Yitzhak Berchunsky
ca 1880 |
Welcome to the Orange County Jewish Genealogical Society! The OCJGS is your resource in Orange County, California, for all things related to finding your Jewish roots.
Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned expert, you will find our monthly meetings stimulating and informative. In addition to meetings, hands-on workshops, and special events, members also have access to an excellent library of books and magazines pertinent to Jewish genealogy. The Orange County Jewish Genealogical Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We are a member of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies. Remember the Days of Old; Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders and they will explain to you. (Deut. 32:7)
זכר ימות עולם בינו שנות דור ודור שאל אביך ויגדך זקניך ויאמרו לך פרשת האזינו |
Calendar of EventsWorld-Class Speakers!We have a lineup of truly world class speakers coming to you wherever in the world you are, from wherever in the world they are. We normally meet the 4th Sunday of each month.
Virtual meetings are via Zoom. You must register in advance by clicking the link for the meeting you want to attend. Registration only takes a few seconds. Our physical meetings (when we get back to them) are at: Temple Beth Sholom 2625 N Tustin Ave, Santa Ana, CA 92705 from 1:30 to 3:30 pm Attendance at virtual meetings is free to OCJGS members. If you are not a member, please consider joining. Otherwise, the charge for non-members is $5. Please visit the Membership page to join or pay your $5 fee. Zoom messed us up!We discovered this morning that registrations for Arthur Kurzweil's presentation "are closed". No clue why. Zoom couldn't get it fixed this morning. October 24 at 10:00 AM (Pacific time zone)
Arthur Kurzweil: In conversation... 
Arthur Kurzweil, author, educator, genealogist, and magician (who knew?). Another in our Pioneers of Jewish Genealogy series of conversations.
We will be treated to an interview on a variety of subjects covering his interests, his career, and maybe some things we never knew about him and his work. Register in advance for the virtual meeting by clicking this link:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIqfuGtqTgoGdTfoumFbprqcXiiFgdb8Kf5 November 21 at 10:00 am (Pacific time zone)
Aaron Ginsburg: Curing the "I can't find my shtetl" syndrome; Examples and techniques 
Sometimes it's not easy to find a shtetl using the JewishGen Communities Database (formerly known as the Shtetl Finder) on jewishgen.org. Either your shtetl is not listed, there are too many hits, or not enough information is available. This presentation will discuss Shtetl Finder and demonstrate alternate approaches, using examples. Techniques will include networking, detailed family histories, immigration and naturalization, military records, JewishGen records, Yad Vashem, and how to find and use detailed online maps for Poland and Austria-Hungary. Having found the shtetl, the examples will show how that may lead to more information. The talk will include slides showing the steps in solved.
Aaron Ginsburg was born in Newport, Rhode Island. His research into his family led to the creation of a non-profit organization, The Friends of Jewish Dokshitsy, to help local officials in Belarus restore a Jewish cemetery. Aaron has traveled frequently to Belarus and Ukraine and he has helped several families reunite after 50-100 years. His motto is, “Genealogy can be fun…if you are patient." Register in advance for the virtual meeting by clicking this link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcscu6grj4uHdYSAuAKLID_FTUKeczCnn3y December 19 at 10:00 am (Pacific time zone)
Joel Weintraub: Here comes the 1950 US census! What to expect. 
The U.S. 1950 census will become public on April 1, 2022. Joel will prepare us for its debut by covering what is a census, who uses the census, census caveats, how the 1950 census was taken, training of enumerators, enumerator instruction manuals, census sampling, 1950 population and housing forms, census questions, post enumeration codes, 1950 undercount, and a summary of the results. Joel will conclude with a discussion on his and Steve Morse’s 1950 census locational tools, online right now at the stevemorse.org website. Those 1950 utilities took almost 8 years to produce with the help of under 70 volunteers, involve 230,000 or so searchable 1950 census district definitions with about 79,000 more small community names added, and street indexes for over 2,400 1950 urban areas that correlate with 1950 census district numbers. If time, Joel will demonstrate searches on the One-Step Unified Tool.
Joel Weintraub, a New Yorker by birth, is an emeritus Biology Professor at California State University, Fullerton. He became interested in genealogy over 20 years ago, and volunteered for 9 years at the National Archives in southern California. Joel helped produce location tools for the 1900 through 1950 federal censuses, and the NY State censuses for NYC (1905, 1915, 1925) for the Steve Morse “One-Step” website. He has published articles on the U.S. census and the 72-year rule, the name change belief and finding difficult passenger records at Ellis Island, and searching NYC census records with the problems of NYC geography. He has a YouTube channel that has his genealogy (and biology) talks at “JDW Talks”. Register in advance for the virtual meeting by clicking this link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqdO2grzMuHtOunIRO49hj_fm906mRkRzn 2022 EventsJanuary 23 at 10:00 am (Pacific time zone)
Jeffrey Mark Paull: The Jewish surname process in the Russian Empire and its effect on Jewish genealogy 
The history of adopting, regulating, and using Jewish surnames in the Russian Empire is quite complex. There were many ways that 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. This situation has created many challenges for genealogists who try to trace the ancestry or locate descendants of a particular Jewish lineage, many of whom have different surnames. It has created similar challenges for those interpreting the results of DNA tests for Jewish descendants. This presentation explains the complexities surrounding the Jewish surname adoption process in the Russian Empire and its effect on Jewish genealogy. Jeffrey Mark Paull was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. He earned his BS in Chemistry and Master of Science in Industrial Hygiene from the University of Pittsburgh, and his MPH and Doctor of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. His career as an environmental toxicologist and scientific expert in the field of occupational and environmental health spans over thirty years (1976–2008). Since that time, Dr. Paull has devoted himself to his passion for Jewish genealogical research and writing. Dr. Paull is very active in the field of genetic genealogy and has conducted numerous pioneering autosomal and Y-DNA research studies in which he and his research colleagues have identified the unique Y-DNA genetic signature of many of Eastern Europe’s most renowned rabbis and tzaddiks, rabbinical lineages, and Chassidic dynasties, in addition to that of John Hart, the 13th Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and one of America's Founding Fathers. More in-depth information regarding Dr. Paull's books, and related genealogy and family history publications, may be found on his website: www.ANobleHeritage.com and his Facebook page: https://facebook.com/ANobleHeritage. Research questions may be directed to him at jmpaull@anobleheritage.com. Register in advance for the virtual meeting by clicking this link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwud-yopjgrG9OHslI30xo32Ba6E7tDSlIa But wait, there's more...Mark your calendars for these upcoming speakers:
February 27: Daniel Rottenberg Daniel wrote Finding Our Fathers in 1977, making him arguably the Father of the modern Jewish Genealogical movement. Another in our Pioneers of Jewish Genealogy series of conversations. March 27: Susan E King Founder of JewishGen. Another in our Pioneers of Jewish Genealogy series of conversations. April 24: Neil Rosenstein Author of The Unbroken Chain, Neil will speak about Rabbinical genealogy. May 22: Ken Bravo Finding Frieda. Ken will tell the amazing story of how he tracked down a long-lost cousin who had emigrated to the US, having lost contact with the rest of the family during WW II and the Soviet period. June 12: Marian Smith Immigration records |
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