Alan Gordon writes: "My second cousin, during an interview I conducted, informed me that his grandfather, Frank Kanserstein, had his name changed at Ellis Island. Frank's was the husband of my great a

#names

C Chaykin writes: "Here's the grain of truth: Someone in the family changed their surname. Not surprising, since many "last names" were, literally, "son of X," and changed from generation to generatio

#names

Perhaps we should let Betty White have the last word. In her Saturday Night Live "census taker" sketch with Tina Fey, the dotty Mrs. Smith (pronounced BLAHR-fen-gar) reports that "The names were all c

#names

Yale Zussman writes: "Unless there is an actual proof that involuntary name-changes weren't possible, you cannot reject the name-change narratives out of hand. Given the number of potential cases, aro

#names

Contrary to the stories we hear so often, the borders of northeastern Europe did not change between 1815 and 1914, with only very minor exceptions. Prussia became part of the German Empire, but its ho

#poland #russia #germany

Check marks were most of what the officials did write on the manifests, and they're generally quite large. What manifests are you referring to? Roger Lustig Princeton, NJ USA research coordinator, Ger

#usa #general

http://www.alemannia-judaica.de/berlichingen_synagoge.htm It's in German, but the _Encyclopedia of Jewish Life_ entry is given in English at the bottom. Roger Lustig, Princeton, NJ research coordinato

#germany

http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=1-440592-29 http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=1-440592-44 ROBERG vital record copies

#germany

Theo Raphael writes: "Bennett Muraskin compiled in 2012 some of the origins and meanings of Ashkenazi last names." This article was riddled with errors, mistranslations and misunderstandings. Even the

#romania #general #names

Peter Cohen asks: I do not know if it applies to 1840, but there were times when authorities in some German cities attempted to control the Jewish population by only allowing the oldest son to marry.

#germany #general

Regarding births in 1840s Germany that were entered as illegitimate, Rich Meyersburg asks: 1. Was this common? 2. Was this due to a difficulty in obtaining services for either a religious or civil mar

#germany

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 1

#germany #france

I should have been more specific when giving the following link for users to find images while the links in the Hessen Gatermann database are broken: I wrote: In the meantime, note that the images can

#germany

Users of the Germany databases may have noticed that links to the images associated with the Hessen Gatermann database are going to a blank viewer screen, not the desired page. The Hessian archives ha

#germany

Just a guess: could F stand for Florin? At one point, even the Dutch Guilder was signified with an f. Roger Lustig Princeton, NJ USA Research coordinator, GerSIG that would explain this, and I'm mysti

#germany

Jeffrey: It's very unlikely that Theis ISRAEL was Jewish. For one thing, most Jews in northern Europe didn't have a surname at all until around 1800. They used patronymics, i.e., Theis' father would h

#germany

Jeffrey: It's very unlikely that Theis ISRAEL was Jewish. For one thing, most Jews in northern Europe didn't have a surname at all until around 1800. They used patronymics, i.e., Theis' father would h

#germany

Dear Dean: I assume you mean Grunstadt/Pfalz. [u umlaut = Gruenstadt ] My 3rd great-grandmother Friederike GOLDSCHMIDT was born there in 1807. Vital records for that region begin around 1798, when Nap

#germany

Dear Dean: I assume you mean Grunstadt/Pfalz. [u umlaut = Gruenstadt ] My 3rd great-grandmother Friederike GOLDSCHMIDT was born there in 1807. Vital records for that region begin around 1798, when Nap

#germany

Amy: Have you worked through the HESS/Bergen records indexed in the JewishGen Germany Database's Hessen Gatermann index? Of 570 records for the town of Bergen, almost 200 have something to do with a H

#germany