Family Research 101

I've received a number of emails asking for help in researching family root in Przemysl. While I always like to help, let me assure you that I have no secret stash of records or private access to Polish Archives! Luckily, much of what you'll need to get started is available to all on-line.

Think like a detective - develop theories, follow leads, keep an open mind, pay attention to details, and be sure to take notes when you interview the witnesses!

Researching your (Przemysl) tree:

1. Before you start searching I highly recommend that you invest in a program to keep track of your records - your tree. I use Family Tree Maker - it's OK - but I'm sure almost anything would do the job.

2. Populate your tree as best you can. The single best source for family information is your family! Call/email/write every living relation. Do they remember your great aunt's maiden name? Grandfather's birthday? Every detail is useful - keep them all. Look at old photos for clues. This is the fun part! Once you have a basic tree built, you can see what's missing and focus your energy there.

3. Join JRI-Poland and JewishGen then go to Family Finder Search and register your surnames. This puts you in touch with other looking for similar names in your towns. Email them - network! Download and read their Hints and their Research Guide.

4. Search the JRI - Poland Database These are the birth, death and marriage records from Poland that are over 100 years old. If you find a match, copy all the information. Remember: names change over time - the uncle your family knew as Morris might have been born Modrechi. Also check for children's names under the mother's maiden name - they were sometimes listed that way. You want to try to make connections - If you find a birth record with parental data, try to find the marriage record of the parents, etc. Search all of the other JRI databases: The JewishGen Yizkor Book Necrology Database, Galician Surname Index, etc...

5. ShtetLinks: Przemysl is a very useful site well worth perusing and joining. It is part of Gesher Galicia, the special interest group for the parts of Poland once ruled by Austria. They have an excellent search page.

6. For Shoah victims, you'll want to search The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names at Yad Vashem.

7. For relations who came to the US, Ellis Island records can be of tremendous value as the ship manifests often show birthplace, name of person the passenger is going to and a name back in the old country. Again, names can be different than the one's you know. Web pages by Stephen P. Morse is a great place to start as he allows for more complete searching than the Ellis Island Search itself.

8. It's worthwhile looking at the old business directories for Przemysl if you suspect your family had a store or a business. I use this one: Search Engine for Online Historical Directories

This is only the beginning... happy hunting!

Really bad news...

Seemingly out of the blue, the new director of the Polish State Archives (PSA) has unilaterally canceled the contract with Jewish Records Indexing - Poland (JRI) meaning no more indexing of records and no more on-line ordering of record copies.


Oy vey. The JRI-PSA partnership revolutionized the process for finding lost relatives. A person could sit in front of their computer and search indexes ten ways to Tuesday for names of interest, often making important discoveries just from the parental information in the index. If you wanted to dig deeper, you could then order copies of the actual records which might contain even more lost treasures. Over the past 5 years, I would guess that I've found 6 of my direct ancestors and 100+ aunts and uncles through JRI. There is simply no way these people would ever have been named without them.

JRI's Executive Director, Stan Diamond, and the Order Coordinator, Mark Halperin, are terrific and hard-working people, and doubtless are doing everything they can to either restore or restrike the deal with PSA. Every Jew researching roots in Poland owes them and everyone at JRI a huge debt.

As bad as this news is, everyone should remember that JRI's millions of records will continue to be available on-line. And keep in mind that the PSA records are only a fraction of the genealogically useful information out there. JRI will continue to index the copious non-PSA information that's available, adding to the database for years to come. JRI is still THE place to research for your Polish roots.

Please $upport JRI. This GREAT organization needs your help - now, more than ever.