Illegitimacy
in the Jewish Communities
of Galicia

Have you been confused by your ancestors’ vital records?  Many birth records show the person as illegitimate, missing a surname, having a hyphenated surname, not matching their parents or siblings, or having married via a “ritual Marriage.”  Janette Silverman explains some of the punitive family laws in the old Austrian Empire that led to these curiosities, how Jewish communities worked to circumvent these laws, how this is reflected in vital records, and the insight we can gain about the lives of our Galician ancestors. You may be able to apply the lessons learned to help solve confusing surnames in records of other countries as well.

Dr. Janette Silverman is a professional genealogist, who heads a team of specialists in Eastern European and Jewish genealogy at AncestryProGenealogists® the division of Ancestry.com that does private client research.  She began genealogy research 40 years ago with her dad. Their casual hobby  quickly became an obsession, and later was the basis of her doctoral dissertation. Her research often involves in-person travel to archives in Europe and Israel. She is looking forward to a research trip this summer to Poland and Lithuania. Silverman is a former chair of the Phoenix JGS, was lead Co-Chair at the 2016 IAJGS conference, and was a long-time JewishGen volunteer.  Janette speaks at virtual and in-person conferences, and at family reunions and gatherings. She has published widely, in blogs and journals, and her recent book Stories They Never Told Us  was published in August 2025.