New York City Jewish Records

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"The New York metropolitan area is home to the largest Jewish population in the world outside Israel. Until late 2005 or early 2006, when Israel surpassed the United States as having the largest Jewish population in the world, the New York metropolitan area had more Jews than Tel Aviv. After dropping from a peak of 2.5 million in the 1950s to a low of 1.4 million in 2002 the population of Jews in the New York metropolitan area grew to 1.54 million in 2011. ... Major immigration of Jews to New York began in the 1880s, with the increase of Anti-Semitic actions in Central and Eastern Europe. The number of Jews in New York City soared throughout the beginning of the 20th century and reached a peak of 2 million in the 1950s, when Jews constituted one-quarter of the city's population." From Wikipedia.org.

Map of New York City

 * To view present-day New York City at Google Maps, click here.

New York City Vital Records

 * Free indexes of New York City births, marriages, and deaths are available at ItalianGen.org.
 * Births from 1878 -1909 are available by clicking here..
 * Marriages:
 * The brides index is available here.
 * The grooms index is available here.
 * Deaths are available by clicking here.
 * Some New York City vital records available from the Family History Library (FHL) on microfilm. Check the catalog listings by clicking here.
 * U.S. Social Security Death Index (SSDI)
 * Search the SSDI for Social Security number, birth, and death dates by clicking here.
 * Order your ancestor's original Social Security Application (Form SS-5, cost $27 or $29) to obtain parents' names and full place of birth by clicking here.
 * Order birth, marriage, and death certificates from New York City:
 * Births:
 * Prior to 1910 Instructions and Form.
 * 1910 to present Instructions and Form.
 * Marriages:
 * Prior to 1930 Instructions and Form.
 * 1930 to present Instructions and Forms.
 * Deaths:
 * Prior to 1949 Download PDF Request Form
 * 1949 to present Instructions and Form.
 * O'Neill, Terri Bradshaw. "Birth and Death Records in New York City Conveyances, 1687-1704: Early New York City Jewish Families," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 140, No. 4 (Oct. 2009):272-283.
 * Digital version at New York Family History ($)

New York City Directories

 * Access the Family History Library's excellent collection of New York City directories by clicking here.

Jewish Personal Name Changes
For some Jewish researchers, the greatest challenge is that first and/or last names of their ancestors changed between the Old World and the New World.

Common lore is that the change was made at the port of entry, but in New York City and other passenger lists persons are generally identified in the same way as their Old World traveling documents. For example "Rebecca White" in New York may be "Rivka Weiss" or even "Beila Weiß" on the passenger lists and in Old World records.

For more background, read the FamilySearch Wiki article Jewish Names Personal by clicking here.


 * Headstones are often inscribed with both the original Jewish names and the names used in the United States.
 * Given Name Changes
 * Explore the JewishGen.org given names databases by clicking here.
 * Ancestry.com also has an excellent database for Jewish given names. Read also the Jewish Given Name Variations article on lower part of the search page.
 * With an Ancestry.com membership, click here.
 * From the Family History Library, a Family History Center, or other participating institution, click here.
 * Surname Changes
 * To understand the scope of the surname challenge, read the Wikipedia.org article Cohen (and its variations) as a surname by clicking here.
 * Immigrants from foreign countries were often faced with the following choices:
 * Change European special characters (diacritics) and letter combinations to approximate English equivalents [e.g., Weiß to Weiss].
 * Retain the original spelling, but have the name mispronounced.
 * Change the spelling to retain the pronunciation.
 * Translate the last name to English [e.g., Weiß to White, Zimmermann to Carpenter, Schwartz to Black].
 * Change the name to make it less foreign-sounding [e.g. Meier to Myer, Leo Kochanski to Hans Leon].
 * To find possible alternative spellings, try searching the JewishGen.org Family Finder database by clicking here. Use the spellings you already have with the "sounds like" or "starts with" options. This may yield suggestions for alternate spellings.
 * Refer to the book A Dictionary of German-Jewish Surnames by Lars Menk which is available at the reference desk in the Family History Library.
 * Multiple given and surname spelling changes are possible during an individual's lifetime.
 * When searching for a family in a census or on a passenger list, look for the family overall (birth order of boys and girls, relative ages, occupation) as much as the actual recorded names.

New York City Immigration Records
Passenger lists are available through multiple sources. Not all passengers heading to New York City came through the Port of New York. For example, some may have entered by crossing the Canadian border or have gone through other ports. Following are suggestions for finding your arriving family members:


 * Use the One-Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse by clicking here.
 * Use the FamilySearch.org databases by clicking here.
 * Ancestry.com has many immigration collections, including Hamburg Germany departures. The Hamburg Passenger lists starting in 1850 include information about the last place of residence in Europe. New York arrivals seldom show European residence information until after 1900.
 * Access Ancestry.com with a paid membership by clicking here.
 * Access AncestryInstitution.com from the Family History Library, a Family History Center, or other participating institution by clicking here.

New York City Naturalization Records

 * New York City naturalization records indexed at ItalianGen.org are available here.
 * Use the FamilySearch.org databases by clicking here.
 * Obtain original naturalization documents (declarations, petitions, etc) by using these links:
 * Bronx Naturalization Request Form
 * Nassau Naturalization Request Form
 * Queens Naturalization Request Form
 * Richmond Naturalization Request Form
 * Suffolk Naturalization Request Form
 * Westchester Naturalization Request Form
 * NARA Naturalization Request Form
 * Ancestry.com has many naturalization collections, both indexes and completed forms giving place of origin, immigration details, and information on family members.
 * Access Ancestry.com with a paid membership by clicking here.
 * Access AncestryInstitution.com from the Family History Library, a Family History Center, or other participating institution by clicking here.

U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925

 * Ancestry.com has a collection of U.S. Passport Applications which of contain place of birth and other personal information.
 * Access this collection with a paid membership by clicking here.
 * Access this collection from the Family History Library, a Family History Center, or other participating institution by clicking here.

U.S. Military Records
Some, but not all WW I and WW II draft registrations and other military records include the city or village of birth along with personal information.


 * Use the FamilySearch.org military databases by clicking here.
 * Ancestry.com a number of military collections.
 * Access Ancestry.com with a paid membership by clicking here.
 * Access AncestryInstitution.com from the Family History Library, a Family History Center, or other participating institution by clicking here.

Next Steps
Once one knows the Old World names used by their ancestors and the town or village of origin:


 * Determine the present-day country for the town or village of origin by using the JewishGen.org Communities Database. To use the database, click here.
 * Continue research using FamilySearch Wiki articles:
 * The countries, regions and cities with the largest historical Jewish populations have their own "CountryName Jewish Research Page." To access the list, click here.
 * For countries not listed there, search the Wiki for the country to get more help.
 * Look to see if there is a Facebook Research Community page for the country by clicking here.

Facebook Research Community

 * Get ideas and help with New York City Genealogy here.