Sunday, July 31, 2022

Probable Relatives Becoming Definite Relatives - Keep Track of Those Stray Branches!

I'll often find a family with the surname that I'm researching, in a place nearby where my family lived, but where I don't know for sure how (or even if!) they are actually related to me.  I keep track of these families and often can connect them into my larger trees later; other times I'm able to prove that they're actually not related to the family I've been researching.  I'm always glad later that I've kept track of these stray branches, because the information is often helpful.

Birth of Yerachmiel Diment; Torchin; 1926

Sunday, July 10, 2022

Chernigov Guberniya Jewish Community Records, 1839-1842

(ADDITION:  Please do not contact me asking me to search for your specific ancestral surname.  A link to the records are below, so you can search for as many names as you want.  And yes, I had to add this because of the number of personal requests I've received--there are over 1000 pages here!)

Two days before the Russians invaded Ukraine, I had sent money to Chernihiv Archives to get records that I thought would contain metrical (vital) records for the Nizhyn/Nezhin Jewish community.  Once the invasion happened, I (understandably!) didn't receive the records.  So I was very surprised to get a recent email letting me know that my records were ready to be downloaded.  And I was also surprised to see what was actually in this (huge) file.

A page of family lists