>>Our Family Story <<

Sources Front Page

Name Geffen...."A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames From The Russian Empire" by Alexander Beider, Museum of the Jewish Diaspora

Sources Ancestral Towns

Map..from Mapquest

Encyclopaedia Judaica, Museum of the Jewish Diaspora,

Sources Ancestral Towns - Jonava

Map from Mapquest

Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jonava District Municipality Web Site, Pearl Graham

Sources Ancestral Towns - Kaunas

Encyclopaedia Judaica

Sources Ancestral Towns - Vilna

The Ghetto Anthology by Roman Mogilansji, Encyclopaedia Judaica

Sources Rabbi Tobias Geffen Page

From the book Lev Tuvia edited by Joel Ziff

Sources Letters To Rabbi Tobias Geffen

The Tobias Geffen Papers, boxes numbered 5 and 6, at the American Jewish Historical Society Archival Collections, Waltham, Mass. and New York, NY

Sources Lost and Found

Ancestry.com SSDI,JewishGen Cemetery List,Yad Vashem, Hall of Names

Sources Web Sites

Inforseek Search Engine

Photo Credits Front Page

#1..Boris Feldblyum Photographic Collection
#2..Source unknown

Photo Credits Ancestral Towns

Aerial Views from The Library of Congress

#1,#4,#12..Source unnknown
#2..Purchased from Tomasz Wisniewski, Bialystok, Poland
#3..Boris Feldblyum Photographic Collection
#5,#6..Reprinted with permission by Bruce E. Kahn
#7..Gaffin Family, Chicago
#8,#9.#10,#11..Yad Vashem Jerusalem
#13..Pearl Graham

Jonava

# 1#2..Jacob Geffen

Kaunas

#1..Boris Feldblyum Photographic Collection
#2..From the book Lev Tuvia edited by Joel Ziff
#3,#5..Encyclopaedia Judaica
#4,#6,#7,#8,#9,#10,#11..Reprinted with permission by Bruce E. Kahn

Vilna

Choral Synague..Avitan Gefen

Photo Credits Rabbi Tobias Geffen

#1,#2,#3,#4,#5..From the book Lev Tuvia edited by Joel Ziff

Photo Credits Immigration

#1..Unknown

#2..Laurie Geffen

#3,#4..Ships of Our Ancestors, Michael J. Anuta

#5..Jim Sherman

Photo Credits Research

#1..Alan and Marjorie Goldberg

Photo Credits Tuvia Photo Album

#1,2,5,10...Jacob Geffen
#3...Sarha Robinson
#6,16...Yad Vashem Archives
#4,7,9...Lev Tuvia
#8,11,12,13,14,15,17...Morris Geffen
#18 Michael Grenadier
#19...Peter Geffen
#20,27...Arthur H. Geffen
#21,22...Lisa Grenadier Conner
#23,24...Rabbi M. David Geffen
#25...Debbie Lubar Moore
#26...Ron Stephenson
#28.29.30.31.32.33.34...Udi Goldman
#35...Eugenijus Gefenas
#61...Roberta Barnett

Website prepared with the following programs:

Family Tree Maker 10
Legacy 3.0
Dreamweaver MX
Fireworks MX
Picture Publisher 6.0

Acknowledgments and Thanks

To the following people who have continually supported and assisted me throughout this project:

To Dr. Gerald Gaffin and the late Stephen Gaffin, for providing extensive information and trees for the Gafanovich family, and to Dr. Gerald Gaffin for sharing his ongoing research.

To David Ash, for his collaboration and dilligent research with family members.

To Jacob Geffen, from Tel-Aviv, whose vast knowledge of the family and history was shared with me.

Joel Ziff, for sending me the family tree he compiled on the family of Tuvia Geffen.

To the late Dr. Lawrence Geffen (1923-2000), from Michigan, for sharing the memories, photos and recollections of his family.

To Dr. Lawrence Geffen, of Brisbane, and Leah Civin of Johannasburg, for providing me information on my direct line of Geffens.

To Pearl Graham and her family, of London for her enthusiasm and sharing of her personal memories.

To Carol Cohen, for her continual support and assistance.

To Thom Montgomery, of Los Angeles, who did much of the work on the Geffen family tree and shared his information and research with me.

To all members of the family, who have spoken and written to me, provided information, support and photographs: Minerva Barsky, Sonya Geffen Eichler, George & Nancy Eisenman, The late Vera Flaxman, Brenda Geffen Freedman,Dr. Abraham Geffen,The Late Aice Geffen, Amy Geffen, Arthur Geffen, Arthur H. Geffen, Daniel Asher Geffen, Rabbi David M.Geffen, David Geffen, Dena Geffen, Eleanor Geffen Goldberg, Howard J. Geffen, Ivan Geffen, The late Jacob Geffen, Dr. Jeremy Geffen, Jon Geffen, The late Lawrence Geffen, Lizzie Geffen, Mark Geffen, Dr. Merwin Geffen, Michael L. Geffen, The late Mitchell Geffen, Molly Chernotsky, Dr. Morris Geffen, Peter Alan Geffen, Robert Geffen, Rev. Roger Geffen, Simon Geffen, Steven Geffen, Terrance Geffen, Dr. William Geffen, Mildred Geffen Gold, Linda Green, Sophy Guiffan, Terry Heller, Dr. Jeff Kneisbacker, Arnold Koch, Arthur Lester, Abba & Cecile Lichtenstein, Alan Lipton, William Lucker, Brian Mendelsohn, Goldy Mendelsohn, Nathan Miller, Joan Muss, Aba Peleg, Jonathan Reibman, Sarha Robinson, Paula Roos, Edna Rosen, Adam Rudy, Lee Schloss, Josh Sparro, Judith Geffen Wills, Robin L. Zalben, and anyone who I may have inadvertently omitted.

Without the above, there would not be a Geffen Family Story.

Last, but far from least, to my husband Alan who has helped and supported me in every way throughout the years of this project.

Resources

All Lthuanian Data Base, Lithuanian Sig, JewishGen
American Jewish Archives
American Jewish Historical Society
Ancestry.com
Archives of the City and County of Philadelphia
Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, Jerusalem
City of Philadelphia Register of Wills
Daniel Rubinson, Translator
Dept. of Health and Human Services, Social Security Administration
Douglas E. Goldman Jewish Genealogical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Har Nebo Cemetery, Philadelphia
Jewish Genealogical People Finder
Jewish Genealogical Society of Philadelphia
Jonava District Municipality Web Site
Jonava Jewish Community Records, Vilnius Archives
Library of Congress, European Division
Library of Congress, Geography & Map Division
Library of Congress, Hebraic Section
Lithuanian State Historical Archives
Marriage License Bureau, Philadelphia
Moreshet Center of Genealogical Research
Museum of the Jewish Diaspora
Municipal Archives, New York, NY
NARA, Mid Atlantic Region, Philadelphia
NARA, New York, NY
NARA, Washington, DC
National Archives Trust Fund
NYC Dept. of Records and Information Services
New York County Clerk's Office
New York Public Library, Jewish Division
New York Public Library, Genealogical Division
New York Public Library, Microfilming Division
NY State Dept. of Health, Division of Vital Records
Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center
Pennsylvania Division of Health, Division of Public Records
Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.
Steamship-Historical Society Collection, University of Baltimore Library
U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
U.S. Dept. of Justice, Immigration & Naturalization Service
U.S. Dept. of State, Office of the Special Consular Services
U.S. District Court, Eastern Division of Pennsylvania
U.S. Government Printing Office
U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service
Vilna Goan State Museum
Yad Vashem, Hall of Names
Yivo Institute for Jewish Research

Bibliography

A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames From the Russian Empire, by Alexander Beider

"Chronicles," published by The Jewish Genealogical Society of Philadelphia

Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer of the World

Encylopaedia Judaica

Finding Our Fathers, by Dan Rottenberg

From Generation To Generation, by Arthur Kurzweil

Goode's World Atlas, Published by Rand McNally

Jewish Personal Names, by Rabbi Shmuel Gorr

Lev Tuvia, by Rabbi Tobias Geffen Memorial Fund

Migration From The Russian Empire, Edited by Ira A. Glazier

Morton Allan Directory of European Passenger Steamship Arrivals

Pictorial History of the Jewish People, by Nathan Ausubel

Ships of Our Ancestors, by Michael J. Anuta

"Shtetl Finder Gazetteer," Heritage Books

The Encyclopedia of Jewish Genealogy, by Arthur Kurzweil and Miriam Weiner

The Jewish World of Yesterday, by Rachel Salamander

"The New York Times," Obituary Section

Where Once We Walked, by Gary Mokotoff & Sallyann Amdur Sackler

This site requires the newset Flash plug-in for viewing and navigation. Click the button at left to download.