The State of the Behmoiras Genealogy Research
A message from Raphael Ventura 1 January 2004
We have presented our case regarding the family. Our tree file contains 1,160 names of people living or deceased. Around 750 among them are genuine Behmoiras descendants (many of them do not bear the Behmoiras family name any more). The others are spouses. There are also 122 additional Behmoirases, whom we have not been able to contact; hence they are not attached to the tree.
The main purpose of the Web Site is to further our project. To achieve that purpose we need your assistance. Your contribution at this stage is of utmost importance.
Once we have identified a branch that belongs to the family, we try to follow it retrogressively. The more recent generations are important as well, but they do not constitute a problem, since we can always obtain information on them from the representatives of the various branches. Hence, the more recent generations will be taken care of later. It is the ancestors, the old members of the family that need our immediate focus: Parents, grandparents, uncles, granduncles, great grandparents etc. The real links between the various branches lie back there, and we have to make an effort to find them. The main problem lies in the gap of some 50 years between the end of documented historical data on the ancestors, on the one hand, and the earliest information that we obtain from the present members of the various branches, on the other. Our problematic year is 1850 take or leave 25 years.
Some of you have already given this information either to me or to Rafael Benaroya. However, writing it once again, in an orderly fashion, according to the following guidelines, will help you remember more information. Your letters will be posted on the Site for others to check whether they know someone you mentioned.
a. List all the members of your branch that are older than you, particularly those who are deceased. List maiden names, given names, alternative or additional names (particularly Hebrew names for people with names like Albert, Robert, or Marco), important dates (even approximate), spouses, children etc., and your connection to them. Make every effort to go as far back as possible. Partial or doubtful information is better than no information. If another member of your branch may have more information, do not hesitate to ask him.
b. Whenever possible, tell us who, among brothers, was the eldest. It is very important, even if he died young or did not have progeny.
c. If you know of tombs of members of your branch who were born before 1900, tell us where they are located (city, cemetery). If you have photographs of the tombs, send them to us. If you can obtain photographs so that the inscription is legible, please do so.
d. If you possess old documents, birth or death certificates, ketubbot, marriage licenses, old photographs, old passports etc., please inform us. You cannot imagine how important they may be.
e. If your branch has any memory of grand rabbis, or other people of importance in the family, tell us all about it.
f. If there are old incidents, stories, legends, etc., which came down the generations in your branch, please tell us.
We have to break the 1850 barrier!
