Researching Your Jewish Family History and Heritage

 

(Originally a guest post on the JewishGen blog on June 17, 2010)

In 2008, I suffered a great loss when all three of my remaining grandparents passed away. As I began to reflect on the relationships that I had with them, I realized how little I really knew. I spoke with my parents and became increasingly interested in finding out more.

I began my blog in an attempt to share my research with my relatives and friends. As I began to read blogs, listen to podcasts, and research at libraries, I decided to focus on my mom's side of the family. I knew that we were descended from Russian Jews and that my great grandfather, Myer Krueger, had come over around 1900.

I turned to JewishGen.org for more information on the Jewish side of my heritage. Since I was self-taught and was wandering a bit aimlessly through my research, it made sense to me to sign up for the Basic Genealogy Class that was to begin in May.

Once I had signed up for the class, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Message boards are used to publish the daily posts and the lessons for the students of the class. I felt a bit over overwhelmed at first with the many posts that began to flood the board, but found that the moderator, Nancy Collier Holden, was a wonderful guide as we began the class. With close to forty class members, she had her work cut out for her.

Each student was asked to introduce themselves and detail what family line they want to work on. Nancy helped keep us focused on working on one family line and provided suggestions for new resources when we became blocked by a brick wall. I just wish I had the time available like the others in the class! There are class members who have posted upwards of fifty times. I think I only posted about ten times to report my progress.

Overall, the class was a great way to learn the basics of genealogical research and to become familiar with the JewishGen resources on the website. In particular, I wanted to share a few key lessons that I came away with.

1. Focus on one branch at a time and learn all you can about that family. Document your searches and what you find and do your best to research in a logical progression. It is easy to get excited about new information that you may unearth, and before you know it, you are researching a line of the family that is far from where you were.
2. Study the history of that time period of the family. Learn about the culture in the country of origin. There are many books and websites that can provide you with valuable insight.
3. Talk with those relatives! They have a vast resource of memories and may provide new avenues for research. Look through old photographs, family diaries, notes, and letters. You never know what new detail will open doors for you.
4. There are many free services provided through local libraries and you may not even need to go to the location itself. You may be able to log on remotely through the library.
5. Ask for help. Talk out your brick walls with your fellow genealogists. They may have great suggestions on where to look next. Write letters to county archives, synagogues, and other connections that your ancestor may have had.
6. Finally, I recommend this class to anyone who is researching their family history. It's a great way to get focused on what you are trying to achieve as well as a way to refresh your methodology.

As you take the class, I would suggest copying the posts from the message boards to a document or print them out so that you can refer to them later. There is so much information inside the lessons and posts that you may find something new the next time you look at them.

I know that I will be mining those documents for the next few months as I continue my own search for my ancestors.

 

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Interviewing Bubbe*

*bubbe (Yid.) grandmother

For those looking to get started in researching your Jewish genealogy there are many ways to get started.  From experience, I have learned that the best place to start is in talking with the oldest generations of your Jewish family.  My grandmother was one of those rare people who wrote down her memories for posterity’s sake.  As a result, I had a great document to refer to whenever I got stuck.  Not everyone is as fortunate.  So, my recommendation to you is to start by interviewing your oldest living Jewish relatives.

Sometimes older relatives may feel self-conscious or suspicious about your reasons for asking so many questions.   Be sure to explain to them that you are trying to learn about your family’s history and that you want to know more about what their life experiences have been.  Tell them that you will share your genealogical findings with them and usually this will be enough to open them up to being interviewed.   If not, sometimes you can get someone to open up by simply interviewing someone else in front of them.  Before long they will be throwing in their two cents as well!

You may find that you will have so many questions that you want to interview them several times.   This is a good thing because often, once you get your relative to think about the past… new stories will come up in subsequent meetings.

There are a number of items I would suggest you take with you in preparation:

1. A recording device.
   Whether it’s a video camera or some kind of audio recorder it doesn’t matter.  I find that audio tends to be less obtrusive and easier for your relative to deal with.  However, if you can get a video camera the result could become something priceless for future generations to see your relative share their stories.  Regardless, I would strongly recommend that you record the conversation in some way so that you won’t have to take a lot of notes.  Being more present in the conversation will help you to draw your relative in and ask supplementary questions that may occur to you as you talk.  I have a great little device called the Blue Microphone Mikey that I can attach to my iPod that records easily and is down-loadable into iTunes for my use later.  If your relative doesn’t want you to record it, I recommend typing up your notes as soon after the interview as possible.  It’s easy to forget things weeks later!
2. Bring a list of questions.
   There are many great lists of questions available online.  In particular, you might want to look at the JewishGen InfoFiles page which has an extensive list of questions.  You might want to ask about your relatives’ memories of certain holidays like Hanukkah, Passover, or Purim.   Memories of family weddings, bat/bar mitzvahs, and funerals may also yield some interesting tales.  A wonderful book by Arthur Kurzweil, “From Generation to Generation” has some great questions within it as well.
3. Bring photographs that you may have.
   Sometimes a great way to break the ice is to look through old family photos.  You may hear stories of Great Aunt Beulah that you’d never heard before.  Perhaps you’ll discover that you’re relatives used to get together every year at Thanksgiving and have potlucks and talent shows.  You just never know!  Plus, you may be able to better identify who is in that picture that you didn’t know before.  Write on the back of the picture or on a post-it (in pencil!) who everyone is, rough time period, and what was going on if they can remember.  These are priceless bits of information you can refer to later in your research.
4. Bring a digital camera or scanner in case your relative digs out some documents or photos you’ve never seen before.
   Take a picture of family heirlooms that may be around the house too.  Ask if there are candlesticks, kiddush cups, ketubah, letters, immigration papers, passports, and recipes that you could see.
5. Ask who else in the family might have information to share.
6. Finally, try your best not to ask “Yes” or “No” questions.
   You want to get them talking and telling stories!

My last bit of advice on this is to be proud of yourself for trying to do this.  It’s not easy to sit down with older relatives sometimes. There are generational barriers that may make you hesitant to ask personal questions.  But remember, your interest in their life and their stories is something that can be passed on to future generations.

“If you don’t recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are.” – Madeleine L’Engle

 

This blog entry was originally written for “The In-Depth Genealogist”.

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