The Jewish community is unique in that they have maintained a cultural identity despite centuries of challenges. Family history is an important tradition for those of Jewish descent. However, since there are few specific Jewish record collections to refer to, tracing family lines can be daunting. Fortunately, Jewish genealogy expert Todd Knowles offers the Knowles Collection to help individuals searching for their Jewish genealogy.
Gathering Scattered Jewish Records
Many Jewish record collections were destroyed or hidden during war and persecution throughout much of their history. And as the people scattered, so did their identifying documents. “The records of one family may be in hundreds of places,” says Todd Knowles, FamilySearch deputy chief genealogical officer for Jewish genealogy at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Knowles has set out to simplify the search for Jewish ancestry by gathering pertinent records from around the world into the Knowles Collection and making them available to the public on FamilySearch. “Very few records are in a central archive. The Jewish records collection at the Salt Lake Family History Library is one of the largest in the world,” Knowles says.
The Jewish community has welcomed, encouraged, and contributed to the Knowles Collection project. Knowles connects with leaders and members of the global Jewish community and has gained the respect of the Diaspora. Archives and Jewish leaders have shared their records and continue to bring others to his attention to expand the collection. He carefully gathers and vets records, adding them to FamilySearch so they are available to searchers throughout the world.
The Creation of the Knowles Collection
Todd Knowles has always been fascinated by genealogy. As a 12-year-old, he discovered that his great-great-grandfather was a Jewish person from Poland who was raised to become a rabbi. By age 18, that ancestor knew six languages and had immigrated to the United States. Knowles wanted to learn more about that heritage. Without computers or the internet available, he researched his family lines through letters, phone calls, and library research. At age 16, he went to a synagogue to speak with the rabbi and learn more. Fascinated, he began building a record database of his own. As the option became available, he put his information on a computer, added to it, and organized it further.
By 2007, Todd Knowles, employed at the Family History Library, added the Knowles Collection to the FamilySearch Community Trees website to expand its accessibility to others. At the time, his collection consisted of Jewish people of the British Isles—a set that included fewer than 10,000 people. But it continued to grow. The Knowles Collection now contains genealogical records for more than 1.5 million Jewish people in six databases. These records come from archives, synagogues, government records, and individual genealogists. They include birth, marriage, death, and cemetery records and other historical documents.
As the Knowles Collection has grown, the databases have been categorized to include the Jews of the British Isles (currently 228,619 people); the Jews of North America (641,424); the Jews of Europe (479,775); the Jews of South America and the Caribbean (21,453); the Jews of Africa, the Orient, and the Middle East (43,682); and the Jews of the South Pacific (21,684).
Throughout the centuries, as Jewish people moved about, they developed sub-identities: Ashkenazi (the largest group), followed by Sephardi (next largest), Mizrahi, Crypto-Jews, and more. As Jewish people scattered over time, and in some cases had to hide their identities, their heritage was sometimes lost to their descendants. Today, many people around the world are unaware of their Jewish roots, but they might find hints about their exact heritage in their last names or ancestral homes.
How to Search the Knowles Collection
The Knowles Collection is available in the community trees on FamilySearch. These records are grouped into six subcollections according to date and location:
- Jewish Families (Knowles Collection). Southern Pacific. Date range: 1600s–1900s.
- Jewish Families (Knowles Collection). South America and the Caribbean. Date range: 1400s–1900s.
- Jewish Families (Knowles Collection). North America.
- Jewish Families (Knowles Collection). Europe. Date range: 1400s–1900s.
- Jewish Families (Knowles Collection). British Isles. Date range: 1500s–1900s.
- Jewish Families (Knowles Collection). Africa, Orient and the Middle East. Date range: 1000s–1900s.
On each collection page, you can search for your Jewish ancestors by following the steps below.
- Fill in the name and identifying information of the ancestor you are looking for in the search box.
- Click on More Options at the bottom of the search box to add any additional identifying information you know about your ancestor, such as marriage date, names of family members, etc.
- Click Search.
- The resulting names reference their place in the Knowles Collection database and provide genealogical information about each person. Select a name to see the pedigree and details for that individual.
- This pedigree view allows you to view the individual in the tree as well as move around the tree. You can also view the sources at the right side of the pedigree to find more information about a person. Click the name at the top to view all of the sources.
Tip: As in other searches using FamilySearch records, creative searches can provide desirable results. For example, type only the last name to find potential relatives. Or use filters only without any name. For example, search by parents’ names only to gather names of their children. Use the place of birth, death, residence, or marriage to find records for other people living in the area.
For the latest information on the Knowles Collection, what is in it, and how to use it, check Todd Knowles's blog at knowlescollection.blogspot.com. You can also learn more about the Knowles Collection by watching this video from the RootsTech Conference.
