A Guide to Cornell's Jewish Institutional Ledgers Collection

Speaker: David Forman Cornell University Library recently acquired a set of materials offering a vivid picture of continuity and change in Jewish immigrant life, especially in the first half of the twentieth century. The Jewish Institutional Ledgers Collection, acquired from an anonymous collector and donated to Cornell by the Friends of Cornell Jewish Studies, contains over 300 items, including accounting books, meeting minutes, memorial books, membership lists and other material from Jewish institutions primarily in New York City. Most of these are synagogues and Landsmanshaft organizations. Highlights of the collection are by turns visually striking, poignant, and directly relevant to our ...

Location, Location, Location: Historical Maps in Genealogy Research

Speaker: Ed Mitukiewicz Identifying the towns and villages where our ancestors used to live can be a critical step in finding relevant sources of genealogical information.  However, locating some of those places often becomes quite a challenging task, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, where use of multiple languages, spelling or transliteration errors, appearance of similar names in different locations and countries, frequent name changes and shifting national borders tend to introduce additional complications.  Readily available web-based resources—including digital repositories of historical maps and geographic information databases—can help to overcome many of those challenges.  This presentation demonstrates the methods and techniques of using such ...

Stuck: Immigration, Naturalization and Repatriation in the WWI Era

Speaker: Renée Carl Stolen passports, pleading letters and fake visas all appear in the US State Department’s Records of Foreign Service Posts. These documents tell harrowing tales of families separated by WWI, and the incredible lengths people went to in order to leave war-torn Europe and reunite with relatives in America. In the years before WWI, husbands immigrated to the USA, intending to send for their family after getting settled, but the outbreak of war turned temporary situations into lengthy separations. Other cases illustrate a short visit to see family in the Old Country morphing into a years-long ordeal. Both during and particularly ...

Help! I got my DNA Results and I'm Confused! Part 1

Speaker: Gil Bardige Did you get your autosomal DNA results from any or all of the 4 testing companies? Do you, have tens of thousands of matches that they tell you are close relatives, only to find that they don’t share a surname or town in common?  Confused?  Frustrated?  You are not alone.  So, take a deep breath and join us in understanding your results of ethnicity and matches; how to prioritize them, and reduce the thousands of matches to numbers you can research and maybe find keys to expanding your genealogy family tree.  This webinar is for beginners and others who are ...

Was My Ancestor Rich or Poor: What We Can Find from Polish Business Court Records?

Speakers: Anna Wiernicka; Hadassah Lipsius Polish business court records began in 1916 and continued into the 1940’s. From 1915 until November 1918 Poland was under Prussian rule, which began with the appointment of a governor – Hans Hartwig von Beseler. One of his decrees issued in August 1916 required residents to register every business activity. Those commercial and industrial enterprises under his rule, both small, single person and larger enterprises, were subject to taxation. Poland attained independence in 1918, and the new head of state, Józef Piłsudski, decreed in February 1919 the establishment of a Commercial Register, thus continuing the requirement for ...

Researching our Families: Three Case Studies

Speakers: Alex Calzareth, Emily Garber, Renee Steinig For our third annual members’ talks, Alex Calzareth, Emily Garber, and Renee Steinig will each present a case study that demonstrates how they solved a genealogical problem and made new discoveries in their own family research. Alex Calzareth: Alex's grandfather was born in Czechoslovakia, but the family story was that his grandfather's grandmother, Bertha Jacobsen, was actually from Hamburg, Germany, about 400 miles away. That family story was confirmed but another mystery quickly emerged: what happened to Bertha's mother, Rebecca? Alex will detail his search for Rebecca in records of three different countries using census, newspaper, probate and other ...

Help! I Got My DNA Results and I’m Confused! - Next Steps (Part 2)

Speaker: Gil Bardige Did you enjoy Gil Bardige’s April JGSNY talk on working with your DNA results? If so, now it it’s time for your next steps. Gil will discuss proven methodologies that will allow you to prioritize your next 50 unknown priority matches with the highest probability of finding a common relative on a family tree or the ones you should ignore and stop wasting your time on. This intermediate to advanced level presentation is primarily for those with Jewish ancestry who have used the principles that Gil presented in Part 1 and have run into new brick walls or just want ...

From Records to Roots: Connecting Generations in New Jersey

Speaker: Michelle Tucker Chubenko Learn practical tips and techniques to access essential New Jersey records, from state censuses to naturalization records, to uncover your ancestral roots. Whether you're a seasoned genealogist or just starting your journey, this session will share key 20th century source material and available research tools for discovering your family's ancestry. BIO: Michelle Tucker Chubenko, AG®, is the International Research Team Manager and professional genealogist with Legacy Tree Genealogists. She is accredited in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States through the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) and specializes in New Jersey and Eastern European research. ...

Visit to Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue

  Kehila Kedosh Janina President Marvin Marcus will lead a private tour for JGSNY members of the only Greek Jewish Romaniote Synagogue and Museum in the Western Hemisphere. Learn more about the history of Greek Jewry and Jewish life on the Lower East Side. Founded in 1906 by Greek Jewish immigrants from Ioannina, the congregation has worshipped at the Broome Street synagogue, a designated New York City Landmark, for the past 97 years. The museum serves as a repository for Greek Jewish life and culture and features permanent and changing exhibitions. Bio: Born and raised on the Lower East Side of New York, Marvin Marcus has ...

Genealogical Research at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

Speaker: Hallel Yadin The archives and library of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research contain theworld’s largest and most comprehensive collection of materials on EasternEuropean Ashkenazi Jewish history and culture. They include a wealth of sourcesfor genealogical research. YIVO archivist Hallel Yadin will review the different kindsof documents available at YIVO, including pre-war community records, immigrationcase files, yizkor books, landsmanschaftn records, and more. She will also discusshow to effectively search YIVO's online catalogs and how to access its holdingsremotely. Bio: Hallel Yadin (she/her) is an archivist and special projects manager at the YIVOInstitute for Jewish Research. She holds an MLIS from the University ...