Martin Fischer to speak on May 31 in Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois free webinar

Martin Fischer, vice president-publicity of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois, will speak on “Finding B. Berman: A Case Study in Getting Past a Genealogical Brick Wall” in a free live JGSI webinar starting at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 31, 2020.

Registrants will receive an email prior to the event with a link to click on just before the 2 p.m. start time that will download the “GoTo Opener” software needed to view the presentation. While the email will say the viewer can join the webinar at 12 p.m., that time is for webmaster setup, and the actual webinar won’t start until 2 p.m. CDT.

In his presentation, Fischer will explain how the family history of a Maywood, Illinois, Jewish family was researched, including accessing online documents and visiting the Waldheim cemetery offices in Forest Park, Illinois. He will share tips on best practices in conducting genealogical research.

Surnames mentioned in this case study include Abramovitz, Berman, Dubin, Krimstein, Pahlman, and Samuels.

Martin Fischer has been doing family history research since the 1970s and created an extensive family history website, martinfischer.webs.com, which he started in 2004. The vice president of publicity for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois, he is also a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, International Society of Family History Writers and Editors, St. Louis Genealogical Society, American Copy Editors Society and the Editorial Freelancers Association.

Fischer has written articles for the St. Louis Genealogical Society Quarterly; Avotaynu: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy; Morasha, The Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois newsletter; Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, Archives.com and Chicago Tribune.

He works part-time as an adjunct online sociology faculty member of the City Colleges of Chicago. He formerly had a long career as a copy editor for the Chicago Tribune.