Jewish Data times Issue 27

Jewish Data Times Issue 27 2/29/08 Focused on records posted at http://www.jewishdata.com/

1. More records from Brooklyn, NY.
2. Thousands of hard to read and Hebrew records have been indexed .
3. An additional index field for immigration douments is introduced.
4. Talking stones?

1. More than 8,000 additional images have been posted from WashingtonCemetery in Brooklyn. This brings the total number of more than 38,000records from this location. We have received thankful messages from severalmembers who happily discovered and viewed at Jewish Data- old tombstoneimages for relatives interred at this large Brooklyn cemetery. Thisoccurred after inquiring at the Cemetery office and being assured that norecords or tombstones exist for the names they asked about.

2. Our editors have carefully worked on thousands of records from Newark NJ,Dalton PA, Linden Hill Long Island, Milwaukee WI. These records were eitherdifficult to read or are in Hebrew, both of which are reasons to requireextra attention. These records are now searchable and accessible This isanother reason to suggest periodically using the search engine to conductsearches on names that previously came up fruitless.

.3. As we strive to present a variety of records, including information rich- Declaration of Intention dicuments, we have started a new time -consuming inititave for which we will appreciatte member feedback to judge it's effectivenes. Declaration documents record the applicant's heigh,weight, date and place of birth, and other details. Being that many of thesedocuments are for common Jewish names, without a year recorded in the index,it is difficult to know if the listing for Louis Bernstein, for example- isthe one you are looking for. To solve this we started entering in the notesfield- the city and country he applicant was born in. In this case- you willnow see three documents for Louis Bernstein- one from Minsk, one fromElizabethgrad, and the third- from Kiev. This information my helpresearches decide which record to select.

4. Some people wonder about the great efforts by the staff ofhttp://www.jewishdata.com/ to photograph entire Jewish cemeteries around the world,and then index and post them at the site. It seems more popular to searchfor official Government records in basement State archives for birth,marriage, census, and death records. But stones? What value can there be inold stones standing open in the field?To this we offer a response: The value of any individual record is bestmeasured by the information it provides. One particular can lead to moreinformation which can help form a full picture about the life of the targetperson and their descendents. Every record is certainly unique and deservescareful examination. Let us consider and compare the information offered bya tombstone image vs. a regular record such as a birth or census record. Thedocument may record report a single detail, for example - Joseph Cohen livedat 245 Main St. and came from Russia in 1886. A tombstone image typicallyprovides a basic record on the person- his or her birthdate, father's name,date of death, Jewish name, words indicating where he or she was a parent orgrandparent. Occasionally the image of the stone may record the person'scountry and city of origin, their occupation, and their majoraccomplishments on this earth. Is there any other record that provides somuch information in one image?When considering the value and validity of each record, one willinquire -who created the record? In the case of a Government record, it isdifficult to know who was the source. Perhaps a Government official justasked a few questions without taking the time to make sure they understandthe answers correctly. Sometime census volunteers justified writing entriesbased on a neighbor's word. A monument however, was inscribed in stone bychoice words provided by close loving family members who also paid for theinscription. Knowing this will cause us to not overlook any subtle hint theymay have intended to convey to us in their carved words.As to the fact that the monuments seems too easy to access compared torestricted Government archives, we may suggest: G-D Almighty in his infinitewisdom, created the world in a manner that essentials such as air and waterare plentiful, and readily available at no charge. In a similar vein:tombstone records, precisely because they are so essential for genealogyresearch- they are open in the fields waiting for any visitor to find themand appreciate the information they are telling. At Jewish Data we aretrying to capture the maximum number of images before the stones fade bynatural or sometimes unfortunetly un-natural causes. The small fee athttp://www.jewishdata.com/ is only for the convenience of viewing records quicklyand comfortably, while sparing the time and money it would require to travelaround the world. If at least some of these points are correct, we are leadto the conclusion that tombstones are records in stone which speak louderthan documents alone.