Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor 

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How do you find those ancestors who immigrated from the Old Country? Shipping manifests can contain valuable information about that ancestor and where they came from. And if we are unsure when they came to America, the naturalization papers and petitions can often fill that gap. Find out more about finding and interpreting these interesting records.  This talk will explore where shipping manifest records and deportation hearing documents, as well as naturalization records can be found and what information is stored on these pages.  Note to members: The handout for this program is available in the Members-Only section, under Members-only Files, Meeting handouts. 

  Fred Voss

Fred Voss is a professional genealogist, researcher, and educator. He has been doing personal genealogy for over 20 years and is a Trustee and Education Chair for the Genealogical Society of Bergen County. His areas of interest are Germany, Switzerland, and New Hampshire, with special interest in DNA, Immigration, and Naturalization.

Mr. Voss is a certificate holder of the Boston University Genealogical Research Certification program (OL13). He is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the International Society of Genetic Genealogists as well as various regional societies.  He volunteers as a tour guide at Ellis Island, leading both historical and photographic tours of the abandoned hospitals on the south side of the island (SaveEllisIsland.org).

Mr. Voss is a popular and sought after speaker in the tri-state area. His lectures have been featured at the New York Public Library, the Genealogical Society of Bergen County, the Monmouth Genealogical Society, the Passaic County Genealogical Club, the German Genealogical Society, and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Long Island. He teaches Introductory Genealogy and DNA and Genealogy at Bergen County Community College in Paramus, New Jersey.

He graduated from Boston College with a BA in Mathematics. He has spent his career working for and with software startup companies such as Netscape Communications, Sun Microsystems, and Oracle. Since 1990, he has specialized in Internet Identity and Security.