Errors: Not only on historical records

Family history researchers tend to think that only old historical records demonstrate errors in dates.

Our recent move to New Mexico showed that quite contemporary records also reflect errors.

What do you do first when you move to a new place in the US? Driving licenses need to be changed, so the Department of Motor Vehicles is usually a first stop. Each state has its own policies of what documents are required for this process.

Off we went and were told we needed various forms of ID to prove age and residency. Residency wasn't a problem (car insurance, utility bills, etc. took care of that). Proof of age didn't seem a problem; there were passports, other licenses, and other docs. However, one requirement was an original social security card.

I don't know about you, but I haven't seen mine in decades. I know the number, of course, but no one has asked to see the physical card for a very long time. Same for my husband.

OK, not a problem - or so we thought. We drove up to the just-opened Social Security office in our area, and waited to speak to a very nice woman to obtain a duplicate card.

My husband, a naturalized citizen for more than three decades, was told that his social security number was off by a day - not a month, not a year, just one day - in comparison to the rest of his documents. Although his US passport - and subsequent documents - was based his citizenship and naturalization documents, in turn based on official translations, the SSA couldn't do anything about it.

However, they suggested we go down to the USCIS office to see how they could help, which we did. A very helpful woman there provided his A and Certificate numbers and advised us to go back to the SSA office so they could look at the same database she was looking at. She couldn't change the birth date but confirmed that his passport birth date was the correct one and the SSA date was off.

Off we went again to the SSA office, where another very nice man asked for my husband's birth certificate, which we produced - in Farsi (his shenasnameh, as he was born in Iran). "Wow!," said the guy. "I haven't seen one of those before!" But you need to get it translated, he added. Of course, they couldn't accept my husband's translation of his own document.

The next step involved a bit of calling around to find someone in the local Persian community who could provide a translation. That was accomplished and the translation is ready. We'll pick it up Friday morning and go back to the SSA on Monday morning. If that's in order, my husband will receive his new duplicate SSA card in about a week, and can then go to the DMV for his new license.

The adage of checking documents against multiple sources holds. The wrong date on one document, even though every other document shows the correct date, can really hold things up.

We must say, however, that every official with whom we came into contact was very friendly, very helpful, and it was a pleasant - albeit slightly frustrating - experience.

The good news is that we discovered a great Chinese restaurant near the SSA office. We've eaten there on each of our SSA visits, so look forward to another visit on Monday.

Meanwhile, I'm the designated taxi driver!

France: What's in a Jewish name?

Anne Morddel writes the French Genealogy Blog. She covers French Jewish genealogy in this post, "French Jewish Genealogy - Pick a Name - Le Décret de Bayonne."

The Revolution brought full citizenship to Jewish French on the 27th of September, 1791. Napoleon did not retract it (as he retracted the abolition of slavery) but he did issue an edict that has proved invaluable for genealogists (given above in the Bulletin des lois). With the Décret de Bayonne, issued on the 20th of July, 1808, he ordered that all Jewish people in France or immigrating permanently to France who did not have a fixed and hereditary surname be required to choose one.

These registres d'options de noms 1808 became a de facto census of the Jewish people of France (to be followed in some places by a real census a year later). The numbers are interesting. According to a list in the Archives nationales (code F19 11010) there were 46,054 Jewish people in France who chose permanent names. The majority were in the departments of  Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin (with some very legible examples for the city of Mulhouse), and Moselle. In each, the head of a family, usually the husband and father, gives for each family member his or her name, date and place of birth, and the surname and forenames chosen. The registrations have the appearance and structure of any other acte d'état civil in 1808. ...

To read the complete post - and to see the original decree (in French) - click here.

Thank you, Anne.

Alien resident A-Files released for public access

According to a National Archives press release, more than 300,000 case files on US alien residents are now open to the public at the National Archives branch in Kansas City, Missouri.

While you can search for your names of interest online, you may only see the files in person or order copies. Click here to search for names in the Archival Research Catalog. Not all the hits returned are for A-Files, some are for armed forces service and other documents.

I found A-Files for TOLLIN, BANK, FINK and others of interest. The first screen after a search lists the names. Click on a name of interest and learn more about the file in general terms. Click on the "Scope & Content" tab for an A-File and learn the individual's birthdate and country of origin. For David Tollin: "This file consists of an alien case file for David Tollin. Date of birth is listed as 07/20/1898. Country is listed as Russia."

The press release indicated that these files are for those born prior to - and including - 1909.

Known as A-Files, they were transferred to the Archives from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). They are only a small portion of millions of files that will eventually be transferred and opened to public access.

“The A-files are a key to unlocking the fascinating stories of millions of people who traveled to the United States in search of opportunity, including my own grandfather” said Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero. “They include information such as photographs, personal correspondence, birth certificates, health records, interview transcripts, visas, applications and other information on all non-naturalized alien residents, both legal and illegal. The snapshot of American life that develops from each file can, in some cases, serve as a one-stop-shopping for researchers.”

The INS - predecessor to the USCIS - began issuing Alien Registration numbers in 1940, and began creating A-files in 1944. According to the agency, the files document the famous, the infamous, the anonymous and the well-known, and are an historical and genealogical goldmine. They hold numerous relatively modern documents in one file for a rich source of biographical information.

The files are subject to the 100-year rule, meaning they can can be transferred to the NA after 100 years from the birth date of a file's subject.

The Kansas City branch will hold all A-Files except from San Francisco, Honolulu, Reno, and Guam, which will be held at the San Francisco branch. Those files are being prepared for transfer.

Unfortunately, they are not online. They may be viewed in person by appointment at Kansas City or copies of files may be ordered for a fee. Click here to learn more about requesting A-Files.

Planning a trip to KC? The branch is open Tuesday-Saturday, 8am-4pm for research.

Read the complete press release at the first link above.

Kids: Disney Channel, genealogy and a song!

Genealogists are always wondering how to get kids involved in family history.

Looks like the Disney Channel will be helping out with our perennial quest with its new show - "My Family Tree" - set to air in November, which spotlights kids with interesting family histories, visiting relevant locations and speaking about their ancestors.

The Disney Fan Magazine offered a glimpse of the new series:

Genealogy and geography are set to come together in a new Disney Channel series to premiere in November. “My Family Tree” will showcase kids from around the country engagingly reporting on their interesting ancestors and roots.

Camera crews were in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with the Gerry family (Florida residents) who trace back to Elbridge Gerry, signer of the Declaration of Independence, Massachusetts governor (1810-1812) and the fifth US vice president (1813-1814).

He was born in Marblehead in 1744 and worked in the shipping business with his father and brothers. Heard the term "gerrymandering"? It was named after Elbridge and refers to redistricting to favor the party in power during elections.
The episode's star is his descendant, Noah Gerry, 12, who reports on various town locations for the show.

A quote from Disney spokesperson Patti McTeague stated that the children featured in the series all “have self-esteem and a gift of storytelling.”

The Marblehead Patch carried a more detailed story on the places filmed.

Among them were the Gerry School, Gerry Playground and the Gerry 5 VFA. They started the day near the Marblehead Lobster Company, with Gerry Island just offshore.

Noah also visited Elbridge Gerry's historic home on Washington Street, which stopped traffic and attracted many curious onlookers. Noah spoke into the camera, "This is our last stop. Elbridge Gerry was born in this house."

This week was Noah's first visit to Marblehead and it's not exactly what he expected.

"Actually, it's way more modern than I imagined," he said. "I had always pictured it with horses and wagons."

The Gerry family said they were surprised, and thrilled, to realize their family name is such a big part of Marblehead.

Noah's mother, Dr. Charlotte Gerry says the family has always known of their connection to Gerry, but "we'll go home now with a better sense of our heritage ... and with even more pride."

Noah caught the acting bug during a Disney show audition in Florida. He's appeared in several commercials and a sitcom pilot, and his sisters have starred in national commercials.

This isn't the first time Disney has ventured into family history. See four press releases here from back in 2000, when "The Tigger Movie" was released.

There's also a great song - "Round My Family Tree" - but I couldn't find the English lyrics on YouTube, so here's the animation with Finnish soundtrack. Still good for the linguistically-challenged. Should we be singing it at genealogy conferences?

Tracing the Tribe says to watch out for merchandise tie-ins, and suggests the following:

-- dolls that "speak" their ancestors' names

-- kid's sized toolboxes: mini microfilm readers, rolls of film, sets of "old" photos.

-- Fanny (or Freddy) the Family Tree - a stuffed warm and fuzzy tree toy

-- Sets of family tree equipment: "Let's Play Genealogy!"

-- Family group charts and pedigree sheets, with bright stickers and more.

There's a world of opportunities out there!

UK: Manchester archive in temporary space

A major Jewish archive in a British city has been temporarily moved as its permanent home is under a three-year renovation closure.

The Jewish Chronicle story adds that the material was in Manchester's Central Library which will be closed for the project. The Manchester City Council averted a serious problem for Jewish studies students and researchers.

Archives documenting the history of Manchester's Jewish community have been moved from the library as part of a four-month transfer of one million books, cleared from over 20 miles of shelves. The process, completed last Friday, included the moving of 300 metres of shelves of Jewish documents, which contain burial records dating back to 1798, and records from four Jewish schools and the Great Synagogue dating from the 1850s.

To maintain open access for academics and to Jewish genealogists, the archive will be housed temporarily in the Greater Manchester County Record Office.

When at the Central Library, material requests were filled in 30 minutes. In the temporary location, requests may take two days or two weeks, in some cases.

The website of Manchester Council has a special section on Jewish records, with a 35-page Jewish archival catalogue for download.

According to the Central Library's archivist, Kevin Bolton:

"We made an effort not to send the Jewish archive collections off-site. This is because they are some of the most important collections we hold and they are well used. Both the Jewish Museum and Bill Williams (the major historian of Manchester Jewry) were kept informed of our decisions."

The cooperation of the Manchester City Council - in providing continued access for researchers and Jewish genealogists to these important materials - is to be commended.

Virginia: George Allen to discuss Jewish heritage

Tracing the Tribe's readers may remember former Senator George Allen's refusal to admit his Jewish background during his failed 2006 election campaign in Virginia.

Sephardic researchers immediately recognized his grandfather's surname - LUMBROSO - as Jewish.

On Thursday, August 19, he'll speak publicly for the first time about his mother's and grandfather's heritage, as he delivers the keynote address to some 600 attendees at The National Jewish Retreat in Reston, Virginia.

According to the San Francisco Examiner story:

Allen's Jewish grandfather, Felix Lumbroso, was a resistance fighter in French Tunisia whom the Nazis imprisoned during World War II. Allen's middle name, Felix, honors his grandfather.

Allen's father, the late George H. Allen was a Hall of Famer coach of the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins. Allen's brother is now general manager of the Redskins. Allen and his siblings were raised as Christians.

During 2006, he told a questioner that his mother was French-Italian with a little Spanish blood. He's admitted errors since then and said that after his defeat he had learned about his mother's ancestry.

It had never occurred to him that his grandfather Lumbroso was Jewish, although he noted his concentration camp internment.

In 2006, his mother Henriette "Etty" Lumbroso said she kept her ancestry secret from her children as she was afraid they would be persecuted. She told her son in August 2006, before the debate, and swore him to secrecy, even from his siblings, wife and children.

Read more here.

France: What's in a [real] name?

Following World War II, Jewish immigrants to France were encouraged to change their names. Today, they want to reclaim their original surnames.

A Los Angeles Times story detailed this interesting occurrence.

In the post-war French Civil Code, a section indicates that surnames are "immutable" and must be continued. It allows foreign-sounding names to be changed to those more "French-like," but also states it is impossible to revert [to the original].

Following the war, during the 1940s-50s, many Jews - among them many Holocaust refugees - arrived in France. Most were poor and stateless and also feared anti-Semitism in that country which had sent so many to concentration camps.

According to the story,

There was no legal obligation for them to drop their family names, but they often were encouraged to do so. Many people agreed to new French-sounding names even when the new names bore little relation to the ones they had passed down through generations: So the Rozenkopfs became the Rosents; the Frankensteins the Franiers; the Wolkowiczs the Volcots.And Benjamin Fajnzylber became Benjamin Fazel.

On the face of it, it isn't much different than what happened in America and England, as immigrants anglicized their names to make them easier to say and to spell, to better "fit in" to their new home.

The one difference is that the immigrants to France were encouraged - if not officially required -to change their names. After what many refugees had been through, it wasn't something they wanted to fight.

The story focuses on Jeremie Fazel - a descendant of Benjamin Fajnzylber of Poland - and Celine Masson - whose original name is Hassan of Tunisia.

Says Fazel:

"It doesn't feel right," he said. "It says nothing about my family or our history."

Says Masson:

"I was born a Masson, but the name means nothing," she said. "It carries no history, it says nothing about my family, my roots, where we came from."

Masson has set up an organization called La Force du Nom (The Strength of the Name) with French lawyer Nathalie Felzenszwalbe — whose family retained its name — representing more than 30 French Jews who want to change their names to reflect family origins.

Last month the organization submitted its first requests for reversions of names to the State Council, which has said it will deal with them one by one.

Athough only about 30 families have requested the name reversion, change is in the air.

"Everyone needs to know where they come from. A family's name is part of the compass in life," Fazel said.

Read the complete story at the link above.

NARA: Declassification Center blog launched

The new National Declassification Center Blog, just launched, is titled "Releasing All We Can, Protecting What We Must."

The National Declassification Center (NDC) mission is to align people, processes and technologies to advance declassification and public release of historically valuable permanent records while maintaining national security.

The NDC blog is seeking public input on a prioritization plan; view a copy of the plan.

The blog discussion will lead to an open public forum, moderated by Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero at NARA on Wednesday, June 23. It's free to attend but advance registration is required.

If you can't be there in person, post comments on the NDC blog (link above), or send via e-mail.

New York: Naturalization documents, June 13

Ever wondered about the naturalization process and about the relevant documents?

The next meeting of the JGS of New York will focus on just this topic with speaker Phyllis Kramer, on Sunday, June 13.

The program begins at 2pm at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th St., New York City.

Naturalization is a voluntary process which enables an alien to become an American citizen. Documents after 1906 reveal birthplace, birth dates, immigration and family. After 1924, photos were required.

The program will cover the history of naturalization in the US, the four documents produced, derivative citizenship for women and children, the myriad of federal, state and county courts involved, and how to find the documents.

The session will outline a research plan starting with clues from the census, clues from manifests, the court system, explain what's online, what's in archives and share experiences with the governmental agencies involved.

A practicing genealogist, her primary interest is Eastern European Jewish research.

She holds an MBA (Fordham University) and a BS (Cornell). She retired from IBM as a business consultant designing and implementing client document imaging systems.

For more information, visit the JGSNY website.

NARA: Secret agent man!

Did you know that the US National Archives has a specialist Archival Recovery Team staffed by special agents and an investigative archivist?

This Wall Street Journal story centered on the special team's activities to find lost documents. You can read the official press release here, with a quote from Archivist of the US David S. Ferriero:

"Thousands of researchers each year have access to our nation’s priceless documentary heritage, using original records at National Archives facilities across the nation. This allows American citizens to see for themselves the workings of the Federal government and the accountability of Federal officials. These priceless records must be protected and preserved.”

Remember the film "National Treasure"? Kind of like that without the cameras and the popcorn. The official team tracks down lost or stolen items. Their new weapon is a Facebook page.

The top entry on the page:

Each month the US National Archives Archival Recovery Team will feature an item (or related group of items) that we need your help to locate. Be sure to check back each month, as this album will be updated to reflect the range of missing items we are seeking to recover. This month’s featured National Treasures: Missing... Item-of-the-Month for May 2010 is the Wright Brother’s Flying Machine Patent, consisting of 35 documents, last seen at the US National Archives in 1979. Please take a look and notify the US National Archives Archival Recovery Team if you have any information regarding the patent file's whereabouts.

Over the years, items have disappeared including Whitney's cotton-gin patent drawing, the Wright brothers' "flying machine" application and more.

Other missing items include presidential Civil War correspondence, telegrams, and objects such as swords, daggers, portraits and presidential class rings. View images and descriptions of the missing items.

Read the WSJ article at the first link above, and visit the Recovery Team's Facebook page.

WPA: Historical Records Survey and genealogists

Do we, as family historians and genealogists, realize how the WPA's Historical Records Survey has helped us?

Leland Meitzler's Genealogy Blog provided an article by reference librarian Bryan L. Mulcahy of the Fort Myers-Lee County Library that detailed how one aspect of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) - the Historical Records Survey - created inventories and records of use to the entire genealogy community.

The WPA was the largest project created as a relief program during the aftermath of the Great Depression of 1929.

Workers visited archives, historical societies and libraries to compile manuscript collection inventories. They visited courthouses, town halls, offices in large cities and vital statistics offices to inventory records, and also transcribed some.

Among the databases created by the Survey were:

•Burial listing in cemeteries •Federal and state census indexes •Indexes to naturalization records
•Indexes to Newspapers
•Inventories of county courthouse records
•Descriptions of manuscripts found in various libraries
•Place-name guides
•Inventories of church records including years/content of church christening records, and names of those buried in church cemeteries

Most researchers have used many of these collections. Although the majority of materials survived, and are available to researchers, some records and indexes were deemed to be of no value and were destroyed.

Read the complete article at Leland's blog above.

Ancestry: SSDI now updated weekly

One of Ancestry.com's first databases, the Social Security Death Index will now be updated weekly.

The Social Security Death Index is known by its acronym SSDI. Names have been added to that database since 1996, more than 86 million of them, in fact.

The weekly updating means that this useful database will be much more current with recent deaths reported to the Social Security Administration.

What does the SSDI contain? It lists deaths reported to the SSA or the Railroad Retirement Board. Individuals who did not have social security cards are not included. Thus, not everyone you're searching for may be found.

Ancestry offers these search tips:

-- Search by the surname used by the individual at the time of death.

-- No hits? Try other surnames used at other times during that person's life.

-- Search by given name, death year, birth year - without a surname.

-- Try using initials as SSDI records do not always include a full given name.

-- Try searching with a middle name instead of the first name.

-- Try variant name forms, such as Sarah/Sally or Mary/Polly/Molly and other common forms or nicknames, such as Jacob/Jake, Isaac/Ike, Matthew/Matt, or James/John.

-- For dates, switch day and month (e.g. 5 February or 2 May, which can be written 5/2 or 2/5). Some records list the entire date of death, some only the month or year.

-- You can also search using the Social Security Number (SSN) alone, if you have it.

Ancestry has now made it easier to search using only the first few letters of the name and a wild card asterisk (*).

Researchers should remember that the location for death is not always where the person died or was buried, but is in fact the last place of residence known by the SSA for that person.

For example, the individual might have been on vacation or spending the winter in a warmer climate or have been anywhere in the world when they died, but the SSA would only be concerned with the official last place of residence.

Researchers need to find more evidence to determine the exact place of death.

With more records appearing weekly, check back often for family members of interest.

Florida: John Martino, ItalianGen, March 7

You don't have to be Italian to be in the Italian Genealogy Group's database!

John Martino, a founder of the Italian Genealogy Group (IGG), will speak on just that topic at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County (JGSPBC) on Sunday, March 7.

The JGSPBC's annual "Lunch and Learn" is set for 11.30-3pm, at the Crown Plaza Hotel, West Palm Beach.

Now IGG vice president and Special Project Coordinator, John has received an award from the Jewish Genealogical Society of New York (JSNY), and ItalianGen also received the Malcolm Stern Award from the IAJGS for its work in developing research databases.

Tracing the Tribe remembers the excellent talk John gave at the IAJGS annual conference (New York 2006), where his society received the Stern Award.

John will discuss how his 1,200 worldwide volunteers - of all ethnicities and religions - have created a variety of databases in New York and New Jersey, and how the same can be done in Boston, Detroit , Philadelphia Chicago and elsewhere.

He'll address the many naturalization records, and county, federal, and NYC vital records now in the IGG databases that have helped many genealogists in the US and around the world, how to use these databases and how they were created. The information contained includes data for Jewish genealogists not found elsewhere.

Tracing the Tribe has found many items of value for her New York-based families in IGG's resources.

IGG was organized in 1990 and John was one of its founders. He has visited Italy twice and has traced his family back to 1572. Since he retired in 2000, he hs devoted most of his time to organizing volunteers to create databases.

He first helped the JGSNY with Kings County naturalizations, followed by Suffolk, Nassau and Bronx counties. The federal records came next, including the Southern District Naturalization and now he's working on the Eastern District.

Brian Anderson, Department of Records and Information Services commissioner, asked John to computerize the Municipal Archives' vital records. John and the IGG team have computerized New York City's death records (1891-1929) and the Groom Index (1895-1936).

Fee: members, $25; others, $30. Free valet parking. Reservations required by February 27. See the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County website for information and reservations.

New York: Old Records Division treasures, Feb. 21

New York City's Division of Old Records holds many important genealogical records.

Joseph Van Nostrand, of the New York County Clerk's office, will demonstrate what researchers can find in division records at the next Jewish Genealogical Society of New York meeting on Sunday, February 21.

“Treasure Hunt at the Division of Old Records” begins at 2pm at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan. See the JGSNY website for address, directions and more information.

His talk will cover the use and interrelationship of various record series at the Division, for use in genealogy. It will include information in New York County naturalizations (1792-1924) with emphasis on records before and after 1895.

Additionally, the census records for 1855, 1870, 1905, 1915 and 1925 and the diverse data and access will be explored. He'll also address business records, civil court proceedings and more. Court proceedings cover divorces, guardianships, name changes, foreclosures and other tort actions.

Van Nostrand has been the supervising archivist at the Division of Old Records of the New York County Clerk for almost 30 years. He earned a BA (History) from Fordham University and an MA (American History) from NYU.

He's a trustee and officer for two non-profit corporations concerned with the preservation and use of historical records.

Since the inception of the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund by the New York State Archives, he has successfully written grants for over $1 million for the conservation treatment of colonial and early national court minute books, microfilming and scanning of court records, and the creation of database indexes to search pre-1911 court records by both plaintiff and defendant.

In recognition of his achievements, he was awarded the 2009 Bernard B. Botein Award for "outstanding contributions to the administration of the courts," by the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division.

The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at CJH will be open 12.30-1.45pm for networking.

For more information, visit the Jewish Genealogical Society of New York.

California: Imperial Russia Jewish geographies, Feb. 10

The Center for Jewish Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz will present a colloquium - "The Right to Remain: Jewish geographies in Imperial Russia" - on Wednesday, February 10.

The event begins at noon, in room 210 of Humanities 1.

Professor Nathaniel Deutsch (Literature, History and Jewish Studies) is the speaker.

Unlike others who became a part of the Russian Empire as a result of the partitions of Poland, Jews were not viewed as native to the newly colonized territories.

Many accepted their doubly alien status; however, there also emerged Jewish views that rejected the assumption that they were necessarily alien.

Professor Deutsch will discuss the significance of these views against the backdrop of internal Jewish politics and Russian policies.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, click here. See future events in the top bar - click the small red arrow at right or left to move back or forward.

Wanted: Tracing criminal records

Ron Arons was surprised to learn that his great-grandfather had done time in Sing Sing Prison.

Maybe there’s more to your own family history than you know! Search the Sing Sing Jewish Inmate Database for what might surprise you.

His first book, "The Jews of Sing Sing," was a resounding success, and his new book, "Wanted! US Criminal Records," should be just as successful.

The 380-page book covers 50 states and the District of Columbia, federal records (state by state), where to find prison records, parole, execution, a short primer on considerations for criminal research. Ron's years of experience have certainly contributed to this new field of genealogy.

While Ron says the price ($49.99) might shock some people, he believes that if he can save anyone even one hour in their search for information, the price is justified. "I think I can save people hours and hours of time," he added, during a phone call when we discussed the new book.

The book should be of interest to professional genealogists, libraries, social sciences, true crime, mystery writers - in short, anyone who wants to research criminals for many reasons.

"Wanted! U.S. Criminal Records Sources & Research Methodology" seems to be a one-step reference for information sources about criminals from America's past.

It lists archives, libraries, courts and online sites containing numerous sets of criminal information, such as prison records, criminal court records, parole records, pardon records, execution information and more. There are also examples of documents in repositories and how to conduct genealogical research on criminals.

The new book is for sale on his website. Go to STORE and scroll down to the book ($49.99, including $5 S&H, but not taxes).

Ron will also be speaking at various venues across the country, such as Jamboree 2010.

In March, he'll appear March 15 at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) in Boston and March 16 at the New York Public Library (NYPL). See his website for his current list of appearances.

Haiti: Israel/Jewish response to the disaster

For those who have been following the disaster in Haiti, here is a list of Jewish organizational relief efforts as well as an opinion piece by the editor of a Florida Jewish paper.

Here is the list of Jewish organizational relief efforts, as posted by Joel Magalnick, editor of Seattle's JTNews:

The 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12 that hit Haiti devastated its capital and has left tens of thousands of people dead, with many thousands more injured. Several Jewish organizations have opened up relief funds and some have sent teams to the country to assist in rescue and burial efforts.

The following links take you to donation pages to assist in those efforts:

American Friends of Magen David Adom:
http://bit.ly/6QwnJm
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee:
http://bit.ly/5889Iq
American Jewish World Service:
http://bit.ly/7oywcx
B’nai B’rith International:
http://bit.ly/5YJX2N
Chabad Lubavitch:
http://bit.ly/7MSiUj
MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger:
http://bit.ly/7OaNco
Orthodox Union:
http://bit.ly/8aVXIZ
Union for Reform Judaism:
http://bit.ly/6HxQQN
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism: http://bit.ly/6bFXms
ZAKA Jewish rescue organization, with personnel onsite:
http://bit.ly/4YEd9D

Lyn Payne is associate editor of the Heritage Florida Jewish News in Orlando. We've known each other through various connections for quite a few years. She prepared the following piece for her column in this Friday's edition and gave permission for Tracing the Tribe to reprint it:

Jewish hearts around the world open for Haiti
By Lyn Payne
Heritage Florida Jewish News

Thus said the Lord:
A cry is heard in Ramah—
Wailing, bitter weeping—
Rachel weeping for her children.
She refuses to be comforted
For her children, who are gone.
—Jeremiah 31:15

It was the footage of the woman kneeling in the dust, her voice one long contralto keen of agony, that personalized it for me. And the man praying that the voice the rescue team heard under the stones came from his wife. The fawn-eyed gaze of the two-year-old girl who emerged physically unhurt from the debris that covered her dead parents. And the baby boy, born with the help of Israeli doctor Shir Dar of Hadassah Hospital in the IDF field hospital on Port-au-Prince’s soccer field, whose mother named him “Israel.” [photo, right]

We’re into the second week after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that devastated Haiti’s people and crushed its feeble infrastructure.

Bodies lie scattered over streets, and people smear toothpaste under their nostrils to dull the stench of rotting flesh. International aid, from governments and organizations, has mobilized on a massive scale, but until this week, much of it languished in the capital’s airport, because the means of delivering it had collapsed. Only a few days ago, doctors begged for antibiotics to treat limbs infected with gangrene, as they pleaded with parents to allow their children to have their legs amputated to give them a chance to survive.

If such a thing as a shining light can even be said to exist in this hell on earth, Israel is a major part of the reason. On Jan. 18, CNN reported that the Israelis were running the only fully functioning field hospital; other countries’ teams were sending patients there, and the Israelis had treated hundreds. ZAKA search and rescue teams, whose members are observant Jews, worked through Shabbat to free victims from the wreckage, keeping the holiest commandment of saving lives.

A surreal news clip shows a group of Haitians thanking their rescuers with a chorus of “Heiveinu Shalom Aleichem.” Even the BBC, often criticized for anti-Zionist bias, reported the Israelis’ efforts.

The 220-person Israeli team set up their MASH unit as soon as they arrived, and plan to keep it in place for at least a few weeks. When a tiny, impoverished and brutalized country—one with no obvious historical or ethnic connection to their own—needed them, the Israelis, helped by the Jewish Diaspora’s alphabet soup of aid agencies, synagogues and individuals—flew thousands of miles to say, “Hineinu.” We are here.

Why?

Jews are certainly not alone in caring or in the ability to raise funds and deliver aid: The U.S. government, along with nations like Turkey, Mexico and China, and religious and secular groups of all persuasions, have raced to help. Yet the instant and unstinting—and highly effective—response of the worldwide Jewish community has me pondering the particular map of the Jewish heart, as it has historically opened to aid the afflicted of every race, nation and creed.

Judaism continually insists that helping those less fortunate is not simply a generous option, but rather a religious obligation. Contrast that with right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh’s belittling diatribe against the Obama administration for aiding Haiti, saying the President wanted only to gain favor with “the black community, with the light-skinned and the dark-skinned community” of African-Americans. Fortunately, Limbaugh’s is the position of only a tiny minority of unsophisticated and emotionally stunted Americans. His disgusting bigotry was disavowed by former President George W. Bush, and aid efforts have been embraced by people across the political landscape. But extreme as it is, Limbaugh’s rhetoric offers a clear opposite against which to better see the power of Jewish ethics. To this puerile, spiteful, hateful voice gleefully chortling, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” into the face of the universe, Judaism replies, Yes, you are.

As Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks describes in his book “To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility,” Judaism is alone among religions in proclaiming that human beings are given the power by God to become partners in perfecting the world. Sacks points out just how radical that concept is, and how it confers responsibility to act with justice and righteousness. It’s as if he were saying that Judaism is a continual dialogue between the reality of what exists now, and the possible futures, good and bad, which will only be brought about by our own actions—or lack of action.

“Each religious act we do has an effect on the ecology of creation,” Sacks writes in explaining the kabbalistic concept of tikkun olam. [repairing the world]

This holistic view is not only humane, although, dayenu, that would have been enough; it also fits the emerging reality of life in the 21st century—in a world Thomas Friedman calls “hot, flat and crowded,” where a political upheaval, climate change or natural disaster in one place increasingly and directly affects economics, infrastructure and lifestyles everywhere else. A butterfly’s wing moving in China can now truly be said to set off a revolution on the other side of the globe. To deny this reality is to join the likes of Rush Limbaugh, not only in bigotry, but in self-destructive ignorance.

In this ultra-connected world, it is not just our moral duty as Jews, but in our enlightened self-interest as human beings, to say, with the same passion as we view ourselves at Passover as having been personally redeemed from slavery in Egypt: I personally was pulled from the rubble in Haiti.

For more, read the JTA story by Jacob Berkman on additional efforts being made within the Jewish community.

USCIS: Learning more about our families

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services began providing a government genealogy service in 2008.

A Los Angeles Times article today - by Anna Gorman - detailed the USCIS program that Jewish genealogists have heard about at recent IAJGS conferences. Tracing the Tribe first heard about it from USCIS historian Marian Smith several years ago.

In 2009, some 5,300 requests were made, a lower number than expected, which may be due to the costs associated with fees for a name search and file copies. Family members, historians and researchers may request the information.

The records include naturalization files, visa applications and citizenship tests, and may reveal family secrets and mysteries, said Marian Smith, the agency's historian.

"The details of the story have been told over time, and the edges kind of wear off," Smith said. With the documents, "there are a lot of ah-ha moments."

In the past, genealogy researchers had to file document requests under the Freedom of Information Act and sometimes waited years for a response.

Under the genealogy program, which started in 2008, requests are usually completed within 90 days. For $20, the government will run a search of the name, as long as the person is deceased. If there are records available, the government charges additional fees for the files.

The story details the cases of Susanne Mori and the story of her grandfather's life - he arrived from Japan more than 50 years ago - and that of Alan Latteri who wanted information for his quest for information on his grandfather to obtain Italian dual citizenship.

Mori found 23 pages of information and photographs on Jinbei Mori who arrived in San Francisco a month after the 1906 earthquake. He spent decades working for the Union Pacific Railroad and the FBI searched his home during WWII.

Latteri learned he wasn't eligible for dual citizenship, but did learn more about his grandfather.

The story quoted Southern California Genealogical Society president Pam Wiedenback, who said it will be a treasure chest for genealogists, and that the files will have information to help researchers connect the dots.

For experienced genealogists, the files may open the doors to even more research, perhaps leading people to exact hometowns in their ancestors' native countries. And for those new to genealogy, they may be just the beginning. "For every question you answer you come up with two or three more," Wiedenbeck said.

Read the complete story at the link above. And click here to learn more about the USCIS genealogy program.

Ohio: 18th century records online

More county documents are going online.

This time, Hamilton County, Ohio is in the news with its project putting documents - some back to 1791 - online.

The story detailed some 1.1 million Probate Court documents that will make research life easier for genealogists and historians.

To see the documents - including birth, death, marriage, estate, naturalization and other records - click here, then -> Records Search -> Archive Search.

Records and dates:

Estates 1791-1984
Wills 1791-1973
Trusts, 1791-1984
Guardianships, 1791-1984
Marriages, 1808-1983
Minister's Licenses, 1963-1975
Birth Records, 1863-1908
Birth Registrations/Corrections, 1941-1994
Death Records, 1881-1908
Naturalizations, 1856-1906
Probate Court Journal Entries, 1791-1837
Physician Certificates, 1919-1987

Some records are only for the index books (some are standard alphabetical, others only by first letter of last name), others require a search by volume or other methods.

The initiative is that of Probate Court Judge James Cissell. This isn't his first project using technology to preserve and make accessible public records.

In the 1990s, he was Clerk of Courts when that court created a Web site that made available online millions of pages of criminal and civil court cases and won national awards. Today, the site has further evolved, allowing access all the time to court documents, and also allows attorneys to electronically file suits and other documents.

Cissell, who took office in 2003, says the new site contains some of the oldest state records, such as birth, death, marriage, estate, naturalization and other records. Researchers may find anything from late-18th century guardianship records to personal moments of Hollywood stars, such as actor Spencer Tracy's marriage license.

"There are many, many folks who wish to trace their genealogy. By doing this, people will not have to come to our office in Cincinnati," Cissell said.

Prior to Cissell's new project, only records from 1983 were online. Cissell decided to preserve 1,600 books (each weighed 30 pounds) with 1.1 million pages by digitizing them and putting them online.

The Probate Court is partnering with the University of Cincinnati, which had stored some of the old records after fires. The court staff did all the work to place the documents online except for $95,000 for the digitization.

According to Cissell, the documents will also have to be stored on microfilm because that's the official way such records are to be kept.

"It's going both directions. By the time we're done with this, we may be the only court in the country that has all of the records in both formats, which, I think, is a hell of an accomplishment," Cissell said.

More than 10 million pages must be digitized and microfilmed. Cissell further added that it was necessary as "all that microfilm is wasting away," and that "we have 4,000 rolls of microfilm of records which are quickly disintegrating."

Tracing the Tribe did a cursory check for naturalizations and found more than 30 for COHEN and COHN in the very first register. If your immigrant ancestors spent time in Hamilton County, Ohio, you might find interesting information in these newly accessible documents.

For excellent details on how to work with this collection, view Diane Haddad's Genealogy Insider post.

Brazil: Jewish immigrants to be honored

Brazil has set March 18 as a day to honor the country's Jewish immigrants, according to JTA.

The country is home to some 120,000 Jews, the largest Latin American Jewish community after Argentina.

The day will be known as Jewish Immigration Day.

On December 17, Brazil's vice-president Jose Alencar signed the bill and celebrated Chanukah with the local Jewish community in Brasilia. Rabbis, Jewish officials and diplomats attended the event.

The date is significant as it is the re-inauguration date - in 2002 - of the oldest synagogue in the Americas, Kahal Zur Israel in Recife. Founded in 1636, it was built during Dutch rule. When the Portuguese took over, the Jews left for the Caribbean islands while others found their way to New Amsterdam.

The bill was introduced by Jewish congressman Marcelo Itagiba, who said it wasn't easy to find a date reflecting the contribution made by the Jewish community to Brazil.