California, San Francisco Passenger Lists, 1893-1953

When looking for our ancestors in the United States, one of the first places we search are the passenger lists of arrivals. While many people first check ports such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston or New Orleans, there are other less researched ports.
One of these ports is San Francisco, which has just had over 900,000 of its images added to www.familysearch.org. The collection, California, San Francisco Passenger Lists, 1893-1953, contains some incredible information for researchers.
Using information I already knew,  I searched for Abraham Cohen, who was born in Constantinople, Turkey in 1870. He and his wife and 3 children arrived in San Francisco in the late 1920's. That information quickly led me to the Abraham Cohen I was looking for. The image below is the basic information provided at FamilySearch.

After verifying that this was the person I wanted, I was then able to look at the original passenger list by clicking on the view Image button on the lower right side. That image, shown below, gives great information on the family, and shows that they left Shanghai, China on 10 July 1929.

This collection is very easy to use and as always with FamilySearch is free of charge.

Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952

The number of databases available at FamilySearch.org which are useful for those with Jewish families continues to grow. One of the newest is Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952. As of today the collection does not include the original images, however it does have a name index to over 1.6 million records.

The amount of information included in this database should help those who had family in Michigan. The entry below for example, shows the death of Arthur Mittledorf. From the record we find that Arthur, the son of Osias Mittledorf and his wife Annie Beidner, was born in Detroit on 6 May 1926 and died there on 17 Aug 1927. For those who would like to look at the original record, the Family History Library film number (1972984) is also included.

When added to the other  databases on Familysearch.org, the ability to find families in Michigan has been greatly increased.

The Jews of Mozambique

 On 16 November 1910, the Ship Garth Castle landed at Southampton, England. The ship had departed out of the Port of Delagoa Bay, Mozambique. On board that ship was Minnie Buirski, a Jewish mother traveling with her 8 children, and most likely very pregnant as her ninth child, a daughter named Beryl had arrived in time to be listed as a 2 month old on the 1911 Census of England. According to that census, mom was born in England, the eight children who sailed with her were all born in South Africa and Beryl brought the family full circle as she was also born in England.
The fact that a Jewish mother with such strong ties to South Africa and England would wind up sailing out of Mozambique may seem surprising to some, but

the country of Mozambique and its small Jewish community has been tied to both countries. The congregation in Mozambique actually was founded in 1899 when Joseph Herman Hertz arrived from Johannesburg. He convinced the Jews of Lourenco Marques to organize a community and to begin acquiring land for a synagogue and a cemetery.
The original Jews who settled in Mozambique were a very diverse mix. Equal parts Ashkenazic and Sephardic, they arrived from places such as Vilna, London, and South Africa.
In 1926 The Sephardic Jews  and Ashkenazic Jews came together and built a synagogue that they shared. However, the fact that even combined as one the community was just not large enough to support having their own Rabbi. During the time of World War II, a large number of Jews arrived from Nazi occupied European countries.
Even with these Jews arriving, the community never really grew and by the time of the Mozambique Independence in 1975, most of the Jews had left the country. In the late 1980's a move was started to bring the synagogue back to the Jewish community. Since the recovery of that synagogue, the community has begun to grow. Although still small, the y have begun to reclaim the cemetery and they have reestablished the Jewish traditions to their younger members.

Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah)

MAY WE NEVER FORGET

Netherlands, Marriages, 1565-1892

In posts over the last few months, I have discussed various collections of births, deaths and burials from the Netherlands. These are located at www.familysearch.org. Now, it has been brought to my attention that I have not also mention that a database of marriagess for the period 1565-1892 is also available.
That database which now has over 560,000 records is name search able, and provides great information for each marriage. The record below is the marriage of Benjamin Abraham Cohen and his wife Hanna Marcus Dwingersma.

This collection can be of great help in linking families together. It can be searched at Netherlands, Marriages, 1565 -1892. As always, Familysearch can be searched free of charge.

New York, State Census, 1875 at FamilySearch

On 1 June 1875, the State of New York conducted a census of its residents. The records from that census are now being added to FamilySearch. That collection now has over 720,000 images available to be viewed. While there are some counties that are not included it is certainly a nice addition to the website.
The collection can be searched by name, and the results provide a good deal of information. Below, is the household of Jonas and Salina Cohen, and their eight children, who lived in Troy,  Rensselaer, New York.

By clicking on the view image tab, the original record can be viewed. The original document also shows us that two other families lived in the same home.

United States, Russians to America Index, 1834-1897

In a previous post at this blog, the records of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies were discussed. Now, FamilySearch has added an immigration collection created by the Balch Institute to its collections. That collection, the Russians to America Index, 1834-1897, is now available in the Historical Records Collections in the United States section.

While there are no images, the collection can be searched by name. As of this posting, the collection contains over 525,000 records. The record below, shows the incredible amount of important information each record provides.

For those trying to locate their Russian families, this database should be an important research tool.

Jews of Bratislava

 The Jewish history of the area now known as Bratislava dates back well over 700 years ago. Now the capital city of Slovakia, it was until 1918 in Hungary. Known in Hungary as Pozsony, it was the home of the Kings of Hungary. 
The Jewish community of Bratislava is first acknowledged in 1291, when they were granted a charter by King Andrew III. The members of the community, comprised mostly of merchants, bankers and owners of vineyards became taxpayers and established a solid community. The earliest synagogue was built in the 1330's.
Life in Bratislava was not always peaceful for the Jews living there. In 1360, the Jews were expelled from Hungary, and some residents fled to Austria. They were allowed back in 1367 and were even allowed to return to their homes. However in 1371, laws were put in place that regulated financial transactions between Jews and Christians. In 1392, Christians were exempted for a year from having to pay taxes on money owed to Jews. Later, in the mid 1400's, on two different occasions, all debts owed to Jews were cancelled.

Over the next 300 or so years, the Jews suffered through multiple restrictions on the community. The restrictions included who they could trade with and where they could live. Also, on numerous occasions they were expelled from Hungary. Because of these actions the Jewish population was under 200 hundred by the early 1700's.
In the early 1700's, Jews in the various areas of Bratislava were given some protection and were even allowed to establish small communities. In the 1770's the Jews living in the area of Schlossberg were permitted to settle on land owned by the city and establish their own "Jewish Street". The Jews of Bratislava became very well established. They established the textile trade in Hungary and helped Bratislava become a center of learning for Jews, in fact, for Orthodox Jews it became a major place of importance for the entire world. By 1930, the Jewish population of Bratislava had grown to almost 15,000 which was well over 10% of the entire population.
Now, Marelynn Zipser has transcribed the records of the Jewish community of Bratislava, and made those available to the Knowles Collection. This incredible work is now part of the Jews of Europe database. The collection can be search at the FamilySearch Community Trees site. That link is provided at the top right of this blog. A very special thanks to Marelynn for all her hard work. She is truly blessing so many with her efforts.