Dear friends,

I am trying to trace the origins of my grandfather and grandmother
that were known to have immigrated >from Latvia to Canada in 1896.
They may have come >from either Riga or Libau. We are uncertain if
the family name was SAMUELS at that time. At the time of
naturalization in Canada my grandfather's name was listed as Julius
SAMUELS (but in other papers it is listed as Julian). I had heard

from my father that the family name may have been something like

KATINGEN or CRATINGEN, or any other similar spelling since we only
heard the name and never saw it in writing. My grandmother's maiden
name is reported to have been Bessie SAMUEL (her maiden name lacking
the final s). Again we uncertain if these could have been the last
original names or not. We believe they were married in Latvia before
immigrating to Canada. If any one has any information or leads that I
could follow with the information I have, please respond to this
message. There are a number of descendants of Julius and Bessie now
living in both the U.S. and Canada that are trying to research the
family, so if you have information or connect to this family in any
way, please contact me. Thank you.

Dorene Markel
Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
markel@...