Jewish Cemeteries of Utah

Many people are actually very surprised to learn that the Jewish history of the State of Utah goes back even before Utah was a state. Utah was granted statehood in 1896, by which time the Jewish community had been established for over 30 years. There were Jews here before that even, in fact my own great-great-grandfather arrived in 1858, however it wasn't until the early 1860's that we begin to have record of Jews observing religious events.
The first Jewish cemetery in Utah was established in 1866, when Mormon President Brigham Young deeded land from the Salt Lake City cemetery to the Jewish community. 

Today there are 3 Jewish cemeteries in Salt Lake City, all located in and around the Salt Lake City cemetery. They are;

• Congregation B'nai Israel Cemetery
• Congregation Montefiore Cemetery
• Shaarei Zedek Cemetery

 There was also a group of Jews who traveled the 40 miles or so north from Salt Lake City to Ogden, Utah. This group were mostly merchants and traders who established the Ogden community. They also established a cemetery. It was;

•  Mountain View Cemetery, later bought and the name changed to Aultorest cemetery.

The records of all 4 cemeteries have been photographed and indexed and are now part of the Knowles Collection- Jews of North America database.

B'nai Israel Cemetery

Lithuania Jewish Cemetery Project

One of the major problems that we face as we look for our Jewish ancestors is overcoming the loss of those records or artifacts that have disappeared over time. Included in this list would be items such as records of birth, marriage and death, family knowledge from those who have passed on, and the destruction or neglect of monuments, such as cemetery headstones. It is a problem faced by all, but especially important in those areas hard hit by the World War II.
One such area is Lithuania. The good people of the Lithuanian Jewish Cemetery Project are trying to correct this problem. According to their website (litvak-cemetery.info) there were once more that 200 Jewish Cemeteries in pre-war Lithuania. They hope to record, document and preserve all of the information from the cemeteries that still exist so that the information these monuments provides will not be lost to future generations.
As the work goes forth, the website lists those Cemeteries which have been included and those that are coming. By clicking on a link for a cemetery it is possible to see the monuments of your ancestors and what translation has been done.
From this list (at left) it is easy to see that the records included are from many locations throughout the country, a truly valuable source for anyone with family from Lithuania, and an incredible project for anyone interested in preserving the past, and making sure future generations never forget the great sacrifice of our ancestors. I would encourage all to visit the web page and see how they can be of help.
A special thanks to Marla Raucher Osborn for bringing this to my attention.

Cemetery Scribes

Every now and then there is a website which has the kind of incredible information that researchers just can't get enough of. Cemetery Scribes is one of those. Even though the site is not new, the name is. Formerly known as GenPals, the name has been changed. Cemetery Scribes has a large amount of information about Jewish records, including a wonderful database of burial records, some with pictures included. While it would be enough to have access to the burial records, Cemetery Scribes goes way beyond that. In addition to the death records, researchers will find information and histories about cemeteries, or about the symbols and customs associated with burials.
Anyone interested in Jewish research will find this a very valuable resource.