Familysearch has updated a collection that could be very helpful for all with South African Jewish heritage. That collection, South Africa, Western Cape, Deceased Estate Files, is a collection of death notices. The originals are kept at the offices of the Western Cape Archive in Cape Town, South Africa. This Historical Records Collection, has almost 500,000 records, which may contain very important family information. This includes the deceased name, the name of the spouse, birth dates, marriage dates and on some occassions, marriage records. The collectis name searchable to quite eas ..read more

It's never to early to prepare for the annual conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Socities (IAJGS). This years conference, the 44th will take place in Philadelphia, from the 18th to the 22nd of August, 2024. This should be an incredible conference, held in one of the greatest cities in the world. There are multiple ways to get more information, including the following; International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies conference site iajgs2024.org Jewish Genealogical and Archival Society of Greater Philadelphia jgasgp.org Conference Facebook page ..read more

FamilySearch has added to a collection that should interest those with Jewish ancestry in the American southwest. That collection, New Mexico Deaths, 1889-1945, is part of the Historical Records Collections at FamilySearch.org. the collection includes over 175,000 records. Statewide registration of vital records didn't begin until 1920, however there are records in the collection that go back as far as 1889. These records came from institutions that were not health related, such as counties and churches.   By following the link in the paragraph above, searches can be completed in ..read more

 For anyone wanting to know more about Using FamilySearch for Jewish research, please join me on September 6th. More info can be found at jgscleveland.org/event-5351672 ..read more

   Over the last few days I attended the 2023 Conference of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (SCJS), held this year in El Paso, Texas. The society studies everything about our Crpto-Jewish families. Also known as conversos, these are the descendants of those Jews, who in the 14th and 15th centuries, while living in Spain and Portugal, faced forced conversion to the Catholic church, and expulsion from their homes.   Those who were able to flee the persecutions, fled to lands far away. They became the "hidden" or "secret" Jews. They lived in secret in the American Sou ..read more

 The City of Galveston, sitting on the Southeastern tip of Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico, has been home to Jewish people for over 200 years. In 1816, the brothers Joa and Mora de la Porte, who were of Portuguese birth, provided the funds to build the first settlememnt of Europeans in Galveston. This act was the first of many milestones that marked the history of the Jews in Galveston. Amongst these were the following; In 1852, the residents of Galveston established the first Jewish Cemetery in Texas. The first organized Jewish services were held in 1856. During the time of the Civil ..read more

 Please join me on January 8, 2023 as we talk about the Knowles Collection. We will discuss how to use it and how to access the collection ..read more

  It has now been announced that the 43rd International Conference on Jewish Genealogy will be held in London, England from 30 July to 3 Aug 2023. The conference will be hosted by the IAJGS and the JGSGB. More information can be found at IAJGS.org ..read more

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