LibGuides: HIST 3658: Jewish Tales from Four Cities: Genealogical Resources

Tips for Genealogical Research

Genealogical Records: Researching Individuals

Argentina

Useful Guides to Research

Buenos Aires Province, Argentina Genealogy (Family Search)
- Online Genealogy Records
- Argentina Jewish Records
Info File on Jewish Genealogical in Argentina (JewishGen)

Document types

Census: Census records for Argentina exist on Family Search for 1855 (Buenos Aires only) 1869, and 1895. You can find these on Ancestry and Family Search.
Immigration: Center for Latina American Migration Studies (CEMLA) has compiled passenger lists for Argentina.
Vital Records: Incomplete coverage of these records can be found in Ancestry, Family Search

France:

Useful Research Guides

Paris, France Genealogy (Family Search)
- Online Genealogical Records
- Jewish Records
French SIG (JewishGen)

Document Types

Census: French national censuses have not been microfilmed and are seldom used for genealogical research. Unlike the census records of the United States, Canada, or Great Britain, they cannot be easily used to locate families. Because French censuses are not indexed, it is not easy to find a name in them.
Immigration: The only lists available for the French port of Le Havre are lists of crews and passengers on some commercial cargo vessels. They are very incomplete. Very few passengers sailed on cargo ships. Passenger vessels are not included.
Vital Records: Ancestry and Family Search both have select vital records for Paris. Other vital records are available online through French Archives Online (see above Online Genealogical Records).

United Kingdom:

Useful Research Guides

London, England Genealogy (Family Search)
- Online Genealogical Records
- Jewish Records
Jewish Congregations in London (JewishGen)

Census: The United Kingdom’s census is enumerated on years ending in 1. You can find the full census from 1841 - 1911 on Ancestry. 1921 is currently being digitized, 1931 was destroyed by fire, and 1941 was never taken due to WWII.
Immigration: These records are offered primarly through Ancestry.
Vital Records: A large collection of UK vital records are available through Ancestry and Family Search. Columbia Libraries does not provide digital access to FindMyPast.

United States

New York, New York Genealogy (Family Search)
- Online Genealogical Records
- Synagogues of New York City
JewishGen USA Database (JewishGen)

Census: Digital access to indexed US Census are released after 72 years. The 1790 - 1940 census can be found in numerous location, including both Ancestry and Family Search. The 1890 Census was mostly destroyed by fire, and no pages from New York City survived.
Immigration: Extensive immigration records for New York City are available through Ancestry and Family Search. You can also find them through the Ellis Island Passenger Lists. Stephen P. Morse Ellis Island resources offer additional ways to search these records.
Vital Records: Vital Records for New York are available, though in some cases only as indexes, not fully digitzed records. You can find these collections through Ancestry and Family Search.

Researching US Buildings and Neighborhoods:

In order to find the pages of the census that correspond to a given area, you need to find the area’s enumeration district (ED). An enumeration district does not correspond to neighborhood boundaries. Rather, it is an area covered by a single census taker in one census period. Enumeration districts vary in size from several city blocks in densely populated urban areas to an entire county in sparsely populated rural areas.

Image: [Detail] Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, Plate 18 Atlas of the City of New York, The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1899. - accessed using NYPL MapWarper.

U.S. Enumeration District Finder (Steve Morse)
This resources is useful for searching buildings and neighborhoods. ED Finder allows you to search by state/city/neighborhood across U.S. Census years.

Select the census year in the dropdown menu at the top of the page
Search by address
Add the cross street boundaries
Click on the ED link at the bottom (ex: “New York- 180”)
Click “Free Display”
Census pages are arranged by street and building address

Genealogical Research Databases

Resources for Genealogical Research

AncestryLibrary.com
Ancestry Library is a searchable database that includes digitized images of the United States Federal Census from 1790 forward, as well as records of births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and military service. It also includes court, land, and probate records; prison records; voter lists; obituaries; passenger lists and other immigration data; U.S. telephone directories; United Kingdom and United States Directories (1680-1830); as well as digitized yearbooks, photos, maps, and more.

CEMLA
(Spanish) This database was created by the Center for Latin American studies offers individual-level primary sources based out of Buenos Aires. The database is in Spanish.
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A useful blog on using CEMLA: https://www.rootsfinder.com/blog/unknown-immigrant-database-completes-family-story-of-escape-from-wwii/
Cindi's List
A comprehensive, categorized & cross-referenced list of genealogical links that point you to genealogical research sites online.
Early New York Synagogue Archive
Over the years, three significant Manhattan Jewish communities—Shearith Israel, B’nai Jeshrun, and Ansche Chesed—moved from the Lower East Side to Harlem, midtown, and the Upper West Side. The Kane St. Synagogue remained in its original neighborhood in Brooklyn and the Eldridge Street Synagogue stayed at its original location; the latter has been designated a National Historic Site. Each of the five communities was comprised of immigrant populations that arrived from Europe and settled in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The combined collections of these synagogues, from 1730 until the beginning of the 20th century, document the lives of people and communities that are all still vibrant today.
Ellis Island Passenger Lists
The Port of New York Passenger Records 1820 - 1957 contains the passenger lists of almost 65 million immigrants, passengers, and crew members who came through Ellis Island and the Port of New York from 1820 to 1957. The period from 1892 to 1924 at Ellis Island was the largest human migration in modern history.
Family Search
Family Search is a free database that offers access to millions of records from around the world. First Search has an extensive catalog of international records, including birth, marriage and death records, passenger lists, etc.
Find A Grave
World’s largest gravesite collection. Over 180 million memorials created by the community since 1995.
JewishGen
The JewishGen Unified Database Search includes more than 26 million records; 8 million records from the Family Tree of the Jewish People; 5 million records from Jewish Records Indexing - Poland; and 13 million historical records from 750+ datasets created by JewishGen.
RootsWeb
The supporting organization for thousands of surname discussion lists. Features many primary documents that have been transcribed or scanned by volunteers and made searchable such as obituaries, county histories, tax lists, etc.
Synagogues of New York City
Separate lists exist for former synagogues of Manhattan, Brooklyn (Kings County), Queens and Staten Island (Richmond), and the Bronx. Most all of them are no longer active; either the building in which the congregants once worshipped and held meetings is no longer extant or has been converted into some other use. Many of those listed under "Synagogue Name" are actually landsmanshaft (mutual aid) societies.
U.S. Enumeration District Finder (Steve Morse)
This resources is useful for searching buildings and neighborhoods. ED Finder allows you to search by state/city/neighborhood across U.S. Census years.

HIST 3658: Jewish Tales from Four Cities