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.

The Kelly Street Historic Jewish Cemeteries of Indianapolis, Indiana

By the middle of the 19th century, the population of the city of Indianapolis, Indiana included a large German community. Sometime shortly before 1856, the earliest of the Jewish settlers in Indianapolis also made this community their home. In 1856, the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation (IHC) was formed, which became the first in the city.As the congregation grew older it became necessary to buy land for the burials of its members and

that they did so. A large piece of land  was purchased on Kelly Street.

Over time, especially with the immigration from Eastern Europe in the 1880s, more and more immigrants meant more synagogues. They all needed to have their own burial grounds, so land was sold to them by IHC. This led to the land actually become not one but eight burial grounds serving the various Jewish Congregations. Those congregations were;

• Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation 
• Shara Tefilo                                     
• Ohev Zedeck                                     
• Knesses Israel                                  
• United Hebrew Congregation           
• Esras Achem                                   
• Congregation Etz Haim Sefarad    
• Congregation Beth-El Zedeck          

Beginning in 2006 the Kelly Street Historic Jewish Cemetery project was formed. Under the direction of Gloria Green, the project leader, teams set out to document and photograph the records of the burials in these historical cemeteries located on Kelly Street. Their incredible work has led to having the information on over 5,600 burials preserved for future generations. Thanks to their service to the Jewish community of Indianapolis and the world, these great people, who have passed, will never be forgotten.

I am also extremely humbled to have had a copy of this project donated to the Knowles Collection- Jews of North America. It will be available for all after the next update.

Jewish Cemeteries of Utah

Many people are actually very surprised to learn that the Jewish history of the State of Utah goes back even before Utah was a state. Utah was granted statehood in 1896, by which time the Jewish community had been established for over 30 years. There were Jews here before that even, in fact my own great-great-grandfather arrived in 1858, however it wasn't until the early 1860's that we begin to have record of Jews observing religious events.
The first Jewish cemetery in Utah was established in 1866, when Mormon President Brigham Young deeded land from the Salt Lake City cemetery to the Jewish community. 

Today there are 3 Jewish cemeteries in Salt Lake City, all located in and around the Salt Lake City cemetery. They are;

• Congregation B'nai Israel Cemetery
• Congregation Montefiore Cemetery
• Shaarei Zedek Cemetery

 There was also a group of Jews who traveled the 40 miles or so north from Salt Lake City to Ogden, Utah. This group were mostly merchants and traders who established the Ogden community. They also established a cemetery. It was;

•  Mountain View Cemetery, later bought and the name changed to Aultorest cemetery.

The records of all 4 cemeteries have been photographed and indexed and are now part of the Knowles Collection- Jews of North America database.

B'nai Israel Cemetery

The Jews of Moldova

The Jewish history of Moldova dates back to the 1400's when Sephardic Jews began using the area as a trade route. These merchants needed a way to travel between the Black Sea and Poland. Present day Moldova was part of an area known as Bessarabia, which was basically the area between the Prut and Dniestr rivers. As time went on the northern and central parts of the area became home to Jewish communities. Later the communities spread throughout the area.
By the 1700's several Jewish communities 

had been established. The majority of the Jews in these communities were traders or involved in the distilling of liquor. The communities grew to the point that by 1812 their was an estimated 20,000 Jews living permanently in Moldova.
In 1812, Moldova fell under Russian rule. At the time there were over a dozen Jewish schools and 70 synagogues. The community was truly striving. By the late 1830, the Jewish population had grown to almost 100,000 and more than doubled again by the end of 19th century.
For the most part the Bessarabia region was free from the Russian anti-Jewish laws, however that began to change by about 1835, when  Bessarabia began to lose its autonomy. This led to the anti-Jewish laws being applied to all Jews, including those in Bessarabia.
 At least 4 times, in 1869, 1879, 1886 and 1891 the government issued decrees forcing the Jews out of various cities. Even with this anti-Jewish rule, the population continued to grow, and by 1900, at least half of the population of Kishinev was Jewish. However in the early 1900's tensions between the Jews and non-Jews mounted leading to the massacre of Jews that took place in 1903 and 1905 in Kishinev. These massacres, and the fact that the soldiers did nothing to stop them started the emigration of Jews out of Moldova.
The Russian Revolution brought some peace for the Jews of Bessarabia, however in 1918, Romania took control and the Jewish communities really began to prosper. The Jews received Romanian citizenship and were permitted to build schools and hospitals. By the early 1920's there were well over 125 Jewish schools and 13 Jewish hospitals. The Jewish population had now grown to over 265,000 people.
The Germans invaded Moldova in July of 1941. The majority of the Jewish community was either deported to camps or massacred on the spot. The city of Kishinev alone had over 50,000 people killed. In August of 1944, the Russians retook the area. Under the communist rule, the Jews were not allowed to practice their traditions. By 1964, all but 1 synagogue was closed.
With the fall of Communism and Civil War within the country, most of the Jewish population has now immigrated to other countries, mainly Israel and the United States. Today, because of that the Jewish population is most likely under 5,000.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year !

May 2014 be a wonderful time for all.

May we all have great success in finding our ancestors.

Manchester, England Melting Pot of Middle Eastern and North African Jews

In the previous post on this blog it was announced that the information taken from the headstones in the Jewish section of the Southern Cemetery in Manchester, England had been added to the Knowles Collection- Jews Of The British Isles and would be updated soon. However what that information does not completely show is the incredible amount of Jewish families from areas outside the British Isles who made Manchester their home.
The areas represented include some of those with the oldest known Jewish communities in the world. Some of these were once thriving places for the Jews but now because of war and unrest the Jewish populations are not what they once were. In some cases, the clues to the families origins comes directly from the headstones, in others, a little research is needed.

EGYPT. A great example are the Jews of Egypt. The Jewish history in Egypt is one of the oldest of all communities, dating back over 2,500 years. In modern times many Jews fled to Egypt after the expulsion from Spain. The Jewish population of Egypt was over 75,000 as late as 1900.  On the headstone of Samy Sinvor (1921-2012) his birthplace is given as Cairo, Egypt. Other families in Manchester, when filling out the 1911 Census give their place of birth as Alexandria. Today, few Jews live in Egypt.

ALEPPO, SYRIA. Another old historic community, the Jews have been in Aleppo since at least the 4th century when the ancient synagogue was built. The current synagogue was originally built in the 9th century. In modern times the Jews of Aleppo were merchants who

traded throughout the world. They were known to be successful in their work. Much of this changed however in 1869 when the Suez Canal opened. This began the decline of the economic condition of the Jews. Many of the Jews began to move to Western Cities, such as Manchester.
Murad Salem (1860) and his wife Pauline (1866) were both born in Aleppo as was their oldest child Isaac. The next 2 children were born in Beirut as they made their way out of the area. In 1901 their daughter Violet became the first of their remaining 8 children to be born in the Manchester area. There are numerous families buried in Manchester who have ties to Aleppo. Names such as Abadi, Dewik and Harari are easily found, and all are prominent names from the community of Aleppo.

TUNISIA. Another ancient community, however they still had a community over 100,00 people as late as 1950. However, after Tunisia gained its independence in 1956, anti-Jewish decrees were put in place, the Jewish council was abolished and the Ancient Synagogues, cemeteries and Jewish quarters were all destroyed. During this time and in later unrest most Jews fled to Israel. Some however also

fled to cities in the west. Many settled in areas where families had settled earlier. One example of an earlier family to settle in Manchester was the family of Moise and Camille Aboud. They were both both born in Tunis as was their daughter Lucie, who was born in 1908. According to the 1911 Census of England their second child, Victoria was born in Argentina, before the family settled in Manchester.

These are but just a few of the families that have helped make the Jewish community of Manchester what it is. It truly is a place which the rich cultures of old established communities continue to thrive. In addition to these there are other families from old established beautiful areas such as Greece and Turkey. May those communities always prosper, and thanks to the people of Manchester, I am sure they will.

Southern Cemetery, Manchester, England

Southern Cemetery, which is located in the Greater Manchester area is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and the second largest in all of Europe.  The cemetery opened in 1879 and included a Jewish section at the western corner of the cemetery. The property was original 40 hectares of land, however an additional purchase that was opened in 1926 almost doubled that amount.

The information from the headstones from the Jewish section have now been transcribed and are being added to the Knowles Collection - Jews of the British Isles. They will be available after the next update.

IAJGS 2014 Salt Lake City- Call for Papers

The call for papers for the 2014 IAJGS conference to be held in Salt lake City, Utah is now open. More information can be found at http://conference.iajgs.org/2014/.