The Maramaros Jewish project is both a regional and a surname Y-DNA project. The project is composed of two parts:

1.      The goal of the Y-DNA part of the project is to determine the Y-DNA "signatures" of as many Maramaros Jewish surnames as possible. So far, we have tested direct male descendants of sixty-six different surnames. Future project efforts will include testing additional lines of some of the larger families as well as doing more Big-Y tests to determine the time line of when some surnames split off from each other.

2.    The research part of the project assists project members in building their family trees using census and tax lists, Máramaros county Jewish and civil records, and what's available on Jewish Gen (especially the Sub-Carpathia records from the now-Ukrainian side of the county). Typically, when someone joins the DNA project, we help them build their family tree if they have not already done so. This research is done on a volunteer basis by the two project administrators (Beth Long and Yossi Jalas)

Jews started emigrating to Máramaros county, mainly from Galicia, in the early to mid-1700s, when they were still using patronymic names. In 1787, the Hapsburg monarchy decreed that all people in the empire had to adopt a fixed, hereditary surname, and although not all families complied initially, by the early 1800’s nearly all Jewish families had fixed surnames.

From the late 1700s onward the Jewish population of Máramaros county grew steadily. For example, by the year 1930, Jews comprised 38% of the population of Máramarossziget (the county seat). In 1944. the Holocaust brought an end to this flourishing Jewish community.  Afterwards, the survivors dispersed around the world. Today, they are found mainly in the USA and in Israel, but also in cities such as Montreal, Antwerp, and London.

Note that this study is non-profit and all work by the two project administrators is done on a volunteer basis.

If you are a male with a Máramaros direct paternal line, you are welcome to join the project. You need to take a DNA test which is a simple inner cheek swab. Females can recruit their father, uncle, brother or male cousin to test their Y-DNA.