In his message yesterday, Gilbert Hendlisz wrote:

Dear Friends,

I wanted to express my thanks to Stanley Diamond and Fay Bussgang for
focusing on the question of the Books of Residents. Those are a gold
mine for researchers with lots of informations about not only one person
you are interested in, but also his whole family, sons and daughters-in
laws, the town they came >from or the town where they decide to move to
and so on.

As Stanley may remember, there is long time that I volunteered for
indexing or helping in projects relating to these BoR, when they exist.
The question is: practically what is the project about? Do we have to
raise money and ask the Polish Archive to make the indexing of the pages
of these BoR or do we purchase the copies of the pages and do we make
the indexing by ourselves like in the shtetl-co-op operations? My
preference would be for the second proposal. I would like to know more
before volunteering.

Thanks for your answers.

Gilbert HENDLISZ (Brussels)

Dear Friends:

Realistically, the only practical approach for indexing Books of
Residents is by hiring staff of the Polish State Archives to do the
data entry and through fundraising by researchers to pay for this work:

There are three reasons for this:

1. Index volumes to Books of Residents generally have not survived.

2. But, even if they do exist, they are not complete because:

a. While the registers documenting everyone living in a house
may have been in use for 10, 20, 30 or more years, index
volumes - if they exist - are "snapshots" of the data made
at one point in time.

b. Based on our experience, indexing directly >from the registers
enables us to capture the entries for those who died and do
not appear in the index, those who were added after the
indexing and, in some cases, those who were added and
died or moved away after the index was created.

3. By indexing >from the volumes, we are able to include the
mothers' and fathers' names that do not appear in the index
volume.

For a readily accessible detailed description of the Books of
Residents that were in use in the Kingdom of Poland >from
ca 1890 to ca 1930, please go to the Ostrow Mazowiecka
Research Family website at www.ostrow-mazowiecka.com
and click on Books of Residents. Series #3 is the one most typically
available. (Note: some of the information is now slightly outdated
and will be revised in the near future.)

In addition, Fay Bussgang has written many articles on these
sources. A list is these articles is included below.

Because it contains important information concerning the sources
of Books of Residents, I am repeating my original comments on
this subject >from my message of July 18, 2005.

Stanley Diamond
Executive Director, Jewish Records Indexing - Poland
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Articles by Fay Bussgang on Books of Residents and Census records

Bussgang, Fay Vogel, "Census Records and City Directories in the Krakow
Archives," Avotaynu 12, no. 2 (Summer 1996): 27-28.

Bussgang, Fay, "Books of Residents (Ksiegi Ludnosci) and Other Books of
Registration," Kielce-Radom SIG Journal 4, no.3 (Summer 2000): 23-26.

Bussgang, Fay, "More About Polish Books of Residents' Registration,"
Avotaynu 16, no. 3 (Fall 2000): 14-15, in conjunction with: Bussgang,
Julian, "The Polish Concept of Permanent Place of Residence," Avotaynu 16,
no. 3 (Fall 2000): 12-14.

Bussgang, Fay Vogel, "Russian Poland," Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy,
Teaneck, N.J.: Avotaynu, Inc., 2004: [pp.475-478 concern Books of Residents].

Syllabuses >from New York 1999, Salt Lake City 2000, Toronto 2002, and Las
Vegas 2005 contain summaries about Books of Residents.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
My original Message

Dear friends:

Fay Bussgang's message about Books of Residents, Census Registers, etc.,
prompts me to share some news >from the "What's New in Jewish Records
Indexing - Poland" presentation at the International Conference on Jewish
Genealogy last week in Las Vegas.

In referring to the recent meeting of representatives of JRI-Poland and the
Polish State Archives, I mentioned that:

"For a number of years, JRI-Poland has been indexing Books of Residents
and Census Registers >from all over Poland. As a result of the researcher
response to these new sources, and their generosity in making the indexing
possible, an annex has been added to the JRI-Poland/PSA agreement that
formalizes this expansion and opens the doors to the indexing of any --
I repeat ANY -- type of Jewish record with genealogical content."

While spending your money on private research will ferret out records
for only your own family, joining with fellow researchers to index these
records through JRI-Poland will make these records accessible to your
own family -- as well as other families with roots in that town. It is this
spirit of sharing that characterizes the success of JRI-Poland.

To start or participate in such a cooperative project, first identify the
record collection >from the Polish State Archives website. Then please
contact the Archive Coordinator for the Archive Branch in which the
registers are held. You can find the name and email address of the
Archive Coordinator at: www.jri-poland.org/psa/status.htm

I am the Archive Coordinator for Pultusk. Please do not write to me
about records in other Archives as the Archive Coordinator for your
Archive will be best able to respond knowledgeably to you.

Stanley Diamond
Executive Director, Jewish Records Indexing - Poland

Fay Bussgang wrote:

"In addition to being able to find online what vital (metrical) records
exist for each town, E.L.A. (Ewidencje Ludnosci w Archiwaliach --
Evidences of Population in Archival Collections) is now online at
the State Archives of Poland Web site [Just go to Google and type
in 'State Archives of Poland"].

It is a database of all registers of population - books of residents,
lists of Jews, lists of dentists and doctors, members of unions --
you name it. What is available for each town differs widely. The
initial page is in English."

In his message yesterday, Gilbert Hendlisz wrote:

Dear Friends,

I wanted to express my thanks to Stanley Diamond and Fay Bussgang for
focusing on the question of the Books of Residents. Those are a gold
mine for researchers with lots of informations about not only one person
you are interested in, but also his whole family, sons and daughters-in
laws, the town they came >from or the town where they decide to move to
and so on.

As Stanley may remember, there is long time that I volunteered for
indexing or helping in projects relating to these BoR, when they exist.
The question is: practically what is the project about? Do we have to
raise money and ask the Polish Archive to make the indexing of the pages
of these BoR or do we purchase the copies of the pages and do we make
the indexing by ourselves like in the shtetl-co-op operations? My
preference would be for the second proposal. I would like to know more
before volunteering.

Thanks for your answers.

Gilbert HENDLISZ (Brussels)

Dear Friends:

Realistically, the only practical approach for indexing Books of
Residents is by hiring staff of the Polish State Archives to do the
data entry and through fundraising by researchers to pay for this work:

There are three reasons for this:

1. Index volumes to Books of Residents generally have not survived.

2. But, even if they do exist, they are not complete because:

a. While the registers documenting everyone living in a house
may have been in use for 10, 20, 30 or more years, index
volumes - if they exist - are "snapshots" of the data made
at one point in time.

b. Based on our experience, indexing directly >from the registers
enables us to capture the entries for those who died and do
not appear in the index, those who were added after the
indexing and, in some cases, those who were added and
died or moved away after the index was created.

3. By indexing >from the volumes, we are able to include the
mothers' and fathers' names that do not appear in the index
volume.

For a readily accessible detailed description of the Books of
Residents that were in use in the Kingdom of Poland >from
ca 1890 to ca 1930, please go to the Ostrow Mazowiecka
Research Family website at www.ostrow-mazowiecka.com
and click on Books of Residents. Series #3 is the one most typically
available. (Note: some of the information is now slightly outdated
and will be revised in the near future.)

In addition, Fay Bussgang has written many articles on these
sources. A list is these articles is included below.

Because it contains important information concerning the sources
of Books of Residents, I am repeating my original comments on
this subject >from my message of July 18, 2005.

Stanley Diamond
Executive Director, Jewish Records Indexing - Poland
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Articles by Fay Bussgang on Books of Residents and Census records

Bussgang, Fay Vogel, "Census Records and City Directories in the Krakow
Archives," Avotaynu 12, no. 2 (Summer 1996): 27-28.

Bussgang, Fay, "Books of Residents (Ksiegi Ludnosci) and Other Books of
Registration," Kielce-Radom SIG Journal 4, no.3 (Summer 2000): 23-26.

Bussgang, Fay, "More About Polish Books of Residents' Registration,"
Avotaynu 16, no. 3 (Fall 2000): 14-15, in conjunction with: Bussgang,
Julian, "The Polish Concept of Permanent Place of Residence," Avotaynu 16,
no. 3 (Fall 2000): 12-14.

Bussgang, Fay Vogel, "Russian Poland," Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy,
Teaneck, N.J.: Avotaynu, Inc., 2004: [pp.475-478 concern Books of Residents].

Syllabuses >from New York 1999, Salt Lake City 2000, Toronto 2002, and Las
Vegas 2005 contain summaries about Books of Residents.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
My original Message

Dear friends:

Fay Bussgang's message about Books of Residents, Census Registers, etc.,
prompts me to share some news >from the "What's New in Jewish Records
Indexing - Poland" presentation at the International Conference on Jewish
Genealogy last week in Las Vegas.

In referring to the recent meeting of representatives of JRI-Poland and the
Polish State Archives, I mentioned that:

"For a number of years, JRI-Poland has been indexing Books of Residents
and Census Registers >from all over Poland. As a result of the researcher
response to these new sources, and their generosity in making the indexing
possible, an annex has been added to the JRI-Poland/PSA agreement that
formalizes this expansion and opens the doors to the indexing of any --
I repeat ANY -- type of Jewish record with genealogical content."

While spending your money on private research will ferret out records
for only your own family, joining with fellow researchers to index these
records through JRI-Poland will make these records accessible to your
own family -- as well as other families with roots in that town. It is this
spirit of sharing that characterizes the success of JRI-Poland.

To start or participate in such a cooperative project, first identify the
record collection >from the Polish State Archives website. Then please
contact the Archive Coordinator for the Archive Branch in which the
registers are held. You can find the name and email address of the
Archive Coordinator at: www.jri-poland.org/psa/status.htm

I am the Archive Coordinator for Pultusk. Please do not write to me
about records in other Archives as the Archive Coordinator for your
Archive will be best able to respond knowledgeably to you.

Stanley Diamond
Executive Director, Jewish Records Indexing - Poland

Fay Bussgang wrote:

"In addition to being able to find online what vital (metrical) records
exist for each town, E.L.A. (Ewidencje Ludnosci w Archiwaliach --
Evidences of Population in Archival Collections) is now online at
the State Archives of Poland Web site [Just go to Google and type
in 'State Archives of Poland"].

It is a database of all registers of population - books of residents,
lists of Jews, lists of dentists and doctors, members of unions --
you name it. What is available for each town differs widely. The
initial page is in English."

NEW!

The database contains about 3000 names!!!

This page (http://humora.tripod.com/id38.html) provides access to the list
of the former Jewish residents of Gura Humorului and the surrounding
villages.

The list of the Jewish former residents of Gura Humora consists >from a great
number of sources such the book: Gura Humora small town in south Bukovina,
The JewishGen Yizkor Book Necrology Database - Romania, The Central Database
of Shoah Victims' Names, Ellis Island Passenger Records, Gura Humorului -
The Jewish cemetery Index of names on gravestone in section A & B, privet
people and so on. Therefore there might be some errors and dualities.


Schachar Eli
Armonim 90
Qiryat Yam, 29077
Israel

http://humora.tripod.com

NEW!

The database contains about 3000 names!!!

This page (http://humora.tripod.com/id38.html) provides access to the list
of the former Jewish residents of Gura Humorului and the surrounding
villages.

The list of the Jewish former residents of Gura Humora consists >from a great
number of sources such the book: Gura Humora small town in south Bukovina,
The JewishGen Yizkor Book Necrology Database - Romania, The Central Database
of Shoah Victims' Names, Ellis Island Passenger Records, Gura Humorului -
The Jewish cemetery Index of names on gravestone in section A & B, privet
people and so on. Therefore there might be some errors and dualities.


Schachar Eli
Armonim 90
Qiryat Yam, 29077
Israel

http://humora.tripod.com

This is a great opportunity for me to remind everyone how H-SIG projects
work. The majority of our projects are run under formal agreements with
other groups such as the LDS church's Family History Library and the Hungarian National
Archives. We obtain the permission of the owner of the data, whether it
is for photographs of Holocaust memorials taken by members or records
owned by state archives.

Almost all of our records are transcribed by volunteers, sometimes alone
but often part of teams. Our major projects, the 1828 and 1848 census
projects operate under the able leadership of project coordinators Eric
Bloch and Robert Neu respectively. As promised, our vital records
transcription work is growing, though we do not yet have a coordinator.
My role is to coordinate all of the H-SIG research efforts (and in my
spare time I serve as the project coordinator for the Holocaust
Database, the acting webmaster and am transcribing the vital records of
Szvidnik!). I do my best to provide support and guidance to the many
individuals and groups that work on the records that form the All
Hungary Database - almost a quarter of a million records published since
it was introduced over 2 years ago, with 15,000 more just submitted this
week.

As many members have learned, the risk of asking this type of question
is that the answer is as follows "of course, if you are willing to
coordinate the team!" If you are interested, get in touch with me
directly to review what type of records might be available.

And those of you interested in Nyiregyhaza or Nyirbator - contact me
directly at caroljr@alamedanet.net to volunteer.

Carol Robinson
H-SIG Research Coordinator
caroljr@alamedanet.net
Alameda, CA USA
Amos Israel Zezmer wrote:

Carol,

Will the vital records of Vel'ké Kapusany ever be transcribed?

Best regards,

Amos Zezmer
Rio de Janeiro

Moderator: Carol has been doing outstanding work as the H-SIG Research coordinator as well as the H-SIG website manager. We are looking for a website manager to complement our H-SIG team. If you have web skills and are interested in using them for a good cause, please contact Carol off-list <caroljr@alamedanet.net> to volunteer your services. H-SIG has reached an all-time high of more than 800 subscribers but only a relative handful have volunteered to help us build and maintain our resources. if you find H-SIG resources of value, please help us to maintain them!

This is a great opportunity for me to remind everyone how H-SIG projects
work. The majority of our projects are run under formal agreements with
other groups such as the LDS church's Family History Library and the Hungarian National
Archives. We obtain the permission of the owner of the data, whether it
is for photographs of Holocaust memorials taken by members or records
owned by state archives.

Almost all of our records are transcribed by volunteers, sometimes alone
but often part of teams. Our major projects, the 1828 and 1848 census
projects operate under the able leadership of project coordinators Eric
Bloch and Robert Neu respectively. As promised, our vital records
transcription work is growing, though we do not yet have a coordinator.
My role is to coordinate all of the H-SIG research efforts (and in my
spare time I serve as the project coordinator for the Holocaust
Database, the acting webmaster and am transcribing the vital records of
Szvidnik!). I do my best to provide support and guidance to the many
individuals and groups that work on the records that form the All
Hungary Database - almost a quarter of a million records published since
it was introduced over 2 years ago, with 15,000 more just submitted this
week.

As many members have learned, the risk of asking this type of question
is that the answer is as follows "of course, if you are willing to
coordinate the team!" If you are interested, get in touch with me
directly to review what type of records might be available.

And those of you interested in Nyiregyhaza or Nyirbator - contact me
directly at caroljr@alamedanet.net to volunteer.

Carol Robinson
H-SIG Research Coordinator
caroljr@alamedanet.net
Alameda, CA USA
Amos Israel Zezmer wrote:

Carol,

Will the vital records of Vel'ké Kapusany ever be transcribed?

Best regards,

Amos Zezmer
Rio de Janeiro

Moderator: Carol has been doing outstanding work as the H-SIG Research coordinator as well as the H-SIG website manager. We are looking for a website manager to complement our H-SIG team. If you have web skills and are interested in using them for a good cause, please contact Carol off-list <caroljr@alamedanet.net> to volunteer your services. H-SIG has reached an all-time high of more than 800 subscribers but only a relative handful have volunteered to help us build and maintain our resources. if you find H-SIG resources of value, please help us to maintain them!

Hi Tom,

A while back I asked the National Szechenyi Library in Budapest to make a
xerox copy of a book my 2nd gr-grandfather wrote but which was unavailable
anywhere. They did it for a very reasonable fee, if I remember correctly it was about $35US. If the Slovak library won't do it, contact the =
National
Szechenyi Library at inform@oszk.hu . Perhaps they have a copy of the book.

Good luck.

Regards,
Bonnie Frederics
Tucson, AZ
picturethisfilm@email.com
----------------------------------------------------------
From: "Tom Venetianer" <tom.vene@uol.com.br>
To: "H-SIG" <h-sig@lyris.jewishgen.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2005 7:41 AM
Subject: [h-sig] How to get a book?

Dear all,

I need a tip. My uncle, a Holocaust victim and a quite prominent =3D

lawyer,
wrote a book, published in 1938. I discovered a copy in a Slovak library =
=3D
and tried to buy it but was turned down by the chief librarian.

Any ideas about how I could convince her to sell it to me. To the =3D

library
the book is just an old tractate dusting on their shelves, for me an
invaluable memorabilia.

Many thanks and regards
Tom
--
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Tom Venetianer <mailto:tom.vene@uol.com.br>
Sao Paulo - Brazil

Hi Tom,

A while back I asked the National Szechenyi Library in Budapest to make a
xerox copy of a book my 2nd gr-grandfather wrote but which was unavailable
anywhere. They did it for a very reasonable fee, if I remember correctly it was about $35US. If the Slovak library won't do it, contact the =
National
Szechenyi Library at inform@oszk.hu . Perhaps they have a copy of the book.

Good luck.

Regards,
Bonnie Frederics
Tucson, AZ
picturethisfilm@email.com
----------------------------------------------------------
From: "Tom Venetianer" <tom.vene@uol.com.br>
To: "H-SIG" <h-sig@lyris.jewishgen.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2005 7:41 AM
Subject: [h-sig] How to get a book?

Dear all,

I need a tip. My uncle, a Holocaust victim and a quite prominent =3D

lawyer,
wrote a book, published in 1938. I discovered a copy in a Slovak library =
=3D
and tried to buy it but was turned down by the chief librarian.

Any ideas about how I could convince her to sell it to me. To the =3D

library
the book is just an old tractate dusting on their shelves, for me an
invaluable memorabilia.

Many thanks and regards
Tom
--
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Tom Venetianer <mailto:tom.vene@uol.com.br>
Sao Paulo - Brazil

Hello,

In a letter explaining the pitfalls of Yad Vashem, Alfred
Silberman of Monsey, NY writes:
"It is very important to actually look at the originally
submitted document. The information transcribed is not
necessarily the information submitted."

A problem that I often come across is that when I need to look
at the original submitted document, and I attempt to enlarge it
but clicking on it, the result of that is a picture of the
document that is about one centimeter square!

I have found, though, that if you download the document to your
computer (by right-clicking and pushing "save picture as") and
then open there, it will then be large enough to read.

I, too, have learned that if I get no returns on a query to try
it again two or even three times. Often, returns come after a
second try.

Karen Cecilio
Silver Lake, Ohio

Names: KAUNITZ, KAUNIC, RYTEN, RITTEN

Hello,

In a letter explaining the pitfalls of Yad Vashem, Alfred
Silberman of Monsey, NY writes:
"It is very important to actually look at the originally
submitted document. The information transcribed is not
necessarily the information submitted."

A problem that I often come across is that when I need to look
at the original submitted document, and I attempt to enlarge it
but clicking on it, the result of that is a picture of the
document that is about one centimeter square!

I have found, though, that if you download the document to your
computer (by right-clicking and pushing "save picture as") and
then open there, it will then be large enough to read.

I, too, have learned that if I get no returns on a query to try
it again two or even three times. Often, returns come after a
second try.

Karen Cecilio
Silver Lake, Ohio

Names: KAUNITZ, KAUNIC, RYTEN, RITTEN

I believe that Logan Kleinwachs should be
congratulated for the tremendous effort by making this
directory available to us.
Though smaller than the 1929 Polish Business Directory
it enables an interesting comparison of the businesses
in every location in amatter of 3 years.
I myself research the KOENIGSBUCH family >from Brzesko
(image 209 in the Directory) and managed to locate
Koenigsbuchs in the 1926 version who were not there
anymore in 1929 and vice versa. Now I have the
questions which will lead me hopefully to some
answers.
Jacob Rosen
Jerusalem

I believe that Logan Kleinwachs should be
congratulated for the tremendous effort by making this
directory available to us.
Though smaller than the 1929 Polish Business Directory
it enables an interesting comparison of the businesses
in every location in amatter of 3 years.
I myself research the KOENIGSBUCH family >from Brzesko
(image 209 in the Directory) and managed to locate
Koenigsbuchs in the 1926 version who were not there
anymore in 1929 and vice versa. Now I have the
questions which will lead me hopefully to some
answers.
Jacob Rosen
Jerusalem

Dear Genners,

I am hoping to locate Jack BABITSKY. He is my mother's cousin (mom passed
away in 1984). The last know info I have on him is >from the 1930's
census. He lived with his parents (David and Tonia nee PORTNOFF) and a
brother (Sol) in San Franciso where they ran a business called Royal
Upholstery. I have letters written to my mother (Rita Schulte , nee
ZYLBERBERG) during 1949 - 1954, >from her aunt Tonia. In one of the
letters, Tonia mentions that Jack had an operation, but was expected to
make a full recovery.

I have death records of David, Tonia and Sol, but can find nothing on
Jack. According to the census, Jack was born in 1922 and would be about
83 years old if he is still alive. >from his family's death records I can
see that the family stayed in the San Franciso area until their deaths.

Any help would be greatly appreaciated!

Margie Lowery
Grafton, OH (suburb of Cleveland)
mlowery@apk.net

Researching: ZYLBERBERG, GREENBERG, BABITSKY, PORTNOFF

Dear Genners,

I am hoping to locate Jack BABITSKY. He is my mother's cousin (mom passed
away in 1984). The last know info I have on him is >from the 1930's
census. He lived with his parents (David and Tonia nee PORTNOFF) and a
brother (Sol) in San Franciso where they ran a business called Royal
Upholstery. I have letters written to my mother (Rita Schulte , nee
ZYLBERBERG) during 1949 - 1954, >from her aunt Tonia. In one of the
letters, Tonia mentions that Jack had an operation, but was expected to
make a full recovery.

I have death records of David, Tonia and Sol, but can find nothing on
Jack. According to the census, Jack was born in 1922 and would be about
83 years old if he is still alive. >from his family's death records I can
see that the family stayed in the San Franciso area until their deaths.

Any help would be greatly appreaciated!

Margie Lowery
Grafton, OH (suburb of Cleveland)
mlowery@apk.net

Researching: ZYLBERBERG, GREENBERG, BABITSKY, PORTNOFF

Dear Genners,
I wish to extend my thanks to the great many of
you who responded to my posting publicly and
privately. I am always so amazed at your generous
offerings of help, wonderful advice and wealth of
knowledge. It is through this group that I learned of
JRI-Poland http://www.jewishgen.org/jri-pl/ It is
through this invaluable resource that I have found
more information in one week than I had obtained
through nine years of laborious research. Thanks to
all of you, I have found my g-grandfather's and now my
g-grandmother's birth records as well as more
relatives in the indexes than I can count!
Thank you all!
Warmest regards,
Shari Kantrow

researching:
MEYER, KAFKA, KUPFER, SCHAFF -Russian/Poland>NY
BLITZER,KARPET,JACOBSON,LANDSMAN, BLITZMAN,BLAZER
PLATZMAN, REYITTS (REIZ)Kamenets-Podolskiy, Podolia >NY
HABERMAN,DICKMAN- Bukaczowce>NY
SCHNEIDER, MILBAUER, MEYER - Austria
SCHWARTZ,SHAPIRO- Bursztyn,Kuropatniki-Galicia>NY

Dear Genners,
I wish to extend my thanks to the great many of
you who responded to my posting publicly and
privately. I am always so amazed at your generous
offerings of help, wonderful advice and wealth of
knowledge. It is through this group that I learned of
JRI-Poland http://www.jewishgen.org/jri-pl/ It is
through this invaluable resource that I have found
more information in one week than I had obtained
through nine years of laborious research. Thanks to
all of you, I have found my g-grandfather's and now my
g-grandmother's birth records as well as more
relatives in the indexes than I can count!
Thank you all!
Warmest regards,
Shari Kantrow

researching:
MEYER, KAFKA, KUPFER, SCHAFF -Russian/Poland>NY
BLITZER,KARPET,JACOBSON,LANDSMAN, BLITZMAN,BLAZER
PLATZMAN, REYITTS (REIZ)Kamenets-Podolskiy, Podolia >NY
HABERMAN,DICKMAN- Bukaczowce>NY
SCHNEIDER, MILBAUER, MEYER - Austria
SCHWARTZ,SHAPIRO- Bursztyn,Kuropatniki-Galicia>NY

Dear Cousins,

Question: My wife has received notice >from the German government that

she in line for some sort of money because her grandfather lived in
Germany (before the war). They asked for proof of inheritance, something
indicating that she is a sole survivor in her grandfather's line. Her
uncle and his wife died in Florida, childless. She has no siblings. Her
father is dead. On what sort of document would I find that her uncle and
aunt had no children?

Response: the Florida death certificates should list the heirs of her

uncle and aunt.

My two cents: Not correct. The death certificate only names an

informant, not heirs. Heirs are named in a will, if one was made, or by
probate court, if the deceased had no will.

In this case, since there were apparently few relatives (and no 1st
degree relatives), the informant and heir might be the same person.
However, the last survivor (between the uncle and aunt) might have named
two or more heirs, in which case they'd have to split the proceeds, or
they could have given their earthly goods to one or more friends, in which
case surviving family members may be out of luck, or they could have given
everything to charity. A death certificate can be used for proof of
death, but not for proof of inheritance.

I also note that the original posting didn't mention whether the notice

from the German government turned up in the mailbox out of the sky, was in

response to inquiries about assets left in Germany before the war, or some
other situation somewhere in between. Beware of scams offering money when
none was sought.

Ira
Ira Leviton
New York, N.Y.

Dear Cousins,

Question: My wife has received notice >from the German government that

she in line for some sort of money because her grandfather lived in
Germany (before the war). They asked for proof of inheritance, something
indicating that she is a sole survivor in her grandfather's line. Her
uncle and his wife died in Florida, childless. She has no siblings. Her
father is dead. On what sort of document would I find that her uncle and
aunt had no children?

Response: the Florida death certificates should list the heirs of her

uncle and aunt.

My two cents: Not correct. The death certificate only names an

informant, not heirs. Heirs are named in a will, if one was made, or by
probate court, if the deceased had no will.

In this case, since there were apparently few relatives (and no 1st
degree relatives), the informant and heir might be the same person.
However, the last survivor (between the uncle and aunt) might have named
two or more heirs, in which case they'd have to split the proceeds, or
they could have given their earthly goods to one or more friends, in which
case surviving family members may be out of luck, or they could have given
everything to charity. A death certificate can be used for proof of
death, but not for proof of inheritance.

I also note that the original posting didn't mention whether the notice

from the German government turned up in the mailbox out of the sky, was in

response to inquiries about assets left in Germany before the war, or some
other situation somewhere in between. Beware of scams offering money when
none was sought.

Ira
Ira Leviton
New York, N.Y.

A reader asked how to prove that someone died childless. As the reader probably
knows, it often is more difficult to prove a negative.

I once had a case in which I had to prove that someone died childless. I did it
by offering in evidence a photograph of her gravestone. The gravestone had a
quotation >from the section of Proverbs (Mishle) known as "a woman of valor."
Proverbs 31:28 says (in translation), "Her children rise up and call her blessed."
The quotation on the gravestone read, "All who knew her rise up to call her
blessed." I put in an affidavit >from a rabbi, confirming the biblical text and
the change in the text on the gravestone. I urged the court to conclude >from
the change in the text of the biblical quote that she had no children to "rise
up and call her blessed." The Court accepted this offering as proof that she
had died childless.

I had to do this because there was no one still alive who knew her. A much
easier way to prove someone died childless is to put in affidavits >from people
who knew him or her. These people should be financially disinterested in the
outcome of the case.

Helene Kenvin

Researching: SCHWARTZ, WEISS, BALAJTI (Miskolc); WIESENTHAL (Skala); COHEN
(19th century Gnesen, NYC, Richmond VA); JACOBS (19th century NYC, Richmond VA,
Albany NY); ROTHOLZ (19th century Hamburg, NYC, Richmond VA, Kansas City KS);
EINBINDER, COHEN, WAXMAN (Kalarash); KHENVIN (Kiev, Kremenchug); GOODMAN (Chotin);
WALTMAN (Zvaniec, Chotin); ZEITSEV (Sofievka).

A reader asked how to prove that someone died childless. As the reader probably
knows, it often is more difficult to prove a negative.

I once had a case in which I had to prove that someone died childless. I did it
by offering in evidence a photograph of her gravestone. The gravestone had a
quotation >from the section of Proverbs (Mishle) known as "a woman of valor."
Proverbs 31:28 says (in translation), "Her children rise up and call her blessed."
The quotation on the gravestone read, "All who knew her rise up to call her
blessed." I put in an affidavit >from a rabbi, confirming the biblical text and
the change in the text on the gravestone. I urged the court to conclude >from
the change in the text of the biblical quote that she had no children to "rise
up and call her blessed." The Court accepted this offering as proof that she
had died childless.

I had to do this because there was no one still alive who knew her. A much
easier way to prove someone died childless is to put in affidavits >from people
who knew him or her. These people should be financially disinterested in the
outcome of the case.

Helene Kenvin

Researching: SCHWARTZ, WEISS, BALAJTI (Miskolc); WIESENTHAL (Skala); COHEN
(19th century Gnesen, NYC, Richmond VA); JACOBS (19th century NYC, Richmond VA,
Albany NY); ROTHOLZ (19th century Hamburg, NYC, Richmond VA, Kansas City KS);
EINBINDER, COHEN, WAXMAN (Kalarash); KHENVIN (Kiev, Kremenchug); GOODMAN (Chotin);
WALTMAN (Zvaniec, Chotin); ZEITSEV (Sofievka).