International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) Conference 2024

It's never to early to prepare for the annual conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Socities (IAJGS). This years conference, the 44th will take place in Philadelphia, from the 18th to the 22nd of August, 2024. This should be an incredible conference, held in one of the greatest cities in the world. There are multiple ways to get more information, including the following;

1. International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies conference site iajgs2024.org
2. Jewish Genealogical and Archival Society of Greater Philadelphia jgasgp.org
3. Conference Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/731063418430848/

 I hope to see everyone there.

Pennsylvania Obituaries, 1977-2010

In recent months, FamilySearch has been contributing a great deal of time and effort toward the indexing of obituaries. These will be a great tool for researchers in located their families. A great example of these records is the new database that FamilySearch has just published, Pennsylvania Obituaries, 1977 - 2010.  This collection, which as of today has over 96,000 images, is the collection of the Old Buncombe County, North Carolina Genealogical Society.
This collection is easily searched and as with all other FamilySearch collections can be searched for free at any time. In the standard search box (shown below), I did a search for all obituaries of the surname Cohen. 

The search results showed 277 different obituaries featuring the surname Cohen. The first few entries are shown below.

At this point, clicking on the name of the deceased will provide some more excellent information. In the example below I clicked on Ruth M Cohen. In addition to many great family relationships, I now also know the name of the newspaper where this obituary appeared, The Reading Eagle/Reading Times.

At this point, we are then able to go one step further and see the original obituary.

What a great source for the family researcher.

Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1885 -1950

This past week a large collection of records was added to www.familysearch.org that should be very beneficial to many with Jewish ancestry. The collection, Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1885-1950, includes over 2.2 million images of marriages certificates from various Pennsylvania counties. The collection is name search able and provides some incredible information.
I did a search for a marriage that I knew took place in Pennsylvania in the early 1900's, that of  Nathaniel David Kremer to Effie Bertha Cohen. Using the standard search box at

FamilySearch, I was able to receive the following information.

In addition to the date of the marriage I now know the names of both sets of parents, as well as the estimated dates of births for both the bride and groom. In addition, by clicking on the tab to view the original document it is also possible to see the original Application for Marriage License as well as the Original Marriage License (below).

By being able to view the original documents, we are now able to gain additional information such as the addresses of the bride and groom as well as their occupations. We also now know that the marriage was performed by the Rabbi Louis Silver. This database should be a great access for families in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh City Deaths, 1870-1905

On the 26th of May, Familysearch added a new collection of records that will helpful for those researchers who have family in the state of Pennsylvania. The collection, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh City Deaths, 1870-1905 contains over 160,000 images of the deaths recorded in Pittsburgh.

The records give a great deal of information about those whose deaths were recorded. A search for the death of Lazarus Cohen, who died in September of 1873, finds the record of his death on 19 September 1873. He was the son of Marks and Anna Cohen.

On the basic record above, it show him to be age 0, and does not tell us where he was buried. However, the original image which can be viewed for free (seen below) adds some additional information.

From the original source, we find that he died at the age of four days, the family lived at 265 Fifth Avenue and the name of the cemetery where he was buried. This is also a great example of why it is always a good idea to try and view the original document. We would have missed some great information had we not viewed it.