Nu? What's New? Vol. 20 No. 2

Underlined words are links to sites with additional information.

New Book: Unbroken Chain – Third Edition – Volume 5 Published

Volume 5 (of an anticipated seven volumes) of The Unbroken Chain—Third Edition has been published. Author Neil Rosenstein has devoted the past 27 years to updating and improving his landmark work, “The Unbroken Chain,” and now is in the process of publishing its Third Edition.

The Unbroken Chain documents—on one family tree—tens of thousands of descendants of Rabbi Meir Katzenellenbogen (MaHaRaM) of Padua (1482–1565) and Rabbi Judah Lowe (MaHaRaL) of Prague through 22 generations. Among the descendants of these two Torah giants are numerous famous persons including Martin Buber, Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, Karl Marx, Moses and Felix Mendelssohn, Yehudi Menuhin, Moses Montefiore, Helena Rubinstein and Judge Judy Sheindlin. A high proportion of genealogies are those of the leading Hassidic dynasties: Levi Isaac of Berdichev, Halberstam, Horowitz, Rabinowitz, Ro¬ke¬ach, Shapiro, Spira, Teitelbaum, Twersky and others.

The new edition is a major improvement to the previous edition both in number of persons and quality of the work.
Second Edition (1990) Third Edition (2017/19)
Two volumes, 1,350 pages Seven volumes, 4,500 pages
20,000 names 42,000 names
Surname-only index Full name index
No illustrations 300 illustrations (Vol 1 alone)
1,600 footnotes 1,000 footnotes (Vol. 1 alone)
Up to 16 generations Up to 22 generations

Ordering information for any of the five volumes is at http://www.avotaynu.com/books/ UnbrokenChain-1.html. The site includes a complete list of names for each of the five volumes, as well as their Tables of Contents.

Getting Copies from the UK National Archives

The UK National Archives has posted to its website an article on how to get copies of their records. They state that they have a collection of more than 11 million orderable items. The Archives provides several copying options:
• Their Image library allows you to browse and buy high-resolution, already digitized images – from ancient maps to iconic advertising.
• Their Digitization Department provides high-volume digital imaging from within and outside the collection – meaning it can digitally capture the collections of other archives, in private or other hands.
• Their Record Copying Department can provide a research quality record copying service, mostly to individuals.

Read the article at https://tinyurl.com/UKNACopyingService.

Introducing MyHeritage Education

MyHeritage has introduced a new online resource center for enhancing understanding of MyHeritage’s tools, products and services. Called “MyHeritage Education,” it includes educational materials including articles, how-to videos and webinars covering a wide variety of topics, including tips for everyone from beginners to seasoned genealogists.

Examples of the content are:
• Video: How to connect and disconnect individuals in your family tree
• Webinar: Newspaper Research Strategies Using MyHeritage
• Article: How to Collaborate with Other Generations on Your Genealogical Research
MyHeritage Education is currently available in English, German, Dutch, French, Swedish, and Norwegian, and new languages will be added in the future. It is free of charge.

The announcement can be found at https://blog.myheritage.com/2019/09/introducing- myheritage-education/. The MyHeritage website is located at https://education.myheritage.com/.

New Genealogy-related U.S. Television Program This Fall
There apparently will be a new genealogy-related program on U.S. television (NBC) this Fall titled “A New Leaf.” The announcement does not indicate exactly when it will be aired. Even the description of the program is vague. It states:

“Each week host Daisy Fuentes and ‘A New Leaf’ will follow people on the cusp of key life inflection points, using family history, genealogy, and sometimes DNA analysis to guide them on their journey of self-discovery, and help them learn from the past while looking to the future. In partnership with Ancestry, Fuentes will join families as they learn the importance of appreciating and understanding their family history and ancestors in order to make important life decisions.”

The announcement can be found at https://tinyurl.com/NBCGenealogy.

It’s Not Genealogy But…

MyHeritage has published a delightful, heart-warming documentary about two Korean sisters who were adopted at a young age who found each other through MyHeritage DNA testing. One was adopted by an American family; the other by a Belgian family. Each had independently taken DNA tests in the hope they would find birth family. They were stunned when they received their results that showed the closest match was “Sister.”

The documentary can be found at https://tinyurl.com/MHKoreanSisters.

FamilySearch Adds More Than 600K Records This Week

A list of recent additions to FamilySearch, more than 600K indexed records, can be found at https://tinyurl.com/FamilySearch090919. This site provides direct links to the individual collections. Those identified with a dagger (†) are Christian-only records. They include records from Bolivia(†), Costa Rica, Germany, Panama(†), Paraguay(†), Peru, Portugal(†), Russia(†) and Spain.

Note that at the website, announced collections may not be complete for the dates specified and will be added at some later date. Also note that counts shown in the announcement are the number added, not the total number available in the collection, which can be greater.

New Collections at Ancestry.com

Ancestry has updated the following record groups at their site. The list with links to individual collections can be found at https://www.ancestry.com/cs/recent-collections. Announced collections may not be complete for the dates specified and will be added at some later date. There is also no indication of how many records were added to the updated collections.

Mecklenburg, Germany, Jewish Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1813–1918
U.S. Returns from Regular Army Non–Infantry Regiments, 1821–1916
New York, Selected Mayor's Court Cases, 1674–1860
AJHS Selected Insolvent Debtor’s Cases, 1787–1861
U.S. Circuit Court Criminal Case Files, 1790–1871
U.S., Industrial Removal Office Records, 1899–1922