Is there a way of finding out if my relatives were jewish?

Question:

Is there a way of finding out if my relatives were jewish?

they are from Coventry England, and I have no information on them, my mom's family all passed when she was quite young, so she doesn't know if they were.....

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Were I approaching the question, I would turn it around and try to prove they were Christian. If memory serves, all baptisms in the CoE and the RCC are registered in the parish that performed the ceremony. So check the local registries to see when/if they were actually christened. If it happened when they were children, then the odds of being born of two Jewish parents is nill. If you're not sure where to look, then the other way to approach it is to find their marriage records and see if it was solely civil or if the marriage was also blessed or if it was performed by a clergyman. Since birth records are skimpy at times, marriage records are often more reliable. In the case of both the CoE and the RCC, to have a religious ceremony or blessing the bride and groom have to be written into the sacramental register and their religious affiliations are noted.

I'm really not as well-versed on Jewish record keeping as I'd like to be, but I do believe they register marriages and bar mitzvahs. If you can find synagogues in the area, you can contact the rabbi and find out what he's willing to share with you.

I doubt you'll find any civil records that can help you, but tracking religious records is really much easier anyway.