Published: February 16, 2008 09:14 pm         

Genealogy: Pal Am offers link to German-speaking lands

If you visit the Web site at www.palam.org, you will learn that Palatines to America (Pal Am) is a “German genealogy society dedicated to the study of ancestors from all German-speaking lands. The society takes its name from the fact that some of the earliest German-speaking immigrants to the American colonies came from a region in present-day Germany known as the Palatinate (Pfälz) and were called Palatines (Pfälzers). The founding members of Pal Am all had ancestors from this area of Germany.”

There are seven state chapters of Pal Am. The Indiana Chapter is the second-oldest state chapter in the nation, formed in 1976. It currently has 155 members. The Indiana Chapter publishes a quarterly newsletter that is sent to all its members, in addition to a spring meeting and a fall workshop each year.

The Illinois Chapter publishes six newsletters annually with the purpose of providing help to their members in doing their German-American research. They also publish genealogical queries in their newsletters. The Illinois Chapter does not meet regularly due to its wide distribution of members across the state.

Membership in Pal Am runs from Oct. 1 of each year through Sept. 30 of the next year. Membership dues are $35 annually for an individual membership and $40 for a “family” (two-person) membership. These dues cover membership in both the national society and one state chapter. Annual membership in additional state chapters is $7 per chapter. Other state chapters include New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Colorado.

To contact the Indiana Chapter of Pal Am, e-mail indianapalam@palam.org or contact the secretary, Betty Warren, at Blwarren49@aol.com.

To get in touch with the Illinois Chapter, call (309) 691-0292 or write to Palatines to America, Illinois Chapter, P.O. Box 9638, Peoria, IL 61612-9638.

You may join the national society along with these state chapters online at www.palam.org.