Tracing your family history
- Have you ever wanted to research your family history, but don't know where to start?
- Have you been researching your family for years, but have hit a "brick wall"?
- You may have lots and lots of cousins! Has a DNA test told you that you are a third cousin of a famous person, but you don't know what the connection is?
If you've answered "yes" to any of these, then you will want to join other members of the community for this free series.
What will be covered in three introductory sessions:
- Overview of genealogy and step-by-step methods on how to do research.
- How to use the various databases, such as Ancestry.com, JewishGen.org, Library of the Latter-Day Saints, Newspapers.com, etc.
- We'll talk a bit about the history of Jews in Europe and how surnames evolved.
- How to organize and disseminate the results of your research.
- The challenges and rewards of DNA testing, including what can unlock our origins, ethnicity, and link us to hundreds to thousands of close and distant relatives that we never even knew!!
When: Three sessions to be held at 7 – 8:30 PM
Oct. 19, 2022, Nov. 16, 2022, & Dec. 7, 2022 (More may be scheduled depending upon interest)
Where: Shaarai Shomayim social hall (more details forthcoming).
In person with possible Zoom options, and all Zoom if Covid restrictions are necessary.
RSVP to [email protected] required, no later than Monday, October 10th.
It is not necessary to attend every class, but please include the following in your email:
- Your name(s)
- Which sessions you will likely be able to attend
Our instructors:
- Alan Levine: Alan has been researching his family since 2004 and has a family tree with more than 2000 names in it, dating back to the late 18th century in Poland. For the past 13 years, he worked as a translator for the Bessarabia Special Interest Group, working on various types of vital records. To date, he has translated about 100,000 individual records. In his spare time, he teaches math at F&M, but only for one more semester.
- Gary Levinson: Gary started his genealogy research when he was about 10 years old. He would go to his Bubby’s house in Trenton, NJ and talk to her about "the old country". She was very happy to talk about her life in Bykhov, Russia. From that point on, Gary began to talk to relatives on both sides of his family and over the years, started to look for records in various archives by mail (computers weren't around yet). Later, his wife Toni started working on her genealogy when their grandchildren had Bar and Bat Mitzvah age assignments in their schools. Both Gary and Toni have taken genealogy courses through Lancaster History.org and the IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies) through their yearly conventions. Through Toni's research, she connected with cousins that were part of the famed Bielski Brigade and many more exciting connections. DNA is also a part of our genealogy research, which has added many more connections to our family and much shared information.
