About the Joint-Stock Russian-Canadian-American Passenger Company (RUSCAPA) The Joint-Stock Russian-Canadian-American Passenger Company, also known as RUSCAPA, was established in the early 1920s as a joint-stock company involving Russian, Canadian, and American passenger carriers. Its primary purpose was to facilitate the emigration of Soviet citizens—particularly Jews, but also Ukrainians, Germans, Poles, and Russians—from the USSR to…
One of the most interesting and unusual items pertaining to the Jewish history of confederate and pre-confederate Canada is a two-centuries-old diary in the custody of the National Archives of Canada. The diary belonged to Samuel Jacobs, a European merchant whose ship, the Betsy, was known to have plied the St. Lawrence carrying trade goods…
A new online source of genealogical information about immigrants to Canada from the 1930s to the 1950s From Remembering Our Yesterdays, a blog at Inside Toronto While working at Libraries and Archives Canada several years ago, Joanna Crandell discovered that hundreds of mysterious “order-in-council” lists related to immigrants appeared in the index under the subject…
From Avotaynu, 2020 Book Review: A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Italy, France and “Portuguese” Communities, by Alexander Beider. Like a Napoleon of names, Alexander Beider has been sweeping methodically across the Jewish diaspora seeking to apply a rigid scientific methodology to the naturally-occurring phenomenon of Jewish surnames. Beider has devoted more than three decades…
MyHeritage, the large Israel-based family-tree and DNA genealogy service, announced that it was ceasing operations in Russia and that all of its Russian account data, including DNA tests, would be deleted on February 1, 2025. MyHeritage explained that they were forced to suspend their services in Russia due to local legislation. Russian account holders were…
Originally appeared in The Canadian Jewish News The Rothschilds had one. The Disraelis had one. The Montefiore, Mocatta and Sassoon families each had one. And so, according to some interpretations, did each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Popular with the Jewish aristocracy in Europe since medieval times, Jewish coats of arms once seemed a…
I recently used the genealogy website MyHeritage to drastically improve the colour and clarity of an old Toronto postcard showing the historic Goel Tzedec Synagogue (at lower right in above image). This rare postcard provides an excellent view of the synagogue in situ on University Avenue in the 1920s. The synagogue was built about…
from Canadian Jewish News (2015) When Cantor Bernard Wladowsky was lured from Chicago to Toronto in March 1912 to begin singing in Goel Tzedec Congregation’s monumental new synagogue on University Avenue, he was 36 years old, in beautiful voice, and of striking appearance in his white clerical robes. As the Toronto Daily Star marveled at…
Marriage By Rabbi Held To Be Invalid He Was Not A British Subject at Time He Performed Ceremony Globe, January 15, 1925 (Canadian Press, Montreal) — Because a rabbi who conducted the ceremony was not a British subject, Mr. Justice Bruneau, in the Superior Court today, handed down judgment annulling a marriage conducted ten years…
26 May 2023 Census enumerators across Canada were busy on June 1, 1931, going door to door to gather 40 fields of personal information about 10,376,379 Canadians, including family names and relationships, age, gender, occupation, employment status, racial origin and whether the family had acquired a radio. Having sat in a vault for the past…
