Family Story Finder

The sweep of family history across the generations

Dan's 2018 research trip to Berlin and Gdansk
  • July 2018 - August 2018

Dan supplemented his attendance at a Warsaw genealogy conference with a tour of family locations. Read his blog postings and view the post-trip video coverage.

Eilertsen roots in Farsund, Norway
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Farmers and seafarers from the south Norway coast

Lest we forget—family Holocaust testimony
  • 1941 - 1942

Remembering our Ringel and Wohlgemuth/Paechter family members who perished in the Shoah.

Lisbon to New York—with a detour to Havana
  • August 1940 - May 1941

The Ringel family crossed from Lisbon on the SS Guine—but their entry to the U.S. was anything but routine

Margot Dränger's survival story
  • June 1939 - January 1945

Helga's second cousin suffered unimaginable traumas in and around Krakow from 1939 to 1945. She survived and gave testimony later in life

Sidney Kessler and American Spirits
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Walter Ruby's boss in the liquor business became an influential figure in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

The Clerc jewelry aryanization files
  • 1940 - January 1701

The Clerc jewelry assets were seized and resold to an Aryan buyer. The Nazis kept perfect records of the transactions.

Wild goose chase—an accident in Jersey City
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A newspaper clipping placed Walter Ruby on the scene of an automobile wreck in Hudson County, N.J. Not every lead pans out.

Yichus and our relation to the famous rabbi
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Walter thought he had proved the family legend of descent from the celebrated Kovno Rav, Rabbi Yitchak Elchanon Spektor. Later facts emerged that suggested a more tenuous connection.