Take your smart phone to the cemetery!

I was on Long Island in New York the other day, preparing to give a lecture, when I realized that my aunt Rika Singer was buried only a few miles from where I was to speak.

I decided to go a little early and pay my respects.

Thanks to GPS, I arrived at the cemetery with no problems. Soon I found the section, block and area.

But as I began counting rows and tombstones, I realized I had problems. According to the cemetery website, my aunt was buried in row O.

Was that a zero or the letter O?

It’s easy to have a row zero in some cemeteries - they may have had to add a row before the original first one to make space - but she wasn't there. Did I count the rows in the wrong direction? She wasn't there. Then I tried to number the rows by letters, so I started A, B, C, D ... That didn't work either.

By now, I was getting worried and decided to review my data. Out came my new iPhone, found a Wi-Fi connection and went online to check my family tree data. Yes, the information was correct. I checked the cemetery website again - the information was the same - but my aunt wasn't there!

Could I do a reverse look up on the cemetery database? It seemed easy. There was the name of the person in front of me, and the database should give me his location. I did that a few times but all the names had numbered rows. If my aunt was in Row Zero, I was in trouble.

Amazingly, the phone also can be used for its original purpose - to make calls! I rang the administration office and spoke to a very kind lady who confirmed that I should be looking for the letter O and not zero. She explained that the area is divided in two - one with lettered rows and the other with numbers. With that information, I moved over to the left section and walked a few rows to the front and found Aunt Rika in the same spot she had been in for nine years.

I then turned on the camera feature to take pictures of the tombstone, and turned to Google maps to get the exact coordinates of the place where I was standing at the moment with the "Show my location" feature (image on the left is just an example as Long Island is in New York, not Oregon!). After all, I didn’t want any other relatives to walk around for hours as I did to find our beloved aunt.

I finally sent the tombstone image via email to my cousin - on the other side of the world - to show him my findings.

What did we do a few years ago when we didn't have Smart Mobile Devices with Internet, GPS, cameras and phones?

Lithuania: Kalvarija Jewish Cemetery

The Jewish cemetery in Kalvarija - southern Lithuania - has just been recorded by Ralph Salinger of Kfar Ruppin in Israel.

Born in the UK and raised in New Zealand, Ralph lives on Kibbutz Kfar Ruppin. He has researched his family history and discovered that the SALINGER family lived in Vilkaviskis (c1805-1941).

To learn about the project, go to Ralph's site, JewishVilkaviskis.org.

Working with Ralph is Wayne N. Frankel, Ph.D., a professor at The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, Maine), and editor-in-chief of PLoS Genetics, an open access research journal.

Dr. Frankel's ancestors lived in Vilkaviskis for many generations prior to the 1902 emigration of his great-grandfather to New York. His cousins lived in Vilkaviskis until World War II; some survived, others did not."

His assistants on the ground in the area include Antanas Zilinskas, Vilkaviskis Regional Museum director; Algis Vaskevicius has a deep interest in the subject and his superb knowledge of English has been a wonderful source of support; and The Honorable Mr. Algirdas S Bagušinskas, Mayor of Vilkaviskis and his staff. See Ralph's site for contact information for these individuals.

In September, Ralph visited the Kalvarija Jewish Cemetery and with the help of middle-school students, the names of Jews buried there were deciphered.

The stones were cleaned with shaving cream, which is not recommended by cemetery preservationists as it can destroy stones and inscriptions.

In any case, the method was used and the stones deciphered. The International Jewish Graveyard Rabbit hopes that the visitors thoroughly washed off the foam from the stones.

One after another the names of people known from the archives were revealed to Jewish history researcher Alvydas Tottori. In a day and a half, Ralph - with his helpers - transcribed some 80 stones.

At the link above for the Vilkovishk site, see photos of the stones and learn more about Ralph's project. See the names of the researchers and the families they are looking for here.

Some history

Vilkovishk is located in southwestern Lithuania on the Seimena River, a tributary of the river Sesupe, about 18 km from the border with Prussia (now Russia) and 3.5 km from the St.Petersburg-Berlin railway line.

In 1660, King Jan Kazimir granted Vilkovishk city rights, making it one of the oldest Lithuanian towns. Jews had begun to settled there in the 14th century, but the old Jewish cemetery had stones dating only from 1575.

Queen Bona (wife of King Zigmunt August II) donated timber to Vilkovishk's citizens for building prayer houses at the beginning of the 16th century. Jews also benefited from this and the synagogue was built in 1545 and was extant until WWII, after several renovations over history. Sephardic Jews also settled here and the synagogue contained several Torah scrolls the refugees brought with them from Spain. They had their own cemetery.

In the early 18th century, Jews from Koeningsburg (Prussia) were buried in Vilkovishk because they were not permitted to construct a cemetery of their own. In the mid-1750s, refugees from a cholera epidemic in Vizhan, about 35km south of Vilkovishk, settled in a nearby forest - not allowed to enter the town - and the Jewish community supplied them with food. Many died and were buried near the forest. Their descendants settled in the town and remained there until the Holocaust.

There is much more detailed history, read it at the link above.

More links of interest

-- See the list of available Vilkovishk databases here.

-- See the photo library here.

-- See the site's index page here for all the pages on the site, including maps, photos of stones, various aspects of the project.

-- And see the related blog here, with even more information.

A truly fascinating site for those with ancestors in the area, or to see how similar projects can be organized.

Contact Ralph here.

Jewish cemeteries database: JOWBR

The first 2009 update to the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) database includes more than 55,000 new records and some 25,000 new photos from 17 countries. The database now has more than 1.125 million records from more than 2,100 cemteries and cemetery sections in 45 countries.

Although the burial records are now "live,", additional files, maps and overview photos will be posted soon.

This update contains these major groups:

- Maryland: More than 31,000 records from Baltimore-area cemeteries courtesy of the Jewish Museum of Maryland.

- Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska: Terry Lasky submitted records and photographs personally created or coordinated with other volunteers. The update includes about 2,800 new records and more than 15,000 photographs.

- Indiana: Gloria Green and her team have provided some 2,700 records and 2,700 photos for the Kelly Street cemetery complex in Indianapolis.

- Bayside, NY: Maurice Kessler and his team have provided an additional 1,400 records from the Bayside/Ozone Queens cemetery complex. The original records were documented by Florence Marmor and David Gevertzman.

- Pennsylvania: Susan Melnick has arranged continuing submissions of various state cemeteries on behalf of the Rauh Jewish Archives, John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center.

- Chernivtsi, Ukraine: Hymie Reichstein and Bruce Reisch of the JGS of Ottawa (Canada) for the second installment of some 3,800 records and photos.

- Vilnius, Lithuania: Howard Margol submitted some 6,300 post-World War II burials in the Saltonishkiu Cemetery in Vilnius.

- Iasi, Romania: Reuven Singer and his team submitted an additional 1,000 burial records translated from the 1887 Hebrew burial registers.

According to JOWBR coordinator Nolan Altman, the next update should be prior to the 29th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, August 2-7, in Philadelphia. For conference information, click here.

The project appreciates the work done by donors and encourages additional submissions.

Whether you work individually on a cemetery or cemetery section or consider it a group project for your local Jewish genealogical society, synagogue or other group, all submissions grow the database and assist others around the world to locate information.

Nolan encourages those who have already done cemetery indexing to consider having those records included in the JOWBR database.

New Jersey: The Alliance Cemetery

The Alliance Cemetery in New Jersey may be getting some help. The Garden State Preservation Trust ratified and sent to the state legislature a recommendation to fund a project to help the Jewish Federation of Cumberland County help preserve the cemetery and synagogue near Vineland.

The Alliance Colony was settled by 42 families who fled late 1800s Russian pogroms to start one of the first Jewish agricultural settlements in the US.

The federation, which handles Jewish activities in Cumberland and Salem counties, would receive more than $400,000 to restore Moshe Bayuk's brick house. Born in Eastern Europe, Bayuk was a lawyer, Jewish scholar and farmer. He died in 1932. The house is across the steet from the Alliance Synagogue. According to the plan, $50,000 in state funds would make the house the Alliance Heritage Center.

The Philadelphia Daily News story reported on the plans.

Another phase of the plan - about $4 million - would relocate two abandoned synagogues - Beth Israel, on Garton Road, in Deerfield Township, Cumberland County; and Crown of Israel, on Centerton Road, in Monroeville, Salem County - in front of the Alliance Cemetery.

Not everyone connected with the Alliance Synagogue, which still has a small congregation, is happy about the plan. Some call it a land or power grab and wonder why the Federation wants to do this now when they've ignored the place for 50 years; others fear the site will become a theme park.

In 1882, the German-Jewish philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch and the Paris-based Alliance Israelite Universelle - for which the colony was named - paved the way for 42 settlers to seek out a quieter, albeit difficult life by tilling the soil instead of fighting it out among the masses in squalid, inner-city tenements.

In Pittsgrove Township and its communities - Alliance, Brotmanville, Norma, Six Points - the immigrants found acceptance and friendly neighbors. Many immigrants raised chickens and also worked in cranberry bogs and clothing factories.

The small community spread to Vineland with a Jewish population that reached about 12,000 after World War II; today the Jewish population in Salem and Cumberland counties is only 1,100. Younger generations moved away from the land in the late 50s-60s, but their parents stayed.

The story quotes US District Judge Stanley S. Brotman, whose grandfather founded the cemetery, said he supports any action to shed light on all the names whose roots were planted in South Jersey, and that the area should be given the historical significance it deserves.

A heritage center would be a fitting voice for the dead, said Vineland lawyer Jay Greenblat whose father was a carpenter and butcher in the colony. "It might be centered on Alliance, but it's something for the entire area to take part in," he said. "It's quite a story. I don't think too many people are aware of it."

Keeping watch over the generations of Jewish farmers were piles of pebbles, neatly placed atop the grave markers by loved ones who had made the trek down these scenic roads.

Alliance Cemetery has a website. Although much of it appears under construction, there are two maps and more is promised. Read the complete story at the link above.

Poland: New catalog of Jewish cemeteries

The Lo Tishkach Foundation has published a new Catalog of Jewish Cemeteries of Masovian Region in Poland.

Established in 2006, the Lo Tishkach Database now contains details on more than 9,000 Jewish burial grounds in 29 countries. The Lo Tishkach Foundation estimates that there are some 20,000 such sites in Europe. The foundation is a project of the Conference of European Rabbis and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany

The information was reported by the International Survey of Jewish Monuments (ISJM).

Jewish tradition regards burial grounds as sacred sites which must never be disturbed. Jewish cemeteries and mass graves also provide a vivid focal point marking the destruction of Jewish communities and for learning the lessons of the Holocaust. They stand as testimony to the history of Jewish community life across the European continent and are an important part of Europe’s diverse cultural heritage.

The report (October 2008) on the current state of Poland's Jewish cemeteries reveals that dozens are still unmarked and neglected, while others have been built over completely.

The Lo Tishkach Foundation (Hebrew, "do not forget") commissioned the report - Jewish Cemeteries of Poland: Masovian Region - which focuses on the 126 Jewish burial sites of the Masovian Voivodeship, Poland’s largest region.

Lo Tishkach also reports on databases of Jewish cemeteries in Ukraine (some 800 cemeteries). This perhaps the most complete record in English of Ukrainian Jewish mass graves.

Search the database here. The database record contains at least the location and address of each cemetery plus basic information on the specific geographical location of the town or village as well as the source from which this information was compiled.

Some cemeteries indicate additional information is found at the IAJGS Cemetery Project Database.

For additional information, click here.

Canada: Quebec Jewish Cemetery online

In Canada, Quebec City's Jewish Cemetery records are now online at ShalomQuebec, under the Families tab, along with a plan of the cemetery and lists of family names.

There's also a very nicely done timeline of Quebec's Jewish history.

Period 1 – New France (1608-1759)
First presences
Since Jewish immigration was not officially encouraged in New France, there is no proof today as to the existence of a Jewish community in Québec City during that period. Nevertheless, we can still make the hypothesis that some Jews came to Québec City under the French regime without necessarily declaring their origins.

There is proof that in 1738, a young Jewish woman arrived at the port under a false identity, named Esther Brandeau. She was sent back to France the following year after an attempt at conversion.

At around the same time, in 1748, a shipowner of Sephardic origin living in Bordeaux, Abraham Gradis, formed a company aimed at ensuring a supply of soldiers and arms for New France, the Société du Canada. He continued his work until Québec City fell, but without ever coming to the colony. His merchant ships were the only ones to make it to America during the last days of the French colony.

Gradis was the last person to personify France's determination to maintain its American colony.

To see the cemetery plan, click on the Families tab, and see cemetery plan (as a PDF) at the bottom right. Scroll all the way down. The cemetery plan and photos are indexed by surname.

There are some tombstone photos - not every family listed has photos of the stones - and see them by clicking the family name and personal name. Click on the photo of either people or stones to see an enlarged view.

Thanks to Merle Kastner of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal for the link to this resource. For more information on Shalom Quebec, see Tracing the Tribe's post here.

Guy W. Richard did the original research for this, and his book, Le Cimetière juif de Québec Beth Israël Ohev Sholom, is published by Septentrion.

Un cimetière juif à Québec? L'existence d'un tel lieu a de quoi éveiller la curiosité, car il témoigne de la présence à Québec d'une communauté juive aujourd'hui dispersée. Guy W.-Richard, gouverneur de la Société de généalogie de Québec et maître généalogiste agréé, s'est prêté au recensement des stèles de ce cimetière. Le résultat de ce travail de moine est un livre vivant et envoûtant qui ressuscite la vie de la communauté juive à Québec. Peu connue, cette dernière n'en fut pas moins la troisième en importance au Canada au milieu du XIXe siècle, derrière Montréal et Toronto.


L'auteur présente une retranscription des épitaphes gravées sur les pierres tombales. Il y ajoute des détails biographiques sur les personnes inhumées, leur conférant une personnalité qui les rend attachantes. Dans les premières pages du livre, une brève histoire de la diaspora, de l'implantation des Juifs au Québec et de la communauté juive de Québec replace le lecteur dans un contexte plus large. Ce dernier peut alors pénétrer dans l'univers enchanteur du cimetière de Beth Israël Ohev Sholom et découvrir un aspect fascinant du patrimoine québécois, reconnu par la Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada.

Colorado: Tuberculosis victims' graves, records

International Jewish Graveyard Rabbit is happy to introduce new contributor Ellen Shindelman Kowitt. She is the webmaster for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Colorado. A former IAJGS board member and past president of JGS Greater Washington, she lectures and writes about Jewish genealogy.

Jews arrived in Colorado with the Gold Rush in 1859. The oldest Jewish burials in Denver were conducted by the pioneer organization, the Hebrew Burial and Prayer Society (later known as the Hebrew Cemetery Association) from 1860 to 1910 and were interred at the Denver Pioneer Cemetery “Old Jewish Section” located east of Cheesman Park on Capitol Hill.

Most Jewish remains and gravestones there were moved to the nonsectarian Riverside Cemetery and to the Jewish Fairmount, Golden Hill and Rose Hill Cemeteries in the early 1900s due to urban development.

At the time, common treatment of tuberculosis called for "freezing the disease out of them with access to fresh Rocky Mountain Air," and patients lived in these unheated buildings.

In Denver cemeteries, many Jewish burials circa 1899-1954 were of those who travelled to two Colorado Jewish sanitariums for the treatment of tuberculosis. National Jewish Hospital opened in 1899, and catered largely to Jews with a less severe case of tuberculosis who were of German background and more assimilated. The Jewish Consumptives Relief Society (JCRS) served those with advanced stages of the disease and who were recent Russian immigrants. JCRS was a kosher facility with an onsite synagogue, and the patients were often observant.

Here are two stones and a donation plaque for Ernest Gluck:

The English name reads Ernest Gluck, whose Hebrew name and father's name are Aharon Yeshai ben Menachem Mendl.

This stone above, with the same details, begins with a note about the Shoah (Holocaust). This second stone might have been erected by his family, particularly since it mentions erasing the Nazis - unrelated to a Colorado tubercular’s grave - but perhaps representative of stones in that generation commemorating others who died in the Shoah elsewhere.

This plaque was apparently constructed by his friends at JCRS.

Members of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Colorado assisted the University of Denver Judaic Studies Division with the creation of an online JCRS patient surname index. This project was awarded the IAJGS Malcolm Stern Grant in 2003. Copies of JCRS patient applications (click here to see a sample) can be requested and often include birthplace abroad, landsmanshaften affiliation, names and ages of children, nearest of kin and burial location at Denver cemeteries.

Rose Hill Cemetery in Commerce City, Golden Hill Cemetery in Lakewood and Mount Nebo Cemetery in Aurora specifically included tuberculosis patient burials. A significant number were buried by benevolent groups as indigent and in unmarked pauper graves.

Regardless of whether a gravestone ever existed or has survived, all Colorado Jewish burial data has been gathered from local sources, indexed, entered into the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry and can be searched by the name of the deceased, cemetery or location. Gravestone inscriptions have been translated into English from Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian.

Following are the four largest Jewish cemeteries in the Denver metro area:

Rose Hill Cemetery: Burials 1892-present; includes tuberculosis patients from JCRS.
Mount Nebo Cemetery: Burials 1904-present; includes tuberculosis patients from JCRS.
Golden Hill Cemetery: Burials 1908-present; includes tuberculosis patients from JCRS.
Emanuel at Fairmount Cemetery: Burials 1911-present.

South Carolina: Historic cemetery data

Terry Thornton, creator of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits, and thus the impetus to the founding of the International Jewish Graveyard Rabbit, pointed me to a booklet by Dr. Barnett A. Elzas, rabbi (in 1903) of K.K. Beth Elohim, in Charleston, South Carolina.

In a private edition of 250 copies, Elzas published the transcriptions found in three old Charleston Jewish cemeteries. Find the downloadable book here.

Here's an excerpt from the introduction to "Old Jewish Cemeteries at Charleston, SC: A Transcript of the Inscriptions on Their Tombstones." I have bolded the family names.

The cemetery at Coming Street is the oldest Jewish cemetery in South Carolina. It was originally purchased by Isaac Da Costa, the first Hazan of Beth Elohim, for a private burying place for his own family. "Finding that it would be a convenient place for the Burial Ground of the Jews' Congregation in general," he, "out of regard for the said congregation became willing and desirous, and did afterwards intend that the same should be conveyed in trust to the congregation."

Carrying out his original intention. Isaac Da Costa, conveyed this burial ground in 1764, for a consideration of seventy pounds lawful money of the province, in trust to certain trustees" for a place of burial for the use of the Jews residing in Charles Town or elsewhere within the Province of South Carolina, who do and shall conform to the Jewish rites and ceremonies in general, and who do and shall conform to and observe the rules, orders and regulations of the Jews congregation in Charles Town named Beth Eloim."

The following are the trustees mentioned in the deed: Joshua Hart, Immanuel Cortissos, Joseph Da Costa and Samuel Da Costa, of Charles Town, and members of the Jews congregation in Charles Town known by the name of Beth Eloim.

Benjamin Mendes Da Costa, Joseph Salvador, Esq., Solomon Da Costa, Moses Franco and Joshua Mendes Da Costa, of the city of London, and members of the Portuguese Jews congregation in the said city known by the name of Sahar Ashamaim.

Jacob Lopes Torres, Isaac Mendes Furtado. Benjamin Dias Fernandes, Isaac Henriquez and Abraham Aguilar, of the Island of Jamaica, and members of the Jews congregation in King's Town in the said Island, known by the name of Sahar Ashamaim.

Isaac Piza, Benjamin Messias, David Castello, David Lindo and Isaac Pinheiro, of the Island of Barbadoes, and members of the Jews congregation in Bridge Town in said Island, by the name of Nidhe Israel.

Jacob Franks, Daniel Gomes, Benjamin Gomes, Isaac Mendes Seixas and Heyman Levy, of the city of New York, and members of the Jews congregation in that city known by the name of Schorit Israel.

Moses Lopes, Moses Levy, Naphtali Hart, Jacob Rods. Rivera and Aaron Lopes, of New Port, Rhode Island, and members of the Jews congregation in the said Island known by the name of Yeshuat Israel.

Benjamin Sheftal, Mordecai Sheftal, Minis Minis, Isaac De Lyon and Levy Sheftal, of the Town of Savannah in the Province of Georgia, and members of the Jews congregation in the said Town of Savannah, known by the name of Mikve Israel.

The deed is recorded in the office of Mesne Conveyance, Vol. C 3, p. 108 sq.

Those searching Sephardic families will find much information as most of the area's original Jewish settlers were indeed Sephardim. Ashkenazi Jews arrived later. There is a full name index.

Reading through the inscriptions, see individuals born in South Carolina, Massachusetts, New York and other current US locations or natives of Curacao, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Gibraltar, Germany, France, Prussia, Bavaria, Italy, Poland and elsewhere. Tablets on cemetery walls are in memoriam to relatives who died elsewhere. The deceased died as infants, assassinated on a journey, of yellow fever, in swimming accidents, in shipwrecks, or as Civil War soldiers. Others enjoyed full long lives into their 80s.

The transcription booklet offers many details including origin of the deceased, dates, family relationships. Here is an example:

Sacred to the Memory of
DAVID NUNEZ CARDOZO

A native of the State of New York and for the last sixty years a resident of this city, who departed this life on the 16th. day of the month Tammuz, in the year 5595 of the Creation, corresponding to the 13th. July 1835, aged 81 years, 11 months, and 14 days.

The deceased served as a Subaltern Officer in the militia of South Carolina during a great part of the Revolution, until made a prisoner of war in 1780. He was also attached to the Forlorn Hope when the line* of Savannah were attacked by the combined forces of Gen. Lincoln and Count de Estaing.

As the deceased was an example of patriotism, so in private life he was a model of the domestic virtues, of a sound judgment and well cultivated mind. His career through life was marked by the esteem and respect, and his end by the sincere regret of numerous friends and connexions.

Elzas wrote four additional booklets detailing other South Carolina Jewish cemeteries (names and links below). Find all of them, in a variety of downloadable formats, on the American Libraries site. Topics include the cemeteries at Georgetown, Orangeburg, Charleston (Brith Shalom and Beth Elohim), as well as the transcription edition.

Here are the links for each booklet and introductory remarks by Elzas:

Georgetown, SC:
"The Jewish cemetery at Georgetown is the second oldest Jewish cemetery in South Carolina, and contains a number of inscriptions of historical interest. I have not been able to trace its history owing to the fact that the records in Georgetown prior to the War are no longer in existence."

Orangeburg, SC:

"This Cemetery, the property of the Hebrew Benevolent Society, of Orangeburg, was purchased in 1886."

Congregation Berith Shalome (Charleston):

"This [General] Cemetery, situated near Magnolia Cemetery, at Charleston, S. C, has been in use since 1856. The inscriptions on its tombstones will furnish the best guide to the various strata of Russian and Polish immigration of the Jewish element in the population of Charleston, S. C, which to-day numerically far outnumbers the remnants of the older elements.

"The cemetery at St. Andrew's Parish: This cemetery, now belonging to the Congregation Berith Shalome, formerly belonged to ''Hevry Bikur Holini," Amalgamated Aug. 27, 1897. It comprises "one acre on Sycamore Avenue, Hillsborough Plantation, in St. Andrew's Parish, Berkeley Coimty, originally conveyed to Hevry Bikur Holim by Deed dated Jan. 7, 1887, and recorded in the Mesne Conveyance Office for Berkeley County, Book A No. 3, p. 220."

K.K. Beth Elohim (Charleston):

"The New Jewish Cemetery of K.K. Beth Elohim, Charleston, SC: The modern cemetery of the Congregation Beth Elohim, situated on Huguenin Avenue, was purchased in 1887. It replaced an older cemetery at Rickersville, from which all the bodies were removed to the present site."

Note for international readers: I often learn about resources on Google Books. However, as my computer is identified as located outside the US, I am limited in what I can view due to certain restrictions. American Libraries is an excellent alternative and I generally have no problem downloading or viewing the same sources.

Netherlands: 1639-48 Jewish burial register online

The Municipal Archives of Amsterdam has published the "Burial Register of the Portuguese-Israelite-Municipality Talmud Torah in Amsterdam, 1639-1648" (Comessado em Pesah do Anno 5399 em Amsterdam, in Portuguese). Introduction, text and index: Lydia Hagoort, with W.Chr. Pieterse.

This transcription is the first both printed and digital book by Amsterdam's Municipal Archives. The download is free.

The website is in Dutch, as is the information about the register. With a smattering of languages, I got through a quick overview, but I know missed many important details. However, as in most genealogical books, lists of names are not dependent on language. A name is a name, and this register is a goldmine if you are searching Sephardic names.

The homepage links to an article about the register, and in the article is the download link for the book, which text is mostly in Portuguese with some Hebrew. Other portions are in Dutch.

Entries offer data concerning each burial: name, family relation, burial date and a list of people attending the burial with indications of the amount they paid - I am not sure if these figures were as contributions to a particular burial or as general donations to the cemetery. Sometimes the family relationship is mentioned: son, grandson or uncle of the deceased. Data includes Jewish and/or secular dates.

There are also lists of people who paid for burials or for gravestones. Annual expense accountings are included.

An earlier burial register over the years 1615-1630, was published previously: Livro de Bet Haim do Kahal Kados de bet Yahacob (1970, original text), by Wilhelmina C. Pieterse. The next register, beginning in 1680, has not yet been published.

On page 8, find a note on names and variants, including changes in initial, middle or endings of certain names. I have added some others not in that note:

Barrasa, Baraza, Barazza, Barassa, Barraza, Barasa
Curiel, Corial
Paache, Palache, Pahache, Payache
Bivas, Bibas
Palasios, Palacios
Mendes, Mendez
Anar, Nar, Naar
Valerio, Valeirio
Barbanel, Abarbanel
Yessurun, Yezurun, Ysarun, Ysurun, Yisurun, Juzurun, Esarun

First names also offer variations. For example, Jacob may be listed as Yahacob, Yacob, Jacob, Jaquo, Yaquo and others.

There is a glossary of Hebrew terms, with explanations in Dutch. A bibliography of useful texts is on page 10, and the cross-referenced Name Register starts on page 198. The introduction reveals there are some 165 hand-written pages in the original.

For a very detailed article (in Dutch) about the 1614-1943 Jewish community archives, click here. The book is available free for download at the links above.

Washington DC: Arlington National Cemetery

Marlene Bishow of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington (JGSGW) has provided information on new records added to the group's website for the "Ken Poch Index of Jews Buried in Arlington National Cemetery."

Bishow is the group's immediate past president, current ANC project manager, and will co-chair the 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Washington, DC.

Self-proclaimed historian of Jews buried in ANC, Kenneth Poch began the project more than 10 years before his 2003 death. His family donated 12 boxes of his work to the JGSGW.

Based on that research, webmaster Ernie Fine developed the website with a Steve Morse-model search engine. Currently, there are more than 2,600 entries; an additional 600 will go online in January 2009. More than 2,000 gravemarkers photos (taken by Poch) have been scanned by volunteers and will be added with links to view them online, and new photos will also be added.

Genealogical data is being added to the database using Poch's data and that of the group's volunteers. Visitors to the website are encouraged to submit names and additional information about Jews buried in ANC. For the present, the search is limited to the names of the interred.

Here (above) is the monument for sculptor Moses J. Ezekiel.

For more information, click here. To submit information, follow contact page directions.

Ukraine: Czernowitz Cemetery's Ottawa Project

At the 2002 International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, Prof. Alti Rodal reported on a project to digitally photograph all tombstones in the Czernowitz Jewish Cemetery.

This project, sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Ottawa, Canada, was spearheaded by several members working with Dr. George Bolotenko of the Canadian National Archives (Ottawa). It goal is to produce a free, searchable, internet database of names linked to images of tombstones.

Obtain information about specific graves (photograph, approximate location according to the current cemetery map, burial register information), by writing to Bruce Reisch, the Czernowitz-L list moderator. He has been coordinating data transcription for the JGSO, which led the effort to photograph all the tombstones and to obtain copies of burial registers.

The exact location of individual graves is not known, as the current cemetery map does not correspond until 1946.

In August 2007, information on 4,293 burials were sent to JGS Ottawa, and subsequently posted on the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) along with corresponding images. In May 2008, data on 3,992 additional burials were sent to JGS Ottawa but have not yet been forwarded to JOWBR. Altogether, information on 11,376 burials has been transcribed, including the two datasets above.

There are more than 28,000 tombstone photos in the collection (some are duplicates) so there's still quite a bit of work ahead before the project is complete. Prior to transcription of data from the tombstones, all burial registers prior to 1946 were transcribed into Excel spreadsheets.

Congratulations to the team of volunteers who have dedicated countless hours transcribing data and trying to read barely decipherable tombstones in multiple languages for this project!

UK: London Cemeteries - Lost for good

Reminders of why recording cemeteries is so important are the Nuevo, Hoxton and Bancroft (Maiden Lane) cemeteries.

The first two were sold, the remains moved, the history lost, the tombstones buried or lost or whatever they do with them when they do these things; the latter has just fallen into to such a state that there are just a handful of tombstones remaining.

The remains from Nuevo cemetery were moved in 1974 to a small, out of the way cemetery in Brentwood.

Nuevo Cemetery remains moved to Brentwood
Credit: GenPals Cemetery Project)

Originally, plaques were erected in memory of each of the 7,500 individuals moved, who were buried 1734-1876. Over 140 years of history was lost.

However, no one seems to have thought of taking a few photos before the destruction of this part of the cemetery. Later burials remain in situ.

The story of Hoxton is similar, opened in 1707, closed in 1878 and sold in the 1960s.

A list of epitaphs written by Dyan Mendelssohn in 1929 are the only remaining records of those buried there.

No photos were taken of the headstones and memorials prior to its conversion into a playing field.

The remains were moved to West Ham Cemetery (above; photo credit: GenPals Cemetery Project), where, due to a shortage of space, some paths were dug up and the remains buried there.

Only a few small plaques mark the areas.

Click here for a short history of Hoxton Cemetery.

UK: GenPals Cemetery Project

Welcoming Gaby Laws and Angela Shire of GenPals:

Londoner Gaby Laws has been researching her family for more than eight years. The daughter of a survivor, her interest began by trying to find out what had happened to her family. This was combined with a love of history - she grew up above an antique shop - and a desire to be able to pass on, to her son, the stories her father could never tell.

Angela Shire's interest in genealogy was sparked by the discovery of a diary written in the late-19th century by her husband's great-grandfather. Her researches have led to world-wide contacts with fellow genealogists and taken her to Krakow and various cities in Holland. Early Anglo-Jewish Genealogy remains her main focus. She is committed to locating new sources and, where possible, making access to existing records as widely and freely available as possible.

It's just over a year since Angela Shire and I started GenPals.com but the idea had been brewing for sometime before that.

To remember the exact reason we both decided to do it, is quite hard to quantify. Hopefully, the mix of my enthusiasm and Angela’s knowledge, experience and vast databases of information makes for a a useful tool for genealogists tracing their ancestors in the UK.

Why do we spend our free time reading inscriptions, researching families and standing for hours at a time in cemeteries taking photos?

It began in the most innocent of ways, a researcher asked about getting a photo of their ancestor’s tombstone on a forum. The cemetery mentioned, was not far from where a friend lives, so I asked him if he would take a picture and it snow balled from there. Why stop at one photo?

For me, the loss of such valuable information became blatantly obvious on a trip to Dieweg Cemetery in Brussels. Everything had been arranged by a dear friend of mine, Jan Bousse. He had warned me of the state of the cemetery but it didn’t really sink in until we arrived there.

The Jewish Section of Dieweg Cemetery (Credit: GenPals Cemetery Project)

We walked down paths looking at stones, no doubt erected by loving families, but now worn, broken, fallen, completly covered in vegetation and appearing totally unloved. My own ancestors’ tombstones had to be ‘uncovered’ by the caretaker, it took days apparently.

Why are they all in such a state? I contented myself thinking that if it took me over five years to research my family and find where they were buried, then the same must apply to others. Add to the fact that many of the families of those buried at Dieweg were wiped out by the Holocaust and that may explain why these stones seem so forgotten.

We still laugh at the reactions of all the people in the hotel foyer on our return from Dieweg Cemetery. It really was a sight to be seen.

We hadn’t considered the problem of walking through to the lifts wearing mud splattered clothing, unusual hair adornments (twigs, leaves, more mud). It had rained and that along with crawling through the undergrowth did rather ruin our appearance. Those in the reception area were dressed for an evening out at the lovely local restaurants and there we were the mud-larks, we could ‘feel’ them staring and muttering.

I’m getting used to that - you only have to tell friends that you are going to photograph a cemetery to get a similar reaction.

Even when cared for, the headstones and monuments will decay, the memorials and epitaphs carefully worded by the families of each individual, the valuable information they contain, will be lost forever. So the work needs to be done – and that’s why!

GenPals Cemetery Project now contains over 2,000 inscriptions and headstone photos from cemeteries in the UK along with mini-family trees. A total of 5,500 individuals are currently recorded with more coming soon.

We have used numerous sources so that we could get to know each of the individuals listed, where they lived and what they did and have been delighted by the fabulous feedback received so far.

Completed cemeteries in London include Brady Street, Brompton (Fulham Rd), Edmonton Western section, Bancroft (Maiden Lane). Others are Aldershot, Sheppey, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Bradford, Stockton and many more.

You can search by using the name search facility or browse under headstones by name or headstones by cemetery.

We have also included some history for most of the cemeteries along with a variety of items of interest.

Poland: Jewish cemetery website

JewishTravel.Pl offers information about sites of Jewish interest, including a list of Polish cemeteries, and also arranges tours.

President/founder Tomek Kuncewicz is director of the Auschwitz Jewish Center. Co-founder/International Affairs vice president Daniel Feldman is completing a PhD in Shoah history and literature at Yale University. Co-founder/Specialized Tours vice president Kate Craddy works for the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Read more about them here.

There's an interactive map based on proposed tours of various geographical locations. This is an interesting feature pointing up Jewish sites in these places.

However, the real interest for the Jewish Graveyard Rabbit is the place index, billed as an introduction to all known places in Poland with remaining sites of Jewish interest. Enter the keyword "cemetery" and view a long alphabetical list of towns with Jewish cemeteries.

Caveat: While some entries have more detail, many merely say "one Jewish cemetery remains."

Tip: To find more information on the town cemeteries listed on JewishTravel.pl , google the town of interest.

Under Zdunska Wola (in Lodz District, Sieradz Province), it says merely "Both a Jewish cemetery and former synagogue building remain." Google zdunska wola jewish cemetery and view nearly 600 results for more information.

Zdunska Wola's cemetery is undergoing an ongoing major restoration and preservation project, and contains unusual colored tombstones. This is the project of Dr. Daniel Wagner of the Weizman Institute (Israel) and a team of dedicated researchers in Poland, Israel and elsewhere.

Wagner's own site is here, where he writes "I believe that the total number of gravestones is probably as high as 1200 or more. It is the largest Jewish cemetery in the Sieradz region. The oldest gravestone is that of Elazar LIPSZYC, who died in 1837. The last recorded Jewish burials were in 1946.

Take a look for your own ancestral towns in the list at JewishTravel.pl at the link above.