Most genealogy societies undertake projects of one sort or another—and try to publicize them. The problem is that we genealogists tend to suffer from stimulus overload and cannot always remember what we have read or heard about this or that project. Recently, AVOTAYNU wrote to the member societies of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) asking them to tell us:
- What projects you have undertaken or are planning to undertake within the foreseeable future
- The status of the project(s)–finished, underway, not yet started
- Where the resultant data is filed and/or may be accessed
Below are the responses received.
Jewish Genealogical Society of Venezuela
Ignacio Sternberg, president
| Most genealogical societies undertake projects of one sort or another. |
Our society now numbers very few; many members have left the country because of the anti-Semitism and difficult political situation we are experiencing. Nevertheless, we still manage to do some projects. Our Jewish school, Hebraica, participates in the Finding Your Roots project sponsored by Beth Hatefutsoth. Society members help by giving lectures to the parents—and sometimes also to the students—about Jewish genealogy and sources for information. Every year the school has a competition to determine the best studies which then are sent to Beth Hatefutsoth. I have served as a juror for the past three years. In addition, we sometimes write articles on Jewish genealogy for Caracas’ weekly Jewish newspaper.
Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal
Stanley Diamond, president
In a four-year project completed in 2002, the society indexed the Jewish vital records of Quebec for the years 1841 to 1942. (Quebec is the only North American jurisdiction that, until 1994, kept vital records by religion.) When the original index was digitized, the society also added father’s name, mother’s name, mother’s maiden name, and town/country of origin. After five years, this extended database is nearing completion.
In 2002, the society led a project to create images of the 1915–32 naturalization records of Canada, along with a database and finding aids. Results were given to the Canadian Genealogy Center website <www.collectionscanada. gc.ca/databases/naturalization-1915-1932/001055-140-e.html> and was officially launched in July 2003.
In 2008, the society also purchased the index to all marriage and death records registered in Quebec from 1926 through 1996. Marriage indexes often include dates and/or years of birth or age. The death indexes may include age and years of birth, date of death, location of death, and names of spouses and parents. This resource has enabled the society to provide genealogists with an even greater level of expert Quebec-related research. In 2009, the society completed data entry of an all-name index to the 1915–32 Canadian naturalizations scheduled to appear online in summer 2009.
Currently, the society is leading a project to create indexes to the 1932–51 Canadian naturalizations. All 4,000 pages have been scanned and will be available online as a first step to data entry of an all-name index. Projects also are underway to index three major Who’s Who publications with references to thousands of Montreal and Canadian Jews. The society is funding the scanning of various holdings of the Canadian Jewish Congress National Archives (Montreal) and will index the scanned records. The Hebrew Sick Benefit Society membership lists from 1892 to 1906 already have been indexed; plans are underway to index the remainder of the records which include entries to the middle of the 20th century. Other holdings under consideration for scanning and indexing are the Jewish Colonization Association farm colonies files and the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society Index Cards.
The society also has submitted more than 50,000 entries to JewishGen’s Jewish Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) covering burials in Montreal’s two largest Jewish cemeteries, Back River and Baron de Hirsch. In addition, all 6,500 gravestones in the Back River Cemetery have been photographed and these, too, will become part of JOWBR.
Projects of the JGS of Montreal are funded through the sale of record copies and donations in appreciation for the help provided by our members.
Jewish Genealogical Society of Ottawa
Hymie Reichstein, president
The society has completed the photographing and creating a database of the two Ottawa Jewish cemeteries, a project that is updated every October to capture all new gravestones erected during the previous year, the Kingston Jewish Cemetery in Kingston, Ontario, and the Cornwall, Ontario Jewish Cemetery. All this information will be submitted to JewishGen’s JOWBR project and also will be available on the society’s website at <www.jgso.org>. At present, requests for information may be sent to <reichstein@magma.ca>.
JGSO completed the filming of the Jewish cemeteries of Czernovitz, Khotin, and Sadhora, and part of the cemetery in Kaminetz Podolsk in the Bukovina area of modern Ukraine. Approximately 9,000 photographs (out of 45,000) are now available on JewishGen and Ancestry.com. Database work continues and will be available as sections of the cemetery are completed.
In the future, all Jewish cemeteries in eastern Ontario will be photographed, as will a Jewish cemetery in Ogdensburg, New York, located about 75 kilometers from Ottawa. Readers who know of other small New York Jewish cemeteries located close to Ottawa are requested to write to the society president at <reichstein@magma.ca>.
The society worked in conjunction with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal to complete a database of the index to all Canadian naturalizations, 1915 to 1932 (see above). It worked in conjunction with the Canadian Jewish Archives to create a database of obituaries from the first Yiddish newspaper in Canada, Keneder Odler (Jewish Eagle), for the years 1908 to 1932. This database may be searched on the JGSO website as well as at the Canadian Jewish Archives in Montreal. A database created from the 1911 Canadian census of all Jews living in Ottawa also will be placed on the society’s website.
JGSO has developed an introductory course in Jewish genealogy from a Canadian perspective and has offered it through the local Jewish Community Center and Jewish Historical Society. The intent is to educate beginning genealogists and to attract new members to the society. The society also will begin a program in the near future to provide all bar and bat mitzvah children with a copy of Family Tree Maker in an effort to encourage young children to explore their family roots
Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto)
Shelley Stillman, president
The society has submitted basic burial information (about 57,000 records) from all of the cemeteries in the Greater Toronto area to JOWBR. On an ongoing basis, it keeps burial information current by acquiring new burial records. Also underway is a project to take digital photographs of all of the burials in all of the cemeteries. To date, we have submitted about 1,190 digital tombstone photographs from the two oldest cemeteries: Jones Avenue and Pape Avenue. We are currently working on 13,000 Dawes Road Cemetery records. Our intent is eventually to record burial data from all of the Jewish cemeteries in Ontario. Visit JOWBR for burial records and photographs; visit the society website for the status of projects and contact names, <www.jgstoronto.ca>. For further information, write <president@jgstoronto.ca> or <info@jgstoronto.ca>.
Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc. (New York)
Linda Cantor, president
JGS (NY) has completed many important projects over the years. Here are a few of the most important:
- Brooklyn Naturalization Project. Index of naturalization records held at Kings County Clerks Office. This includes 253,403 names of individuals and covers the years 1907–24 in a searchable database. Available at <www. jgsny.org/kingsintro2.htm>.
- Cemetery Burial Society Database. See <www.jgsny. org/nycem.htm> for a complete listing of New York City- area cemeteries, with contact information.
- New York Landsmanshaftn Database. A searchable database with more than 10,000 entries of burial societies in 100-plus NYC area cemeteries. Available at <www. jgsny.org/searchcity.htm>.
- Cemetery directions. Directions to all major NYC area cemeteries. See <www.jgsny.org/cemtrans.htm>.
- Database of Jewish Soldiers killed in the Soviet Army in World War II. JGS created a searchable database in English of this incredible information created by Alexander Zaslavsky in Russian. Accessible at <www.jgsny.org/rus sianintro.htm>.
- Genealogical Resources in New York. The most comprehensive guide available to genealogical and biographical resources in the five boroughs of New York City. You can’t do NYC research without using this incredible resource. See <www.jgsny.org/newbook.htm>.
Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois
Mike Karsen, president
The society’s Online Death Index of 67,983 Chicago-area Jewish death records went online in spring 2008. The records come from cemeteries, obituaries, and synagogue memorial plaques. The index utilizes the Steve Morse search form technology and may be accessed free of charge at <http://jewishgen.org/jgsi/projects/deathsearch11.html>.
In March 2008, the society initiated a project to encourage members to have their DNA tested. To date, more than 50 members have been tested, and some have had success finding matches. Information about the project may be found at <http://jewishgen.org/jgsi/projects/dna/dna_pro jects8.htm>.
Information about 400-plus books in the JGSI library has been catalogued and placed online in a searchable database. Searches by keyword and subject allow members to find books of specific relevance to their research. The database may be accessed at <www.librarything.com/catalog/ jgsi>.
Columbus (Ohio) Jewish Genealogy Group
Columbus Jewish Historical Society
This genealogy group, which functions under the umbrella of the Columbus Jewish Historical Society (CJHS), highlights two ongoing activities in which both groups are engaged. For nearly a dozen years, the CJHS has maintained a cemetery database that includes the designated Jewish burial grounds in Columbus. The first major report included burials in the then-13 such cemeteries and covered the period 1852–1999. Since publication of that report, the database has expanded to include 15 cemeteries and is updated on a nearly daily basis. To the extent that data is available, the compilation includes dates of birth, death, and interment. Where possible, an effort is made to include maiden names as well.
In 2004, the project was expanded to cover the Jewish cemeteries of eastern and southeastern Ohio and selected cities on the Ohio-West Virginia border. The latter set, available on a CD, includes burials in the Ohio cities of Ashland, Athens, Bellaire, East Liverpool (two cemeteries), Ironton, Mansfield (two cemeteries) Marion, Marietta, Newark, Portsmouth, Steubenville (two cemeteries), and Zanesville. West Virginia cities include Huntington (two cemeteries), Parkersburg, and Wheeling (three cemeteries.). All of this data soon will be available on the CHJS website <www.columbusjewishhistoricalsociety.org> and will be submitted to JewishGen’s JOWBR project as well.
Also, for nearly a dozen years, both groups have engaged in outreach to some of the smaller Jewish communities in central Ohio. The outreach has included interviews of older residents and presentations to members of synagogues in Marion, Newark, Springfield, and Zanesville. The purpose of these meetings is to inform the congregations about CJHS and to encourage them to preserve the records and memorabilia of their communities for future generations.
Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County
Sandra Hirschhorn, president
To date, information on tombstones in eight Jewish cemeteries, or Jewish sections of cemeteries, in Palm Beach County has been compiled and/or photographed. The information was transferred to a database and, along with the photographs, sent to JOWBR. The society’s cemetery project committee has identified several other cemeteries in Palm Beach Country with Jewish burials and has obtained permission to work at the new Veteran’s Administration cemetery where work in now underway.
The society finances and implements a project to encourage and help Holocaust survivors complete Yad Vashem’s Pages of Testimony. Dozens of volunteers go to survivors’ homes to assist in filling out the forms which then are sent directly to Yad Vashem. We have recruited several other Jewish genealogical societies to join in this project with the result that many additional Pages of Testimony have arrived at Yad Vashem. Don Hirschhorn, the coordinator and initiator of the project, has received an award from Yad Vashem in recognition of his efforts.
Jewish Genealogical Society Sacramento
Morton Rumberg, president
As a group, the society has been active in the annual planning and production of the California Family History Day and also participates in the Genealogical and Historical Council of the Sacramento Valley, the umbrella organization of all societies in the Sacramento area.
Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Washington
Marlene Bishow, research chair and immediate past president
Since our founding in 1980, the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington (JGSGW) has continuously engaged in research projects for the benefit of the genealogical community. In our first decade, we made a survey of the two oldest Jewish cemeteries in the District of Columbia. The results were published in the journal of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington. Extensive indexing of two record groups at the U.S. National Archives followed. The results of all of these projects have since been digitized and are part of the JewishGen databases.
We currently have two projects in progress of benefit to genealogists. In December 2007, the society announced a new cemetery project that involves combining all of the data that we have amassed about burials in the area to create the DC Master Jewish Burial Database. The sources are varied, but the result thus far includes more than 9,000 records. Although not publicly available yet, the society will perform searches for individuals upon request.
By far, the most exciting project undertaken by the society is the digitization and update of the work of the late Kenneth Poch, the unofficial historian of the Jews Buried at Arlington National Cemetery. At present, the society maintains a website for this project at <www.cygnet.org/ anc2008/index.htm>. The database consists of more than 2,600 names of Jews buried at Arlington. As work progresses, we will post photographs of each grave marker and additional information gathered by Poch and others about each individual. The collection includes many photographs, obituaries, letters, and military documents. As Poch’s materials are digitized, volunteers from JGSGW are entering more current data and adding to the photograph collection. The target for completion of this project is the 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, which will be hosted in Washington, DC, in August 2011.
