Currently accepting clients for...

• Family History Research
• Speaking / Presenting

Debbie Kroopkin has enjoyed working with her genealogy clients for the past 15 years. She enthusiastically helps people learn about their family history, reconnects cousins, and teaches Jewish and beginning genealogy. She has traced her clients’ families to towns in Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania and more. Debbie loves the research hunt and connecting with new families – both in person and on paper.  She has always loved helping people, research and libraries, organizing and problem-solving, Jewish history and community. Thus, genealogy is wonderfully satisfying work.  Debbie served as President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois for ten years, and currently serves on the board as the Past President. She has a master’s degree in social work administration, and is a mother to twin 20 year olds.
 

Publications/Media
My Missing Aunts: The Value of Death Certificates and Autopsy Reports" Context by Dr. Wayne N. Burton, Research process by Deborah Kroopkin. Morasha. The Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois. Volume XXIX No. 1. Spring 2014. "My Great-Grandmother's Murder: The Value of Newspaper Articles" by Wayne Burton and Debbie Kroopkin. Avotaynu. Volume XXVII Number 4 Winter 2011. P. 52-54. Avotaynu, December 2011.

Lectures
Assembling the Pieces of Your Family History Puzzle. April 27, 2023 at Seacrest Village Retirement Communities, Encinitas, California. Assembling the Pieces of Your Family History Puzzle. April 26, 2023 at Oakmont of Escondido Hills, Escondido, California. Assembling the Pieces of Your Family History Puzzle. April 11, 2023 at Tamarisk Northshore, Deerfield, Illinois. (Back) to the Roots: Jewish Genealogy Research. March 29, 2023. For the Zentrum fur judische Kulturgeschichte der Universitat Salzburg. Assembling the Pieces of Your Family History Puzzle, December 4, 2022 for Beth Emet the Free Synagogue, Evanston, Illinois. Jewish Genealogy with the JewishGen.org Website, November 20, 2022, for the Nashville Jewish Genealogical Society JewishGen.org: Leave No Stone Unturned. Where We Lived: 42nd IAJGS Conference on Jewish Genealogy. All virtual. August 21-25, 2022. Assembling the Pieces of Your Family History Puzzle, July 20, 2022, Village of Lake Forest Dickinson Hall, Illinois. JewishGen.Org: Leave No Stone Unturned, May 15, 2022, for the Jewish Genealogy Society of Broward County, Florida. Unique Aspects of Jewish Genealogy, April 10th, 2022, for the San Diego Jewish Genealogy Society, California. Exploring Jewish Genealogy (Intro to Jewish Genealogy, Jewish Family Research in the US, Jewish Family Research around the World, Key Strategies for Successful Research), Wisconsin Historical Society, October 14, 2021 Key Strategies for Successful Genealogy Research, North Shore Senior Center, May 19 2021 Jewish Genealogy with JewishGen.Org, Legacy Family Tree Webinars, April 14, 2021 Exploring Your Jewish Genealogy, JCC Chicago, April 11, 2021 Discovering Your American Family?s Story, North Shore Senior Center, February 17, 2021 JewishGen: Leave No Stone Unturned. International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies virtual conference August, 2020 Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois, Northbrook, IL Unique Aspects of Jewish Genealogy February 23, 2020. Temple Beth-El, Rockford, IL Discovering Genealogy March 1, 2020. Mather Place, Wilmette, IL. Discover Genealogy: Learn to Explore Your Ancestry, November 13, 2019. North Shore Senior Center, Northfield, IL. Putting Together the Pieces of Your Family History Puzzle, October 21, 2019. CJE Senior Life Weinberg Community for Senior Living, Gidwitz Place, Deerfield, IL. An Introduction to Genealogy, September 23, 2019. 39th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy. Cleveland, OH. Techniques for Using JewishGen.Org (Presentation), Techniques for Using JewishGen.Org (Computer Workshop), Unique Aspects of Jewish Genealogy (Computer Workshop), July 27-August 5, 2019. The Standard Club, Chicago, IL. Discovering Genealogy: Lunch and Learn, May 2, 2019 Illinois State Genealogical Society Fall Conference, Springfield, IL. Techniques for Using JewishGen.org, October 27, 2018 Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, WI, October 21, 2018. Jewish Genealogy Workshop (a day-long conference with three presentations: Unique Aspects of Genealogy Research for Jewish Families, and Techniques for Using JewishGen.org parts I and II.) Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois at Congregation Beth Shalom, Naperville, IL. Techniques for Using JewishGen.org, March 4, 2018 Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois, Northbrook, IL. Techniques for Using JewishGen.org, October 30, 2016.

Research Time Periods

• 21st Century
• 20th Century
• 19th Century

Languages
Debbie can work with some written Yiddish and Hebrew.

Affiliations
Past President, Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois

Degrees
M.S.W. (Social Work Administration), B.A. (Sociology)