I am researching my wife's family of birth, MODELL. I've got pretty
good basic information about them here in the US, but am looking for a
way to trace back to Ukraine.

There were three brothers who came to the US >from Zhitomir -- Henry
MODELL, b. ~1872, immigrated ~1904; David MODELL, b. ~1886, immigrated
~1906, and Samuel MODELL, b. 1883, immigrated ~1908.
All three are buried in the same cemetery in Flushing, NY. All three
have their Hebrew names on their tombstones -- in two cases the
patronymic is Moshe, in the third case it is Moshe Aharon. In the case
of Samuel, his immigration record lists his nearest relative in his
place of origin as his father Moses MODELL. So the strong likelihood is
that that is the name to pursue.

There is family lore, but no evidence, of other siblings who remained in
Ukraine and did not immigrate. The first names of these siblings are
Abraham and Peter.

I would be grateful for any information or advice about how to trace
these MODELLs back in Zhitomir. I'm pretty good at US genealogy, but am
a complete novice at Ukrainian records.

Thanks in advance -
Robert Hill