Geneabloggers: 41 new blogs?

As readers know, Tracing the Tribe often lets them know about the new blogs discovered by Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers.

Although he recently posted 11 new blogs, he did post another, listing 41 new blogs on December 4.

One never knows how a particular blog might help you in your own quest, so check these out and you might receive some help for some aspect of your search. I've written only smatterings of the blog descriptions, so if you want more, see the link above, or click on each individual blog URL.

All About GEN
Individual family history

Ancestor Search
Australia genealogy, Individual family history

Anderson / Spence / McKenney, 1800’s
Individual family history

Annapolis Royal Heritage
Canadian genealogy

• Author is a museum director in Annapolis Royal, and will try to feature some interesting artifacts and archival resources in the collections.

Are My Roots Showing?
Individual family history

Arkansas Roots: The Stories of My Family
Arkansas genealogy, Individual family history

•  SMITH, SLOAN, HAWKINS & PATTILLO, Dallas County, Arkansas; POOLE, Union & Hemstead Counties.

Barnett Family Genealogy
Individual family history

• Barnetts of Parker County, Texas.

Borreson Cousins
Individual family history

• Norwegian immigrants Emil Borresen and Gina Estensen married in 1899 in Pigeon Falls, Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, had 10 children and 29 grandchildren. Author is one of the grandchildren.

Butler Cemetery
African-American genealogy, Cemetery blog, New Jersey genealogy

• Butler Cemetery (established c1867 by Dempsey Daniel Butler, prominent businessman, real estate entrepreneur, and more. When he died in January 1900, he was noted as the wealthiest African American in New Jersey.

Digging Under My Family Tree
Individual family history

Dr D Digs Up Ancestors
Genealogy education

Exile’s Return
Individual family history

Fiji Genealogy
Fiji genealogy,

• Many resources and ideas for tracing your family tree and researching your family’s history in Fiji. Whether your ancestor was a temporary visitor who married or died in Fiji, or whether you are descended from a long line of settlers or natives, you will find something here to help you...lists of websites, books, and repositories of records and microfilmed records to help you...

Genealogie Blog
French genealogy

• Author is professional genealogist Stéphane Cosson.

Genealogy Dragnet
Individual family history

Genealogy of Oldendorf, und Nahrendorf
German genealogy

• Regional villages: Dannenberg area, Uelzen,Elbe region, Goehrde and Bleckede area.

Genealogy Quest
Individual family history

Geoff’s Genealogy
Individual family history, UK genealogy

Glasgow Ancestry
Scottish genealogy

Gregory Fearon’s Family History Blog
Individual family history

Glimpsing the Past
Individual family history, UK genealogy

Grow Your Own Family Tree
Genealogy industry blog, Irish genealogy, UK genealogy

• Author Alan Stewart writes regularly for UK magazines Practical Family History and Family Tree Magazine, and for North American-based Internet Genealogy and Discovering Family History, among others..

In Our Hearts: A Family Tribute & Scrapbook
African-American genealogy, Alabama genealogy, Individual family history

• Ford, Martin, Morton, Green(e)

Jen’s Genealogy Pages
Canadian genealogy, Individual family history

• St. John, Coulman, Fee, Hunter – and other associated families (including Davey, Summerville, Lusty, Salter, Thomas, Ansted, Burton, Doan and Oakley)...Ontario and Quebec in the 1800s...England, Ireland and Palatine Germany in the 1800s and earlier.

Jones Family Matters
Individual family history

• Jones, Ryan, von der Heide, Cronin, Probert, Dailey, Wainright, Reed and Hellmann.

Marilyn’s Family History News
California genealogy, Genealogy industry

Murmurd’s Franco-American and Quebec Genealogy
Canadian genealogy, French-Canadian genealogy

NGS Family History Conference Blog
Genealogy conference blog, Genealogical society blog

• Hello and welcome to the home of the NGS 2011 official conference blog. We are thrilled that you will be joining us in Charleston, South Carolina and hope to make this an interactive and fun experience leading up to the event... Stay tuned for updates on presenters, vendors, sponsors, registration, accommodations, local sites, and much more.

Our Family Quilt
Individual family history

Peter’s Family History Blog
Genealogy education

Pursuits of a Desperate Genie
Individual family history

• Brookyn, NY is exploding with history and the passion I have for preserving our heritage has overwhelmed my life. My family and friends have had their fair share of “Did you know…!” I love researching, googling for hours, visiting cemeteries, learning new technology and connecting with others to share stories and information. Whenever I hit roadblocks I start quizzing the next person I’m with and before you know it I am writing out their family tree!

Roots and Stones: A Canadian Girl’s Genealogy Diary
Canadian genealogy, Individual family history

• A 6th-generation Canadian, who has been hunting for her roots for the past decade-ish.

Seattle Genealogical Society
Genealogical society, Washington genealogy

• Welcome to the SGS President’s blog.

Smiddy Family Genealogy
Surname blog

Tattered Past
Individual family history

The Bowdens of Popes Creek
African-American genealogy, Individual family history, Virginia genealogy

• Four generations of (Mulatto) Indentured Servants to the Monroe & Washington Family.

The Historian’s Family
Individual family history,

• The author is an instructor at a community college in the Midwest, who completed a PhD in history at the University of Glasgow with a specialization in Scottish migration; also interested in the bridging the gap between academic and “armchair” historians.

They Came to Montana
Individual family history, Montana genealogy

TMG Sydney
Australian genealogy, Genealogical society blog, Technology blog

• This blog is authored by Carole Riley, whom I met on my trip to Australia last spring.

Virtual Tombstone Biographer
Cemetery blogs

Yesterday’s Girl
Individual family history (Engand, Ireand, Newfoundand, Boston)

For more information, see Thomas' original post (link above) or click on each blog.

Virginia: Lost town of Trochenbrod, Dec. 12

Learn about the "lost town" of Trochenbrod with author Avrom Bendavid-Val, at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington on Sunday, December 12.

The program begins at 1pm at Beth El Hebrew Congregation, 3830 Seminary Road, Alexandria, Virginia. Members, free; others, $5.

A Washington DC resident, Bendavid-Val's book - "The Heavens are Empty: Discovering the Lost Town of Trochenbrod" - is the result of 12 years of research. He made nine visits to the site where the town once stood and its environs.

It contains first-person accounts, photographs and maps. The focus is on the vibrant town life, not just on its destruction.

Settlement of the village that became Trochenbrod started in the early 1800s in a small clearing in the forest in what is today northwest Ukraine. Jews began settling there and farming because under Czarist decrees, only by doing that could they avoid oppressive anti-Jewish laws, including having their sons conscripted to serve in the Russian army until age 45. As Trochenbrod grew to its final population of about 5,000, it became the only free-standing town created, populated, and self-governed entirely by Jews ever to exist outside the biblical Land of Israel.  Trochenbrod became a thriving regional commercial center that had a highly diversified and largely self-sufficient economy.

Trochenbrod was "a magical place,” according to the memoir of one visitor in the 1930s, a feeling echoed by the few Trochenbrod natives who survive. It was the only town to completely and permanently vanish in the Holocaust.  In August and September 1942, Nazis and their helpers murdered the people of Trochenbrod. The town had been created by anti-Semitism and it was destroyed by anti-Semitism. Because there had been none but Jews in Trochenbrod, no one was left there, and all traces of the town soon vanished.

 A book sale and signing will follow his presentation.

New blogs: Another 18 found by Geneabloggers!

Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers always appears to be working overtime - he's found an additional 18 new geneablogs this week.

Here are the names, type and link to the new ones, but read his entire post for much more on each.

Take a look at these if they address your geographical or other interests. This week's new blogs cover such topics as genealogy education, New York, genealogy societies, California, vendors, UK, individual family histories, forensic genealogy, France, Massachusetts, New England, professional genealogist, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Virginia, West Virginia, Canada, surname history, Colorado, Scotland.

Bella Online Genealogy - Tina Sansone
Genealogy education, genealogy industry

Central New York Genealogical Society
Genealogical society blog, New York genealogy

Contra Costa County Genealogical Society
California genealogy, Genealogical society blog

Currach – Discovering My Ancestry Before The Canvas Frays
Individual family history

d kay s days
Individual family history

Family Tree Folk
Genealogy vendor blog, UK genealogy

Généalogies
French genealogy blog, Individual family history

Highlands Ranch Genealogical Society
Colorado genealogy, Genealogical society blog

Identifinders - forensic expert Colleen Fitzpatrick
Forensic genealogy

MacArthur Genealogy Services
Massachusetts genealogy, New England genealogy, Professional genealogists

Nina’s Genealogy
Georgia genealogy, Individual family history, Kentucky genealogy, Mississippi genealogy, Virginia genealogy, West Virginia genealogy

On Being A Bridge Builder
Individual family history

Pioneer Portraits – Miller/Swain Family History
Genealogy education blog, Individual family history

Schwans and Lohr Family Roots Blog
Individual family blog

The Jones Surname
Surname history blogs

The Passionate Genealogist
Canadian genealogy, Professional genealogists

The Scottish Emigration Blog
Scottish genealogy

Trace My Family Tree
A new blog by established blogger Amir Dekkel
Genealogy education

Click on Thomas' post to read much more about each new blog. Enjoy!

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.

Washington DC: Coming to America, April 18

What was it like for our ancestors to arrive at Ellis Island?

Learn about the experience with Barry Nove at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington, on Sunday, April 18.

The program takes place at Beth El Hebrew Congregation, 3830 Seminary Road, Alexandria, Virginia. The event begins at 1pm with the main talk at 2pm.

Barry Nove will share the story and the techniques he used to learn what it was like for his ancestors and many of our own to arrive in America through Ellis Island. He began his family history quest when he organized the first family re-enactment tour of Ellis Island, filmed by PBS as background material for a 1997 genealogy documentary series, "Ancestors."

Nove received unique access to the Ellis Island Museum, worked with its archivists and gained understanding and appreciation of what his grandparents and great-grandparents experienced.

On his journey he gathered photos of the ships his family arrived on from Bremen, Danzig, Hamburg and Rotterdam; naturalization documents, passenger manifests and historical research.

Fee: JGSGW members, free; others, $5. For more information and directions, visit the JGSGW site.

USHMM: Holocaust conferences planned

The Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum has announced several conferences and calls for papers.

Lessons and Legacies XI will take place at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida. The proposal deadline (for panels, papers and workshops) is October 31, 2009 and the conference is set for November 4-7, 2010.

The conference is sponsored by the Holocaust Educational Foundation and FAU. Programming includes up to three roundtables, up to 18 panels and up to 14 workshops relating to recent issues and advances in scholarship on all aspects of Holocaust Studies and for further research.

Send proposals for panels and individual papers to both program co-chairs, University of Vermont Professor Frank Nicosia and Dartmouth College Professor Susannah Heschel. Include a title, brief description of the panel as a whole, with names, institutional affiliations, contact information, paper titles and abstracts of all panelists. Applicants will be informed by January 31, 2010. Workshop proposals go to USHMM CAHS Dr. Suzanne Brown-Fleming, Denison University Professor Donald Schilling and Hillary Earl.

For more information, go to the Holocaust Education Foundation.

Bearing Witness: Memory, Representation, and Pedagogy in the Post-Holocaust Age will be held at Shenandoah University, Winchester, Virginia. The proposal deadline is October 30, 2009, and the conference will take place April 12-13, 2010.

It will bring together scholars, teachers, students, and community members to explore: (1) how the study of the Holocaust will change without the benefit of eyewitnesses; (2) how literature, film, theater, and music can be used as interpretive voices of memory and teaching tools; (3) how teachers, scholars, and students can preserve and interpret memory responsibly, as the Holocaust becomes a more distant historical event and in the face of persistent Holocaust denial; (4) how Christian and Jewish responses and theologies frame, remember, and respond to this genocide; and (5) how memory of the Holocaust can affect action to halt genocide.

Papers on these subjects are welcome: Teaching the Holocaust through Literature and Film: Sources, Challenges, and Scholarship; The Future of Memory: Defining, Teaching, and Analyzing Testimony; Memory and Faith: Christian and Jewish encounters with the Holocaust; or Engaging Student Activism: How Holocaust Memory Can Affect Actions to Halt Genocide.

Send a 1-2 page double-spaced abstract and CV to Assistant Professor Petra Schweitzer.

Conference on Genocide and Human Experience: Raphael Lemkin's Thought and Vision will be held at the Center for Jewish History, New York City, on Sunday, November 15, 2009.

An international group of historians, political scientists, anthropologists, legal authorities, philosophers, and policy-makers will gather at the Center for Jewish History in New York City to focus a lens on genocide through an exclusive examination of the writings of Raphael Lemkin, author of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The conference will explore the intersection of historical documentation and contemporary interpretation, and to investigate the efforts of new generations of scholars, human rights advocates and activists to address, prevent and deal with the aftermath of genocide.

See the program and participating scholars here.

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Inc. (Claims Conference) is offering fellowships for PhD candidates in advanced Shoah studies. the application deadline is January 25, 2010.

The mission is to support advanced study of the fate of Jews who were systematically targeted for destruction or persecution by the Nazis and their allies between 1933 and 1945. Studies can include the immediate historical context in which the Shoah took place; political, economic, legal, religious and socio-cultural aspects; ethical and moral implications. The Fellowship program also supports awardees in learning languages of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union which are necessary for the study of Shoah related documents. Fellowships are awarded to outstanding candidates who have a strong personal commitment to Shoah memory, who have demonstrated excellence in academic achievement, and who possess the potential to provide outstanding professional leadership that will shape the future of Shoah awareness and scholarship.

Click here for more information.

Let others know about these events.

Virginia: Black history with a Jewish twist

Linking the Jewish and black histories of Richmond, Virginia - from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

One of Richmond, Virginia's most prominent post-Civil War residents, Richard Gustavus Forrester was born in 1822, and spotlighted in this story.

He was the son of a city Jewish lawyer, Gustavus Myers, and a free woman of color Nelly Forrester, who lived and worked in the home of Moses Myers, the uncle of Gustavus, Richard married Narcissa Wilson of New Orleans. She was the daughter of Narcissa was the daughter of Judah Touro and a free woman of color, Ellen Wilson.

Richard was sent to live in the Richmond home of his father's aunts, Catharine and Slowey Hays, who began educating him at an early age.

When Richard was 14, his great-aunt Slowey died and left him a large bequest. His father sent him to Canada to continue his education. Narcissa was sent to Canada to live in the same house as Richard. Distant cousins, they fell in love and married in Canada around 1840, producing 20 children and 49 grandchildren.

Their son, Richard Gill Forrester, was the first to raise the Union flag over the Virginia Capitol at the end of the Civil War.

Around 1850, Richard and Narcissa returned to Richmond with their young children. Although they were free persons of color, the entire family was registered as slaves owned by their Jewish relatives so the family could remain together.

In 1855, the couple inherited Catharine Hays' home and, in 1860, the family is listed as free residents in the census.

After the war, Richard prospered as a dairy farmer and contractor and was active in Reconstruction organizations. In 1870, he was grand marshal of a parade celebrating the 15th Amendment's ratification, which gave men the vote regardless of race. In 1871, he was one of the first persons of color elected to Richmond City Council, where he served for 11 years.

A school board member in the early 1880s, he improved schools for blacks and hired black teachers.

Richard opened bank accounts for each of his grandchildren at the Freedman's Savings and Trust Co.

Richard Gustavus Forrester, 69, died in Richmond in 1891.

See the link above for more, including a timeline and photograph.

Washington DC: Arlington National Cemetery

Marlene Bishow of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington (JGSGW) has provided information on new records added to the group's website for the "Ken Poch Index of Jews Buried in Arlington National Cemetery" (ANC).

This project is important enough that I have also posted this announcement (and ANC photographs) to the International Jewish Graveyard Rabbit

Bishow is the group's immediate past president, current ANC project manager, and will co-chair the 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Washington, DC.

Self-proclaimed historian of Jews buried in ANC, Kenneth Poch began the project more than 10 years before his 2003 death. His family donated 12 boxes of his work to the JGSGW.

Based on that research, webmaster Ernie Fine developed the website with a Steve Morse-model search engine. Currently, there are more than 2,600 entries; an additional 600 will go online in January 2009. More than 2,000 grave marker photos (taken by Poch) have been scanned by volunteers and will be added with links to view them online, and new photos will also be added.

Genealogical data is being added to the database using Poch's data and that of the group's volunteers. Visitors to the website are encouraged to submit names and additional information about Jews buried in ANC. For the present, the search is limited to the names of the interred.

For more information, click here. To submit information, follow contact page directions.

Virginia: Solving a lake mystery

Two brothers, whose hobby is genealogy, believe they have found the the identity of the person whose bones were found in Mountain Lake, Virginia. Read about it here.

There's a two-minute video of the TV news segment providing more information on how Jim and John Dalmas used a Clemson University class ring, census records, a WWI draft registration card, a historic newspaper article and other resources to give a name to the bones in Mountain Lake.

They say that the person items near the remains belong to Samuel Ira Felder of New York.

"It's a giant puzzle, and all the pieces fit together and you have one picture," says Jim Dalmas.

It started with bits of pieces reported by the media, including important information investigators released last week about a class ring.

"The sheriff's department figured out the ring came from Clemson University, and of course the ring was the key to figuring the whole case out," says Dalmas.

According to their research, Samuel Ira Felder was born May 10, 1884, was a native of Orangeburg, South Carolina and graduated from Clemson University. He later moved to New York City where he was a telephone company engineer. Some census reports showed he was married, but had no children.

"The newspaper article clinched the deal," says Jim. "It said he had fallen out of a boat."

A July 27, 1921 South Carolina newspaper reported Felder fell overboard and drowned while boating with a party of friends on Mountain Lake.

Jim said Felder would have been 37 when he died. He also said Felder had siblings and might have living relatives.

Another case solved by dedicated genealogists!

Virginia: Fairfax County Library resources, Sept. 16

Local libraries may hold genealogical treasures for researchers.

"Genealogical Resources in the Fairfax County Library Virginia Room," will be presented by Suzanne Levy, Virginia Room librarian since 1981. The program is under the auspices of the Mount Vernon Genealogical Society and the venue is room 112 of the Hollin Hall Senior Center in Alexandria.

The Virginia Room has a collection rich in regional history and genealogy, local and state government information and legal resources. Materials cover more than Virginia and also focus on Confederate Civil War military history. Other resources include maps, extensive photographic archive, manuscripts, local newspapers, and rare books.

Levy, who holds a BA in history (Michigan State University(, and a Master of Library Science (Pratt Institute), is a member of the Fairfax Genealogical Society, American Library Association, Historical Society of Fairfax County (chair, 2004-2006), and Historic Fairfax City, Inc.

She has worked as Cataloger, North Carolina Collection, UNC-Chapel Hill library; State Documents Librarian, North Carolina State Library; Acquisitions Librarian, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library; and at two NYPL branch libraries.

For more details, see the link above.

Virginia: Early Jewish settlement

Here's a fascinating history of early Jewish settlement in Charlottesville, Virginia. Other sections cover business and commerce, Jefferson and the Jews, community establishment, religious institutions, the Levys at Monticello and other sections.

Thanks to researchers in the South, documentation of Jewish history in this region has increased and covers large port cities to rural towns, reflecting the diversity of Jewish immigrants in America.

Charlottesville's history reflects colonial-era Sephardic Jews and 19th century immigrants from Germany and then from Lithuania and Belarus. According to the website, it's important to note that the town was the home of Thomas Jefferson and that the University of Virgina, which he established, was the first American higher education institute that did not impose or require a particular theology of students or faculty.

"To Seek the Peace of the City" was produced in 1994 to spotlight 19th and early 20th century Jewish life in Charlottesville and the University. It expanded on a 1993 exhibit, "Jewish Life at Mr. Jefferson's University," which was part of the school's commemoration of Jefferson's 250th birthday.

Though few in number, Jews were a part of the European colonization of Virginia. Expelled from Spain in the very year that Columbus encountered America, they tried to re-establish their communities in northern and central Europe, North Africa, Palestine, Turkey and the city-states of Italy. These Spanish and Portuguese Jews, called the Sephardim, were among the first to settle the Americas, hoping to find places where they could maintain their distinctive Jewish traditions. By the 1640s Sephardic Jews had established trade networks connecting New York, Charleston, Newport, Philadephia, the Caribbean, and Brazil. Many quickly became prominent and respected professionals.

Ashkenazic Jews, with a style of worship typical of the Germanies and Russia, also sought the New World as a refuge. During the 16th to 18th centuries in Europe, Jews were living as a barely tolerated minority in Germany, Austria, and Poland, and somewhat less precariously in Holland and Italy. Eager to find a safe foothold in the New World, Jews participated in the exploration and settlement of the Atlantic coast of the Americas. A Jewish metallurgist from Prague, Joachim Gaunse (or Jacob Gans), was in Virginia as early as 1585 as part of the first English attempt to settle North America at Sir Walter Raleigh's Roanoke Colony. Early Sephardic settlers of Virginia included Dr. John de Sequeyra, a specialist in the treatment of the mentally ill, who arrived in Williamsburg in 1745; in his role as a general practitioner, he was the physician of George Washington's stepdaughter Martha Parke Custis. Also prominent were members of the aristocratic Cardozo and Seixas families. 4

On the eve of the American Revolution there were still just a handful of Jews in Virginia, mainly in Richmond. Jacob Cohen (from Oberdorf, Germany) and Isaiah Isaacs (from Frankfort-am-Main, via England) became business partners who sold merchandise and real estate. They helped to finance Daniel Boone's surveys of Kentucky, were ardent patriots, and though they were slaveowners they both freed their slaves in their wills. In addition to their commercial ventures, both were committed to their religion; Isaacs signed all his deeds in Hebrew. He was a founder of Beth Shalome, Richmond's first synagogue, in 1789, and also helped to fund the first Jewish cemetery, on Richmond's Shockoe Hill. He was a man of prominence, elected to Richmond's Common Hall (forerunner of the City Council), just two years after the enactment of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom made it possible for a Jew to hold elective office. He later moved to Charlottesville and died there in 1806.

Read more of this section here.
Click here to read all the sections.

Washington DC: Kosher Nostra, April 13

Ron Aron's' expertise is in researching the lives of criminals (mostly Jews, but others as well), and his book, "The Jews of Sing Sing" will be published this year.

If you haven't caught him at six of the past seven IAJGS annual conferences or at your local genealogy society, here's another opportunity to hear him. In January, he appeared in the PBS documentary, "The Jewish Americans."

The Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington will host Arons at 1pm Sunday, April 13, at the JCC of Northern Virginia in Fairfax.

In this triple-header talk, Ron provides the "greatest hits" from three of his other presentations. His presentation starts with how he got involved in researching criminals. (It wasn't by choice but, rather, beshert).

Next Ron discusses his research into the thousands of Jews who served time in Sing-Sing Prison "up the river" from New York. His talk concludes with a review of the lives of Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky (neither of whom served time in Sing-Sing) who were life-long friends and the men behind the Fabulous Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.

Along the way you will learn about the various types of records available for both a) researching criminals and b) piecing a person's life together (whether the individual is a criminal or not).

For more details, directions and more, click here.

Virginia: Breaking brick walls, Feb. 3

Newcomers and experienced researchers can both hit brick walls - those situations that researchers just can't seem to break through in the quest for family history.

You know you need help from someone with specialized knowledge, but where do you go? Who can help?

If you live near Washington, DC, there's a program with four major experts who may be able to assist, so bring your "brick wall" questions for them. They'll be wearing their thinking caps, ready to help you.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Washington will meet at 1pm Sunday, February 3, at Beth El Congregation in Alexandria, Virginia. Admission is $5 for non-members.

This "Breaking through brick walls" session will feature experts Jonina Duker, Boris Feldbylum, Arline Sachs and Barry Shay.

Duker earned a Yale honors BA, attended the New School for Social Research, Wharton and the Burke Institute; holds a Hebrew University Certificate of Advanced Jewish Studies; has written JewishGen infofiles; founded JewishGen's Yiddish Theater and Vaudeville Research Group; coordinated the JewishGen translation of the Minsk yizkor book. An expert on Holocaust education, Duker has spoken at CAJE and IAJGS conferences.

Feldblyum, an architectural photographer, is co-founder and president of FAST Genealogy Service. His working knowledge of Russian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Polish, along with a thorough understanding of post-Soviet culture and mentality, and his ability to motivate archival officials are the main factors in the ongoing success of FAST, which was created in response to the demand of American researchers for access to records in FSU archives.

Shay is Latvia Special Interest Group president and Latvia SIG webpage editor.

Sachs, a retired computer information systems professor and author, has held many positions in JGSGW, including president, as well as former IAJGS secretary. She headed the International Cemetery Project, which has evolved into JewishGen's JOWBR project. She also co-hosts "Tracing Your Family Roots" a twice-monthly public access television show since 1997. Some three dozen episodes can be viewed online covering many topics with experts in their fields.

For more information and directions, click here.

Virginia: Visiting Galicia, April 22

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Washington will host Dr. Richard Roth from 1.30-4 p.m. April 22, at Olam Tivah in Fairfax, VA.

In spring 2006, Roth and his young daughter traveled to Poland and Ukraine in a search for his ancestral shtetls. For two weeks, they traveled without a group, although sometimes with a guide, and he captured the experience in photographs and notes.

Roth will explore preparations, expections and the experience as he saw it.

Following his program, a JGSGW member panel - each of whom have made shtetl trips - will discuss their own trips and answer questions.

Roth is an associate professor of mass communication at Franklin Pierce College, has taught higher education communication courses for 20 years; and has been a public broadcasting associate producer.

The day will also offer a Beginner's Workshop from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., with Roth's program following from 1.30-4 p.m.

For more information on this program, the Beginner's Workshop or directions, click here.