Genealogy Chat

A friend has asked me to help her get started on her family history, which I was only too happy to do, until she informed me that her grandparents were Russian subjects who went to England from Poland & they are Jewish.
Have made some finds on the 1901/11 census, but the name was anglicised & we have no idea when they left Poland. All the censuses for various family members show them as being born Poland, but not where, nor do we have a clue what the original family name was.
can anyone recommend useful sites for a. Jewish genealogy & b. Russian/Polish genealogy.
Think I may have bitten off more than I can chew. :-0 :-0 :-0 :-0

hi wisechild
you could try here?

http://synagoguescribes.com

You might be lucky and find some information on Family Search.

Thanks safc. Will take a look.
Unfortunately, my friend was so impressed with what I have found, she wants me to look at her husband´s family too.
They apparently originated in Palestine & went to India via Iran & then to England.
Not holding out much hope on that one. :-( :-(

Thank you too Pam.
I had thought of familysearch, but we don´t have a clue what the originalname was.

Not sure if to laugh or cry for you both

I tried an Indian conection but the people who set up the website for indian research sadly died

And as for Jews coming to England often as I know with my own family connections they changed their names to fit in!

Good Luck

Oh Kemp, tell me about it. I know nothing at all about the Jewish religion or customs. Don´t even know when Poland became independant of Russia. & as for the Iranian/Indian connection, don´t think there´s a hope in hell of finding them.
I like a challenge, but I think this is a step too far. :-(

For what it's worth, I would suggest your friend does her own research! I happily help people when it's within my comfort zone, don't mind spending time as I enjoy it,.
But if you are having to come on here and ask for help in areas about which you haven't a clue I think that's just too much.
Jan

If you know where they lived in the UK, I would start with the local synagogue.

If I remember correctly, June Brown on WDYTYA had Jewish ancestors and the synagogue archives gave her lots of information, including place of origin (Netherlands in this case) and previous name. She then visited the synagogue in the Netherlands and found out a lot more.

The records are all in Hebrew, but seem to be very detailed.

Inclined to agree Jan.
I hope to just point her in the right direction, give her what info I can find from the census & leave her to get on with it.
Problem is that although she´s a highly intelligent woman, she´s 78 & her husband has Parkinsons, so I think they feel time is running out for both of them.
I was really hoping that someone would know of some Jewish websites where we could search. Don´t mind doing it, but........

Did a google search and found this, no idea how good it is!

http://www.jewishgen.org/

Jan

Thanks Andysmum & Jan.
All suggestions gratefully recieved.
I think she actually wants to do as much research as she can herself, but as I said, i hope to be able to point her in the right direction.