Sacramento: Southern Africa Jewish genealogy, Oct. 18

South Africa's Jewish history is the program for the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento, California, on Sunday October 18.

San Francisco Bay area resident Roy Ogus was born in South Africa and is vice president of JewishGen's Southern African Jewish Genealogical SIG (special interest group).

The meeting begins at 10am at the Albert Einstein Residence Center, 1935 Wright St., Sacramento.

The South African Jewish community is large. While we may not know it, many of us may have South African connections through ancestors who emigrated there.

Tracing the Tribe has located distant cousins there, and also confirmed that some relatives who came to the US kept up communication with their South African family.

From 1881 through the 1930s - the major emigration wave from Eastern Europe - many Jews, especially those from Lithuania, left for South Africa's economic opportunity and freedom. And many South African Jews again emigrated from South Africa during more recent political unrest.

Roy’s program will summarize key sources of documentation and genealogical information of genealogical value in South Africa, and how these materials can be accessed and researched. He will also provide an overview of South African history as a backdrop for discussion of Jewish migration to the remote area.

For more information, about the JGS of Sacramento, click here.