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Find genealogy information from each state -- State by State
State information below. Please scroll down to the State of interest Relatively few Jews lived in the United States while George Washington was President. There were 1,350 at that time, constituting 0.03 percent of the national population and the total number did not reach 50,000 until 1850. Today, Jews account for less than two percent of the population and hold more than 30 seats in Congress. At first, they were Sefardic immigrants who were later supplanted by German Jews who would then be overwhelmed by the arrival of East European Jews between 1880 and 1920. There is a lot of excellent in-depth information available to Jewish genealogists researching from the comfort of their home --- using their home computer. Since most of us have limited income, the cost of traveling to a resource and the cost of telephoning can be a problem, however, I've discovered a wonderful work-around and am happy to share this point of information with you. This program works for those researchers who live in the US, though I have been in contact with a Jewish scientist living in Donetsk, Ukraine, who tells me he uses this program to call his sister in San Francisco. Maybe this will work for those of you who live outside of the US. If it does work for you, please let me know so I can share the good news with others. Political Contribution List - offers one to search for people who contributed money to various political campaigns by zip code or by name. Search Engines
If you are searching the US for records information, there are many places you can check out - on the Internet - right now! There is always "one more way" to find information i.e. by name; by country; by city; by county, by birth; by emigration information, by occupation or profession and more. Don't ever give up your search for your roots! Somewhere, someplace, your ancestors have left a paper trail. You can also find a list of search engines at my Genealogy web page. Click Here Another great web site to locate people: Try these search sites - also check out the search sites at my 'Search' page Alta Vista First Gov is a wonderful site to start at when researching both US government and State Government information A commercial search site operated by Northern Light is specially designed for government customized searches, and is a powerful, easy to use site with links to thousands of government web sites. They offer a Day pass for $5.00 to an Annual Pass for $250.00. You can now search on-line for Birth, Marriage and Deaths Ads by Historical Societies addresses in the US, Canada and Australia Infobel and Infospace covers the US and many other countries: http://www.infospace.com Jewish Genealogical Societies - a list of 80 Societies located around the world can be found at "Jewish Heroes and Heroines of America" - four exhibits containing 168 articles, each one illustrated, of Jewish heroes and heroines of America, in war and in peace, from colonial times to the present Jewish Museums in the U.S. - a complete list of every Jewish Museum is available by writing to The National Foundation for Jewish Culture, 330 7th Ave., 21st floor, New York, NY 10001, or cal (212) 629 0500. Ask for the free list of the 60 institutional members of the Council of American Jewish-Museums. Latter Day Saints (LDS) (Mormon Church) Family Search site - has many branches throughout the world. It's main library is located in Salt Lake City, Utah and the Family History Library Catalog is located at Name Searches: with a name and birth date you may be able to find a city and state New England Genealogy Collections not in New England http://home.att.net/~SGTAYLOR1/NECollections.html Obituary Look Ups - Ida Selavan Schwarcz idayosef@barak-online.net states in a posting to JewishGen Discussion group on 12/8/02 the following: "As a former reference librarian at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, I often encountered this question (re the notion of obituaries of Jews who died in the New York area). None of the New York newspapers, including the ones in Yiddish, commonly carried obituaries of ordinary people. If the dead person was well-known, or had died in mysterious circumstances, or had died at a very old age, there might be a write-up. Also, sometimes the families put paid death notices in newspapers. In smaller towns, where there were just one or two Jewish funeral homes, all Jewish dead were mentioned in death notices." SHG Resource Network - information available by State by clicking on the state of interest from the map State Links - Welcome to the ultimate source of authentic and reliable information about the US States on the net. The links in this directory will guide you to the official sites of the states you are looking for. US Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts - the PACER Service Center is the Federal Judiciary's centralized registration, billing, and technical support center for electronic access to U.S. District, Bankruptcy, and Appellate court records Vital Records Search for any State - Vital records information for the United States - U.S. Map, States & Territories, Guidelines, Birth, Death, Marriage and Divorce are available using the links Some of the States' archives have searchable data on line. There are mailing lists and newsgroups for every state, and just about every county. Pretrieve - a site to search for Public Records of US individuals for most states Western United States in the early days ... early Jewish settlers were miners, explorers, gunslingers, suppliers, store owners and yes, even cowboys. There was a song written "I'm a Yiddish Cowboy" that was written by Tough Guy Levi, would you believe? Jews came to the American West in the 16th century, when they were expelled from Spain. Many of these Conversos came to what was then called New Spain which later became Mexico in 1821. From there, they spread to what is now Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. And from there, they spread across the West. World Searches: Yearbook Searches - Joe Bott has a large collection of Yearbook images on his web site called Dead Freds Genealogy Photo Archive. This is a free, fun web site devoted to helping you visualize your heritage and offers a searchable database that contains thousands of identified photos, as well as mystery photos for genealogy enthusiasts looking for long-lost relatives. Probably one of the first sites to review, after you determine that you have determined a specific known relative to research --- and you know they were born, married or died in a particular state. There maybe a modest fee. Lots of links as well are offered. Thousands of other Internet sites that may have links to other web research sites are included in the lists that follow.
Note that there are books mentioned under the State information below and if you wish to purchase them you can use my Amazon.com link by "The American Medical Directory & Physicians Guide" contains relevant data on over 500,000 physicians in the United States. Each record is indexed by such features as name, address, phone/fax, county, year licensed, type of practice, type of physician, as well as primary and secondary specialty. Fax : 905-751-0199. (tel: 905-751-0919). "The Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad" "Early American Jews" - authored by Lee M. Friedman and published in 1934. The book has an entire chapter devoted to the Jewish arrival in NY in 1654. "East Side Story" - from another time, a place of faith and glory. An article published in the November 2003 issue of Hadassah Magazine that would be of interest to genealogist researching in New York City. The Central Synagogue, located at Lexington Avenue and East Fifty-Fifth Street is mentioned. "From the Synagogues of the Lower East Side" - authored by Gerald R. Wolfe and published by Washington Mews Books in 1978. "The Frontier Jews" by Rabbi I. Harold Sharfman and published by Citadel Press in 1977 ISBN 0-8065-0649-0 Wealth of information on early Jewish communities in Texas, Pennsylvania, the Great Lakes belt. "The Handybook for Genealogists, United States of America", Eighth edition published by the Everton Publishers, Inc. in 1997 "Jewish Homesteaders on the Northern Plains" - published by Indiana Press - a true story of pioneer Rachel Colof. "On the Lower East Side: Observations of Life in Lower Manhattan at the Turn of the Century" - a collection of articles, documentary sources, and study guides compiled to accompany the course, An Urban Experience: New York City's Lower East Side, 1880-1920. Readers can learn how people coped with, and sometimes prevailed over, the forces of industrialization, immigration, and urbanization. Submitted on JewishGen on 1/28/2004 by Bernard Kouchel koosh@att.net "Quarantine!: East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892" - authored by Howard Markel -
"Shalom Y'all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South", photographs by Bill Aron. Text by Vicki Reikes Fox and published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. A Black and white photographic story of the Jews of the Deep South: Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas. 164 pages. "Sixty Years in Southern California" - authored by Harris Newmark and describes early Jewish Los Angeles life of the Newmark family. "Sources in the United States and Canada" (The encyclopedia of Jewish Genealogy, Vol 1) - authored by Miriam Weiner The Syllabus of the 2000 International Summer Conference on Jewish Genealogy, contained a valuable compilation of the names of some 800 books on North American Jewish communities. This index created by Joan Rimmon and Hal Bookbinder is especially useful for the time prior to public records being collected. These books will frequently give old synagogue or cemetery records, among other things. This compilation is on-line at General Jews can trace their first arrival in North America to the French privateer, St Catherine which brought 23 Jewish refugees from Recife, Brazil to New Amsterdam, which later was renamed New York. Today, near the landing site in Battery Park at Whitehall and State Streets, there is a monument commemorating the settlement of these first Jewish settlers in the US. The plaque on that monument reads: "Erected by the State of New York To Honor the Memory Of the Twenty-Three Men, Women and Children Who Landed in September 1654 and Founded the First Jewish Community in North America". Further information can be found in "The Grandees: America's Sephardic Elite" by Stephen Birmingham and in Malcolm Stern's "Americans of Jewish Descent". Global Gazetteer is a great web site. It is a directory of 2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country and linked to a map for each town. A tab separated list is available for each country. American Association of Jewish Libraries American Family History - this site provides timeline, links and other interesting features American Jewish Archives The American Jewish Historical Society Manuscript Database, located at 2 Thorinton Road, Waltham, MA 02154 American Jewish Historical Society and the AJHS Photograph Archive collection of 113 images at http://www.ajhs.org/mira.htm American Jewish History - celebrating 350 years as of September 2004 The American Jewish Legacy (AJL) is a national effort to preserve and document the unique, rich history of traditional Jewish congregations, individuals, and communities in the United States from Colonial times to the present. Archives U.S. National Archives has biographic records including personal information on more than 2.1 million individuals who were process3ed by the Einwandererzentralstelle (EWZ). The EWZ was established to facilitate the immigration and naturalization of the ethnic Germans who were nominally citizens of other countries of Europe (e.g., Soviet Union, Romania, etc.) during the period 1939-1945. These records are reproduced on approximately 8,600 rolls of microfilm and are available through the US National Archives in College Park, Maryland. for further information contact Laverty Krupnak Lkrupnak@erols.com
Links to Vital information in selected foreign countries or counties: http://vitalrec.com/index.html
City Directories for most large and medium sized cities in the US are available on microfilm in the series "City Directories of the United States 1789 - 1935 and can be found in many large public and university libraries. They can also be borrowed through any LDS Family History Center. Primary Source Media's Genealogical Archives Online: City Directories of the US offers access to results in the following city directories for free: http://www.citydirectories.psmedia.com/city/free_search.html For Detroit lookups, for free, contact Mike Zapolski who will do a lookup at To find others who will do free City Directory lookups visit http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~angels/ R L Polk City Directory - it is NOT a cross-index directory (such as Bresser's) compiled from last year's phone book. However, it is like a cross-index directory in that you can locate residents using their street address. Today's Polk city directories have 3 sections: residents enumerated by alphabetic street names and number; residents enumerated by alphabetic last names (like a phone book) and residents enumerated by phone number. Up through the 1970s and early 1980s, a Polk City Directory used to be compiled by enumerators who went door to door in cities and larger towns and villages asking the residents to them the name of the head of the household, his occupation and where he worked, and later on his wife's name (not shown in the earliest publications). Like any information source, the accuracy of the listing would depend on how well the enumerators did their job and if residents (accurately) answered the questions. And the pay in the 1970s-1980s was low - minimum wage plus a bonus for speed - NOT ACCURACY. If no one gave conflicting information, the publisher would keep the old listing. Civil War - there is a database of about 7,000 Jewish soldiers Classmates - more than 2 million alumni registered at The Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad http://www.preservationcommission.org/ County Resources in the US - find information by State and/or County within that state Courts Around The US - Contact information Cyndi's List offers many genealogical links to various web sites http://www.CyndisList.com Federal Gateway Site - Research government related documents and information Flu Epidemic of 1918 - 1919 -at the time, many deaths were attributable, but not noted in death records, to the terrible epidemic that swept through the country. Freedom of Information Form (FOIA) - you can request a form G639 by calling the INS at 1 800 870 3676. If you need further help, call the INS help line at 1 800 375 5283. Press 1 for the English option, then wait through the first set of six options and press 9 to talk to an agent.
Genealogy Help List - consists of volunteers who are willing to help others by looking up specific items at institutions near them, or help supply other information easily accessible to them. Genealogy Resources - tons of links by State http://genealogy.traveller.com/genealogy/othergen.htm German Jews Traveling Route to the Midwest of US - German Jews bound for the Midwest, generally traveled from New York City by paddle steamer up the Hudson, and thence via the Great Lakes. From the Hudson river they sailed up the Erie (not Welland) Canal of course, then via the Detroit Creek and Lake St Claire into Lake Huron and from there to Lake Michigan and Chicago. Others continued through the Soo Canal to Duluth, and then headed south through Minnesota. My information related to German Jews in mid-century. The routes changed later in the century as the network of railroads was constructed, offering faster and more comfortable access to the American heartland. I have been told that some Ukrainian Jews disembarked in Nova Scotia and made their way across Canada to Winnipeg. Some Jewish settlers in Minnesota had come from Winnipeg, I'm further told. From a posting to JewishGen by Michael Bernet on 4/2/02 Immigration and Naturalization web site http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/aboutins/history/index.htm A online searchable database of the Index to Brooklyn Naturalizations (1907-1924) is located in the Kings County Clerk's Office. Over 65,000 names are in this database. The database is accessible through the JGS (NY) homepage located at "Try the database for Brooklyn naturalizations. The records are kept in the Kings County Clerk's Office." Alan Shuchat ashuchat@wellesley.edu Internet Research Resource - Advanced Business Search; White Pages/People Search
JEWISH LIFE IN AMERICA 1654-2004 JewishGen SIG Mailing List - a web site listing all of the current SIG's (Special Interest Groups) discussion groups and forums that are sponsored by JewishGen Jewish Orphanages in the US - this site, created by Marge-Spears Soloff, includes archival and historical information of over 100 Jewish Orphanages in 49 cities and 23 states; information about the Jewish child Care Association of New York; Federal, State and New York City police census lists and other material Jewish Theological Seminary Jewish Women's Archive JGSNY (Jewish Genealogical Society - New York Library of Congress American Memories Collection - is a large collection of photos from the turn of the century. The Library is composed of three large buildings; Madison, Adams and Jefferson Buildings. The Madison and Jefferson are the more important facilities to your research. Check out these sites for further details. This site will give you the call numbers for any publications you wish to review. Interlibrary Loan Program - an excellent source for rare books is the U.S. Library of Congress, but the institution will not loan books that are in poor physical condition because of the risk of further damage. A new service is being tested to overcome this problem. These fragile documents are being scanned and offered to interlibrary loan members on the Internet. The American Folklife Center - at the Library of Congress is seeking audio and video recordings, letters, diaries, photographs, maps, home movies, drawings -- anything that helps you tell your story about your WW I or II or other war stories. For a project kit, applications and more detailed information on ways to participate: write to the Veterans history Project, Library of Congress/American Folklife Center, 101 Independence Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20540-4614. The center offers advice and sample questions to students and family members who wish to interview veterans for oral histories. The Research and Reference site - read about the rooms you will most likely be using: Main Reading Room (for called books); Microform Room (for City Directories); Local History and Genealogy Room for Newspapers and Periodicals Room (for obits). (The Hebraic Section) Suggested Plan to Visit the Library of Congress: From the Second Street Researcher Entrance of the Jefferson Building (have Photo i.d.) go directly to Room G-40 to obtain a free researcher card. Leave any briefcases in the Cloak Room. Take the elevator to the first floor. Present your card at the desk in the hall and enter the Main Reading Room. Go to the Book Service Desk and fill out your call slips for books. This can take up to one hour, so while waiting go to the Microfilm Room (near the Main Reading Room). Here you will find City Directories in "help yourself" drawers. Fiche and Microfilm readers and printers are located here and in the loft area. Have $1.00 bills to purchase a "printing card". The Madison Building has a snack bar in the tunnel and a cafeteria on the 6th floor with limited hours for visitors. Web Address for the Library of Congress is Libraries by State - Licensing Agencies - by State Library of Congress: Map Collections 1544 - 1996; Military Maps. Environmental Maps. Maps that "record the evolution" of American cities. This site offers more than 4.5 million old and new maps. Prices vary depending on the size of the map and the type of reproduction, but the basic charge for oversize photocopies is $2.00 per linear foot ($5.00 minimum) plus shipping and handling. Maps and more Maps - are available at the Library of Congress which has hundreds of volumes of Sanborns, from around the US. Fire Insurance Maps - There are over 700,000 map sheets for more than 12,000 American cities and towns from the 1870s until the 1950s. http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trr016.html Free Maps from The US Library of Congress - Contact: Dr. Stephan Paczolt, Sr. Technical Information Specialist, Reference Section. E-mail requests: maps@loc.gov Another contact is Michael J. Klein, Senior Reference Librarian, Geography and Map Division, The Library of Congress. Maps - Electronic Map Library site (California State University, Northridge) collection of digital atlases based on census data Green Map System - Helps locate eco-friendly information and businesses, from museums to grocers to renewable resources. National Atlas of the United States
Military Over 550,000 Jews were inducted in the United States Armed Forces during the World War II. From 1940 until war's end, a total of 311 rabbis were commissioned. Of these, 267 served in the Army, 43 in the Navy and one in the Maritime Service. The National Jewish Welfare Board (JWB), in October 1941 met to track Jewish participation in WW II. This information had never been done before and thus these Board members established the Bureau of War Records (BWR). The laws of the US government prevented the government from gathering statistics on the religious affiliation of America's citizens and no one had ever attempted to that time, determine how many Jews lived in the US. There is an excellent and informative article about this subject published on page 18 of the American Jewish Historical Society magazine in their Fall/Winter 2003 issue entitled "Archival Treasure Trove: The Bureau of War Records". "American Jews in World War II" - Volume I published by Dial Press in 1947 and authored by I. Kaufman; Volume II was compiled by the Bureau of War Records of the National Jewish Welfare Board under the direction of Dr. Louis I. Dublin and Dr. Samuel C. Cohs. The list is set up by state. Access to Archival Databases System. This particular database is the "Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938 - 1946". It has records for close to 9 million enlistees in the U.S. Army for WWII. You can search for individual names or by state and county, or a combination. Wildcards are permitted, too. To search by state and county. Click on SEARCH, then select ALL SERIES, the Army file is the sixth entry down. From there it's pretty self-explanatory. Be sure to select the state and county codes from the code lists - don't type the place names in. There are other databases in the ADD. American Battle Monuments Commission - listing of names of those killed in various wars starting with the Mexican War and continuing to the Viet Nam War American War Library - a large list of veteran information and links to other military information Most Bremen, Germany lists were destroyed when the U.S. 8th Army Air Corps, 487th Bombardment Group (Heavy) bombed Bremen on September 26th, 1944 and again on February 24, 1945 during WW II. Burial files for U.S. servicemen killed in action. These burials were handled by the Quartermaster General and are kept separate from service records - thus were not lost in the 1973 file. The National Archives in Washington, D.C. has a Military Archives Section. You need to fill out a form and it will take about a month to receive any available information at a cost to copy of about $10.00. Here is the address: Military Archives Division Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, D.C. Kenneth Poch, spent years cataloguing Jews in Arlington National Cemetery. He eventually collected about 2,700 names among the 250,000 graves, as well as data about family members. Draft Board Locations - World War I, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Long Island, Staten Island and NYC Draft Registration - World War I - Men, born between 1886 and 1900 were required to register. 24 million were registered, including aliens, who were required to register, but were not subject to induction and those who volunteered or were already in the military, did not register. The first registration included men born between June 6,m 1886 and this form's information included birth date, exact birthplace, occupation, previous military experience and nearest relative. There were a total of five draft registrations held. The second registration included men born between June 6, 1896 and June 5, 1897 later adding those born up to August 24, 1897. Included on this form were the country of origin and father's birthplace. The third registration included men born between September 12, 1873 and August 25, 1897 and later to September 12, 1900. This registration form now included occupation, country to which alien is subject and nearest relative. All draft forms required name, residence, date of birth, race, citizenship, where employed, a physical description and a signature. The cards are sorted by State, then County. There are over 8,000 microfilm reels at the National Archives and at the FHCs (under the US - World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918). In order to find a name, you need the address of the draft board where the person was registered. Since men could register anywhere, you may need to write to the NARA closest to the city the ancestor lived in at the time. There are 24 million original World War I Draft Registrations in boxes at the National Archives branch in Atlanta. For a $10.00 check made out to Friends of the National Archives, a member will try to locate the original draft registration and mail a copy of the form to you. Finding out what someone did in World War II has many links to research General George S. Patton Web Pages - features text written by Patton, articles about the war, and links to other WWII sites Hebrew Confederate Cemetery - located in Richmond, VA the only Jewish Military cemetery outside of Israel Jews in the Civil War Also contact Congregation Beth Ahabah in Richmond for possible WW I - The war to end all wars! This excellent encyclopedia provides Axis and Allies - The National World War II Memorial honors all Americans who served during the war, including the more than 400,000 who died. Jewish cemeteries (including Military) information in the United States can be found at Jewish Chaplains in WW II - there is a comprehensive list of Jewish Chaplains who served in WW II. Entries include date of birth, marital status, name of college graduated from, synagogue associated with and where served in the war. The list is published in The American Jewish yearbook, 1945-46, Volume 47. Jewish War Veterans - this is a great site that has a lot of information about American Jewish War Veterans starting with 1896 including help in locating people and information about them. Jewish War Veteran's office is in Washington, DC Phone 202-265-6280 E Mail NMAJMH@nmajmh.org Records of Army Officers after 6/30/1917; Enlisted Personnel after 10/31/1912; Air Force after 0/1947 (year Air Force was established); Navy, Marines, Naval Officers after 1902; Enlisted personnel after 1885; Marine Officers after 1895 and Marine Officers after 1904; Coast Guard Officers after 1928; Enlisted Personnel after 1914. The Washington National records Center has Coast Guard records from 1890 to 1929. In New York, a list and a map, showing the locations of the 189 draft boards in New York City at New York State Archives - published a list of World War I Service Records of those who served from New York State. Check out this site where you can print out a copy of the form to use to order a records search. 1844-1845. Links included: Pearl Harbor Remembered - contains a map of Pearl Harbor, an overview of the attack, a time line of events and a list of casualties http://www.execpc.com/~dschaaf/mainmenu.html Purple Heart Database - scroll to the bottom of the site where you can search a database for purple heart recipients in alphabetical order. Ship Information - ships in the US Navy during WW II with photos at http://www.navsource.org/archives/auxidx.htm The Doughboy Center - a web site that is great for researching Military Records from the first World War. The History Net's WW II - this site features articles such as the "Death of the USS Princeton" The Nizkor Project - a site dedicated to the nearly 12 million victims ruthlessly destroyed by Hitler and his Nazi regime. The site features collections of information about Holocaust - denial and the Holocaust The US State Department - "Jewish Names in Selected U.S. State Department Files (RG59), 1910-1929". This new database can be found at This database contains nearly 10,000 entries from the Central Decimal Files of the U.S. Department of State, Record Group 59 (RG 59), pertaining to the Protection of Interest, 1910-1929, for selected countries. This record group consists of correspondence from American citizens or their representatives who appealed to the U.S. State Department for help in tracing relatives, sending money, food and other assistance to family members overseas. Most entries were made during and immediately following World War I. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs maintains an web site with links to finding Military records of all kinds. There is one to help locate the burial site of a veteran, as well as how to obtain Military Records for all time periods of U.S. Military history at: The Western Reserve Historical Society located in Cleveland, Ohio has all the WWI Draft Registration cards for Cuyahoga County, Cleveland. The cards are on microfilm and filed by Soundex. The Death Notices from the local Cleveland Jewish Newspapers has been incorporated on a card file. You have to have special permission to search or you maybe able to log in and find some one who will do a lookup for you Western Reserve Historical Society Timeline for WW II in Europe - http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/ww2time.htm US National Archives - Washington DC, holds all of the World War I Draft Registration forms on microfilm as does the Mormon Family History Center (FHC). VA Claim Number - Call the Veterans Administration 1 800 827 1000. If you have the exact name, SS # and birth date, the database should have a service number and a VA number. As for Form 180 to request military and VA records of download the form from U.S. Search - search property records by using the following link |
Books
