Spring 2017 Vol. 26 No.1
Reclaim the Records via video conference in April with founder Brooke Shreier Ganz Brooke Shreier Ganz gave us permission online, for free, for eve- to print from her website. At www.reclaimthe rec- ryone. Want to learn ords.org you will read, “Tired of restrictions and more? Read our Fre- paywalls around public data? So are we. quently asked Ques- “We’re Reclaim the Records, a not-for-profit tions.” group of genealogists, historians, researchers, You may sign up for and open government advocates who are filing their free e-mail news- Freedom of Information requests to get public letter to keep up with their latest news! You can data released back into the public domain. We’re also follow them on Twitter and Like Us on Face- collecting information about archivally important book for more updates. data sets that are not available online or on mi- “Here's what we've been up to (so far) crofilm, and we’re using Freedom of Information Records Request #1 (Pilot Project) laws and Open Data initiatives to get copies of Current Status: Litigation Successful! We won! this information released back to the public. Unfortunately, We Were Not Awarded Attorneys' “We’ve started our work in archives, librar- Fees ies, and government agencies in New York, New Records Have All Been Completely Uploaded! Jersey, and Missouri, and are expanding into dif- Records Request #1 - Records Arrival ferent parts of the country, based on demand Winner, winner, chicken dinner! These are 46 of from people like you. Along the way, we’ll be the 48 microfilms we won from the New York documenting everything we’ve learned about fil- City Municipal Archives in late 2015, though our ing Freedom of Information Act requests, and pilot project. creating a Do-It-Yourself guide for genealogists, Index to New York City Marriage Applica- open data fans, and others who want their state, tions, Affidavits, and Licenses, 1908-1929 local, and Federal records made more available. “Our goal is to get these record sets put Reclaim the Records p 16
President Amy Wachs preparing to lead our first ever presentation by Skype with Brooke at her home in California on the screen behind Amy. Thanks to the Menorah Park techni- cians for setting up the equipment.
The Kol Spring 2017
Message from our President Amy Wachs
For our first 2017 issue of The Kol, I’d like to The Cuyahoga tell you about the year we have planned for the County Lineage Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland. Groups Thirteenth We began 2017 with a drawing for prizes Annual Banquet that included annual subscriptions to Ances- and Induction try.com, MyHeritage.com, and Family Tree Mag- Ceremony will be azine. We had a large turnout at our January held on Sunday, meeting for our drawing and speaker. Susan May 7, 2017, from 1:30 to 4:15 p.m. Kirkman Zake spoke about the Jews of Tetiev. In February, we welcomed Israel Pickholtz from at the Holiday Inn Cleveland South in Independ- Israel. He shared his experiences utilizing DNA ence, Ohio. The Jewish Genealogy Society of in his family research. Mary Jamba offered Cleveland is hosting and planning the banquet guidance on using Google at our March meeting. this year. Ken Bravo will be the Keynote Our winter meetings were held at Park Syna- Speaker. Our member Paul Wolf will be induct- gogue East this year, and were very well attend- ed. Prepaid reservations must be received by ed. the Cuyahoga County Lineage Groups by April 25, 2017. We returned to our Menorah Park location on March 20 for a new special workshop we of- We have many projects and events in the works, and welcome your participation. Volun- fered for advanced beginners. Our former presi- teering is a great way to get more involved. dent Ken Bravo taught the workshop on how to use World War I Draft Registration records. Please let me know if you’d like to help out at meetings or programs. Looking forward to spring and summer, we have more exciting programs planned. Our April You can learn more about our activities and speaker will be Brooke Shreier Ganz, Founder of events through our emails, website, Facebook The Kol Reclaim the Records, who will speak to us via page, and . If you are not receiving our videoconference from California. In May, Pro- e-mail notifications, please let me know. We are fessor Peter Haas will speak to us about North- increasingly communicating electronically, so east Ohio Jews and the Civil War. Betty Franklin please keep us up to date on your email ad- dress and contact information. You can “like” will explain how to make the most of Fami- lySearch.org at our June meeting. Sean Martin us on Facebook to receive updates via social will return in July to tell us about the Soviet Jew- media. ry Oral History Project. In August, Ken Bravo Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you will speak about using historical newspapers. at our next meeting! Best wishes for a happy This is just a partial listing of our planned 2017 Passover!
programs. You can find our full year calendar of programs listed on our website at http:// clevelandjgs.org/calendar.htm. Amy
The Kol 2 Spring 2017
Index p. 34 Upcoming Meetings
From April through November, meetings are held at Menorah Park’s second floor Miller Boardroom, 27100 Cedar Road, Beachwood, at 7:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month. Board members are available from 7:00 p.m. to assist with individual research questions. Guests are welcome. See our website www.clevelandjgs.org/ .
Sunday, May 7 – Lineage Society Luncheon (see flyer p. 4) Wednesday, May 3 -- Northeast Ohio Jews and the Civil War, presented by Dr. Peter Haas, Abba Hillel Silver Professor of Jewish Studies Emeritus, Department of Religious Studies, Case West ern Reserve University Wednesday, June 7 – Make the Most of Family Search.org. , presented by Betty Franklin of the Westlake LDS Family History Center Wednesday, July 12 -- Soviet Jewry Oral History Project, presented by Sean Martin, Ph.D., Associate Curator for Jewish History, Western Reserve Historical Society. Wednesday, August 2 – Using Historical Newspapers, presented by Ken Bravo, Vice-President, IAJGS and past president, JGSC
Annual Conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies Future IAJGS Conferences 2018 - Warsaw, Poland -- 38th Conference
Future IAJGS Conferences 2018 - Warsaw, Poland -- 38th Conference and 2019
April 26-29, 2017, The Ohio Genealogical Society (OGS) annual confer- ence will be held at the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center in Sandusky, Ohio. See www.ogs.org for more information.
The Kol 3 Spring 2017
You can print out just this page to make a reservation for the Cuyahoga Coun- ty Lineage Groups luncheon on May 7. RSVP is due by April 25. Our group is the host for this event.
The Kol 4 Spring 2017
Membership prize drawing In January we held a prize drawing from members who had paid their 2017 dues by December 31, 2016.
The winners were One-year subscription to Family Tree Maga- zine Sylvia Abrams Murray and Sondra Davis Marlene Englander Dr. Gerald Erenberg Fred and Pearl Livingstone
One-year subscription to World Explorer An- cestry.com Membership V. P. Cynthia Spikell and Treas- Ivan Hurwitz urer Stuart Schulhof drew the names. One-year subscription to MyHeritage.com Dr. Brian Kaye
Brian Kaye won a one-year subscription to MyHeritage.com.
Sylvia Abrams and Murray Davis with their prize certifi- cates.
Ivan Hurwitz won a year’s subscription to the world version of Ancestry.com.
The Kol 5 Spring 2017 Reaources
March workshop on “How to Use World War I Draft Registration Records” presented by Ken Bravo Sylvia Abrams and Ken Bravo planned a logged into Ancestry.com to try what Ken had workshop for advanced beginners. Ken ex- taught them. Everyone got individual help. We plained what information the records have that could hear the comments when someone found would interest us and how to access the rec- a piece of information. ords. There were three different registrations, Besides Ken and Sylvia, others who attend- with different information on the forms. He also ed to help were Amy Wachs, Phyllis Bravo, talked about the World War II “Old Man’s Draft”. and Cynthia Spikell. Participants brought their laptops and
Carol Paley and Murray Davis got front row seats.
Noreen Koppelman- Goldstein won the drawing Carol Paley and for a three-month subscrip- tion to Ancestry.com. Eileen Simon searching for draft information.
Phyllis Bravo and Sylvia Abrams. Exam- ples of Sylvia’s research were used .
Amy Wachs and Ken Bravo confer.
The Kol 6 Spring 2017 Local and Ohio
“Twisted, Gnarly Tree Branches? No Problem!” by Giselle Hornsby
Twisted, gnarled tree-branches on my hus- KOLLENDER. Using my Cuyahoga County Pub- band’s family tree led me down a truly interesting lic Library card, I had searched the historic Cleve- yellow brick road a few years ago. Before I had land Plain Dealer online (which is an amazing an Ancestry.com account, and before I really goldmine), and had found a 1904 property trans- started delving into family tree research, my hus- fer with Toba’s name, but it led me nowhere. band had stated he thought his heritage included Well, last year, in my hometown, I attended a Jewish roots on his father’s side. No one seemed meeting of the Me- to believe him, but as I started to really research, dina County Gene- Member Giselle Hornsby, I unearthed the truth, which went way beyond alogical Society, who lives in Medina, Ohio, any expectations… and a member retired recently, and is us- My husband’s father, Jack Lewa HORNSBY there recommend- ing her time well, doing ge- (1922-1977) had a birth certificate listing his ed I look for proper- name as Elias Lewa GRAVER, with father Abra- ty records from the nealogical research. In this ham Graver and mother Claire (née LEWA) 1880s using the account she tells how she Graver. Armed with this basic information, my Cuyahoga County used various sources to initial foray into searching was at the Western Fiscal Officer web- solve a family mystery. Reserve Historical Society website, under the ar- site (Ed. note: See ea, Research and Collections>Research Library issues of The Kol, >Databases & Indexes > Genealogy Index. When Summer 2013, Summer 2014, Autumn 2015, and I entered GRAVER, the mystery started to unrav- this issue p. 26 ) and BINGO! … I found transac- el. The marriage and death information section tions and actual handwritten documents dating indicated that Abraham Graver was the son of back to 1891 involving the Gravers, and there Elias Graver. And that made sense, as my father was name of Morris KOLLENDER and wife Hele- -in-law’s name was Elias Lewa Graver! Armed na, as well as Mortimer Kollender. Assumption with death notice dates from both The Jewish In- had been that Toba Graver’s maiden name was dependent and The Jewish News and Observer, I Kollender, but I had seen it also listed as used microfilm to get copies for my husband’s GLICKSMAN and KROHNGOLD, too. great-grandparents Elias and Toba GRAVER. Just this month, I was referred to the German While at WRHS, I stumbled on a “Books for Genealogy Group website* as a possible source Sale” shelf, and was amazed to find a book titled, to check for a NYC death notice for this brother, Anshe Emeth-125 Years, The Park Synagogue and while I did find a marriage record for the son, on which one page, labeled, “Early Presidents of Mortimer, I have not found Moritz Kollender’s Park Synagogue”, had a photo of Elias Graver! death notice yet (and hoping it lists his sister I bought the book, and later had the WRHS librarians pull copies of records from the Deutsch GRAVER Funeral Home, and also found Elias Graver’s es- see p. 8 tate/will and naturalization papers at the Cuya- hoga County Archives. We made a visit to Glen- ville Cemetery (Elias and Toba), Mayfield Ceme- tery (Abraham), and the Park Synagogue Main building on Mayfield Rd., where a kindly custodi- an showed us a hallway with photos of founding members/Presidents, and there hung a photo of Elias Graver! I hit a stumbling block in regards to a brother listed in Toba Graver’s obituary, named Morris
The Kol 7 Spring 2017 GRAVER from p. 7 as Toba Graver of Cleveland!). I also contacted custody of 3-year-old little Elias Lewa Graver Cynthia Spikell to ask after a NYC Library con- was granted to the mother. She eventually re- tact name, to aid me in searching for an obituary, married to Fred Hornsby, and in the Courthouse and she was able to provide a name, so that is records, I found a 1941 Petition for Name on my “to do” list! Change for Elias Lewa Graver to become Jack Using Ancestry.com, I searched for Public Lewa Hornsby. Trees for a Mortimer Kollender, and hit the jack- Possibly the most interesting twisted tree- pot. I messaged the owner to ask about any branch I found during all my research was a sim- known history, which she provided as finding her ple Google search on the name Elias Graver, ancestors to be Moritz and Helena Kollender and this “Back in the Day” story popped up (very from the Austrian Empire. I offered to get her a last paragraph, about Gravers in Cleveland). DNA kit (to see if she would be a distant cousin This treasure-of-a-find led me to eventually go to to my husband), but she declined. the Cleveland Public Library downtown, and My trip to the Cuyahoga County Courthouse spend hours obtaining front-section headline sto- provided me with divorce papers for Abraham ries on the baffling case of Elias Graver’s eldest Graver and Claire Lewa Graver from 1925, when GRAVER see p. 9
In April Giselle heard from a distant GRAVER re- lation via an Ancestry.com DNA hit. A woman from the GRAVER/FRIEDMAN line contacted her. She's in the Columbus area. Her ancestor is Emma Graver (sibling of her hubby's grandfather) who wed Samuel Friedman... so, she ends up being his 2nd-cousin-1x- removed, or her dad is her hubby's 2nd cousin.
The Kol 8 Spring 2017 GRAVER from p. 8 son’s new bride suing him. From April 1890 through 1892, Cleveland’s newspapers (Plain Dealer, Press, Leader) had articles on this baffling, torrid case. And, one of the most rewarding outcomes of this research was the connection made with my hus- band’s 3rd cousin, a descendant of Elias and Toba’s daughter, Emma Graver who wed Samuel FRIED- MAN. I had contacted her via Ancestry.com, and then we e-mailed. Eventually, as she and her hus- band were traveling from Canada back to Florida, they visited with us for three days and she and I spent time at Willet Street Cemetery (I’ve created memorials for ancestors on www.Findagrave.com), WRHS, and the Library, churning out copies of the Graver newspaper stories, staring into microfilm ma- chines, and having a great time. She was able to provide me with photos of Toba and some of the off- spring, but none of my husband’s grandfather, Abra- ham. My experience using the various resources to uncover the truth, and the relationship between my husband and his grandfather Abraham Graver, and his great-grandparents, was truly like an episode from “Finding Your Roots”.
* This group has partnered with the Italian Genealog- ical Society to put NYC records online, and is the group that is indexing the material that Brooke Shreier Ganz got released. www.italiangen.org/ records-search/ .
What is a lineage society?
On p. 4 is a form to RSVP for the Cuyahoga are three classifications: “Pioneers” whose an- County Lineage Societies luncheon. Lineage so- cestors were in Cuyahoga County by December cieties are organizations that recognize the 31, 1850, “Settlers” whose ancestors were in bloodline of a person back to an ancestor. We Cuyahoga County by December 31, 1880, and have heard of the famous national ones, like the “Centurions” whose ancestors were in Cuyahoga General Society of Mayflower Descendants and County 100 years previous to the year of induc- the Daughters of the American Revolution, but tion. there are many more, including some at the state Go to http://rootsweb.ancestry.com/ohcdrt or local level. Cuyahoga County genealogy for more information on how to apply. groups have one for Cuyahoga County. There
The Kol 9 Spring 2017 Local and Ohio
South Euclid-Lyndhurst Library to open a Memory Lab
It will be in an enclosed section inside the li- A $250,000 grant from the Jack, Joseph and brary. Families, organizations, non-profits and Morton Mandel Foundation, created The Memory other groups will be able to preserve their story Lab and it will be named in honor of the brothers. using digitization and traditional storytelling. There may be a possible ribbon-cutting cere- They plan to have “computers, photo and mony for the Memory Lab in April. document scanners, a VHS-to-DVD converter, a cassette-to-MP3 converter, a turntable for digitiz- ing records, a Super 8 film-to-digital converter, and software for photo and video editing.” Clients will learn how to use the equipment Make sure your and get creative in preserving memories in train- memories will ing programs taught by library staffers. It will be the first memory lab in the library system. The be forever. branch already houses the William N. Skirball Writers' Center, where people learn to write their memoirs.
Leon Wiesenfeld, editor of the old Yiddishe Velt in Cleveland
Arnold Berger contacted me In January York, answered some of Arnie’s questions about 2017 when doing research on Leon Wiesenfeld, the Wiesenfelds. She and her sister, who lives in editor of the old Yiddishe Velt and other Yiddish- Cleveland, are related to Esther Wiesenfeld language publications. Arnie is editor of the through their mother. Michele told Arnie that her ClevelandJewishHistory.net website, and when mother was sent from Europe in early 1939 to searching for Leon, found the obituary of his wife live with Esther and Leon in safety. Michele felt Esther. It mentioned her being survived by two very close to the couple. She even has Leon’s adopted granddaughters. Arnie asked me if I Yiddish typewriter. could find out who they were, and I soon found Arnie included the article on the website at one of them, Michele Lowy Seligmann. I had met http://www.clevelandjewishhistory.net/people/ her at an IAJGS conference and was able to tell wiesenfeld-grandchildren-draft.htm under “CJH - Arnie how to contact her. Leon and Esther Wiesenfeld's Adopted Grand- Michele, now living in Port Chester, New children”. ~~Cynthia Spikell
Ohio marriage records online Sunny Morton covered the free Ohio mar- vers 60 percent of all the Ohio counties. riage records available on FamilySearch.org in She also suggests searching the online cata- the Ohio Genealogy News, Winter 2016, pp. 33- log of the Oho History Connection (AKA The Ohio 5. We have written about these before, but it Historical Society) for published indexes -- http:// does not hurt to repeat. Sunny recommended us- catalog.ohiohistory.org/Presto/home/ . We think ing “Ohio, County Marriages,1789 - 2013” first, this would be useful if your relative married in a because all counties are included. It has 4.7 mil- smaller Ohio county than the ones we normally lion names, and also images, and it is still being search. updated. The article tells more about how to find elu- The other database is “Ohio, Marriages, 1800 sive certificates and how to access certificates -1958”, which has 2.2 million names, but only co- that do not have online images.
The Kol 10 Spring 2017 January meeting
“Before the Holocaust: Jews of Tetiev” presented by Susan Kirkman Zake
In January on a bitter-cold day, an overflow crowd, many of them “Tetievers”, came to our meeting. What is a “Tetiever”? Someone whose ancestors came from Tetiev in Ukraine, now known as Tetiyev. Tetievers settled in Cleveland at least by 1903, and they had their own shul which eventually, after several mergers, became part of Cedar- Sinai Synagogue. Many of them and their descendants are buried at the Ridge Road #2 Cemetery. They came to hear about their ancestors, because Susan Kirkman Zake had developed a project to tell their story. In 2015 an article ran in The Cleveland Jewish News mentioning how many Jews died there after World War I and the 1920 pogrom. The article asked for descend- ants to contact Prof. Zake for her project. Susan gave the background of the ZAKE family in Cleveland. Yone Zake came to Cleveland around 1908 and lived with Morris SPIKE (probably his wife’s brother) and his family on Orange Ave. Susan Kirkman Yone was listed there on the 1910 census as “Annia Saika”, with occu- Zake is an assistant pation of “rag picker”. His nephew Hy SPIKELL recalled years later professor in the that he was called “Shāka” by the family. (A variation on Zake?) Later School of Journalism Yone worked as a shamas at Kinsman Jewish Center and boarded and Mass Communi- near there. His older son Ben entered Canada in 1913 and crossed cation at Kent State into the U. S. at Buffalo, New York. World War I and the Russian Rev- University, where she olution intervened. His younger son Jake did not come until 1923, after teaches multimedia his mother Basya SPIVAK ZAKE and sister Dina were killed in a pog- storytelling, Web pro- rom in Tetiev. Jake worked as a house painter. gramming for multi- Susan became interested in the history of Tetiev and its pogroms. media journalism, re- When researching, she found that the 1897 Revision List has not sur- porting public affairs, vived. Going back in time, she found that it was Catherine the Great big data and media who allowed Jews to live in Ukraine. They were the merchants and ethics. craftsmen. She said the Jews of Tetiev lived near the local synagogue, Her husband, which was at the end of a road and consisted of three buildings. Bruce, is the de- The Jews and non-Jews of the town got along until 1918 when Si- scendant of Tetievers. mon Petliura’s government took over. He did not control the perpetra- Her project to docu- tors of the pogroms. There were roaming groups of bandits. The Jews ment the Jews of were seen as Bolshevik sympathizers by the Ukrainian nationalists Tetiev and their story who opposed the Bolsheviks. led her to visit there in Overall there were more than 800 pogroms in more than 500 loca- 2016.
Tetiev-born cousins in Cleveland -- Samuel L. Spike / Spikell, and Ben Zake, older son of Yone Zake. Photo c. 1920. Photo from Susan Zake’s website.
Jews of Tetiev article cont’d p. 34; resources p. 12
The Kol 11 Spring 2017
Note: The ShtetLinks Page -- Tetiev/Tetiyev - KehilaLinks on JewishGen.org at kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/tetiev/tetiev.htm which was created by Irwin B. Margiloff z"l is in need of an editor since the death of Irwin.
Tetiev resources sent by Susan Zake: See p. 24 for more information.
BOOKS: The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919, Elias Heifetz, J.U.D. The Pogroms in Ukraine under the Ukrainian Government — 1917-1920 (French); Leo Motzkin Abramson, H. (1999). A prayer for the government: Ukrainians and Jews in revolutionary times, 1917-1920. Cambridge, Mass.: Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University. Batchinsky, J., Margolin, A., Vishnitzer, M., Zangwill, I., The Jewish Pogroms in Ukraine and the Ukrainian People’s Republic, Issued by the Friends of the Ukraine. Washington, D.C. 1919. Gergel, N. (1951). The Pogroms in the Ukraine in 1918-21 (K. Pinson, Ed.). YIVO Annual of Jew- ish Social Science, VI, 237-252. The Ukraine Terror and the Jewish Peril, A report by The Federation of Ukrainian Jews, in Aid of the Pogrom Sufferers in the Ukraine, London, Dec. 16, 1921.
DOCUMENTS: Jews, Pogroms, and the White Movement: A Historiographical Critique
ANCESTRY AND GENEALOGY RESOURCES: Avotaynu Online; Jewish Genealogy and Family History
HISTORICAL RESOURCES: Western Reserve Historical Society (Cleveland, Ohio) YIVO Archives and Library Collections at the YIVO Institute of Jewish Research (New York City) “The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe.” YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Ac- cessed at http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org. Web. 6 Oct. 2015. History of Jewish communities in Ukraine History of Jewish communities in Kiev province (gubernia) Ghetto Fighters’ Archives and Library. Part of Beit Lohamei Haghetaot, the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum “Haymarket to the Heights”, Jeffrey Morris’ history of the synagogues in Cleveland http://jewish cleveland.weebly.com/
OTHER TETIEV STORIES: The story of Sam and Minnie Klausner in Cleveland “Recalling My Youth”; David Spevack’s story of surviving the Tetiev pogroms
JEWISH CEMETERY PROJECTS: The Town of Tetiev: City of Tetiev government site; use Google translate browser extension
See kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/tetiev/tetiev.htm for some of the above and lots of information and a cemetery enumeration for Ridge Road #2 with some inscriptions.
The Kol 12 Spring 2017 February meeting "Lessons in Jewish DNA - One Man's Journey and What He Learned on the Journey" presented by Israel Pickholtz, author One Family, One People
The family was traced to PIKHOLZ from Sha- lat, East Galicia, in the 1800’s. Israel has tried to find the descendants and ancestors of that family, and had his DNA tested to help him. Because of “endogamy” (marrying within a group) there are fewer potential ancestors than it seems be- cause one ancestor is counted multiple times. Israel distinguished between “structural” endogamy -- All Jews are related multiple times, resulting in multiple DNA matches, and “personal” endogamy -- Cousin marriages occurred often which makes descendants seem to be more closely related than they really are. He uses FamilyTree DNA company which has different DNA tests available. The y chromosome re- sults do not tell how far back the persons are related. If the DNA test cannot tell if the matching chromo- somes come from the father or mother, one can get the cousins on the father’s side tested, and the cous- Israel Pickholtz is a native of Pittsburgh ins on the mother’s side tested. But Jews can match who has lived in Israel since 1973, and just because of the reasons above. now lives in Jerusalem. He is a profes- If you want to prove relationships, get as many sional genealogist who manages the relatives as you can tested. Test them now because DNA kits of 90 of his relatives. there might not be a substitute if they pass away be- fore being tested. Look at the individual chromo- He also observed: somes. He said you still might not get proof, but you There is a third party tool at Ged- will be laying the foundation for future study. DNA can match.com that matches DNA results definitely prove that a connection is not true. He said to get more personal matches. You can have a perfect mitochondrial “No” is an answer. match with someone whose shared Israel also said that sometimes you find a com- ancestor is from 400 years ago. plete solution, sometimes you find a partial solution, Brothers do not match exactly; only sometimes you find a hint of a solution, and some- twins match. times you find nothing. But if you do not test, you will Ancestry.com does not allow certain find nothing. searches, so transfer results to Fami- He advised us to: ly Tree DNA. Keep an open mind and consider all possibilities. 23 and Me is twice as expensive, but Do not jump to conclusions. they do medical testing. • Learn to use new tools. Family Tree DNA is the smallest of Be inspired. the pools, but has better analytical • Then you will keep learning new information. tools.
The Kol 13 Spring 2017 March meeting
Googling Grandpa: Tips, Tricks and Hacks for Finding Your Family Online Using the Most Powerful Search Engine presented by Mary Jamba
Google can tell where you are located, although you can turn that off. So which computer you are using to search can change the results that Google gives you. Think of the key words that will give you the closest that you are searching for. You can use genealogy as part of the search term. Mary said, “One search is not enough.” Look at your results and change the search terms and search again. Cast a wide net at first. Change terms as need- ed. She gave the example that “Cuyahoga” is more specific than “Cleveland”, as it is located only in north- east Ohio (not in Tennessee nor England). Hints: Use quotation marks to search for an exact term. “John * Smith” will search for a middle initial. Try searching for last name first. Use a minus before a word that you want to exclude. Google has a built-in Mary Jamba is a trustee of the calculator: Just type in death date minus birth date to Ohio Genealogical Society and find age at death. Try “in the title: (word)”. You can also past president of the Greater search Google for an image. Use *for unknown or am- Cleveland Genealogical Society. biguous letters Ne*man for Newman/Neuman. Other- wise, you can use OR: Newman OR Neuman. Google ignores capitals, punctuation, and special characters. Google Translate is very helpful for reading foreign languages. http://tinyurl.com/z84397z . (Original Google Books has out-of-copyright books. Mary url: http://www.genealogy intime.com/ says to download the one you have found, as it might articles/country-guide-to-google- disappear from the website. search-engines-page3.html ) With Google Maps, you can walk down a street and view buildings, etc. “The Google country engines Google attempts to rank the results you see by rele- are in the language of the country. vance. If an English version of the search engine is available or is already in English it listed n/a.” More on Google ~ Jan Meisels Allen See the 2015 Summer Kol p. 37 for searching Google by date range. Google searches vary by coun- try -- article http://tinyurl. Com/ “GenealogyInTime has posted the 192 search engines GoogleSearchesVary by country and region. The list will be updated periodi- Google Translate (http:// cally to reflect the latest changes on Google, and there- translate.google.com/) -- type in the fore, you may wish to bookmark this website: URL of a website and
Google see p. 15
The Kol 14 Spring 2017 Google from p. 14 it translates the entire page. And it even auto- to narrow the search down and to display only detects the language (most of the time). Howev- web pages on the indgensoc.org web site that er, this does not always work. contain the word “Pike” followed by a space and Google will calculate currency exchange then followed by the word “county.” No other rates for foreign currencies. variations are allowed. (Upper and lower case is ignored, however.)” He got 250 results. From Dick Eastman’s letter of May 5, 2015, … “Another use might be when you decide to titled “Google Power Search: How to Search buy a new scanner and you vaguely remember Just One Web Site”: seeing an article some time ago in this newslet- ter about scanners. You go to http:// “There’s a lot more you can do with Google www.Google.com and enter the following: than just search the Internet. Instead of search- ing the entire Internet, you may be more inter- ested in Seeing search results from just one web site. To do this, go to http:// www.Google.com and enter the word “site:” fol- lowed by a colon (:) followed immediately (with no space) by the web site’s address. Next, add a “Again, all results displayed point to East- space and then the word(s) you wish to search man’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and to only for. It should look something like this: the web pages that have the word “scanner” in site:xxx.com search-term . Notice the web site’s them. This is a great way to find an article that address is given without the letters “http”, with- you read a long time ago on a site, and want to out the colon, without the slashes and without find it again. Sometimes Google Search works “www.” better than an embedded search right on the “For instance, … enter into Google: website itself.” site:indgensoc.org “Pike County” . I placed the words “Pike County” inside quote marks. That isn’t absolutely necessary but does tell Google
In March we met at Park Synagogue East.
The Kol 15 Spring 2017
Reclaim the Records from p 1
Reclaim The Records‘ first FOIL request, our pilot “December 14, 2015: Reclaim The Records project, was an attempt to get access under the New writes a friendly “heads up” e-mail to the New York York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) to the City Clerk’s Office, letting them know that we would index to some old marriage documents that were soon be submitting a records request to them under stored only in the New York City Municipal Archives in the New York State Freedom of Information Law lower Manhattan. There are two sets of marriage- (FOIL). You can read that letter online here. We even related records kept on-site at the NYC Municipal Ar- provided for them the legal precedent under which we chives. The better-known is the late 1800’s-1937 mar- would be making the request. (For the legal nerds out riage certificates, originally kept by the NYC Health there, it’s Gannett Co., Inc. v. City Clerk’s Office, City Department. There are two indices to this record col- of Rochester, 596 NYS 2d 968, affirmed unanimously, lection, commonly called the “Brides Index” and 197 AD 2d 919 (1993).) We hoped this letter would Grooms Index”, to help you find the right document. ease the way for our records request and help make Both the certificates and its indices are available on the whole process run smoothly. Turns out we were FamilySearch microfilm. They have also been tran- naive… scribed and turned into a free searchable database “December 30, 2015: We formally submit our rec- through a volunteer-run project organized by non- ords request under the New York State FOIL. As usu- profit genealogy groups. (E.g., The Italian Genealogi- al, we use the website MuckRock to post and organ- cal group that Steve Morris has a link to.) That volun- ize all our requests and official responses in real-time, teer-created transcribed database was also recently visible to the public. Below is the full text of that let- added to Ancestry.com. ter… Read More... “If you’ve ever ordered a copy of your family’s “Records Request #3 New York City marriage certificate, this is almost cer- Current Status: Request Acknowledged by FOIL Of- tainly what you got: a brief two-page document from ficer this Health Department record series. Index to New York State Deaths (Outside of New “But our FOIL request was not about those certifi- York City), 1880-1956 cates. Instead, we were trying to get public access to “On January 3, 2016, Reclaim the Records sub- the index to a much lesser-known but very important mitted a FOIL request to the New York State Depart- record set. This set was originally kept by the New ment of Health for a copy of the entire New York City York City Clerk’s Office, and it is the 1908-1929 appli- death index, from June 1880 through December 31, cation, affidavit, and 1956. We are requesting the index only in this FOIL license for a marriage, a totally separate three-page request. Read More... document that is generally dated a few weeks before “Records Request #4 the actual marriage took place. AND WE WON. Current Status: Request in Planning Stage Read More... New York City Birth Certificates, 1910-1915 “All New York City birth certificates that are more “Records Request #2 than 100 years old are supposed to be open to the Current Status: Litigation Successful! We won! We public. Yet the New York City Department of Health Were Awarded Attorneys' Fees! has inexplicably failed to transfer these seven years’ Records Received! Records Being Prepared For worth of older birth certificates to the NYC Municipal Digitization Archives, which only has the certificates through VICTORY! VICTORY! Our legal case against the New 1909. Reclaim The Records will be making a FOIL York City Clerk's Office yielded over five million rec- request on or after January 1, 2016 to acquire and ords, partly contained on 110 rolls of microfilm and distribute these certificates to the public. We’re wait- partly in a 3.1 million row database. ing until January 1st to make sure all of the 1915 cer- “Index to all New York City marriage records, 1930 tificates will be legally available and included in the -1995 request. “Using the New York State Freedom of Infor- “Records request #5 mation Law (FOIL), Reclaim The Records won the Current Status: Records Received! first-ever public access to the 1930-1995 marriage Records Being Prepared For Digitization index for New York City, over five million records. It New Jersey Birth, Marriage, and Death Indices, took us nine months, many e-mails, and one lawsuit. 1901-1903 and 1901-1914 We won a settlement in our favor in September 2016, received 110 microfilms covering 1930-1972 and a database covering 1950-1995 — and we even won attorney’s fees! Here’s how we did it… Reclaim the Records p 17
The Kol 16 Spring 2017 Reclaim the Records from p 16
“Reclaim The Records is excited to announce that, in coordination with the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton, we have acquired the microfilmed indices to approximately 445,000 vital records — births, mar- riages, and deaths — from the state of New Jersey. They’ve never been available to researchers outside of the Archives building before, and they’ve never been online on any websites, nor downloadable as open data. Read More... “Records Request #6 Current Status: Litigation Filed! -- Attorneys' Fees Be- “List of Registered Voters in New York City for ing Sought 1924 Fines Against Agency Being Sought “Missouri birth “This list of names is exactly what it sounds like, index, 1910-2015 a list of everyone in New York City who was legally
How to help with the Reclaim the Records Project by Cynthia Spikell I received this e-mail message because I had email you a link which contains the information. done volunteering indexing before: I will also email you an Excel document which Bill Manteria
The Kol 17 Spring 2017
International
Brooke Schreier Ganz mentioned another source: CIA's CREST database
Subject: The CIA's CREST database goes online contemporary Russian/USSR name for what we for the first time -- eleven million records would call Nadvirna (Ukrainian) or Nadworna From: [email protected] (Polish): https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/ Date: 17 Jan 2017 docs/CIA-RDP80-00809A000600060284-1.pdf . As you can see, there are lots of details included The CIA's CREST database has just gone about the town and its inhabitants and its build- online for free public access. (Ed. Note: That is ings. the publicly accessible repository of the subset of Make sure to search for your town name us- CIA records reviewed under the 25-year program ing alternate spellings, concentrating on the Rus- in electronic format.) While most of these eleven sian/Soviet versions in use in the 1950's. Even million records have been declassified for years, countries sometimes have alternate spellings in they were previously only available to research- these documents, i.e. Rumania instead of Roma- ers who used the computers onsite at the Na- nia. tional Archives (NARA II) in College Park, Mary- I also found that there are some phonebooks land. They are now searchable in the CIA's in this record collection, although it's very hard to online "Electronic Reading Room." find them with the search tool.
1828 Hungarian Property Tax Census
Vivian Kahn reported that it is on the JewishGen Hungary database at http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Hungary/Census1828.htm . It lists individuals who have taxa- ble property, with only the head of the household and the number of people in each household be- tween ages of 18 and 60. In many cases no surname is provided for Jews, only the first name.
Online historical newspapers
Jan Meisels Allen wrote, “The Ancestor Hunt -- a blog – has listed a host of free online histori- cal newspapers (They were free at the time the blog story was posted.) A large source cite listed is Europeana which I have written about previously, but there are many more sources listed. “To access the links on The Ancestor Hunt go to: http://tinyurl.com/lq6y4hf . Original url: http://www.theancestorhunt.com/blog/europe-free-online-historical-newspapers#.VD1OgBZ0Yto .”
The Kol 18 Spring 2017 United States
Where immigrants came from
Family History Daily online reminded us Russia, and Austria-Hungary. In the 1900’s, most about immigration to the United States. “From immigrants came from the Canada and Mexico, 1820 to 2013, 79 million people obtained lawful then the other Latino parts of the western hemi- permanent resident status in the United States.” sphere (Remember, Puerto Rico does not In the early 1800’s Ireland, Germany, and the count). Lately more immigrants have been com- United Kingdom sent most of the immigrants. In ing from Asia. the late 1800’s more immigrants came from Italy,
Helpful Social Security application forms
Nolan Altman told about another video produced the parents would have been well over a hundred by The Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island years old....” (JGSLI), “How Form SS-5 Can Help Break through Renee Stern Steinig wrote, “If you're applying for Your Research Brick Walls”. The form is the Applica- the SS-5 of someone born less than 100 years ago, tion for a Social Security Number. It can help you de- parents' names will be redacted unless proof of their termine maiden names, and the applicant’s place and deaths is provided. Now you can make a Freedom of date of birth are given, as the applicant listed them. Information Act (FOIA) request online. See details “In addition, the form reports the employee’s parents’ here: https://www.ssa.gov/foia/request.html . Accord- names, including the mother’s maiden name.” ing to the web site, some acceptable proofs of death Go to their website http://jgsli.org/ . are a death certificate, a letter from a funeral director Once you have seen how helpful the SS-5 can or physician, a coroner's report, or an obituary. I re- be, you will want to apply for copies. Mark London cently sent a photograph of a grave, and that too was posted of his difficulties in getting the forms, and accepted as proof. Renee Stern Steinig posted some answers to help “Two related blogs by Judy Russell, the ‘Legal him. Genealogist’: ‘Ordering the SS-5’ (May 31, 2013) at Mark London wrote, “A recent experience has http://www.legalgenealogist.com/2013/05/31/ordering taught me that If you are applying for an SS-5, you -the-ss-5/ and ‘Ordering the SS-5: redux’ (Jan. 6, must include some proof of death of parents, no mat- 2016) at https://www.legalgenealogist. com/ ter what their age, if you want their names to not be 2016 /01 /06/ordering-the-ss-5-redux/ .” (Leave out blacked out. I had this happen to me, even though spaces.)
Military records: The 1973 Fire, National Personnel Records Center
At the WWI Draft Registration workshop, Ken any indexes created prior to the fire. In addition, Bravo mentioned the fire that destroyed many millions of documents had been lent to the De- military records. Here is some information about partment of Veterans Affairs before the fire oc- the fire from the website. curred. Therefore, a complete listing of the rec- “On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the ords that were lost is not available. However, in National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) de- the years following the fire, the NPRC collected stroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Mili- numerous series of records (referred to as Auxil- tary Personnel Files (OMPF). ...No duplicate cop- iary Records) that are used to reconstruct basic ies of these records were ever maintained, nor service information.“ were microfilm copies produced. Neither were Branch Personnel and Period Affected Estimated Loss Army Personnel discharged November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960 80% {WWI and WWII] Air Force Personnel discharged September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964 (with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.) 75% See https://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/fire-1973.html for more on the aftermath.
The Kol 19 Spring 2017 International
Jewish genealogy loses “Mr. Litvak”, Howard Margol
“Mr. Litvak”, Howard Margol, as the Chair of the Records Acquisitions and died February 9 at 92 years old. Translations Committee of LitvakSIG until 2015. When he spoke in his soft Georgia He instituted and led annual research trips to accent, other Litvaks listened. Lithuania. He served on the board of the IAJGS Howard started doing his family for nine years, and as president for two years. He genealogy in 1990. He became received the IAJGS Lifetime Achievement Award president of the JGS of Georgia. in 2008. He took his first trip to Lithuania in When he spoke at LItvakSIG meetings, his 1993. Eventually he was instrumental in opening voice was calm, but he could speak emphatically. the Lithuanian archives to Jewish genealogical I first remember him at a LitvakSIG meeting dur- research. This led to the All-Lithuanian Database ing an IAJGS conference when he refuted an as- of the Litvak Special Interest Group (SIG) with sertion by a gentile genealogist that Jewish gene- more than one million records. He was a past alogy groups were pushy. Howard said no, we president of Litvak SIG, and he remained active cooperate to get things done.
Information about studio photographs done in Europe
One of the mystery items in our col- Europe at http://www.museumof fami- lection is a studio photograph of an un- lyhistory.com/pse.htm . “The exhibit dis- known seated man, in a paper frame cusses the history of photography, and with printing on it . All we could deduce gives examples of different kinds of stu- from the wording is that the photo was dio portraits and the cards on which taken in Tetiev, Russia, before the Rus- they were printed, the designs printed sian alphabet was changed in 1917 or on the backs of the cards, and transla- so. So when we saw postings about stu- tions of typical Russian inscriptions,” dio photos taken in Europe, we followed Alan Shuchat posted. the thread. We tried the website and found that We found that The Museum of Fami- it has a lot of information to use in deci- ly History, a virtual museum, has an ex- phering old studio photographs. hibit on Photographic Studios of Eastern The website has excellent illustrations. At the right is one. The illustrations are quite intricate. Some Czech genealogy terms Jew/Jewish žid, židové/židovsky birth narození, rodný male mužký burial pohreb marriage snatek child dítě, děcko, dět'áko mother matka,máma county okres parents rodice daughter dcera registry/record matrika death úmrtí, smrt son syn father otec, táta surname prîjmení female žena town město first name krestni jméno village ves, vesnice husband manžel, chot’, muž wife manželka, chot’ The Kol 20 Spring 2017 United States
Passenger List help online There are electronic records at NARA relat- chives offers the AAD database as a free public ing to immigrants to America from Germany resource and it can be accessed from anywhere. (1850-1897), Russia (1834-1897), Ireland (1846- The main website is https://www.archives.gov/ . 1851), and Italy (1855-1900). The National Ar-
The Russian file is at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/fielded-search.jsp?dt=2126&tf=F for Series and Files -- Data Files Relating to the Immigration of Russians to the United States, created, ca. 1977 - 2002, documenting the period 1834 - 1897 - Collection CIR and Russians to America Passenger Data File, 1834 - 1897 . The German file is at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/fielded-search.jsp?dt=2102 for Data Files Relating to the Immigration of Germans to the United States, created, ca. 1977 - 2002, docu- menting the period 1850 - 1897 - Collection CIR and Germans to America Passenger Data File, 1850 - 1897 In addition, there are Manifest Files for both the Russians and Germans. It is worthwhile look- ing at the files, as we found relatives who did not appear on Ancestry.com nor FamilySearch.org .
Would Ellis Island records help you?
If you are a native Clevelander, it is not so Results are similar to: likely that your ancestors came through Ellis Is- land, but it is worth taking a look at the site.* The Samuel Cohen -- arrived 1913 from “Bucharest, Ellis Island website has more than 51 million im- Roumania” on the “Zeeland”. Then you choose migration records. They updated and changed from these three action icons the website a few years ago. Some say it is much easier to navigate and there are more advanced search options to use. The web- site is free to users. There is a one page search form that is supposed to be easier to use than the previous version. You can add more search options. Some For the passenger record, the ship image, or the of the results are shown, like the arrival date, ship manifest. Any of those three require you to ship, and port of departure. There will be a sam- log in. ple certificate shown that also shows the age and marital status, which is available for a fee. • Ellis Island gets all the glory, but it was not The site http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ the only port of entry. Immigrants coming to still requires a log in, but it is free to sign up. Cleveland used ports such as Baltimore with its You might want to use www.stevemorse.org/ railroad running directly to Cleveland, or Philadel- ellis2/ellisgold.html to search arrivals from 1892 phia, Canada, and even Providence, Rhode Is- to1924, if you do not get a hit on the Ellis Island land. Other cities had ports that many of their im- site, as you can fine tune your search. migrants entered. Minneapolis/St. Paul had peo- One annoying thing about the site is that you ple who landed at Galveston, Texas, and came cannot copy from the text shown. up the Mississippi River.
The Kol 21 Spring 2017 United States
The U. S. entered World War I on April 6, 1917
It seems so long ago, but our ancestors were Homes to find your Jewish-American ancestors deeply affected, and we are still living with the who served in World War I. effects of World War I. “World War l resulted in the U.S. Congress Jan Meisels Allen posted a message about passing the Selective Service Act shortly after our entry into the war (April 5, 2017). war was declared to provide the necessary “... According to an article in Moment troops to fight. About 24 million men registered Magazine, ‘How The First World War Changed for the Selective Service Act and 4.8 million Jewish History’, there were a million and a half served in the war and 2.8 million of them were Jews who fought in World War I for their respec- drafted. These included Jewish men who signed tive countries, of which 250,000 were Jewish up to fight in the war. World War I also is soldiers from the United States. ‘credited’ with revolutionizing medicine -- one of the notable effects was the start of motor- ambu- https://www.momentmag.com/how-the-first-world lance corps, another was to transport soldiers to -war-changed-jewish-history hospitals where their wounds could be disinfect- ed and repaired rather than amputated on the “...without that war battlefield. World War l is known for the three A's: some scholars say there ambulances, antiseptic and anesthesia. See would not have been the http://tinyurl.com/l5bdx9k (Original https:// Holocaust or the State of www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/02/ Israel. The following spe- world-war-i-medicine/517656/ ) cial commemorations by “To read more see: https://www.archives. US National Archives and gov/news/topics/wwi-100 . Library of Congress may “The US Library of Congress opened a ma- have records on your Jew- jor exhibit on April 4, "Echoes of the Great War: ish ancestors who fought American Experiences of World War l". … For in the ‘war to end all wars’. more information see: “...The (U. S.) National https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-17-044/?loclr=ealn . Archives World War l Cen- … The Library of Congress holds the largest tennial Events and Exhib- multi-format collection of materials on the Ameri- its has a portal page for can experience in the Great War. the largest repository of “The National World War I Museum and Me- American World War l rec- morial is located in Kansas City, Missouri, and its ords: website is: https://www.theworldwar.org/ where http://tinyurl.com/mkxbw9h one can find their commemorative activities. For (Original https://www. ar- information on their online database see: chives.gov/topics/wwi#event-/timeline/item/ https://www.theworldwar.org/explore/online- archduke-assassination) collections-database . They are adding to their “Click on the box ‘Genealogy Resources’ and digitized collection daily and have many more look for the World War l Draft Registration Cards, records available in the Museum.” Military Service Records, Deaths and Veterans
World War l Draft Registration Cards are available free at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1968530 .
The Kol 22 Spring 2017
Holocaust
Lithuania -- Slaughter, and Holocaust escape tunnel
Jan Meisels Allen posted about the Ponar Me- of the Jews who had been forced to dispose of the morial Museum covered in The Smithsonian Maga- bodies were able to escape. zine titled "The Holocaust's Great Escape" by Mi- The article is at www.smithsonianmag.com/ chael Shaer. The article tells of the slaughter of history/holocaust-great-escape-180962120/ . Jews in the village of Ponar (also Ponary, Paneriai) Jan added that a television documentary about near Vilnius. More than 100,000 people -- mostly the discoveries of the Holocaust Escape tunnel will Jews -- were executed there by the Nazis and spe- premiere on PBS on April 19. Check your local list- cial Lithuanian units. A previously unknown tunnel ings for time and channel or see www.pbs.org/ was found and the article discusses the find. Some wgbh/nova/military/escape-tunnel.html
A card index on Jewish Holocaust victims is now online
Dick Eastman reported in March 2017 : thus supplementing the first group of documents on “The International Tracing Service (ITS) has pub- that subject published on its internet portal last year. lished two further resources in its online archive. They “ ... ITS director Floriane Hohenberg explained, include the card index of the Reich Association of ‘More extensive holdings will follow, with which we aim Jews in Germany and material on death marches from to make documents on deportations, the Holocaust concentration camps. and forced labor available to people all over the “What is left of the card index of the Reich Associ- world.’ ation of Jews in Germany (Reichs-vereinigung der “You can read more in the International Tracing Juden in Deutschland) comprises 32,264 registration Service web site at: https://www.its-arolsen.org/en/ cards, primarily those of Jewish school pupils, emi- press/press/press-detail/news/detail/News/card-index- grants and deceased persons. Now interested per- on-jewish-victims-now-online/ while the online archive sons all over the world have access to these cards. is available at: https://digitalcollections.its-arolsen. org/ The ITS has moreover placed an additional 15,000 01020401.” documents pertaining to the death marches online, If you do not know what ITS is, see p. 31. JewishGen Yizkor Book Project
They added two new books online, Holocaust in by Holocaust survivors from the former-Soviet Union, Rovno: The Massacre at Sosenki Forest, November and their arduous journey east from Ukraine, Belarus, 1941 and To Tell Our Stories: Holocaust Survivors of and Russia, and the subsequent harshness of life in Southern Arizona. The announcement said. “This lat- Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Siberia.” ter book is particularly interesting as it includes stories
Captured German Records from WWII
Jan Meisels Allen sent out information on this: record.blogs.archives.gov/2017/02/21/recently- The U. S. National Archives has a wonderful collec- opened-series-german-world-war-ii-maps/ ) tion of "Foreign Records Seized"—especially from To view the catalogue of Foreign Records Seized World War ll. This is Record Group 242. The collec- from 1675-1958 go to: http://tinyurl.com/gszoqx7 . tion has governmental, and a few personal, records (Original url: https://catalog.archives.gov/search? from abroad, including documents, films, photographs q=*:*&f.ancestorNaIds=569&sort=naIdSort%20asc&f. and maps that were seized from the Axis powers. locationIds=29&rows=100 ) Most of Record Group 242 is known as the Captured You can find out more at an Introduction to the German Records. The National Archives recently Captured German Records at the National Archives opened German World War ll maps from military op- which you may find of interest: www.archives.gov/ erations from the Axis powers point of view. To read files/calendar/know-your-records/dec14-salyer- more about this map collection see: http://tinyurl.com/ presentation.pdf jvatg4a . (Original url: https://unwritten-
The Kol 23 Spring 2017 International
More Tetiev - related information Someone named “Vladimir” recently posted information about the Jewish community in Belaya Tserkov, which was a larger town near Tetiyev. He listed names found mentioned in old vital rec- ords for the years from 1850 through 1893 that he found. Some of the names have been mentioned by members. Contact the editor of The Kol for Vladimir’s address.
ADLER, AKSELRUD, AKTER, AL- HILER (GILER), HILMAN (GILMAN), PIKERSKY, PIPKA, PODGAYETSKY, BERKOVICH, ALTER, ARINOVICH, ARO- HIMELFARB (GIMELFARB), HINDICTOR, POGACHEVSKY, POKATILO, POLI- NOVICH, ARTENBERG, AVERBA?, HINTSBERG, HLEZER, HOKHFELD ACHENKO, POLIAK, POLOVINCHIK, AVERBAYKH, AVERBOYKH, AVER- (GOKHFELD), HOKHMAN, HORINSHT- POR???, POVOLOTSKY, POYSEK, BOYKH, AYNBINDER, EYN, HORODISKY, HOROVITS, HOTES- PRITIKIN, PRITSKER, PRUGER, MAN, BALAZERSKY, BALIASNY, BA- RABINOVICH, RANARSKY, RAT- RASH, BARASHKIN, BARBAN, BAR- IDELEVICH, INDICTOR, ITKIS, NER, RAYTGOLTS, RAYZBURD, RE- BASH, BARISKIN, BARISKIN, BARNA- VICH, REZNIK, RIBAK, RODINSKY, ACHKA, KAGAN (KAHAN), KA- DINER, BAUTSHTEYN, BEGELFER, BE- K ROKHMAN, ROKITYNSKY, ROYKH- GELFER, BELINOVSKY, BELOZERSKY, GANOVSKY, KALIKA, KALUTSKY, KA- VARGER, ROYSENBLIT, ROZENBERG, BEYLIS, BIALIK, BIKOV, BILENKY, MINIK, KANEVSKY, KARASIK, KATS, ROZENFELD, RUBCHINSKY, RU- BILIBROV, BINEMETSKY, BOGUSLAV- KAZAN, KEVNIAR, KHALFEN, KHANI- BINSHTEYN, RUBINSKY, RUTGAYZER, SKY, BOGUSLAVSKY, BOGUSLAVSKY, URIS, KHARASH, KHAVETS, KHELEM- RUVINSHTEYN, BOLOTIN, BORISHPOLSKY, BORISKIN, SKY, KHELEMSSKY, KHO?FON, AFIANIK, SAMOVSKY, SANDLER, BORISKIN, BRODSKY, BRUSELNITSKY, KHOTERANSKY, KHVOLIS, KILBERG, S BUKHBINDER, BURKATOVSKY, KISILENKO, KLEYNMAN, KOGAN SAPOZHNIK, SATVISKY, SAYDEN- (KOHAN), KOGUT, KOLAMINSKY, BERG, SEGAL, SHABSAYKHES, CHERBAKOV, CHERKASKY, KOLKER, KOLODNY, KOMINNIK, KON- SHAFRAN, SHAKHNOVICH, SHAPIR?, CHERKASS??, CHERKASSKY, CHUD- STANTINOVSKY, KORSMAN, KOSA- SHAT, SHEYKHET, SHEYNKMAN, NOVSKY, KOVSKY, KOSIS, KOSOY, KOTIK, KO- SHIFRIS, SHKOLNIK, SHKUROVICH, TLIAR, KOTLIARSKY, KOVELMAN, SHMOLIRENKY, SHNEYDER, SHNEY- DAIANOVSKY, DIBNER, DINER, KOYRA, KOZAROVITSKY, KRAKOVSKY, ER, SHOKHET, SHOR, SHOYKHET, DINERMAN, DINEVETSKY, DINKILIS, KRASILNIK, KRASINSKY, KRAY??, SHTEYN, SHTEYNGRAD, SHT- DINKIMES, DOBRIER, DOLGONOS, KRIVITSKY, KRUPIN, KRUPNIK, KSEN- EYNGRUD, SHVACHKIN, SHVEYER DUBENSKY, DUBINSKY, DZOVSKY, KUCHER, KULBOV, (SHLEYER), SHVITKY, SIDERMAN, KUPERSHMID, KUPERSHMID, KUSH- SKODKIN, SLAVINSKY, SLOVINSKY, EIDILIS, EPELBEYM, EPELBOYM, NIR, KUTSER, SMOLIANSKY, SOKOL, SOTNIKOV, EPILBAUM, EVALENKO, EYDELMAN, SPIVAK, STOLIN, STRA??NIK, STRUT- EYDELSON, LANDA, LANDFELD, LANDSMAN, SOVSKY, LATOVSKY, LEMBERSKY, LEMCHUK, FA?????, FARB, FAYER, LERNER, LEVICH, LEYBMAN, TIFENBRAN, TIZENVAR, TOKAR, FAYNMAN, FELDMAN, FISHMAN, FREN- LIAKHOVETSKY, LIPSTAL (OR LIPE- TOKER, TONKONOGY, TOPOROVSKY, KEL, FREYNKEL, FREYNKIL, FRIDLI- TAL), LISCHINSKY, LISHCHINSKY, LIT- TORINSKY, TREYSTMAN, TRILISKIN, AND. MAN, LITOVSKY, LITVAK, LITVI- TSEYTLIN, TSUDIKOV, TSURIF, TUR- H and GABOVICH, GALPERIN NOVSKY, LOGVINSKY, LOGVINSKY, BOVSKY, TURIE, (HALPERIN), GANIPOLSKY, GAREVITS, UCHITEL, ULITSKY, GARSHAYZI, GELISH, GELMAN MAKTAZ, MALER, MARKMAN, (HELMAN), GEROVICH, GERSHKO- MATILIANSKY, MATIUSHANSKY, VAINRUB, VALAKH, VALINSKY, VICH, GERSHTEYN (HERSHTEYN), MATUSOV, MAYSTERMAN, MAZAR, VAYNTROYB, VAYSBURD, VAYSGLUZ, GERSON, GIDLEVICH, GIDLOVICH, MAZOR (MOZOR), MEDINTS, VAYSMAN, VEISBURD (VAISBURD), GILER (HILER), GILMAN (HILMAN), GIL- MELCHER, MEZHIBOVSKY, MEZHIBOV- VEKSLER, VEKSLIARSKY, VILKA, NER, GIMELFARB (HIMELFARB), GINZ- SKY, MILLMAN, MITNITSKY, MO- VILSKER, VISHNEVETSKY, VODINSKY, BARG, GLEZER, GLIBITSKY, GILEVSKY, MORGOLIN, VOLODARSKY, VULF (WULF), GOKHFELD (HOKHFELD), GOKHMAN, GOLDBERG, GOLDENBERG, GOLD- NAKHODKIN, NAYSHTUT, WAISBURD, WAYNTROYB, ENSHTEYN, GOMBERG, GORENSHT- NOSKIN, NOSTOTSKY, NOVOFASTOV- WEINRUB, WULF (VULF), EYN, GORINSHTEYN, GORODETSKY, SKY, GORODISKY, GOROVITS, GOTESMAN, YAMPOLSKY, YAROSLAVSKY, GOYKHMAN, GRAYTSERSHTEYN, OLSHANETSKY, ORTENBERG, YEROSLAVSKY, YEVNIN, YOLIN, GRINBERG, GRINSHTEYN, GROYS, ORTENBERG, ORUCHSKY, OSTROMO- YOSHPA, YUDKOVICH, YUROVSKY, GRUDBARG, GRUDBERG, GUREVICH, GILSKY, OYSTRAKH, YUSHKA, HABOVICH, HALPERIN PAMPUSHKA, PARGAMANIK, ZA?RITSKY, ZABARSKY, ZA- (GALPERIN), HANIPOLSKY, PARGIMONIK, PARTNOY, PASTERNAK, BARSKY, ZAIDENBERG, ZARITSKY, HARSHAYZI, HELMAN (GELMAN), HER- PATLAKH, PAVLOTSKY, PEKARSKY, ZELDICH, ZELDMAN, ZHUKHAVETSKY, OVICH, HERSHKOVICH, HERSHTEYN PELTSMAN, PERLOVICH, PIATIRSKY, ZLATUSKY. (GERSHTEYN), HERSON, HIDLEVICH,
The Kol 24 Spring 2017 Resources See p. 27 for a different way to use a map. Extensive map library not far away
Kent State Magazine, Fall 2016, had an arti- books, lots of CD-ROMs. Its international refer- cle on p.20 about the Map Library at McGilvrey ence materials are in both paper and electronic Hall. The library dates back to 1945 and is a Fed- formats. eral Depository Library. This gives the library a There are scanning and printing services and certain advantage. For example, when the Li- a work station with mapping software. If you are brary of Congress needed to get rid of some ma- wondering, the collection is open to the public. terials to make space, the library obtained the Contact information: www.library.ket.edu/ original duplicates of the Sanborn Fire Insurance map-library . The map librarian Michael Hawkins Maps for Ohio, 1884 - 1954. is at [email protected]. For appointments or The library has more than 270,000 maps, questions call 330-672-2017. 2,000 atlases, 350 gazetteers, 500 reference
What is a Federal Depository Library? It is a designated stor- age facility created by Congress and administered by the Government Publishing Office. Originally, every government publication was to be sent to each FDL. That is no longer practical. However, you can find certain classes of federal material at the FDL’s. Cleveland Public Main and Hiram College Library are two other “local” FDL’s.
Microfilms -- Going, going, gone?
Everything is not online -- crofilms as it is a dying technology, and Fami- yet. If you have not checked lySearch is making those digitized microfilms to see if information is availa- available through their website in the Records ble from microfilms held by section of the site and also through the Fami- the Church of Latter-Day lySearch Catalog entries for the microfilms. As Saints (Mormons), do not such, FamilySearch will be ceasing microfilm wait. Remember, these microfilms not only have loans from Salt Lake City to centers — world- information from U. S. records, but also from wide at some point in the future. around the world. Jan Meisels Allen posted in “As this is a work in progress, my recom- March that the days of renting microfilms from mendation to you, if you have been delaying or- Salt Lake City to view locally are numbered. dering a microfilm you ‘desperately’ want to use, “Microfilm is an older technology and the is to order it now. I don’t know when in the future equipment to use them are difficult to maintain, this service will cease, but as the parts are increasingly out of production. we are on notice, that it is We are all aware that over the past years we coming. In the meantime, have been fortunate enough to increasingly ac- before you order, check cess more of the FamilySearch records from the out the website to see if comfort of our home via their website: https:// what you want is there, as familysearch.org/ . I contacted one of my it may already have been friends at FamilySearch corporate headquarters digitized.” inquiring what was happening. “FamilySearch has been digitizing their mi- Oh, the joy of hand-cranking...
The Kol 25 Spring 2017 Resources
The Cuyahoga County Recorder’s website deeds (Cuyahoga County fiscal Officer) can help you find relatives and relationships
We have mentioned the website http://www.recorder.cuyahogacounty.us/ before . Below is an example of what you may find in a deed entry.
Old U. S. passport applications
The National Archives and Record Admin- Most of the applicants were men, but wives istration (NARA) has millions of passport applica- and children were included if they were going to tions that were processed by the U. S. Depart- travel, also. ment of State. You can search the ones that date Not every application is indexed yet, but you from 1795 to 1925 at Family Search.org. The ap- can browse through them. Here is a suggestion: plications have personal information such as If you think your relative traveled back home or birth date and location, name of father or hus- somewhere else outside of the U. S., first check band, names of children, occupation, and some- family photographs to see if any were taken on times where the person wants to travel to. The the trip and are dated, or look for the person in newer applications have a photograph of the ap- passenger arrival records. If you are lucky, they plicant. will be listed in 2nd or 1st class. Then browse the It is possible that your relatives did travel applications before the date of the photograph or back to Europe. The National Archives posted, the arrival. “Overseas travelers included businessmen, the middle class, and naturalized U.S. citizens who returned to their homelands to visit relatives.”
The Kol 26 Spring 2017 Resources
Using a map to identify nearby towns
The idea of searching surrounding towns is not new, but this tactic is new to us. Someone suggested copying and en- larging a map with your ancestral town in the center. Draw concentric circles at inter- vals, such as 10 miles, from the center. Then list the town names within each circle. If you want to be really efficient, alphabetize the town names. Then when you see a posting about a town in the same area/ country, you can look at your list to see if it is near your town of interest. Why do this? Well, a relative might have married, done business, or be buried in a nearby town, etc. (Town names left blurry just for illustration.)
United States
New free online searchable JGSI Jewish Chicago Database (JJCD)
Martin Fischer, Vice President-Publicity for > Intake reports from the Drexel Home for the the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois, want- Jewish Aged ed us to know that for Chicago there is a new > Death notices published in the JUF News free online searchable Jewish Chicago Data- from 1994 to 2005 base (JJCD). The JGS of Illinois has expanded > An index with date of birth and date of death its existing database of Chicago-area cemetery information extracted from Chicago Tribune burial information to include several other useful death notices published in the latter half of the collections of information with the total number 1990s of records now more than 80,000. Database information is still being pro- To access the JJCD, go to http://jgsi.org/ cessed from two Chicago orphanages: the Chi- databasesearch. One can search the entire da- cago Jewish Orphans Home, which operated tabase or limit the search to a single component from 1894 to 1942, and the Marks Nathan Jew- of the full database. ish Orphan Home, which operated from 1906 to The cemetery information in the JGSI Jew- 1948. ish Chicago Database comprises entries that The JJCD project was conceived by Mike often include date of death, date of birth and plot Karsen, JGSI past president, with the ultimate location numbers within Chicago-area cemeter- objective of combining all possible Chicago-area ies. Jewish genealogical data. A compilation of fre- Among the additions to the newly expanded quently asked questions related to the JGSI database are: Jewish Chicago Database, created by JGSI > Memorial plaque transcriptions and photos webmaster Ron Miller, can be found at http:// from two Chicago synagogues: B’nai Zion- jgs.jgsi.org/acjd/faq.html. Shaare Tikvah and Lawn Manor Beth Jacob For more information about the Jewish Ge- Congregation nealogical Society of Illinois, see www.jgsi.org.
The Kol 27 Spring 2017 Techniques / Technology
OldNews USA App Wins Top Honors at RootsTech 2017 Innovator Showdown The following was a news release from Fam- paper accounts of a person or topic with the op- ilySearch: tion to look at articles of historical events. In a “Old news, it seems, is actually ‘new’ news. person search, you type names and dates into Very innovative news in fact. Today (11 Feb your mobile device and choose 2017) at RootsTech, the world’s largest family a location on Google Maps history technology conference, OldNews USA which produces a list of news- took top honors in the 2017 Innovator Show- papers in the targeted geo- down, walking away with $95,000 in cash and graphic area for a time period. in-kind prizes. OldNews is an android app de- It brings up images of the actu- signed to help users quickly discover their fam- al newspapers with the name ily in historical US newspapers. The app uses or event you are seeking high- the Library of Congress ‘Chronicling America’ lighted so you can quickly lo- collection of more than 11 million newspaper cate it on the page. Images can pages from 1789 to 1922 to deliver its results. be enlarged for easier access to detail. “An experienced amateur genealogist, Bill “OldNews is compatible with Android devic- Nelson of Auburn, Massachusetts, designed the es, but Nelson is working to create an app for program as a solution to tedious, difficult online IOS devices and computers. While OldNews newspaper searches. The OldNews USA app USA is designed to search US newspapers, he was designed to simplify and streamline the hopes to adapted the app for other countries.” search process. RootsTech 2017 had approximately 30,000 “Using keywords, users can look for news- attendees, including our own Ken Bravo.
Comparing the “Big 4” genealogy database programs
Dick Eastman reported that Sunny Morton, most information about these four sites that I who has spoken to our group several times and have ever seen in any other one document or who is “local”, gave a presentation -- about An- video.” cestry, Findmypast, FamilySearch and MyHerit- “As Sunny states, ‘No site has it all.’ age that may answer your questions -- at the “This is a keeper! I have been using all four RootsTech2017 conference. of these web sites for years and yet I learned “The one-hour four-minute presentation was several new facts about them, thanks to Sunny’s videotaped and is now available as a video on online video presentation. I suspect you will learn the RootsTech.org web site. Topics covered in- some things as well if you watch the video. clude cost, record types, geographic coverage, “The Big 4: Comparing Ancestry, Findmy- genetic testing, DNA matching, search flexibility, past, FamilySearch and MyHeritage with Sunny languages supported, mobile-friendly, automated Morton is available at https://www.rootstech.org/ matching, and a lot more. Sunny provides the videos/sunny-morton.”
Narrowing your online search
If you are searching a site like FamilySearch the search boxes, and in FamilySearch you can or Ancestry, there might be millions of potential specify the country, or the state in the United results — even with filtering that you included States that you want to search. Other genealogy with your query. You could take the time to sites with multiple databases may have similar search individual record collections. In Ancestry ways of narrowing your search. there is a drop down box at the bottom below
The Kol 28 Spring 2017 Techniques
How to practice safe computing from Hal Bookbinder
We received this message from Hal: “I plan to add articles over the coming months. Check it out at “I have written a series of short articles on http://tinyurl.com/jqvk7a6 (original URL: http:// Practicing Safe Computing which have ap- www.jgscv.org/pdf/Practicing%20Safe% peared monthly in ‘Venturing into Our Past’, the 20Computing%20Articles.pdf ) newsletter of the JGSCV. The seventeen arti- “Hope you and your members find this to be cles published to date have now been consoli- a worthwhile resource. If you have any ques- dated into a single PDF document with an inter- tions, please feel free to contact me.” nal index to quickly locate each article. This re- source is freely accessible on the JGSCV web Hal Bookbinder site. [email protected]
Our webmaster, Paul Wolf, has posted the pdf’s on the Members Only section of our website.
“Salvaging Water-Damaged Family Valuables and Heirlooms”
We receive “Genealogy Gems: News from the Try http://tinyurl.com/keyyqls Fort Wayne Library”. It always has helpful information. (Original: https://www.fema.gov/media-library- In the March 31, 2017, issue was this article: data/1490121650722-14c891088abe31790 eda2e346280eaf2/Salvaging_ Family_ Valua- “Would you have thought that a department of bles_FIMA_Fact_Sheet_2017_508WDU.pdf ) Homeland Security would provide information useful “The fact sheet presents useful, actionable infor- to our family history endeavors? Well, FEMA (Federal mation with links to other resources including two vid- Emergency Management Agency) does. They have eos.” composed a PDF fact sheet called, ‘Salvaging Water- The article covers not only books and papers, but Damaged Family Valuables and Heirlooms.’ While the also artwork, fabrics, leather, wood, metal, pottery, link to this fact sheet is rather long, (use the TinyURL and even basketry. or) simply copy and paste it into your browser …
Resources The journal of Jewish genealogy
Many Jewish genealogy groups publish newslet- first book, the award-winning Where Once We ters, but Avotaynu is unique. We have a complete Walked. To date, the company has published 70 run of the publication in our library at Fairmount Tem- books. In 2001, Avotaynu added ‘Nu? What’s New?’, ple. From a news release from Avotaynu: “Avotaynu a weekly e-zine that provides information about cur-
Inc. began in 1985 as the publisher of its namesake, rent events that affect Jewish family history. In 2009, AVOTAYNU, the International Review of Jewish Ge- Avotaynu introduced the AVOTAYNU Anthology, nealogy. To date 117 issues of AVOTAYNU have which provides the online ability to search back is- been published. In 1991, the company expanded its sues of the publication using a full word search en- efforts to provide the tools genealogists need to re- gine provided by Google. Avotaynu Online is its new- search their Jewish family history by publishing its est venture.”
The Kol 29 Spring 2017
“Back to the Basics” -- How to get started by Cynthia Spikell
This is an updated version of an article we tabase for Cleve- first published in The Kol, Summer 2012. land), Cleveland Re- search Tools, Local When you first start researching your fami- Jewish Cemeteries, ly’s history, it might seem overwhelming. Even Other Research Resources, and Jewish History though commercial sites such as Ancestry.com Links. make it sound like it is so easy to find your family ••• Another resource is the Cleveland Public Li- roots, you do need to learn some research tech- brary Necrology File and Cleveland News Index, niques and tips. Where to begin? now together at http://newsindex.cpl.org. You Here are some places to start your search: can do a key word search, so you can search for ••• The first step is to inter- relatives of the de- view the oldest living members ceased. Death notices of your family. They might not only give an approxi- know your original family mate date of death, and name or place of origin, or oth- sometimes age, but also er information that will help usually list spouse, chil- you, like multiple marriages for dren, siblings, and one person. sometimes parents. ••• Look around the house for They also usually tell old documents, like marriage the cemetery. You can or naturalization papers. Old search by keyword, to letters give places where the find other relatives be- family has lived, and perhaps sides the deceased. names of family members who you did not al- ••• Historical copies of Cleveland Jewish news- ready know. papers going back more than 100 years are ••• Visit as many graves of family members as available at the Cleveland Jewish News website you can. The names of the deceased’s father is (www.clevelandjewishnews.com/ ) and through (usually) on the stone in Hebrew. That father the website of the Cuyahoga County Public Li- might never have come to the U.S. and might be brary for cardholders (www.cuyahogalibrary.org/). the only place you will see his Hebrew name. If ••• Original death certificate images from Ohio your Hebrew is rusty, print off a page of Hebrew 1908 - 1953 can be found at www.FamilySearch. letters from the internet so you can sound out the org. name. Be sure to photograph or carefully copy ••• Probate Court of Cuyahoga County Marriage the information on the stone. Index 1810 - present is at http://probate. cuya- ••• Maintain your membership in our JGS hogacounty.us/pa/TOS.aspx and gives the to help you sharpen your research skills. Here names of the bride and groom, but might not be are some research aids that our group has: accurate for the year. It does give the volume Our website is www.clevelandjgs.org. It has and page number so you can find the original databases that are useful for Cleveland re- certificate. search, and links to other websites. One helpful To see the microfilms of the marriage license database is the Jewish Independent Obituary applications before 1960, go to The Western Re- Index, mainly composed of extracts of vital infor- serve Historical Society Library. Old applications mation from obituaries, covering about 1898- to about 1944 also can be seen at the Cuyahoga 1982. It also lists Local Obituary databases County Archives. The newer forms can also be (Cleveland Jewish News, Jewish Independent), Access Jewish Cleveland (Jewish Cemetery Da- Basics cont’d p. 31
The Kol 30 Spring 2017 Basics cont’d from p. 30 seen at the Cuyahoga County Courthouse. They list for Jewish research, including short tutorials on sub- both bride and groom and names of both fathers jects of interest. and mothers with maiden name, birth dates and ••• One way to learn is to join a SIG (special inter- places, addresses, occupations, signatures, and est group). You can find then listed on Jewish- date of marriage and rabbi. Gen.org. They also maintain e-mailing lists that send Ancestry has “Cuyahoga County, Ohio, you messages each day from researchers interested Marriage Records and Indexes, 1810-1973”, with in the same geographic area or special group (e.g., images of marriage licenses and Family Search.org Yiddish theater). has "Ohio Marriages, 1800-1958," with some imag- ••• www.stevemorse.org makes it easier to search es, for two examples of online sources. other websites and also has utilities such as an Eng- ••• The Social Security Death Index for deaths of lish - Hebrew calendar converter. SSN holders after about 1965 gives birth and death ••• www.FamilySearch.org has many free online dates, and usually place of death. (FamilySearch databases. (See some above.) The scope is world- and Ancestry). Because of identity theft fears, the wide, so you are sure to find something of interest to information is not posted as soon after a death as it you. used to be. ••• www.Ancestry.com is a fee-based website that You can mail to buy a copy of the deceased’s is available at public libraries or by in-home sub- Social Security application form with names of father scription. It has many databases, including U.S. cen- and mother (with her maiden name), the applicant’s suses, immigration records, birth, marriage, and birth date and place, address, occupation and place death records, and military records. of employment, and signature. The information was supplied by the applicant. ►►For help go to www.clevelandjgs.org and click ••• For U.S. and international research on “Contact us”. www.JewishGen.org has many databases and aids
“Back to the Basics” -- Holocaust research “International Tracing Service Records Online” by Allison DePrey Singleton from “Genealogy Gems: News from the Fort Wayne Library”, No. 157, March 31, 2017 “To begin dealing with the vast number of dis- D.C. (www.ushmm.org/ ) There are experts on staff placed people, multiple organizations worked togeth- that will search the collection for information. Priority is er ... to prepare for the work of finding missing people. given to survivors … and then to the families search- … Millions of people had been displaced by the war ing ... This collection has not been digitized on their and needed assistance. The Allied Forces and non- website. It is a collection to search in person or re- military organizations, such as the British Red Cross quest to be searched by an expert. … Society and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilita- Recently, ITS has been digitizing some of the rec- tion Administration (UNRRA), began initiatives to work ords and making them available on their website: with displaced persons. Initially, the International Trac- http://tinyurl.com/mjw5vjf . ing Service was part of the Department for Internation- There are multiple record groups … Miscellane- al Affairs, which ... morphed into a Central Tracing Of- ous consists of two subcategories. … the Reichsver- fice. (Its ) central office … was moved to its current einigung der Juden in Deutschland (Reich Association home in Arolsen, Germany, the year after the war end- of Jews in Germany) registration cards: http:// ed. By 1948, the name had changed to its current tinyurl.com/kz6dflz (and) Effects Preserved at the ITS form, the International Tracing Service (ITS). …divided by Concentration Camp, Gestapo, and un- “ITS has had many purposes over the years, in- known: http://tinyurl.com/k7ue9la . Many of the items cluding finding displaced persons, assisting with pros- are timepieces or jewelry. ecution of Nazis, assisting in gaining restitution for vic- The second category that has been digitized is tims, and working to clarify the fates of people lost in Death Marches … two subcategories. … Investiga- the war. The ITS opened its collections to the public in tions of the Routes of Death Marches and of Burials, 2007 …The ITS website https://www.its-arolsen.org/ which is a working collection to attempt to identify the en/ ... for anyone researching displaced persons, Death March routes and burials, (and) Attempted Iden- WWII, the Holocaust, and family history. tification which contains a multitude of types of docu- “Each country who was involved with ITS in 2007 ments such as correspondence, eyewitness reports, received a copy of the collection. The U.S. copy is certification of deaths, and more. held by the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington
The Kol 31 Spring 2017
Member News Welcome to our newest members:
Charlotte Biller Howard and Arlyne Bochnek Noreen Koppelman-Goldstein and Barry Goluboff Muriel Weber Matt Allen Weisfeld
Condolences to... » Nate Arnold on the death of his wife, Suzanne (Sue) Rhodes Arnold, in February. She was born in Cleveland in 1941. Sue earned her B.A. from Western Reserve Uni- versity, in essentially a pre-med course, and also earned a secondary school teaching certificate. She later earned her Master’s Degree in Library Science with a specialization in medicine from CWRU. Sue worked as a medical librarian, the Park Synagogue librarian, was an educator at Fair- mount Temple, and helped to design the library at Fairmount Temple. Sue was very involved in the Cleveland Jewish community and in Jewish edu- cation. She is survived also by three sons and two grandsons. » Paul Klein, on the death of his mother, Sue Lavine Klein, in March. » Sally Wertheim, on the death of her brother, Edward F. Harris, in February. » The family of Sanford “Sam” Silverman, a long-time member. Sam had not been able to at- tend meetings lately, but he donated some college yearbooks and oth- er genealogical materials to our library recently. He was born in Cleve- land, on July 7, 1917, to parents Benjamin and Anna (nee Cohen) Sil- verman, seventh child of 12. He was raised on a farm in Geneva, Ohio, one in the Baron de Hirsch project for Jewish farmers. He wrote a book about his experiences, which is in our library at Fairmount Temple. Sam graduated from Glenville High School, served in the U.S. Army, earned his bachelor’s degree from Western Reserve University, be- came an accountant, married Sonia Gelfand, became treasurer and secretary of the Silverman’s stores, and he and Sonia raised six daughters, had seven grandchil- dren, and three great-grandchildren.
The Kol 32 Spring 2017
Member News Thank you to members In our latest member directory, we tried to recognize Sustaining Mem- bers or members who contributed money beyond regular dues. Thank you to Sustaining Members Dr. Benico and Joan Barzilai, Kenneth and Phyllis Bravo, Jane Riedel, and Paul and Helen Wolf. Thank you to members Ruth Gove and Dr. Richard Katzman for their contributions.
Congratulations to Geraldine Powers Volper who had another article published in The Forward titled “Living in the 90s: The Sequel”. She wrote a thoughtful account of what it means to be active and involved since she has reached a venerable age. She also wrote, “Living in your 90s gives you the op- portunity to bestow precious moments, memories and mementos on those you love, something real and tangible for them to remember you by. And we all want to be remembered.”
Congratulations to Murray Davis on his new grandchild! Officers working for you Sylvia Abrams, 1st V.P. for Programming, has been arranging a wonderful slate of programs for our group. Trustee Stewart Hoicowitz has done the pub- licity work -- a daunting task, as local news outlets can be very sparing with their coverage. He has managed to get us some good coverage.
Query help -- Our group received a contribution from an out-of-towner helped by Russ Maurer.
Members out and about
Amy Wachs and Ken Bravo will be featured Institute of Pittsburgh in June. Also in Pittsburgh, speakers at the Ohio Genealogical Society Con- Amy will speak at the Federation of Genealogical ference in Sandusky in April. Amy will teach a Societies Conference in August. Ken will be a week-long course titled “Tracing Your Roots in speaker at the July IAJGS Conference in Orlan- Eastern Europe” at the Genealogical Research do.
Glad-when-it-is-over category Have you ever volunteered for something Gloger, Cynthia Spikell, and Helen and later asked yourself, “What have I gotten my- and Paul Wolf. What sounded so self into?” We wonder if this crossed the mind of simple turned out to be Herculean. Murray Davis, who headed the committee to You may still have time to sign up plan the Lineage Societies luncheon for May 7. to see the outcome. His committee included Jane Riedel, Adelle
The Kol 33 Spring 2017 Jews of Tetiev from p. 11 tions. More than 100,000 Jews were killed and turned, and Ukrainians avoided the town with its another 100,000 wounded. Some Soviet troops bad reputation. protected the Jews, but they only came and went Susan visited Tetiev and said that it is in the and did not stay in Tetiev. The Jews went into middle of nowhere. She said that most of what hiding anywhere they could. was the Jewish area is now a park. The Jewish One pogrom occurred in 1919, when many of cemetery is abandoned and the stones are bro- the Jews of Tetiev hid in the synagogue, which ken. The current mayor wants to build a ceme- was burned to the ground. About 1600 refugees tery gate and a memorial on the site of the syna- went to other towns or Odessa. Few Jews re- gogue.
Index President’s message - 2 Calendar - 3 Our society - 5 - 6; 36 Lineage Groups luncheon - 4, 9
January meeting - Tetiev - Susan Kirkman Zake 11 - 2, 24, 34 February meeting - "Lessons in Jewish DNA - One Man's Journey and What He Learned on the Journey" - Israel Pickholtz 13 March meeting - “Googling Grandpa: Tips, Tricks and Hacks for Finding Your Family Online Using the Most Powerful Search Engine” - Mary Jamba 14 - 5 April meeting - “Reclaim the Records” - Brooke Shreier Ganz 1, 16 - 7
Local and Ohio -- “Twisted, Gnarly Tree Branches? No Problem!” by Giselle Hornsby 7 - 9; Memory Lab 10; Leon Weisenfeld, Yiddish editor 10; Ohio marriage records 10; Cuyahoga County Recorder’s website deeds 26
United States -- Where immigrants came from 19; Helpful Social Security application forms 19; Mili- tary records: The 1973 Fire, National Personnel Records Center 19; Passenger List help online 21; Ellis Island records 21; U. S. entered World War I 22; Online Jewish Chicago database 27
International -- CIA's CREST database 18; 1828 Hungarian Property Tax Census 18; Online histori- cal newspapers 18; Jewish genealogy loses “Mr. Litvak”, Howard Margol 20; Studio photo- graphs done in Europe 20; Some Czech genealogy terms 20; Ukraine - Tetiev names 24 Holocaust -- Lithuania - Slaughter, and Holocaust escape tunnel 23; Card index on Jewish Holo- caust victims online 23, 31; JewishGen Yizkor Book Project 23; Captured German Records from WWII 23; “Back to the Basics” -- Holocaust research 31 Resources -- Extensive map library 25; Federal Depository Library 25; Microfilms -- Going, going, gone? 25; JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry 26; Old U. S. passport applications 26; Using a map to identify nearby towns 27; The journal of Jewish genealogy: Avotaynu 29
Technology -- App Wins Top Honors at RootsTech 28
Techniques -- Comparing the “Big 4” genealogy database programs 28; Narrowing your online search 28; How to practice safe computing from Hal Bookbinder 29; Salvaging Water-Damaged Family Valuables and Heirlooms 29; “Back to the Basics” -- How to get started 30 - 1
Member News -- 32 - 3 Ask Tante Jennie -- 35
The Kol 34 Spring 2017
Ask Tante Jennie Algee™, the genealogy maven (or at least she thinks so)
Correspondence Logs
Dear Tante Jennie, tell you something that does not seem relevant What is a correspondence log? I am not at the time, but if you logged the information, even sure what correspondence means these you can add it later when it fits into your family days. database. Thanks, Several places to see examples of corre- spondence logs are Mamamma Dunn-Ptolemy > http://tinyurl.com/khgk2aq (https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Research _Logs ), > http://tinyurl.com/l5opbur Dear Mamamma , (http://www.cs.williams.edu/~bailey/genealogy/ You are right to ask what correspondence index_files/CorrespondenceRecordSheet.pdf), means now. Once it meant just a written letter, and then people started using the telephone more to > http://tinyurl.com/mx5o7ab communicate, even long distance. Now there (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canon/need are text messages, Facebook, Skype, and may- help -ontariogenwebforms-correspondence.html ) be more ways of communicating that Tante Jen- nie does not know about. Here are hints on how to get more corre- As far as what a correspondence log is, it is spondence -- Leave a card with your name, sur- a means of keeping track of who you communi- names you are researching and contact infor- cated with, when, how (paper letter, e-mail, tele- mation (e-mail address, mailing address and phone, Facebook, queries, forum postings, and phone number) anywhere you think someone instant message conversations, etc.) what was interested might see it. Register on the Family asked or discussed, if/when a reply was re- Finder section of JewishGen.org. If you post a ceived, the form of the reply, and what the re- query or answer on a JewishGen discussion sults were. You could do this on pieces of paper, group, put the names you are researching at the or in a computer file. If it was an e-mail mes- end of your message. sage, you should keep a copy (not necessarily a paper copy). If you do not want to keep paper Now just be disciplined enough to record logs, you can create a file using Word or Excel. correspondence in your log! It is a good idea to use a separate piece pf pa- per or file for each family. Tante Jennie Algee Maybe you are asking yourself why you would want to bother taking the time to do a log. Here is one example of why: You receive a mes- sage from someone, “Are we related?” You do not think so, and make that reply. Two years lat- er, you find a connection. How can you corre- spond with that person again if you did not keep track of the correspondence? Or someone might
The Kol 35 Spring 2017
2017 Officers Affiliated with the International President -- Amy Wachs Association of 1st Vice President – Programs - Jewish Sylvia Abrams Genealogical 2nd Vice President – Membership Societies Cynthia Spikell Secretary -- Pamela Turner Treasurer -- Marilyn Baskin Membership is by calendar year. Past-presidents -- Charles Annual Single Membership is $25; Lissauer and Helen Wolf annual Family Membership is $35. (Other past presidents are non- Membership form is on our website. voting members.) (See below.) Send 2017 dues check and Board of Trustees (Three-year completed form to: term) JGS of Cleveland c/o Mrs. Marilyn Baskin Ending December, 2017 32850 Jackson Road Stewart Hoicowitz Moreland Hills, OH 44022 Ending December, 2018 -- Murray Davis To contact the President or to Ending December, 2019 -- send a query, e-mail Jane Riedel [email protected] (Past presidents are also board or send snail mail to: members.) Editor of The Kol (Appointed) -- Jewish Genealogy Society of Cynthia Spikell Cleveland c/o Menorah Park Webmaster Paul Wolf 27100 Cedar Rd. Beachwood OH 44122 The Kol is published at least three times a year and is sent To contact other officers, go to our electronically to members, other website and click on their e-mail JGS groups, and libraries. Paper addresses. copies are kept in our library. Members may purchase paper www.clevelandjgs.org/ copies by pre-ordering. and on Facebook, too!
Content not copyrighted by the author is copyrighted by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland © 2017. All rights reserved.
The Kol 36 Spring 2017