Currently accepting clients for...

• Family History Research

Mr. Gostin has been conducting genealogical research since 1980, and has worked as a full-time professional genealogist since 1994.  He has twice been President of the Jewish Genealogical Society, Los Angeles, and has taught genealogy for several adult school and university extension programs.  Mr. Gostin has helped plan and organize three national genealogical seminars, and has been a featured speaker at a half-dozen such conferences.  He lectures widely on Jewish genealogy, Southern California resources and naturalization and immigration records.  Mr. Gostin is the author of Southern California Vital Statistics:  Volume 1, Los Angeles County 1850-1859, and the owner of Generations Press publishing company.  He is very active in the international Jewish genealogical community, and maintains contact with genealogists throughout the world.  

Geographic Specialities
Southern California, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Eastern Europe, Russian Empire, Poland, German Empire, Austria-Hungary.

Publications/Media
Southern California Vital Records: Volume 1, Los Angeles County 1850-1859, 2001, Generations Press.
The Katsiv Chronicles: A Genealogy of the Kite, Kaciff, Weprin, Wander and Dorfman Families, 1991, Ted Gostin.

Lectures
Jewish Genealogy/Eastern Europe

• Finding Your Jewish Roots - An Introduction to Jewish Genealogy
• Jewish Genealogy for Non-Jewish Genealogist
• Finding Anatevka: Maps & Gazetteers in Jewish Genealogy
• Russian Directories as a Genealogical Resource
• Reading Russian-Jewish Vital Records for Non-Russian Speaker
• The Russian Consular Records
• Polish State Archives Databases
• Ukrainian-Jewish Records: New Online Resources

Immigration & Naturalization

• Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor Online
• They Became Citizens: An Overview of American Naturalization Records
• Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor: An Overview of American Passenger Arrival Records
• Emigration Records: Tracking Immigrants from the Other Side

General Genealogy

• Breaking Down Brick Walls - Three Case Studies
• What To Do When There Aren't Any Vital Records
• Finding Vital Records Online – Beyond Ancestry and FamilySearch
• Reconstructing a Slave Population:  Rutherford County, Tennessee
• Using Maps and Gazetteers in Genealogical Research

Repositories

• All Los Angeles Cemeteries
• Archdiocese of Los Angeles archives
• Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder
• Los Angeles County Superior Court Archives and Records Center
• Los Angeles Public Library

Research Time Periods

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

Languages
While not fluent in any foreign language, I can translate typical genealogical documents (birth, marriage, & death records, census records, etc.) in the following languages:

• Spanish
• Russian
• Polish
• German

Degrees
B.A. (Sociology), M.A. (Urban Planning)