My Family Tree Finder

09/24/2017

Russian Jewish genealogy is tricky! Despite years of researching, I have been unable to find relatives of my great-grandparents, Simon Goldman and Mamie Bloom or Blum (both spellings are used on her children's birth and death certificates). Simon and Mamie left Hamburg on the Hammonia on November 10, 1889, and arrived in New York on November 22. On the Hamburg manifest, their place of last residence is listed as Mariampole, Russia. [ 1,240 more word ]

Russian Jewish genealogy is tricky! Despite years of researching, I have been unable to find relatives of my great-grandparents, Simon Goldman and Mamie Bloom or Blum (both spellings are used on h…

08/15/2017

Today I am reviewing the documents I found at the Amherst County Historical Museum in Amherst, Virginia, in March 2017. On a road trip between Texas and Williamsburg, I realized we would be passing through Amherst and remembered that was the name of a birthplace I had seen on my family tree at some point in the past. So we stopped and found a treasure trove of information about my Montgomery ancestors (that's my maiden name). [ 805 more words ]

http://myfamilytreefinder.com/2017/08/15/montgomerys-in-amherst-county-part-1/

Today I am reviewing the documents I found at the Amherst County Historical Museum in Amherst, Virginia, in March 2017.  On a road trip between Texas and Williamsburg, I realized we would be passin…

07/31/2017

There is an excellent article in the Washington Post today: "She thought she was Irish -- until a DNA test opened a 100-year-old-mystery. " So many people are taking DNA tests these days. It is cool, for sure, to learn or confirm your ethnicity. But sometimes there are definitely very big surprises, and not always entirely pleasant ones. This has happened among my own family and friends. [ 589 more words ]

http://myfamilytreefinder.com/2017/07/31/dna-surprises/

There is an excellent article in the Washington Post today:  “She thought she was Irish — until a DNA test opened a 100-year-old-mystery. ”  So many people are taking DNA tests th…

07/30/2017

I'm now a card-carrying member of the Clan Montgomery Society! Here's how the Montgomery branch of my family tree looks: My father was Kenneth Oliver Montgomery, born September 6, 1930 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dad died of small cell lung cancer in Hurst, Texas, on January 6, 1997, and we buried him in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Greenwood, Indiana, next to his father. [ 492 more words ]

http://myfamilytreefinder.com/2017/07/30/the-clan-montgomery-society/

I’m now a card-carrying member of the Clan Montgomery Society!  Here’s how the Montgomery branch of my family tree looks: My father was Kenneth Oliver Montgomery, born September 6, 1930…

07/29/2017

Years ago, my mother showed me a picture. She said she had been told a long time ago that the picture was of her Goldman grandparents. Here is the picture in question: Even before my mother's memory began to fail, she was an unreliable witness as to who was in that picture or, really, in almost any picture she might have had of her family. [ 549 more words ]

http://myfamilytreefinder.com/2017/07/28/a-mystery-even-sherlock-cant-solve/

07/28/2017

My Interest in Genealogy

https://myfamilytreefinder.wordpress.com/2017/07/28/my-interest-in-genealogy/

Last night, Henry Louis Gates, the host of “Finding Your Roots” on PBS, spoke to the final dinner at the 2017 International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies conference.   His l…

07/28/2017

IAJGS 2017

https://myfamilytreefinder.wordpress.com/2017/07/28/iajgs-2017/

This week, I have been in Orlando at the International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies (IAJGS) for the organization’s IAJGS 2017 conference.  There were about 1,000 people here, bot…