Miami: "Didn't know I was Polish," Oct. 18

Harry Stuart's family history covers Galicia, the US, Australia, Austria, Poland, New York, Toronto, Philadelphia, and Florida. His family tree goes back to the mid-1700s.

He'll detail his story at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Miami, on Sunday, October 18. It all begins at 10am.

We know it's late notice, but the group was working hard to get this presentation organized.

Stuart's program is titled "Two Paths to Florida: I didn't realize I was Polish."

A consultant now living in Boynton Beach, he and his wife moved from Toronto and Philadelphia few years ago. He will relate the story of his and his second cousin's origins, how they met and how they both ended up in Florida.

Harry grew up in Australia, the son of refugees from Vienna and most of his family survived the Holocaust. His cousin, Max Pelton, grew up in the Krakow ghetto and his amazing journey sent him to New York and then to Florida. Harry discovered that his roots were really in Galicia on both sides of his parents.

The internet played the matchmaker in the cousins finding each other and then spending a year together before Max's untimely death. Harry will describe the methods and the sources used to create his elaborate family tree which dates back to the mid-1700s - starting with a few names his father gave him in 1980.

For more information, see the JGS of Greater Miami's website.