Progenitorial Jewish American families

Private User,

I am entering in some of the original 600 Jewish families in America.

This work includes some of the first white born southern US Americans.

Please explain exactly what you are looking for to create your list.

I'm looking for old families that still exist today in America in great numbers, preferably with notable descendants.

I can cover Texas

currently I am working on some of the existing Notables" bio's

There are a couple of "first to arrive in Virginia" I'm interested in (Jamestown colony for example). They may not have notable descendants though. If those profiles get created please post the link and I'll work on fleshing them out. Should there be sub projects for the communities of Charleston and New Amsterdam?

Thanks Robin Lent.

Erica Howton, my personal rule of thumb is not to create a sub project unless there's enough content to pull from the parent project. I do see that eventually happening though.

Private User Count me in.

Reminds me to get back to working on the Rhode Island Project.
http://www.geni.com/projects/Remembering-Rhode-Island-s-Prominent-J....

This link follows The Touro/Hays/Myers family
http://www.eyesofglory.com/familyhist.htm

http://www.loeb-tourovisitorscenter.org/jll_jews.shtml
Prominent RI Jewish families.

Book: The forerunners: Dutch Jewry in the North American diaspora
 By Robert P. Swierenga
http://books.google.com/books?id=rB9MGTpTmn8C&pg=PA166&lpg=...

I agree with you, Victar. I know it's easier for me to "drop" profiles in a larger project first.

Kevin Lawrence Hanit another "southern USA Jewish family" I'm interested in is Rothschild - clothiers, not bankers or vignerons.

Erica,

They are not one of the first 600 Jewish families in America.

Good to know but will disappoint my aunt.:)

I can work on Illinois and Iowa and maybe Louisiana with Erica :)

Oh and South Carolina where my relatives were fairly early - 1830s and 1850s.

question, please tell me if I am being too OCD

re: list of Notables, next to the picture (dates) then a brief description that is taken from the Bio on the profile page.

I have been changing some of the profile Bio's that start with the name (dates)...

example

MacKinlay Kantor (February 4, 1904 – October 11, 1977),[1] born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter.

changed to American journalist, novelist and screenwriter.....

Robin,

Information about their birth name should be on the project's main page.

I'm for leaving it in Wikipedia format. It's not only more informative, but also faster.

Plus it gives us a clear standard to strive for.

Remember that some of these profiles were added by family members. For example, McKinley Kantor is my 4th cousin. Be careful not to delete information that the family has added, since we want them to support the project. What the family wants to see may differ from our purposes occasionally and we need to cover both bases.

the only changes I have made was to add a sentence at the very top, that is usually already included in the text. I added links to the websites already mentioned

No problem Robin. You're doing good work. I just wanted us to remember to respect whatever information the families have entered.

Victar

I have a few books on Jewish Pioneers, what form do you want the information?

Name, date, link on Geni (if there is one), brief BIO? First on Texas land was a pirate in 1590 .. there were Jews at the Alamo.

Exactly, link to the progenitor (if online), a small bio about the family and any notable descendants.

Robin Lent, here is an example of how I like to format the about sections of profiles.

Steve Jobs

I'm working on connecting a maze of Philadelphia pioneers....

Rebecca Machado Phillips (1746-1831) was born to an eminent Portuguese Marrano family. She was the daughter of the David Mendoza Machado, Hazan (minister) of Congregation Shearith Israel of New York City. Her husband, Jonas Phillips, patriot and merchant, was a Parnas (president) of Congregation Mikveh Israel, as was her son, Zalegman Phillips, Esquire. She was very active in educational, social and philanthropic organizations and was mother to twenty one children. Among her eminent descendants are Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy and Mordechai Manuel Noah.

Great work Robin!

Robin,

I am also working on the same area as you are. What you are working with is Malcolm H. Stern's The First 600 Jewish Families of America.

Finally found and created the profile for Ralph (Abraham) de Ledesma, who is the first Jewish child born in Savannah, Georgia.

Malcolm Stern's book can be searched online at www.americanjewisharchives.com. Perhaps a staff member here can contact them to see if they will permit a download into here to avoid the hours of work needed to do this, work out copyright issues, etc. Stern's book goes through 1988 so there is at least another generation or two to add to the present day. Victar, having access to Stern's work at another site may be sufficient for your needs.

Joseph, you meant
http://americanjewisharchives.org/FAJF/intro.php
but yes, pretty awesome find.

@ Raphael Moses Levy.
I am wondering where his family fits in to your work.
My
3xgreat uncle, John Israel Hart married his great great grand
daughter Isabella Behilah Levy in New York in 1819. She died in 1830.
He remarried and took his two families to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
in the 1840s. He was in fact one of the pioneers of that city. His daughter
with Isabella, Elvina married Rabbi Moses Rintel in Melbourne on the
28th of August 1849. At the time of his death in Melbourne in 1880
he was the Senior Jewish Minister in Victoria. There are many
descendents of the Hart family in Australia and New Zealand today.