Useful Genealogy Links
If you're just beginning to study your family's history, keep in mind that many of the vital records in 19th century Poland are handwritten in Russian. That's right; when the Cossacks weren't terrorizing our ancestors, they were keeping our records. Go figure. Remember, too, that there is no "Y" in Polish or German; it's usually written as "J."
If you're just beginning to study your family's history, keep in mind that many of the vital records in 19th century Poland are handwritten in Russian. That's right; when the Cossacks weren't terrorizing our ancestors, they were keeping our records. Go figure. Remember, too, that there is no "Y" in Polish or German; it's usually written as "J."
- ancestry.com -- This is probably the most comprehensive genealogical resource on the web. Paid membership is required to use some other tools, including:
- stevemorse.org -- A compendium of tools to make the best use of a large list of databases, including immigration, census, and vital records for various locales in America. It allows you to do more comprehensive searches of the Ellis Island records.
- http://www.ellisislandrecords.org – I’ve been disappointed by this long-awaited site, which contains ships’ records of millions of immigrants to America; as many have noted, it's slow, there are errors in the data, and the indexes are missing records that I know to exist.
- http://erosenbaum.netfirms.com/eidb.shtml -- I haven’t yet tried it yet, but this program, available for $20, provides alternative spelling searches of names in the Ellis Island records.
- http://www.nara.gov -- Some people think the American government is corrupt and/or inefficient. There are times I don't disagree. But I'm always inspired when I visit the regional office of the National Archives and Records Administration in New York City. NARA’s offices maintain a wealth of information, including manifests of ships arriving at America’s ports. The manifests and census records are well-indexed, and the staff has never failed to be helpful.
- http://www.JewishGen.Org -- Does your family think you're becoming obsessed with your interest in genealogy? They’re probably right. Think you're alone in your quest? You're not. Lots of other Jews -- and non-Jews -- searching for their roots find connections to their past here.
- http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/ -- The Virtual Shtetl provides a wealth of information about Jewish life in towns in Eastern Europe.