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Genealogists, like nearly all other Americans, often place ancestors in neatly defined groups with catchy generation names. Who hasn’t heard of “The Greatest Generation” or “Baby Boomers” or “Millennials”?

Recent figures from the U.S. Census, though, show that one generation that once occupied the spotlight (and the corridors of power) is now in its twilight era. While there are no official parameter years, what we are talking about is the generation of people who experienced the 1920s, the 1930s and World War II.

Famed journalist Tom Brokaw used the term “Greatest Generation” for his book on that era. Disaffected youth of one part of that era, the 1920s, were referred to as the “Lost Generation.” Yet other observers break out the earliest members of that group and call them the “Interbellum Generation,” meaning that they came of age between the two world wars of the 20th century.

Whatever you want to call this once-gigantic group, and whatever parameters you want to use, one fact is inescapable. There aren’t many members of that generation remaining with us, and most of them are now in their 90s or have passed the century mark.

When you research ancestors from that era, you follow the usual procedures for getting military records, which means going through the National Archives and your state archives. When you use city directories or censuses, remember that people in the military are typically listed at home, even if they are serving half a world away.

Puzzled by a family’s sudden disappearance from the usual records? Remember also that during World War II, the economy was disrupted and many people changed jobs – and moved – to work in war-related industries, often traveling to other states to do so. At war’s end, most returned. Some high school and college students left their campuses to serve in the military, returning when the war was over.

Many others “disappeared” in the Great Depression, leaving their homes to find work elsewhere.

Besides the usual genealogical research, though, there is something else you can do. If you are fortunate to have living relatives from the World War II era, get yourself a high-quality recorder and start a conversation with that relative about his or her life and times

I’d suggest focusing on the person speaking without writing anything down. You can transcribe your recording later.

You will readily fill in gaps in your own genealogical knowledge of your family and simultaneously create a record for future generations to listen to and learn from.

Ethnicities: If you’re a genealogist, you’ve certainly pinned your ancestors down to a general region of the world. You’ve also probably wondered how many more Americans share the origins you’ve found.

Well, wonder no more. The Bureau of the Census recently published its latest listing of the ethnicities Americans have reported for themselves. Here they are, in rounded numbers.

As has been the case for many years, German ancestry tops the list with 42 million, followed by English and Irish, with around 31 million each. A generalized “American” followed by Italian round out the top five, with 18 million and 16 million.

You’ll find ethnicities from all over the world right here in the U.S., though some are fairly small. At that end of the scale are some like Bahamans and Carpatho-Rusyns.

There are scores of other ethnicities, of course, including multi-ethnicity and the largest groups of all – the “unclassified or not reported” and the inevitable “other,” the last two groups making up half the population of the United States.

Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy columnist. Reach him at [email protected].