IAJGS2014 Conference - Day 5

Day 5 of the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy.  My entire summary, day by day, here.

UkraineSIG has procured many new vital records, transcribed many others, etc.  Janette Silverman gave an overview of the great work in records procurement that has been done this year,

New records including lists of Courland Jews traveling to Kherson agriculture communities in 1837 and 1840. There is a volunteer translator already working on these.  12,000 records are already done and there should be 12,000 to 18,000 more.

IAJGS2014 Conference - Day 4

Day 4 of the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy.  My entire summary, day by day, here.

Israel Pickholtz spoke about "Beyond a Doubt: What We Know vs. What We Can Prove."

He clarified that the question is where there are repeated first names, if you truly believe that one person's father is Reuvain, do you record that as the father?  Record it with a question? Or have two separate individuals that can be merged later?

IAJGS2014 Conference - Day 3, Part 2/2

Here is the summary of the second part of day 3 of the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy.  My entire summary, day by day, here.

We had a quick photo opportunity for JGS-Maryland members at the conference (minus one). Are you from the Baltimore area?  Check out JGSMD!

 

Tammy Hepps of Treelines then spoke on "The Marvelous Moonshiners from Minsk."  Her ancestors sold a butter substitute as butter and paid for it.  The family moved to Pittsburgh, before some of the family moved to Brooklyn. She never understood why they moved--until she uncovered her family saga.

IAJGS2014 Conference - Day 3, Part 1/2

This is a summary of the first part of day 3 of the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy.  My entire summary, day by day, here.

First up (after a drizzly walk to Starbucks) was the Hungarian SIG meeting. Vivian Kahn covered the current projects' status.

1) Vital Eecords

2) Maramaros Project

3) Holocaust Memorials

4) 1848 Census

5) 1869 Census

6) Other Census

7) Miskolc Cemetery Project

There are currently 1739 subscribers to the H-SIG list and many indexing/transcription projects. They are promoting new KehillaLinks pages.

They hire people to film the record books and cemeteries.  53,000 vital records including from Maramaros including more than 18,000 birth records (including from images on FamilySearch).  They are on FamilySearch as Jewish Vital Records and will be on JewishGen shortly.

IAJGS2014 Conference - Day 2, Part 2/2

Day whatever of the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy.  My entire summary, day by day, here.

And onto the second part of day 2!

I then attended a forum titled "Internet Collaboration: How Do We Share Our Family Trees Online?"  Sallyann Sack-Pikus was the moderator.  It began with each panel member giving his or her individual perspective for 15 minutes.

 

The first speaker was Adam Brown.  He stated that everyone in the room is related because we all are Jewish and DNA testing has demonstrated that fact. He therefore uses geni to try to see how we all connect.  Geni allows collaborative work. People can add what they know and include photos and information that only they know.  Lots of people working together can be powerful and can correct information.  In other tools, there can be multiple versions of the same tree. Geni doesn't have that--there are ways to resolve conflicts.  Geni is alive and can continually be corrected and updated.  Because trees can be merged, geni can identify potential other branches of your tree automatically.

IAJGS2014 Conference - Day 2 Part 1/2

Day 2 of the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy.  My entire summary, day by day, here.

Today has been jam-packed, so this blog post will be divided into two separate posts.

Due to jetlag, I woke up early, so I was at the Family History Library when it opened.

I already have gone through the microfilms that the library has for my ancestral towns so I didn't look through films, but the breadth of material the library has is unmatched.  I spent a bit of time going through the library but was told to head back later when the library's Eastern Europe expert would be there.

Next up was a talk by Ava "Sherlock" Cohn, the photo genealogist (and fellow Shpikov descendent) who spoke on "Clued In: Petticoats and Puttees: Identifying the Clothing in WWI Family Photographs."  She has a background in art history and costume history.

IAJGS2014 Conference - Day 1

Day 1 of the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy.  My entire summary, day by day, here.

I attended part of Steve Morse's talk. I've used his one-step pages many times, and this was an overview. I jotted down some notes while he was talking.

IAJGS2014 Conference Next Week!

Next week, I'll be attending IAJGS2014 in Salt Lake City   I'll also be presenting on Sunday afternoon.  Hopefully I'll have a chance to check out the Family History Library (although with the number of films I have on permanent loan locally, I'm not sure what else I'll be able to find) and see lots of genealogy friends (and some cousins as well--some of whom I've met via genealogy).

I'll be blogging as well, just as I did last year at IAJGS2013 in Boston.  So keep an eye on the blog....

Ancestor Deep Dive/Tracing Mira's Children: Pesha Riva Lefand Tolchinsky

This post fits into both the series of Ancestor Deep Dives as well as tracing the children of my great-great-great grandmother, Mira Halperin Lefand Marienhoff.

Pesha Riva Lefand was my great-great grandmother.  She was born in what is now Nezhin, Ukraine (and was then in the Russian Empire) on May 24, 1874, to Yehoshua and Mira Lefand.

Birth Record for Pesha Riva/Rivka Lefand, Nezhin, Ukraine, 1874

Moshe Dovid Fine Tax Record

I did a deep dive earlier on my great-great grandfather, Moshe Dovid Fine.  Since then, I have a new document that backs up some of the stories that my grandmother had told about him and the fact that he had enough land to have a large vegetable garden and fruit trees.

He was a land-owner in Shklyn--enough to pay taxes:

Tax Record for Charukov Township, Town of Shklyn, 1930s--line 247; Source: State archive of Volyn Oblast. Fond 36, opys 4, file 281, page 114

Moszko Fajn owned 800 sazhens of land (equal to about .8999 acres) in Skhlyn.  He owed 0.42 zlotys in state tax and 0.25 zlotys in municipal tax yearly.