Announcement: JGS, Inc. (NY)

The Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc. (NY) presents

New York Family History Research: An Afternoon of Learning in memory of Steven Siegel. 

Sunday, May 19th, 12:30 to 5:30
Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th St. New York

Program:
Rebecca Kobrin, Russell and Bettina Knapp Assistant Professor of American Jewish History, Columbia University.
--Destructive Creators: Jewish Immigrant "Bankers", the Business of Mass Migration, and New Sources for Family History

Anthony W. Robins, Architectural Historian.
--The Genealogy of Brick and Stone: Tracing the History of New York Buildings

Kirsten Fermaglich, Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Michigan State University.
--From Sonnenshein to Sunshine: Jews and Name-Changing in NYC in the 20th Century

Robert J.Friedman, Avrum Geller and Joan Koster-Morales, Professional Genealogists and JGS members.
--Under the Radar: a Panel Discussion on Valuable Lesser-Known Records for Family History Research in NYC Libraries and Archive

Steven Siegel, who died in 2012, was a founding member and past president of JGS NY. He was active in many genealogical, historical and archival organizations.

Register on our website www.jgsny.org where you will find the complete program.

Harriet Mayer
JGS NY VP Communications

Update: KehilaLinks April 2013

We are pleased to welcome the following webpages to JewishGen KehilaLinks We thank the owners and webmasters of these webpages for creating fitting memorials to these Kehilot (Jewish Communities) and for providing a valuable resource for future generations of their descendants.

Dubienka, Poland

Created by Sarah J Greenwald
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Dubienka/
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Novohrad-Volyns'kyy (Novograd Volynskiy, Zvhil) , Ukraine Created by Ron Doctor

Webmaster: Richard Baum
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Novohrad_Volynskyy/
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Ostropol (Ostropolia, Staryy Ostropil), Ukraine

Created by Dean Echenberg Webpage Design by KehilaLinks volunteer Gregory B. Meyer http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/ostropol/index.html

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Sil' (Soslak, Sola) (S-C), Ukraine

Created by Marshall J. Katz
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Sil/
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Sokolivka (Sokolovka), Ukraine

Created by Sarah J Greenwald
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Sokolivka/
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Sokyrnytsia (Szeklence, Sekernice) (S-C), Ukraine

Created by Marshall J. Katz

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Sokyrnytsia/

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Solotvyno (Aknaszlatina, Slatinske Doly) (S-C), Ukraine

Created by Marshall J. Katz

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Solotvyno/

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Stavne (Fenyvesvolgy, Stavna) (S-C), Ukraine

Created by Marshall J. Katz

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Stavne/

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Storozhnytsya (Ordarma, Jovra) (S-C), Ukraine

Created by Marshall J. Katz

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Storozhnytsya/

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Synevyr (Alsoszinever, Sinovir) (S-C), Ukraine

Created by Marshall J. Katz

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Synevyr/

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Tekovo (Tekehaza, Tekehaza) (S-C), Ukraine

Created by Marshall J. Katz

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Tekovo/

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Teresva (Tarackoz), (S-C), Ukraine

Created by Marshall J. Katz
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Teresva/
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Tur'ya Bystraya (Turjasebes, Turi Bystry), (S-C), Ukraine

Created by Marshall J. Katz

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Turya_Bystraya/

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Tyachiv (Tecso, Tacova) (S-C), Ukraine
Created by Marshall J. Katz
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Tyachiv/
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Uhlya (Uglya, Uhla) (S-C), Ukraine

Created by Marshall J. Katz
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Uhlya/
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Izyaslav (Zaslov), Ukraine

Created by Barry Sieger
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Izyaslav/
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Zofyuvka (Zofjowka), Ukraine

Created by Phyllis Grossman
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Zofyuvka/

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KehilaLinks webpages recently updated:

Bocki (Bodki)

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/bocki/Bocki.html
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Ivano Frankivsk (Stanislawow), Ukraine
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Ivano_Frankivsk/index.html
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Kalush (Kalusz, Kalish) (G)

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Kalush/
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Skala-Podol'skaya (Skala) (G)
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/SkalaPodol/

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Some of our KehilaLinks webpages were created by people who are no longer able to maintain them.
We thank them for their past efforts and wish them luck on their future endeavors.
The following webpages are "orphaned" and are available for adoption.

Briceni (Brichany, Britshan) (B)

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Brichany/brichany.htm
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Kolomea (Kolomyja) (G)
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Kolomea/kolomad.htm

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GOOD NEWS!  The following webpage was adopted:
Barysaw (Borisov), Belarus
Adopted by Boris Libenson
http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/borisov/borisov.html
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If you wish to create a KehilaLinks webpage or adopt an exiting "orphaned"
webpage please contact us at: < bloch@mts.net>.

NEED TECHNICAL HELP CREATING A WEBPAGE?: We have a team of dedicated volunteers who will help you create a webpage.

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

Susana Leistner Bloch, VP, KehilaLinks, JewishGen, Inc.
Barbara Ellman, KehilaLinks Technical Coordinator

Announcement: JGS of Cleveland

The Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland's next meeting will be

Wednesday, June 5, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

in the Miller Board Room
27100 Cedat Road, 2nd Floor
Beachwood, Ohio 44122 

Our Featured Speaker will be


Dr. Deborah Abbott

addressing the issue of

The Importance of Staying Organized
 
Deborah A. Abbott, Ph.D., is past president of the African-American Genealogical Society, Cleveland, Ohio (AAGS). She is a retired professor of Counseling from Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio. She holds both the Bachelor of Science and Masters of Education degrees from Tuskegee University (Alabama) and the Ph.D. degree from Kent State University (Ohio). She is an adjunct faculty member at the Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research at Samford University (Alabama). She has presented lectures at a variety of local genealogical societies, libraries, schools, and churches throughout northeast Ohio and the surrounding states. Even though Dr. Abbott specializes in African American genealogy, she enjoys teaching genealogy methodology. Her love for genealogy shows through her talks as she lectures on a wide variety of topics suited for all levels of genealogist. She is presently working on a genealogy project which will contain a newly discovered court document entitled "The Register of Free Negroes in Boyle County, Kentucky, 1852". Dr. Abbott is a member of te Association of Professional Genealogist (APG), the National Genealogical Society (NGS), Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS), Ohio Genealogical Society (OGS), the Genealogical Speakers Guild (GSG) and many local genealogical societies. She has been researching in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky since 1990.

Shalom the Beloved Country

By Ann Rabinowitz

 

One of the amazing and beloved characters in South Africa is Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft who travels many thousands of miles each year to serve and provide succor to the dwindling number of 1,200 Jews in the small country communities throughout South Africa and other places like Mauritius and Zimbabwe. 

 

Once amounting to approximately 40,000 Jews, the country communities are now mainly depleted of their Jews, who have moved away and/or died off.  All that is left of their presence, very often, are the 230 cemeteries and 30,000 graves which the rabbi makes sure are maintained.

The site where his work is featured is:  http://www.africanjewishcongress.com which lists the various places which are supported.  In addition, his story is recounted in the book “The Traveling Rabbi, My African Tribe” as told to Suzanne Belling.

The following are the links to the five part program “Shalom the Beloved Country” produced by the SABC television network about the work of Rabbi Silberhaft:

Part 1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8eyQySqPpU

Part 2:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N50AfIWdGYQ

Part 3:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8p9cIx-kxQ

Part 4:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3LWZgszmw8

Part 5:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuE1TbC6NXM

A further talk by Rabbi Silberhaft about his work amongst the country communities can be seen at the following link when he appeared at the Annual General Meeting of the Telfed Netanya, Israel regional committee meeting on January 4, 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpjmc5j5Zkw

In addition to the Rabbi’s work, the South African Friends of Beth Hatefutsoth, have produced a number of volumes featuring various areas where the country communities are located.  Included in these volumes are the names of the various families who lived in the country communities as well as photos and histories of them.   

Many of these small places were not unlike the shtetlach that the South Africa Jews came from in mainly Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia and other such places.  As an example of the small country communities which were mentioned in these volumes, I will use the place where my own family settled.  It was a tiny place named Botrivier / Bot River or Butter River which was located in the Overberg Region of the Western Cape that I like to call a dorpie or a place smaller than a dorp, which is a small village.

The Country Communities series, Volume III, includes the village.  There were approximately twenty or less Jewish families, at any one time, which lived there.  Many of them came from Kupiskis, Lithuania, and other nearby shtetlach in northwestern Lithuania.  Some of these families were:  Aarenson, Bedil/Rabinowitz, Cessel, Choritz, Cohen, Fig, Gafanowitz/Geffen, Gavendo, Jaffe, Kacev, Kaplan, Osrin, Sack, Silke, Singer, and Thal.

The photo below shows three of the interrelated families who lived in Botrivier including my great uncle, Mordechai Yehudah Leib Choritz, the elderly gentleman, who is sitting on the left. 

 

The Choritz, Jaffe and Fig Families in Botrivier, South Africa

Due to the village’s rural character and seeming idyllic location in the hinterlands away from larger urban sites, many of the occupations of the Jewish families were focused on agriculture (onions, potatoes, grapes/wine, wheat, wild flowers) and on farms such as the historic Companje Drift (once the trading/bartering station of the Dutch East India Company); trade with the local farmers as general dealers in what amounted to country stores; and owning or leasing accommodations in small inns such as the Bot River and Hoew Hoek Hotels which assuaged the needs of people passing through or visiting.

All in all, the concept of the country communities is one of a fast-fading yet vibrant past kept alive by those such as Rabbi Silberhaft, who work directly with the remaining Jewish inhabitants, and with the diligent researchers, who document the history of these communities, one volume at a time.

23 Jews

Jewish American Heritage Month

#1 – Only 23 Jews

By Ann Rabinowitz

Peter Stuyvesant and New Amsterdam at the Time of the Arrival of the Jews

From “Mapping Jewish History”

Harrie Teunissen, MSc, Map Curator, Historian

http://www.siger.org/mauritsstadnewamsterdam/

The Early American SIG Digest had an inquiry regarding the names of the twenty-three (23) Jews from Recife, Brazil, who first came to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam in 1654 which became the City of New York.  Since May has been designated Jewish American Heritage Month, I thought it might be appropriate to start off the month by mentioning this historic group of early Jews. 

Coming to New Amsterdam on the St. Catrine, 1654

An interesting link about the family names of those who arrived in 1654 is found at: http://nychistory.blogspot.com/2010/08/return-to-establishment-of-shearith.html.

The link also refers to a number of other resources which might be of interest too.

According to the information on the link which was extracted from Stephen Birmingham's book "The Grandees", the Sephardic family names were:

• Asser Levy
• Abraham Israel De Piza (or Dias)
• David Israel Faro
• Mose Lumbosco
• Judith (or Judica) Mercado (or De Mercado or de Mereda)
• Ricke (or Rachel) Nunes

There are numerous other references to this topic which can be found online and this is just one of them.  As I find time during the month of May, I will mention other Jews who settled in America.

Honoring Our Volunteers

Dear Friends,

On June 2, we will be honoring Karen Franklin, Gary Mokotoff, and Lance Ackerfeld, for their leadership and dedication to JewishGen.

After working with each of these individuals for years, it gives me great pleasure to see that they will get just a small measure of the recognition they deserve.

Please join me in honoring them and participate in JewishGen’s Spring Brunch, which be held in New York on June 2. We will also publish a tribute journal, and I invite you to place an ad.

You can easily register for the brunch and/or place an ad by calling 646-437-4326 or by visiting www.JewishGen.org/event.

Thank you in advance for your kind consideration.

Warren Blatt

Managing Director

Marian Smith United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Speaker at May 5 JGS Conejo Valley and Ventura County Meeting

Posted by: Jan Meisels Allen

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County (JGSCV) will hold a general meeting, co-sponsored with and located at Temple Adat Elohim, on Sunday, May 5, 2013 1:30-3:30 p.m.at Temple Adat Elohim

2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA

The Program: Obscure Records of Citizenship and Immigration

Not all naturalization and citizenship documents can be found at the National Archives.  This presentation will focus on lesser-known federal records of derived citizenship, repatriation, and correspondence covering a variety of citizenship-related problems and topics.  While the records discussed were created after 1906 some involve events that occurred years or decades before.  In addition to case studies and examples, the presentation will provide guidance for researching the records at either USCIS or the National Archives.

Speaker: Marian Smith is Chief of the Historical Research Branch within the USCIS in Washington. D.C. She is an Historian who first joined that organization in 1988 when it was the INS.  For many years she was a regular speaker at national genealogy conferences and the author of genealogical journal articles about immigration and naturalization history and records.  She now directs the agency’s History, Library, and fee-for-service Genealogy programs. 

On March 1, 2003, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) assumed responsibility for the immigration service functions of the federal government. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was dismantled as a result of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Pub. L. No. 107–296, 116 Stat. 2135) which separated the agency into three components within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  The USCIS Genealogy Program is a fee-for-service program that provides researchers with timely access to historical immigration and naturalization records of deceased immigrants.

Our schmoozing corner starts 20 minutes before the program (1:10 p.m.) facilitated by Hal Bookbinder, founding member of JGSCV and past president of the IAJGS and current member of the JewishGen Board of Governors. The schmoozing corner is to talk with a senior member about suggestions for breaking down your brick walls or obtaining suggestions on where to research for your family history.

We will have Categories A & B of our traveling library available beginning at 1:00 PM to shortly after the meeting. The list of books which are in the JGSCV library is located on our website  http://www.jgscv.org  under library-traveling.

There is no charge to attend the meeting and all are welcome to attend.  Membership forms are available at the meeting, on the http://www.jgscv.org  website. Annual dues are $25 for an individual and $30 for a family. Dues paid are good through December 2013.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County is dedicated to sharing genealogical information, techniques and research tools with anyone interested in Jewish genealogy and family history.

For more information, including directions please see the JGSCV website: http://www.jgscv.org

Jan Meisels Allen

President, JGSCV

Join the Monthly Donor Club!

Please read this important message from Jay Sage.

Dear Friend,

I am writing to you on behalf of JewishGen.org, which has been responsible for my most important and exciting genealogical discoveries.

As you know, JewishGen does not charge for its services, which are utilized by thousands of people throughout the world on a daily basis. They rely on the support of their users—people like us—to continue their important work.

Without JewishGen, it is safe to say that I would not have been nearly as successful in discovering my family history and heritage. Because of this, my wife and I support JewishGen on a monthly basis (in fact, we increased our monthly contribution last year) with automatic donations.

Why monthly and why automatic?

First, JewishGen is focused on both current and future generations, and we wanted JewishGen to know that they can count on our long-term support. Second, our automatic donations allow JewishGen to count on predictable, stable funding—something not to be taken for granted in today’s economic environment. Finally, it makes it easy for us. JewishGen automatically deducts the funds from our credit card (you can also have it deducted from your bank account). It’s safe, easy, and secure.

Consider this: An automatic monthly donation will help support the

• Family Finder (think Linked-In for Jewish Genealogy!)
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• And more!

As you probably know, JewishGen grants “Value Added Services” as a special thank-you to anyone who contributes $100 or more per year. This means that for $9.25 per month, you can support JewishGen in a meaningful way while also receiving Value Added Services. This comes to less than 33¢ per day.

No matter the amount, your gift will be appreciated. JewishGen has some donors who contribute gifts as modest as $5 per month. Others give much more. Whatever your ability, JewishGen will greatly benefit from your support.

Please email info@JewishGen.org with your name and phone number, and someone from JewishGen (probably Warren or Avraham) will personally call you to get you started. The whole process will take less than three minutes, and you will have the satisfaction that your gift is being used to its maximum potential.

Thank you for your consideration and for joining me in supporting JewishGen’s important work.

Sincerely,

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JewishGenner since 1994

JewishGen supporter since 1996

Director, International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS)

Co-Chair, 33rd IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (Boston 2013)

Past President, Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston (JGSGB)

Announcement: JGS of Cleveland

Reminder:

The Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland's next meeting will be

Wednesday, May 1st, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

in the Miller Board Room
27100 Cedat Road, 2nd Floor
Beachwood, Ohio 44122 

Our Featured Speaker will be

Cynthia Turk presenting Forensic Genealogy & Finding Your 21st Century Relatives

Family History Books

By Ann Rabinowitz

One of the interesting additions to the Mormon Family Search site is the family history books which have been scanned.  Going to the site, http://books.familysearch.org/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&pag=nxt&frbg=&scp.scps=scope%3A%28DCMS-FHD%29&tab=default_tab&dstmp=1362212339903&srt=rank&ct=Next+Page&mode=Basic&dum=true&indx=1&vl(1UIStartWith0)=contains&vl(freeText0)=jew&vid=FHD_PUBLIC&fn=search&fromLogin=true, one can plug in the search parameter of “Jew”.  Approximately fifty-one items pop up and each one of these will give a description and then one can view the scanned item.  However, despite being digitized, there are a few in this group which are limited to access at the Family History Library and a screen will pop up and let you know this.

A look at several of these family history books reveals a wide variety of unique topics and includes well-known works by Jewish genealogists such as Arthur Kurzweil as well as little known family historians and others.

Some of these books that can be found are as follows:

From Belarus to Cape Breton and beyond : my family, my roots by Lawrence Irving Gaum, 1938. 

The book provides information on the Gaum family who came to Canada from Kozhanhorodok, Belarus.  In addition, it discusses the Latucha/Goldstein and Marshal (Meisel) families.

The Hebrews in America, A Series of Historical and Biographical Sketches, by Isaac Markens, 1888.

Here, I found an interesting tidbit about the “demand for a new public place of amusement in the city of New York” which was met by the concomitant banning of the Yiddish Theater in Russia in 1883 causing professional Yiddish Theater troupes to flee to America.  This meant that in 1884, there was formation of the Russian-Hebrew Opera Company featuring Moses Silberman, Manager, and Joseph Lateiner, Composer.  The group, under the leadership of Moses Heine-Chaimovich, http://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yt/lex/H/heine-chaimovich-morris.htm leased Turner Hall on E. 4^th Street then took Folks Garden Hall on 113 and 113 ½ Street on the Bowery under a ten year lease which they renamed the Oriental Theater after the nearby Oriental Bank.  The theater held seats for up to 1,000 patrons and cost $0.25 to $1.00.  Their first performance was on May 23, 1884.

Members of the Russian-Hebrew Opera Company were such stars as Sonya Borodkin, Moshe Heine-Chaimovich, Abraham Schengold, Mrs. Moses Silberman, and Jacob Spivakovski, who came from such strongholds of the Yiddish Theater as Moscow, Odessa, Romania, and St. Petersburg.

“Township twenty-five : west of 2nd meridian, range 13, section 10” by Clara Schwartz Hoffer (1887-1975).

This tells the story of the 1905 homesteading experiences of, Clara Schwartz, a Jewish girl from Storozynetz, Bucovina (see JewishGen Yizkor Book link http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/bukowinabook/buk2_108b.html) , and her husband, Israel Hoffer, from Kossowicz, Galicia.  They both left Europe on the same boat for Lipton, Saskatchewan, Canada, which was mainly in an unsettled remote rural area.  Further information on Lipton and its foundation can be found at:  http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/jewish_rural_settlements.html  and also:  http://www.jhcwc.org/friedgut%20lipton%20book%202009.pdf.

“Eight Generations” by D.C. Vickers.

This book which mainly deals with a non-Jewish family tree, has three interesting references to Jewish families as follows:

JANE SUSANNAH LAULHE, (a Portuguese name, to be pronounced 'Loyle-yeh'), a Sephardi Jewish lady, dau. of Jacob Laulhe, by a dau. of Solomon de Castro (or de Castres) (of Dublin and London, d. 1740, s. of David de Castro, who d. at Leghorn on his way back from India c. 1700) by Rachel (m. Bevis Marks Synagogue, London, Sept. 1710), dau. of Abraham Bravo, an Anglo-Jewish poet.  Information about the Bravo and de Castro families will be found in 'The Jews of Ireland' by Louis Hyman (From Earliest Times to the year 1910), published by the Jewish Historical Society of England and Israel Universities Press in 1972 (See p.32).

DANIEL VICARS, of Ballyedmond, Queen's Co., Will dat. 13.4.1781, registered at Registry of Deeds, Dublin, July 1782, s. of Daniel Vicars of Castlegrogan and Ballyedmond (liv. 1753), who was nephew of John Mosse of Adnigall, Queen's Co. There is reason to believe that this Mosse family was of Ashkenazi Jewish Origin

SARAH BARKER, (m. Dec. 1736, d. 14-1-1775), dau. and co-heiress of Capt. George Barker, by Miss Switzer, of an Ashkenazi Jewish family connected with Braunsheim-in-Limburg, Germany.

“Austro-Hungarian Life in Town and Country” by Francis H.E. Palmer, 1903.

This book is one of a series of guides to various places in Europe.  It covers in vivid detail life in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and was written at the turn of the century in a contemporary style which looks upon various ethnic groups in a picturesque manner very often using caricatures that were common at that time. 

If one uses Shift F3 and plugs in “Jew”, all the relevant references to them will pop up.  In addition to this book, one can find a number of other books by the same author including one about Russian life which has chapters on Jews:  http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b323166#page/vi/mode/1up and others about Dutch, French and Swedish life as well.

“The Jews of Valencia and Tortosa and the Spanish Inquisition” by Betty G. Ventura, 2010.

The book covers the detailed archival research, particularly Inquisition records, conducted over a thirty year period regarding the Ventura family who lived during the 1300-1500 period in Spain and who later fled to Italy.  The book is of interest as Valencia and Tortosa were prominent places of Jewish settlement and livelihood in pre-Inquisition Spain.  

Looking at these examples of family history can give one ideas about how to write one’s own story or one can learn more about a particular family or place or something new altogether.  For instance, I particularly enjoyed learning more about the Sephardic research which was undertaken in the Ventura book above.  There is always so much more to learn apart from one’s own family!