Tkatch-ing Up to the Sanshucks

Through my Shpikov/Krasnoye project, I've obtained lots of vital records for both towns over the past few years.  After a first large batch of records helped me to unravel my Sanshuck and Brandman families, the few years' worth of records I got since then weren't too helpful--or so I thought.

Ukraine SIG obtained a large batch of records recently (an entire list of what they got can be seen here), and I got very excited to see some Krasnoye records listed which were new to our project.  My initial scan through the documents was disappointing, as I didn't see any Sanshucks or Brandmans.  But then I looked more closely.  There were vital events for some Tkatch brothers--and the names of those brothers, their wives, and their father exactly matched those of Krasnoye's Sanshuck brothers.  I looked back at records I'd transcribed previously and there they were again.

Marriage of Yitzchok son of Yisrael Tkatch (my 5th great uncle) and Reiza daughter of Dovid Grupenman, 1842
(This isn't from the latest batch of records since I can't share those images--but I've had this for a few years without knowing they were really Sanshucks!)

IAJGS Conference, Days 2-3

(I'll be blogging about IAJGS2017 all week.  You can see all IAJGS2017 posts here and posts for all IAJGS conferences I've attended here.)

I made the highlights clip for Day 1!  You can see it here (I'm right at the beginning), and you can also see the whole talk if you have a LIVE! subscription.

On Monday (day #2) of the conference, I started off with a FamilySearch breakfast (shout out to them for including boxes of cold cereal & milk, so I was actually able to eat something) where they discussed the potential for FamilySearch and some of the project/SIG leaders to work together.  Some of the SIGs already have agreements for joint projects with FamilySearch.

My Second Talk of the Conference

IAJGS2017, Day 1

(I'll be blogging about IAJGS2017 all week.  You can see all IAJGS2017 posts here and posts for all IAJGS conferences I've attended here.)

Today got off to an early (6:15AM) flight to Orlando.  We were at the hotel by 9:30, and then it was off for registration and to start the day!

All Registered!

IAJGS2017 Coming Up!

I'm off to Orlando for the International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies' annual conference!  I'll be doing several different kinds of presentations, including one of which will be livestreamed.  Details are as follows:

Rosenfeld Connection

(Note: I'm giving three presentations at next week's IAJGS conference.  Hope to see some readers there!)

Back in August 2014, I wrote about two brothers (David and Chaim/Hyman Rosenfeld) who were related in some manner to the Diamond family.  When they came to America, they were on the same ship with Morris Dorfman (husband of my grandfather's Aunt Shaindel/Jennie) and some other relatives, and they were going to join their cousin L. Diamond, who was my grandfather's Uncle Leibish (Louis Diamond in America).

Rosenfeld Brothers' Ship Manifest; 1909

Diamond Cousins Reunited, 100+ Years Later

Back in May 2013, I got my first FamilyTreeDNA FamilyFinder (autosomal) results back and contacted a predicted 1st-3rd cousin match.  Long story short (and you can read the long story here--it still gives me chills), my grandfather's aunt Shaindel was not killed in the Holocaust as had been recorded in my family tree since around 1990, but rather she was living in Detroit.  Jennie Diamond Dorfman (as she was known in America) had six children who lived to adulthood, seventeen grandchildren who lived to adulthood, and dozens of great- and great-great grandchildren.

My Grandfather's Aunt, Jennie Diamond Dorfman

PD Index for Jewish Ancestry--Some Wrinkles

I'm a geek.  And as a genealogist, genetic genealogy plays right into that--I can use my math and science background to leverage another tool to better understand my family's history.  The more relatives who have tested, the better fidelity I can get in understanding which DNA came from which ancestors which can then help me identify other relatives via DNA.  In doing this, I have tested a lot of cousins (around 50), and I'm still going--I just sent in 3 kits this week, and another relative is hopefully shipping his back directly right around now.

Some of my kits on GedMatch.  Yes, there are a lot.