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Jewish Burial Registry - D.C.
Funding
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Projects
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.
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