Free Genealogy Assistance Connect with a volunteer to get started on a project or to complete a challenge. Email or to make an appointment. OR Stop by for one of our Drop-In Sessions: 1st Tuesday of the month 6:30 - 8:30 pm at Nichols Library 2nd Thursday of the month 12:30 - 2:30 pm at 95th St. Library 3rd Thursday of the month 3:00 - 5:00 pm at Nichols Library Online Resources These databases, except Ancestry Library Edition, are available remotely with an NPL library card, and without a card on devices connected to NPL's WiFi network. Ancestry Library Edition is available via NPL WiFi. NPL is a Family Search Affiliate Library Connect to our WiFi to access restricted records. |
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Nichols Library 200 W. Jefferson Ave.
Naperville, Illinois 60540 95th Street Library 3015 Cedar Glade Dr. Naperville, Illinois 60564 Naper Boulevard Library 2035 S. Naper Blvd. Naperville, Illinois 60565 630-961-4100 |
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Our family trees are filled with people of all types, who lived extraordinary and sometimes ordinary lives. It is our task to discover as much as we can about our ancestors and record their stories. To do that, we cannot make assumptions or add our 21st-century ideas to their lives. In the last half-century, the Western world has become a more enlightened place for those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) – we still have further to go. Our ancestors were not met with the same level of open-mindedness or acceptance, leading them to live hidden lives. This makes discovering their stories and their truth a little more difficult – but not impossible. Mary McKee, findmypast.com |
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LGBTQ Genealogy Thurs, June 9th @ 7:00p.m. Learn how to find clues in genealogical records for ancestors who may have been LGBTQ. Hear stories of LGBTQ history and find out how to discover stories of LGBTQ family members. |
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 Researching LGBT Relatives with Janice SellersSat, June 25th @ 3:00p.m. Perhaps you identify as LGBT and want to know whether anyone who came before you also did. This is valid family history research, but ethical concerns about the past and the present must be considered, and understanding gay history is critical to finding and understanding information. |
Every life has a story, and genealogy helps us put our full picture together. But for Black Americans, this can be a difficult and a painful task. Slavery and lack of documents have kept Blacks from knowing their family’s full story. |
- Alorian Sadler, WATN Memphis (Local ABC News Affiliate) Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when General Gordon Granger and 2,000 troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the freeing of enslaved people. The formerly enslaved began the celebration of Juneteenth (Emancipation Day); today, Juneteenth is celebrated by millions of people throughout the nation. African American genealogical research is different from other ethnic backgrounds. Because slaves were considered property, they were prohibited from reading, writing, attending school, legally marrying, owning land, owning a business, voting and participating in many other activities that generate records on which much genealogical research is based. Take a look at these upcoming African American Genealogy programs, hosted in honor of Juneteenth: |
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Genealogy Resources for African American Ancestors Wed, June 8th @ 6:00 via Zoom Genealogist Mary Schweers will provide information on the locations of Genealogical Research Resources for African-American Ancestors, highlighting areas of research that might otherwise be overlooked in your genealogy search and provide details that may unlock the story of your lost ancestors.Register Here |
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Beginning African American Genealogy Mon, June 13th @ 2:00p.m. via Zoom Learn the basics of researching your African American ancestry in this introductory-level class which will begin with a brief overview of genealogy basics before looking into federal, state, and local records that can be particularly helpful to anyone researching ancestors of African descent. |
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Let's Talk: Juneteenth Thurs, June 16th @ 5:30 via Zoom This Let's Talk! program will focus on the history of the Juneteenth and resources for research. |
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June 9th at 7:00 pm Central
IN PERSON at the Naperville Municipal Center – Room B
(400 S Eagle St, Naperville, IL) Fox Valley Genealogical Society General Meeting Jeffrey Bassett will speak on Genetic Genealogy--the latest technique being used as a tool in genealogical research. He will explain how he got started in genealogy, how DNA testing works and will present different case studies from the Bassett DNA project showing how DNA testing has helped in the research of different Bassett lines. He has been working on Bassett Family genealogy for more than 45 years. His research includes more than 15,000 pages of text covering more than 490 different Bassett lines throughout the world. This project has grown to include more than 250 male Bassetts living in 7 countries around the world making it one of the largest projects of its kind. |
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Mon, June 6th @ 3:00p.m. via Zoom Presented by the Wilmette Public Library. An up-to-date program about the newly released 1950 census, and the best strategies for locating your family in the census. Presented by Allison DePrey Singleton. |
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Putting It All Together: Making Sense of All the Research You've Done, from Robyn Smith Sat, June 11th @ 8:30a.m. via Zoom Presented by the NorthEast Ohio Computer-Aided Genealogy Society (NEOCAG). If you are like most genealogists, over the years you've amassed a mountain of documents, binders and files. You want to tell the story of your family, but don't know where or how to begin. Robyn will share examples of the kinds of tables and tools she uses to organize, analyze and properly cite all those records you have already collected. Get organized and put it all together! Email johntc@gmail.com for a Zoom invitation. |
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Orphan Trains and the Children Who Rode Them Mon, June 20th @ 7:00p.m. via Zoom Presented by the Zion Genealogical Society. The story of the Orphan Trains, which relocated children from the eastern cities to rural farmlands, has become a part of American popular culture. This presentation explores the facts behind the legends, follows a group of children “placed-out” in 1880, and provides information on resources available to learn more about the orphan trains and their riders.
Email vam1488@gmail.com with your name, and that you are not a member before June 19th to receive a Zoom invitation. |
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Presented by Pikes Peak Library District The internet offers many fantastic, but sometimes overwhelming, resources for genealogical research. This class will highlight some of the best free websites you should be referencing while researching your family tree. |
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Thurs, July 7th @ 6:00p.m. via Zoom Presented by the Ontario Genealogical Society ‘Where are you from?’ is sometimes a difficult question to answer. With the advent of DNA testing, we can find out our ethnicity, and look at the implications of where our ancestors were from. This session will look at the differences between the terms ‘heritage’, ‘ancestry’, ‘ethnicity’ and ‘descent.’ Register Here |
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The Scots: a Genetic Journeyby Alistair Moffat
eBook, eAudiobookAn almost limitless archive of our history lies hidden inside our bodies and we carry the ancient story of Scotland around with us. The mushrooming of genetic studies, of DNA analysis, is rewriting our history in spectacular fashion. This book explores the history that is printed on our genes, and in a remarkable new approach, uncovers the detail of where we are from, who we are and, in so doing, color vividly a DNA map of Scotland.
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Secrets in Our DNA /DVDExplores the increasing popularity of personal DNA analysis by companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA and the unintended consequences of sharing our data with these rapidly growing online databases
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My Best Genealogy Tips : Quick Keys to Research Ancestryby Robin R. Foster
BookA new book for beginners and researchers who feel they need to start over. This is the first in a series that will walk you through getting an oral history interview, using historical records rather than family trees for proving research, and avoiding common pitfalls.
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Tracing Your Female Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historiansby Adéle Emm
Book, eAudiobook
Chapters cover the quintessential experiences of birth, marriage and death, a woman's working and daily life both middle and working class, through to crime and punishment, the acquisition of an education and the fight for equality. Each chapter gives advice on where further resources, archives, wills, newspapers and websites can be found, with plentiful common sense advice on how to use them. |
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Daughters of the Occupation
by Shelly Saunders
Book, Large Type
Inspired by true events in World War II Latvia, an emotionally charged novel of sacrifice, trauma, resilience, and survival, as witnessed by three generations of women.
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An Unlasting Home
by Mai Al-Nakib Book Ranging from the 1920s to the near present, An Unlasting Home traces Kuwait’s rise from a pearl-diving backwater to its reign as a thriving cosmopolitan city to the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion. At once intimate and sweeping, personal and political, it is an unforgettable epic and a spellbinding family saga. |
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