Family History by Sid

        Fathers are very important in genealogical research. First of all they generally have the same name throughout their lives. This makes it much easier to research their ancestral line. The father’s name is very often used as a reference in documents. The mother’’s name is used as well but many times only the father’s name appears. Jewish gravestones seldom include the mother’s name.         Many of us have good memories of their Dad. Some were with us a long time and some were tragically removed from our lives at an early age. To some of us our fathers were a source of inspiration, to others he was a good buddy. He taught us the simple skills we needed to navigate life. Balancing a checkbook or changing a tire. They may have seen a particular skill or talent we had and he guided us to our calling. Some people were not that lucky. Their father might have been mean, cold, or just uninterested in their lives. Whoever he was though, he helped mold us into what we are

          Do do do do. Do do do do. In case you don’t recognize it the previous lines are the theme song from “The Twilight Zone”. You probably haven’t heard it in a while unless you’ve been binge watching it during the pandemic or possibly watching the first season of “The Good Wife” where it was the ringtone for Alicia’s mother in law.            Imagine if you will that you have just joined a Facebook group dedicated to Old Jewish Photographs of the World and the very first post you look at has pictures of your grandmother, your great grandmother and their families. It really freaks you out because you don’t know who the person who posted the pictures. This is exactly what happened to me and Judee..           A year ago, somebody posted this picture of a woman next to a gravestone on a site and when I saw it I immediately said that it looked like my great grandmother, Tsiril Kaganovich. The real shocker was that the name on the gravestone was Kaganovich. I contacted the