FALL 2018 Volume 27, No. 2
Ask Tante Jennie Algee™, Inside the genealogy maven (or at least she thinks so) This Issue
Marriage Records Ask Tante Jennie 1-3
President’s Message Dear Tante Jennie, 4
I am having trouble finding the marriage records of a few of my an- Research Report 5 cestors. I am pretty sure that they married in Cuyahoga County, or at least in Ohio. I know about looking online for the volume and page, researching at Genealogy Giants 6 the Western Reserve Historical Society Library for marriage records up to about 1960, Cleveland Public Main Library, the Cuyahoga County Archives Adoption 7-8 for records up to 1944, and the Cuyahoga County Probate Court online dock- et search (probate.cuyahogacounty.us/pa/), but I have still not found all I Ethical Will 9 was hoping to find. Where else can I look? County Archives Juan Dringg 10-11
Dear Juan, Summer at WRHS 12-14 You have made a good start. There are a few things to think about before looking elsewhere. First, the name might have been misspelled in the Cleveland in Warsaw index. When looking for “Oif”, Tante Jennie found it under “Olf”. Second, 15 the first name you are looking for might be different from what you expect -- Lithuania e.g., “Jack” instead of “Jacob”. Third, consider the possibility that they may 16-22 have married out of state. Couples eloping from Cleveland went to places Poland like Ripley, New York, or Erie, Pennsylvania, to wed. 23-29
Tante Jennie will give you some other resources to check. If they do Program Calendar 30 not help, the last resort is to look at the marriage licenses one by one around the time you think they got married. (Not sure when they married? Announcements You might start looking one year before the birth of their first child. Or see if 31 there was an anniversary mentioned in the Cleveland Jewish News or one of its predecessors.) continued on page 2 Page 2 The Kol
Ask Tante Jennie
2018 Officers Other places to look are: The index that Paul Klein compiled President Sylvia Abrams that is available on Ancestry.com: “US, Ohio, 1st Vice President – Programs Cuyahoga County, Jewish Marriage Record Stewart Hoicowitz Extracts, 1837-1934”. There are over 19,000 2nd Vice President – Membership extracted Jewish marriage records listed. If Don Golden you have a subscription or use it at a library Secretary Pamela Turner you can just search at the main search Treasurer Marilyn Baskin screen. Past-Presidents Familysearch.org for “Online United Amy Wachs and Charles Lissauer States Birth, Marriage, and Death Records Other past presidents are non-voting mem- 1733-1990”. This is only a name index to bers. small sets of marriage records from a few states within the United States. The image Board of Trustees (three-year term) may not be available, only the transcription. It is important to see the actual license or Murray Davis the image of the license, as mistakes can be ending December 2018 made in transcription. FamilySearch.org also Jane Reidel has "Ohio County Marriages, 1789 – 1994” ending December 2019 that contains a name index and images of Jeff Morris some Ohio marriage records. Not all Ohio ending December 2020 marriages of that time period are included, but you might find a family marriage you are Past presidents are also board members. looking for, and the image of the marriage license is shown. Editor of The Kol (appointed) Sean Martin MyHeritage.com has a 14-day free Webmaster Paul Wolf trial to search marriage and divorce Records, among others: myheritage.com/search- The Kol is published at least three times a year records?keyword=marriage. and is sent electronically to members, other This website shows some promise to JGS groups, and libraries. Paper copies are answer, “How do I find out if someone is kept in our library. Members may purchase married without having to pay a fee?” -- paper copies by pre-ordering. https://legalbeagle.com, but you need to know the county where the marriage took Editor’s Note: A Spring 2018 issue of The Kol place. You can go to the National Association appeared in May. There was no Summer 2018 of Counties website to find the public rec- issue. ords website of the county where you hope to find for the marriage license.
Fall 2018 Page 3 Ask Tante Jennie
There are plenty of sites that charge, like https://marriage.laws.com/free-marriage- records, where you can search for free, but then are redirected to a fee site, and the search did not go back very far in time.
Some of the sources mentioned above:
Cuyahoga County Archives Building 3951 Perkins Avenue (at E. 40th St.) Cleveland, Ohio 44114 publicworks.cuyahogacounty.us/en-us/archives.aspx 216-443-7250
Western Reserve Historical Society Library 10825 East Boulevard, Cleveland www.wrhs.org 216-721-5722
Cleveland Public Library 325 Superior Ave., N.E. – E. Sixth St. and Superior Avenue, in downtown Cleveland. www.cpl.org
In Ohio you must request a copy of a marriage license from the county probate court where the ceremony took place. Cuyahoga County charges $2. You can contact:
Cuyahoga County Probate Court Marriage License Department 1 Lakeside Avenue West Room 129 (1st Floor) (note new room number) Cleveland, Ohio 44113 216-443-8920
Good luck, Tante Jennie Algee™ Page 4 The Kol
Local and Ohio—Membership and Board
President’s Message As I write this message, we are preparing to celebrate the Jewish New Year, 5779. I wish you and your families a Shanah To- vah, a Good Year, filled with health, happiness, and successful gene- alogy hunting. This issue features our Cleveland delegation to the IAJGS con- ference held in Warsaw in August. Congratulations to Ken Bravo, IAJGS president and our own JGSC past president for the success of the first such conference in Eastern Europe. Marlene Englander, Sean Martin and Russ Maurer presented at this IAJGS. Special kudos to Russ, for receiving the Rabbi Malcolm Stern Grant on behalf of the Litvak SIG. Your officers and board have instituted several new initiatives over the summer, based upon the results of our membership survey: Stewart Hoicowitz, First Vice-President, planned a field trip to the Cuyahoga County Ar- chives new building on Perkins Avenue for our August meeting. Twenty-five participated in this Sunday outing. Don Golden, Second Vice-President, published our 2018 membership directory, which you can access in the members’ section of our website. Our Treasurer, Marilyn Baskin, reports that we had a record number of members who chose to pay sustaining level member- ship dues. We thank you for your generosity. Secretary, Pam Turner, has acknowledged dona- tions to our JGSC library housed at Anshe Chesed-Fairmount Temple from Marv and Mary Ne- vans and our member Marilyn Bilsky. Trustee, Murray Davis, initiated our new quarterly series of interactive workshops with an Introduction to Ancestry.com in June. This month our second such workshop will feature JewishGen.org, led by Russ Maurer. We thank Murray for suggesting this pilot program to the board. Thanks to the efforts of our web master, Paul Wolf, and member Marlene Englander, we are debuting a new website at www.cleveland.jgs.org. Look for its unveiling sometime in Octo- ber. We welcome your feedback about the new look. Our second new initiative is Research Tip of the Month. This member benefit comes to you by email and is then stored in the members’ section of the JGSC website. We thank Richard Spector, Ken Bravo and Helen Wolf for serving as the first authors, along with myself. Septem- ber’s Research Tip of the Month will be on marriage documents and should have arrived in your email boxes. If you have a suggestion for a meeting, the website, the Research Tip of the Month, or the newsletter, please drop me a note at [email protected]. Sylvia Fall 2018 Page 5
Local and Ohio—Research Report
The Research Report informs our members and friends of the work done by members in re- sponse to research requests. There is only one request to report on. We received an inquiry from a Sabrina Otto in Germany. Her grandmother was a German Catholic and her grandfather, Melvin Scott, was a Jewish soldier in the US Army, from Cleveland, posted in Germany in the early 1950s. Around the time of the birth of Sabrina's father, Melvin returned to Cleveland and all contact broke off. Sabrina was requesting help finding her grandfather or any information about him. We did find a Melvin Scott who seems to match the basic facts - a Jewish veteran, from Cleveland, born around the right time. Regrettably, this Melvin died in 1961. We suggested to Ms. Otto that she file for the military service of this Melvin Scott to see if it matches the places where she knows her grandfather was posted. That would confirm that we have found the cor- rect person. We also provided her detailed guidance on how to request the military service rec- ord. Submitted by Russ Maurer, July , 2018
Jewish War Veterans, Post 44, 1970s (WRHS) http://wrhs.saas.dgicloud.com/islandora/object/wrhs%3A5332 Page 6 The Kol
Local and Ohio—May Meeting: Comparing the Genealogy Giants: Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Find- MySearch.com, MyHeritage.com
Sunny Morton is a professional genealogist known for her award-winning contributions to the field. She lives and works in the Cleveland area and is Co-Editor of the Ohio Genealogy News. She con- tributes to Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems Podcast and Family Tree Magazine and speaks frequently on genealogy throughout the country. In May she presented a comparison of “the genealogy giants”, the websites many genealogists know and use. Her comparison high- lighted the strengths and weaknesses of each site, noted each site’s special features, and drew attention to both free resources and fee- based services. Each of the sites offers a powerful search interface, automated record hinting, and tutorials. Ancestry, the most expensive of the giants, has a separate landing page for Jewish history. Ancestry also partners with Jewish heritage organizations and works with volunteers to index Jewish records. FamilySearch is free and provides access to core genealogical records worldwide. Over 8,000 catalog records have “Jewish” in the title. Morton cautioned, however, that FamilySearch is not especially strong in terms of newspapers, directories, and yearbooks. Morton described FindMyPast as the site “wearing a tweed jacket”. She loves the site’s deep coverage of records in the United Kingdom and that the site is especially strong for dig- itized newspapers. FindMyPast also offers options for pay-as-you-go access and so is more budget friendly than other sites. However, FindMyPast offers no help with building a family tree online or DNA research. The Israeli site MyHeritage is known for its geographic diversity, its free family websites for social networking, and its unique DNA matching tools. Its Global Name Translation will search across names in other alphabets, which could be especially useful. Limited online educa- tion and subscription options are downsides, though. Morton encouraged the group to keep master trees on software apart from these sites, to insure access independent of changes in the site and its subscription options. She also en- couraged learning from genealogy podcasts, including Genealogy Gems. Members can find out more from the handout posted on the website or order a hard copy from Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems, https://www.shopgenealogygems.com/ collections/genealogy-guides/products/genealogy-giants-quick-guide. A digital download is also available. Fall 2018 Page 7
Local and Ohio—June Meeting: Accessing Adoption Records
Betsie Norris founded Adoption Network Cleveland in 1988. She then began a twenty-five year process to change the state legislation regarding access to birth records. In December 2013 the Ohio legislature passed the Restore Ohio Adoptee Rights Act (ROAR). The act allows an adoptee over 18 to apply for access to their original (pre-adoption) birth certificate through the Department of Health, recognizing the adoptee’s right to this important identity document. Implemented in 2015, the legislation allows birthparents to file a contact prefer- ence form. Ohio was just the ninth state to open up adoption records; in most states, birth certificates are still sealed, making it difficult, or nearly impossible, for adoptees to learn more about their family background. Norris presented at the June meeting of the Cleveland JGS, along with adoptee Mark El- liott. She described her work over the decades to advocate for adoptees, beginning with a 1988 conference attended by over two hundred. From this initial conference came Adoption Network Cleveland, a nonprofit organization that now has fifteen staff members and a million dollar budget to support its programs and advocacy work. Norris is the Executive Director. (www.adoptionnetwork.org) Legislation in 1964 closed original birth certificates to adoptees. Attempts to lift the re- strictions failed or only succeeded partially. Legislation in 1996 opened records to adoptees born from that day forward. But that still meant that 400,000 adoptees in Ohio between 1964 and 1996 did not have access to the most important document of identity one can possess. ROAR changed all that. This advocacy effort of Adoption Network Cleveland was initially opposed by Ohio Right to Life. The organization felt that access to records could tarnish the image of adoption; Norris argued that it was secrecy and stigma that harmed the public’s view of adoption and adoptees. Over the decades, Ohio Right to Life changed its view and came to support their effort to change the 1964 legislation. She stressed that they were able to get everyone in the adoption community to support their work, birthparents, adoptive parents, and adoptees. Norris’ current advocacy work focuses on an effort to establish connections and a legal relationship between siblings in foster care and adoption (Ohio HB 488). When siblings come into foster care the legislation says they should be placed together unless contraindicated. In situations where siblings have been separated, the proposed law would allow them to request a court to allow visits. If parental rights are terminated, there is no legal relationship maintained among siblings and this legislation would rectify that. Her pioneering work continues to be of importance to both families and genealogists.
Page 8 The Kol Local and Ohio—June Meeting: Accessing Adoption Records
Jewish Orphan Asylum, 1880s, on Woodland; later known as Bellefaire. (WRHS) http://wrhs.saas.dgicloud.com/islandora/object/wrhs%3A3501
Editor’s Note: Western Reserve Historical Society has records and photographs from Bellefaire. For a complete listing of the materials, search for Bellefaire in our online catalog, http:// catalog.wrhs.org/collections/search. Bellefaire has retained all of the records related to the admis- sion of children. For questions, contact Rachel Robinson, Director of Development of Wingspan Care Group,[email protected].
Fall 2018 Page 9 Local and Ohio —July Meeting: Creating an Ethical Will
There is an old Jewish custom whereby a parent writes not one, but two wills. The first is a conventional, or disposition, will to pass on material possessions. The second, equally or even more important, is an ethical will. The ethical will states the values to which the parents want the children to subscribe. At July’s meeting, Attorney Harry Brown, partner at Bene- sch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP, shared examples of ethical wills and how they are prepared in contemplation of death to create something of meaning that will live on after we are gone, providing a sense of completion for our lives. A legal willconcerns the distribution of assets. But an ethical will is different. An ethical will may transmit instruc- tions for burial or for discharging debts and obligations. It may pass on lessons learned from a lifetime of experiences or request that family traditions be carried on in specific ways. The ethical will also offers an opportunity to bless the family. A modern ethical will is less about a formal ac- counting and instructions and more about imparting wis- dom and wishes. The origins of the ethical will can be found in Genesis 49: 1-32 (Jacob’s ad- dress to his sons) and 1 Kings 2:1-10 (David’s instructions to Solomon). Ethical wills are not legal documents. They may be created by anyone with a message to impart. They have been used as a part of hospice care and, in the age of the iPhone and social media, taken on modern forms, including audio and video recordings. Brown stressed that the writing of an ethical will requires a thoughtful, calm attitude, certainly not an attitude of anger or resentment. The writer of an ethical will should consider the audience, whether a larger group, such as an entire family, or an individual, such as a spouse or child. The ethical will can take the form of an essay, letter, or poem. The tone may be religious, spiritual, practical, or hu- morous. It may take some time to write an ethical will because the writing requires peace and quiet and may take several drafts. Readers may be interested in Ethical Wills & How to Prepare Them, edited by Rabbi Jack Reimer and Rabbi Nathaniel Stampfer (Jewish Lights, 2015)/
Page 10 The Kol
Local and Ohio—August Meeting: Cuyahoga County Archives
Fall 2018 Page 11
Local and Ohio—August Meeting: Cuyahoga County Archives
The August meeting was a visit to the new home of the Cuyahoga County Archives, 3951 Perkins Avenue, formerly a warehouse of Halle Brothers. The grand opening of the archives, complete with ribbon cutting, was Thursday, September 8th. From the website of the County Archives, http://publicworks.cuyahogacounty.us/en-US/Archives.aspx
The Cuyahoga County Archives was organized in the summer of 1975 and serves as a re- pository for the historical records of Cuyahoga County, and for current records requiring tem- porary maintenance. A research library is available for the convenience of persons using the records in the County Archives and trained personnel are always available to provide advice on any specific research problem. The offices, storage facilities, and the research library are all lo- cated in the Robert Russell Rhodes House, a Victorian, Italianate mansion built in 1874.
Mission Statement To preserve the records of Cuyahoga County Government, in accordance with the princi- ples of modern archival administration, so that the historical and cultural heritage of a vital ur- ban community can be made available for future generations. To serve the offices and agencies of County government by providing records manage- ment services that will assist personnel in maintaining more efficient and effective control over the documents they create. To make the records of County Government included in the holdings of the Archives, ac- cessible to the general public, by operating a research center where documents can be studied and inspected on a daily basis, and by providing reference services for those unable to person- ally visit the Archives.
The Cuyahoga County Archives 3951 Perkins Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44103 Monday, Wednesday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Closed to the public on Tuesdays CONTACT PERSON Dr. Judith G. Cetina, Ph.D. 216-443-7250 (phone) 216-443-3636 (fax) [email protected]
Volunteers Volunteers assist the staff and can answer most questions and help begin research. The staff hopes you will enjoy your visit to the Archives and looks forward to assisting you.
Page 12 The Kol Local and Ohio—A Summer at WRHS
A Summer Semester in the Jewish Archives at WRHS Allison Newbold It was Friday the 13th and I was sifting through boxes in the research library of Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS). The end of the semes- ter was near and so was the deadline of my graduate thesis. I had been in touch with Dr. Sean Martin, Associate Curator of Jewish History at Western Reserve Historical Society, for the past few weeks and we were in the pro- cess of setting up a formal interview regarding the internship. However, I had recognized Dr. Martin as he walked through the library. I sent him a quick email letting him know of my location and if he had any available time. Within a minute, he introduced himself and the interview we were planning to have happened just moments lat- er. The first day of my internship was unlike a standard day at the archives. It was May 21, 2018, and I started a few weeks before the rest of the interns in the program to stay on track with Cleveland State’s summer semester schedule. I had the pleasure of attending a private tour with a few other WRHS library staff members of the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage led by Dr. Martin himself. We walked through the museum’s core exhibit and discussed its issues, what needed to be updated, what needed to be modernized, and the role of technology throughout the exhibit. Something that stuck with me that Dr. Martin mentioned was that most of the technology had not been updated since it was installed back in 2005.
During the first week, I was assigned lengthy readings that were required for anyone working in the archive. These documents were the WRHS processing guide and an article titled, “More Product, Less Process”, written by Mark A. Greene and Dennis Meissner. To quickly sum it up, “More Product, Less Process” also known as MPLP, is a call for archivists to rethink the way they process collections. They argue that a better, more consistent approach with pro- cessing a collections will expedite getting collection materials into the hands of the users. Fur- ther, they argue that good processing is done with a shovel, and not tweezers. For the summer semester, Dr. Martin and I agreed that I would be processing a collec- tion that had already been started. However, there was still a lot of work that needed to be done with this collection. The collection is unofficially called “Reuben and Dorothy Silver Karamu Collection”. A volunteer had started processing the collection prior to my arrival, but there were still unidentified documents in miscellaneous folders. I had my work cut out for me. The first week I was able to combine four different series into one and rework the entire ar- rangement of the collection with Dr. Martin’s help. For this collection, I focused on arranging it
Fall 2018 Page 13 Local and Ohio—A Summer at WRHS
by document type and then by subject. The biggest challenge for me during my time working with pro- cessing this collection was removing things from it. While Dr. Martin encouraged me to be confident with my decision of removals, I kept questioning every last thing, like some sort of manuscript hoarder. At first, I did not want to get rid of anything. However, by the end of it, I could remove something with no guilt and no questions. Since I was Dr. Martin’s only summer intern, he quickly became my mentor. Besides working on processing my collection, I had the opportunity to attend weekly meetings with the archival staff and management, attend Dr. Martin’s monthly coffee talks at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, and experience what it was like first hand to be an archivist. Sean mentioned that public outreach is a major part of his job and probably one of the most important aspects of it. I learned this summer that he was not wrong. During the third week of my internship, I had the opportunity to meet a donor named Len who came in to WRHS and brought two paintings. These original paintings pertained to Richman Brothers Company, where he worked in manage- ment throughout the 1980s. Dr. Martin asked him many questions about his experience work- ing there and how he obtained the paintings. Aside from meeting Len, I had the opportunity to visit and meet with others in the community who were interested in donating their collections to WRHS.
One family that we met with knew Dr. Martin from his presentations at the Maltz Muse- um and elsewhere. This showcases the importance of public outreach and building a connec- tion with those in the community. At first, I did not realize how significant these connections were, as some families have made many donations over the years. The family that we met up with was the Frum family, who were the children and grandchildren of the founders of Kol Isra- el Foundation in Cleveland. This organization was created by Jewish Holocaust survivors who settled in Cleveland after World War II. They had hundreds of photographs, uniforms, pins, meeting minutes, letters, and other correspondence piled in boxes on their dining room table. It was such a surreal experience to see these documents and objects come to life in my hands.
Page 14 The Kol Local and Ohio—A Summer at WRHS
Another project that I worked on during my internship was digitizing an oral history col- lection of ten interviews that had already been recorded and transcribed. These interviews were with former board chairs and presidents of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. For this project, I taught myself how to use the Islandora software that WRHS uses for their Digital Cleveland Starts Here repository. I wrote short bios for those who were interviewed, added the proper metadata, and created a cohesive look for this collection. In addition, I created a step-by -step guide for WRHS staff members and volunteers who may have to use Islandora in the fu- ture because it was rather challenging to use and made it difficult to upload the information at first. As my internship has come to an end, I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to work under Dr. Martin. I remember how insecure I was the first time I walked into the research library because it was all so foreign to me and now I can walk in with my head held high. Not only did I develop many new skills and gain more experience in the museum profession, I also gained a level of confidence that I was lacking before. This internship has encouraged me to pursue my passion for the museum profession and to not sell myself short.
Warsaw’s Ulica Waliców, or Waliców Street, this page and next, very close to the Hilton Warsaw Hotel and Convention Center, site of the 2018 IAJGS conference.
Fall 2018 Page 15 International—Cleveland in Warsaw
Conference, International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies
The 38th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Warsaw was co-hosted by Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, in cooperation with the Polish State Archives. Cleveland was well represented by Ken Bravo, Phyllis Bravo, Marlene Englander, Harvey Fierman, Anne Lukas, Henny Lukas, Sean Mar- tin, Russ Maurer, Kathy Quinn, Muriel Weber, Helen Wolf, and Paul Wolf. About 750 attendees from all over the world participated in workshops, went to lectures, asked questions of new contacts and relatives, and visited both archives and ancestral towns throughout Europe. Two articles in this issue highlight the work of local members Marlene Englander and Russ Maurer. Othes focus on the Vilna Ghetto library, the Polish Partitions, and Polish digital libraries. JGSC members will get a full report on the conference at our December meeting. Up- coming issues of The Kol are likely to include some other presentations and to highlight topics that will be featured at the IAJGS conference here in Cleveland in summer 2019. As an example of the kinds of information we learned about, consider the website of Maciej Markowski, www.kimonibyli.pl (in English, “who they were”). There you’ll find lists of marriages and deaths that appeared in the newspaper Dziennik Warszawski (Warsaw Daily) in December 1864, https://www.kimonibyli.pl/dziennik-warszawski-pierwsza-warszawska-gadzinowka/zaslubieni- zmarli-warszawie-grudzien-1864/.
The conference was held at the Hilton War- saw Hotel and Vacation Center. Just blocks away were fragments from the wall of the Warsaw Ghetto, marked appropriately. Though the frag- ments of the ghetto wall will soon be surrounded by modern office buildings and shopping complexes, their presence will continue to serve as a reminder of the city’s Jewish past.
Page 16 The Kol International—The Lithuanian Shtetl of Šeduva
The Lithuanian shtetl of Šeduva is familiar to Clevelanders because of the re- search of Marlene Englander. Marlene presented a talk about the book she published, My Dear Hindalla, Remember Me: Letters from a Lost World, May 1937-January 1940. Marlene has discussed her research at a JGS meeting, telling the story of Nochum Ber- man, a young man who corresponded in Yiddish with Marlene’s mother, Hinda Zarkey (Saul). The abstract for her presentation offers further detail: When starting genealogy, we are excited to find names, dates, and places for our tree. Experienced genealogists remind us to get stories. In 1937, Hinda Zarkey left Šeduva, Lithuania and arrived in America. Until 1940, she regularly corresponded with her friend, Nochum Berman, who remained in Šeduva. When Marlene Englander, Hinda’s daughter, realized these letters might be the only surviving information about him, she set out to find his family. Marlene hoped to share details his family might want to know, and to re- unite her mother with his family. The presentation details Marlene's still evolving jour- ney - including the joy of working with her mother to annotate, research, and publish the letters, highlighting what the letters can tell us about hope, despair, and details of everyday life in both Lithuania and America during those years, using genealogy sites to confirm and learn information, and what is happening in Šeduva today. But hers was far from the only presentation on Šeduva! Three Lithuanian researchers spoke on this shtetl as well — Milda Jakulyte-Vasil, Inga Makarkova, and Živile Tamulionyte . All three have worked for or with the Šeduva Jewish Memorial Fund, established in 2012. The Fund’s work began with the restoration of the town's Jewish cemetery and digitalization of gravestone inscriptions. One of the Fund's current tasks is to open a museum of the history of the Jewish community of Šeduva. The presentations focused on Jewish families and their lives in the interwar period. An impressive website, http://lostshtetl.com/the-project/, offers much more information about the plans for the museum.
Marlene Englander, wearing a scarf given to her mother by Nochum Berman. Marlene also wore the scarf in Warsaw. Photo taken from Mar- lene’s article on LitvakSIG, https:// www.litvaksig.org/information-and-tools/online -journal/lost-shtetl-seduva
Fall 2018 Page 17 International—Vilna Household Registers
The Vilna Household Registers project of Litvak SIG was recognized with the Rabbi Malcolm Stern Grant. This was a real tribute to the patient work of Cleveland’s own Russ Maurer. More about this important project can be found on Litvak SIG, https://www.litvaksig.org/research/special-projects/vilnius-household-registers, where these descriptions of the project can be found: During the period of Polish control of eastern Lithuania and adjoining Belarus between the world wars, the Polish system of tracking residents through household registries was implemented in the city of Vilnius. Some 13,000 of these registers survive, containing millions of lines of detailed data about Vilnius residents and visitors, many of whom were Jewish. The purpose of the VHR project is to extract and make available the infor- mation about Jews in these records. Because of the scale of the project, it will take many years to complete. Data will be made available in batches, and the information on this page will allow you to determine if a particular batch is of interest to you. For more detailed information about the registers and our project, check out the VHR Coordinator’s blog, https:// www.litvaksig.org/research/special-projects/vhr-coordinator-blog
To describe more fully the date the registers contain, Russ has provided a translation of the instructions for apartment managers in a blank register book. That translation appears be- low: Before the register is put into use, the number of pages should be certified by the head of the registration office, and a duplicate book must be filed at the registration office at the po- lice station. Erasing or overwriting is not allowed in the register. Erroneous entries should be crossed out so that their original text can be read. On the first page of the register should be written: which commissioner, police house number, street name, and name, surname and ad- dress of the owner and manager. All residents of the building should be listed in the register.
There are 17 columns in the register, which should be filled in legibly according to the headings, leaving the last one: “Annotations” unfilled. At check-in, columns 14, 15, 16, and 17 are to be left blank, with columns 14 and 16 to be filled in at the registration office and column 15 at check-out.
Page 18 The Kol International—Vilna Household Registers
[The 17 column headings are as follows: 1. Line number 2. Surname and given name, and maiden name of married women 3. Given names of parents, and maiden name of the mother 4. Apartment number 5. Date of birth 6. Place of birth 7. Marital status 8. Nationality 9. Religion 10. Occupation or means of support 11. Prior address 12. Check-in date 13. Personal identification document 14. Date of registration (stamp) 15. Date of check-out and destination 16. Date of check-out (stamp) 17. Annotations]
No sheets may be sewn into the finished books. Instead, new books should be pur- chased and, continuing with the same line numbering, the register continued. The finished books should be carefully kept by the owners or managers. Registration cards, provided by the registration offices and the Central Office are of two types: white for residents checking in, blue for checking out. There must be a separate card for each person over 14 years old. At the time of check-in, the resident must fill in the white registration card, using the resident’s personal identification document. The manager is obliged, just after arrival or depar- ture of a resident, to complete the registration card and on the reverse side write the line num- ber at which the resident was listed in the register, sign and date. In the register, use one line for each person, including children under the age of 14. Within 24 hours of the resident’s check -in, the manager is obliged to present to the registration office at the police station, the register together with the registration card and the personal identification document, which he subse- quently returns to the resident.
Fall 2018 Page 19 International—Vilna Household Registers
Children up to 14 years of age, if they live with their parents, should be listed separately on the back of the mother’s registration card, and if they do not have it on the father’s card. Check-out cards are used to check out residents in case of leaving the premises, death, leaving Vilnius, joining the army, to the hospital, to detention, to an unknown destination, etc. The manager completes the form and within 24 hours is obliged to present it together with the register to the police station. Every moving person is obliged to present his personal identification document within a day after checking in, and communicate all data necessary for the register, regardless of which, at the request of the police, report there for further explanation. If the home resident does not have sufficient official proofs or refuses to present them, the manager is obliged to report them to the competent police commissar in 24 hours.
Russ Maurer, upon receiving the Rabbi Malcom Stern Grant in Warsaw, with Fred Blum, IAJSGS Committee Member, and Ken Bravo, IAJGS President
Page 20 The Kol
International—Documenting the Vilna Ghetto Library
Documenting the Vilna Ghetto Library Judy Baston, [email protected]
Vilna – known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania – had a strong cultural tradition before the Shoah that endured and flourished even after the Vilna Ghetto was established in 1941. Many historians believe the most important cultural institution in the Ghetto was the Vilna Ghetto Library, which became the center for Jewish secular cultural life in the ghetto. In many ways, The Vilna Ghetto was unique – it was the only ghetto with a central, offi- cially sanctioned library that functioned during the Shoah. The only possible exception might be Thereisenstadt, which in some ways was more a camp then a ghetto. It is under the dual sign of culture and resistance that the Vilna Ghetto takes its place in history. “Without resistance, culture might have served only as a narcotic, a legitimation of the police regime,” David Shavit notes in Hunger for the Printed Word, “But culture provided the sense of humanity and self-worth that made the idea of resistance possible. Culture linked the ghetto residents to the rich past and to the triumphant survival of the Jewish people.” Documentation from the Vilna Ghetto Library has survived and includes lists of readers in the Library, lists of workers in the Library and even a list of readers who did not return books to the Library. Most of these lists are in the Lithuanian State Central Archive (LCVA) in Vilnius and are also available in the Yad Vashem Archives in Jerusalem. and the United States Holo- caust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, DC, as part of RG-26.015M at https:// collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn502384 which covers the Vilna Ghetto.
Through LitvakSIG, I ordered from the LCVA the scans of the “List of Readers with a Sub- scription to the Vilna Ghetto Library, Arranged in Alphabetical Order,” which contains the names of 4,401 Vilna Ghetto residents who took books out of the Vilna Ghetto Library. It in- cludes the first and last names of the individuals, their addresses in the Ghetto, in many cases, the date they first registered with the Library, and the fee they paid to register. I have donated the information from this valuable list to LitvakSIG, and thanks to data entry by volunteer Susan Goldsmith, this list was databased and is publicly searchable in Lit- vakSIG’s All Lithuania Database (https://www.litvaksig.org/all-lithuania-database/) One can search by surname for a family’s listings, or, by chosing “town” as a field and entering “Vilnius,” and choosing “any field” and entering “library”, you will get the entire list of 4,516 records – in 91 pages of 50 listings each.
In addition, the full translated list is available on the password-protected site of Lit- vakSIG’s Vilnius District Research Group (DRG), which is linked to the LitvakSIG website at www.litvaksig.org and accessible to qualifying contributors to the Vilnius DRG.
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International—Documenting the Vilna Ghetto Library
Although none of the lists of Vilna Ghetto Library patrons appear to include the names of the particular books that specific patrons took out of the Library, several documents from Vilna Ghetto librarians provide insight into the sorts of books that circulated – and in what languages. Particularly valuable in this respect are The Library in the Vilna Ghetto by Dina Abramowicz and Library and Reading Room in the Vilna Ghetto by Herman Kruk, both published in the volume The Holocaust and the Book.”(see “Suggested Reading” in this handout.) Vilna Ghetto youngsters flocked to the Library, and, recalled Abramovich, the Ghetto Children’s Librarian, “Books were possibly the only vehicle for reaching out to a world from which the Jewish children were cut off, possibly forever.” Kruk wrote, “In the psychological atmosphere of the ghetto, only two things are possi- ble, reading for intoxication – in order to stop thinking – or the contrary, reading in order to ponder, to become interested in comparable fates., to make analogies and reach certain con- clusions.” Some lists of books appear to have survived. Among them are, “List of Literature in the Reading Room,” “Index of Children’s Books,” “Index of Books at the Library,” “Lists of Newly Supplied Books,” and “Lists of Ordered Books.” I have ordered these and other lists of books from the Vilna Ghetto Library from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archive and am waiting to receive them.
The ghetto library was opened in September, 1941 at 6 Strashun Street on the site of the Mefitzei Haskalah (Disseminators of Enlightenment) library, with about 45,000 books. During the summer of 1942, about 5,000 people visited the reading room every month. The book col- lection was 70 percent fiction, 20 percent nonfiction; seven percent children’s literature; and three percent periodicals. As higher quality literature was requested by readers, the ghetto li- brary was able to appropriate collections from other institutions, such as the Strashun Library, Realgymnasium, the Ivriyah Gymnasium, and the YIVO Institute. In addition to the main Library and Reading room, some educational institutions and youth clubs also held small libraries. These were located at the Ghetto prison (200 vols.); Kailis fur factory (150 vols); Yeladim transport office (28 vols); Children’s Home (53 vols), and Youth Club (150 vols). On December 13, 1942, there was a major celebration marking the circulation of the 100,000th book by the Vilna Ghetto Library. One of the hundreds of attendees at the celebra- tion was 15-year-old- Yitzhak Rudashevski, whose diary entry that day eloquently expressed the meaning of the Library, (see “Suggested Reading”) ”The reading of books in the ghetto is the greatest pleasure for me. The book unites us with the future, the book unites us with the world.”
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International—Documenting the Vilna Ghetto Library
Suggested Reading About the Vilna Ghetto and the Vilna Ghetto Library
Abramowicz, Dina, Guardians of a Tragic Heritage: Reminiscences and Observations of an Eye- witness, a lecture delivered at the Assn. of Jewish Libraries, Philadelphia, PA June 23, 1998, re- printed by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture Abramowicz, Dina, The Library in the Vilna Ghetto, pp 165-170, The Holocaust and the Book, ed. Jonathan Rose. Amherst, MA, University of Massachussets Press, 2001. Arad, Yitzhak, Ghetto in Flames: Jerusalem, Yad Vashem , 1981 Balberyszski, Mendel, Stronger than Iron: The Destruction of Vilna Jewry 1941-1945: an Eyewit- ness Account, Jerusalem, New York, Gefen Publishing House, 2010. Fishman, David, The Book Smugglers, Lebanon, N. H., University Press of New England, 2017. Kruk, Herman, The Last Days of the Jerusalem of Lithuania: Chronicles from the Vilna Ghetto and the Camps, 1939-44, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2002. Kruk, Herman, Library and Reading Room in the Vilna Ghetto, Strashun Street 6, pp 171-200, The Holocaust and the Book, ed. Jonathan Rose, Amherst, MA, University of Massachussets Press, 2001. (Contains translation of report on the Vilna Ghetto Library presented at the cele- bration of the circulation of the 100,000th book.) Ran, Leyzor, Yerusholayim de-Lite, Vol. 2, New York, Vilner Album Komitet, 1974. Rudashevski, Yitzhak, The Diary of the Vilna Ghetto, Israel, Beit Lohamei Haghetaot/Ghetto Fighters House, 1979 Rudavsky, Joseph, To Live with Hope, To Die with Dignity: Spiritual Resistance in the Ghettos and Camps, Northvale, N.J., Jerusalem, Jason Aaronson Inc., 1997 Shavit, David, Hunger for the Printed Word: Books and Libraries in the Jewish Ghettos of Nazi- Occupied Europe, Jefferson, N.C. and London, McFarland & Co., 1997. Chapter 1, Jewish Librar- ies on the Eve of Destruction: Chapter 6, Vilna Ghetto, Chapter 8, Books and Readers, Shavit, David, Jewish Libraries in the Polish Ghettos During the Nazi Era, Library Quarterly, Vol. 52, Chicago, IL, University of Chicago, Press, April 1982. pp. 112-118. Sukys, Julia, “And I Burned with Shame,” the testimony of Ona Simaite, Righteous Among the Nations,” Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 2007. Sukys, Julia, Epistophilia: writing the life of Ona Simaite, Lincoln, NE and London, University of Nebraska Press.
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International—Polish Partitions
The Past in the Present: How the Polish Partitions Shape Jewish Heritage Work Today Marysia Galbraith, University of Alabama, [email protected] Website: mgalbraith.people.ua.edu Blog: uncoveringjewishheritage.wordpress.com Timeline of Polish Partitions: Poland annexed by Prussian, Russian, and Austrian Empires 1772-First Partition 1793-Second Partition 1795-Third Partition: Poland loses its sovereignty 1808-Napoleon establishes Duchy of Warsaw. Civil vital registration began, all records (including Jews and others) in Roman Catholic register. 1815-Congress Kingdom of Poland established-under Russian authority, but with some autono- my. 1826-Separate civil registries for different religions (in Congress Kingdom) 1830 and 1863-Polish insurrections against Russian rule in Congress Kingdom; 1846-failed in- surrection against Austrian Rule in Galicia 1868-Loss of autonomy in Congress Kingdom; official language of registration changes from Polish to Russian. 1918-Poland regains sovereignty, extends east into Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania (Russian Pale and Eastern Galicia). 1945-Poland’s borders shift west after World War II, including former German lands to the west and excluding Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuanian lands to the east. Prussian Partition Official language was German. Main city was Poznań/Posen. Gdańsk/Danzig was a free city. Until 1815, Prussia controlled Warsaw and surrounding region. Generally, Poznan and other urban centers in the Prussian partition had more industrial devel- opment than the regions under Russian and Austrian rule. In Prussia, Jews had limited rights unless they were German Jews, so Jews identified increasingly with German culture. If there was a second language on Jewish tombstones within this region, it was German. As the 19th century progressed, many Jews migrated west to larger German cities where they had more opportunities for education and employment. Some continued to the US. When Poland re- gained sovereignty in 1918, migration accelerated, in part due to the rise of Polish nationalism. By 1939 when the Nazis invaded, very few Jews remained. Western Poland was absorbed into the 3rd Reich.
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International—Polish Partitions
Russian Partition Important to distinguish between Congress Poland and the Russian Pale. Official language was Russian, but until 1868 vital records in Congress Poland were in Polish. Main cities in Congress Poland include Warsaw, and by the late 19th century Łódź. Vilnius was a major city in the Russian Pale, important for Lithuanian, Jewish, and Polish nation- al movements. The region under Russian rule was poor overall, with sharp distinctions between urban and ru- ral residents. 19th century industrial development concentrated in Congress Poland around Warsaw and Łódź, where Jews were involved in industry, business, professions, and the arts. From the end of the 19th century into the early 20th century, diverse Jewish organizations flour- ished, including Zionists, Orthodox groups, and the socialist Bund. In Congress Poland, an influ- ential minority of Jews adopted Polish language and culture, while others championed Yiddish literature and newspapers. Shtetls in the Russian Pale were generally poor; some had a Jewish population of 50% or more. Pogroms were more common in the Russian Pale than in Congress Poland. During World War II, most of Congress Poland was part of the Generalgouvernement, where Jews were initially placed in ghettos, and then sent to death camps. In the Russian Pale, Jews were rounded up and shot. Heritage work in this region of Poland is complicated by the difficult legacy of the Holocaust. Local residents have worked with national and international supporters to commemorate the sites of mass atrocity, and also to teach residents about the Jewish history and culture that used to be integral to their communities. Institutions like ŻIH (Jewish Historical Institute) and the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews are important allies in these efforts. Austrian Partition Vital records are in German, Polish, or Russian. The region was called Galicia Main city was Kraków (an autonomous city from 1815-1846). Other cities include Lviv/Lwów (now in Ukraine). The Austrian Empire showed greater tolerance for ethnic and religious differences than did the other partition empires. However, restrictions were placed on Jewishcommunities. Most Jews lived in towns and cities due to restrictions on ownership of agricultural lands. Sztetls were gen- erally poor; they had populations of mixed ethnic and religious backgrounds and in some the Jewish population reached well above 50%. Most Jewish sztetl residents spoke Yiddish; those engaged in business spoke other languages, as well. Hasidism originated in the region that is now Western Ukraine, and by the second half of the 19th century spread west and north.
For a map showing the Partitions over time, see https:// www.jewishgen.org/databases/Poland/GeoRegions.htm.
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International—Polish Partitions
Some extraordinary synagogues and cemeteries survived World War II, but the devasta- tion of the Holocaust was profound due to the murder of so many prewar Jewish residents. The immediacy of memories of death camps and mass murder contributed to the taboo that kept many postwar residents silent about local Jewish history. Some heritage work highlights im- portant Hasidic sites, publicized through the Galician Hasidic Trail. Local foundations cooperate with local government in many locations.
Sharon Lockhart's Little Review was a part of Front this summer, on display at the Cleveland Clinic. Lockhart photographed teenagers from the Youth Center for So- ciotherapy in Rudzienko, Poland. The teens were reading original copies of Maly Przeglad (Little Review), the children's supplement to the Polish-language Jewish daily newspaper, Nasz Przeglad (Our Review), edited by Janusz Korczak. The teen- agers were photographed in Warsaw's National Library (Biblioteka Narodowa), and the benches at the Clinic were designed to be just like those in the National Library. The teenagers also wrote their own Little Review, telling their own sto- ries. Copies of the teens’ writing were included with the exhibit. For more on Sha- ron Lockhart and the exhibit on display at the Biennale in Venice, see http:// labiennale.art.pl/en/wystawy/little-review/. (photo from the display at the Clinic)
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International—Polish Partitions
Resources for Genealogists
Virtual Shtetl: https://sztetl.org.pl/en includes information about nearly 2000 towns and cities that had Jewish residents. Provides historical information, maps, testimonies, and information about heritage sites and contemporary Jewish heritage projects. JewishGen https://www.jewishgen.org/ includes Jewish genealogical information indexed from archival records. Through “family finder,” researchers interested in the same surnames can get in touch and share information. http://www.jri-poland.org/ contains records for Poland. Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, and Geni.com index US and international records, and allows limited searches of family trees posted by other subscribers. Their DNA service offers another way to locate relatives. https://szukajwarchiwach.pl/ is the search engine for records in the Polish National Archives. It has an English version, but is tricky to navigate. Nevertheless, more and more records have been scanned and are available electronically. The site also provides information about re- sources only available at the archives themselves. Polish National Archives (for a list of branches, see: https://www.archiwa.gov.pl/pl/o-nas/ archiwa-pa%C5%84stwowe/archiwa-pa%C5%84stwowe). Vital records (birth, marriage, and death) are made available after 100 years. Those that are not digitized can be viewed at the various branches of the Polish National Archives throughout Poland. It is best to call or write before visiting to make sure the desired records are available. The days and hours the archives are open are posted on the website. It is best to arrive early in the day because sometimes it takes time for requested materials to be located, and requests are not accepted later in the day. Most archivists do not speak English, so having a Polish speaker to assist you is often nec- essary. Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH): http://www.jhi.pl/en has an archive, as well as a genealogical division that can help get you started on your search for ancestors. POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews has a resource center (http://www.polin.pl/en/ resource-center) that includes a library, historical maps, and free access to a wide range of da- tabases with records about Poland’s Jews. Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage (FODŻ): http://fodz.pl/?d=1&l=en has nu- merous projects restoring synagogues and cemeteries, as well as educational programs.
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International—Polish Digital Libraries
Collecting Information from Polish Books and Newspapers Using Traditional and Digital Libraries Maciej Adam Markowski www.KimOnibyli.pl
Everyone knows that books and newspapers are extremely valuable sources of genea- logical information. This is true especially in Poland. In contrast to vital records, damages of col- lections were relatively small. Only the most valuable old books and manuscripts were burned in Warsaw libraries in 1944. Those which were printed in larger quantities survived in smaller libraries and private hands and now are again available to everybody. For example, Dr. Kolasa and Professor Jarowiecki have described the information available in the major Polish newspa- pers published until the beginning of the First World War.
According to Polish regulations books are in the public domain seventy years after the author’s death or when copyright belongs to a person other than the author (eg. articles in newspapers) seventy years after publication. Publications in the public domain are in many cas- es available free of charge in digital libraries. The rest are stored in traditional libraries. Many eBooks are offered at eBook libraries (not free).
This presentation describes how to identify and locate potentially interesting publica- tions in Polish libraries and discover valuable genealogical information. Some tips on how to increase the effectiveness of search in digital libraries are provided.
Traditional Libraries 8.000 public libraries, 1.000 university and scientific institution libraries In most cases reading rooms with open and free access Loans – only for Polish citizens, free Often free formal or informal “ask a librarian” and simple search offers Inventory search engine http://karo.umk.pl/Karo/ Some local libraries often act as cultural centers and collect rare publications and manuscripts on local history.
The National Library , Biblioteka Narodowa, https://www.bn.org.pl/ The central library of the state Every new book published in Poland with ISBN (International Standard Book Number) must be stored there. Ships materials abroad - Interlibrary loan fees should be around $20 (depends on destination library)
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International—Polish Digital Libraries
From Sharon Lockhart’s Little Review at the Cleveland Clinic; benches designed to resemble those at the National Library in Warsaw
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International—Polish Digital Libraries
Warsaw Public Library , http://www.koszykowa.pl/ Central Library of the Mazovian Voivodeship, special department of Varsaviania The largest collection of books on Warsaw history, culture, and architecture Impressive knowledge of Warsaw history, basic research service (only in selected books)
Library of Jewish Historical Institute ,http://www.jhi.pl/zbiory/biblioteka The largest collection in Poland of documents concerning the history of Polish Jews
Resource Center , POLIN Museum, http://www.polin.pl/en/resource-center
Free Digital Libraries The majority of Polish digital libraries use the legacy and exotic DjVu format (the number of documents available in pdf format is relatively small). The only reasonable and user friendly search engine for DjVu format is Genealogy Indexer, but the search is performed in only a small part of available collections. The search engine of the Polish Digital Libraries Federation (FBC) which covers almost all (134) Polish digital libraries is not 100% reliable; in many cases, it is worth searching the main libraries separately.
Selected Polish Digital Libraries Polona - Digital library of the National Library; very effective search engine, state of art inter- face, easily cooperates with Google Translate https://polona.pl/ ebuw – Digital library of Warsaw University http://ebuw.uw.edu.pl/dlibra mbc – Mazovian Digital Library http://mbc.cyfrowemazowsze.pl/dlibra Ośrodek Karta – One of the largest collections on twentieth century Polish history, http://karta.org.pl/Archiwa_i_bazy_danych/Biblioteka_Cyfrowa/163 Cental Judaica Database - digital library of POLIN Museum, http://judaika.polin.pl/dmuseion
A list of digital libraries in Poland is available at Electronic Library Service EBIB, http:// www.ebib.pl/?page_id=1971 and Lustro Biblioteki, http://lustrobiblioteki.pl/. Selected foreign digital libraries include Latvian National Digital Library; ANNO - AustriaN Newspapers Online; Europeana.
Digital Libraries of eBooks and Audiobooks Recently published titles, not a free service. iBUK - Over 70,000 publications: scientific (including history), professional and light literature https://www.ibuk.pl/ Legimi – 25,000 eBooks, mainly light literature, but also memories, memoirs, etc. https:// www.legimi.pl/ebooki/
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PROGRAM CALENDAR Wednesday, October 10th, 7:30 PM, Menorah Park The Way We Were: What Photos Tell Us Patricia Edmonson, Curator of Costumes and Textiles, WRHS
Sunday, November 11th, 1:30 PM, Siegal Lifelong Learning Two DNA Sessions with Lara Diamond
Sunday, December 2nd, 1:30 PM, Park Synagogue East Recap, IAJGS Conference, Board Elections
Editor’s Note: Paul Klein has submitted the two photo- graphs above: a Mrs. Trabish on the left and Selma Spitzer on the right. Perhaps someone recognizes them or has additional information. For all readers — Please do not hesitate to let me know if you would like to con- tri-bute an article to The Kol or if you would like to s ee specific topics addressed. I hope to feature aspects of genealogy in the United States and Israel more often in the future and, also, to include more articles on tools and resources. Fall 2018 Page 31
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Ohio Genealogical Society 2019 Annual Conference will be held 1-4 May 2019 at the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio. For the most up-to-date information on the conference, visit the conference website at http://www.ogsconference.org.
The Stark County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society will meet at the Innovation Center of the Stark County District Library from 10 am to noon on October 13th. Mary Biller, Chapter President, will present the program “History of PEZ Dispensers”. 715 Market Avenue North, Canton. Cheryl McClellan of the Chardon Library will present “Searching FamilySearch” for the Geauga County Genealogical Society on November 13th, at 7:00 pm, 110 East Park Street, Chardon. For more information, [email protected] or www.gcgsoh.org.
Mary Milne Jamba will present Telling it All: Presenting Your Family History for the East Cuya- hoga County Genealogical Society on December 3rd, 2018, at 7 pm, 6306 Marsol Road, Mayfield Heights.
MEMBERSHIP Membership is by calendar year. Annual Single Membership is $25; Annual Family Membership is $35. Membership form available at www.clevelandjgs.org.
Send 2018 dues check and completed form to JGS of Cleveland c/o Mrs. Marilyn Baskin 32850 Jackson Road Moreland Hills, OH 44022
To contact the President or to send a query, e-mail www.clevelandjgs.org/ [email protected] or send snail mail to: and on Facebook, too! Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland c/o Menorah Park 27100 Cedar Rd. Beachwood, OH 44122
To contact other officers, go to our website and click on their e- mail addresses. View from Cuyahoga County Archives, 3951 Perkins