Using FamilySearch for Jewish Research 21 May 2023

Please join me on 21 May 2023 as I present, Using FamilySearch for Jewish Research. This program is collobaboration between the Jewish Genealogical Society of Pittsburgh and the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center.

 

More info can be found at:

  https://www.pghjgs.org/programming

I look forward to seeing everyone.

Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948

When looking for our ancestors who first came to America, many of us tend to look first at the arrivals into New York City, however not all people entered there. Other ports, such as Baltimore, Boston and Charleston were a few of those locations where are ancestors first saw the country that would be their new home.
Yesterday, Familysearch.org added the Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948. The collection, which includes over 1.6 million records, is name search able. The records are very good and provide wonderful information for researchers. The example below shows three siblings, Chaje, Israel and Jossel Cohen. The record shows they were on their way from Russia to an eventual destination of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to reunite with their brother, Hirsch .

The record shows that they started their journey on the 9th day of November 1905 on board the ship Brandenburg, and arriving in Baltimore on the 23th day of November. The record lists the entire family as Hebrew and gives their last residence. These records are a great source of information for researchers and would be a great source for those who are having a difficult time finding the arrival records of their ancestors.

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.