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Jewish Burial Registry - D.C.
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Jewish Burials at Arlington National Cemetery

The family of the late Kenneth Poch has given the society his extensive research on the Jewish soldiers buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Inspired by the 1992 book by Mel Young "Where They Lie: Someone Should Say Kaddish," Ken took it upon himself to visit the graves, say Kaddish (the Jewish prayer for the dead) and place a small smooth stone on the headstone as a sign that someone had visited the grave. These visits caused him to inquire as to how many Jewish soldiers were actually buried at the famous national cemetery. As of January, 2008, there are more than 330,000 total graves at Arlington, but it was not until after World War I that it was permitted to include a religious symbol on the headstones. The headstones of many Jewish soldiers bear a Star of David, but not all.

His life brought to an early end by Lou Gehrig's disease; Kenneth Poch spent his last 10 years as the self-appointed historian of the Jewish soldiers buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The research donated to JGSGW includes the meticulously organized photos, letters, surveys and other items gathered by Ken.

Washington Area Jewish Burial Registry

Over a period of more than 25 years, volunteers from JGSGW have collected data from the many DC-MD-VA Jewish cemeteries. There are more than 19,000 entries from more than 25 cemeteries. Included in the database are the 1988 survey of the Macpela section of the Adas Israel cemetery, as well as the entries from our Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) database (more to be added in January 2014) and many more.

Our latest effort is to update and photograph burials at the B'nai Israel cemetery in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Renee Domogauer is heading up the effort to document these records. She has turned in more than 170 pictures and she could use help. Contact to coordinate with Renee.

It is not the intention of this repository to compete with JewishGen’s JOWBR. We have contributed most of the material in our database to JOWBR, but due to their rules regarding submission of entire sections or entire cemeteries, we continue to maintain our repository. We will accept individual entries and photos and when appropriate, we will update JOWBR. New data should be sent to along with a clear photograph in the JPG format.

If you are doing Washington, DC area research, you should search the JGSGW Burial Registry. This database may be searched by Surname, Given Name, Spouse's Name, Father's Name, and/or Mother's Name. When searching, at least one of the "name" fields must have at least three characters entered.
Click here to search the JBR database.

The database also includes the Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) records. More information on ANC burials can be obtained at our ANC website, http://anc.jgsgw.org/SearchDB.htm, including tombstone pictures.

DNA Project

JGSGW realizes that many of our members are interested in exploring the link between genetics and genealogy. To help them to find out more about this exciting field of research, JGSGW has programs and workshop on the topic and we administer a DNA Project under FamilyTree DNA. This project affords our members to purchase DNA tests at a reduced rate. To sign up to be a member of our DNA Project, see https://www.familytreedna.com/public/JGSGW.

In 2016, a new group started, for residents of the Washington, D.C. area prior to the Civil War. From the project manager: "The purpose of the District of Columbia Y-DNA Project is to understand genealogical relationships, social networks and the historical context of the DC area pre-Civil War. If you had ancestors that lived in the Washington, DC or Alexandria, Virginia and surrounding area pre-Civil War, this project is for you!"  See https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/districtof-columbia/activity-feed.

Project Funding

        The Project Funding application may be given to a Board Member at our meetings, or mailed to
        JGSGW, P.O. Box 1614, Rockville, MD 20849-1614.


                          
© 2016, Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington, Inc.