JewishGen.org Discussion Group FAQs
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How is the New JewishGen.org Discussion Group better than the old one?
Our old Discussion List platform was woefully antiquated. Among its many challenges: it was not secure, it required messages to be sent in Plain Text, did not support accented characters or languages other than English, could not display links or images, and had archives that were not mobile-friendly.
This new platform that JewishGen is using is a scalable, and sustainable solution, and allows us to engage with JewishGen members throughout the world. It offers a simple and intuitive interface for both members and moderators, more powerful tools, and more secure archives (which are easily accessible on mobile devices, and which also block out personal email addresses to the public).
I am a JewishGen member, why do I have to create a separate account for the Discussion Group?
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I like how the current lists work. Will I still be able to send/receive emails of posts (and/or digests)?
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Yes.
Can I categorize a message? For example, if my message is related to Polish, or Ukraine research, can I indicate as such?
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The JewishGen.org Team
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Re: Avram or Abraham Avner
#usa
bzatz@...
I am related to a Philip Avner from Chicago. His parents were Abraham & Gertrude. Is this your Abraham?
- Bruce Zatz
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Searching for Ann Muriel PINKUS , Daily City, California
#usa
Kathy Miller
Moderator Note: This search is for one individual who is of interest to only one JGDG member.
Your replies must be sent with your email account, not the JGDG list - to < kathyjmiller@...> Hi All I am searching for Ann MuriePINKUS , born about 1949 ,and who was brought up in Daly City, California near San Francisco.
Her parents were Golda and Ruben Pinkus
I think she attended Westwood ( I think ) High school in Daly City
Is anyone able to help put me in touch with her
Thanks , Kathy Mille Researching PINKUS, COHEN, EMANUEL
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immigration to Cuba
#general
#latinamerica
philafrum
Looking for information about immigration to Cuba in the 1920s and 1930s.
1. What shipping lines traveled from Europe to Cuba during that period? 2. Is there any way to get access to manifests for arrivals in Cuba? Thank you. Evan Fishman, -- New Jersey <ebf2001@...>
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Jan Meisels Allen
Vera Miller of Find Lost Russian & Ukrainian Family has informed us about three new online databases honoring the 75th anniversary of World War ll. As all are free and in Russian you may need to use Google translate or Steve Morse’s website for transliterating English to Russian in one step: https://stevemorse.org/russian/eng2rus.html
The databases are: soldier photos of men and women who served in the Soviet Army
St. Petersburg Archives has a database of over 67,000 civilian recipients of “Fort Defense of Leningrad” medals. The database is searchable by last name, year of birth or place of employment. There are downloadable scans of award documents for each recipient.
"It (the medal) was awarded to active participants in the heroic defense of the city on the Neva - all those who, despite hunger and cold, shelling and bombing, stood by the machine, extinguished incendiary bombs, nursed the wounded, dug trenches, supported the urban economy, taught and cared for children, holding thereby personal victory in the battle for Leningrad," says the website.
The Soviet government gave the award to 1.47 million recipients (according to Wikipedia) so the database is a work in progress.
Another database is Explosion of Partisan based on documents from the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. http://rgaspi.info/k-75-letiyu-pobedy/nagrady-partizan/ Information on more than 8,500 people awarded for their involvement in the war's partisan movement are detailed in the database, which also is a work on progress.
This database can be easily searched by surname. Information provided on award recipients can include full name, birth year, place for call of service, place of residence, partisan group name, award presented, presenter of award and file location of record.
Requests to obtain scans of records can be sent to rgaspi@.... It is highly recommended to write in Russian.
So far, most WWII databases from Russia have focused on soldiers of the Soviet Army.
The other database comes from the Republic of Belarus- A Book of Memory (https://www.mil.by/base/index.php), an effort by the Office to Perpetuate the Memory of Defenders of the Fatherland and Victims of Wars of the Armed Forces of Belarus.
The database provides information on people who died in Belarus during WWII and those who came from Belarus and died elsewhere during WWII. Users can find the following information in the database: full name, year of birth, place of birth, place of call of duty, place of service, position, date of death, cause of death, burial number and place of burial.
Those seeking information on their relatives or ancestors from Belarus will need to look page by page or know their full name- first, patronymic (name derived from father's first name such as Ivanovich) and surname.
Some people on this database can be found on Memory of the People (https://pamyat-naroda.ru/heroes/?adv_search) but others are only found on A Book of Memory. (See above)
There are ~2 million photos posted to Dear Memory (https://foto.pamyat-naroda.ru/) of men and women who served in the Soviet Army during World War ll. The photos on Dear Memory can also be found on Memory of the People (see above). To read how to search Dear Memory see: https://lostrussianfamily.wordpress.com/2018/06/03/millions-of-records-added-to-wwii-database/
To read more see:
Jan Meisels Allen Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
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Bryan Langer
I’m not sure why you sent this to me. I forgot to tell you I started researching what I think will be a free listserv alternative with built-in image uploads. It’s a forum that works both online and through email, all moderated.
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Sent from my bryPhone Bryan Langer Production Design / Art Direction / Set Design bryanlanger.com 213-944-9994
On May 16, 2020, at 8:25 AM, Stanley Diamond <SMSDIAMOND@...> wrote:
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Re: Unable to find names on passenger lists
#names
Marlene Etlinger
My father remembered sitting around the table with his father filling out my grandfather ‘s naturalization papers. My grandfather was young when he arrived so they were trying to invent the name of the ship he came on. In this case the name of the ship on his naturalization papers was useless.
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Last residence of Riga in 1920 before immigrating to US, says the passenger manifest
#usa
#latvia
#lithuania
Corey Brand
David and Saul (Zelman) MILLER (many spelling variations of surname) came to the US in 1920, in their twenties. They are my third great uncles. They were from Krekenava, now in Lithuania. Their last place of residence was Riga, Latvia, according to the NYC passenger manifest. I want to find out why they were in Riga. Was their relocation because of World War I? Is it possible they were Russian soldiers? Any databases I can use to find out? Or, does anyone know another reason they could be in Riga for?
Thanks, Corey Brand, South Florida, USA <coreyabrand@...>
Link to Passenger Manifest Researching MILLER, MELLER, and many spelling variations From Krekenava, now in Lithuania > Pittsburgh, NYC, and Los Angeles, USA
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Newspapers.com Free Access Through May 17 11:59 PM MT
#events
Jan Meisels Allen
Newspapers.com is a member of the Ancestry family of companies.
Access to Publisher Extra papers on Newspapers.com will be free until 17 May 2020 at 11:59 p.m. MT. After the free access period ends, you will only be able to view Publisher Extra papers using a Newspapers.com Publisher Extra subscription. You will have to register with your name, email address and password. Go to: https://go.newspapers.com/freeaccess/
When you click on your search results you can view the results but to see the actual record and save it you must register.
Once your record is open you can print or save the record.
“This month, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of V-E Day, the formal acceptance of Germany’s unconditional surrender in Europe. Though the war would still rage on other fronts for three more months, this milestone brought hope and freedom to millions of people. To help mark the significance of V-E Day and to honor the legacy of WWII soldiers,Fold3.com is opening all our newspapers for free, available until May 17th. We hope this will give you a chance to discover more about what role your ancestors played during WWII and the personal stories that lie behind that period of history.” Fold3.com
I have no affiliation with Newspapers.com or Ancestry and am posting this solely for the information of the reader.
Jan Meisels Allen Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
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(Canada) Ancestry Canada Free Access May 15-18 for Victoria Day Weekend
#events
Jan Meisels Allen
Ancestry Canada is offering free access to its entire collection from May 15-18 to celebrate Victoria Day. You must register with Ancestry Canada. Your other subscriptions other than a worldwide subscription will not result in free access.
Go to: https://www.ancestry.ca/search/ scroll down page to where the on the lower right of the screen says free access to all records from May 15-18 and click on the search free. When you get the results from your search click on the record you want and if you wish to save it to your computer click on the green save box in the upper right hand corner.
I have no affiliation with Ancestry and am posting this solely for the information of the reader.
Jan Meisels Allen Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
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Kenneth Ryesky
Some years ago, the Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center http://www.philajewisharchives.org/ moved its materials to the Temple University Paley Library Urban Archives.
I have been out of Philadelphia for 30-something years, and my last visit to Temple University campus was shortly before my Aliyah about 6 years ago. The Urban Archives staff had always been very helpful and facilitative during my personal visits over the years (but that was in a different era before this COVID-19 madness). You might wish to make inquiry there. As for Phoenixville, the last I heard they still have a synagogue there, perhaps that might be a tree for you to bark up. Best of luck in your searches, -- KHR Ken Ryesky Petach Tikva, ISRAEL kenneth.ryesky@... Belarus: Gomel: RAISKY, SHKOLNIK(OV), ARONOV, AEROV Ukraine: Yelizavetgrad: Broad/Brodsky (also Odessa), Gertzig/Gertzog Ukraine/Russia/Turkey: Yevpatoriya: Israelson, Arshenov
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Roger Lustig
There was no such thing as a "mixed marriage" involving one Jewish and
one Gentile party in the 17thC. In fact, that was generally true in Germany, Switzerland, etc. until at least the middle of the 19thC. Conversion of one party would have to precede the marriage, and conversion to Judaism was not an option in most places. As to LEHMANN coming from Lac Leman (Genfer See/Lake Geneva), it's unlikely, especially as nobody would have caught the reference. LEHMANN is about as common a surname as the German-speaking world has, with literally 10s of thousands of entries in the White Pages. (dastelefonbuch.de) It means, literally, "liege man," i.e., a vassal. Quite a few LEHMANNs in Germany were Jewish, but they made up at most 5% of the total. And before around 1800, Jews generally didn't use surnames at all, and those who did are not known to have used LEHMANN. Nor is WILBERS known to have been used by any Jewish family in Germany. (Source: Lars Menk, _A Dictionary of German-Jewish Surnames._) Again, if the surname existed in the 17thC, and wasn't one of a small number of surnames used by Jews in big cities, it's not a Jewish surname. Roger Lustig, Princeton, NJ USA Research coordinator, GerSIG
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Re: Unable to find names on passenger lists
#names
Joel Hayflick
Hi Joel,
My SPITKOVSKY ancestors came through Castle Garden arriving on July 6, 1882 aboard steam ship “Australia”. There is a gap in the arrivals manifest, identified by passenger numbers jumping from one page to the next, on the digitized microfilm for this ship arrival in NY and that gap led me to ask the park service to investigate further. As bad luck would have it, my ancestors were on the pages in this gap. The park service wrote back in response to my inquiry about the nature of this gap in the record and indicated that the page was either missing or in such bad shape as to be unreadable hence was not photographed. After 15 years searching in vain on microfilm records for arrivals into the US, I uncovered a newspaper article that mentioned the year in which my ancestor arrived. As a next step, I went to the Hamburg lists which proved to be instrumental to breaking through this brick wall. After finding them on the departures list, which has much less information than on the arrivals lists, that pointed me to the ship name and departure date. Using Stephen Morse’s One Step search tool I found the arrival date and city for the vessel. Joel Hayflick, Palo Alto CA USA <jhayflick@...>
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Re: Re: Searching for Leah Noah Da Costa
#unitedkingdom
Laura Isenstein
There is a DaCosta family in Charleston SC dating back to the mid 18th Century immigrated from London UK. There is a Solomon DaCosta. Not sure of Leah, but you might try researching the family name in Charleston South Carolina USA. Hope this is helpful.
Laura Isenstein <ljisenstn@...> https://groups.jewishgen.org/g/main/guidelines Signature: Please “sign” your posts and replies by including your full name at the end of your email. It’s helpful, but optional, to include your city of residence under your name.
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jbonline1111@...
FWIW, my aunt, the first child of my maternal grandparents, was stillborn in NYC in 1916 and was not given a name. As my grandmother was Orthodox, if it had been customary to give a name, I'm sure she would have been given one.
Another possible Hebrew name for Louis is Eliezer, which was my paternal great-uncle's original name. He adopted the name Louis after emigrating to this country around 1900 or so. He died in 1916. My father, born in 1917, was named for him and also had the name Louis, Hebrew name Eliezer. Barbara Sloan, Conway, SC <jbonline1111@...>
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Avram or Abraham Avner
#usa
Seeking info on Abraham Avner who immigrated through Galveston, TX in 1913 and went to Chicago, Ill.
Marc <c2aggie@...> https://groups.jewishgen.org/g/main/guidelines Signature: Please “sign” your posts and replies by including your full name at the end of your email. It’s helpful, but optional, to include your city of residence under your name,
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Re: Unable to find names on passenger lists
#names
Susan&David
On 5/16/2020 12:34 PM, Hilary Henkin wrote:
Rhonda, don't give up hope.
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Re: another search for Karin
#usa
jbonline1111@...
I was able to locate a high school friend by contacting her alma mater (college, that is). I found her, though she chose not to make contact with us, her close senior year friends. At least I know she was okay. The point is you might try the library, if you know which system, or her school alumnus society. Probably neither one will give you her address, but you might prevail upon them to send her an email or letter for you, asking that she contact you.
I have luck at times simply Googling the person's name with the state, too. -- Barbara Sloan Conway, SC
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Re: Need to have a Stenographic Shorthand Note Deciphered
#translation
Linda Kelley
The shorthand was probably Gregg Shorthand, not Pittman, which I learned. Linda Wolfe Kelley Portland, OR, USA
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Forgot to sign my name to new topic
#lithuania
#ukraine
Michele Lock
To the moderators,
A few days ago, I started a new topic, about a great uncle listing his birthplace as Slaviansk in the Ukraine, though all his siblings were born and raised in Northern Lithuania.
I forgot to sign my name and city at the bottom of the new message. Should I just start over with a new topic, or can you add my name and city at the bottom of the message that I started?
Thank you.
Michele Lock
Alexandria, VA
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Re: Unable to find names on passenger lists
#names
Hilary Henkin
Rhonda, don't give up hope.
On one of my grandfather's several Border Crossing Records between Toronto and New York, he specifically stated the name of the ship he immigrated with (SS Corean) and the specific arrival date in 1908. I did the same sort of multiple checks of that manifest, and several dates around his date, with no luck. After all, someone wouldn't make up a ship name like SS Corean, would they? Yep, he did. A few years later, I found his departure record out of England. He traveled in 1906, on a completely different ship. Hilary Henkin Los Angeles area Researching: On 5/16/2020 8:20 AM, rhonda.post via groups.jewishgen.org wrote:
Sadly, the naturalization applications do not always have the full information. My husband's grandfather Aaron Foreman (later name changed to William Aaron Foreman) applied four times for naturalization and I have all copies but there is no mention of a ship name. It says UNKNOWN. He was 7 years old in April 1904 which is arrival date obtained from naturalization application. It says they traveled from Liverpool to NY. The date of arrival on the 1910 census says 1905. I know he traveled with his mother Libe Katz. She married in June 1905 to Sameul Shenker in Boston, but died before she was naturalized. I have gone page by page on ship manifests on all dates in 1904 to the first half of 1905 looking for a woman with a 7 or 8 year old boy and have not been able to find anything.
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