Vol. VII, No. 7

Contributor: Ken Bravo (Past President of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland)

Member Ken Bravo is the Immediate Past President of the IAJGS, and a past president of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland. He is a retired attorney who has been researching his family since the mid-1970’s.

You may have heard the name “IAJGS” and you may know that the Cleveland Jewish Genealogy Society is a member of the IAJGS, but what is the IAJGS? It’s an acronym for the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies. Your next question is probably what does the IAJGS do?

The IAJGS is the umbrella organization for approximately 90 JGSs around the world. It was, according to its web page (iajgs.org) “…formed in 1988 to provide a common voice for issues of significance to its members, to advance our genealogical avocation and to coordinate items such as our annual International Conference on Jewish Genealogy.” Its members include...

CLICK HERE TO READ COMPLETE TIP (Requires member login to view. Please consider joining to see all member resources.)

Vol. VII, No. 6

Genealogy is more than names and dates. Suppose you find that your grandfather was a member of the Workmen’s Circle and attended the 1927 convention in Cleveland. How can you find out more about your grandfather’s participation?

Arnie Berger’s website ClevelandJewishHistory.net has information that will add to the understanding of your Cleveland ancestors. The 1927 Workmen’s Circle Convention in Cleveland is described in the Site Map section of the website. Besides that article and a clipping from the daily newspaper Yiddishe Velt (Jewish World) there is also an attendees’ photograph preserved by Mitchell Rose.

CLICK HERE TO READ COMPLETE TIP (Requires member login to view. Please consider joining to see all member resources.)

Lineage Legacies: Connecting your Ancestors to America's History

Do you have a relative who lived in Cuyahoga County before 1923?  Before 1881?  Before 1851?  Your ancestor may be eligible for induction into the Cuyahoga County Lineage Society as a Centurion, Pioneer, or Settler.  This free program by the Medina County District Library Genealogy Team guides you through applying to a lineage society of your choice. It covers filling out forms, paying fees, meeting deadlines, and includes a personal example of the process. Available in-person and on Zoom. The Lineage societies are a great way to honor your ancestors' accomplishments.  A recording will be made available on YouTube as a helpful resource.  Click HERE to register.

Mark your calendars for the Family History & Genealogy Open House: Our Food, Celebrations, and Stories rescheduled for Sunday, August 11, 11am-2pm.  Sponsored by JGS Cleveland and Congregation Mishkan Or (the merger of The Temple-Tifereth Israel and Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple on July 1), we look forward to seeing you at 26000 Shaker Blvd in Beachwood.  More information to come …

Vol. VII, No. 5

Contributor: Ivan HURWITZ

You might be researching out-of-state. Ivan’s article gives you an idea of state resources available, with Texas as the example. The Perry-Castañeda map collection is valuable for worldwide research. Ivan is a JGSC member who lives in Texas.

~ A map collection is at The Perry-Castañeda Library, the main library at The University of Texas.

~ The Texas General Land Office has maps online and free.

~ Other places in Austin are: Texas State Library Many of their frequently requested resources are highlighted below. Please use the Library Catalog to determine the catalogued titles in their collections.

-- Vital statistics indexes are an important part of the genealogical resources available at the library. They do not have access to the certificates themselves, but the library does own selected indexes to Texas births, deaths, marriages and divorces. The indexes are available for on-site use...

CLICK HERE TO READ COMPLETE TIP (Requires member login to view. Please consider joining to see all member resources.)

Vol. VII, No. 4

Contributor: Russ Maurer, JGSC member and Records Acquisition & Translation Coordinator for LitvakSIG

If you are a Litvak, that is, for the purpose of this article, if your family traces back to the area that today is Lithuania, including adjoining areas of Belarus and Poland, LitvakSIG is an essential resource for your research. In this RTOM, I will explain what LitvakSIG is and how you can use it.

The name LitvakSIG expands to Litvak Special Interest Group. It is an independent organization with its own Board of Directors, funds, and website. Its mission since its founding about 25 years ago has been to translate Litvak genealogical records into English and make the translations readily available to English-speaking researchers.

CLICK HERE TO READ COMPLETE TIP (Requires member login to view. Please consider joining to see all member resources.)

Our new MAILING ADDRESS and LIBRARY COLLECTION are located at The Temple-Tifereth Israel:

Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland
26000 Shaker Blvd
Beachwood, Ohio 44122

Vol. VII, No. 3

Contributor: Marlene Englander

Thanks to companies like ancestry.com, myheritage.com, familysearch.org and jewishgen.org (to name just a few), options for finding data from non-English speaking countries is much better, and easier, than when I started my genealogy journey 30 years ago. But, where else might you find useful information? These are a few sources that helped me. While these exact resources may not help you, hopefully it will give you some ideas of comparable places to look and the encouragement to look at foreign language documents, manuscripts, and books which can often be quickly translated by cutting/pasting into a translation program, such as Google Translate.

1. Ghetto census books. Although there are other ways to find names of ghetto prisoners, The Ghettos of Oshmyany, Svir, Švenčionys Regions: Lists of Prisoners. 1942 ^a helped me. Published in English, Lithuanian and Russian, this book not only lists ghetto inmates, but it also includes information and pictures about people in those regions. I found a class picture from Widze (Vidzy) which included my...

CLICK HERE TO READ COMPLETE TIP (Requires member login to view. Please consider joining to see all member resources.)

Vol. VII, No. 2

Contributor: Stewart Hoicowitz / Immediate Past President

The most precious items we leave behind when we depart are not necessarily our material possessions but what lies in our hearts and minds. I’m struck by the words of writer and commentator Ellen Goodman that inspired me to pursue genealogical research and write about my ancestral heritage. “What the next generation will value most is not what we owned but the evidence of who we were and the tales of how we lived and loved.”

How do you sum up your life and the values you stand for? Who is better than yourself, a close friend or family member to write this story in advance. You control the narrative and have the final word. Though unorthodox, authoring your own obituary eliminates stress for grieving family members and ensures the deceased will be remembered in a way they’d want to be remembered...

CLICK HERE TO READ COMPLETE TIP (Requires member login to view. Please consider joining to see all member resources.)

Congratulations to Jane Rothstein, Librarian and Archivist at The Temple-Tifereth Israel and our new vice president for membership.  Learn more about Jane and our board HERE.