Genie Milgrom has taken a feeling and parlayed it into genealogical gold. The most recent episode of the
Forget-Me-Not Hour podcast features an hour-long interview with
Milgrom that describes her journey and her two books:
My 15 Grandmothers and
How I Found My 15 Grandmothers.
Born in Cuba to a Catholic family, Milgrom emigrated to the United States with her family when Fidel Castro took power. Educated in Catholic schools through college, she always felt something missing in her spiritual life. Orthodox Judaism seemed to fill that void and she worked through the lengthy and complex process of conversion. It was only after many years of genealogical research that she found that she had been Jewish all along! She has successfully proved that she is from a long line of Crypto-Jewish maternal ancestors - Converso Jews traced to before the Spanish Inquisition. Her family lived outwardly as Catholics while privately continuing their Jewish traditions as they could.
Milgrom conducted her own research, hired genealogy professionals in Spain and Portugal and consulted with historians expert in Crypto-Jewish history. Church and Inquisition records (family members did not always escape suspicion) helped tell the tale. Ultimately she was able to track her maternal line (the line through which Jewish descent is traced) back 15 generations.
Jane E. Wilcox interviewed Milgrom on her
21 May 2014 BlogTalk Radio show. One may listen to it on one's computer or download it from this BlogTalk Radio link. Or one may find and download the show on iTunes. Search on "Jane E Wilcox."
Milgrom's books are available via Amazon for both
My 15 Grandmothers and
How I Found My 15 Grandmothers.
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