Hi Jewishgenners,

Some years ago when I started doing genealogy I took the easy route and
researched my mothers family who were all Germans and many generations in
the US. Worked on my fathers side also but in the US only as all I knew of
my father was he came to the US about 1890 at 18 months old and according to
his WWI draft registration >from Griby, Kovno, Russia that is probably
Lithuania today. This runs contrary to his year older sister's statement
saying they came >from Bialystok, Poland, backed up by other sisters that
were born in Syracuse , NY

If it wasn't true I often wonder what made this scrupulously honest man to
tell the government something his sisters said to the contrary. Also in his
distinctive handwriting he also filled out the registration for a first
cousin and signed his cousins name. My father was really honest and this
cousin, no dummy, became a lawyer later. I know the cousin arrived in the
US later and possibly was weak in English. My father's grand father was
Moses Aram Weisberg. He never came to the US, although his brother Lyons
Weisburg did and adopted the different spelling. Lyons left a $100.00 to
Moses Aram but records in Syracuse do not indicate where it was paid or if
it was. How to write the Weisberg name in either Polish or Lithuaian is
unknown to me. The D-M group number is 747950

I do not have a Shtetl finder nor do I have a large-scale map with
coordinates of northeastern Poland, nearby Russia and Lithuania. Since my
father was so young when he came to the US his father or mother must have
told him Griby [possibly Grybai] to register. When I put this name into the
ShtetlSeeker I come up with 13 possibilities spelled 34 different ways.
Although only one looks good to me, 38.3 miles NE of Vilnius, coordinates
5505-2107, [there are none listed in the Kovnos area- or maybe all
measurements are made >from Vilnius] I don't wish to spend months researching
the wrong town when possibly a better informed genner could be of help.

Also I know nothing about researching Lithuania or Poland and Russia if this
is where the records are kept. Any guidance and hints anyone can impart
would be appreciated. Suggestions on a good book would help and probably
quiet me down.

Thanks. Gates Weisberg

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