Unindexed genealogical records to be explained by Risa Daitzman Heywood for July 24 JGSI meeting

“The Power of the Catalog – Unindexed Records and How to Find Them” is the title of a presentation by genealogist Risa Daitzman Heywood for the Sunday, July 24, 2022, meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois at 2 p.m. CDT.  Register/RSVP by clicking the button at left. 

A separate members-only online discussion session will precede the webinar at 1 p.m., with separate registration.

Did you know that over 75% of the records available on FamilySearch cannot be accessed by a simple records search? Did you know that Ancestry has record collections that are available to browse but cannot be searched because they are not yet indexed? While digitizing records is relatively fast and inexpensive, indexing those records is much costlier. Many online repositories have made these records available for browsing, but working with them can be a challenge. This demonstration will show you how to find and use these unindexed records to greatly enhance your family history research.

Risa Daitzman Heywood is a professional genealogist, writer and speaker specializing in Ashkenazi Jewish research. She began researching her family over 25 years ago after inheriting a six-generation family tree, meticulously hand drawn by her grandfather on the back of a large piece of wrapping paper. The tree had only Americanized names and no dates or places, so she began learning about genealogy in order to figure out the family’s original surname and where they were from.

Risa earned a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University and is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists. She is a past president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Colorado and served as co-chair of JewishGen’s original Belarus Special Interest Group (SIG). Risa is currently living in Lisbon, Portugal, and can’t wait to resume on-site research trips.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping members collect, preserve, and perpetuate the records and history of their ancestors. JGSI is a resource for the worldwide Jewish community to research their Chicago-area roots. The JGSI motto is “Members Helping Members Since 1981.” The group has more than 320 members and is affiliated with the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.

JGSI members have access to useful and informative online family history research resources, including a members’ forum, more than 65 video recordings of past speakers’ presentations, monthly JGSI E-News, quarterly Morasha JGSI newsletter, and much more.

Members as well as non-members can look for their ancestors on the free searchable JGSI Jewish Chicago Database.