BURIAL REGISTRY

As part of my overall search to learn more about my own family history, and also to aid my fellow researchers in their own genealogical efforts, I have within the last three years partially or completely translated more than 105,000 gravestone inscriptions located in more than thirty cemeteries in New York and New Jersey. These matzevot (gravestones) are found in nearly seven hundred landsmanshaftn and synagogue plots, and represent societies whose origins lie in more than one-hundred and seventy Eastern European shtetls, towns, and cities. With the addition of other burial data obtained from other sources, the Museum database now contains information for burials not only in New York and New Jersey, but also for Connecticut, Western Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The current number of burials registered on the Museum database now exceeds 210,000 names.
 

SURNAMES

I have created web pages that list unique surnames for many towns and cities (and a few non-affiliated organizations) that have society burial plots in New York and New Jersey, e.g. the Sniadowo page lists alphabetically all the unique surnames that have been found among all those interred within the Sniadowo-associated landsmanshaftn and synagogue burial plots in New York and New Jersey. There are a few web pages that are not associated with any particular geographical location, but are associated with other organizations without any known particular affiliation to any town in Europe.
 

MAPS

There are nearly one-hundred cemetery maps included here from nearly four dozen cemeteries located in New York, New Jersey, South Florida, Los Angeles, Chicago and Montreal, Canada. The images are generally enlargeable and can be saved to your computer for future reference, e-mailed to a friend or relative, or printed out for your next cemetery visit.

If anybody has any other maps like these, please indicate the cemetery name, address and phone number if possible, and scan them to the museum at postmaster@museumoffamilyhistory.com.
 

SOCIETY GATES

An evolving exhibition is presented to you that displays the many gates and posts that are located at the entrance to various society plots located in the New York and New Jersey metro area. These often bear important information for the genealogist, i.e. the name of society, the date the society was established, when the gate was erected, as well as the names of the society officers and its members.
 

STATISTICAL STUDIES

From the data collected, I have done various statistical studies that might be of interest to genealogists. Such studies involve determination of name frequencies, e.g. what are the most common surnames and given names; how often, for instance, a person with the Hebrew named Moshe took on the Anglicized name Morris, Max and Murray. There is also a page on surname frequency, i.e. which surnames were the most common out of nearly 70,000 entries.
 

HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS

I have photographed over one-hundred and thirty of the memorials that have been erected by various societies and families and placed within the burial plot grounds of various New York and New Jersey cemeteries. The exhibition is a display of photographs, partial listings of family members who perished in the Holocaust, and translations of heartfelt inscriptions written in Hebrew and English. This exhibition, which will soon be followed by a sister exhibition of Holocaust memorials in Europe and elsewhere in the world, will be a permanent fixture in this museum. This presentation has been created for a dual purpose--not only to pay tribute to and honor our landsleit who lost their lives during this terribly tragic time, but also to evoke the memory of the once-vibrant Jewish communities that have vanished into the recesses of history, never to be seen again.
 

A very interesting feature is called "Q & A." The Museum will conduct a number of interviews with people of interest. The first one is called "Interview with a Cemetery Manager," an in-depth discussion with the manager of Mount Judah Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery located in Ridgewood, Queens, New York. Some of the topics of discussion include the ins-and-outs of running a cemetery, what occurs from the time a funeral director calls the cemetery in order arrange for a funeral, to the time a funeral is concluded. Also, what kind of information on the deceased does a cemetery actually have? This interview should be of special interest and pertinence to Jewish genealogists.
 

LINKS
Useful sites if you would like more information about cemeteries and crematories in the states of New York and New Jersey:
New York State Cemetery Law Manual: Cemeteries and Crematories: Laws, Rules and Regulations of the New York State Cemetery Board.
List of Not-for-Profit Cemeteries under the Jurisdiction of the Department of State
New York Department of State Division of Cemetery FAQs
International Classification of Diseases (ICD):

If you possess a death certificate that uses a number to codify the cause of death of an individual, and you want to know what the actual cause of death was, please refer to this website. They have the codes from 1900 to the present. These codes have been revised more or less every seven to fifteen years and are now in their tenth revision. Be sure to look under the ICD table for the correct year, otherwise you will arrive at the wrong cause of death.

FROM THE PALE TO
THE GOLDEN LAND

LIVING IN AMERICA:
THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE