SVGS December Program -- But Grandma Never Carried a Gun: Locating Women in Civil War Records in the National Archives



Winchester, Va., November 8, 2011 --- The Shenandoah Valley Genealogical Society announces its December program, “But Grandma Never Carried a Gun: Locating Women in Civil War Military Records in the National Archives,” to be presented by Marie Varrelman Melchiori, CG, CGL, on Wednesday, December 7, at 6:30 p.m. at the Handley Regional Library, 100 W. Piccadilly St., Winchester, Virginia, in the downstairs auditorium.

  

Although there are estimates of over 400 women who served as active soldiers during the Civil War and thousands who served as nurses and in other support roles, most women’s involvements were as the wife, mother or sister of a soldier. Scores of these records were lost during the years, but many of them still exist and are stored in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

  

Ms. Melchiori will be discussing various military records which can help family researchers locate information about their female ancestors. Emphasis will be on the mothers, wives and sisters of Civil War soldiers. Besides pension records and bounty land records, correspondence and carded records of the military will be discussed.

  

Marie Varelman Melchiori is a Certified Genealogist and Genealogical Lecturer who specializes in Union and Confederate records in the National Archives, Washington, D.C. Since the late 1980s, Ms. Melchiori has lectured on military records for the National Genealogical Society, Federation of Genealogical Societies, Samford University’s Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research, and the National Institute on Genealogical Research. She served as the Assistant Director of the National Institute on Genealogy & Historical Research from 1987-2002, and was Executive Vice President of the Association of Professional Genealogists in the early 1990s. In 1999, Ms. Melchiori was awarded the Graham Thomas Smallwood, Jr. Award of Merit. She holds a B.S. in Nursing from Rutgers University.

Come join us on December 7th to learn how to uncover information about your female ancestors through Civil War military records. The meeting is free and open to the public. Sponsors for the event are the Shenandoah Valley Genealogical Society (SVGS) and the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives at Handley Library. Additional information is available at www.svgs.org and at handleyregional.org .

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

^^^^^

SHENANDOAH VALLEY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

P.O. Box 2234, Winchester, VA 22604

www.svgs.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to [email protected]. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and Twitter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to [email protected].