Expert on Jewish criminals, Ron Arons, will headline the Annual All-Day Seminar on Jewish Genealogy to be held October 18th.

The Jewish Genealogy Society of Colorado partners with the MACC JAAMM Festival at the Denver JCC this year on Sunday, October 18th from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm to present its Annual All-Day Seminar on Jewish Genealogy. Co-sponsored by Feldman Mortuary, Mount Nebo Memorial Park, and NAI Shames Makovsky Real Estate Services, the featured speaker is an internationally recognized professional genealogist and entertainer.

Ron Arons became interested in understanding his roots after he lost his parents to cancer 16 and 18 years ago. In the process of researching his criminal ancestor’s past, Ron has traced his roots to England, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania.

Arons is a recipient of a Hackman Research Residency Award from the New York State Archives to continue his research of New York Jewish criminals, and Ron appeared on the PBS television series, “The Jewish Americans” as the acknowledged expert on Jewish criminals of New York’s Lower East Side.

Born in New York, Ron holds a BS in Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He worked for many years as a marketer in the high-tech industry before deciding to work full time on his first book, “The Jews of Sing Sing.” Arons is based in California and tours the country giving educational and entertaining presentations on Jewish criminals and Jewish genealogy.

Schedule:
8:30 — Registration, Bagels, and Coffee

9:00 – 10:15 — “The Kosher Nostra” or Jewish Criminals!
• How to piece together an ancestor’s life by collecting as much documentation about them as possible as well as looking at the environments where they lived.
• The Jews of Sing Sing, a history and overview of the famous prison “up the river” from Manhattan, including virtual tour of the still functioning maximum security facility, stories about famous Jewish gangsters and lesser-known criminals, and the New York Jewish community’s response to the problem.
• Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky: the Men Behind the Flamingo Hotel, lifelong friends and two of the most notorious criminals in history.

10:30 – 11:45 — What’s in a Name? Trouble! 
Ron will use the Genealogical Proof Standard to show how identities can be merged and separated. In this example, five individuals, all with the same name, all born in the same general time frame, and all living in the same place where one of the individuals lived or claimed to live, all found trouble, either in business or with women. Is this possible? If so, how?

11:45 – 12:45 — Kosher Dairy Lunch

12:45 — Door Prizes

1:00 – 2:15 — Nifty Technologies for Genealogical Analysis & Reporting
A real-time discussion and demonstration of VERY cool tools for genealogical analysis and documentation, timelines, genograms, and technologies which can be used together to translate books, and more.

2:30 – 3:45 — Mind Mapping for Genealogists
A mind map is a graphical outlining tool used for brainstorming and creative thinking. Genealogists can create mind maps to help use time more and see research clearly. They may be used to plan genealogical research based on a “focused question” and may be used as research logs. Learn how they especially excel in their ability to help correlate and explain discrepancies in evidence.

Seating is limited. This event will sell out! Registration and payment is available ONLY through the MACC Box Office in person at the Denver JCC or online below.

Order full day tickets HERE including four lectures and Kosher lunch. $20 for JGSCO members. $40 for guests and includes membership through 2016.

Order individual sessions HERE if you cannot attend the whole day (no lunch). $20 per session.

The Jewish Genealogy Society is a nonprofit run entirely by volunteers. For information, contact info@jgso.org or www.JGSCO.org.