One of the problems of searching by surnames is that they could be
spelled in so many ways and then transcribed (or misread) in many
other ways,.
For example, a search for YUD** in the 1920 census for California
yields the followiing:
Herman YUDBNITZ b 1855 in Poland
Geroge YUDLEWITZ b 1871 in Russia
Belle YUDLOWITZ b 1896 in Russia.

Try writing YUDLEVITZ in script form and you will see that it may
well be transcribed as YUD -B (for the L and E) -N (for the V or W) -
ITZ.

Searching the California Death index also yields many possible
matches and often provides the mother's maiden name (if it was given.)

Barbara Zimmer
Norfolk VA