Using historical maps for genealogical research is the topic for May 19, 2024, JGSI hybrid meeting 

“Location, Location, Location: Historical Maps in Genealogy Research” will be the webinar topic of genealogist Ed Mitukiewicz for the Sunday, May 19, 2024, Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois hybrid meeting. Ed will discuss various online resources that can be helpful in locating our ancestral towns in Central and Eastern Europe.

His online talk will begin at 2 p.m. CDT via Zoom and at Temple Beth-El, 3610 Dundee Road, Northbrook, Illinois. He will be speaking remotely, and his presentation will be projected onto the wall at Temple Beth-El.

Click the button at left to register/RSVP.

In preparation for Ed's talk, please join us in person starting at 12:30 p.m.  in our library before the general session to locate your ancestral towns using our maps and books. Get help on town names and locations, the distance between towns where your family may have lived, and other geography-related questions. This is an open session where we can work with and learn from each other. We hope this will prime you to ask the presenter some great questions!

Identifying the towns and villages where our ancestors used to live can be a critical step in finding relevant sources of genealogical information, Ed says. However, locating some of those places often becomes quite a challenging task, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, where use of multiple languages, spelling or transliteration errors, appearance of similar names in different locations and countries, frequent name changes, and shifting national borders tend to introduce additional complications.

Readily available web-based resources—including digital repositories of historical maps and geographic information databases—can help to overcome many of those challenges. This presentation demonstrates the methods and techniques of using such resources in order to enable correlating information from multiple data sources and facilitate locating our ancestral towns in Central and Eastern Europe.

Ed Mitukiewicz is a mathematician and computer scientist by education, researcher and technology consultant by profession, and amateur cartographer and genealogist by coincidence. Ed has a particular weakness for historical maps—rumor has it that Ed never met one he did not like.

Ed worked as editor, translator and map consultant during the production of the 2015 “Raise the Roof” documentary film about reconstructing the roof and painted ceiling of an 18th century wooden synagogue of Gwoździec, in southern Poland. Ed has presented illustrative scenarios of using historical maps in genealogical research at a number of genealogy conferences in Poland, Israel and the United States.

The JGSI meeting facilities at Temple Beth-El will open at 12:30 p.m. Central Time for those who want to use genealogy library materials, including our collection of maps; get help with family history websites or ask genealogical questions, or just chat, before the main program begins at 2 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome; however, registration is strongly encouraged. Feel free to bring your lunch!

For more information on JGSI, see https://jgsi.org or phone 312-666-0100.