Ancestry

Overview

What common origins can be found within a small American Jewish community?

Methodology

This project used a survey methodology to get multigenerational data on family origins.

Conclusions

Ancestors born during the early- to mid-20th century (usually parents and grandparents of survey respondents) had common origins in eastern Europe. Given that most families in this community are of the Ashkenazi tradition, this finding was unsurprising. However, survey respondents claimed ancestry from non-European locations as well, reflecting a diversity of migration journeys and family backgrounds. One unexpected finding of this survey was that several unrelated community members identified an ancestor in villages within 10-25 miles of each other, and sometimes from the same village. These visualizations prompted more interest and more research questions for the community; a more detailed follow-up survey is planned.

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