Does it sound or look like I have Jewish ancestry?

[majm]

I agree with Ruskie, just because someone you trust tells you something that they have been told, does not mean that the fundamentals in the story are accurate.  In your case, it just means that your mum is telling you what she knows.  If you want to validate that information, then you need to follow the suggestions offered earlier in this thread, and there's plenty of fantastic Rootschatters who have provided some really good advice.   

I have had a look at the links you popped in earlier, the ones with the family photos.  To me, they simply look like family photos rather than family photos to prove or disprove any Jewish ancestry. 

Cheers,  JM

[Jill on the A272]

You have received very good advice on this and another forum, so when your funds permit and you have been able to do some basic research I'm sure many of us would be happy to help you further.

[Ruskie]

A few names and dates might help us help you. I'm not familiar with your questions on another forum, so don't know what funds Jill is referring to, but we might be able to help you anyway.

[larkspur]

Reply number 11
"I can't afford a DNA test right now (I'm in debt from college) 
And, I tried looking up my grandfather's family history but I cannot trace beyond him. No matter where I go it's a dead end. I can't ask him because he's gone. "

[Rena]

I'll just summarize:

 ............. I always got confused when people asked if I was a Jew. I take after my mom and once a rabbi came up to me to ask if I was. He then spoke about my eyes and nose. They say that about my cousins and one of my uncles also. It isn't a local thing either since some people with the surname who I know came from the Jewish variant share that kind of look.

I noticed you use the affectionate word "mom", which isn't normally used by people living in the area around Manchester, England.  Due to that area once being an industrial hub of England it attracted peoples from all over.   I am not conversant with Manchester in the USA and the records available to amateur family historians - presumably you've tried freely available passenger list information.

[larkspur]

http://www.familytreeforum.com/showthread.php/111453-Does-it-sound-or-look-likely-that-my-family-has-Jewish-ancestry

[Ruskie]

http://www.familytreeforum.com/showthread.php/111453-Does-it-sound-or-look-likely-that-my-family-has-Jewish-ancestry

Thanks larkspur - not brilliant advice on that forum. 

Rena - good points you made. I didn't think to ask Debra whereabouts in the world she lived.

[DebraBloom]

Okay so I managed to find a way to look at family tree's a little bit (sort of.)

I seem to recall my grandfather saying his dad had the same name as him, so I looked for people of that name for the town he lived in. He was born in 1932 and I found a [his name] Bloom born in 1891. I traced this to 1850 and I found a Giles Blum - spelled with the u, instead of the double o's.

This would be funny though because that would mean the story of a certain famous person carrying the same surname being my great great uncle would be false because I've looked at his family tree and the names don't match up.

[Josephine]

Debra,

To prove the connection, you'd need your grandfather's birth, marriage and/or death records, which should give you his father's and mother's names and his father's occupation.

Then you'd need to find his parents' marriage record, followed by their birth records, so you'd have their parents' names and their fathers' occupations.

And then their parents' records. And so on, going backwards as far as you can, until you do or do not find any indications of Jewishness, aided by newspaper obituaries and cemetery records, etc.

What you're doing now is guesswork and speculation and that's okay if that's the extent of what you want to do at this stage. There are a lot more records available for research other than online  trees, which can often contain errors.

Good luck!
Josephine