Unearthing the “Polonskis”: A Historian’s Odyssey in Family Research

Judy Baumel-Schwartz

doi:10.3390/genealogy2010010

Abstract

The article is a case study in family genealogy and genealogical methodology, focusing on the author’s reconstruction of the early history of the first members of the rabbinical Polonski family from Russia after they immigrated to the United States during the early twentieth century. Describing and analyzing the various sources used in the study of family genealogy, it shows how gender, lines of kinship, language, and timing can play an important role in explaining the dichotomy between oral family history and written documentation. It also relates to the pitfalls of dealing with genealogical issues without employing a rigorous and precise methodology. Dealing with issues of inclusion and exclusion in family narratives, it shows how these variables helped shape the family’s oral history, giving us insight into why certain family members appear and others disappear over time from various family narratives.

Highlights

How does one reconstruct the history of a family in which one did not grow up? By what means can one reassemble not just the structure, but the essence of a person about whom one had only heard of second hand, only recently, and at times, only via one possibly biased source? These are questions that every historian confronts, those of us dealing with contemporary history on the professional level
When I began my reconstruction of the American Polonski descendants—none of whom was called “Polonski” in America—I hoped that the process would be easier than when I
What can our genealogical foray teach us about social and personal identity? In what way does understanding the “we” help us better understand the “me”? How do the compelling components of the Polonski family lineage that I discovered extend into a better comprehension of later social and cultural family contexts? And to what degree do the fragments of the past that I unearthed assist us to better conceptualize the present?

Summary

Introduction

Historians and political scientists refer to identity as being “social” and “personal”, pertaining to both collective categories and sources of an individual’s self-respect and dignity (Fearon 1999). Most people embody a number of identities simultaneously: individual identity and perception of self, social identity and gender roles, collective identity, and a sense of belonging and community. It is that need for a sense of belonging that often compels people to examine their personal and individual identity in the hope of better understanding their lives and their choices.

Results

Discussion

Conclusion