Rosemary Wenzerul - Tracing Your Jewish Ancestors: A Guide For Family Historians

First published in Great Britain in 2008 by

PEN & SWORD FAMILY HISTORY

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

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Copyright Rosemary Wenzerul 2008

Unless otherwise stated, photographs are from the Authors collection.

ISBN 978 1 84415 788 4
Digital Edition ISBN: 978 1 84468 277 5

The right of Rosemary Wenzerul to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright,
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Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations:

Ask thy father, and he will declare unto thee:

Thine elders, and they will tell thee.

Deuteronomy 32:7

Preface

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Jewish Genealogy

T his book is written in an uncomplicated manner and is aimed at those readers who are just beginning to explore their family history. It will also be a valuable source of reference for readers with more experience of the subject.

Finding out about your familys history is both fascinating and extremely rewarding. It is so exciting when links are made with other genealogists, exchanging information and discovering new relations along the way. Remember, family history is not just a hobby, it is a legacy to be passed on to future generations. Therefore, make a start on your family history now, before you find that there is nobody around to help you.

With programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are? family history has become more popular than ever. It has prompted people to look more closely at their family history and, as a result, numerous non-Jewish researchers have now discovered that they too have Jewish roots.

Today there are many areas of research that have been made accessible to the general public, from visiting archives to surfing the net. The National Archives at Kew, which now incorporates the archives previously held at the Family Record Centre, has a wealth of genealogical information for family historians who are starting their journey of discovery. As well as visiting archives, do not forget to use the facilities in your local library. The librarians can always obtain books on Jewish family history for you.

Researching your Jewish roots is not as difficult as it used to be. If you have access to the Internet, then you are halfway there. As you will see from the information in this book, there are numerous websites just waiting to be visited, which will offer an unbelievable amount of information on Jewish genealogy. Even if you do not have a computer, then the book still has a tremendous amount of information that will point you in the right direction for tracing your family history.

Some parts of this book have appeared in the Jewish Ancestor Series, which includes the now out-of-print Beginners Guide to Jewish Genealogy in GreatBritain, originally published in 2000 by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain, but much new information has been added and other sections enlarged upon and brought up to date.

I would like to thank the following people for their valuable contributions to this publication and for copyright permission: Dr Cyril Fox for the bibliography; Rosemary Hoffman for updating the section on using public records and for allowing me to use this; Dr Anthony Joseph and the genealogist from the Society of Genealogists; Else Churchill for permission to include some paragraphs from the book My Ancestors Were Jewish; Harvey Kaplan for information on Jewish Genealogy in Scotland; and the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre for the photo of the interior of Garnethill Synagogue; Rosalyn Livshin for information on the holdings of the Manchester Jewish Museum; Heinz Skyte for permission to use his late wife Theas information on the Holocaust; Martin Sugarman, assistant archivist at the Jewish Military Museum, for his permission to reproduce the chaplains card and for his lists of military awards; Franois Velde for giving permission to use his article on Jewish heraldry; Dr Daniel Weinbren for information on Jewish Friendly Societies; the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for permission to use the section on Kindertransport; my husband Derek Wenzerul for his help with the technical side of producing this book; and Professor Uri Yosef of VirtualYeshiva.com for the section on Cohanim.

In addition, I would like to thank Rupert Harding and his colleagues at Pen&Sword for their help and support, in particular Jon Wilkinson for his design of the outer jacket and Elizabeth Stone for copy-editing the text.

The information contained in this book is believed to be accurate at the time of printing. However, information can become out of date. This book is sold on the condition that neither the author nor the publishers can be held legally responsible for the consequences of any errors or omissions that there may be.

Please note that the author is not recommending any product or manufacturer mentioned in this book. They have been included as examples to help you or to act as a guide.

All photographs have been reproduced from the authors family papers unless otherwise stated.

Introduction

A Brief Social History

T here are stories that Jewish traders were involved with Phoenician ships in the Cornish tin trade in pre-Roman times, but the first documented references to Jews in England relate to those Jews who arrived during and after the Norman invasion as part of the retinue of William the Conqueror. They settled in various Norman administrative bases, including Lincoln and at a site in the City of London still known today as Old Jewry.

In 1190 the massacre took place of the Jews in York this was at the site of Cliffords Tower (see photograph below).

On the night of Friday 16 March 1190 some 150 Jews and Jewesses of York having sought protection in the Royal Castle on this site from a mob incited by Richard Malebisse and others chose to die at each others hands rather than renounce their faith.