The United Synagogue

US Marriage Authorisations Go Online To Help Budding Genealogists

PRESS RELEASE

London,
16th May 2008

US MARRIAGE AUTHORISATIONS GO ONLINE TO HELP BUDDING GENEALOGISTS

In an exciting and groundbreaking partnership between the United Synagogue Community Division and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB), families will be able to search the Office of the Chief Rabbi marriage authorisation indexes online. These indexes will contain the �English� names of the bride and groom along with the date and place of their intended marriage.

The Find your Family section of the US website (www.theus.org.uk) will initially allow visitors to order and purchase copies of full marriage authorisations online for the time period 1880 � 1886 with a discount built in for US and JGSGB members. Over the coming months additional annual records will be added up until those of 1908. The indexes will then be updated annually on the 1st January following the guidelines given for Data Protection not to publish records less than 100 years old. These records can also be accessed via the current JGSGB website, www.jgsgb.org.uk.

Louise Messik, from the JGSGB council, who painstakingly indexed the records commented, �The JGSGB is delighted to have undertaken this joint project with the United Synagogue. It will be an historic moment when these valuable records go online for the benefit of genealogical researchers worldwide. It will open up new horizons of search for our membership and for many thousands of those exploring the history of their ancestors.�

David Kaplan, US Community Division Director said, �It has been a great privilege to partner with the JGSGB and to bring these parts of our British Jewish heritage to life.�

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EDITORS� NOTES: -

For further information, please contact:

Nikki Ginsberg
The PR Office
Work: 020 7383 3623
Email: us@theproffice.com