Mark Jacobson

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and currently live in Boca Raton, Florida. I have a BA with honors in History from Brooklyn College and an MS in Education with a Specialization in Counseling with distinction from Hofstra University. I have been doing genealogy research with my sister Leslie for more than 20 years. Leslie and I are partners in the genealogy research company Jacobson and Jacobson Genealogy Researchers. We specialize in Jewish genealogy research. Along with researching for clients we have researched our own family tree back as far as seven generations to our ancestors in Galicia (currently Poland and Ukraine), Ukraine, and Belarus.

I was the President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County, Inc. (Florida) from 2010 to 2014 and continue to serve on their board. Before that, I served as Secretary from 2006-2010. I was leader of the Galician Special Interest Group for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County, Inc. I presented numerous genealogy programs to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County, Inc. at their annual Genealogy Symposiums and at general meetings. Programs included using US naturalization records, using Familysearch website, Galician Jewish history and research, using JRI-Poland website, and how I traced my family in the Ukraine. In March 2022 I presented a Zoom program to the Imperial Polk Genealogical Society of Polk County Florida titled "Aspects of Jewish Genealogy." I have mentored peers learning Genealogical research. I have published numerous articles in Scattered Seeds, a publication of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County, Inc., as well as the Galitzianer, a publication of Gesher Galicia.

Since 2014 I have served on the board of Gesher Galicia, a non-profit organization carrying out Jewish genealogical and historical research on Galicia, formerly a province of Austria-Hungary and today divided between southeastern Poland and western Ukraine. I am currently the Gesher Galicia Research Coordinator, dealing with acquiring and supervising the major indexing projects for the organization. I work with various archives, volunteers and professionals throughout Poland and Ukraine. I have been an Indexing Volunteer for Family Search Indexing. I led an extensive project to index 19th Century Jewish vital records from my grandfather's town of Drohobycz (formerly in Galicia, now Ukraine). I am currently the Drohobycz and Boryslaw Town Leader of the AGAD Archive Project for JRI-Poland (Jewish Records Indexing - Poland). I also serve as a Town Leader for indexing for JewishGen's Ukraine SIG.

Services

Our expertise is Jewish Genealogy Research. We can help you find towns of origin for immigrant ancestors and research available documents in Eastern Europe. We can help you create a family tree so you can keep your ancestors alive for generations to come.

Geographic Specialties

NJ, NY, Baltimore, Cleveland, New York City, Philadelphia, Austria-Hungary, Galicia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine