New York: 30 Jewish marriage contracts exhibit, opens March 11

The Jewish Museum will open the exhibit "The Art of Matrimony: 30 Splendid Marriage Contracts from the Jewish Theological Seminary Library," on Friday, March 11 to run through June 26.

The library of The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City holds one of the best collections of ketubot - Jewish marriage certificates. Thirty of the finest will be featured in the exhibit, which dates from a 12th century piece to later examples.

Jewish family history researchers can discover much information on these documents (ketubah, plural ketubot), which exist for all communities around the world, and provide family details on the families, communities and customs

The JTS ketubah collection numbers more than 600 works of every type. The majority are from Italy, with others from Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Iraq, Iran/Persia, Morocco, Syria and Turkey. Other examples represent Croatia, France, Greece, Israel, the Netherlands, Ukraine, and the United States. They represent the diversity of Jewish communities throughout history, with information on the couples, marriage customs and artistic styles.

Before a wedding, families negotiate a marriage contract (ketubah), which includes the husband's duties to his wife and monies due her in case of a divorce or her death.
Some examples:

• The earliest in the exhibit is a rare 12th century Egyptian fragment.
• 1764 earliest known decorated ketubah from Baghdad, drawn on paper from Augsburg, Germany, and indicating Jewish commercial ties.
• 1885 Damascus contract shows vivid colors and lush floral imagery echoing the blessing bestowed on a couple as they stand under the bridal canopy: “Grant perfect joy to these loving companions, just as You made your creations joyful in the Garden of Eden.”
• 1749 Venetian ketubah features the 12 Zodiac signs and an intricate love knot borrowed from Italian folk culture. The wording says that the bride and groom “agree to conduct their mutual life with love and affection, without hiding or concealing anything from each other; furthermore, they will control their possessions equally.“

Although hand-decorated ketubot began to go out of fashion in the late-19th century, there was a revival in the 1960s along with a new interest in Jewish identity. Examples include:

• A 1999 Archie Granot muti-layeredpapercut.
• 1961 ketubah by artist Ben Shahn, showing his fascination with Hebrew calligraphy.

Two related JTS faculty lectures are scheduled:

• Monday, March 14: Dr. David Kraemer, Abbell Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbincs at the JTS, will discuss the history of Jewish marriage contracts.
• Monday, March 21: Exhibition curator Sharon Liberman Mintz will speak about the art of the decorated marriage contract.

The Jewish Museum was established in 1904, when Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated 26 ceremonial art objects to The Jewish Theological Seminary of America as the core of a museum collection. Today's collection numbers some 26,000 objects, including paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, archaeological artifacts, ceremonial objects and broadcast media.

Museum hours: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: 11am-5:45pm; Thursday, 11am-8pm; and Friday, 11am-4pm. Admission: Adults, $12; seniors, $10; students, $7.50; no charge for Jewish Museum members and children under 12. Admission is free on Saturdays.

For information on The Jewish Museum, click here  For program and ticket information, click here.

The Museum is at 1109 Fifth Avenue (at 92nd Street), Manhattan.

Vienna: 342,000 Jewish records

Looking for family from Vienna? Wondering why some branches simply disappear?

This resource can help in diverse ways.

GenTeam.com is an organization of genealogists or historians who produce databases on their own or as a part of a group, and who offer these databases to all researcher without any fee.

A non-commercial organization, the geographical focus of this work is present-day Austria and adjacent lands. No fee is required to search the databases, only a simple registration for the site.

The newest additions total some 550,000 new records.

about 342.000 records of the Jewish Community in Vienna (1826-1910). This index contains births and marriages from 1826, death records from 1866, all through 1910.

about 18,000 records of those who left the Jewish Community in Vienna (1868-1914). Some were baptised, some didn't belong to any denomination. Sources include official resignations and the leaving protocols of the Jewish Community Vienna City, Ottakring and Sechshaus. Other data came from records of the Jewish Community, Roman Catholic and Protestant Churchs as well as civil records, Jewish community conversion protocols and protocols of surname changes of the NiederOsterreichische Statthalterei.

about 5,000 records of Protestant Parish Vienna AB (1783-1860). Since 1783, two different Protestant Parishes existed in Vienna: AB and HB. Indices of parish AB marriages are available now. These records are not on microfilm or digital, but only in the parish office.

about 16,200 obituaries in the NFP - Neue Freie Presse Wien. An index of all NFP obituaries appeared in the paper (186401938). They are now in a GenTeam database. Search for surnames, given names, maiden names and year. There is a link which directs you to the obituary in the newspaper, which can be viewed free via Internet (site by ONB - Oesterreichische National Bibliothek/Austrian National Library). Included are obituaries of people who also lived and died in crown lands, not only in Vienna, and include important genealogical information on family members. 

about 142.000 new records of Roman Catholic Church records (1606-1896). n Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Moravia and Bohemia. New from Lower Austria: Munichreith, Langschlag, Pernegg, Schweiggers, Blumau, Messern, Plank, Lichtenau, Zoebing, Obermeisling. Upper Austria: St. Oswald bei Freistadt, Reichenau im Muehlkreis, Wartberg an der Aist, Schoenau im Muehlkreis, Leopoldschlag, Neumarkt, Gruenbach, Sandl, Rechberg. Moravia: Prossmeritz. Bohemia: Schwabitz, Niemes.

about 1.100 entries of Jewish community marriages in Grossmeseritsch, Moravia

The entire collection holds some 2.7 million records and is continually updated.

Other databases, in addition to those above, include:
- Gazetteer of Czech, Austrian and Slovenian Republic (with South Tyrol)
- Index, Roman Catholic marriages, Vienna and parishes (1542-1860)
- Owners, houses in Lower Austria (1817)
- Death Cards, soldiers, both World Wars
- Index, Roman Catholic church records
- Index, Protestant church records- Leavings from Viennese Jewish Community
- Index, Viennese civil records
- Directory, mills and mill-owners in whole Austria (Cisleithanien)(1876)
- Index, Wurzbach
- Obituaries, Pester Lloyd, Budapest

For more information or questions, email the GenTeam.

Individuals at GenTeam include professional genealogist Felix Gundacker, Traude Triebel and other volunteers.

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.

Istanbul: Jewish community records

Those with Jewish roots in Istanbul or other Turkish geographical connections will find this resource of interest, as will Sephardic researchers of surnames in many countries.

Music professor Daniel Kazez of Wittenburg University (Ohio) produced a major database of Istanbul's Jewish community records, with the cooperation and generosity of many individuals and organizations in that community. It was online for some time until privacy complaints took it offline.

There are some 100,000 Jewish records available, including more than 35,000 marriage records (Chief Rabbinate 1887-, Ashkenazi community, 1923-, Italian Congregation 1870s-), and some 30,000 burial records for the following cemeteries: Hemdat Israel 1899-, Italian burial list 1918-, Italian Şişli Cemetery 1800s-, Kuzguncuk Cemetery 1913-, Ortaköy Cemetery 1939-, Yuksekkaldirim Synagogue 1916-.

Remember also that there has been an Ashkenazi community in the city (formerly Constantinople) since the 14th century, that a very large number of Spanish Jews were invited following the 1492 Expulsion, that Crimean Jews were resettled there, that a large Italian Jewish community existed and that Istanbul welcomed many European Jews prior to the Holocaust.

The Istanbul Jewish community provided access to these precious records to enable translation from archaic handwriting (solitreo) and alphabets, by so many volunteers, who also typed and proofread them. Generous donors also funded the microfilming of records and converting them to digital images.

Consistent with Turkish privacy laws, the database is no longer publicly searchable. However, researchers can request a records search. Write to the Istanbul Chief Rabbinate's Office to request a search. In your email, include the following: 1) details on the person about whom you seek information (surname, given name, approximate birth year, names of parents or children) and 2) how you are related to the person about whom you seek information. Allow a week for a response.

For more information on these names, check out the searchable databases at Jeff Malka's SephardicGen and the name search engine at Harry Stein's Sephardim.com.

At Dan's site (link above) see all the names in the database, organized by frequency of records for each name, ranging from 4,332 for Levi, down to only one instance for thousands of names.

The complete list of names demonstrates the diversity of the community with names from Spain, Italy, across the Mediterranean and from Europe.

Here's a section of the most frequently mentioned surnames:

4332 LEVI, 3802 BEHAR, 2269 KOHEN, 2214 ESKENAZI, 1516 MIZRAHI, 1087 KOEN, 841 BARUH, 549 MENASE, 481 SARFATI, 479 FRANKO, 470 MITRANI, 449 KAMHI, 438 PINTO, 434 FRESKO, 432 OJALVO, 406 TOLEDO, 402 GABAY, 393 BAROKAS, 388 MESULAM, 364 PARDO, 360 ESK., 342 HASON, 341 YERUSALMI, 337 BENEZRA, 329 NAHMIAS, 324 ROMANO, 312 DANON, 308 OVADYA, 307 CIPRUT, 293 SALOM, 292 HABIB, 288 VARON, 281 GERSON, 279 PINHAS, 277 RAZON, 275 BICACI, 272 NAMER, 270 LEON, 268 RUSO, 262 ARDITI, 256 ANCEL, 255 VENTURA, 253 GERON, 251 ABUAF, 251 SABAN, 248 AMON, 242 HALFON, 240 KARAKO, 233 AZUZ, 228 ADATO, 228 ALFANDARI, 225 FARHI, 223 KASTORYANO, 220 UZIEL, 218 ELNEKAVE, 218 PAPO, 215 GALIMIDI, 215 TARAGANO, 213 ACIMAN, 209 PEREZ, 205 BERAHA, 203 KRESPI, 203 YANNI, 202 SEVI, 201 BENSASON, 195 MOLHO, 193 NASI, 188 RODRIG, 187 MALKI, 186 BAHAR, 184 ASEO, 183 AMRAM, 182 SAUL, 182 TREVES, 180 BENBASAT, 180 CUKRAN, 180 KORDOVA, 179 SASON, 177 SEVILYA, 176 NAHUM, 176 NATAN, 174 HATEM, 173 BALI, 168 SALTI, 167 KANETI, 166 ROMI, 154 MAYA, 152 KATALAN, 151 FIS, 150 MENDA, 148 KAZES, 148 YAHYA, 147 ADUT, 147 MOTOLA, 143 SURUJON, 141 KARMONA, 140 HAZAN, 139 GOLDENBERG, 138 SARANGA, 137 MATALON, 135 MEDINA, 133 FUNES, 133 NIEGO, 132 ALTARAS, 130 GRUNBERG, 130 TOVI, 129 ALMALEH, 129 ASA, 129 BABANI, 129 YAES, 127 BARZILAY, 127 ELI, 127 YOHAY, 126 MORENO, 126 RODITI, 123 HAYON, 122 KONFINO, 121 LEVY, 121 ZAKUTO, 118 CIVRE, 118 ROFE, 117 BENVENISTE, 117 KALAONRA, 117 PALACI, 117 ROZANES, 116 ALBUKREK, 116 BICACO, 116 COHEN, 116 DUENYAS, 116 PENSO, 115 HODARA, 115 KARIO, 115 POLIKAR, 114 FILIBA, 114 PALOMBO, 113 AVIGDOR, 113 MORHAYIM. ...

The list also includes a very long list of names which appear only once or twice in the records. Here are some which appear only once (a section of the As and an ending section). The records were hard to decipher and produced various interpretations of the old handwriting and alphabets (see many names with question marks):

AADATO, AARDEAN?, ABAH LEVI, ABAH? IMANU?, ABALAFYA, ABARBANEL, ABARESE?, ABARESI, ABARGI, ABAT, ABAT LEVI, ABATA, ABATLEVI, ABAUAF, ABAUKSEK, ABAYARA, ABCHEM, ABDALLA, ABDULLA?, ABDULLARHIM, ABDURAHMAN, ABEH, ABEHAR, ABEL, ABEN COIR, ABEN HABIB, ABEN HABIP, ABEN-HABIB, ABENDAVID, ABENDAVIT, ABENHALUP, ABENI ALAR, ABENI? (ALLELU? ALBENI?), ABENI? (ZENA)?, ABENSEL, ABENSSUSAN, ABERSMUKLER, ABGIN, ABIBOCHE, ABIGADOL (AVIGDOR), ABILDA, ABINOLI, ABJANAK?, ABLAMAN, ABLU, ABN? ALU? ISAK, ABOAF?, ABOCHONEETS?, ABODARA, ABOIF, ABOLOFYA, ABOLOFYA, GIBIGILI, ABORESE, ABORESI?, ABORESSI, ABOROSI, ABOUD?, ABOUF, ABOUHAIRE, ABOUKSEK, ABOUREU, ABRAAM, ABRAHAM OF KAVALALI, ABRAM, ABRAMO, ABRAMOVIC [ABRAMOVIÇ], ABRAMOW, ABRAMOWITS, ABRASAV, ABRAVANOL, ABRAVONEL, ABRAVRYA, ABRAYA, ABRENAYA, ABREUAYA, ABREUNAEL, ABREUYA, ABREVANET, ABREVAYA?, ABREVAZA?, ABRICHAMTCHI, ABRISAMETCI, ABUAF (HALON?), ABUAFOGLU, ABUAGLEAG, ABUALAF, ABUAT, ABUB (KHAJ), ABUCI, ABUDAR, ABUH, ABUHAIR, ABUISAK CICEKOGLU, ABUIZAN, ABULHAYRE, ABUMOMY?, ABUOF, ABUOUS, ABURDARAM, ABUT?, BARISAK?, ABUTBUL, ABUZAK, ACAMI, ACAR M, ACAR [AÇAR], ACATON, ACCHIOTI, ACCO?, ACEM, ACEMI?, ACHIOTE, ACHIOTTI, ACHITUF, ACHTER, ACIBEL, ACIBIL, ACIKBAS?, ACIL ACUBEL, ACIMAL?, ACIMAN YORGI MALGOCI, ACIMAY, ACIMON, ACINAN, ACITTONE, ACLYON?, ACUBEL (LEVIN), ACUBEL / ALUBEL, ACUBEL B. .....?, ACUDUR, ACUNAN, ADALAR?, ADALMI, ADALO, ADAMAL, ADAR, ADATO HAKER, ADATO PINHAS, ADATO SEMUEL, ADATOS, ADATOZ, ADE TOLEDO, ADEFINA?, ADEM (ADONI), ADENADUT, ADENI, ADES, ADETO, ADETOLEDO ...

YOHAY? YOHAZ?, YOHAZ?, YOHEY, YOL, YOLAD, YOLAK, YOLAP, YOLMAN, YOM LEVI, YONATAN?, YONAYOF, YONCOLGU?, YONNEZ?, YOOFA?, YORDAN, YORGANC OGLU / YORGANCOGLU, YORGANCIOGLU, YORGI MALGOCI, YORGOF?, YORKIN?, YOROHON, YOSEFOVIC, YOSEFOWITZ, YOSELEVIC, YOTAN, YOUR?, YOURKOVITZKI, YOZEF, YSAYA, YSRAEL, YUCAEM?, YUCAER, YUCEL?, YUDA? EZRA?, YUDELZON, YUDIT, YUFAN, YUGSAG, YUKARDI, YUKBATTI, YUKCU?, YUKEN, YUKLEKIN KALMAN, YUKSEKYILDIZ, YULA?(HASON), YULBAHAR, YULCU, YULER SEN, YULNIHAL, YULSEN, YUMER, YUMMIT TALAROWITZ, YUMUSTAS, YUNA?, YUNAY, YUNCEK?, YUNCI, YUNER, YUNIS KABAZ?, GUMUS MAKAZ?, YUNLU, YUNUS, YUNUSOF, YURIDA, YURKOVESKAYA, YURUK?, YUSELBERG, YUSUF, YUZUGULER?, YVASSMER?, YVNER, ZABAR?, ZABARO, ZABES?, ZABIT, ZABRANESKY, ZABUAN, ZABURI?, ZACCOUM, ZACHAROFF, ZAFERA, ZAFFIRA, ZAFIRA, ZAGARI, ZAGUTO, ZAHAHIYE, ZAHAR, ZAHARI, ZAHAROF, ZAHARYA LAZARI?, ZAHNAN?, ZAHURI?, ZAHUTO, ZAKALON, ZAKAT? TAKAT?, ZAKHAIM, ZAKMITZ, ZAKODA, ZAKOVALOF, ZAKUTO (DE), ZAKUTO LEVI, ZAKUYTO, ZALIA?, ZALMAN (FANRA)?, ZALMEN, ZALUNA?, ZALVISA, ZAMBAKA, ZAMBUKO, ZAMLOF, ZAMLOKA?, ZANANA, ZANARRO, ZANBOKA, ZANDLER, ZANDOKABO?, ZANDOKADO?, ZANGURSKI, ZANONO, ZANUNU, ZAPDIDISVILI, ZAPOZ, ZAPOZ?, ZARA, NARDEA, ZARAGANO, ZARAO, ZARCHIN, ZARKO (ALPDOGRUL?), ZARKON (SAULYA), ZARKOZ, ZAROCH, ZAROF, ZARY?, ZASKEWITSCH, ZASKIOVIC [ZASKIOVIÇ], ZAVARRO (YALDIZLI?), ...

Additionally, there is an alphabetical list of given names.

Readers may find the spellings difficult to understand. Note that C=SH (CIPRUT=SHIPRUT), that Y=I (YSAYA=ISAYA), and other common variants, such as ABEN=BEN. Some individuals with very Hebrew surnames may have adopted more Turkish-sounding names.

Do check the complete list of names at the first link above.

UK: Marriage Authorization Index, now 1880-1891

Great news for UK researchers, as the valuable United Synagogue Marriage Authorisation Index has been updated by another two years.

The database now runs from February 17, 1880 - December 31, 1891, with 8,236 records. The search page is here.

For more information, go to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain website for a comprehensive guide to what can be found in the records, including content descriptions and definitions.

SephardicGen: 30 medieval ketubot, an index

SephardicGen.com has now posted a database of 104 surnames from 30 medieval ketubot (Jewish marriage contracts) originating in 14 communities in medieval Hispanic kingdoms, from the book by the late Professor Jose Luis Lacave.

See the index here.

An expert in Semitic philology and the history of the Jews in Christian Spain. Lacave gathered 30 ketubot (Jewish marriage contracts) from 14 communities in various medieval Hispanic kingdoms.

He examined the historical and legal aspects of the documents and includes in his research a study of each one and a detailed comparison between them. The book includes illustrations of the ketubot in full color.

The index includes given names, year, locality and occasional annotations. The 14 communities are Barcelona, Bellpuig, Borja, Cervera, Ciudad de Malljorca, Jaca, Manresa, Milagro, Montbui, Segura de Leon, Torrelobaton (Vallodolid), Tudela and Valencia.

Here are the nine names for Barcelona and example of what the index shows for each:

ABEN BASA, Astruga, 1386, "Barcelona 1, p.31"
CABRIT, Moshe b.Yehuda, 1386, "Barcelona 1, p.31" (Note: royal surgeon; 1392: converted called Gabriel BONI)
CAP, Abraham, 1261, "Barcelona 5, p.34"
CARCASONI, Astruga b. Reuven, 1390, "Barcelona 2, p.32"
CORAYE, Blanca, 1343, "Barcelona 4, p.34"
DALELL, Yzhak b. Yehuda, 1343, "Barcelona 4, p.34"
LECIMI, Astruga, 1383, "Barcelona 1, p.31"
SHALTIEL HEN, Yehuda, 13th century, "Barcelona 6, p.36"
SULLAM, Samuel, 1390, "Barcelona 2, p.32"

There are 25 names (and additional names for the individual) for the city of Tudela:

ABASI (Abenabez), DE ABLITAS, ALBORGE, ALCASTIEL, ALPARGA, AYNCON (Ainzon), AZAFAR, BEN CIDA (Vencida), BEN MENIR (EvenMenir), BENDEUT (Ben Daud), BENJAMIL (Ben Jamil, Ben Gamel), BENZOAR (Benzohar, Evenzohar), CAMIZ, COCOLEQ (Cocola), EFLAH, FALAQUERA, FARACH, GABAY, GALAF (EvenGalaf), GORMEZANO, GRISA (De La Grisa), HANONI, NAZIR (Annazir, Abennazir), DE LA RABICA, and SARSHALOM.

There are 11 names from Valencia:

ABEN ISAMAILAT, AGOL, ALHUYAT, AYUB, CABALMALE, COHEN BAHBATI, COHIL MORCAT, HAPAROS, TANNIRA and UMRACH.

There are 11 names from Ciudad de Mallorca:

ADDA, ALATZARACH, AL-AZRAQ, ALMAGUILI, BEN ADDE, DAYEN, MALEQUI, DELS PILAS, SALADI and SES PORTES.

Always read the FAQ for each database on SephardicGen, which provides tips for searching and more about the index or the original work from which the index was taken.

More is coming up on additional SephardicGen databases.

Long Island: You don't have to be Italian, May 31

"You don't have to be Italian ... to use the Italian Genealogical Group's databases" will be presented by IGG founder John Martino at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island on Sunday, May 31.

The meeting begins at 2pm, at the Mid-Island Y JCC in Plainview, New York. JGSLI experts will be on hand from 1.30pm to answer questions.

Martino will explain the many naturalization records, county, Federal and New York City vital records on the IGG website. Currently there are more than 12 million records on the site, founded in 1990, which has helped researchers from around the world, regardless of their ethnic origins.

Personally, I have found naturalization records and marriage records for my own research. The databases are easy to navigate and hold valuable information for any researcher whose family settled in New York.

Since John's retirement in 2000 he has devoted a majority of his time to organizing volunteers to create these databases. Many volunteers are members of the Jewish genealogy societies of New York and of Long Island. I remember well his excellent presentation at the 2006 New York conference.

He'll explain how to use them and how the databases were created with an army of volunteers.

He first helped the Jewish Genealogy Society of New York with the Kings County Naturalizations. From there he did the Suffolk and Nassau County Naturalization. He then computerized the Bronx County Naturalizations and went on to the Federal records and computerized the Southern District Naturalization and is currently working on the Eastern District Naturalization.

John's team also computerized the New York City death records 1891-1929 and the Groom Index 1895-1936.

Admission is free. For more information, directions and future JGSLI programs, click here.

Check the Italian Genealogical Group for information on your family.

JTS Digital Library: View the ketubot collection

Reader Bob Rubin Mayo asks about the international ketubot (Jewish wedding contracts) collection at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library.

He wants to know if they have been translated into English, are indexed, or how one would search for a family member's ketubot?

The answers to the first two questions are yes and yes, and the answer to the third is below.

Tracing the Tribe previously posted about the JTS Digital Library when it launched in February 2008.

Access the International Ketubot Collection here. It contains 441 Jewish marriage certificates, imaged, translated and indexed.

The certificates come from many Italian cities, Jerusalem, New York, Dubrovnik, Philadelphia, Turkey, Corfu, North Africa, India, London, Syria, Germany, Netherlands, a large Persian collection, Bukhara, Algeria, other US locations, Salonika, Egypt, France, Morocco, Czechoslovakia, Gibraltar, Poland, Trieste, Yemen, Latvia, Prague, Iraq, Romania, Austria, Galicia, Russia and other locations.

Scroll down to "Ketubah Collection" and click. In the drop-down menu, choose the ketubot collection in the top box, and then write a family name in the bottom search box. Added note: Since most ketubot do not list family surnames, searching for the given name of bride or groom may bring back more relevant results. And since Jewish naming patterns consist of repeating the given Hebrew names of past generations, there may be considerable links down to contemporary generations.

Here is the information on a ketubah from Venice, pictured above, dated 5451 Sivan 9 or June 6, 1691.

There are numerous fields, including description of the artistic decorations and the names in Hebrew and English translation of bride and groom, languages, style of script, etc.

The two columns of text are separated by a spiral column and surrounded by a wide border of large flowers and clusters of grapes. A large panel above the text contains a framed depiction of Jerusalem. Winged angels at top blow trumpets, from which hang banners bearing the two families' coats of arms.

There are various fields with information about each ketubah, including groom, bride and witnesses.

In this case, the groom is Isaac, son of Samuel Salom (=Shalom); the bride is Rachel Pinso, daughter of Abraham, son of Israel. The two witnesses are Isaac Pesah, son of Menahem b. Elijah, and Moses Magioro, son of Daniel.

This is a wonderful collection both from the decorative viewpoint as well as a Jewish genealogical resource. Take a look at the collection and view the diverse styles illustrated.

Do check out the other digital collections at the link above; you might find even more information on your families of interest.

UK: Marriage authorizations online, meeting

Tracing the Tribe reported previously (January 2008) that the British Jewish Marriage Authorisation Certificates would be searchable online.

The first batch of records is now available in this long-term collaboration between the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB) and the United Synagogue.

Louise Messik has been single-handedly indexing the records, due to confidentiality agreements with the United Synagogue. She has indexed 3,900 records from February 17, 1880-December 30, 1886; eventually the database will cover 1845-1907.

Search the database here or here. The fee to obtain records is £15 for United Synagogue/JGSGB members; £20 for non-members. Click here for more information.

These records are for marriages under the Office of the Chief Rabbi of England, which provided local rabbis permission to conduct religious ceremonies. The certificate was provided after both bride and groom proved they were Jewish according to Jewish law or had an acceptable conversion certificate.

Other information: Proposed place and date of marriage, Hebrew/English names of the bride and groom, addresses of the couple, country of origin of the couple, Hebrew names of the fathers of bride and groom, Hebrew names of the groom's unmarried brothers (in case of levirate marriage if the groom died without issue) and which would attend the ceremony.

Some researchers asked why there is a confidentiality agreement for such old records and JGSGB chair Laurence Harris provided more information on this issue and about a meeting set to discuss the new database.

When JGSGB enters into agreements to transcribe or index records for other organisations, these organisations often have different sensitivities and requirements concerning their data. It is always necessary for us to be mindful of these requirements, and we need to comply with them in order to gain permission to index/ transcribe and to build up a positive mutual relationship, so that we get offered more databases to transcribe in the future.

With particular reference to the United Synagogue (US) Marriage Authorisations, the US consider the information on the full certificate to be strictly confidential and special arrangements have had to be put in place to ensure that it remains so whilst we are preparing the index.

Without going into too much detail, confidentiality agreements have had to be signed and even I, as Chairman of JGSGB, have no access to the information on the certificates being indexed. I hope this clarifies the confidentiality issue.

The JGSGB will meet at 8pm, Thursday, June 19 to focus on this project, and expert speakers from the London Beth Din, United Synagogue and JGSGB (including Louise Messik) will address

- The certificates and the genealogical clues they hold
- The history and role of the certificates
- How to search the new online index and how to order a certificate
- Audience questions to the panel of speakers

JGSGB member tickets are free; non-members, £5); seating is limited. To obtain a ticket (first come - first served), email Harris at chairman(AT)jgsgb(DOT)org(DOT)uk.

UK: Indexing Jewish marriages

Looking for Jewish marriages to track your ancestors in the United Kingdom? Available resources include United Synagogue marriage authorizations which can offer clues to genealogical research.

What is an authorization? The document is obtained by bride and groom from the Office of the Chief Rabbi before a religious marriage can take place. Documents proving the Jewish ethnicity of the couple must be produced, including the ketubah (Jewish marriage contract) or the religious marriage certificate for the parents of both. If either of the couple is a convert, the certificate of conversion must be presented.

A new resource will be coming online to include all United Synagogue marriages up to and including 1907, thanks to Louise Messik, a council member of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB).

During 2007 and after many years of discussion, writes Messik, the JGSGB and the United Synagogue (US) reached an agreement whereby she would index the documents for those dates. It would show the names of bride and groom, with date and place of marriage. The indexes would then be placed on a joint website under US auspices.

Although this work will take many months to complete, Messik is hopeful that the first 3,000 or so records she has prepared may be available online in the near future and be updated as more are ready. Tracing the Tribe will let you know when this happens, so stay tuned for more.

Adds Messik, the authorizations carry many genealogical clues if researchers know where and how to look. Rabbi Jeremy Rosen and Messik have produced an aid to deciphering the forms; it is here.

The page includes three examples of text from an 1884 form, a page on terminology and an original handwritten form.

Although forms have changed over the years, the basic data required includes application date, impending marriage date, Hebrew and English names for both bride and groom, their places of residence, birthplaces, certificates presented to confirm information and who presented the certificates, whether the groom was married before or is related to the bride, names of the groom's brothers in Hebrew and where they live, any previous surnames the bride might have used, synagogue where wedding will take place and the time, reception place, officiant's name, special comments and the groom's signature.

The data also includes terms (in cursive Hebrew and transliteration) used if the groom or bride is a convert to Judaism. The names of the groom's brothers are listed in the event the husband dies before the couple has children (with the obligation of the eldest unmarried brother to marry the widow). Although banned in Ashkenazi communities for 1,000 years, according to a footnote on the page, this was practiced in Sephardic communities until 1948 and their immigration to Israel. Next to each brother's name is the Hebrew terminology for his status (whether he were unavailable - already married, for example - or likely to refuse).

The bride's name also has a prefix describing her status, which could be virgin, widow, divorcee, important person or convert. Other terminology indicates if the bride's father is alive or not at the time of application.

This index should be a boon to researchers with a UK connection who have struggled, says Messik, with the form's cursive Hebrew and Aramaic and were frustrated in deciphering clues and information.

Messik promised to let me know when the first group of names is published and, of course, I'll let readers know.

Ohio: Ancestry adds 19,000 Jewish marriage records

Ancestry has just added 19,000 Jewish marriage records extracted from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio Marriage Application and Return volumes in the county archives. The majority of records (1837-1930) are from Cleveland, an early important Jewish community.

Data includes the bride's and groom's names, ages, birthplaces, occupations, parents' names, marriage date, bride's residence, any previous marriages, book and page of register record and name of celebrant.

The records were identified as Jewish if the officiator was identified as a rabbi or if the surname of one or both of the parties was identified as a common local Jewish surname.

In this database, I located many of my TAYLOR (this branch changed the name from Talalay to Taylor) family with Mogilev, Belarus origins.

Click here for more information on the database.

On May 5, 1839, 19 emigrants left Unsleben, Bavaria, Germany for Cleveland, led by Moses Alsbacher, to join a fellow Unslebener, fur trader Simson Thorman, who had settled earlier in the village on Lake Erie. They brought a Torah scroll and, by 1850, there were two congregations, Anshe Chesed formed in 1846 (Fairmount Temple) and Tifereth Israel (The Temple) opened in 1856; both adopted the Reform format. The first rabbi was Isadore Kalisch.

Many settlers were peddlers, others cigar rollers, while still others were in dry goods, or butchers and bakers, and clothing manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing were also popular occupations.

B'nai B'rith converted (1868) a health sanitarium to care for the Civil War's Jewish orphans. The Hebrew Relief Society (1875) followed and became the Montefiore Home for Aged and Infirm Israelites in 1882. The Young Women's Hospital Society (1892) began to raise funds for a Jewish hospital (Mt. Sinai), which opened in 1903.

By 1880, the community numbered some 3,500 mostly of German origin. Eastern European Jewish immigration followed, and more social services were established by the Cleveland Section of National Council of Jewish Women and the Council Educational Alliance. The Federation of Jewish Charities was established in 1903, uniting eight agencies.

By the 1920s, the city's Jewish population was about 90,000 in several neighborhoods, and cultural life included a Jewish center, famous Jewish leaders; Orthodox, Conservative and Reform synagogues; a Yiddish theater, Workmen's Circle, Socialist Farband Center, schools and yeshivas as well as an excellent public high school.

Jewish leaders included The Temple's Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, who took the pulpit in 1917; Rabbi Barnett R. Brickner of Euclid Avenue Temple served from 1925-58; Rabbi Solomon Goldman of B'nai Jeshurun and Anshe Emeth; and educator Abraham H. Friedland headed the Talmud Torah and the Bureau of Jewish Education.

Today, more than 81,500 Jews live in Cleveland.

For more Cleveland Jewish history and some historic photographs, click here.

This story is also on the JTA site here.

UK: 'Match and dispatch' records online

Thanks to Nick Landau for a tip about a newish resource (since December 2006) for London United Synagogue marriage and burial records.

MATCH

Researchers can now order online copies of marriage certificates for marriages under the auspices of the Chief Rabbi (1880-1906).

DISPATCH

Checking JewishGen for London cemeteries, Landau noted that it is now possible to locate the position of a United Synagogue grave if the cemetery, first and last name and death year are known.

Buenos Aires: list of marriages 1937-1996

Brush off your Spanish and check out this interesting Web site from Temple Chalom in Buenos Aires.

Argentina's Sephardic Jewish Association was founded on November 2, 1929, and Temple "La Paz" Chalom held its first service on Rosh Hashanah 1937.

For a list of 1,118 marriages at the synagogue - from 1937-1996 - click here.

The names are both Sephardic and Ashkenazi.

The synagogue has an 800-year-old Torah scroll written in Spain. The scroll survived the 1492 expulsion and was brought by Spanish exiles to the island of Rhodes, where it survived the Nazis. It was donated by the Jewish Community of Rhodes to the Chalom Community Center.

For the history of this Torah and how it survived, click here.

Additionally, some issues of the synagogue's newsletter are online. They include interesting articles in Spanish or Ladino on a range of topics, including "Jewish Doctors of Salonika."