www.jewishgen.org

Cost - Free, although some more advanced searches are only available to ‘donators’

A brilliant website and resource which has millions of records from across Europe. The website is clear and easy to navigate, with all the major databases sorted be Country that the records cover. It also has lots of other resources as well as the searchable databases. You can search the
JewishGen Family Funder (JGFF) which is a database of ancestral towns and surnames currently being researched by Jewish genealogists around the world.

You can also add your own to the database for others to find! There is far to much to go into here, if you are trying to locate Jewish ancestors then register to this site and start searching :) There is enough to keep you going for quite a while!


www.jri-poland.org

Cost - Free

Although a separate organisation to the JewishGen people, the JRI-Poland databases are hosted by JewishGen, meaning that if you register for JewishGen then your login and password will also enable you to search the JRI-Poland databases, which are fantastic! This is another website that is a MUST to use if you have or think you have Jewish ancestors from Poland. The online databases hold over 5,000,000 records from more than 550 Polish towns, including Russian Pale, Congress Poland, Galicia and Prussia.

The website has a host of resources and information and should be one of your main searches for looking for birth/marriage/death records from Poland/Russia in the 1800/1900’s. It’s easy to use and has powerful search facilities. Once you have found records of interest you can either look into ordering them from the correct Archive or in fact a lot of the records on the databases are currently being digitised and are being linked to to the search results!You could be lucky!

Some records also have Microfiche numbers which can be viewed or ordered through the LDS Family Search website/centres (More on that later)


http://search.geshergalicia.org/

Cost - Searchable database - Free (Main website $25 per year - NO need to register to use the database!!)

This amazing database selection is contains a magnitude of records including Birth, Death, Marriage, Census, Divorce, Elections, Phonebook, School, Tax….plus many more! It is maintained by the www.geshergalicia.org website, which is a subscription website that promotes and conducts Jewish genealogical and historical research for Galicia (formerly a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, today part of Eastern Poland and Southwestern Ukraine). Membership for the main website starts at $25 per year, but this searchable database is free to use by using the link in blue above!
 

Very simple to use, by entering the Given name and/or surname you will receive a list of records which can be filtered using the ‘Record Sources’ down the left hand side of the screen. Filters include Record type, Surnames, given names and Locations (Towns).

Because the records have been transcribed mostly from very old records, the information is obviously inconsistent across record sets. For example on Birth records, sometimes a mothers name is mentioned, and sometimes not, same for the father. You can expand the records by using the blue plus icon next to each record.

Under each record (when expanded) it will tell which record set that particular record is from, page number and record number. It will also tell you in which National Archive the original is now stored in and also whether the record is viewable through the LDS Family Search Microfiche archives (great news if it is!!)

 

 

http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/

Cost - Free

This amazing website was shared by a member in the group and we thought it was too good not to add to the Links list! It is the Yivo Encyclopaedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. It isn’t a research website but is crammed full of articles on Art, Language, History and Politics, Towns and Countries. It also has archives of photos and documents and a huge collection of interactive Maps of old Europe!  It’s quite amazing!!
 

http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/printarticle.aspx?id=2126

Cost - Free

As Names and Naming is quite an important thing when it comes to Genealogy, I thought I would list this particular ‘article’ link separately. This is a fascinating article on how the Jews of Eastern Europe went about naming themselves (or names they were made to use!). Have a read through the article and get to grips with the fascinating way the Easter European Jews got their names!


http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/passengerlists/index.htm

Cost - Free

A comprehensive website featuring hundreds of searchable Shipping manifests from around the world.


http://www.jewfaq.org/m/jnames.htm

Cost - Free

For all those members that are interested in the way their Jewish ancestors got their names, or if you're just interest in the Jewish naming convention this article is very interesting! Not a research website, but still very good to read if you have Jewish ancestors and are a bit confused about naming conventions.
 

http://www.maps.thehunthouse.com/Streets/Street_Name_Changes.htm

Cost - Free

So you found your ancestors on a census record living in London and want to look up their address? The fact is that there is a strong chance that the road they lived down is either no longer there or is now known as something completely different. This link has London road name changes covering periods 1857-1929 and 1929-1945. These lists only contain roads that still exist but are now under a different name. There is also a page of links to study to see if the road had been destroyed during the war. A good little resource and well worth bookmarking!


http://www.stevemorse.org/

Cost - Free

This is a wonderful website if you think you ancestors have crossed the Atlantic to the USA or Canada. The website has so many resources it is impossible to list them all here. A host of information included is links to various searchable databases, including Ellis Island Shipping records. Information and searchable links to New York Vital records (you can also find the Microfiche numbers if you wish to order from the LDS centres). Plus different country/religion Calendar  converters, foreign alphabets and so much more!


http://chrysalis.its.uct.ac.za/shelter/shelter.htm

Cost - Free

The Poor Jews' Temporary Shelter Database put together by the University of Leicester. It transcribes twenty-five volumes of registers of Jews migrating through London, 1896 to 1914, who sought shelter.


http://londonist.com/2014/03/detailed-victorian-london-map-superimposed-on-google-maps.php

Cost - Free

Detailed Victorian London Map superimposed  on Google Maps! This is the 1893-1896 Ordnance Survey map of London, superimposed over the top of London today!! Zoom in and explore London and find your ancestors street, use the slide bar to morph between old and new maps!


http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Cost - Free to search database

Hard to write a short summary of the National Archives! Basically, if you are into Genealogy then this place is a must visit (They also copy and send documents to you - but at a cost!). If you can go in person, then it is free to view the documents and to photograph them (no flashes allowed!).

You can search their online database ‘Discovery’ to find records on a vast multitude of subjects!

Discovery holds more than 32 million descriptions of records held by The National Archives and more than 2,500 archives across the country. Over 9 million records are available for download.

 

http://italiangen.org/

Cost - Free

Not just for Italians in the USA! Their various databases hold thousands of records for New York, if you think an ancestor moved to New York, have a look at the searchable databases that the Italian Genealogical Group have put together.

 

http://www.theus.org.uk/gravesearch

Cost - Free

The Uniited Synagogue online grave search! This is a fantastic little search engine, although can sometimes be a little temperamental, so try a few different search methods and spellings of the names you are searching for! You can only search in one cmetery database at a time, so be patient!

 

 

http://www.findagrave.com/

 

Cost - Free

 

This fantastic online resource is free to use and members of the public can search and contribute their own records. Covers many thousands of cemeteries world wide and also many of the main London Jewish cemeteries are included. I highly recommend that everyone creates their own account and uploads any headstone photos you have, so they are searcheable for other researchers. Online resources like this are invaluable for us and future genealogists

 

 

http://www.cemeteryscribes.com/

 

Cost - Free

 

Another fantastic online grave search resource, covering many cemeteries both in England and around the world. It does contain some records for the Jewish Cemeteries, but the data base is not as large as the Find A Grave one, but well worth having a search through though!