Most 19th-century Eastern European archival documents rarely tell us all we would like to know about the people and families we are researching. Very often, for example, the maiden names of mothers are missing on birth records. We, therefore, cannot […]
A Window into the Galveston Immigration Plan at the Central Zionist Archives
Two thousand index cards of Jewish immigrant families to Galveston, Texas, (1907–14) repose at the Central Zionist Archives (CZA) in Jerusalem. They are part of a collection of documents generated by the Galveston Plan, a project of the Jewish Territorialism […]
Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, Israel
Some medieval maps show the city of Jerusalem as the center of the world. Thanks to modern technology, this is becoming more and more of a reality when it comes to Jewish genealogical research. Many archival collections that have gathered […]
International Institute for Jewish Genealogy Reports on Its First Two Years
The International Institute for Jewish Genealogy and Paul Jacobi Center opened its doors in January 2006. In these first two years, it has established itself at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem, embarked on a series of pioneering […]
From Our Mailbox: Spring 2008
Looking for Information On Grandfather in New York Jeffrey Arkin’s recent story, “My Faceless Grandfather,” touched a nerve because my grandfather, Samuel Solomon, also was involved in the paper box industry in Brooklyn in the 1920s. He was a partner […]
Finding Your Canadian Ancestors: A Beginner’s Guide, by Sherry Irvine and Dave Obee
Finding Your Canadian Ancestors: A Beginner’s Guide, by Sherry Irvine and Dave Obee. Softcover, large format, 270 pages. Ancestry Publishing, Provo, Utah. $18.95. Available through Ancestry.com Several Jewish-Canadian historians have done an admirable job in recent decades of demonstrating how […]
Book Review: Posen Place Name Indexes: Identifying Place Names Using Alphabetical and Reverse Alphabetical Indexes, by Roger P. Minert
Posen Place Name Indexes: Identifying Place Names Using Alphabetical and Reverse Alphabetical Indexes, by Roger P. Minert, (Provo, UT: GRT Publications, 2004), 101 pp., soft-cover, ISBN 0-9716906-6-9. $9.95 from <www.grtpublications.com>. Note: Roger Meinert published a series of 23 books (and […]
Ask the Experts: Spring 2008, by Randy Daitch and Eileen Polakoff
I have hit a wall and hope you can help. My mother’s parents, Leib (Louis) Klukovsky and Beila (Bella) Aronin, both came to the U.S. in 1914. Each came to a brother-in-law, my grandfather to Benjamin Lieberman and my grandmother […]
Highlights from JGS Newsletters: Spring 2008
Diane Goldman To read an article or news release excerpted in U.S. Update, order the issue of the publication in which it appeared from the appropriate JGS. A list of Jewish Genealogical Societies can be found at <iajgs.org>/members/members.html>. A list […]
Avotaynu Contributing Editors: Spring 2008
From Our Contributing Editors (Australia) First National Jewish Genealogy Conference, The Great Synagogue: A History of Sydney’s Big Shule, Insurance policy registers, German Jewish Cemetery Database project; (Canada) Jewish farming colonies, earliest Jews of Montreal, genealogical research and financial identity, […]
My Search for a Twice-Hidden Child
As we plan a visit to our ancestral towns, we hope against hope that someone may still be in these towns with a memory of the Jewish people who once lived there—if not of our own families, at least of […]
“Deported—Likely to Become a Public Charge”
Shocking words! Especially when you discover that they were applied to your mother’s family. Yet these were the words I saw on the document before me that I had just chanced upon while searching for something else. I had long […]
Researching Old U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Correspondence and Case Files
An earlier version of this article was published July–September 2005 in NW Updates, an internal, National Archives electronic newsletter—Ed. For determined and methodical researchers looking for a fascinating yet obscure gem of a resource related to 20th-century immigration […]
Bringing the “Great Terror” Home
Family stories had Mowshe (Morris) Rosenfeld coming from “Minsk, Pinsk, Russia.” As my research progressed, I learned from Morris’ ship’s passenger list that he had, in fact, come from a place called Turovo. Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwo Poliskich, the multi-volume, standard […]
Coming to America through Hamburg and Liverpool Part II: Crossing the Atlantic
In Part I of the saga, “Coming to America Through Hamburg and Liverpool,” in AVOTAYNU, Vol. XXII, No. 4, (Winter 2006), pp. 15–22, we tracked the six Boonin children across Europe to Hamburg, their crossing of the North Sea, their […]
Search Bureau for Missing Relatives: Brief History and Current Status of Records
As head of the Jewish Agency’s Search Bureau for Missing Relatives in Jerusalem for many years until my retirement in 1999, I have helped many Jewish genealogists locate family living in Israel and abroad. Since then, I have often have […]
German Passports Found in Shanghai
This article appeared initially in The Kosher Koala, newsletter of the Australian Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc., Vol. 14, No. 1, March 2008. It is reproduced with the permission of the author— Ed. Sitting at the computer, my wife, Rieke, knew […]
IAJGS Chicago 2008 Program: Guns, Cats and DNA
Perplexing as it may seem, the program for the 28th International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) Conference on Jewish Genealogy to be held in Chicago, August 17–22, 2008, may in fact be largely characterized as “guns, cats and DNA.” […]
Susan King Steps Down as JewishGen Director; Warren Blatt Assumes Leadership
JewishGen, the preeminent Jewish genealogical website <www.jewishgen.org>, has had a change in leadership. Susan E. King, the ebullient founder and director of JewishGen, relinquished the reins effective March 31, 2008. Warren Blatt, JewishGen’s vice-president and editor-in-chief since 2004, has taken […]
Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, Israel
Some medieval maps show the city of Jerusalem as the center of the world. Thanks to modern technology, this is becoming more and more of a reality when it comes to Jewish genealogical research. Many archival collections that have gathered […]
Can DNA Testing Confirm Jewish Ancestry?
People often ask, “Can DNA tell me if I am Jewish?” The answer, of course, is “no,” since DNA shows genetic history while religion refers to one’s current belief system. If, however, the question is reframed as, “Can DNA reveal […]
Tombstone Identification through Database Merging
This article originally appeared in the Fall/Winter issue of Roots-Key, the journal of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles. It is reprinted with permission—Ed. The development of sophisticated tools designed to integrate—or merge—family data from different sources and databases […]
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
The well-known saying, “No good deed goes unpunished,” may fairly be applied now to the monumental accomplishment of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in bringing the records of the International Tracing Service (ITS) of the International Committee of the […]
Three Manhattan Databases: Using Newspapers to Find Bankruptcy Cases Leading to Court Cases
This article describes the use of three separate resources to augment information about an ancestor, including approximate date of residence in a specific locale, addresses and general lifestyle (in this case down to the type and number of underclothes the […]
Small Light
When she came to the phone, she said, “I know who you are.” It was about 5:00 p.m. on the East Coast, September 21, 2005. Her daughter, Amy, answered and said her mother was outside. Could she call me back? […]
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