Journal: Sharsheret HaDorot, May 2008

The May 2008 issue of the Israel Genealogical Society’s journal – Sharsheret Hadorot – is out.

Stories in this issue include:

In search of Roots of the Chelouche, Schelouche, Schlouch, Chlous and Slous Families in Algeria from late 18th to the Early 20th Century, by Evyatar Chelouche

Writing a Family Tree, by Shilo Gal

Getting Acquainted with the Arolsen Files at Yad Vashem, by Martha Lev-Zion

Is Sauce for the Goose also Source for the Gander? Sources of Evidence Used During Genealogical Research of the Levitas Family, by Gidon Levitas

From the Baltic to the Black Sea, by Edward Gelles

The Montel and Esdra Families of Marseille – Part III, by James Montel

Galveston Port and Immigration Museum: A Source for Family Research, by Harriet Kasow

There Was a Small Town; Its Name Was Lunna, by Ruth Marcus

New Developments in Rabbinic Genealogy, by Rabbi Meir Wunder

Annual Conference of the Horowitz Family Research Foundation, 2007, by Gabriel Horowitz

Research On-line: http://www.shoahconnect.org, by Israel Pickholtz

Annulment of a Marriage by Refusal, by Yehuda Klausner

For more details and subscription information, click here.

Montreal: Shaking the family tree

When Ron Arons shook the family tree, a bad apple fell out.

The Montreal Gazette’s Mike Boone, did a nice story on Ron and his appearance in Montreal this week.

Ron is a transplanted New Yorker who lives in San Francisco. He’s just written “The Jews of Sing Sing.”

He will be in town this week for two talks sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal. The topic tonight is “Bugsy Siegel & Meyer Lansky – the hilarious story of two not-so-nice Jewish boys.” Arons’ talk tomorrow is “Kosher Nostra – Every Jewish family has a black sheep.”

Arons is not a historian by training. He is a Princeton-educated engineer who was at his alma mater in New Jersey for a class reunion when I reached him by phone on Friday.

His virage toward research and writing on Jewish criminals began with a sequence of personal crises. Between 1989 and ’91, Arons lost both his parents to cancer.

“I really wasn’t ready for that,” he said. “I was a young man in my 30s and I loved my parents dearly. I also lost two jobs and a significant relationship in a period of 18 months.

“So I basically shut down. I watched soap operas for six months because that’s the only thing I was capable of doing.”

He and his brother sold their chldhood home after their parents died, and had to go through a “a mountain of papers and memorabilia.”

“Two things piqued my interest,” Arons recalls.

“One was a family tree my father had shown me when I was in college, when I’d thought, ‘Gee, that’s boring.’ The other was postcards from eastern Europe in Russian and Yiddish script.

“Everything else in the house could be replaced. But these were truly original and unique. And I ran with that.”

Very early, he discovered his maternal great-grandfather, Isaac Spier, was a high-living skirt-chaser who’d done time in Sing Sing for bigamy. Ron discovered, in his ancestor’s past, alias and conflicting information on the man.
In addition to the regular scenario of genealogical research – passenger lists, citizenship records, censuses, birth, marriage and death records and telephone directories, he also accessed FBI and court records, and prison documents.

Today, researchers can acquire much information online, but when Ron started, it was the old-fashioned way.

“If I were to start now,” he said, “it would take me maybe 20 per cent of the time it did 12 years ago. It’s gotten far easier.”

Although many family historians are happy enough to list names, dates and places, Ron wanted to go beyond that to find out about his colorful ancestor, and encourages other genealogists to explore and find out more about the people in their trees.

Ron speaks at the annual international Jewish genealogy conferences and also speaks at many Jewish genealogical societies. If he is visiting your city, do try to attend; you won’t be sorry.

Read more here.

Journal: Sharsheret HaDorot, May 2008

The May 2008 issue of the Israel Genealogical Society’s journal – Sharsheret Hadorot – is out.

Stories in this issue include:

In search of Roots of the Chelouche, Schelouche, Schlouch, Chlous and Slous Families in Algeria from late 18th to the Early 20th Century, by Evyatar Chelouche

Writing a Family Tree, by Shilo Gal

Getting Acquainted with the Arolsen Files at Yad Vashem, by Martha Lev-Zion

Is Sauce for the Goose also Source for the Gander? Sources of Evidence Used During Genealogical Research of the Levitas Family, by Gidon Levitas

From the Baltic to the Black Sea, by Edward Gelles

The Montel and Esdra Families of Marseille – Part III, by James Montel

Galveston Port and Immigration Museum: A Source for Family Research, by Harriet Kasow

There Was a Small Town; Its Name Was Lunna, by Ruth Marcus

New Developments in Rabbinic Genealogy, by Rabbi Meir Wunder

Annual Conference of the Horowitz Family Research Foundation, 2007, by Gabriel Horowitz

Research On-line: http://www.shoahconnect.org, by Israel Pickholtz

Annulment of a Marriage by Refusal, by Yehuda Klausner

For more details and subscription information, click here.

Montreal: Shaking the family tree

When Ron Arons shook the family tree, a bad apple fell out.

The Montreal Gazette’s Mike Boone, did a nice story on Ron and his appearance in Montreal this week.

Ron is a transplanted New Yorker who lives in San Francisco. He’s just written “The Jews of Sing Sing.”

He will be in town this week for two talks sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal. The topic tonight is “Bugsy Siegel & Meyer Lansky – the hilarious story of two not-so-nice Jewish boys.” Arons’ talk tomorrow is “Kosher Nostra – Every Jewish family has a black sheep.”

Arons is not a historian by training. He is a Princeton-educated engineer who was at his alma mater in New Jersey for a class reunion when I reached him by phone on Friday.

His virage toward research and writing on Jewish criminals began with a sequence of personal crises. Between 1989 and ’91, Arons lost both his parents to cancer.

“I really wasn’t ready for that,” he said. “I was a young man in my 30s and I loved my parents dearly. I also lost two jobs and a significant relationship in a period of 18 months.

“So I basically shut down. I watched soap operas for six months because that’s the only thing I was capable of doing.”

He and his brother sold their chldhood home after their parents died, and had to go through a “a mountain of papers and memorabilia.”

“Two things piqued my interest,” Arons recalls.

“One was a family tree my father had shown me when I was in college, when I’d thought, ‘Gee, that’s boring.’ The other was postcards from eastern Europe in Russian and Yiddish script.

“Everything else in the house could be replaced. But these were truly original and unique. And I ran with that.”

Very early, he discovered his maternal great-grandfather, Isaac Spier, was a high-living skirt-chaser who’d done time in Sing Sing for bigamy. Ron discovered, in his ancestor’s past, alias and conflicting information on the man.
In addition to the regular scenario of genealogical research – passenger lists, citizenship records, censuses, birth, marriage and death records and telephone directories, he also accessed FBI and court records, and prison documents.

Today, researchers can acquire much information online, but when Ron started, it was the old-fashioned way.

“If I were to start now,” he said, “it would take me maybe 20 per cent of the time it did 12 years ago. It’s gotten far easier.”

Although many family historians are happy enough to list names, dates and places, Ron wanted to go beyond that to find out about his colorful ancestor, and encourages other genealogists to explore and find out more about the people in their trees.

Ron speaks at the annual international Jewish genealogy conferences and also speaks at many Jewish genealogical societies. If he is visiting your city, do try to attend; you won’t be sorry.

Read more here.