Learn more about Family Tree Maker at Dec. 9 in-person event

Family Tree Maker Genealogy Community Ambassador Mark Olsen will showcase the latest edition of Family Tree Maker at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at Riverview Public Library, 9951 Balm Riverview Road. Olsen will give interactive demonstrations and have a Q&A session highlighting the software. Registration is not required. The event will take place in the James B. Jim Johnson Community Room 109 A & B. For more information, click here.

Registration open for RootsTech 2026

Registration open for German-Jewish SIG seminar on Nov. 2

Registration has opened for RootsTech 2026, which will be held in Salt Lake City from March 5-7. In-person, early bird prices are $99 for a three-day pass (standard price is $129) and $69 for a one-day pass. Online registration remains free. Hosted by FamilySearch, classes will include Avoiding Research Pitfalls; Finding Records Using the Resources on FamilySearch 2026; Effective Search Strategies on FamilySearch; Seeking the Identity of Unknown Parents; Arriving at the Port of New York, 1890-1924; Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Genealogy, DNA Basics You Need to Know and Your Ancestor's FAN Club (all taught by JGSTB's Drew Smith); Navigating JewishGen, and Understanding Jewish given names. Each class is desiganted as beginner, intermediate or advanced level. See the class preview here and learn more about registration and about the conference here.

The German-Jewish Special Interest Group (SIG) is holding a Zoom seminar on Sunday Nov. 2, There will be four sessions with networking opportunities afterwards. The sessions are: Find your Mishpoche: Jewish Genealogy in Germany; Exploring the archives of the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Leo Baeck Institute in Berlin; New Historical Finding: Kindertransport lists, and Solving Your German-Jewish Family History Research Queries. Cost $20. You can get more information and can register here.

Beware spam obituary sites

Joe Supan, a senior writer for CNET, warns people about AI-generated obituaries and websites in a piece on the CNET website headlined "Digital Grave-Robbing: How AI Is Plundering Online Obituaries." Even if services like Google eventually weed them out, genealogists might have already fallen victim of the made-up obits and incorporated fake info into thei research. You can read the piece here.

JGSTB featured in the Jewish Press Tampa and Pinellas editions

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay was featured in the April 28-May 11 Pinellas edition of the Jewish Press of Tampa Bay. Read the story here. An updated version of the story was printed in the Aug. 18-31 Tampa edition. Read that story here.

Ancestry adds Holocaust survivor records

Ancestry recently added two new data sets using data from Arolsen Archives that document Holocaust survivors. Lara Diamond explains the positives of accessing the information through Ancestry (no subscription required) as well as tips for using it. Read her blog post here.

New fees, rules in effect for USCIS records requests

From the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: On July 18, 2025, USCIS announced new fees required by the H.R. 1 Reconciliation Bill. Applicants must submit the new fees with benefit requests postmarked on or after July 22, 2025. USCIS will reject any form postmarked after Aug. 21, 2025, without the proper fees. G-1055 is the form of interest for genealogists. See: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/g-1055_0.pdf.

G-1041A, Genealogy Records Request: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/g-1041a.pdf

Go to: Genealogy Index Search Request https://www.uscis.gov/g-1041

g-1041)

General filing Paper Filing: $80

Online Filing: $30

G-1041A Genealogy Records Request (https://www.uscis.gov/g-1041a) General filing Paper Filing: $80 Online Filing: $30

Before sending your package to USCIS, make sure that all the forms you have completed are the current acceptable edition. You can also find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions. For each form that you are submitting, make sure that all pages are from the same form edition.

CJH shares video on interpreting DNA results for Ashkenazi Jews

The Center for Jewish History has shared its video of a June 9 presentation by Jenny Rappaport, the center's head genealogist, on interpreting DNA results for Ashkenazi Jews. Among the topics covered: How endogamy affects DNA matches, Ancestry DNA match hints, matches that look closer than they are, techniques to analyze endogamous DNA results without a chromosome browser, methods to sort DNA matches and other tools to analyze matches. You can watch the free video here.

JewishGen adds thousands of records to its Worldwide Burial Registry

JewishGen has announced its summer update to the JOWBR (JewishGen’s Online Worldwide Burial Registry) database. The update is being done in 2 parts. You can access the database here and see a complete listing of cemeteries in the database here.

JewishGen recommends that if you’re new to the database, you first go to its screencast page / and take a look at the first two explanatory screencasts.

More from JewishGen: This update, adds approximately 560,000 new records and 44,000 new photos. The database is adding and/or updating 478 cemeteries. This update brings JOWBR’s holdings close more than 7 million records and 2.6 million photos from approximately 12,000 cemeteries / cemetery sections representing 145 countries!

Significant additions to JOWBR by country include:

Australia / New Zealand – 1,500 new records from the Australian Jewish Historical Society.
Austria – 1,300 records including the Viena Seegasse Cemetery
Belgum – 3,300 records from the Israelite Municipality in Antwerp.
Canada – 4,000 photos from 18 new and existing cemetery sections submitted primarily from the JGS of Toronto.
Colombia – 100 new records and 1,375 photos from the Cementerio Hebreo de Cali.
Czech Republic – 8,600 new records and 2,100 photos from 45 new and updated cemeteries, most thanks to the Jewish Community in Prague and maintained by Mantana a. s. Administration.
Germany – 3,200 records and from 25 new and updated cemeteries.
Hungary – 268,200 records from 242 cemeteries from across the country from the work done by Lajos Boros.
Moldova – the latest installment of 4,000 new records and 1,400 new photos from the Kishinev Cemetery submitted by JewishGen’s Bessarabia Research Division.
Romania – an additional 1,900 records from the Suceava cemetery in Bucovina.
Russia – 144,400 records from 41 cemeteries thanks to the work of aGuter Beter, a community led organization based in St. Petersburg.
Serbia – 3,200 new records from the Jewish Community of Novi Sad.
Slovakia – 1,800 new records and photos from 15 new and updated cemeteries, the majority from Humenne and Topolcany.
Switzerland – 1,400 new records, mostly of the Israelitische Friedhof in Basel.
Ukraine – 900 new records, the majority from Khmelnytskyy in the Podalia region
United States - approximately 112,200 new records and 13,700 photos for 40 new and updated cemeteries.

JewishGen adds names to Memorials & Plaques database

JewishGen has updated its Memorials & Plaques Database, which includes the data from memorial plaques and Yizkor lists from synagogues and other memorials and lists. The database can be accessed here. Approximately 4,300 records and 4,000 photos from 29 new organizations/memorials were added from Algeria, Colombia, France, Israel, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Tunisia, Ukraine, and 7 states in the US; Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, and Tennessee. To view the complete list of institutions in the database, go here.

Polish schoolchildren's signatures link added to Research Resources

Added to our website's list of Research Resources in the Members Only section is a link and more information on a searchable database of Polish children who signed a "Declaration of Admiration and Friendship for the United States." Children of all religions participated, including Jews with Ukrainian, Polish, and Czech children's names.

Handout on Allen County Genealogy Center uploaded to Members Only section

During June's JGSTB meeting, Curt B. Witcher, of Fort Wayne’s Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center gave an overview of its available resources to enhance Jewish genealogical research. You can find his handout here.

Files on AI and Jewish Genealogy uploaded to Members Only section

Following the JGSTB's May 18 presentation on Jewish Genealogy and Artificial Intelligence, two files have been added to the Members Only section of our website. The files, one with links and prompts from the presentation, and the other about what each of five AI programs can help you with in your genealogy work, can be found under Files. Not yet a member? Join here to take advantage of those and other documents from presentations, as well as a comprehensive list of hyperlinked websites and databases that might hlep you in your research.

New Georgia law allows adult adoptees to obtain original birth certificate

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 100 into law, allowing Georgia-born adoptees over the age of 18 to secure copies of their original birth certificates from the state’s Office of Vital Records. The law takes effect on July 1. Read more here.

FamilySearch adds 47 million records

FamilySearch has expanded its online archives with over 47 million new records from 32 countries, including 12 million government and church records from Colombia, 8 million social security and death records from France, and 8 million civil registration records from the Philippines. Other countries with significant record additions include Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ireland, Peru and Uruguay. Read more here.

Argentinian Archives release declassified documents on Nazi criminals

Following a request from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Argentinian National Archives has made available digitally a series of 1,850 declassified documents including information on Nazi criminals in Argentina. This information details pieces of information on prominent Nazi criminals who escaped to Argentina following World War II, including Adolf Eichmann, Erich Priebke and Josef Mengele. While much of the information had been previously released by former Argentinian President Carlos Menem in 1992, it was only available for viewing in a specially designated room at the AGN. You can find the documents here.

IGRA adds new databases

The Israel Genealogy Research Association added seven new databases and updated another, adding over 42,000 new records, many of them with images, in April. Those new databases:

1760-1763 Jewish Names in Jerusalem – (images available)
1918 Magen David Adom – (images available)
Founders Nahalal – (images available)
Immigration 1946 – update (images available)
Fallen Soldiers from the War of Independence 1948 – partial list (images available)
Prisoners of War in Egypt & Jordan 1948-1949 (images available)
Name Changes 1970-1971 & 1976 – update

JGSTB's Sharon Stern honored as a Woman of Distinction

Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay’s Sharon Stern is one of this year’s recipients of the Jewish Federation of Florida’s Gulf Coast Women of Distinction Awards.

The Sonia Miller Women of Distinction Awards returned after a five-year hiatus with a ceremony on May 4.

The Women of Distinction honorees “embody the values of compassion, leadership, and unwavering commitment to Jewish life,” a Federation release said. “These outstanding individuals have dedicated themselves to strengthening our community and making a meaningful impact in countless ways.”

FamilySearch adds full-text search

From FamilySearch: While FamilySearch has billions of digitized historical records available to browse, only a small portion of them are indexed and searchable. However, with the aid of artificial intelligence and handwriting recognition technology, now over 1 billion more historical records can be searched. Full-Text Search is a powerful new tool that allows you to search unindexed record collections. By returning search results in minutes or even seconds, this tool is helping thousands of users find relatives in documents they hadn’t considered before. Discovering new evidence in previously unsearchable records has helped users add names to their family trees. Read more here.

JewishGen adds Ukrainian records

From JewishGen: The April upload of 115,275 birth, marriage, death, census, and other records covering the years 1806 through 1916, from many towns, including Priluki, Smela, Mezhirich, Orlovets, Zbrizh, Ladizhin, Yampol, Kopaygorod, multiple towns in Chernigov guberniya, and many others. Explore the details of these documents and the towns they represent in our monthly records spreadsheet at http://tinyurl.com/ywk456pn.

Included in this batch, besides the usual categories of records are: Lists of Merchants, Military Records, Homeowners, Taxpayers, Voters and more. Read more here.

Soviet repression database info added

Added to Research Resources in the JGSTB's Members Only section: Link and more information about the master search engine for websites that have been collating information about individuals arrested and in some cases, put to death by the Soviets. If you're not yet a member or you want to renew your membership, click here.

DHS approves new fees for genealogy records

Following numerous objections from the public over proposed fees for records, the Department of Homeland Security has approved new fees for genealogy records -- some lower, some higher. The new fees:

G-1041 Genealogy Index Search Request (online filing) currently $65 was proposed to go to $100 but the final rule has the fee at $30 a $55 reduction (-54%).
G-1041 Genealogy Index Search Request (paper filing) currently is $65 going to $120, an $80 increase or a 23% increase.
G-1041A Genealogy Records Request (online filing) currently $65.00, the proposed rule was $240, the final fee is $30 a difference of $30 is a difference between current to final of -$35 or a -54%
G-1041A Genealogy Records request (paper filing) currently $65, proposed $260, final fee $80 currently to final amoung$15 or a 23% increase.
G-1566 Request for Certificate of Non Existence is $330 same as in the notice …there was no fee previously.

If you file your form online (see https://www.uscis.gov/file-online), the system will guide you through the process of paying your fees with a credit, debit, or pre-paid card. Bank account withdrawals are also available when paying online. There is often a $50 discount when filing a form online. If online PDF intake is available for your form and you file using this tool, the $50 discount also applies.

Information on Form G-1055 regarding genealogy may be found at: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/g-1055.pdf

You can read about the arguments made by the public and the DHS's decision in the Federal Register here.

Gesher Galicia launches new education division

The division will offer courses running the gamut from Jewish genealogy to history to culture. Courses will be available for a variety of skill-levels, and course lengths will range from single-class explorations to more in depth multipart courses that span many weeks. All courses will be offered online, live with the instructor, allowing for a high level of interactivity with your instructor and fellow students. Each class will be recorded and available to registrants for a designated period after it initially airs. Check out the first course being offered and pricing information here.

New epitaphs database online for Lviv recovered headstones

Jewishstonesusa.org is a special collection of 'recovered' grave markers that had been stolen from Lviv Jewish cemeteries during the German occupation of WWII and repurposed, usually as building materials for the occupying forces. Most in this collection were recovered from under a street southwest of the city center in 2018 by volunteers, by hand and with machinery, but others were recovered from nearby locations and elsewhere in the city in a number of smaller efforts between 2017 and 2021.

Reclaim the Records creates database of veterans' records

Reclaim the Records won access to a once-inaccessible database, the Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS), which includes people who served in the US military and received veterans' benefits in the twentieth century. The organizaiton created its own search engine that gives basic information and an automated way to file a Freedom of Information Act request for the records. Read more here. Start your search here.