Northwest Oklahoma Genealogy Society guest speaker Virginia Downing will present “Whatever Happened to Your Civil War Veterans” on Saturday, April 14, at 10:30 a.m. in the Alva Public Library.

Over three million of our ancestors fought in the Civil War. There were 2,213,363 in the Union and 1,050,000 in the Confederate Army. There is a probability that your ancestor fought in this great war. What happened to them after the war? Did they come home or did they go missing? There are many records making this a unique and rich genealogical resource. Downing will share a number of research resources.

Downing has been researching her family line for the past 30 years. She started with her mother's paternal line and recently discovered the family of one of her 6th great grandparents were gypsies who were deported from France to Louisiana. During her research of this family she discovered she has a family connection with Elizabeth Shown Mills, a nationally renowned genealogist. She has done extensive research at the Family Research Library in Salt Lake City, She has used her research to prepare and present genealogy lectures to societies in Kansas and Oklahoma. Some of the topics she has presented are: records that substitute for the loss of the 1890 Federal Census, diseases that changed our families, was it an epidemic or a pandemic and social history research and how to fill the gaps. Downing believes one of the most important research resources is your Ancestors FAN (family, associates and neighbors) Club.

The Northwest Genealogy Society meets the second Saturday of each month at the Alva Public Library. Visitors are welcome.