David Annenberg and Carole Freeman Family History and Genealogy Website
Our Research Suggestion Page
We have used various way's to document the information we receive about our families. This Page is meant to show how we Document the Information on our site and in our files.
We interview family members, use Census Records for both the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. While most of our family currently resides in the United States, we have used Canadian and United Kingdom Census for our ancestor's. We have Birth, Marriage, Social Security and Death Certificates, Birth, Engagement and Marriage Announcements as well as Obituaries. We also have used Passenger Records from Ellis Island and Castle Garden, New York as well as other ports of arrival in the United States.
Cemetery hopping and family notes are also a big help.
In addition , we have used the 2 books listed below for family information.
‘There once was a World a 900 Year Chronicle of the Shtetl of Eishyshok’ By Yaffa Elach
'Tradition and Modernism in the Shtetl Aisheshuk, 1919 – 1930' by Ellen Livingston. (Ellen is part of the Shlanski Family, thought to be related to David through the Berkowitz or Yanklevich families).
Link's to some of our documentation are listed at the bottom of this page.
The 1st step was to input into our Family Tree File the information we knew. Where we could not make the connection, we went to the next step.
The 2nd step was family interviews. We both interviewed various family members. The interview process was in 2 parts. The first part was in person. We asked Family members about there recollection about who was who. The Second part was having our out of town Family members do the same thing. They did this by sending us their information. Various other Family Members also sent us either their branch or the research they had done. We have received most of our information from Family Members who had done the research and they sent us what they had.
Our 3rd and 4th steps were Cemetery hoping and NYC Municipal Archives/NYC Board of Health Research. Most of the family we are looking for settled in New York City upon arrival from the home countries. We knew where some of our family was buried based upon either our Being at the Funeral or Family Notes. We would then order the Death Certificates based upon Tombstone and Cemetery Information. In addition to NYC Death Certificates, we received some from California and Florida. We also used Birth Certificates and Marriage Certificates from the Municipal Archives.
You can use the Italian Genealogy Group, the German Genealogy Group and Steve Morse's website for New York City for index information. That
Italian Genealogy Database This is mostly for New York City and surrounding New York State Counties
German Genealogy Group Database This is mostly for New York City and surrounding New York State Counties
Steve Morse New York City Marriage This one cross reference's the Brides and Grooms with each other
New York City Websites can be found at:
New York City Municipal Archives
New York City Municipal Archives Vital Records
New York City Department of Health
New York City Department of Health Birth Certificates
New York City Department of Health Death Certificates
New York City Vital Records Forms
Our 5th Step is to order Social Security Applications. Not all of our Ancestors have Social Security Numbers so for those the have them, we used the SSDI at Rootsweb.com to get the information we need and used their Standard Form letter to make the request. Being expensive, we prefer other methods but as in 1 case, that the application it what we needed to jump start research that branch of our family. The free page can be found at Social Security Index at Rootsweb.com
Our 6th Step includes Census Research. We have used 1900-1930 Census Information from New York City as well as 1920 Chicopee, Mass and other Census Records from outside of New York City. We have used www.ancestry.com at various Libraries as well as the United States National Archives in Washington, DC and New York City, New York.
Our 7th Step is to use Ellis Island and or Castle Garden.. You can also use Steve Morse for Ellis Island and Castle Garden Manifest's and information. Click Here to see some of our Family who have come from Ellis Island.
Step 8 includes using the Godfrey Library Web Site (we no longer subscribe). From there we can access the Federal Census from Heritage Quest, the New York Time, Los Angeles Time and Washington Post Database's. We also use the Brooklyn Eagle Database available at the Brooklyn Public Library.
Step 9 We recently subscribed to www.footnote.com (we no longer subscribe) to access United States National Archives and New York City Court Naturalization records
Step 10: Repeat each previous step as often as possible and in which ever order makes sense for you, the researcher.
Interview family.
Some family will always say they do not know anything. Some times that is true. Sometimes that is because they really don't want to talk about the past. If that is the case, you might want to try another source. When you have determined that they really think they do not know anything, start asking questions. Questions like, tell me about your parents, who is so and so, where did Grandpa or Grandma grow up?. The stories they will hopefully tell you will should include family relationships. Among the things you aim to get is family relationships, where your ancestors came from, and with any luck dates. You might also want to show your family member a Old Picture and ask them who was in that picture.
Birth Records, Death Records, Marriage Certificates, Immigration Records, Census Records.
If you do manage to get some dates, checking the above named records will help in getting the names of parents. In checking Census Records, you will, at least in the United States, need to know the names of parents, where they were living, and if they were living with someone else. I know that for us, my great great grandmother was found living with one of her daughters in the 1930 United States Census.
Pictures.
If you find old family pictures, ask your family who they are.
Links to other pages in ourt website
Research Page This is our Main Research Page. It will take you to the various Research information, links and suggestions
Research Links To see the various websites that have useful Genealogy Information, including one's we have used and subscribed to.
Reference Material To see where we got some of our source material.
Documentation Page This page show's how we documented our information and what documentation we posted on our website
Information Pages This page provide links to the families via family groups
This page was last updated on:: January 18, 2015 08:46:02 PM