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Americans of Jewish Descent (Digital Edition) from Heritage Musetm, Inc.
AOJD-online.net is a new resource for genealogical and historic information on Americans descended from Jews who arrived in the United States before 1865. Not just a database of Jewish names and genealogies, AOJD-online.net is a compendium of individuals of all religions who made America their home and who contributed to the dynamism and energy of the United States from its inception to the present. In addition to genealogies, AOJD-online.net contains biographies of key individuals, historic notes, and images of individuals, cemeteries, headstones, homes, and synagogues linked to these families.
Inspired by the work of Rabbi Malcolm Stern (Americans of Jewish Descent, 1960; First American Jewish Families, 2nd ed. 1977, 3rd ed. 1988) this project, begun in 2003 has grown well beyond the original concepts of Rabbi Stern's books. Rabbi Stern originally focused on Jewish families in the U. S. and Canada prior to 1830. He most often worked from direct family correspondence, synagogue records, early cemetery records and only occasionally from government published data and other public records. The new AOJD database makes Rabbi Stern's work both more accessible (full search capabilities on all data fields) . The new database also reflects the 50+ pages of corrections and additions suggested by Rabbi Stern in the 2nd and 3rd editions. New corrections and missed families and individuals then extend the available information. Lastly, the new information set goes further by beginning the task of tracking numerous families that arrived between 1830 and 1870. In particular the links between major mercantile and political families become evident as the population of the U. S. grows and we approach the era of mass Eastern European immigration.
The AOJD-online database is being carefully researched to current genealogical standards to prove much of the family information published in the earlier work. New sources include U.S. and local government records from vital records (birth, marriage, death, divorce, probate, deeds, etc.) to census, ship arrivals, immigration and naturalization, and military records as well as local historical newspapers. In additional to drawing from commercial online databases, on-site research has been conducted from Montreal, Canada throughout the U. S. and into the Caribbean Islands where many of these families originated. Small steps in bridging the genealogical gap between the colonial U. S. and both Great Britain and the Netherlands have already begun to enter into this data collection.
As Rabbi Stern discovered, many of the families whose lineage is represented herein are enthusiastic supporters of this project. They continue to share updates and modifications (documentation is required) most generously and several new lines have been added. In particular, we want to acknowledge the sharing and extend our great thanks to Anne Josephs (Montreal, Canada), Jonathan de Sola-Mendes (New York City), Ainsley Henriques (Kingston, Jamaica), Louis Kessler (Mikve Israel Archives, Philadelphia), and many others.
Proofing, corrections, and new data entry are an ongoing effort of David M. Kleiman, Kate Myslinski, and the staff at Heritage Muse, Inc. The on-line database is updated quarterly. Access for scholars may be requested by visiting AOJD-online.net and selecting "Create Account" from the Login box on the home page. |