There are three Jewish cemeteries in Volochisk. The one that is the most visible, on the top of the hill near the river and the railway tracks, is known as the “old” Volochisk Jewish cemetery, the “new” Jewish cemetery is the location of the Holocaust memorial, and there’s a third,…
Author: Lina Goldberg
First Wolochisker Benevolent Association burials
The following is a list of all of the burials at New York’s Montefiore Cemetery for the First Wolochisker Benevolent Association plots. There are three plots: Block 8, Gate 293/N; Block 10, Gate 316/N; Block 81, Gate 267/SE. I’m planning on getting photos of all of these graves the next…
First Wolochisker Benevolent Association
The First Wolochisker Benevolent Association was the landsmanshaft for Volochisk, and had several large burial plots at Montefiore Cemetery. You can find a link of all of the burials here. This is the program from the 50th Anniversary of the First Wolochisker Benevolent Association celebration, kindly supplied by Fern Gutman…
Death of a farmer, death of a laborer: The two Philip Stacks of Coolkeragh
The two Philip Stacks of Coolkeragh in County Kerry, Ireland lived side-by-side for most of their lives, but examining the land records and their death registrations makes clear that in life as in death, there was disparity between Irish farmers and agricultural laborers. My great great great grandfather, Philip Stack…
The two lives of Sam Schechowitz
A lot of people had questions about Sam. His first family, who knew him as Sam Schechowitz, wondered what happened to him when he disappeared in 1929. His second family knew him as Sam Miller and they wondered about his past. Through DNA and genealogical research, I’ve been able to…
Farmers without a farm: Researching rural Irish ancestors
“What class of men do you mean by laborers?” — “The men who use the spade.” “Do you mean by labouring men, men who have no land?” — “A man who has no land; who goes out with his spade or pitchfork on his shoulder, and hires for employment.” 1…
Who’s your daddy? Using DNA to find find unknown parents
Wondering how to start the process of using DNA research and genealogy to find your biological family, or help an adoptee do the same? Here are a few tips. Get tested at both Ancestry and 23andMe. Both have big databases but you can’t compare your results to the people in…
When doing DNA research consider adoption’s troubled history
Like most genealogists who have taken a DNA test or three, I’ve come across several adoptees in my DNA match list. I was intensely curious about where these people fit in my family tree, but I had never given much thought to the process behind these adoptions, or known that…
Przedbórz Yizkor books
Yizkor books are memorial books put together by Jewish emigrants from a specific community, often part of a landsmanshaft society, to memorialize their villages and shtetls that were destroyed in the Holocaust. These can be a great source of information, both in terms of names of people who were murdered,…
A 1915 Visit to Przedbórz
A few weeks ago I came across this story from the October 23, 1915 issue of a German weekly, Die Woche. It’s a travelogue of a visit to Przédborz written by Dr. H. Roesing, believed to be Dr. Lieutenant Roesing of the German Royal Wuertemberg Army Corps. It’s a fascinating…