Hourglass Chart
To build an hourglass Chart:
- Start with yourself
- Find the immigrant ancestor
- Based on ages you know, estimate the age of those ancestors that did not immigrate.
- Use these guidelines: (age at marriage females 14-20 - males 20-28)
- Decide where your immigrant ancestor was in the line of sibings: first, last or in the middle
- Use 25 years between generations
If you want to research in the “old country” you need names, dates and places.
- From the United States records find the original surname
- Find the Yiddish or Hebrew given name
- Find the place of last residence
- Find relatives
- Find parents’ names
Use these Sources:
- Hamburg, NARA (Russians to America), Ellis Island, Castle Garden, Canada
- Birth records
- Marriage records
- Death certificates
- Headstones
- Naturalizations
8 Ways to Find Your Ancestral Town, by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island
8 Ways to Get the Most Out of JewishGen’s Communities Database, by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island
