeting those searchng for ancestors who have not been found using standard sources, particularly ancestors of African American decent.

Carvalho, author of Black Families in Hampden County, Massachusetts 1650-1865, will provide genealogy enthusiasts with "advice about repositories, publications, government documents and databases," according to Historical Society representatives.

Attendees are encouraged to bring specific questions about their search attempts.

This program costs $10. Historical Society members can gain admission for $9. The reasearch library will be open from 6-6:45 p.m. before the program for attendees to access available resources prior to the program.

The African American Genealogy and Challenging Research Quests program will be held from 7-8:30 p.m. on Tues., July 24 at the Windsor Historical Society.