Jewish Data Times Issue 3 November 14, 2003

Jewish Data Times- Focused on records and images posted at www.jewishdata.comIssue Number 3 November 14, 20031. What does Arthur Kurzweil say about www.jewishdata.com? 2. "Valuable Documents"- a special feature about Declaration of Intention Documents. 3. New records from Oneida County, NY. 1. Arthur Kurzweil, one of the greatest authorities on Jewish Genealogy, and author of several very popular books on the subject, wrote this review: "Jewishdata.com is an ambitious project that will surely delight many researchers. And, at the rate at which it is growing, it becomes a more valuable source for genealogists by the day. I also predict that Jewishdata.com will come to be known as a role model for other similar efforts. I am quite impressed with this groundbreaking web site. Check it out!" 2. "Valuable Documents" In Genealogy research, one of the overlooked items is finding Declaration of Intention documents, which are very helpful in providing important information about ancestors. What is a Declaration of Intention? A document filed for the purpose of an immigrant declaring their intention to reside in the USA and become a loyal Citizen. In doing so, they renounce their ties to their Country of origin which they are a subject of. This declaration documents was the first step in achieving Citizen status. What information should one expect to learn from this document? It depends on the year the document was filed. There were a few stages and changes in the information fields requested in the document. The first stage was 1790- 1900: the documents include only: Name Age Birthplace Residence Date From where emigrated Signature Until 1900, in some Counties, the “Residence” field stated only the person’s City and County. After 1900, typically the person’s address was also written. The second stage is about September 1906, when the Document was changed to include much more information. Name__________________ Aged______ Occupation______________ do declare on oath that my personal description is: Color________ Complexion_______ Height_____ feet _____ inches Color of hair__________ Color of eyes_______ Other distinctive marks________________ I was born in______________ on the ______day of _______ anno domino_______ I emigrated to the Untied States of America from______________ On the vessel______________ My last foreign residence was___________ It is my bona fide intention to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, State or sovereignty, and particularly to ______________ I arrived at the Port of_____________ in the State of ___ on or about the _____day of______ I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy; and it is my intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States of America and to permanently reside therein; so help me GOD Signature______________ Subscribed before me this_____ day of_______ anno domino______ __________clerk of the_____ Court by_____ clerk Seal The third stage is 1917, when the following fields were added: I am______married; the name of my wife/husband is________ she/he was born at________. The final stage took place 1927-1929 The forms were typed instead of being hand written. These forms included a few more details about the spouses birthday, the couple's marriage, and their children: We were married on_________ at_________. She or he was born at________ on __________. I have________children, and the name, date and place of birth and place of residence of each of said children is as follows__________________________________________________________________ In about 1930 new fields were added for: Race______ Nationality_________. Jewish people were typically written in as “Hebrew” in the “Race” field. In the 1940’s it seems like officials became a little lax in filling in the “race” field, and often left in blank or just wrote “white” for Jewish people. Sometimes, Jews from Germany in the mid 1930’s are listed as “Stateless” in the “Nationality” field. Accuracy When a person came to file this document, he or she was interviewed and asked all the questions on the form. The interviewer filled out the form, and the applicant signed the document. This explains why sometimes the name at the top of the document is spelled differently than the signature at the bottom. The interviewer wrote they name as it sounded, even if it wasn't they way the applicant spelled their own name. There was also confusion with the places of birth. The applicant would say, “I was born in Kiev”, and the interviewer would write it as they heard it, and may write “Kief”. Aside from these occasional errors, these documents are unique for their degree of authenticity. Here you have a document with family information signed by your family member in good health and under oath. That has an advantage over a Census document written by some Census taker asking questions to family members, or their neighbors. Even death certificates are filled in by family members, but obviously not by the deceased themselves. Where are these records located? Generally they are kept as County records. Contact the County Clerk’s office to find out where they are. Some Clerks will tell you that you can search an online index, or to send them a written request along with a fee for searching, and then one can order a copy for a $10.00 -$15.00 per document. One of the difficulties in ordering this way is how to locate the correct document when searching for a common Jewish name like “Jacob Cohen”. Someone may order a copy only to find out they have the wrong one. It can also take a few weeks to receive the copy. www.jewishdata.com has the largest online collection of these documents. They have collected thousands of Declarations filed by Jewish people from the following NY Counties, so far: Albany, Fulton, Kings County 1907-1909, Montgomery, Oneida, Onondaga, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Ulster, and Warren. In the member’s section, first and last name searches will display results listing the records found and the County they are from. Clicking on the icon will load the image. This may take a few seconds, because the images are large files and are of high resolution. Users can even print a copy of the image or download it, for their personal use. 3. We have posted 800 new records and images form Oneida County, NY 1906-1949. The majority of these Jewish immigrants lived in Utica, NY. There are an unusual high percentage of Jewish tailors among the immigrants. Hersh Rossansky and Samuel Lazarus Somburg are listed as Rabbis.Several documents note that the applicant is also known by another name. Some immigrants probably wanted to “Americanize” or simply shorten their names. Simon Small’s document notes that his name was changed in Court from- Simon Smolensky. Sam Shlep is listed to also be known as Sam Lender, Morris Rutsiwitsky, also known as Morris Russ, and Ovsei Kostelianetz is also called Joshna Kastel. One of the interesting documents tells a little about Holocaust refugees. In a few lines it describes Szaja Sheiman, also known as Shai Szejmowicz, who was born in Olita, Lithuania in 1880. He married his wife Dwojra in Suwalki, Poland in 1919. After living in Konigsberg Germany for some time, he established residence back in Olita. Somehow he escaped Europe and reached Japan, probably close to or during the Second World War. In 1941 he departed Yokohoma, Japan and arrived in Seattle WA in April. His journey continued as we see that a few months later, in December 1941, he filed his Declaration in Oneida County, NY. As he listed his two children and their residence, there is Jacob, who is listed as been born in Konigsberg Germany in 1920 and living in "Unknown Germany" in December 1941. Shai Sheiman’s tombstone in Utica is also in the database. From it we learn that he was a Cohen, and his year of birth is engraved as 1890, not 1880. As mentioned earlier in “Valuable Documents”, documents from the 1930’s and on required listing the applicant’s “Race”, and Jews were usually listed as “Hebrew”. In the 1940’s this was not strictly practiced, as evident in a document filed by an obvious Holocaust survivor named Chaim Lewkowicz from Poland, who arrived in this Country in 1949. In his personal description, the field “other distinctive marks” is filled with “tattoo left arm #116291”, yet in “Race” he is listed as “White”. In these records there are at least three documents for the following family names: Berkowitz, Block, Bloom, Brooks, Cohen, Gersten, Glazer, Glovinsky, Goldberg, Grossman, Hoffman, Klein, Levine, Lewkowicz, Schechter, Schwartz, Sitrin (Cytryn), Shapiro, Speiller, Stone,Weinstein, and Weiss. To limit a search to these records, enter “Oneida” in the location field.