COINCIDENCE

Looking in the diary, I noticed that a year ago (or to be precise 52 weeks ago on Sunday) we attended the wedding of the daughter of close friends.

The wedding ceremony (Chupa) took place in an Orthodox Synagogue in North West London. The Chupa was a wonderful occasion and the Rabbi in his speech to the newlyweds managed to bring in the disappointment the whole country felt at England being knocked out of the World Cup by Germany.

After the Chupa we then had to drive to the outskirts of North London to a restaurant where the reception and dinner and dance were being held.

It was a very hot day and the reception was held in the open air.

Following the reception we all (about 120) went to the function room which was above the restaurant. 

We were seated at round tables of 10, and all those on our table were friends we had known for over 30 years. Unfortunately one couple couldn’t make it because of illness so the table was only set for 8.

We were having our starter, when the head waiter came over and asked my wife Diane if she minded if they put someone next her as we had room on our table. Obviously Diane said to was ok.

We were then joined by, to me, a young woman in her early 40’s named Lisa. She explained to Diane that she lived in Brighton, and that a friend of hers, who was a friend of the bridegroom, had been invited with her son. The son couldn’t make it, and she had asked Lisa to go with her so that she wouldn’t have to travel on her own. It so happened that the son was supposed to sit on the children’s table and that’s why Lisa ended up next to Diane.

My wife, always on the look out to matchmake, although our 3 sons are all married, asked Lisa about herself. She said that she was a widow with 2 teenage daughters and found it very hard to meet Jewish men in Brighton. She stayed in Brighton only because her parents lived there.

Hearing part of the conversation, a sudden thought passed my mind. I leaned across and asked Lisa what her surname was. The answer she gave meant nothing to me. I then asked what her maiden name was. The answer was Feinson, and I replied that her dad Paul was my first cousin and that Paul’s dad and my mum were brother and sister. Lisa immediately phoned her dad, who I hadn’t seen for a few years.

I  know it’s a long story, but the amazing think is that she could have been put on any table and anywhere on our table.

Jewish Genealogy round the World Part 4 - More from Poland/Russia

Lodz Cemetery

http://www.jewishlodzcemetery.org/

Cemertery Street, Bracka in Lodz was founded in 1892 . It is estimated that in it are  buried about 160 000 people. Here also are buried the victims of one of the most tragic events in human history - the Holocaust. On the part of the cemetery called " Ghetto Field "are buried about 43 000 victims of the Lodz ghetto who died from hunger and exhaustion.

Jewish Web Index

http://jewishwebindex.com/poland.htm

This is an Index, a Directory of Jewish Genealogical Resources and Links

The Chronicle of Bialystok  (Białystok, Poland)

http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/bialystok/bialystok.html

The history of the Jews in Bialystok until the period after the First World War,

The Polish Genealogy Project

http://polishgeno.com/?page_id=2

Ancestry the Polish Connection

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~atpc/index-atpc.html

All the research I have done has not helped me in any way to trace my family before they came to England. The only document I have is my maternal grandmother's aliens book which gives details of her Russian passport.

Jewish Genealogy round the World Part 3 Poland/Russia

Following Diane’s emergency operation, things are gradually getting back to normal.

I think the time has come to spend some time researching my family and Diane’s Dad’s family who all appear to have originated from “The Pale” or “White Russia” whatever name you prefer and which is now in Poland.

Over the years we have looked at numerous websites but have not so far been able to trace any of our family beyond the time they arrived in England. Some of these websites are listed below.

 

The History of Jews in Russia

http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/index.html

This portrays the history of Jews in Europe and in Russia to help understand their life, religion and culture.

The Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies

http://www.polishjewishstudies.pl/index.html

This is a non-profit, educational institution devoted to the history and culture of Polish Jewry. It is an associated institute of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies.

Jewish Records Indexing - Poland

http://www.jri-poland.org/

The award winning searchable database of indices to Jewish records of Poland.
Launched in early 1995, JRI - Poland is the largest fully searchable database of Jewish vital records accessible online. 4 million records from more than 500 Polish towns are now indexed. More are being added every few months

Lodz Area Research Group (LARG)

http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Lodz/LARG.htm

The Group aims to provide researchers with a forum, clearinghouse and resource for the collection and dissemination of genealogical and historical information relating to the Jewish communities of Lodz, Poland, and the surrounding area. This research group is dedicated to the rescue and preservation of materials relating to the Jewish communities of the Lodz area and as a living memorial to our ancestors' impact on, and contribution to Poland's second largest city

Health and Living

Nothing to do with Genealogy but all about health and living. I thought that I would write about our experiences this week.

Diane has been a bit down the last couple of weeks with a chesty cough, but was determined to keep going, because we were invited to a big Jewish charity fundraiser on Wednesday 2^nd March where the main speaker was the Prime Minister, David Cameron.

We had a great evening but the following morning I dragged Diane to the Doctor. She was told that she had a virus and probably a chest infection and was put on a course of antibiotics.

The coughing continued despite a myriad of over the counter remedies and in the early hours of Monday morning Diane had a violent coughing fit, which affected her stomach badly and she was doubled up in pain. I phoned the emergency doctor who called an ambulance and at 6am Monday morning we arrived at Barnet General Hospital A & E department.

The doctors diagnosed that she had an irreducible mass in the abdomen and decided that she needed an emergency paraumbilical hernia repair. At 11.15am she was taken to the operating theatre. The surgeons then noted that she had low potassium and refused to operate. She was taken back to the ward and put on a potassium drip.

At 6.40pm she was taken back to the operating theatre, the repair was carried out and by 9.30pm was back on the ward. On Wednesday 9^th March she was discharged from hospital. The District Nurse has twice been to change the dressing and said that it will take a couple of weeks to get back to normal (whatever normal is) since her body had suffered a trauma. However, on Saturday, she had a high temperature and I called the emergency doctor. He diagnosed an infection that must have been picked up in hospital. But said that the antibiotics given by the hospital would clear it up.

Diane realised that I had suffered a trauma as well, what with hanging around the hospital for 3 days and insisted that I go home and watch my beloved Arsenal on Tuesday night even if they did lose to Barcelona in the Champions League and then again on Saturday evening when they lost to Manchester United in the F A Cup. That was even more trauma for me.

I suppose that we never know what is round the corner and must live life whilst we can.

Jewish Genealogy round the World - Part 1

Whilst researching our family history we have joined three Yahoo Groups, which have helped us to link up with Cousins around the World.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/casamendoza/

This is a place for members and descendents of the Sephardi Jewish Mendoza family to share information on their history and genealogy.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/harthunters_group/

Researchers interested in the surname Hart. The aim of the group is to try and connect early Hart families settled in England probably before 1851 and any one else researching the name HART. The Hart families would be Jewish or originally Jewish.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dutchSIG/

"dutchSIG" ~ is the international home for discussions on genealogy and the special interest group on family history for all those around the world with a Dutch Jewish ancestry.

Jewish Genealogical Resources in England (K to Z)

Moving Here

 

http://www.movinghere.org.uk/galleries/roots/jewish/jewish.htm

Many people mistakenly believe that they cannot trace their Jewish heritage because records do not exist. They are unaware of what is available, where and how to find it, and of issues such as surname changes, patterns of migration and changes in country borders.

Port Cities

 

http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.134/chapte

For many thousands of Jewish immigrants fleeing Russian oppression, the port of London was the point of entry into Britain. For thousands of transmigrants, London was a stopping-off point before moving on to other countries.

Southampton University

 

http://www.archives.soton.ac.uk/jewish/

The Survey of Jewish archives in the UK and Ireland

Synagogue Scribes

http://synagoguescribes.com/

Your one-stop gateway to Anglo-Jewish community records:  Synagogue Scribes offers a unique and fully searchable database of  London Ashkenazi Synagogue records, with the emphasis on pre UK civil registration, which began on 1st July 1837.

United Synagogue

 

http://www.theus.org.uk/support_services/find_your_family/marriage_records/

Marriage Authorisation Certificate Records

Things to do in London Part 2

Further to my previous posting here are some further places of  Jewish interest to visit whilst in London which are open all year round.

The Imperial War Museum

http://london.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.1454

The Holocaust Exhibition uses historical material to tell the story of the Nazis' persecution of the Jews and other groups before and during the Second World War

The Imperial War Museum Lambeth Road
London SE1 6HZ

Jewish Museum London

 http://www.jewishmuseum.org.uk/ 

The Jewish Museum London is a landmark museum that celebrates Jewish life and cultural diversity. The exhibitions, education programmes and activities encourage a sense of discovery and creativity and tell the story of Jewish history, culture and religion in an innovative and compelling way and engage with people of all backgrounds and faiths to explore Jewish heritage and identity as part of the wider story of Britain.

Jewish Museum London, Raymond Burton House
129-131 Albert Street, London NW1 7NB

The London Jewish Cultural Centre

http://www.ljcc.org.uk/

The London Jewish Cultural Centre offers the widest range of Jewish learning opportunities  and Jewish cultural events in the UK - Jewish education and entertainment for the whole community.

If you have time to visit Nottingham then you should go to:

The Holocaust Centre

http://holocaustcentre.net/

The Holocaust Centre provides a range of facilities for people of all backgrounds to explore the history and implications of the Holocaust. These include the Holocaust Exhibition and Memorial Museum, The Journey Exhibition, Memorial Gardens, Bookshop and Coffeeshop. There are also seminar and research facilities for students, teachers, scholars, professionals and many others.

The Holocaust Centre, Laxton, Notts,  NG22 0PA

Jewish Genealogical Resources in England (D to J)

Couldn't think of any from D to I but here goes with J

JCR-UK (Jewish Communities and Records - United Kingdom)

http://www.jewishgen.org/JCR-UK/

This website contains some 5,000 pages including details of more than 1,200 congregations and includes current communities and those that no longer exist.

A joint project between the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain and JewishGen

JEWISH EAST END CELEBRATION SOCIETY

http://www.jeecs.org.uk/index.html

Their aim is to raise awareness of the history and culture of London's Jewish East End, to preserve what remains and record what has now gone.

JEWISH EAST END OF LONDON PHOTO GALLERY

http://www.jewisheastend.com/london.html

London's East End Synagogues, cemeteries and more. 

JEWISH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN

http://www.jgsgb.org.uk/

The JGSGB promotes and encourages the study of Jewish genealogy. It assists all those tracing the family history of their Jewish ancestors. It encourages Jewish genealogical education and research and promote the indexing, transcription and preservation of old records.

Jewish Genealogical Resources in England (A to C)

British Jewry

http://www.british-jewry.org.uk/

You'll find many basic questions on researching British-Jewry here.
You will also find a positive treasure trove of databases, links and other information.
 

Cassini Maps

http://www.cassinimaps.co.uk/shop/tna1.asp

The National Archive Registration District Historical Maps. Find any location in England and Wales. Maps from 1805 to the present day  Create personalised site centred maps See how the landscape has changed over time

Cassini Publishing, in partnership with The National Archives, has made available on-line digital versions of the original Registration District maps from the 1871 census. This set of maps is the only known collection of this type in the world.

Corporation of London

https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_archives/london_generations.htm

London Generations is a database compiled from genealogical sources held at London Metropolitan Archives. It can, for example, tell you which parish registers are held for Saint James Clerkenwell, which workhouse registers are held for the Kensington area and how many admission and discharge registers are held for Shelburne Road School. The registers date from the sixteenth century to the present day, so you could find registers which mention several of your own London Generations.

Charles Booth Online Archive

http://library-2.lse.ac.uk/archives/pdf/Jewish_notebooks.htmlhttp://library-2.lse.ac.uk/archives/pdf/Jewish_notebooks.html

Four notebooks from the Charles Booth collection relating to the Jewish community in London in the 1880s and 1890s have been digitised and are available online.

This is only part of the archives held on his survey into life and labour in London (1886-1903) which can be found at  http://booth.lse.ac.uk/

These sites are useful for anyone researching English ancestors.

Things to do in London

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB) has alerted members to the following:

For those visiting London in March or April this year, there are two exhibitions worth visiting.

Firstly, in partnership with the Museum of London Docklands, JEECS (the Jewish East End Celebration Society) is organising an exhibition "London Under Siege: Churchill and the Anarchists, 1911."
This exhibition is now open and marks the centenary of the Houndsditch murders and consequent Siege of Sidney Street, an iconic East End event that had a big impact on the Jewish community.

The exhibition runs at the Museum until the end of April and entry is free.

The Docklands museum is at West India Quay, Canary Wharf, London, E14 4AL
and is served by many bus routes and the Jubilee tube line. 

Secondly, The Old Jewish East End: Journey through a Vanished Shtetlis an exhibition being held at the Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archive (Bancroft Road) and curated by the Jewish East End Celebration Society.
Running from March 1st until April 16th, the previously unseen collection of photographs and rare archives illustrates the experiences of Jews in Tower Hamlets over one hundred years ago."

The Bancroft library can be found at 277 Bancroft Road, London E1 4DQ
Tel:020 7364 1290

The Only Jewish Military Cemetery in the World other than Israel

Here is an interesting story from the American Civil War sent to the Chairman of the JGSG by a member.

 
America's Only Jewish Military Cemetery

Courtesy of the Hebrew Cemetery Company of Richmond.

Every once in a while I come across a story that just knocks me out. Of course I knew that Jews fought for the South, but I never knew that the Jewish dead were segregated, excluded from burial with proper honors in Confederate military cemeteries.  Talk about irony.  But in a way, I suppose this anti-Semitism was a blessing in disguise for
Jews should be buried in Jewish cemeteries.
The Hebrew Confederate Cemetery, located in Richmond, Virginia, is the only Jewish military cemetery in the world outside of Israel. It was created by the anti-Semitism of the two Confederate military cemeteries, in Spotsylvania Court House and  Fredericksburg. They refused to bury the Jewish Confederate soldiers killed in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Wilderness. They didn’t want ”Jewish boys” in their cemeteries.  They brought them to the Hebrew Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. They were buried in five rows, with six bodies in a row, in a self -contained hallowed area within the larger Hebrew Cemetery. Those buried came from  Mississippi, Texas , North Carolina , South Carolina , Georgia and Louisiana .

Many of the local Jewish Confederate soldiers killed are not in this military cemetery as they were buried in their family plots at the Hebrew Cemetery. One of these soldiers was Isaac Levy of Richmond, Virginia.  He was 21 years old when he was killed in the trenches near Petersburg on August 21, 1864. He was an orthodox Jew, who wrote his sister that he and other Jewish Confederate soldiers managed to have a
Passover Seder with Kosher food.  T.N. Waul, who commanded a Confederate Legion said, “Jewish soldiers were brave, orderly, well disciplined and in no respect inferior to the gallant body in which they formed a prominent part. Their behaviour in the field was exemplary and no Jew was ever before a court-martial. I never heard of any Jewish soldier shirking or failing to answer any call of duty and danger.”
 
Courtesy of the Hebrew Cemetery Company of Richmond .
The Hebrew Confederate Cemetery Plaque reads:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF THE HEBREW  CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS RESTING IN THIS HALLOWED SPOT ERECTED BY HEBREW LADIES MEMORIAL ASSOC. RICHMOND, VA. ORGANIZED 1866.
LIST OF BURIALS
M. Levy , Mississippi , killed May 31, 1862.
J. Rosenberg , Ga.
Henry Adler, 46th Va.
E.J. Sampson, 4th Texas , killed June 27th, 1862.
G. Wolfe , N.C.
I. Hessberg, Caroline co.
Unknown soldier
Henry Gersberg, Salem , Va. , killed June 2, 1864.
T. Foltz, 16th Miss.
I. Cohen, Hampton (S.C.) Legion.
Sam Bear, Ga.
S. Bachrach, Lynchburg , Va.
Jonathan Sheuer, La.
J. Frank , Ga.
Henry Cohen, SC. killed June 29, 1864.
Capt. Jacob A. Cohen, Co. A, 10th La., killed at 2nd Manassas, August
30, 1862, age, 33 years.
M. Aaron , N.C.
A. Lehman , S.C.
Julius Zark, 7th Louisiana .
A. Heyman , Georgia .
Lieut. W.M. Wolf, Hagood's S.C. Brigade, died May 9, 1864.
Lieut. L.S. Lipman, 5th Louisiana , died May 9, 1863.
Erected by his brothers to the memory of Isaac Seldner, of the 6th
Virg. Inf. Reg., born December 23, 1837, killed at the battle of
Chancellorsville , Va. , May 3rd, 1863. None knew him but to love him.
S. Weiss , Ga.
H. Jacobs, S.C.
E.B. Miller, died April 6, 1864.
Corpl. G. Eiseman, 12th Miss.
M. Bachrach, Lynchburg , Va.
S. Oury, 16th Miss. ; died June 10, 1861.
A. Robinson, 15th Ga. , died Jan. 26, 1863.

Richmond area Jewish Confederate soldiers, who were killed in battle,
were buried in their family plots elsewhere in this cemetery. They are
Gustavus Kann, 16th Mississippi; Henry Smith, Richmond, Otey Battery;
Marx Myers, Richmond Grays; Isaac J. Levy, Richmond Blues and Captain
M. Marcus, 15th Georgia, killed October 13, 1864.
Baruch Dayan Emet, Blessed is the True Judge

Jewish Genealogical Resources in England

I note from many American blogs that mention is made of the fact that many Jewish families in America originated from England.

We have in England a wealth of information for Jewish genealogists. Jews were expelled from England in 1290 and were eventually readmitted in 1656 by Oliver Cromwell following the Civil War in 1649. Yes, we had a civil war long before the American Civil War.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB) has a wealth of information on British Jewry and many Americans are members. The JGSGB promotes and encourages the study of Jewish genealogy. It assists all those tracing the family history of their Jewish ancestors. It encourages Jewish genealogical education and research and promote the indexing, transcription and preservation of old records.

There are numerous other resources which I will try a list over the coming weeks.

The JGSGB is constantly advising members of new resources:

Deceased Online http://www.deceasedonline.com/  is the first central database of statutory burial and cremation registers for the UK and Republic of Ireland.  It is a unique resource for family history researchers and professional genealogists.

When families chose not to have a religious burial for their loved one, they often used a municipal site.  This paid for website may be useful in searching for members of your family Until the creation of this website, to search these records you had to approach about 3,000 burial authorities and nearly 250 crematoria in the UK alone, each independently holding their own registers, mostly as old fragile books, because no official central repository exists.

Deceased Online is working to change this by making it possible for burial and cremation authorities around the country to convert their register records, maps and photographs into digital form and bring them together into a central searchable collection.

The growing database, holding records mainly from the 1850s onwards, can provide invaluable information for researching family trees, and can reveal previously  unknown family links from other interments recorded in the same grave.

Only this week it was announced that the records of 800,000 people buried in the UK's largest cemetery at London's St Pancras and Islington Cemetery have gone online thanks to the completion of a major digitisation project.

Records can be searched for free by surname and other names, with images of all the original documents available to download on a pay-per-view basis.  The new additions bring the total number of London records on the site up to more than a million.