Sacramento: Immigration and naturalization records, Jan. 16

Immigration and naturalization records are on the program at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento on Sunday, January 6.

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

Speaker Lynn Brown will discuss how to determine when your ancestor immigrated, what records are available and how to locate them. Learn what organization has replaced the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and how this may impact your efforts to uncover relevant records.

A family historian for more than 35 years, Brown has an extensive background in computer and genealogy research. She is a Sacramento Regional Family History Center volunteer and recently retired from teaching genealogy research skills in several local school districts. She has lectured throughout the Central Valley and owns Family-Quest.com, a genealogical counseling business.

For more information, click here. 

Oregon: Jews of the Pacific Coast, January 23

Since the Gold Rush in 1849, the Pacific Coast  has attracted Jews who have shaped this geographical region.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon will present "Jews of the Pacific Coast," with Professor Ellen Eisenberg, at its next meeting on Sunday, January 23.

The program begins at 1pm at Congregation Ahavath Achim, 3225 SW Barbur Blvd., Portland. Admission: Members, free; others, $5.

From the California Gold Rush of 1849 to the explosion of population centers in the Southwest in the 1980s, Jews have played a significant role in shaping the Pacific West. In the process, they have reshaped themselves, as individuals and as communities. Through their mercantile networks and cultural innovations, their philanthropic institutions and political leadership, western Jews created a distinctive identity.

Using historical photographs from her new book, Ellen Eisenberg will explore the nature of the Jewish experience in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the small towns of the West. She will explain the important differences among these cities, as well as highlighting the ways in which the western Jewish experience has echoed and deviated from the familiar story of American Jewish history.

Since 1990, Eisenberg has taught history at Willamette University, and was named the Lear Professor of America History in 2003. She holds a BA in American Studies (Carleton College) and a PhD in History (University of Pennsylvania). Her research focuses on Jews in the Pacific West and their relationships with other ethnic groups.

Her publications include Jewish Agricultural Colonies in New Jersey,1882-1920; chapters in the anthologies Jewish Life in the American West and California Jews, and journal articles and monographs.  The First to Cry Down Injustice?  Western Jews and Japanese Removal during WWII was a National Jewish Book Award finalist.  Jews of the Pacific Coast: Reinventing Community on America’s Edge, co-authored with Ava Kahn and Bill Toll, was released by the University of Washington Press earlier this year.

For more information, click here.

Software: 2010 user awards

Louis Kessler has been a genealogist and programmer for more than three decades.

In 1997, he launched his Genealogy Software Links page which, in 2008, became the GenSoftReview site. He also developed the Behold genealogy program.

Kessler has just announced his 2010 Users Choice Awards for the most-liked genealogy programs for 2010.

The 2010 winners are: RootsMagic, Brother's Keeper, The Next Generation, Genbox Family History, Legacy, Personal Ancestral File, Reunion and MyHeritage.com 's Family Tree Builder. Seven are repeat winners from 2009.

Genealogists have gone to his site for more than two years to review and rate genealogy software.

According to his press release, it isn't easy to pick what program - of more than 550 - is best to use for your research. At his site, people can search for the program they want or for a specific program. They can read the reviews posted by users and see how the programs are rated by those users. The site is free and no registration is needed to add reviews.

After two years, over 720 reviews have been submitted. The end of year ratings for 2010 have now been tabulated and eight programs have been awarded a Users Choice Award. All the programs with a user rating of 4 or more out of 5 and at least 10 reviews are being awarded a GenSoftReviews Users Choice Award.

Says Kessler, "Everybody is different and has different needs. Choosing a genealogy program is like choosing a vacation hotel. What's best for one person is not necessarily best for another person." He says his site helps researchers decide on their genealogy tool, using consumer ratings to help them decide on a program.

Questions about the site or the awards? contact Kessler.

JewishGen: Hungarian census updated

The Other Hungarian Census 1770-1850 database has been updated with 14,000 new entries for a current total of 70,000 records.

Click here to search the database.

The transcribing team has competed about 99% of the Hungarian 1771-1775 Conscriptio Judaeorum (Jewish Census) records. 

Records from this time used patronymics; surnames were not yet required. The project recommends that researchers conduct a town search. If a name of interest is located, do check the microfilmed record as not all the information has been transcribed. Don't forget that these original records are in Latin! Other data includes occupation, assets and economic condition of the person.

The following countries are represented in the updated data: Bereg, Bihar, Csanad, Esztergom, Lipto, Maramaros, Nyitra, Pest-Pilis-Solt, Saros, Somogy, Szatmar, Szepes, Tolna, Torna, Trencsen, Turocz, Ugocsa, Ung, Veszprem, Zala, and Zemplen (this last county includes an 1806 list for Sztropko District, 1814 Tolerance Tax list and 1821-22 Census of Jewish Arendators).

The project, according to the project coordinator Eric M. Bloch, hopes to obtain more 19th century census records to include in the database.

New York: DNA -The Player's Guide, January 16

Jewish geography and DNA, with Judy Simon, is the program at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of New York, on Sunday, January 16.

The meeting begins at 2pm at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York City, New York. Members, free; others, $5.

Understand more about genetic genealogy with Judy's presentation, "Jewish Geography and DNA: A Player's Guide."

Judy and I co-administer the IberianAshkenaz DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA.com, just one of Judy's DNA projects, and we've done dual presentations at conferences. She really knows what she's talking about, and I've learned much from her. If you've avoided doing testing because you're not sure what genetic genealogy is, what it does, what the results mean - this is the program for you.

You receive an e-mail saying your DNA results came in.  You open the message with great expectations that this is the answer to all your unsolved genealogical mysteries, and within a few minutes you are drowning in alphabet soup: DYS#, HVR1,Hg, E-M35, Y-DNA, R1b12a1b, mtDNA, K1a1b1a, TMRCA, RAO.

Help!

If you can relate to the above, or if you haven't had your DNA tested yet for fear of the above, this presentation is for you. Using questions that have been posed to her by DNA beginners during the six years that she has been administering DNA projects, Dr. Simon will demonstrate how DNA testing can help with your family history research, what you can and cannot expect to learn from it, and how to make sense out of your results.

She will draw on examples from the Iberian Ashkenaz Y-DNA and mtDNA projects, the Jewish Ukraine West and Glassmaking Families projects and the Brosgol, Lefkowitz, and Olstein surname projects.

Judy Simon is a social worker in Suffolk County, N.Y. With a background in biostatistics and epidemiology, and a doctorate in epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health. She's been researching her family history for as long as she can remember, and has been doing genetic genealogy for seven years. She administers several projects at FamilyTree DNA.

For more information, click JGSNY.org.

DC 2011: Early conference registration is open

Early bird discounted registration is now open for the 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy.

Those who register by January 31 are eligible for a drawing for a free five-night stay at the Grand Hyatt Washington during the conference.

The rooms include 42" flat screen televisions - but who has time to watch TV at this event? - and other amenities.

The drawing will be held during the first week of February. Register here for the conference.

As always, the program will offer great talks by top-notch speakers on relevant topics. The committee is making an effort to bring fresh lectures on topics not previously addressed.

There will be programs by the staff of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Archives and Library of Congress. The event includes evening programs and a vendor showcase.

Workshops will include special tracks and beginner's classes, and there will be two computer classrooms.

The resource room will hold books, maps and 40 computers (PC/Mac) with links to some two dozen normally subscription-only databases, which will be free to attendees.

The early bird registration is $275 (versus $310 or more from February). There are companion fees offering large discounts. Student registration: High school students ($50), college students ($100). Daily registration will be $120 Sunday, $100 Monday-Thursday and $50 Friday.

Go to the main Conference Site for more details.

Ancestry: Family Tree Maker Mac version released

Mac users can now rejoice!

Ancestry.com recently released a downloadabe version of Family Tree Maker for Mac.

Tracing the Tribe is still working through mountains of fascinating email containing important announcements, but wanted to get this one out to everyone.

Here's the press release as received:

Do pass on this information to those who may be interested.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., January 6, 2011– Ancestry.com today announced the launch of Family Tree Maker® for Mac on the Mac App Store. Family Tree Maker for Mac provides an easy way to save and organize your family tree conveniently on your Mac and has a variety of tools that can help you share your discoveries with family and friends.

“We are excited that Family Tree Maker for Mac is now available for download on the Mac App Store,” ,” said Eric Shoup, Senior Vice President of Product for Ancestry.com. “We’re committed to making our Family Tree Maker products easily accessible to everyone and this is yet another resource available from Ancestry.com to enable everyone to discover, preserve and share their family history.”

Family Tree Maker for Mac combines intuitive tools with robust features and flexible options, making it ideal for family history novices and experts alike. A dynamic user interface and integration with Ancestry.com makes it simple to create family trees, record memories, and organize photos, videos and audio clips, plus share ancestors’ stories. It’s even possible to explore family migration paths by viewing timelines and interactive maps that highlight events and places in ancestors' lives.

Family Tree Maker for Mac is built on the functionality of Family Tree Maker 2010 , and is constructed from the ground up to take full advantage of the Mac platform in terms of technology and user experience.

System requirements for Family Tree Maker for Mac include:

-- Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later
-- Intel-based Mac
-- Hard Disk Space: 500MB for installation
-- Internet access is required for all Web integration

Family Tree Maker for Mac is now available for purchase and electronic download online on the Mac App Store for $99.99. The program is also available at http://www.familytreemaker.com and in select retail stores, including Apple’s retail stores, Amazon, Office Depot, and Office Max.

Ancestry.com: New Jewish collections added

Searching Jewish ancestors? Have an Ancestry.com subscription? The subscription website has added four record groups from the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS).

You'll need a subscription to Ancestry.com to view the records, although a name search is free.

What other Jewish records are on the site? View the entire collection here. [NOTE: This may take a long time to load; be patient]

Here are the new records:

-- WWI Serviceman Questionnaires, Jews and Non-Jews, 1918-1921, and Undated,
-- WWII Jewish Serviceman Cards, 1942-1947

Some 550,000 Jewish Americans served in WWII. The Bureau of War Records collected records on 106,000. There was also additional documentation from War Department records, newspapers, Anti-Defamation League, manuscripts, correspondence, POW lists and other documents. Remember that not all servicement may have filled out a card or questionnaire.

-- Jews in Colonial America, Brazil, and Surinam (1650-1850) (Oppenheim Collection),

Samuel Oppenheim took research notes from primary sources on Colonial American and  Brazilian  Jewry. Data includes names, dates, residence places and spouse data.

-- The New York Hebrew Orphan Asylum Records, 1860-1934 

These records were indexed by Ancestry to make them more accessible to researchers.

Do let Tracing the Tribe know if you've found records of interest in the new groups. This encourages researchers to check out new or updated resources.

Another relatively unknown record group on Ancestry is the Industrial Removal Office Records. The images are online, but there is no index ... yet.

The IRO helped immigrants through relocation efforts to find them work. Among its tools were networking with successful Jewish businessmen to offer the newcomers jobs. Some communities wanted specific trades, sometimes no trade was specified. Families went to towns all over the US. The records illustrate immigrant life and the road to assimilation.

The original records are at the Center for Jewish History's website and readers can search here for names of interest. This will show the box, page and entry number and then search here on Ancestry for those relevant images.

As we look for our relatives, the mantra should be "leave no stone unturned." Search whatever you can search and you might find some interesting information.