Digitalization Project of Montefiore Censuses 19th century

The digitalization project of the 19th Century censuses

in Eretz Israel done under the auspices of Sir

Moses Montefiore

Thanks to the Montefiore Endowment

Introducing the 3 ladies

behind the project

A Window on Eretz IsraelA Reconstruction of the Jewish

Population

Five Cenuses of Eretz Israel 1839 1849 1855 1866 1875 and 1840 of

Alexandria

A Window on Eretz IsraelA Reconstruction of the Jewish

Population

The censuses that Montefiore conducted enables us to see a picture of the demographic situation in most of Eretz Israel, that together with the facts from macro-history gives us our micro-history.

wars 1831 Ibrahim Pasha conquers Eretz Israel 1834 peasant revolt 1838 Druse revolt(Galilee)

natural disasters Jan.1,1837 earthquake over 2,000 deaths in Safed and Tiberias

philanthropic students of Torah just plain poor

Why the First Census?Safed after the

earthquake

How many Jews were in Eretz Israel in the 19th century?

According to Montefiore’s census database 6,570 in 1839 and 9,891 in 1855 But what is known about this population? Females vs Males? Martial Status? Adults vs Children? Where are they from? Where are they living in Eretz Israel? Age distribution?

Does the census include everyone?

NO, it does not ! Not all communities included: Pekiin & Kfar Yasif Some known people are not included Lists of those who received money include names not in the census (according to the publication by the Dinur Center) When building the database we included

those without names so you have demographic information

The Source Original records are kept at the Montefiore Endowment in London Microfilms for all five censuses can be found at the Institute of the Hebrew Microfilmed Manuscripts (Jerusalem) They do not cover the entire Jewish population as some extremely orthodox Jews refused to cooperate and give any details

Problems – General & Specific Many of the microfilms were unreadable.

(sample slides)

The printed standardized form came into use in

all the communities only in 1855. Four types of forms for the population: Rabbis & Wiseman, Bnei Israel, Widows, Orphans Scripts: square letters, Rashi script, cursive script and sometimes numbers were even written in Arabic numbers Transliteration of names - guidelines implemented by the National Library in Jerusalem

Problems – General & SpecificSecond marriages from either side –

loss of information People living with other people than the parent – added to comments Orphans often had little information about the parents Places of birth - IGS added the country that that town is found in today. In the English version, the present day name of the town is given rather than the name at the time of the census in Yiddish & Ottoman names.

How was the info organized?

The Ashkenazim are registered according to the Kolel (in the 19th century, a support society based on their European origins). The records cover whole families “Kollel”s are according to Jewish communities abroad: Habad, Volin, Holland & Deutchland

How was the info organized? The Sephardim and the Oriental Jews are registered as one single group, without any regard to their various origins. The exception – the “Westerners” from North Africa The censuses are divided by locality as they have been conducted. 11 localities for 1839 and only 6 for 1875 What happened?

Safed 1839, 1875

Communities in the censuses

Tiberias 1839, 1875

Jaffa 1839, 1875

Jerusalem 1839, 1875

Hebron 1839, 1875

Nablous 1839

Djermak 1839Tiberias 1839, 1875

Haifa 1839, 1875

Acre 1839

Sidon 1839

Shefaram 1839

Details Available in Censuses (sometimes)

Family name, first name, Age, date of arrival (aliyah), Place of birth, marriage, Name of spouse (not always), children

and their ages (not always), Occupation, financial status and

notes Each Kolel includes a list of leaders,

the families, the widows and the orphans.

1839

1875based on

an incomplete version done in 2004Increase

%of increas

e

Total Seph. Population :4,5827,5732,99131%

Total Ashk Population1,7698,5786,80969%

TOTAL POPULATION6,35116,1519,800

Population Distibution

18391875 (based on an incomplete version done

in 2004)

SephardimAshkenazimSephardimAshkenazim

Haifa11624516

Hebron254159460534

Jaffa153667

Jerusalem2,3254904,8754,325

Safed694622None3,584

Tiberias3344551,0551351 kollel

Acre198

Djermak19

Nablous51

Shefaram98

Sidon359

Subtotal4,5821,7697,5738,578

Total635116,151

Identity Elements18391875

# surname4,53771.5 %8,67357 %

# father’s name1,56424.5 %5,57637 %

# grandfather’s name

371 %4773%

# place of birth2,39137.7 %6,47842.8 %

More Sephardim in the population

May explain why you can’t find someone !

Jerusalem- 19th Century

They were busy with just existing!

Titles

with the Ashkenazim = Haver 'ח

with the Sephardim = Hakham 'ח

Variations in MeaningsListed as part of the name

AbbreviationsWe hope to list them with their translations on the IGS websitehttp://www.isragen.org.il/siteFiles/1/153/7433.asp

So many different descriptions for being poor!

-destitute, beggarאביון, נשאר אביוןpoverty - ,בדוחק גדול, בדוחק גמור, בדוחק ובצער

בדוחק ישיבות, בדוחק למדן, בדוחק מקצבתו, בדוחק עני,

בדוחק, נזון בדוחק,impoverished - ,ירד מנכסיו

ירד,charity - ,מצדקה

dole - ,מקצבתוneedy - ,נצרך

poor - עני, עני גמור, עני דחוק, עני הגון נ"א, עניואביון, עני ודל, עני וירד מנכסיו, עני ורש, עני מטופל,

עני מרוד

Occupations (1839)

25% have an occupationlisted

9% are “studying” – this includes adults in the Beit Midrash, studying Psalms, Gemora, etc.

Sometimes the occupation is listed in the financial status column

If listed as studying & occupation, the occupation was chosen

Rabbis and Sages, without an indication of any other occupation

The earliest date of someone born in Eretz Israel according to the

census1749 – Shlomo Sibon age 90 lives in Safed,

married, born in Safed

1749 – Shimon Maimaran age 90 lives in Jerusalem, possibly available, born in Jerusalem

1759 – Avraham Palatchi age 80 lives in Safed, blind, born in Safed

1759 – Elihau Arazi, age 80 lives in Safed, lives with grandson, born in Safed

1761 – Nehemia Castel, age 78 lives in Hebron, available, born in Gaza

Comments found for Safed & Tiberias

plague מגפה

plague & earthquake מגפות ורעש

plague, confiscation & earthquake מגפות ושלילות ורעש

plague, 2nd confiscation & earthquake

מגפות ב' שללות ורעש

earthquakeרעש

damaged by earthquakeהוזק ברעש

house damagedהיה לו היזק בית

earthquake & confiscation רעש ושלל

2nd plundering & earthquakeב' שללות ורעש

2nd plundering (1838 Druse Revolt)'שלל ב

Individuals variations including value of property loss

רעש היה לו היזק בתים אלף. 30ורכוש בערך

איש מכובד הונף והורם גודל חכמתו

Examples of additional information found in various

columnsמשרתת בחצר ח' חיים מאסאראנו

נשברה רגלה והיה לה הוצאות רבות שנה שבא 20עיקרו מאשכנז זה

מסאלוניקי(a servant living in the courtyard of Haim who broke

her leg and had many expenses, she immigrated from Ashkenaz 20 years ago from

Saloniki)

(needs to get married) צריך לנשואין

Wife only eleven (written in English)

והוא כלוא בביתומדבר ולובש כמו אשכנזי

להשתטח בקברות הצדיקים ((under financial status

Genealogy even then!Names of some Rabbis

include lineageFootnotes of the Sephardim

in Jerusalem – Chief Rabbi Navon - 4th generation

4 mentions of a person being the grandson and great grandson of a Rabbi

11 mentions of being a grandson of …

2 mentions of being a grand daughter of …

Examples from the database

The format for displaying the information

Simple BE CREATIVE – searches family & first name

Year: 1839, 1840, 1855, soon 1849

Matches/Begins with/Contains/Ends with

Language: English/Hebrew

Orphans & Widows Safed 1939

Alexandria 1940

Hebrew Search

Advanced

Surname Given Name BE CREATIVE

Birth Place DD Country of Birth DD

Residence DD Kolel DD

Occupation Economic Status

Eretz Israel / Ottoman Empire

Eretz Israel / Ottoman Empire

Eretz Israel / Ottoman Empire

Eretz Israel / Ottoman Empire

Kolels (1839 &

1855)

Ashkenazim

Habad

Hassidim

Holland

Holland & Deutschland

Hungary

North Africans

Prushim

Raysin

Russia

Sephardim

Sephardim & Ashkenazim

Tiberias

Varsha

Volin

Volin & Osterreich

Today’s country added to town

Occupation & Economic Status

Try a search, see what you find

Aliyah – Year of Arrival

Once all five are online

Trace families through this time period Did they move? Children appear and disappear Occupation & economic situation Change in Kolels or not

This is only a beta site, and there are three more censuses to be completed.

Will there be corrections?Only if they are typos!

Lets try it online

www.montefiorecensuses.org

IGS and the Jewish people thank

Sir Moses Montefiore for his initiative 171 years ago!