Three Tips for Genealogy: Provided by Diane Jacobs, Gloria Green, and Marilyn Lustig

Tip #1 – If you are researching in areas where political boundaries have changed since your ancestors lived there – e.g. most of Central and Eastern Europe – verify the name of the town your ancestors lived in and its current country before you look for current records. For example, marriage records in the US showed my mother’s grandfather came from Zebau, Austria, and the family identified as German. When I could not find Zebau anyplace I turned to the JewishGen gazetteer to discover that this was the place name for a town in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Two wars later and many political upheavals – it is now Cebiv in the Czech Republic. – Diane Jacobs

Tip #2 – Some Ashkenazic Jews have found through DNA testing that they have Sephardic origins! – Gloria Green

Tip #3 – If an area was in Lithuania but is now in Belarus, the records would have been sent to Belarus to be archived there. – Marilyn Lustig