Denmark Marriages, 1635-1916

 The Jewish history of Denmark is almost 400 years old. In 1622, Denmark became the first of the Scandinavian countries to allow the Jews to settle on a permanent basis. King Christain IV, invited the Sephardic communities of Amsterdam and Hamburg to establish communities in the city of Gluckstadt. Those who accepted this invitation were for the most part traders, financiers and jewelers.

 There were some Jewish communities that existed from the beginning of the seventeenth century in other areas under Danish rule, but this was the beginning of Jewish life in Denmark. The Jewish population of Denmark slowly grew over time. By the end of the 1700's there were close to 2000 Jews in Denmark, which about 75% of those in the city of Copenhagen.
In 1814, the Jews were granted civic equality and in 1849 they received full rights of citizenship. These two events led to more and more Jews wanting to live in  Denmark. The numbers reached about 3,500 Jews by the mid 1800's and about 6,000 by the early part of the 1900's. Until the end of the 1700's hundreds the Jewish community was strictly orthodox, then in the early 1800's Reform Judaism was introduced.
In the collection of the Family History Library are the records of the Mosaic Congregation of Copenhagen (Film numbers 44,590-44,595). These records cover the time from 1693-1953. Included are the births, marriages and deaths. Below is the 12 August 1813 marriage of Aron Philip to Hanne Moses Cantor. 

These records were microfilmed in 1950, so the quality is not the highest of quality. However, many of these records have now been indexed at www.familysearch.org. They are included as part of the Denmark, Marriages, 1635-1916 database.

 When that same marriage is search for here, the following is the result.

 The images are not included at this time, however the names and dates are given , as well as the Family History Film number. To access this collection at FamilySearch, just follow the link below.

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/show#uri=http://familysearch.org/searchapi/search/collection/1520592

As always, Family Search is a free database that can be searched from your home.

Sephardicgen.com

At the 2012 International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) conference held in Paris, France this past year, Dr. Jeff Malka received the lifetime achievement award for his incredible work in Sephardic Genealogy. His work and the work of other genealogists can be found at the  Sephardicgen.com website. The homepage of that site (below) is easy to follow and makes it very simple to find databases for your own are of interest.

The tabs down the side will lead you to an incredible amount of resources, from Sephardic history, surnames and family trees. The websites by country tab is one that I find most useful, as it will take you directly to the databases that exist that will be most helpful for your own research. The list of those countries (below) covers the Sephardic world.

Anyone with Sephardic family should make this site a regular part of your research. Congratulations to Dr. Malka for this great honor.

Texas, Birth Certificates, 1903-1935

 It seems that almost daily new databases are becoming available at www.familysearch.org that will be a benefit to those researching their Jewish ancestors. One of the new databases should be very helpful to those whose families settled in the state of Texas. Texas, Birth Certificates, 1903-1935 is now available in the Historical Collections of FamilySearch.
So many of our Jewish ancestors entered the United States through the Port of Galveston and then made their homes in Texas. This database is not only name searchable but also includes the original images. As of now it has over 1.5 million images and 3.1 million records. Those numbers will continue to grow as the records are added to. When you search by name, a transcription of the original certificate is made available. The record below is the transcription for the 1913 birth of Moses Rosenblatt.

The transcription gives the majority of the information including names of the parents and date and place of birth. However, if you click on the view image tab, you may find additional information. For this entry the original does indeed add more details.

We now know the father was a butcher and both parents are identified as being Hebrew. It should be noted that since this database contains records from many different jurisdictions not all the records look the same or provide the same information. Regardless, it can be a very useful tool for Texas Jewish families.

United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933

Another collection of records helpful to those looking for their Jewish ancestors has arrived at www.familysearch.org. The collection, the United Kingdom, Maritime Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1787-1933, has been added to the Historical Collections. While it is not large at this point, only about 42,000 records, it does include the images, which have been provided by www.findmypast.co.uk.
The collection is name searchable and very easy to use. The search page (shown below), as with all the Historical Collections allows the researcher to search by various pieces of information.

The images for the collection are very clear and easy to decipher. The records below are examples of a birth record and a death record. Included on both are the names, dates of the events and the ship name.

While small now, this collection could add valuable assistance for those whose families travelled from country to country by ship. This collection could provide the information needed to fill in those missing records.

Belgium, Civil Registration, 1795-1910 at FamilySearch

The number of records available at www.familysearch.org for finding our Jewish ancestors continues to grow. On 5 September 2012, the Belgium, Civil Registration database for the years 1795-1910 was increased to include over 560,000 records.

The database is part of the Historical Collections section at FamilySearch, and can easily be accessed for no charge through the home page. The records for Belgium are available in the Continental Europe section (as shown below).

At this time the collection does not include the images, it is only an index, however, the information provided is very useful. The two records below, show the incredible information that can be found from a death entry. The top entry shows the death of 1 year old and the bottom entry, a 53 year old man. The amount of information provided for researchers is incredible and should be very beneficial to those with ancestry from Belgium.

Estonia Population Registers 1918-1944 at FamilySearch

As the Historical Collections section at www.FamilySearch.org continues to grow some wonderful records are emerging for those with European ancestry. One of the newest collections to be added is a great example. The Estonia Population Registers for 1918-1944 have started to be added.
The  records which comprise this collection were made after the Russian Revolution through the end of World War II, and include records of taxpayers, citizens, Jews, Germans, and prisoners of war. They include records such as inhabitant records and tax censuses.

The records themselves were created on the local level and later transferred to the national Archives, were they are housed. The writing in the records differs, as they can be in German, Russian or Estonian. The record below is an inhabitant record from the city of Aakre.

This is a new collection that has just been added, it is not complete and at this time it is not name searchable, however the records are listed by location and as of 7 September 2012 there are over 370,000 images. As with all the FamilySearch databases, the records from Estonia are provided free of charge at www.familysearch.org. More information about this database can also be found at the FamilySearch wiki.

The Far Reaching Influence of the Fordon Jews - Part 6

It is well documented in this blog that I get very excited at any mention of the Jews from Fordon, Poland, ancestral home of my Rosenbaum family. As the previous post mentions, I have been going through the early death certificates from the State of Utah. As I have researching this collection, I came across the death certificate for Samuel E. Levy, who died in Salt Lake City on 22 January 1941.
Samuel Levy was born the 24th day of November, 1873 in San Francisco, California and had been a resident of the local community for 36 years. The certificate (shown below) also provides the information for his parents. The information provided shows that both is father Solomon and mother Henrietta were born in Fordon. Of great interest to me is that Samuel, born of parents from Fordon came to Salt Lake City from San Francisco. My ancestor, Morris David Rosenbaum was born in Fordon, travelled throughout the United States, finally arriving in San Francisco. Once there he made his way to his final home in Brigham City, Utah. They followed much the same trail just 50 years apart.

Utah State Death Certificates 1904-1960

For some years now the State of Utah has had the death certificates for the years 1904-1960 online. A free database, I have used it many times to find the death certificates of my family. It has always been very convenient for researches to be able to download those documents instead of waiting for the mail to find you. That website archive.utah.gov, is very easy to access and a great resource for those with Jewish families in Utah.

In addition, the certificates for the years up to 1956 are now available at www.familysearch.org.

 

 The certificates themselves are very high quality and a wonderful resource. The certificate below for Gussie Block wife of Louis L. Block. One of the things I really enjoy about the certificates from this time frame is the fact that the Doctor of record is Milton Pepper, a prominent member of the Utah Jewish community. I have always felt I would love a certificate signed by "Dr. Pepper".