Ready for a Genealogy Party?

by Janice Sellers

Image courtesy of Janice Sellers

Are you familiar with the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society?  It's one of the great genealogical societies in the Bay Area.  It has an upcoming indexing project that will help genealogists researching their San Francisco ancestors, and you can be part of it.

San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society

Jewish Records Indexing Party

Sunday, February 19, 2017, 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.

Oakland FamilySearch Library

4766 Lincoln Avenue

Oakland, CA 94602

Pay it forward, fellow genealogists! If you've ever enjoyed finding records easily by using a search form on JewishGen, FamilySearch, Ancestry, or many other genealogy sites, you have been a beneficiary of indexing. Indexing is the result of volunteers reading images of old records and typing the information into a searchable format.  You know how FamilySeach has an annual worldwide indexing event to make a big push on transcribing their online records?  We're doing the same kind of thing, but on a smaller scale.

The San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society has taken on the task of creating an index for the old burial records from San Francisco's Sherith Israel synagogue for the 1850s through 1906. We expect that these records will uncover currently unknown death dates for this period, one that is notoriously difficult to research due to record destruction after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. So we need REAL PEOPLE to read the records and type the information into Excel spreadsheets.

We will provide the snacks, computers, and instruction on this valuable and essential service. The records are handwritten, but we'll help you learn how to read them. If you can't stay for the whole afternoon, we will be happy to have you for as long as you can help. We will be giving out prizes for most records entered, longest time spent working, and a few more categories we have yet to think of. Don't miss this opportunity to make burial records accessible to genealogists around the world! The ancestors you find may be your own!

We would like to have an idea of how many people will be coming (so we can buy the right amount of food!), so please send a message to vicepresident@sfbajgs.org to let us know that you'll be there.

Copyright © 2017 by California Genealogical Society

Book Recommendations from Steve Danko

CGS Librarian, Laura Spurrier, sent word that new books were ordered for the CGS Library in anticipation of the workshop this Saturday, April 12, 2008, "Eastern and Central European Genealogy." Specialist Steve Danko of Steve's Genealogy Blog suggested several titles. These are now available at the CGS library:
In Their Words: a Genealogist's Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin and Russian Documents, Volume I: Polish by Jonathan D. Shea and William F. Hoffman.

In Their Words: a Genealogist's Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin and Russian Documents Volume II: Russian
by Jonathan D. Shea and William F. Hoffman.

Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy
edited by Sallyann Amdur Sack and Gary Mokotoff.

















Where Once We Walked : A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust, revised edition, by Gary Mokotoff and Sallyann Sack with Alexander Sharon.

Additional books on Polish, Ukrainian and Galician genealogy have also been ordered.

The workshop is free for CGS members and there are still a few slots open. Reservations are required; no walk-ins will be permitted. There is a sign-up fee of $10 for non-members. (The fee can be applied toward membership on the day of the workshop.)

Please call (510) 663-1358 to reserve a space.