Hi Jesse,

Your dad's results definitely point to one fully Ashkenazi grandparent as the most likely possibility. When this is a surprise, usually it's a grandfather. The most likely scenario is also that one of your father's known grandfathers was not his biological grandfather; this is referred to as an MPE (misattributed parentage event). I personally would not trust MorleyDNA because I've heard haplogroups aren't always correct. If possible, I would have your dad do the following:

• Test at AncestryDNA because they have the largest database. Determine whether you can find matches to all 4 of your father's grandparents.
• Have you father test at 23andme. They will give you a basic paternal haplogroup, and if the Ashkenazi Jewish grandparent is his maternal grandfather, he very likely will have Ashkenazi painted on his X chromosome. 
• You may also want to have known relatives test if your results don't yield any conclusive answers.

I say all of this as a professional genetic genealogist who specializes in Jewish DNA cases such as these. I'm also the moderator of the Jewish genetic genealogy group on Facebook.

If you have any questions, please let me know. 

Take care,
Adina Newman
Sharon, MA

My great uncle David Isaacs writes in his diaries that he and his siblings attended St. Luke’s Primary School in Cheetham, North Manchester in 1888. He also mentions attending the Jews School in Cheetham, North  Manchester In 1891. Does anyone have information about these schools or can tell me if there are any records of attendance at these schools? Thank you
Kathryn Berman, Jerusalem
researching: Lipkin, Zagare. Lichtenstein, kercerovce, (now Slovakia) . Isaacs, Leeuwarden. Isaacs, Manchester. Levy, Falmouth, Cornwall.

 

On Wed, Sep 23, 2020 at 01:26 PM, Barbara Ellman wrote:

"6 pages on what a great guy he was without any genealogical information"

Barbara,

For those of us who have more than one SOB relative, "what a great guy he was" could be considered genealogical information.

Steve Stein

The defective gene is not inherited by all Eastern European Jews, but those who have it have the same mutation. This is the same situation with Tay-Sachs Disease and Stanley Diamond's family's thalassemia, and some other blood diseases. Someone long ago had a mutation, randomly, most likely, and it is now common among Eastern European Jews.

The same thing happens in other peoples, with Cystic Fibrosis more common in the English, and some other blood diseases, but Jews are very inbred, ours are very obvious.

There are several Paget's Diseases, my grandfather had Paget's disease of the bone, which is not a cancer; I only mention it because Dr. Paget discovered several diseases.

Sally Bruckheimer
Princeton, NJ

https://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/ashkenazi-brca-status-and-bc-outcomes seems like a reasonable starting point.

It should be noted that what you've communicated about your conversation with your doctor appears to be a rather muddled version of the facts:

• there is no single "defective gene for breast cancer." Breast cancer is a number of different diseases which have a multitude of different causes, and only a small minority of breast cancer cases are attributable to genetics. Your doctor was probably referring to tumors that result from having a bad copy of the BRCA1/BRCA2 tumor suppressor genes, which are indeed attributable to genetics and are disproportionately prevalent in Ashkenazi Jews, but there are other genes (p53 and several others) which also have been found to cause breast cancer.
• Ashkenazi Jews are nowhere close to 10% of all global breast cancer diagnoses. There are about 2.1 million breast cancer diagnoses per year globally, and I am pretty confident that there are not 210,000 diagnoses per year among the 5 million or so Ashkenazi women in the world. Maybe they are 10% of all diagnoses among the small subset of breast cancer diagnoses associated with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations, although I am inclined to doubt this also, and I'm too lazy to try and hunt down the exact numbers right now. I suspect that your doctor might have been referring to a different statistic with the "10%" figure: Out of all the breast cancer diagnoses per year among Ashkenazi Jewish women, about 10% of those are attributable to BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations.
• BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations were not inherited by all Ashkenazi Jews. Only about 1 in 40 Jewish women have a mutation in one of these genes.
• Ashkenazi Jews are not the only population with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations, but the reason for this is not "some non-Jewish person a thousand years ago was the first human being on Earth to have the mutation, and then they or one of their descendants converted to Judaism, resulting in both Jews and non-Jews being susceptible." Rather, there were dozens of different (though still rare) mutation events affecting the same BRCA1/BRCA2 genes that occurred at various times to people of a whole bunch of different ethnicities, and it's simply that for a variety of reasons (chiefly, that Ashkenazi Jews were a small and historically insular population), the single mutation that occurred in an Ashkenazi person centuries ago has been unfortunately conserved among Jews to a degree that other mutations to the same genes have generally not been when they occurred in people of other ethnicities. There is a chart of all the different identified mutations to BRCA1/BRCA2 that have been associated with people of dozens of different ethnicities: Dutch, Japanese, American Indians, etc. at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRCA1

Adam Turner

This is great news. The USC Shoah Foundation Archive is wonderful. It's a great resource. 

I've been trying to get in to a local partner to view one of the interviews that are not online. Covid is preventing for now.

Phil Karlin

It is Russian not Polish
Tzvi SHACHAM

Dear Feigie Teichman
Although I am not German [but Dutch-born] I could translate this card for you. It does not give any info on conditions at Michalovce or the camp. Did Arthur write to "Martusch"? He seems very fond of her. He seems to think that she is still in Michalovce.
Since I have to reply privately, please respond, unless you already have a better translation offer from a German-born person.
Kind regards, Nick Lambrechtsen

In Russian:

 

#2

Состоялось в посаде Вышков 11-го (24-го) января 1911 года в 10 часов утра. Явились Ицек Бронштейн (професия не ясно), 54-х лет и Ицек Цимбаль, религиозный учитель, 52-х лет, живущие в  посаде Вышков и объявили, что вчера, в 4 часа утра,  умерла Рейза-Рухля Дыбнер, 70-и лет от роду, дочь Мошки-Герша и Песи, урожденной неизвестно, жительницы деревни Сувин, оставив после себя овдовевшего мужа Ицека . По настоящему удостоверяю о кончине Рейзы-Рухли Дыбнер.  Акт сей присутствующим прочитан и ими подписан.

 

Содержащий акты гражданского состояния Подпись

 Подпись Подпись

 

Translate into English:

 

# 2

 

It took place in the settlement of Vyshkov on January 11 (24), 1911 at 10 am.  Itsek Bronstein (the profession is not clear), 54 years old, and Itsek Tsimbal, a religious teacher, 52 years old, living in the settlement of Vyshkov, appeared and announced that yesterday, at 4 o'clock in the morning, had died Reiza-Ruhla Dybner, 70 years old, daughter of Moshka-Gersh and Pesya, born unknown, a resident of the village of Suvin, leaving behind her widowed husband Itsek. I truly certify the death of Reiza-Rukhla Dybner. This act was read and signed by those present.

 

 

 

Containing acts of civil status Signature

 

 Signature Signature

Translated by Michael Ryabinky

My G Grandfather Maurice Cooper (originally Mozes Wolf Kupfer from Kalisz, Poland) was married in Liverpool in 1886. For the last 35 years I have been trying to find a record of his death and his burial, without success.
He was living in Sheffield in 1911-1912 and is mentioned as next of kin on my Grandfather's war records.
My G Grandmother seems to be living alone in London in 1916 and I feel that Maurice died in 1915-1916, but do not know where.
I have checked all the usual resources. Can anyone suggest anything else?
Many thanks,
Peter Bush, London plbush1@... 

In Russian:

 

19

Состоялось в посаде Рационж 3-го (16-го) июля 1905 года в 10 часов утра. Явились Ионас Липинский, 46-и лет и Абрам Кжечановский, 64-х лет, оба торговцы в посаде Рационж и объявили, что вчера,  в посаде Рационж, в 4 часа утра,  умерла Сура Нейман, 15-и лет от роду, дочь Хаима-Шулима и Ханы, урожденной Гольдберг. По настоящему удостоверяю о кончине Суры Нейман.  Акт сей присутствующим прочитан и ими подписан.

 

Содержащий акты гражданского состояния Подпись

 Подпись Подпись

 

Translated into English:

 

19

It took place in the settlement of Rationzh on July 3 (16), 1905 at 10 am. Ionas Lipinsky, 46 years old, and Abram Kzhechanovsky, 64 years old, both merchants in the village of Ratsionzh, appeared and announced that yesterday, in the village of Ratsionzh, at 4 o'clock in the morning, had died Sura Neiman, 15 years old, the daughter of Khaim-Shulim and Hana, née Goldberg. I truly certify the death of Sura Neiman. This act was read and signed by those present.

 

Containing acts of civil status Signature

  Signature Signature

Translated by Michael Ryabinky

Hello Diane,

in order to correctly transcribe the text it would be helpful to provide the whole document - as transcribing often includes comparing letters. Also posting this in ViewMate would be better, as any translation will be revised or discussed by fellow researches.
I'm not absolutely sure as the context is missing:

Soll seit 1846 an Carl Schiff, Schreiner zu New York verheirathet sein

Is said to be married to Carl Schiff, carpenter in NY

Regards from Germany

Corinna (Wöhrl, nee Goslar), Hoisdorf near Hamburg

Dear Diane and fellow researches,

for Hildesheim quite a few historical documents are to accessible online via FamilySearch, yet they are not indexed and mosty written in German Script (Kurrent). Often the images are of poor quality due to the bad condition of the originals. I listed the film-numbers as I don't know, if my links will work outside of Germany, but I'll give it a try:

Emigration from Hildesheim
Film 2063760 / DGS 008104033
Film 2063759 / DGS 008104034
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSJL-ZV27?i=4&cat=652655

Hildesheim Census
Volkszählungen, 1809-1864 div. films (DGS)
7996100
8139071
8139072
8139073
8104033
8104034

Jewish Community of Hildesheim 1809-1815 (Napoleonic Aera in Northern Germany)
DGS 007954696beginning on picture 844 of 1364
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS8H-89ZP-D?cat=652485

If you are searching for documents of Jewish Communities in Germany give this website a try:
https://fs.webosi.net/
-> In the field (Globale Suche) you enter the name of the town
-> the documents of the Jewish communities  available are often labeled (Jüdische) Matrikel

I know it may be difficult, but you should give it a try. Good luck hunting!

Corinna (Wöhrl, née Goslar), Hoisdorf, Germany

 

2. soll seit 1846 an Carl chiff, Schreiner zu New York
verheiratet sein
2. told to be married to Carl Schiff, carpenter
(cabinetmaker) at New York, since 1846

Ernst-Peter Winter

The Holocaust Education and Learning Centre at the University of Huddersfield has relaunched its events programme in a covid-secure form using Zoom. Details can be found at https://holocaustlearning.org.uk/events/

All zoom events are free but must be booked in advance.

The first event is on Thursday 1st October and is a conversation between survivor Rudi Leavor and Dame Louise Ellman on past and current experiences of antisemitism. Louise Ellman is one of the former members of the UK parliament who was vilified by anti-semites when the party was being led by Jeremy Corbyn

Future events include presentations on the Arolsen archives, the USHMM collection, the role of bureaucrats in the Nazi crimes, antisemitism and The Russian revolution, and Jewish refugees in Shanghai and in the Dominican Republic.

To book, click on the button for the event concerned and enter your details. A zoom link will be sent out approx. 2 days before each event. Please note the advertised times are London time.


Michael Sharp

Please would Harvey Kaplan use the program and send me a list of all researchers who study the name WEINSTEIN ( or have that name themselves)

David Lewin

Dear Mr Groll

I have been using JewishGen for about three years, and on a personal note, a huge thank you to yourself and all there.
I live in Paris, where my grandmother lived before during (for some) and many years after the war.   She and her husband survived, but her two sisters and families were deported and murdered, from Paris and from Holland.
On the other side an aunt of mine was killed (from Berlin) etc...
I have only recently discovered the existence of these people, and without Jewish Gen would never have been able to.

Last week I also found for the first tiem the VHA and a testimony of a close family friend...  so moving and great that that exists.   I have had personal exchange with Peter Landé, though your site.

Thank you wholeheartedly, and very best wishes in these so troubled times
David Selig