Volume 23,Number2 Mishpacha “Every manofthechildrenIsraelshallencampbyhisownstandardwithensignfamily” sessions willbelimited to14studentseach. Meyersburg byemailat [email protected]. The be $15(tocoverthecost ofrentingthefacility).Pleasecontact Rich pm -4:30pm.Thesessions willbeopentomembersonlyandthe costwill March 11from7pm-9:30pm,andrepeated onSunday, March21,from2 Rodef ShalominFallsChurch,Virginia. The workshopwillbeon Thursday, these sites. There willbetwosessionsoftheworkshop,bothat Temple will begivenahandoutwithinternetaddresses andadescriptionofeach introduce youtowhatisavailableonlinefor doingJewishGenealogy. You you willbeabletovisitandexploreactualinternet sites.Essentially, it will International ConferencelastJuly. Itisa2½hour, hands-onworkshopwhere need tocontactyou. by email:[email protected],givingyourphonenumberincasewe as possible. To reserveaseat, contactLizLouriebyphone:202-625-1082or available attheFHC. ThisworkshopmayberepeatedinJune. There willalsobecounselorsavailabletohelpyouexploretheresources by LarryKrupnakandtherewillbeaperiodforquestionsanswers. to thefirst15peoplewhosignup. Theworkshopwillfeatureapresentation Sincespaceislimited,wemustlimitattendance 6:15 p.m.onMay3,2004. [email protected] puter andsometime. tions andspreadsheet(Excel)willbeprovided. All thatyouneedisacom- project canbedoneatyourschedule,inthecomfortofhome.Instruc- our team.We havepermissiontotakethebookshome,soworkon Goldberg FuneralHomeBooks.We arelookingforafewvolunteerstojoin This isarepeatofthepopularworkshopgiven last April, andatthe Since spaceislimited,werecommendthatyoureserveaplaceassoon The JGSGWissponsoringaworkshopattheFamilyHistoryCenter To signupcontactRoberta [email protected] JGSGW volunteersfortheDanzanskyProject arebeginningtoindexthe Are youlookingforaprojectthiswinter? Jewish GenealogyusingtheInternet-an online workshop Society Workshop atFamily HistoryCenter hxpsm Quarterly Publicationof of GreaterWashington The JewishGenealogySociety Rich Meyersburg,JGSGW SOCIETY NEWS Spring 2004 Numbers 2:2 JGSGW Officers and Committee Chairs for 2003-2004 hxpsm Mishpacha is the quarterly publication of the President Benjamin C. Fassberg Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington, [email protected] Inc., serving Washington, Northern Virginia, and the Vice Presidents Maryland suburbs. Programming Renee Payne Free to members, subscriptions are $15 and [email protected] $20 foreign. Membership dues are $25 for individuals Membership Marlene K. Bishow and $37.50 for families. Membership inquiries: PO [email protected] Box 31122, Bethesda, MS 20824-1122 Logistics/Administration Judy Miller Appropriate ads the size of a business card [email protected] will be accepted. The cost is $15 for one submission Corresponding Secretary Ben Okner or $50 for one year (4 issues) [email protected] Mishpacha by the Jewish Genealogy Society Recording Secretary Rich Meyersburg of Greater Washington (JGSGW). All rights reserved. [email protected] Mishpacha is intended to provide a free exchange of Treasurer Sharlene Kranz ideas, research tips, and articles of interest to [email protected] persons researching Jewish family history. Permission Member At Large Joel Stearman for reproduction in part is hereby granted for other [email protected] non-profit use, provided credit is given to the Database Management Ernie Fine JGSGW and to the author(s) of the reproduced [email protected] material. All other reproduction without prior written Librarian Judy Mostyn White permission of the editor(s) is prohibited. [email protected] All JGSGW members are encouraged to Mishpacha Co-editors Donna Sellinger submit their genealogical research experiences for [email protected] publication in Mishpacha. Submit articles to either Sharlene Kranz editor: Sharlene Kranz ([email protected]) or [email protected] Donna Sellinger ([email protected]) Research Roberta Solit Back issues are available from Sharlene [email protected] Kranz, 4336 Albemarle Street, NW, Washington, DC Workshops 20016 for $5 each. © Beginners Liz Lourie 2004 Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington, Inc. [email protected] Internet Rich Meyersburg Table of Contents [email protected] Hospitality Sonia Pasis Society News ...... 1 [email protected] Letter to the Editor ...... 3 Translation Services Peter Lande Library News ...... 4 [email protected] The amazing 24th IAJGS International Tapes Sonia Pasis Conference on Jewish Genealogy ..... 6 Domestic Research ...... 6 [email protected] Overseas Research ...... 15 Webmaster Donna Sellinger [email protected]
The JGSGW Web Site is located at:
http://www.jewishgen.org/jgsgw
Spring 2004 2 LETTER TO THE EDITOR the facilities and resources of the Family History Library; a mid-week informal group Dear Donna and Sharlene, discussion of progress and problem-solving. Distributing the newsletter via the web For those new to genealogy, a beginners (PDF download) saves the JGSGW money workshop on the first morning of the trip for printing and postage. In addition, you introduces them to the wonderful world of now have the ability to include as many Hamburg immigration lists, U.S. passenger pictures in color and sample documents as arrival lists, naturalization records and you want without concern for cost. It will census records. In addition to the beginners also be easier to distribute back issues using workshop, classes are given on problem your new methodology. solving, urban research and how to trans- As you might know, when the Belarus late Polish and Russian records. A copy of SIG first started five and a half years ago, the book, "Your Guide to the Family History we decided immediately that our newslet- Library," is part of the pre-trip literature. ter would be on line. We started doing Social events include a mid-week issues in PDF, but now we put up individual Sunday brunch for camaraderie and discus- articles as soon as they are edited. Please sion of successes (and failures); attendance see http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/ at the Sunday morning broadcast of the newsletter/bnl_index.htm Mormon Tabernacle Choir; informal group dinners; and group planning parties. Dave Fox, JGSGW For additional information, write to SLC Genealogy Trip, 155 N. Washington Jewish Genealogical Research Trip To Avenue, Bergenfield, NJ 07621, call 201- Salt Lake City Planned 387-8296; e-mail: [email protected]; For the twelfth consecutive year, website: http://www.avotaynu.com/ veteran Jewish genealogists Gary Mokotoff slctrip.htm and Eileen Polakoff will be offering a re- search trip to the LDS (Mormon) Family Workshop at Holocaust Museum History Library in Salt Lake City from Octo- Following the successful program on ber 21-October 28, 2004. To date, more Sunday, January 25 and in response to than 350 Jewish genealogists from the U.S., requests for a second workshop focusing on Canada, South America, Israel and Europe records at the Holocaust Museum and Li- have taken advantage of this program. In brary, Peter Landé, the winner of the 2001 the past few years, the group size each IAJGS Lifetime Achievement Award for his year has been between 30?40 people. work in Holocaust research and a member The program offers genealogists the of JGSGW, has offered to conduct a week- opportunity to spend an entire week of day program to be held on Tuesday, March research at the Library under the guidance 23, 2004 at 10:30 a.m. and assistance of professional genealogists The group, limited to 10 participants, who have made more than a three dozen will assemble in the fifth floor Archives trips to Salt Lake City. Each person has Reading Room for a briefing on USHMM access to trip leaders each day except resources of interest to genealogists. They Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the will then be able to utilize the library and Library for on-site assistance and personal the downstairs Registry where computers consultations. There is also a planned pro- will be available to search various data- gram that includes a three-hour class on day bases which hold about 2.5 million names. of arrival introducing the participants to There will be ample time for individual Spring 2004 3 questions. Participants may stay as long as they wish. No tickets are necessary for the workshop but Peter can arrange for tickets to the permanent exhibit for those who wish to have them. JGSGW Library News Judy Mostyn White, JGSGW librarian If you would like to attend, please send your name and phone number(s) to Liz Greetings and Happy Family Hunting! Lourie at [email protected] or if you The JGSGW library collection is housed don't have access to e-mail, you can call at: her at (202) 625-1082. Isaac Franck Jewish Public Library [IFJPL] 2006 Conference Site Announced 4928 Wyaconda Road The IAJGS is pleased to announce that Rockville, MD 20852 it has awarded the 2006 International Telephone: 301-255-1970 conference to JGS, Inc. (New York). With The IFJPL hours change seasonally, but the enormous resources in the New York generally they are open all day on Mondays area, and the outstanding conferences that and Wednesdays, afternoons and evenings have been hosted there in the past, this on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Friday mornings, should be a great opportunity. and the morning of the fourth Sunday of The 2005 conference will be held in Las the month. Always call them first to check Vegas, Nevada. July 10-15. Las Vegas pro- their hours before going to use our library. vides outstanding hospitality at very afford- Directions to our library can be found on able rates. And, with Michael Brenner our web site, under Resources, Library. chairing this conference, it will no doubt JGSGW members who wish to use our provide outstanding programs and activi- library should go to the main desk of the ties. IFJPL. There, you sign in, and be sure to Conferences beyond 2006 have yet to put JGSGW in the appropriate category be awarded. beside your name. You will receive a key to Hal Bookbinder, IAJGS our locked cabinets. Unlock the doors, and use our materials. PLEASE return materials to the same location from which you took them. Close and lock our cabinets, and return the key to the person at the main desk. Virginia members should be aware of DONATIONS NEEDED AT JGSGW LIBRARY the Jack Klein Memorial Library of Jewish Genealogy & History, located at Beth El The JGSGW audio tapes are now being Hebrew Congregation, 3830 Seminary Rd, kept at the JGSGW library. We need cas- Alexandria, 703-370-9400. Contact JGSGW sette tape holders for some of the tapes. If member, Faith Klein, for more information. you have any empty ones you can donate, please either give them to Sonia Passis or THANK YOUS Judy Mostyn White, or bring them to the Here’s a THANK YOU to the following JGSGW library and leave them in with the library volunteers who have helped since JGSGW materials. Thank you for any dona- last time: tions. JGSGW member, DAN GROSS, for frequent general help at the library, espe Spring 2004 4 cially with the catalog. This time he got us CS 879.4 .L363; “Subata, Latvia, land a new Yizkor book from eBay. records” published 1936, 1937. Deeds and land titles in Subata (Shubitz), Latvia; in NEW BOOKS Latvian; vol 1 is old records, vol 2 is new DS 135 .P6 S4763; “Sefer Serotsk “ by records, covers Daugavpils and surrounding Mordekhai Gelbart, published 1971. Yizkor area; gives names, street addresses, plots, or memorial book for Serock (Seratzk, etc. Old call numbers G29.3 & G29.4. Serotsk), Warsaw, Poland; in Yiddish with DK 505.24 .V57; “Visa Lietuva: some Hebrew; bibliography. informacine knyga 1922 metams” by Kazys CS 49 .C384; “Discovering your immi- Puida, published 1922. Name index of grant & ethnic ancestors” by Sharon dentists, doctors, lawyers, and list of street Carmack, published 2000. Handbook on name changes in Kova (Kaunas); in immigration with bibliography and indexes. Lithuanian. CS 66 .J4 M35; “Sephardic genealogy: DS 135 .P62 S893; “Birth, marriage and discovering your Sephardic ancestors and death records of Jewish Suwalki”.List of their world” by Jeffrey Malka, published available data covering birth, marriage and 2002. Includes bibliography and index. death records of the Jewish communities DS 135 .S55 A47; “Between Galicia and of the Suwalki, Poland region (Mariampol Hungary: the Jews of Stropkov “ by Melody and Kalvarija districts) for 1815-1915; in Amsel, published 2002. History of Jewish Russian. Old call number OG42.2.1 Stropkov, Slovakia; in Hebrew and English; R 713.67 .L5 A51; “Lietuvos eksportas ir with bibliography and indexes. ekspoteriai”, volume 1 published 1929, F 420 .J5 L46; “A corner of the tapes- volume 2 published 1938. Lithuanian vol 1: try” by Carolyn Gray LeMaster, published exports and exporters; vol 2: importers, 1994. Jews in Arkansas, 1820s-1990s, with exporters and manufacturers; in Lithuanian. bibliography and index. Old call number D. D 797 .U6 K56; “WWII military records: DS 135 .R93 Z23; “Memor book a family historian’s guide” by Debra Zablatov”, Hubert C. Unger, published 1949. Johnson Knox, published 2003. Archival Yizkor book for Zablatov, Galicia or resources for WWII military records; in- Ukraine; in Hebrew and Yiddish. Old call cludes federal and state records. number G42.2.3. DS 135 .P6 D63; “Survivors of the If you have any questions or comments Holocaust in Poland: a portrait based on about our library, suggestions for new Jewish community records, 1944-1947” by purchases, or want to volunteer, you can Lucjan Dobroszycki, published 1994. Con- reach me at 301-977-0154, or at tains lists of survivors with date and place [email protected]. Just please don’t tele- of birth, names of parents, and last known phone between 6-8 pm or weekend morn- address. This is the book discussed by ings. Till next time, Happy family hunting! JGSGW member, Peter Lande, in this issue of Mishpacha.
OLD BOOKS Here are some of our older books that have been entered some time ago into the computer system of the IFJPL, with a description and their new call numbers:
Spring 2004 5 The amazing 24th IAJGS —Helkat Mehokek (Translation of He- International Conference on brew tombstone inscriptions found on Mount of Olives); Jewish Genealogy —An Index to the Jacobi Collection of Family Trees; The program committee is evaluating —Sephardic and Mizrachi Genealogical an enormous number of very excellent Research in Israel; papers that have been proposed. We prom- —Index of Family and Private Archives ised to get this job done by the end of at the Central Archives for the History of January. Since proposals are still coming in, the Jewish People (a collections of private even though the deadline was the end of and family archives); December, we extended our own deadline —A guide to the Archives and Archival by a number of weeks. Believe me when I Material for Genealogical Use in Israel; tell you that the program will be positively and more! outstanding. We have so many excellent If you have any questions, join our proposals - more than twice the number we online discussion group “Jerusalem 2004 can possibly have presented - that we are Discussion Group” for which you can regis- going to be able to pick and chose only the ter from our home page: http:// absolute best. www.jewishgen.org/jerusalem2004. We Hotel rates are already posted on our look forward to hearing from you and to website – http://www.ortra.com/ seeing you in Jerusalem July 4 to 9, 2004! jgen2004/registration.asp. I think you will be more than happy with the inexpensive Martha Lev-Zion rates we have arranged. And don’t forget The 24th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish that those rates include all service charges Genealogy and taxes as well as our famous, gigantic www.jewishgen.org/jerusalem2004 Israeli breakfast!! The rates per adult per- son in a double room are - are you ready DOMESTIC RESEARCH for this? – between $40 and $48. For sure it would cost you more just to stay at home! How to view the “Record of Aliens held So come to our magnificent and unique city for special Inquiry” when using the Ellis of Jerusalem, which was one of the official Island database. seven wonders of the world! After a long voyage across the Atlantic, Our Conference is not only going to be many of our ancestors were detained at outstanding as far as Archival cooperation Ellis Island. There might have been a health and input, but it is probably going to be the issue, a question of the passenger’s ability best conference in terms of quality and to support himself (LPC) or a relative that breadth that the IAJGS has ever had. We was supposed to meet them and failed to have prepared several databases which we appear. The names of those detained have put on CDs and which will be given passengers are listed in the pages called free to full paying registrants. These in- “Record of Aliens Held For Special Inquiry”. clude: They are found just after the last “Manifest —The Memorials of Vanished Communi- of Alien Passengers for the U.S. Immigration ties (the very first cataloging of Israeli Officer at Port of Arrival” of each ship’s memorials of the Jewish Communities records. destroyed during the Shoah); These pages are easy to locate when —1875 Montefiore Census of the Jewish viewing the microfilm of the ships arrivals. Population of Eretz Israel; Yet, I had never seen these pages when Spring 2004 6 using the EIDB. I wondered if the creators date and time they were discharged (Feb- of the Ellis Island database filmed this page, ruary 14th, at 10:34), the number of Break- though I knew they did not index them, as I fasts (4), Dinners and Suppers (4) they had had previously found several of my rela- (Rosa and 3 children). Often they give tives listed on these pages and did not find another address, as in the case above. On more than the one entry for their manifest Rose’s manifest it lists her husband as the in the EIDB. I decided to search for my person she was going to join. Meir Malkis’s maternal grandmother, Rosa Malkes. An address is listed as 622 E 11St. NY. On her earlier search at Archives led me to her Special Inquiry page, Meir’s address is 198 name on her manifest and Record of Aliens Watkins Ave., Brooklyn. Rosa’s arrival to Held For Special Inquiry page. America was delayed one more day. There I went to Steve Morse’s pages (http:// is a notation on the manifest that on the www.stevemorse.org) and used his Blue 5th day of their 10 day crossing Rachel, her form for searching the Ellis Island Database 5 year old daughter died. This was just in One Step (Jewish Passengers). I entered one more day of her difficult voyage. Rosa Malkes. Her name was listed once, and I chose to view her “scanned mani- Roberta Solit, JGSGW fest”. She appears on page #170, on the SS Statendam, arriving at New York on Febru- New resource for Boston research ary 13, 1906. You must “click to enlarge” to A new resource is on-line for Boston be able to read the page. Then I clicked on research: Tufts University in collaboration “close window” and returned to the origi- with the Bostonian Society is digitizing nal view of her scanned manifest. I next eleven Boston City Directories between clicked on “view text version manifest”. 1865 and 1955. The project will link names By clicking on “next” page #172 appeared, with photos and with city maps. Only the as I searched for the last pages of her ships 1865 directory is now available. manifests. For a full description see: For some reason it jumps two numbers http://nils.lib.tufts.edu/bostonstreets/ for each page of the manifest. I continued index.html to click on “next” until it no longer allowed me to do so. The word “next” no longer David Rosen, Boston MA had a hyperlink. At this time, I clicked on “view original manifest”. The last page of BostonWalks’ The Jewish Friendship the ships list of aliens appeared. I now Trail GUIDEBOOK, 2nd Edition, ISBN clicked on “next” and there was the 1st #0970082517, NOW AVAILABLE, with 6 Walk- page of the list of detainees! These images ing Tours of Jewish Boston! are quite sharp and are often typewritten, RETAIL PURCHASE: A single copy is making it quite easy to search for your available at retail bookstores OR online ancestors names. On this voyage there from http://www.angelfire.com/biz/ were 15 pages, each listing 30 detainees. LikeJACKnMARIONS/BookOrderForm.html These pages were filmed but were not BostonWalks’ The Jewish Friendship indexed by the EIDB, so a search of Rose Trail Guidebook 2nd edition is a handy Malkes only brought up her manifest. guidebook for Jewish and non-Jewish These are valuable pages. They pro- tourists and residents to discover the down- vide another glimpse into our ancestor’s town history of Boston Jewry by means of voyage, listing the cause of detention, the six walk tours with maps and photos. The This 2nd edition, doubles the number of 1st edition’s short-run (600 copies) sold out. Spring 2004 7 This 2nd edition, doubles the number of been determined. The Center’s website is self-guided Jewish Boston walk tours to six at http:// (6), and improves the guidebook’s attrac- www.nationalyiddishbookcenter.org. tiveness with a new glossy cover, larger bibliography, and full updated index. Pa- Gary Mokotoff, Nu What’s Nu perback, 198 Pages, Black and White Photos and Maps, Pricing - Retail: $19.95/single FOIA inquiries to the INS – how to give copy + $4/postage - Wholesale: $11.97/ “consent” when the subject is dead? copy for 12+ copies or $15.98/copy for 2- I’ve sent many requests to the INS for 11 copies. Pre-payment required. naturalization records, but have never provided proof of death and have never New York Times Offers Article Archives been refused records because of this. I do from 1851-1995 provide birth and death dates though, even The New York Times is now offering a if they are just approximate. I think as long complete article archive from September as the person is realistically no longer 1851 to December 1995. That’s more than living, that’s proof enough. If, on the fifteen million articles. You can start your other hand, you were requesting documents search at http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/ for someone born in the 1950s, I assume nytimes/advancedsearch.html . they would require the proof of death. Searching is free. You can search the In addition, my experience has been full text, author, or headline. You can also that the official form does not give the specify a date range or include advertise- FOIA staff enough information to efficiently ments and other listings in your search. locate the records in question, especially if Search listings include the title, date, and the person has a common name and/or you author of the article, while icons allow you don’t have exact dates and places for the to see a sample portion of the article or naturalization. So what I do is send a typed purchase the article. letter, on my own letterhead, providing as Yes, you can purchase individual ar- much relevant information about the person ticles. Click on the dollar sign icon and as I can. Here’s an example of the requests you’ll see that an individual article costs that I send — all are welcome to use this as $2.99, or you can buy article “packs,” and a template for your own requests: pay considerably less. (A 25-article “pack” costs the equivalent of $1.05; you have 180 “Dear Freedom of Information Officer: days to access the 25 articles.) I am writing under the Freedom of Yiddish Book Center Yizkor Book Information Act to obtain copies of INS Reprints To Be Available Soon records to aid in my genealogy research. The Yiddish Book Center project to Please provide me with a copy of the reprint 650 yizkor books is nearing comple- complete INS file for the following tion. They expect the books to be available member(s) of my family (including, but not for sale in March. Prices have not been limited to, all naturalization and alien fixed but it is estimated it will be $90.00 registration documents). I’ve included as for Book Center members and $120.00 for much information as I have to assist the non-members. This is a strange structure NRC in identifying the correct records. since tax-deductible membership is only $36 per year. YBC also stated they may sell Full Name: Morris FRIEDMAN duplicate originals but the prices have not Original Surname: KMIOTEK been determined. The Center’s website is Spring 2004 at 8 Birth Date, Place: Approx. 1872, them mentioned on naturalization papers, Warsaw (maybe Lomza or Pultusk), Poland but I tend to include them anyway for Death Date, Place: 15-Jul-1928, NYC completeness, plus you never know what Spouse’s Name: Jennie, maiden name other records may be found in your unknown relative’s INS file. Marriage Date, Place: Approx. 1900- The INS office in DC used to handle 1901, NYC FOIA requests, but now they are handled by Children’s Names:
Dan Kazez 1897 Russian Census for Grodno Gubernia The Czestochowa-Radomsko Area Research Group This information may be a real find for http://www.kazez.com/~dan/crarg/ some of you who thought you would never find a trace of your Bialystok area ances- Argentine Research: Searching for tors. Argentinean Relatives Recently, David Fox, Belarus SIG Coor- There is an Argentinean immigration dinator, announced the extraction and database (1882-1929) online at http:// transliteration of the existing returns of the www.cemla.com/paginas/c_busqueda.htm. 1897 All Russian Census for Grodno It is provided by CEMLA, Centro de Estudios Gubernia. These existing returns are only Migratorios Latinamericanos. Enter a sur- fragments of the entire Grodno Gubernia name or partial surname in the box under census. the word “Appelido.” The webpage explaining this acquisi- There is a JewishGen Infofile about tion can be found at http:// genealogical research in Argentina that www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/ describes the process for contacting CEMLA 1897_russian_census_grodno_gubernia.htm. and getting original records from them. It is (this URL may be on two lines, so please located at http://www.jewishgen.org/ make sure to copy the entire URL) On this InfoFiles/argentina.html#B1 webpage, there are links to a list of 1,800 unique surnames included in this database Gary Mokotoff, Nu What’s Nu and over 700 unique shtetls/towns found in this database. Book of Sephardic Surnames The number one objective of BIALYGen is to gain access to Jewish records in the A book on Sephardic surnames has been National Historical Archives of Belarus in published in Brazil. Titled “Dicionário Grodno. As a result of the gracious coopera- Sefaradi de Sobrenomes” (Dictionary of tion of the Belarus SIG and David Fox, we Sephardic surnames) it includes informa- have our first bit of data from the Grodno tion about 16,914 different names. The Archives. Thank you, Belarus SIG!! introductory portion of the book is in two Of the total available data, about 10% languages, Portuguese and English. The is for towns in the BIALYGen area of dictionary portion requires no knowledge of Bialystok, Bielsk, and Sokolka Uyezds (dis- the Portuguese language because it is a tricts). compilation of surnames, toponymics, name There are 776 unique surname spellings type, Inquisition, sources, and important for people enumerated in the census for people bearing the surname). The data was towns in the BIALYGen area. gathered from 400different sources and Although you can search the Belarus SIG covers the time period 1350-2000. The 1897 names list, that list contains 1800 authors, members of the Jewish Genealogi- names for all of Grodno Gubernia. Only cal Society in Brazil, are Guilherme these 776 surnames are for people living in Faiguenboim, Paulo Valadares and Anna Rosa the BIALYGen area in 1897. Campagnano. The book can be purchased Spring 2004 16 As David Fox mentioned, funding of tributed by the “Jewish Communities and these extractions has not been completed. Records - United Kingdom Special Interest All the beneficiaries of this data need to Group” (JCR-UK) and individual donors. The help so that Belarus SIG and BIALYGen can “All U.K. Database” incorporates the fol- continue to sponsor work at the Grodno lowing datasets: Archives. I encourage all BIALYGen members * United Kingdom Marriages, 1838 to to make a contribution to “Grodno Archives 1972: from all areas of the United Kingdom. Research Projects, “ which can be done * Wales Census Returns: 1,800 records through the BIALYGen JewishGen-erosity from the 1851 and 1891 censuses. page at http://www.jewishgen.org/ * London Jews (pre-1850): over 9,000 JewishGen-erosity/Bialystokrrg.html. Jewish traders based in London. These funds will be transferred to * Jewish Traders/Businesses in London - Belarus SIG to pay for the BIALYGen town 1769-1839: names of over 5,000 Jewish extractions. If contributions are greater traders based in London. than the cost, those surplus funds will be * JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF): dedicated to future Grodno Archives more than 10,000 entries by Jewish gene- projects. alogists researching families in England, What do your receive for your contri- cotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. bution? Once funded, this data will be * JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial submitted to JewishGen for inclusion in the Registry (JOWBR): 25,000 records from All Belarus and All Poland databases. Also, if cemeteries within the United Kingdom. a researcher contributes $36 to BIALYGen The JewishGen “All U.K. Database” Grodno Archives Research Projects, that allows you to simultaneously search all of person can submit their surnames of inter- the above resources. The database is a est (up to 4 surnames) and we will search work in progress and new entries are being ONLY the BIALYGen area returns and provide added regularly. These databases are made full extracts to you. possible only with the working involvement Please use the Surnames on the lists of many volunteers and your financial con- which will be posted to this forum, make tributions. your contribution, and then notify me of For those of you with United Kingdom your contribution and the surnames of interests it will be of special value to your interest to you. genealogical research. The “All U.K. Data- base” can be found at http:// Mark Halpern www.jewishgen.org/databases/UK. BIALYGen Coordinator Warren Blatt All U. K. Database JewishGen Editor-in-Chief JewishGen, in conjunction with the Boston, MA Jewish Genealogical Society of Great [email protected] Britain, is pleased to announce the “All U.K. Database”, which is now online at http:// Vilna District Research and Record www.jewishgen.org/databases/UK . Translations This is a multiple database search The Vilna District Research Group, a facility, containing over 50,000 entries sub-group of the LitvakSIG, seeks to assist referring to people in the United Kingdom and advance the knowledge base of re- — England, Scotland, Wales and Northern searchers by procuring, translating and Ireland. These databases have been con- distributing genealogical records for towns
Spring 2004 17 what was the Vilna uezd [district] in Impe- Susana Leistner Bloch, coordinator of rial Russia. the KRRG, Kolbuszowa Region Research Our group has been involved in the Group, has placed sample Galician vital 1858 Revision List project for the city of records and English translations of their Vilna for several years. We have the com- column headings on her group’s website. plete 1858 RL for the Jewish residents of I also recommend using Judith Frazin’s the city of Vilna consisting of almost 3000 19th Century Polish Language translation pages and 26,000 records. To date we have guide, and / IN THEIR WORDS, a multi translated 70% of these records. In addition, volume translation guide to German, Latin, our group is now procuring the Revision Polish and Russian Documents, by Shea and Lists [1834,1834-1849 supplements,1850, Hoffman. 1851-1857 supplements, and 1858] for the town of MOLETAI [MALAT] and will be trans- Eden Joachim lating these in the next few months. Rzeszow PSA Archive Coordinator Revision List records and/or family lists [email protected] also exist for the following towns in the Hamburg Database Now Includes Nearly 2 Vilna district: Million Emigrants Antakalnis, Boguslavishok, Ciobiskis, The Hamburg Emigrant Lists on the Gedrovitz INCLUDED IN VILNIUS UEZD, Internet were updated through 1905 this DISTRICT C,Gelvan, Mikhalishok, Malat, past week. They include nearly 2 million Musnik, Nemencine, Novy Gorod, Shirvint, entries from 1890-1905. The site is located Snipishok, Vilna and Vilna Uezd. at http://www.hamburg.de/fhh/ Vital records [birth, marriage, death, behoerden/staatsarchiv/ and divorce] also exist for many towns in link_to_your_roots/english/index.htm. the Vilna district. The index provides basic information For most towns, the vital records about the emigrant: name, country/state of cover the time period 1854-1915, although origin, approximate age, and destination. most towns have incomplete sets of data. The search engine does not allow soundex The Vilna city records are the most com- searches. Use the wildcard feature which is plete and exist for the time period 1837- explained on the search page to find name 1915. variants. Anyone interested in obtaining informa- For a fee, you can receive an abstract tion on the work of the Vilna District Re- of the entire entry from the ship’s mani- search Group and wants to learn how much fest. The cost for an abstract is $20 for 1-3 is required [for each project] to become persons, $30 4-10 persons, $40 for 11-20, eligible for various record translations $50 for 21-30 persons. Because it is an should contact Joel Ratner at abstract rather than the actual manifest, [email protected] . each member of a family of three on a Joel Ratner specific page would have his/her own Coordinator, Vilna District Research Group abstract. Therefore, they would count as three persons if you requested information Galician Records Translation Assistance about all three. Funds are used to support If you need assistance with the transla- the Internet site. tion of the column headings from Galician Records, I suggest visiting this url: http:// Website Depicts Latvia Today www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Kolbuszowa/ A posting to the Latvia SIG Discussion resources3.html Group notes a web site that has pictures Spring 2004 18 and maps of Latvia today. It is located at reports that documents chronicling more http://www.latvia360.lv/. Most unusual are than six centuries of Jewish history, culture scenes from 19 Latvian towns that are and religion can be found in nearly all archi- displayed with 360-degree panoramic val repositories in Belarus. Until now, how- views. Click the “All Cities” link and listed ever, those documents were inaccessible or are all 35 towns described at the site. Each difficult to track down. A new Russian- town has pictures and/or links to other sites language publication is making Jewish his- that provide information about the town. It torical records in 54 national and local ar- is a very attractive web site. chives in Belarus available to researchers. The Guide was published in 2003 jointly by Gary Mokotoff the Russian State University for the Humani- ties and Project Judaica, a joint program of Yad Vashem Database online in June the Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Hall of Names at Yad Vashem has and YIVO. The guide is the second in the spent years and millions of dollars convert- series of finding aids to the Jewish docu- ing 3 million ‘pages of testimony’ into an mentary sources in the post-Soviet archives. online database. The online site will be The preceding volume, published in 1997, launched in June or in the summer some- was devoted to the Jewish documentary time. This was written up about a month sources in the Moscow archives. ago in the Jerusalem post and Haaretz For more information on Jewish Documen- online. The search has advanced options tary Sources in the Belarus Archives, visit allowing you to search all different fields the website of the RGGU publishing house: that were entered from the original forms. http://publisher.rsuh.ru/price.htm or email: i.e. Search by: “last name”, “maiden [email protected]. name”, “born in...”, “birthdate”, “submit- ted by”, etc. As well as a combination of any of the above. When you do find an entry that interests you, you click on the record and it shows you the original form that was scanned in. I have spent a fair amount of time using this resource at Yad Vashem. It will be phenomenal when it is available on the internet. This is a tremendous resource. I have already found relatives from my father’s family who survived the holocaust by finding pages of testimony that were en- tered.
Sara Wenger, Israel
Jewish Documentary Sources in Belarus now accessible at YIVO The Winter edition of the YIVO news- letter, available online at http:// www.yivoinstitute.org/pdf/yedies197.pdf, Yad Vashem
Spring 2004 19 JGSGW Meeting dates 2004:
April 18 at Har Shalom May 16 at Har Shalom June 27, 2004 at JCC of Northern VA
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