Before I answer Nancy's question, I want to thank the Seattle committee for an excellent, informative conference. As a first-timer at the AJL event, I found many sessions of genealogical and historical interest.
It was also great to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones. I'm looking forward to Montreal in 2011. Now to Nancy's question: Nancy Poole <npoo...@triad.rr.com> asks about the surname JUIF in France. It is a very strange name for anyone whose family was **NOT** originally Jewish. In Spain, specifically around the famous city of Girona, families bear the name JEU - Catalan for Jew. They know their history and background and could have changed their name, but didn't. Many Jewish families were converted to Catholicism by force in other countries and moved at some point to France. The Hugenots were originally Jewish as were many currently Catholic families. Current research in the province of Quebec, Canada, indicates that many originally Jewish families settled there. With so many historical negatives surrounding such a name, a non-Jewish family would certainly have changed it. An originally Jewish family may have either changed it or kept it as a remnant of their heritage. As a genealogist, I certainly believe that there is a strong reason the family kept that name. Schelly Talalay Dardashti Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com sche...@tracingthetribe.com Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@osu.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
