2025 IAJGS conference, Fort Wayne, Indiana 10-14 August 2025

 

Never to early to plan ahead for Fort Wayne in 2025. Looks to be another wonderful conference.

South Africa, Western Capetown, Deceased Estate Files, 1951-1958

 

Familysearch has updated a collection that could be very helpful for all with South African Jewish heritage. That collection, South Africa, Western Cape, Deceased Estate Files, is a collection of death notices. The originals are kept at the offices of the Western Cape Archive in Cape Town, South Africa.

This Historical Records Collection, has almost 500,000 records, which may contain very important family information. This includes the deceased name, the name of the spouse, birth dates, marriage dates and on some occassions, marriage records. The collectis name searchable to quite easy to use. By following the link above, a search box will appear.

The person I am looking for is Barnett Samuel Cohen, who is from the Province of Pretoria, South Africa. I believe he was born in the early 1920's. I enter that information into the search box and get the result for Barnett Samuel Cohen, born in 1921. Additionally, I also get the names of his parents and his wife.

In order to see the original documents, I click on the camera icon, which is on the far right of the results page. The original documents include some additional information. While the information on the results page lists his wife as Natalie Cohen, the original marriage certificate (shown below) lists  her maiden name as Natalie Janse Van Rensburg, born on 18th of May of 1923, in Parow, Cape, South Africa. They were married on 9 December 1948 in Cape Town.

Other documents included in the file also gave more valuable family information, such as th names of their children from his will (shown below). They are a daughter Rene and a son Manuel.

This is wonderful information for anyone to start building s family history. 

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.

New Mexico Deaths, 1889-1945

FamilySearch has added to a collection that should interest those with Jewish ancestry in the American southwest. That collection, New Mexico Deaths, 1889-1945, is part of the Historical Records Collections at FamilySearch.org. the collection includes over 175,000 records. Statewide registration of vital records didn't begin until 1920, however there are records in the collection that go back as far as 1889. These records came from institutions that were not health related, such as counties and churches.  

By following the link in the paragraph above, searches can be completed in the search box (below). A search of the name Cohen yields 226 records.

The search results page (below) is very easy to use. Simply click on the name and it will take to the view record bar.

Clicking on the View Record link will take you to the actual death certificate.

Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland (JGS Cleveland)

 For anyone wanting to know more about Using FamilySearch for Jewish research, please join me on September 6th. More info can be found at jgscleveland.org/event-5351672.

Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (SCJS)

 

 Over the last few days I attended the 2023 Conference of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (SCJS), held this year in El Paso, Texas. The society studies everything about our Crpto-Jewish families. Also known as conversos, these are the descendants of those Jews, who in the 14th and 15th centuries, while living in Spain and Portugal, faced forced conversion to the Catholic church, and expulsion from their homes.  

Those who were able to flee the persecutions, fled to lands far away. They became the "hidden" or "secret" Jews. They lived in secret in the American Southwest as well as all of Latin America. In many cases their secret Jewish lifes continues to this day. The SCJS is trying to help bring those families together and to help people rebuild their heritage. More info can be found at cryptojews.com.

For those who think their families may be the descendants of Crypto Jews, would be will served to join the SCJS. The next conference is in 2025 in Los Angeles, I hope to see you there.

 

The Jews of Galveston

 The City of Galveston, sitting on the Southeastern tip of Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico, has been home to Jewish people for over 200 years. In 1816, the brothers Joa and Mora de la Porte, who were of Portuguese birth, provided the funds to build the first settlememnt of Europeans in Galveston.

This act was the first of many milestones that marked the history of the Jews in Galveston. Amongst these were the following;

1. In 1852, the residents of Galveston established the first Jewish Cemetery in Texas.
2. The first organized Jewish services were held in 1856.
3. During the time of the Civil War, most residents of Galveston left the area, however one Jewish woman, Rosanna Osterman stayed behind. She was a pioneer of Galveston and also a Civil war nurse. She helped created the first Jewish cemetery in Galveston. In 1862, she turned her home into a hospital to treat Union soldiers. Then as it became needed, she also opened it to confererate soldiers.
   
   
   
4. In 1868, Congregation B'nai Israel (photo at right) was opened as the first Jewish Reform congregation chartered in Texas, and the was only the second Jewish congregation in the state of Texas. Later in  1875, the congregation became one of the charter members of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
5. Henry Cohen, a rabbi at B'nai Israel, was one of the founders of the Galveston Movement in the early part of the 1900's. Between 1907 and 1914, the Galveston Movement worked to bring Jews who were fleeing Russia and other places in eastern Europe to Galveston. Over 10,000 Jews arrived during this time.

There are a lot of genealogical records for the State of Texas,which include Galveston island, available at FamilySearch. The best way to access these records is through the FamilySearch wiki.

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.