Tracing Jewish roots through Catholic and Inquisition records
The Ma’ani Center of Shavei Israel presents “Tracing Your Jewish Roots Through Catholic Records and the Inquisition” with our dear friend Genie Milgrom.
Genie was born in Cuba and in her conference she shares the fascinating story of her return to her heritage. Here are her credentials:
• Genealogist and Lecturer on DNA
• Developed a method to trace Jewish lineages from the 1400’s
• Former President of the Society for Crypto Judaic Studies in Colorado
• Former President of the Miami Jewish Genealogy Society
• President of Tarbut Sefarad Fermoselle in Barcelona
• Author of My 15 Grandmothers, How I Found My 15 Grandmothers, From the Pyre to the Fire, and The Recipes of My 15 Grandmothers. All available at www.amazon.com
At the Genie Conference, she says that collecting information requires a combination of family histories and A LOT of patience, but it can be done.
How to start?
At first with your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. You have to go in order, one after the other without jumping ahead. In traditional Judaism, we only follow grandmothers as the Jewish lineage comes to us through mothers and grandmothers.
Each church file contains the name of the grandparents and often their place of origin. It should be carried with as much information as possible such as the date of birth, marriage and death.
You can use some of these links as search tools.
- Familysearch.org
- Geniemilgrom.com
- Sephardicancestry.com
- Jewishgen.org (Collection of Crypto Jews) By Genie Milgrom
- Tarbutsefarad.com
- Academia.edu
- There are several groups on Facebook that can help you depending on your family’s region of origin.
The important thing is to search, search and keep searching!
You can consult my book that is on Amazon: How I Found My 15 Grandmothers, there I detail step by step how to do it.
Consult Genie Milgrom on her website: https://www.geniemilgrom.info
Good luck!