2024

In Person Group Discussion—Your ancestral town. How did you find it? How have you researched it? What did you discover? What have you already done or what will you do with your findings?

In Person Group Discussion—Ideas on writing up family history or research findings—when and for what purpose. When did you become interested in genealogy and why?

In Person Group Discussion—Where are you in your genealogy research? What is next? How can we help?

When Henry Silverstein Got Cold—how terrible enumerators help us do better census research. A short video talk by Tammy Hepps, with additional information by Patricia Rich-Prisbrey and other JGSWVO members.

New York, New York, It’s a Helluva Source
Michael Sussman showed how to use the New York City Vital Historical Records website to access the latest digitized birth, marriage and death records, and presented tips on what works and doesn’t work when searching on the site. Group discussion and genealogy help followed.

Film - “Echoes That Remain”
Folk histories and archival photography are restored in this warm and rich remembrance of Eastern European Jewish life before the Holocaust. Group discussion and genealogy help followed.

History of the Geography of New York City — a recorded lecture
This talk showed the changes to New York City’s geography and described the difference between New York City and the City of New York, to aid in searching for vital records. The origin of the counties and their changing boundaries, along with the early geographies of Brooklyn and Queens, was also presented.

Research Israeli Genealogical Resources from Your Couch
A recorded lecture, followed by a group discussion.

2023

The Genetic Origins of the Jewish People — a recorded lecture
How an ongoing worldwide academic collaboration of scientists, historians, genealogists and community leaders is utilizing DNA to illuminate the origins and migrations of the Jewish People. Group discussion followed.

A Variety of Topics - Beginning and Enhancing Genealogy Research
— Starting Genealogy: Discussion on when, why and how we started and what amazing discoveries we found along the way.
— Introduction to new useful websites for learning more about our ancestors.
— Helpful tips for beginners.
— A large assortment of new books from the JGSWVO library available to check out.

Three Minutes: A Lengthening - A Documentary Film
Members viewed rare home movie footage shot in Poland in 1938 that became a priceless historical artifact, documenting people and places obliterated by the Holocaust.

Reeva Kimble talked about the medical examination of immigrants at Ellis Island. Why was it so feared? What were they looking for? What could happen if they found it? Was treatment provided?
—Michael Sussman explained how and why to build a “quick & dirty” family tree for your DNA matches.

Iron Trails: How our Ancestors Traveled from Shtetl to Seaport, presented by Hap Ponedel. We learned how our ancestors got from their city, town, or shtetl to the seaport where they embarked for America and found out about their most likely means of transportation for the major part of their overland journey.
—In addition, members talked about an interesting or notorious relative or ancestor

The Spielberg collection of Holocaust survivor accounts, plus other Holocaust-related sites such as Yad Vashem, presented by Pam Endzweig
“Wall-busting” – members helped solve problems

Introduction to the One-Step Webpages of Stephen P. Morse –how to find almost anything genealogical you’re searching for, and uncover many things you never knew you wanted to learn - presented by Charlie Fleishman
Plus, members shared their most interesting genealogical discovery and connection.

Panel discussion about Genealogy Software for Your Computer
Why keep your genealogy on your computer when you can put it on a website like Ancestry or Geni? Are there benefits to using computer software for genealogy? We heard what genealogy apps could do for you. Presenters were:
Hap Ponedel – the multi-platform and open-source Ancestris
Reeva Kimble – the features of Mac Reunion genealogy software
Michael Sussman – the most recent version of Family Tree Maker for Windows.

2022

An assortment of short topics, helpful hints and discussion including:
—Your Hanukkah menorah — Members showed and told about a favorite or unusual menorah or some other family heirloom.
—DeepStory (aka LiveStory) — Edward Winter demonstrated how this feature on MyHeritage can animate and give voice to ancestors’ photos.
—Out on a Limb — What have you discovered for your family tree? What are you looking for? Members helped each other make new discoveries.
—Coming in 2023! — Members were asked about their interests and ideas for programs for next year.

An assortment of short topics, helpful hints and discussion including:
—Say what? Tips and tricks for deciphering difficult handwriting, presented by Michael Sussman
—Form SS-5. Why and how to request an ancestor’s application for their Social Security number, presented by Michael Sussman
—JewishGen’s Viewmate: How to request a translation of an old foreign language document, presented by Reeva Kimble
—How to use Google translate—Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish? No problem!, presented by Hap Ponedel

Name Change in America
Patricia Rich-Prisbrey and Reeva Kimble told us about the why and how of official name changing in the U.S. in the first half of the 20th century. Stories of our own family name changes were shared.
Eliezer Froehlich discussed and demonstrated some of the symbols of Sukkot.

Information on the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, presented by Eliezer Froehlich.

An assortment of short topics, helpful hints and discussions.
—Patricia Rich-Prisbrey provided an introduction to Landsmanshaftn.
—Laeh-Maggie Garfield reported on where to go in the National Archives.
—Hap Ponedel explained the usefulness of the JewishGen Discussion Group.

Finding Original Jewish Names and Towns (Shtetls)
This recorded video talk by Debbie Shaw (Past President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Colorado and current owner of oriGen Genealogy) focused on finding original Jewish names and towns. The talk was followed by JGSWVO group discussion on this topic and many others.

Memories of Migration
A recorded video talk covering decisions and circumstances that caused numerous large scale Jewish migrations. The talk was followed by JGSWVO group discussion on this topic and many others.

The Atlantic Park Hostel
A transmigratory facility in England, where Jews and other eastern Europeans were detained for up to seven years. Members of Michael Sussman’s family were among them. The speaker was be Lee Desty, a British journalist.

How to Use Your DNA Results to Find Actual Relatives
A video recording was shown to explain about the processes and techniques to prioritize matches despite endogamy, to understand results of ethnicity and matches, and to help organize results. After the video, members were invited to talk about their DNA results. Had they found new family members? Had they confirmed results of paper searches? Were mysteries solved?

Conducting an Effective Oral Interview
JGSWVO members Lisa Ponder and Patricia Prisbrey attended the recent online program hosted by the Utah Jewish Genealogy Society, featuring guest presenter Erika Manternach of Ancestry ProGenealogists. They shared tips for getting helpful information when interviewing family members and others for genealogy research.

2021

Family Heirlooms and Judaic Collections
Members showed an heirloom or two, told the history of the item, or asked for help identifying the item’s significance, date and place of origin, etc. Members also shared any items of Israeli or Judaic origin they owned. Results from JGSWVO board elections were announced.

Searching For and Finding Military Records
The information that might be found on draft registration cards filled out by your male ancestors is amazing, and includes those who might have been years older than draft age. Records can be searched from a home computer. We found out why, where and how at our JGSWVO Veterans Day meeting, when Michael Sussman demonstrated how your Eugene Public Library card will give you free access to records at Ancestry.com. Michael also took us through the Fold3 military records site, which provided free access on the Veterans Day weekend.

Translating Jewish Headstones
Eliezer Froehlich and Hap Ponedel discussed how to read a Jewish tombstone—those mysterious symbols were explained. Members learned details about their family tombstone at the meeting if they sent images in advance to Reeva. Several handouts were available for attendees.

How do you find a grave?
Eliezer Froehlich and Michael Sussman demonstrated how to explore Jewish cemeteries online to find a family tombstone.
New discoveries
Have you found new relatives? Discovered old photos or documents? Read a useful book or attended an interesting Zoom talk? Members showed and shared their finds with fellow JGSWVO members!

Yidl In The Middle - Growing Up Jewish In Iowa
Growing up “different” in America. In this evocative documentary, filmmaker Marlene Booth probed her Iowa-Jewish roots. Through home movies, period photos, her high school reunion, and current interviews, she examined the complicated process of negotiating identity—as an American, a Jew, and a woman. Members then discussed where they and their families grew up. Large city or small town? Jewish community or outsider? Extended family or isolated?

Rising From The Rubble: The Polin Museum Of The History Of Polish Jews
The chief curator of its extraordinary core exhibit was joined for a multimedia tour of 1,000 years of Polish Jewish life that explored how Poland became the center of the Jewish diaspora, the dynamic diversity of that community, how it was decimated and how it is being reborn. One entered Jewish homes and synagogues, met merchants, scholars and politicians, and walked the streets where so many of our ancestors lived.
—Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is the Ronald S. Lauder Chief Curator of the Core Exhibition and Professor Emerita at New York University. She is also the author of two books on pre-Holocaust Polish Jewish life.

Jews On The Silk Road
Linda Richman related the highlights of a 90-minute presentation called “The Jews of the Great Silk Road: Yesterday and Today,” and showed photos and described her experiences from a synagogue visit in Bukhara.
Laeh-Maggie Garfield displayed Jewish East Asian artifacts from her collection.

Memories of Migration: Between the Personal and the Collective Experience—A JewishGen video presentation.

The large-scale migration of Jews across continents and oceans is one of the most characteristic features of the modern Jewish narrative. What do we now know about the reasons and the circumstances that guided millions of Jewish migrants around the globe? What has been the role of the United States, its Jewish community, and other countries around the world in these migrations?

American Friends of the Hebrew University presents Memories of Migration: Between the Personal and the Collective with Professor Eli Lederhendler, the Stephen S. Wise Professor of American Jewish History and Institutions at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and chair of the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry.

After the video:
JGSWVO members were asked to talk about why their ancestors left, when their ancestors left and where did they go. (suggestion was to write down that information in advance of the meeting.)

Roots of Jews from Eastern Europe: Names, Language, and History with Alexander Beider (JewishGen video presentation)
Dr. Alexander Beider has a PhD in applied mathematics, and a second PhD in the domain of Jewish studies. Beider uses onomastics and linguistics as tools allowing to unravel the history of the Jewish people. He has written a series of reference books dealing with the etymology of Jewish surnames. Beider is also the designer of the linguistic part of the Beider-Morse Phonetic Matching method of computer-based searches for equivalent surnames.

JGSWVO board member Eliezer Froehlich discussed and demonstrated using familysearch.org for genealogy research.

Genetic Genealogy Next Steps: Analysis Tools and Techniques with guest speaker Meredith Sellers.
We learned about tools and techniques (e.g., Leeds analysis, chromosome painting, GEDmatch Tier 1 applications) to maximize the value and utility of test results. The talk also addressed DNA-related research challenges for those of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.

Meredith Sellers is a genealogist with a passion for integrating traditional archival research with learnings from direct-to-consumer genetic testing. Most recently, she applied these interests by serving as a volunteer “search angel” with the DNA Detectives and Search Squad Facebook communities. Professionally, Meredith is a technical consultant with a doctoral degree in chemical engineering and the author of numerous books, journal articles, and patents.

2020

Holiday Grab Bag
Hanukkah party-BYOL (bring your own latkes). We shared genealogy success stories and attempted to help find solutions to genealogical puzzles. Members were asked to show family heirlooms and describe their origins. Program ideas for 2021 were offered.

Breaking through Brick Walls with Newspapers.com - presented by Larry Gorchow

Jewish Spain: A Travelog - presented by Pam Endzweig and Karen Hamilton.

Discovering Hidden Treasure in the JRI-Poland Database — Video talk presented by Robinn Magid. In addition, webmaster Charlie Fleishman walked us through the JGSWVO website to highlight the available information and links, and Reeva Kimble told us about one of the many presentations she attended at the 2020 IAJGS conference.

Death Certificates, Obits, Headstones and Probate Records: What Our Ancestors Have Been Dying to Tell Us — Video presentation by Ken Bravo.

Ken Bravo is a retired attorney, President of the IAJGS and a past president of the JGS Cleveland. He is a frequent lecturer on a variety of genealogy subjects. He has been searching his own roots since the mid-1970s. This presentation was recorded at an IAJGS conference.

Michael Sussman introduced his newly discovered cousins who presented:

A City of Two Tales: A married couple in Ottawa shared their fascinating family histories.

Part one: A Brit, a Jew, and an Asian walk into a DNA lab.
How three strangers - Weston, Sussman, and Wong-Schultz - used history, science, and luck to find their new family.

Part two: Surviving in Warsaw, thriving in Ottawa.
How a boy survived the Holocaust and found honor, and family, across the Atlantic. Michael Sussman spoke about some new features of Ancestry. Eliezer Froehlich showed us a few items in his extensive collection of fine china pieces from the German factory connected with his ancestors. Hap Ponedel told about a source of maps of prewar shtetls.

Joan Pollack Shea and Linda Slate demonstrated the features of MyHeritage and showed how both the free version and the membership version can help with genealogy research.

Additional Features of Gedmatch - an open data personal genomics database and genealogy website.
GEDmatch users can upload their autosomal DNA test data from commercial DNA companies to identify potential relatives who had also uploaded their profiles. Tools available on the GEDmatch site includ sorting results by the closest matches to a user’s autosomal DNA, whether one’s matches match each other, genetic distance calculator, estimated number of generations to a common ancestor, whether one’s parents are related, and ethnicity calculator. — Presented by Linda Slate

Video Talk: The History, Adoption, and Regulation of Jewish Surnames in the Russian Empire — by Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull
The history of the adoption, regulation, and use of Jewish surnames in the Russian Empire is quite complex. There were a number of ways by which Jewish surnames were created, assigned, or adopted, while tight restrictions were placed on changing or altering surnames. As a result of Russian laws and mandates, many non-related Jewish individuals acquired the same surname, while many related family members acquired different surnames. The purpose of this presentation was to explain the various laws and mandates pertaining to Jewish surnames in the Russian Empire.

2019

Year-end Meeting
1. Final opportunity to vote for members of the JGSWVO Board of Directors (if not already voted via e-mail ballot)
2. Pay dues for 2020
3. Problem solving for JGSWVO members. Members brought family genealogy questions to get help with answers. General questions were asked on a variety of topics.
4. Members could bring a family heirloom to learn more about its significance or to explain its significance.
5. Early Hanukkah cookies and other treats were shared.

Video Talk: Why Did Our Ancestors Leave a Nice Place Like The Pale?
This talk by Hal Bookbinder provided background about the 120 years of the Pale from its formation in the late 18th century to its dissolution during the First World War. The speaker broke the life of the Pale into six distinct periods which he designated as “Creation,”, “Containment,” “Repression,” “Enlightenment,” “Pogroms” and “Chaos.” The talk provided some context to our ancestors’ lives in the Pale and their decisions to leave everything they had known to make new lives in the West.

Passenger Manifests And the Immigrant Voyage
In this video lecture, Phyllis Kramer z”l addressed many of the questions associated with this voyage, including:
How did the immigrants get the ticket and get to the port
What hardships did they endure
What was the voyage like
What immigration laws affected them
What documents did they come with
How to find and understand manifests, their handwriting and notations.

All the features of GEDmatch.com were shown. DNA results from almost any testing service can be uploaded to GEDmatch to see a number of different comparisons of DNA with relatives who used other tests — Presented by Linda Slate

Annual Potluck
Members were asked to bring something their ancestors might have made, a grandmother’s recipe, an Israeli dish or a favorite potluck dish.

Members were requested to tell about a recent genealogy discovery, and what and how it was found. Or, to tell what was undiscoverable and all the places searched without success so that perhaps a new direction can be pointed out. And anyone could bring a family heirloom and explain its significance, or get help from members to understand the significance.

Cemetery and Funeral Home Records
What information can be found in the records from cemetery and funeral homes? How do we access the records? — Presented by Eliezer Froehlich

Jews of Regensburg
“The Jewish Community of Regensburg, Germany: A Thousand Years of History” — Presented by Pam Endzweig.

JRI Poland
Jewish Records Indexing-Poland is a project started in 1995 to create English indexes to Jewish records from Poland and make the indexes available online. 5.4 million records from more than 550 Polish towns are now indexed or fully extracted. Members learned what records are available, how to search for your family and how to obtain a copy of individual records — Presented by Hap Ponedel and Reeva Kimble.

Part 1 How to Use Family Search How to access ships manifests — Presented by Hap Ponedel, Eliezer Froehlich and Michael Sussman.
Part 2 Brick Wall Busters! Our team of researchers helped find answers to Jewish genealogy problems. If questions were submitted to Reeva Kimble before February 24, the information was forwarded to the experts to give them time to search for answers.

US and Canadian Census Records
What years are available? How to locate records. How to use census records for genealogy research — Presented by Eliezer Froehlich.

Reading Between the Lines: Discovering What is Not Said in Archival Documents by Michael J. Simonson, archivist at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York. This talk was originally presented at a IAJGS Conference. Dues for JGSWVO 2019 membership were collected at the meeting from those still needing to join or renew.

2018

The DNA of the Jewish People – Bennett Greenspan
He is the founder of Family Tree DNA, which was the first American company to offer genealogical DNA testing directly to the general public. Greenspan is currently the President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Managing Partner of Family Tree DNA’s parent company Gene by Gene. This talk was originally presented at the IAJGS Conference.
— Hanukkah was celebrated with yummy treats. Members brought cookies, candies, chocolate, dry fruit, fresh fruit or other foods to share. Advance information on the genealogy programs planned for 2018 was presented. Dues for JGSWVO 2019 membership were collected.

Part 1 – Setting the Record Straight: The DNA and Yiddish Origins of Ashkenazi Jewry was a video of a presentation by Harry Ostrer and Alexandre Beider. This talk was originally presented at the 2018 IAJGS Conference in Warsaw, Poland.
Part 2 – Breaking Down Brick Walls. Members brought genealogy problems, and JGSWVO members tried to help find solutions by using tools available on the internet.

Part 1 – JGSWVO member Patricia Rich-Prisbrey told us how a professional DNA genealogist, using many tools at her disposal, was able to gather information to find answers and attempt to solve a mystery for her client.
Part 2 – Breaking Down Brick Walls. Members brought genealogy problems, and JGSWVO members tried to help find solutions by using tools available on the internet.

10 Popular Genealogy Myths – Presented by Reeva Kimble.
What are they, and how to convince non-genealogists that these myths are not true.

Annual Potluck
Members were asked to bring something their ancestors might have made, a grandmother’s recipe, an Israeli dish or a favorite potluck dish. Suggestions for entertainment included: Tell us about an interesting person you discovered while doing genealogy. Tell us a funny, fascinating, amazing or educational family story and “Twenty Questions.”

Hasidic Culture in Eastern Europe — Presented by Eliezer Froehlich and Hap Ponedel, followed by details from Northern Lithuania.
Genealogy Help Live – Members brought genealogy puzzles, and some of the more advanced researchers helped break through brick walls.

Program: A Place in the Cloud: A comparison and review of places to put your family tree online by Michael Sussman.
Genealogy Help Live – Members brought genealogy puzzles, and some of the more advanced researchers helped break through brick walls.

You’ve Had Your DNA Tested – Now What?
Members who’ve done DNA testing demonstrated various testing services’ websites to show their results, and also compared results on GedMatch. This was followed by a discussion of strategies to figure out how people with DNA matches might actually be related. Pam Endzweig, Edward Winter, Reeva Kimble, and Joan Shea led the discussion, and Larry Gorchow talked about features of various sites where DNA results can be uploaded. Anyone who had a DNA test result could upload their results to GedMatch.com and contribute to the discussion if they brought in their login details and test number.

Part 1 – Lesson in Jewish DNA: One Man’s Successes and What He Learned on The Journey, a recorded talk and PowerPoint presentation by Israel Pickholtz, author of Endogamy: One Family, One People.
Part 2 – Genealogy Live! Needed help getting started? Or have you hit a brick wall? Our genealogical problem solvers did research for JGSWVO members online. Members could see what can be discovered and learned how to do it themselves.

Mining Genealogical Information through Archival Interviews from the Oregon Jewish Museum Collection – Presented by Linda Slate. Linda also told us a bit about endogamy, DNA matching and crazy mixed-up family trees.

Introduction to Yizkor Books – Presented by Hap Ponedel and Reeva Kimble.
Yizkor (Memorial) Books are published by former residents or landsmanshaftn as remembrances of homes and people lost during the Holocaust. The majority of these books were written in Hebrew or Yiddish. There have been a number of projects to collect and preserve these publications and to create translations. Members were asked to bring any available Yizkor books or translations.

2017

Yummy Treats and Insights—Hanukkah Celebration and Genealogy Brainstorming.
Members brought cookies, fruit and other Hanukkah snacks to share and told one genealogy-related item learned in 2017. Attendees submitted a genealogy question, brick wall or conundrum to possibly be chosen for live problem solving by a team of experts. Laptops and iPads were brought to aid in the search. Members voted for board members at the meeting, if they had not already voted by mail. We learned the identity of the JGSWVO Board of Directors for 2018.

Film: Everything is Illuminated
With the help of an eccentric local, a young Jewish-American man endeavors to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II in a Ukrainian village that was ultimately razed by the Nazis.

Part 1 – JRI-Poland Exposed and Explained — Presented by Reeva Kimble.
Part 2 – Finding Family Names on Ancestry.
Members brought a surname or two they were researching. Pam Endzweig plugged names into the international version of Ancestry.com and members familiar with Ancestry showed what can be discovered on this website. The information can be used to research further, using free access to Ancestry.com at the Eugene Public Library and other local locations. There also was time for problem-solving and reports of successes.

Major Features of JewishGen, the most important genealogy website for researching Jewish ancestors. Board members of JGSWVO described numerous JewishGen components including Family Finder, SIGs, Yizkor Books, View Mate, Databases, and FAQs.

Members Only Potluck Dinner
Members brought traditional Jewish foods, Israeli foods, or their favorite potluck dinner or dessert specialty. JGSWVO provided grilled salmon for everyone.

Part 1 – Using GEDMatch for DNA Analysis. Linda Slate and Edward Winter guided us through uploading DNA results to GEDMatch to find cousins who tested with a variety of services. See a beginners guild for background information at smithplanet.com
Part 2 – Best Genealogy Websites. Which ones are the most useful for Jewish genealogy? Which ones are helpful for genealogy in general? JGSWVO members suggested their favorites and show how to use them.

Part 1 – Can You Help Me Find My Cousins: Understanding Autosomal DNA. Audio recording of a genealogy presentation by Mary Kosy at the 2016 International Jewish Genealogy Conference.
Part 2 – Demonstration of How to Apply The Information– JGSWVO members Joan Shea and Reeva Kimble used their autosomal DNA results to show their family relationship.

My Ancestral Town. An introduction to the shtetl or city where an ancestor lived. JGSWVO members volunteered to provide history and photos of ancestral communities.
Pam Endzweig – Trzemysl, southeastern Poland
Bill Sarnoff – Ruzhany/Rozenoy, Belarus
Merrillee Eisen and Bob Proctor – Rezekne, Latvia
Reeva Kimble – Lomza, northeastern Poland

Software for genealogy. Video presentation was followed by group discussion about our favorite computer program for keeping track of family connections. Where to find free software for genealogy. What you get in a free program. Are special features in pricey software worth the cost?

The Golden Age Shtetl: A New History of Jewish Life in East Europe by Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern. Hap Ponedel offered some excerpts and shared maps showing the book’s geographic target zone.