The Series

       The series of half hour shows which are produced at
Fairfax Public Access (FPA) and aired on cable in Fairfax County Virginia on Channel 10 during the second and fourth weeks of each month since 1997. The times are Sunday aftermoons at 1:00 PM, Wednesday nights at 8:00 pm and Saturday mrnings at 7:30 am.

       The show was started in order to share information with others who are interested in doing genealogy. We try to bring experts in various specialities to share their knowledge. Since most of us came from various parts of the world, a large number at the start of the last century, we share different difficulties in finding our ancestors. We discuss how to gather information from many of the countries of origin.

       We started to place both audio and video of some of the shows on the internet. Look for symbols for listening to audio only in the listing of shows below. Shows that can be seen in their entirely are marked with "VIEW NOW " symbols. Contact us if you want us to email you when we add another show to the internet or if you would like to get a show in DVD format.

IAJGS Salutes this show


Hosts

       Our expert hosts are Arline Sachs and Sallyann Amdur Sack, Ph.D..

       Prof. Sachs is retired from teaching Computer Information Systems at Northern Virginia Community College. She held many positions in JGSGW including President, Vice President, Recording Secretary and computer consultant. She was the Secretary of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) and started and headed its International Cemetery Project for seven years. She is the author of "The Dairies of Bernhard Cahn, ...".

       Dr. Sack, past president of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, was the founder and first president of JGSGW and is currently editor and co-owner of Avotaynu, The International Review of Jewish Genealogy. She co-directed several international genealogical seminars, including two in Israel and has served on the advisory committee of the Dorot Genealogy Center at Beth Hatefutsoth in Tel Aviv. Dr. Sack has co-authored several books, including Where We Once Walked: A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust and Guide to Jewish Genealogical Research in Israel. She edited Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy.


Future Shows


Recent Shows
Newer shows are on top of the following list

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  • Logan Kleinwaks has a venture to link persons interested in specific Pages of Testimony (PoT). It is called ShoahConnect. A user who go to the Pages of Testimony site and flags all PoT of interest. If two of more people flag the same PoT, they all receive notice of the match. The mechanism is external to the Yad Vashem site; the potential matches are stored by ShoahConnect. It uses the Google Toolbar, which must be installed, to flag the PoT of interest. The fact that you are looking for people associated with a particular PoT is not noted at the Yad Vashem site (it would require the cooperation of Yad Vashem itself). It only creates a match if another person using the ShoahConnect system expresses interest in the same PoT.
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  • Herbert Huebscher talked about WIRTH surname DNA group with Family Tree DNA of which he is the administrator. He began testing others with his surname. None of them matched him. However, he matched another person with an different surname. Over time more men were tested;, now there are 43 families for this subset from Eastern Europe and Spain. The common ancester could be any where between 1200 and 1700. Since some of the group are Levites, this indicated that they all should be also, but in several families this knowledge was lost. Future plans include making a group tree to show where each family fits. He also told about some interesting facts of the some of the participants in his group.
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  • Bennett Greenspan, President and CEO of Family Tree DNA, talked about how to determine whether two males are relative by the testing of the DNA's Y chromosome. His company has such a large data base that everyone should find some match. Having additional markers tested will reduce the number of generations back of the common ancestor. The DNA can show where you come from and could identify a Semetic or other ancester group. Mr. Greenspan explained how the sample are taken and the steps his company take to eliminate the possiblity of laboratory error.
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  • Iris Posner, president of "One Thousand Children" spoke of her role in finding the identifying about 1400 unaccompanied children who were rescued from the Holocaust during the years 1934 through the end of the war in 1945. These children whose ages varied from a few months to sixteen years old usually came to the United States in small groups of about 10 and were then sent to various homes throughout the country. Few ever saw both parents again.
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  • Suzanne Levy, librarian of the Virginia Room at the Fairfax County library in Fairfax City, Virginia explained how the library has become a major resource for Jewish genealogy. She showed some of the reference materials that are available there and explained how individuals can make use of these resources, some of which are online. She also mentioned how local libraries are a useful source for doing genealogical research.
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  • Library of Congress Online Catalogs with Dr. Peggy Perlstein. Included were Print and Photographs, Sound Online Inventory & Catalog, Basic Search and Guided Search, and Other Libraries'Catalogs. [LOC modified their web site since this show was taped.]
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  • Edward David Luft explained how he located where a missing ancestor not originally find in the 1860 census was by using tax records at the National Archives and land maps at the Library of Congress. Books mentioned were A Checklist of the Nineteenth Century County Maps in the Library of Congress and United States Department of Commerce's "Twenty Censuses: Population and Housing Questions, 1790-1980"
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  • Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy. A book edited by host Sally Amdur Sack. It is the definitive guide to Jewish genealogical research. Written by more than 60 authors, all experts in their own field. The list of authors is a veritable "Who's Who in Jewish Genealogy." Its more than 100 chapters cover all important aspects of the rich body of information available to do Jewish genealogical research. Also shown was co-hosts Arline Sachs' book The Dairies of Bernhard Cahn. Both books can be ordered from Avotaynu.
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  • Sonia Rosa-Velez and Eliud Bonilla both with long family histories of living in Puerto Rico talked about what happened when their families had their DNA tested. Both were surprised that they have the J2 haplotype that is very common among Jews, leading them to suspect that their ancestors were ‘hidden Jews'. [ Sonia Rosa-Velez web site].
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  • Our hosts talked about methodology for beginning genealogical research. The discussion was based on the first chapter, Methodology: How to be a Genealogist by Eileen Polakoff, from the book Avotaynu - Guide to Jewish Genealogy.
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  • Our hosts talked about Yizkor (Memorial) Books written to remember villages destroyed during the Holocaust. Most of these books were written by survivors and include a history of the town, testimonials, lists of survivors, and lists of those who perished.
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  • Stephen H. Snell talked about the initial steps that have been taken in planning the Snell family reunion for October 2009. First he had to find others people who are descened from the Thomas Snell who came over from England in the 1639. Some interested respondents became planning committee for the reunion. The committee created into four subgroups - arrangement, history, DNA and publicity. The book used for planning the meeting was Great Meeting, Great Results by Dee Kelsey and Pam Plumb.
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  • Downsizing and preserving your valuable documents.
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  • Olga Zabludoff talked about how she help restored an old cemetery in Butrimonys, Lithuania.

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forward arrow Click here for shows taped in earlier years

Web Sites Mentioned on Most Shows



Do you want to see the shows on your local cable access TV?

It is easily done but your have to do some work. Each local cable access station has its own rules, but generally if you are a resident of that area, you can ask them to run specific shows. If you would like to see the shows on your local cable, please contact your local station. Find out exactly what their requirements are to carry the shows. Tell them the shows have been shown on FCAC's main channel.

Do you want the shows on Video Tapes or DVD?

The
Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington (JGSGW) are making the first six shows available on VHS video tape (U.S. format). The recent shows that are on the internet are also available on DVDs.

For information about the series, e-mail the producer Sidney Sachs.

© Sidney Sachs, 2005-8