How to Trace Jewish Ancestry

Trace your Jewish ancestry.

Tracing Jewish ancestry is no longer the difficult task it used to be, undertaken only by the most qualified researchers with skills in multiple languages and familiarity with foreign archives. The Internet hosts hundreds of powerful databases to research records of vital statistics and immigration, and well-organized networks of genealogy enthusiasts have revolutionized the field.

Things You'll Need

• Access to relatives and family friends
• Computer with Internet access

Instructions

1. Sketch out a family tree to the best of your ability. Leave a lot of room for additional family members you don't yet know about. Jewish family trees can be a little hard to trace because of the widespread use of Eastern European nicknames and diminuitives, so be aware of possible duplications.

2. Interview family members and family friends. This is especially true for older people, but even younger members of the family may have heard family stories that you are unaware of. Fill in the family tree as you learn more information. If you can locate the main village your family came from, check for a "landsmanshaft," or community organization made up of emigres from that location. They often publish memorial books and other valuable information that will enrich your search.

3. Confirm family histories with immigration records. Knowing the port of entry helps a lot here, but Ellis Island was the most common, and The Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation maintains a free online search of passenger records at ellisisland.org. Note, however, that many Jews anglicized their names upon arrival ("Shmulik" might be rendered as "Samuel," or even "John"), while family members continued to use the Jewish names.

4. Identify the location of your home villages with data from the immigration records. The Ellis Island website offers this as a free service, but you'll have to register as a user. For most English-speaking Jews, these roots are in Eastern Europe. Be aware that Jewish villages ("shtetls") may have Yiddish-language names that are quite different from their modern equivalent in Slavic languages. (Lemberik is also known as Lviv and Lvov, for example.) The JewishGen website (JewishGen.org) can help you figure out which shtetl is where.

5. Join a Jewish genealogical society to conduct research on family history beyond the 19th century. Local archival records may be hard to come by, but Jewish genealogical societies have made great progress putting information online, and membership will connect you with thousands of other researchers--some of whom may be your relatives! The best place to start is JewishGen.org.

Tips & Warnings

• Learn more about the general histories of the region your family came from to place population movements in larger context.

References

• JewishGen: First Timer
• "From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish Geneaology and Family History";" Arthur Kurzweil; 2004
• Family Search: Jewish Genealogy
• Ellis Island: Free Port of New York Records Search

Resources

• Federation of East European Family History Societies
• YIVO Institute of Jewish Research
• Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Rememberance Authority
• JewishGen: JewishGen Learning Center