Searching the Database
How do I search for my family surnames in the JRI-Poland Database ?
How do I limit the search to my surname in a specific town or area ?
How do I ask for all spelling variations of my surname ?
Q: How do I search for my family surnames in the JRI-Poland Database ?
A: Go to the Jewish Records Indexing - Poland website at: http://www.jewishgen.org/JRI-PL/ and click on the "Search the database. When the JRI-Poland database web page appears, scroll down until you see the database entry form. It includes five dialog boxes that provide different search options to help you
Q: How do I limit the search to my surname in a specific town or area ?
A: Limiting the search to a specific province or gubernia may be desirable in many cases. If you are researching a commonly used surname like "Friedman" or "Rubenstein", it is helpful to limit the request to something more manageable. But even if you are sure your family came from a specific town, it may be helpful to start by widening your surname search to the province or gubernia in which the town was located. You are likely to find other branches of your family in other towns in that province or gubernia.
Q: How do I ask for all spelling variations of my surname ?
A: The Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex is the default search system used to check your surname against the JRI-Poland database. Devised by Randy Daitch and Gary Mokotoff, it is an extremely effective system for interpreting the variety of spellings used in Eastern Europe and correlating them with modern Anglicized versions we use today.
The Daitch-Mokotoff system recognizes that in the 19th century, spelling was not as fixed and precisely followed as it is today. Therefore it works on the sounds and similarity of sounds between letters. As a result, it often turns up unexpected results.
It can also generate excessive entries necessitating that a search be further limited in order to provide a useful result. So you can limit the search in the JRI-Poland Database to either the "Precise Spelling" that you've entered, or allow some variation by limiting the search to "Surnames starting with this Precise Spelling".