Genie Milgrom was able to successfully trace her Catholic family in an unbroken maternal lineage going back to the Pre-Inquisition Jews of Portugal and Spain. She is an nternationally acclaimed speaker.

Genie is the Immediate Past-President of the JGS of Greater Miami, as well as President of the Society for Crypto Judaic Studies at Colorado State University.

Her books, My 15 Grandmothers and How I Found My 15 Grandmothers have won in the 2015 Latino Author Book Awards and Books into Movies Awards. She also has won the State of Florida award for her outstanding work in genealogy.

“Researching Your Jewish Roots through Catholic and Inquisition Records” (Mon-108), 3:00-4:15 P.M.

This presentation will cover all the information required to uncover a Jewish past through Catholic Church records.

The discovery of Pre-Inquisition Jewish roots is more than typical genealogy research. We are not only searching for names and dates and ancestors, we are also trying to uncover the small clues within the records and within our ancestors’ and family lifestyles that indicate a hidden Jewish background while maintaining a Catholic exterior.

The challenges of these queries, via internet or in-person will be covered in minute detail. This presentation will be good for any level of researcher who is trying to uncover Jewish Lineage and Ancestry after 500 years.

Topic: Sephardic research, Crypto Jewish Research

“From the Spanish Inquisition to the Present: A Search for Jewish Roots” (Tues-112), 1:30-2:45 P.M.

This presentation covers Genie Milgrom’s personal story:

• growing up in a traditional Cuban Catholic family of Spanish origin;
• converting to Judaism only to many years afterward;
• finding an unbroken maternal lineage dating back to 1405, including Pre-Inquisition Spain and Portugal.

This highly personal narrative showcases the drama of Genie’s family’s past and the twists and turns of this very personal journey.

Topic: Sephardic research, Crypto Jewish Research

“Converso Genealogy Project: Tracking the Diaspora of the Iberian Forced Converts” (Tues-167), 7:30-9:30 P.M.

The objective of The “Converso Genealogy Project” (a multi-tiered project) is to consolidate the work that has been done on large segments of Spanish and Portuguese Jewish populations who were converted to Catholicism during the 15th century. Some people fled and joined Jewish communities in the East and others established communities in Western Europe and in the New World.  Many were lost to recorded history.

The project will  garner information on the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Diaspora as well as genealogical information matching  contemporary descendants to their forced-convert ancestors.

The project intends to compile in one place, information that has been scattered in multiple sources, languages, repositories and countries throughout the world for centuries. It will find a home for all the work that historians, researchers and serious genealogists have done. Aside from the obvious contribution to Jewish genealogy, this will equip historians with data enabling them to rewrite entire chapters of Jewish history.

[Presented with Abraham Gross, Sallyann Sack-Pikus, and Brooke Ganz]

“Jewish Portugal: The Past and the Present” (Weds-108), 12:30-1:45 P.M.

Uncovering the past of Portuguese Jews is, in and of itself, a treat: a rich slice of our history. Yet, the current remnants of that tumultuous past are still seen in present day Portugal: in the walls, and in the people. It can truly be felt all around you.

This presentation includes many examples of those remnants and those special moments that have left indelible marks on the walls of most villages throughout Portugal. Genie Milgrom has taken all the photographs in this presentation, recently.

Category: Short presentation

Topic: Sephardic research, Crypto Jewish Research

“Crypto-Judaic Studies Panel” (Weds-136), 3:00-4:15 P.M.

The Crypto-Judaic Studies Panel will address the most recent updated aspects of this field, including personal stories, available and accessible research possibilities, and DNA genetic studies.

[Panel discussion with Schelly Talalay Dardashti and Bennett Greenspan]

Topics: DNA research and genetics, Jews of the Southwest United States, Jewish history and culture, Repositories, Sephardic research, Specific countries or geographic areas