22 October 2009

Washington DC: Gesher Galicia, cadastral records, Nov. 15

Gesher Galicia will hold a regional meeting open to all hosted by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington on Sunday, November 15.

There is no charge for non-members for the two programs presented. If you are new to Jewish genealogy and want to see some of excellent programming presented by the JGSGW, try to attend.

Remember that JGSGW will be hosting the 2011 IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, so it's never too early to meet the people at what is one of the best Jewish genealogical societies around.

The meeting runs from 11am-12.15pm at Bnai Israel, in Rockville, Maryland.

Gesher Galicia ("Bridge to Galicia") is the special interest group for researchers who have Jewish roots in this former province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The program will offer a short overview of the history of Galicia and provide an introduction to the SIG's research activities.

The agenda covers metrical records, newspapers, school and landowner records, and where they can be found online and in archives.

The last segment is a video screening of "The Bad Arolsen Research Experience," which details on site research at the International Tracing Service in Germany. It spotlights the ITS building where extraordinary Galician community records are housed. Q & A will follow.

At 2pm, following a business meeting, the second part of the meeting presents Gesher Galicia president Pamela Weisberger speaking on "Cadastral Maps & Landowner Records: Alternate Resources for Genealogical Research."

Pamela is also program chair of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles, which one of the chairs for this year's 2010 IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (July 11-16), hosted by the JGSLA.

Cadastral land records and property maps are an excellent source of family history information..

Combining maps and records provides exact locations in a shtetl where each family lived and who their neighbors were. Learn the exact locations of synagogue, cemetery, schools, market square and more.

The records can provide the size and/or values (for taxes) of properties owned - and the house numbers - enabling a link between the physical locations of families in the shtetl and genealogical data.

Combining maps and records are even more important when genealogical records are not available. In some cases, these may be the only documented evidence of a family living in a specific place. This is an alternative source of genealogical and community information.

Pamela will also provide details on how to obtain this type of record from overseas archives, how to create a community project using this data, and how to also find cadastral and perspective maps for US communities.

Click here for more information or for directions.

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