Jewish Family Tree Resources
By admin on Mar 25, 2010 with Comments 0
The majority of Jews today naturally do not live where their ancestors did
100′s of years ago in the family tree. Because of the centuries of injustice and recently the Holocaust, many Jews believe it is an impossible task to try to trace their Jewish roots back to the old country. That is false. With the technology of today, you can trace your Jewish ancestry. There are resources that can help with specific Jewish culture.
Jewish families started using permanent family surnames as early as the 10th century. They were used mostly be the Sephardic Jews in Portugal, Spain and Italy. Not until much later did, the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe and Germany begin that practice.
Many Orthodox Jews today still use the traditional naming pattern. Those are when family names are passed down from generations. It is traditional in Easter Europe and Germany’s Jewish families to name a baby after a deceased relative. This is a way of showing respect and honoring that person’s memory.
It can make tracing your Jewish roots a little harder, because the name may not be identical to the deceased relative just similar in some way to the ancestor’s given name. Many times the name just sounds like the ancestors.
That is the difference between the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish families who choose to name their babies after living relatives. Many surnames are reserved for specific locations in Eastern Europe.
Here a just some basic steps you can use to begin your Jewish family tree.
The number one place for all genealogy research to begin is at home. Start talking to your family elders. They will love the attention and by sitting down with pen and pad you can ask them about their past. Do they remember their grandparent’s names and where they came from? Find out if they may remember a specific town or village where their ancestors may have lived. Ask them if they remember any cousin’s names, schools and the names of synagogues, they may have attended.
When you have as much information as you can get from your relatives the next course of action is locating the following records. Census records will give you information. In the U.S. from 1900 on the census records, include year of immigration.
After that, you can then try passenger arrival records, as well as naturalization. Passenger Arrival list-When arriving in the U.S, these lists after 1893 contain last residence. With that kind of information, you may be able to find the town, province or country your relative came from. It will depend on the ship and what records they kept.
The good news for anyone looking for information after 1906 those records will show birthplace, town or city and country. Naturalization Records in the United States will show information on the country of origin. Like the passenger arrival list after 1906, these records should be a great help in your genealogy search. Many of these records will show place of birth; residence in the old country, the date, port and ship arrival in the U.S. The immigrant’s name is listed on the passenger list. Many immigrants including Jews changed their names after arriving.
Therefore, if you are lucky enough to obtain any records after 1906 they may be able to tell you what name your family used in the old country. As with all family tree searches marriage records along with old letters and photographs are always very useful. So are probate records and obituaries in the newspapers.
Every family tree is a great educational tool. It shows all of us what our ancestors have gone through to give everyone who came after a better life.
By: Anna O’Brien
About the Author:
Find your Jewish ancestors. Begin your family tree. Learn how go to http://www.makefamilytree.info
