On May 28, 2021, at 1:57 AM, MarkWeinberg18@... wrote:



I am trying to locate my wife’s grandfather’s birthplace.  Can you help?

 

His name was Dawid Dubinsky, but in America, became David Berkman.  He told me that he was from the Vilna gubernia.  He belonged to the Meretz landsmanshaft in Boston.  The town of Meretz is currently named Merkine in Lithuania.

 

His 1914 Ellis Island manifest says he was from Polanky.  Both his citizenship Declaration of Intention and Petition for Naturalization also say his birthplace was Polanky.  However, his brother’s Declaration of Intention says he was born in Perysok (or perhaps it reads Perysck, the next to last letter is hard to read).  I can locate Merkine, but neither of the other two places.  There is a Polonka in Belarus, but that was not in the Vilna gubernia.  I have searched the JewishGen Communities,  KehilaLinks, and Gazetteer data bases.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

Mark Weinberg

Wilmington, DE