Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain Blog

Our next weekday meeting in the JGSGB Virtual Meeting Programme is a specialist talk from the Chilterns Regional Group by Zoom on an Eastern European theme. • Date: Tuesday 7 December 2021 • Time: 19.30 London, 14:30 New York, 11:30 San Francisco, 21:30 Jerusalem • Title: "Moshe Chaim, Czar of Pinsk: Tests, Trees and Truth" • Speaker: Michael Shade • Description: It’s the usual story. Our speaker knew next-to-nothing about his great-grandmother, and nothing at all about her family, apart from the name of her father. Then, a couple of years ago, he took a DNA test, and was playing about with the results, when he realised that half-a-dozen of his matches all matched not only him but each other as well. A Cluster of Cousins! But who were they? Several of them had skimpy trees, but none had names he recognised, and they all seemed to contradict each other. Then gradually it all began to fall into place. Sort of…   About Michael Shade Michael’s grandparents all emigrated from East...

Our next meeting in the JGSGB Virtual Meeting Programme is a German Special Interest Group Meeting by Zoom. • Date: Sunday 5 Dec 2021 • Time: 14:00 London; 09:00 New York; 16:00 Jerusalem; 07:00 Salt Lake City • Title: “Primary Jewish records in Austria Hungary” • Speaker: Christina Kaul • Description: Our talk concerns Jewish records in Austria Hungary (Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, Hungary). The sources cover Jewish community books, Familianten books and Catholic control books on Jewish inhabitants as well as Jewish conscriptions and land records. The talk will focus on primary records rather than secondary databases like JewishGen and thus allow researchers and family historians to go back further in time; for example, the 1651 census in Moravia includes Jewish communities and that in parts of Moravia Jewish land records are digitized going back as far as 1550. After Christina’s talk, you will be able to ask her questions about it. About Christina Kaul Christina Kaul is a law...

Our next meeting in the JGSGB Virtual Meeting Programme is a speaker meeting from the JGSGB Anglo-Jewish Special Interest Group (Anglo SIG) by Zoom. Here is the information for this meeting: • Date: Sunday 21 Nov 2021 • Time: 14:30 London (note, 09:30 New York, 16:30 Jerusalem, 15:30 Switzerland) • Title: Medway and its Jewish Community • Speaker: Irina Fridman • Description: This talk provides a comprehensive history of one of the largest provincial Jewish communities of Victorian Britain and fills in a gap in both Jewish and local historiography.   After the talk, there will be an opportunity for Q&A and discussion on the talk. Following a quick tea break, we will return for a workshop where we will offer help for any genealogical problems and listen to your genealogical successes. Beginners always welcome. About Irina Fridman Irina Fridman is a librarian, local historian and author of Foreigners, Aliens, Citizens: Medway and its Jewish community, 1066–1939 . She is the educ...

See https://www.fhf-reallyuseful.com/

Our meeting after next in the JGSGB Virtual Meeting Programme is from the JGSGB DNA Special Interest Group (DNA SIG) by Zoom, open to all JGSGB members. • Date: Sunday 14 November 2021 • Time: 14:00 London; 09:00 New York; 16:00 Jerusalem; 15:00 Switzerland • Title: DNA Ethics – I wouldn’t do that if I were you! • Speaker: Laurence Harris • Description: As family historians we all face ethical dilemmas from time to time. What information should we divulge, to whom, when and how? What might be the consequences? When should we say nothing, and when is saying nothing inappropriate? What if doing a great good for one individual comes with a risk of hurting the feelings of another? If someone is deceased then can we freely publish information about them? And does it make any difference if their death was 5 years ago or 100 years ago? The rapid growth of DNA testing as a basic tool used in genealogical research has both compounded and magnified the ethical issues. What are the ethical danger...

Our next Sunday meeting in the JGSGB Virtual Meeting Programme is a specialist talk on an Anglo-Jewish burial theme by Zoom. Following on from our tour of Willesden cemetery on 22 August for 14 JGSGB members – our first in-person meeting in 18 months – we are delighted to extend a virtual tour to the rest of our members. • Date: Sunday 7 November 2021 • Time: 14:00 London; 09:00 New York; 16:00 Jerusalem; 15:00 Switzerland • Title: “Uncovering Buried Histories - A virtual tour through Willesden Jewish Cemetery” • Speaker: Liz Manuel • Description: The Cemetery charts the development of London’s Jewish community over 150 years. Its graves and memorials are rich in social history with people buried here from all walks of life – from forgotten artists to leading scientists. The Cemetery was created in 1870, as a burial site for Jews of German and Dutch origin, and has long been considered a prestigious place to be buried. Following the model of contemporaneous Victorian cemeteries, Willes...