The Knowles Collection: February 2012

13 February 2012

19th century Irish "matrimonial map"

One of the great joys that comes in genealogy is finding that rare map that helps you locate your family. While this map (click to enlarge) will not help anyone find those much sought after ancestors, it may help you get in the spirit of Valentines Day.

A special thanks to the National Library of Ireland (http://www.nli.ie/) for posting this and also to my colleague Alan Mann, who brought it to my attention.

Happy Valentines Day Everyone

09 February 2012

Brazil, Immigration Cards, 1900-1965 on FamilySearch

Between 1900 and 1965 tens of thousands of people either visited or immigrated to Brazil. These people were issued immigration cards at Brazilian consulates around the world. The originals are housed at the National Archives in Rio de Janeiro. Over 400,000 of these records are now available at http://www.familysearch.org/, with images in a name search able database.
Doing a basic search for the name Esther Abraham Precher quickly leads us to her 1957 immigration. We find from the record below that she was born in Jerusalem on 20 Sep 1898 to Abraham and Sarah Precher.

By clicking on the "view image ", we are then able to see the original record (found below), included her photo. For those with family who travelled to Brazil, this is a wonderful database.

A further search of the database, finds a brother, Victor, who was born on 15 Apr 1903 also immigrating with her.

01 February 2012

Bahamas, Civil Registration 1850-1959 at Familysearch.org

One of the newest additions to the collections at http://www.familysearch.org/ are the civil registration records for the nation of the Bahamas. With so many Jewish families tracing ancestry back to the Caribbean islands, this should be of great interest to many.

The years covered by the collection are 1850-1959 for births and deaths and 1868-1959 for marriages, which includes a marriage index for the years 1910-1955. At this time they are not search able by name, however the collection contains over 69,000 images. The image below is from the births of 1880-1881. It shows a son born to Phillip Treco and his wife, the former Maud Solomon. The child was unnamed at the time of registration.

This collection can be found under the Caribbean, Central and South America location at www.familysearch.org.

Growth and Change

In the 12 years since the Knowles Collection was first published, the numbers have climbed from 7,500 to over 1,4000,000. So many of our ancestors left their native lands for new homes. Because of that movement the collection will now be in 6 different databases. All of them will be under the Knowles Collection umbrella. They are Jews of The British Isles; Jews of the North America; Jews of Europe; Jews of South America and the Caribbean; and Jews of Africa and the Orient and the newest one, Jews of the Southern Pacific.. This is a great indication of how universal our families are, and of how much still needs to be done.