Genealogy

For the past several years, I have been doing a pretty extensive family history project. I've talked to dozens of family members, closely or distantly related. Some knew who I was, and some have not had contact with my immediate family for 50 years! I'd like to share some of the stories that I've been told by family members.

Jewish genealogy has its own challenges that are different from other types of genealogical research. Records were not always kept well in Eastern Europe. What records that do exist may be in Hebrew, Russian, Polish, Yiddish, even about the same town! Names were changed in the new world, making it difficult to connect families by the surname alone. Most of all, as the depravity of 19th century Europe were being left behind, many immigrants wanted to leave its memory behind as well.

With the generous help of my extended family, I've discovered a lot about the experiences of my ancestors. Between 1890 and 1927, my grandparents and great-grandparents made their way from Europe to America, fleeing adversity and poverty, to make a new home. I've also met and become better acquainted with an extremely interesting and kind extended family.

• Weil - My paternal grandfather's family from Galicia (Poland).
• Goldner - My paternal grandmother's family, from Romania.
• Telles and Birnberg - My maternal grandfather's family, from Bessarabia (now Ukraine).
• Broitman - My maternal grandmother's family, from Ukraine.

You can also see the spreadsheet tools I've been putting together for saving the results of computer genealogical searches: The EIDB spreadsheet.

In the future, I hope to add more photographs and charts. If you have any suggestions for changes, please e-mail me at . I would also love it if you would sign our guestbook.

Some people have asked me why I am doing this project. Here is the answer.