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Getting Started in Jewish Genealogy
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Presented by: James Heffernan, Carolyn Kohlman, Rhonda R. McClure, and Melanie McComb
Original broadcasts March 2022
Today there are an estimated 7.6 million Jewish Americans living in the country, the majority of whom descend from diaspora Jewish populations from Central and Eastern Europe. Learning how to trace your Jewish ancestry is not without its challenges: changing surnames, locating your ancestor's home village or shtetl, and access to overseas records are just the tip of the iceberg. This four-session online seminar will provide you with the key records, repositories, and strategies for making real headway in your family history research. We will look at the historical context of your ancestor's arrival in the United States, strategies for uncovering your ancestor's exact origins using American records, an overview of key records and websites of the old country, and finally, researching family who perished in or survived the Holocaust.
This course includes four 90-minute lectures and exclusive access to handouts and recordings of each presentation.
Once you complete your registration, you will receive an email with a link to the course page. You can also access this page under “My Account”> “Digital Content.” You will have access to course materials for the foreseeable future.
Class 1: Coming to America: History of Jewish Immigration to the United States, presented by Rhonda R. McClure
In this first class, we look at the three main waves of Jewish immigration to what is today the United States—where they came from and where they settled. We also discuss the many push-pull factors and how they changed over time, the important role of immigrant aid societies, and how we can start to trace our ancestor’s movements using passenger lists.
Class 2: Finding Origins in American Records, presented by James Heffernan
Before researching our ancestors in the old country, we must first discover their origins—as exact as possible. For this we turn to American records. This class provides an overview of key U.S. records that may list your ancestor’s hometown, offers several tools on how to triangulate and sometimes decipher the information found in these records, and demonstrates several case studies and strategies for making the leap.
Class 3: Accessing Records in the Old Country, presented by Melanie McComb
With your ancestor’s origins in hand, it’s time to start looking at records in the old country. In this class we review what types of records exist, how to use them in your research, and how to access them. We will pay special attention to resources that can be accessed from home, online.
Class 4: Researching in Holocaust Records, presented by Carolyn Kohlman, JGSGB
If you have Ashkenazic or European origins, you have relatives who were impacted by the Holocaust. Class four explores the major repositories for Holocaust research, how to access these records online and how finding both family who perished and those who survived the Shoah can be a resource for your family research.
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