In a message dated 11/12/00 10:14:39 PM Pacific Standard Time,
Steve Rivkin writes:

<< Subject: Re: Meshchanin

I have heard stories about these classifications too -
I would like to know more about it. >>


For interested parities, I have in my possession such a Russian pass
issued to my grandfather's brother,Gershko Baranshteyn, in Polonnoye,
Ukraine. The pass is dated 1902, the original and translation can be
viewed at the Polonnoye SIG site
http://www.jewishgen.org/ShtetLinks/polonnoye/Bernstein.html.
This pass was given to me by a descendant of my grandfather's brother
in England. This document was loaded with information. Even though it
was issued to my grandfather's brother, it gave the name of my great-
grandfather, great-grandmother, where they lived and their birth years.
It was a wonderful find. You will also see the grave stone for my
great-grandfather at that site.

Since Gershko immigrated to England shortly after 1902, it has been
sugjested to me that the pass was probably issued to allow Gershko to travel to a town with the proper civil office to apply for emigration.
As the family lore goes, "Gershko got off the ship in England, thinking
he was in New York, and never left".

Stewart Bernstein
Thousand Oaks, CA