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Re: LAKOBOVIC or JAKOBOVIC? #names #russia #ukraine

Harvey Kabaker
 

Often a capital I appears in transliterations, because the name was
pronounced Yacovitch. The Anglicized name was Jacovitch or Jacobitch, or
similar.

From there, the capital I was mistaken for a lower case l (see what I
mean?), and incorrectly rewritten as a capital L.

Harvey Kabaker

Silver Spring, Md.
Yizkor Book on the History of Bar, Ukraine - Translated and Now Available Digitally #yizkorbooks #ukraine #holocaust #announcements

Stefani Elkort Twyford
 

In September 2019, one of my researchers, made a visit to Bar Ukraine and purchased a newly released book on the history of Bar written by Bar historian Mikhail Kupershteyn. The original book is written in Ukrainian. I quickly got in touch with Mr. Kupershteyn who gave me permission to have the book translated into English and made available to Jewish researchers. The book is now fully translated, reformatted and available as a PDF.  I've also included a name index at the end of the translation to identify all the surnames in the book. That list can be seen here.

The book is a magnum opus spanning from early 1500s up through modern day. It covers such topics as:

  • historical chronology of the city

  • the shtetl, synagogue, cemetery and market

  • what community life was like, a Jewish home and Jewish traditions

  • pogroms, occupations and memories of witnesses

  • Jews on the frontlines of WWII

  • development of the Jewish society from the end of the 19th century up to the 1940s

  • society in the post war period including later history of the community, prominent Jews from Bar and the Yiddish community


Many family names appear in stories, lists of pogrom and war victims, famous citizens from Bar and other anecdotes. The book is a fascinating glimpse into the life of our ancestors and includes numerous photographs and maps. One of my DNA cousins described this book as "an extraordinary work of dedication, love and scholarship." I'm sure you will agree.

Currently the digital PDF of this book is available to researchers for a $50 or larger donation to the JewishGen -  Bar, Ukraine Records Project. Remember that your donation is tax deductible. To get to the fundraising page, click on this link or log in to your JewishGen account and click on the far-right tab labeled Donate. In the right hand JewishGen Projects, click on Ukraine. Our project is the third listed: Bar, Ukraine Records Project.  To take advantage of this offer, when you receive your receipt for the donation from JewishGen, email it to me at bargenealogy@... and I’ll email you the PDF.

Soon the book will be available for purchase in a hard cover version through JewishGen's Yizkor Books Print on Demand program.

L'Shana Tova

--

Stefani Elkort Twyford

Researching: Siegal/Sigal, Spiel, Tarle, Ilkovics, Feiermann, Kronenberg, Szerman, Kletzel, Ricker/Ricken, Spiro
Re: 50 State Survey Finds One Out of 10 Millennials and Generation Z Didi Not Recall Word 'Holocaust: or Basic Facts of the Genocide #announcements # holocaust #announcements #usa

Elise Cundiff
 

I don't agree that the example cited is a distortion in any way.   Perhaps include those who thought 20 million in those who were aware of the magnitude of the  disaster - but if the question is, "how many?" and the answers are far less than 6 million that is indeed of some concern.  

It is true that too many Americans, not just those two generations,  seem to have a general ignorance and lack of understanding of history, including pertinent American history.   Our educational system is failing in that.

I had a younger co-worker (who had previously made a few vaguely anti- semitc comments to me before) tell me that  "Jews need to get over it" because it was so long ago.
She had no response when I pointed out that my two oldest brothers, along with my parents and grandparents, would have been killed - and that didn't seem so long ago to me.    
Re: DNA results vs records #dna

Sally Bruckheimer
 

My mother said her mother's family came from Latvia - they were Litvaks after all. She thought Litvaks came from Latvia. Of course, her family weren't from Latvia at all (as far back as I could go), but culturally they were Litvaks, meaning Lithuania (the U in Lithuania is the V in Litvak, originally the same letter). So your mother might be right, or not. Only finding records of your family will tell you who they were and where they really lived.

Our ancestors moved around a lot more than we often think, and not just to the next town over. My family above came to Augustow district of the Kingdom of Poland from somewhere in Russia proper.

Sally Bruckheimer
Princeton, NJ
Re: LAKOBOVIC or JAKOBOVIC? #names #russia #ukraine

David Jacobowitz
 

I took a look at the Ohio Marriage record. Surely the recording clerk was incompetent, the informants' accents were incomprehensible, or the record is for other people.

Your family seems to be on Anita Carol Rosenberg's Ancestry tree: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/17789203/family/familyview?cfpid=392127266550.

 Since I have an interest in the Jacobowitz name, I put up a list of variant spellings at https://www.geni.com/projects/Descendants-of-Aaron-Jacobowitz/308.

None of these has an initial L. I think that J is probably correct. It would have been pronounced as Y, and perhaps misheard as L.

David Jacobowitz


 
Re: Using DNA matches to find Jewish ancestors #dna

Adam Cherson
 

On understanding ethnicity and admixture reports, please see my post Deciphering Ancient Jewish Origins Using Genography

Adam Cherson
Help unravelling the mystery of Sarah and Victor LEVIN, LIverpool, England #unitedkingdom

Rachel
 

Help unravelling the mystery of Sarah and Victor LEVIN

Sarah Levin was my great Aunt, born about 1861 in Izabelin, Belarus and married Vigder Levin also from 'Russia'. They had 2 children Abraham born 1885 in Russia and Flora born 1887 in Izabelin, Belarus.  I have found Sarah and Abraham together in the 1901 census in Liverpool and I have found Sarah and Flora together in the 1911 census in Liverpool.  I know Abraham married in Llanelli and sadly died in 1909.  I can't find the family in the 1891 census.  This is probably not surprising as I know Sarah's brother my ggf and his family arrived in Liverpool in the late 1890's.
What I can't find and I would like help with please is any evidence of Victor in the UK. (On his daughter's marriage certificate (Liverpool 1911)  the surname was spelt Levien). I also can't find a death record for Sarah. I know her daughter Flora (later Florie) married a David Lurie from Holyhead and Flora moved to Anglesey and she was certainly there up until 1950. Flora died in 1965 in London, presumably following her children there, her husband David having died in 1947 in Anglesey. So I did wonder whether Sarah may have moved to her daughter or even to London where her brother was for some time. Any suggestions much appreciated


--
Rachel Poole
UK

Searching: LEVIN/E- Belarus, UK, SILVER - UK, Russia/Poland, COHEN- - Latvia, UK, LYPSYZC/LIFSHITS/LYONS - Belarus, UK, USA
Why a 1911 Registry Office Wedding? #unitedkingdom #general

Rachel
 

1911 Registry Office Wedding - Why?

This partially relates to another of my posts today - but this focuses on the marriage of Flora Levin (Florie Levien)  and David Lurie in 1911.  I was really surprised' to see that they had been married in the Registry Office in Liverpool and that the line 'according to the rites and ceremonies of' had been crossed out. Flora's uncle was Rabbi Lewis Levin/e was in Liverpool at this time and his son Nathan Levine was a witness.  Nathan also became Rabbi or Rev. The second witness was also a wider family member. I could be wrong, but this suggests that it wasn't a registry office wedding because they had married out of faith. This family was known to disown anyone that did in later years. The bride is described as a spinster and the groom as Bachelor. I haven't been able to find a marriage authorisation either. Why would a marriage authorisation not be given? Could this be why it was a registry office wedding?
--
Rachel Poole
UK

Searching: LEVIN/E- Belarus, UK, SILVER - UK, Russia/Poland, COHEN- - Latvia, UK, LYPSYZC/LIFSHITS/LYONS - Belarus, UK, USA
Re: How to find UKRAINE birth and marriage records #ukraine #records #russia

Henry Carrey Boston,MA . Carey/Kirzhner/Berestyaner , Belous , Isenberg - Lutsk ; Postolov/Herman/Kolovsky-Zhitomir
 

HI! So far, I have not found any online records for my family in Zhitomir .  i have wanted to get my mother's "birth certificate" from May 26,1908 ( old style ) ( Leyke Zalmanovna Postalov ) or my grandparents marriage ( Postalov/G/Herman )  info from 1906/7 or any kind of city directory showing my GGF (Dovid H/Gersh H/German )  who had a grain store (?) or a record of his wife (Rivke Kolovsky (?)) who died sometime between 1908 and 1923 or any tax or census record which might show names of children to see if there was a brother Yudl . The only record I have is on the JG burial records where there is a photo of the gravestones of my great aunt and her husband ( Karmazin ) from recent times  which has an error in the Hebrew . None of the surviving Russian relatives have any ideas  about Yudl ; the only reference to a Yudl was a family photo from 1908 in which there is a modern-looking young man that my mother identified as Yudl who was supposed to have died in the army or a pogrom. . As far as I know the only way to get info is to contact some archivist in Ukraine . Is there anything online  for Zhitomir or the Lutsk area where I have even less info on my father's side ?
Thanks  
--
Henry H. Carrey
Re: 🍎🍯 Shana Tova from JewishGen!🍎🍯 #JewishGenUpdates

Paulo Abrahamsohn
 

L’Shana Tova to Avraham and to all JewishGeners. And a warm thanks for helping me with data during my searches.

Paulo Abrahamsohn. Sao Paulo. Brazil
Re: LAKOBOVIC or JAKOBOVIC? #names #russia #ukraine

paulkozo@...
 

OEFF  - perhaps consider IOFE and variants.
--
Paul Hattori
London UK

SHADUR, SADUR, SHADER, SADER, CHADOUR, SADOUR, SHADOUR,  SZADUR from Salakas, Lithuania
MINDEL, MINDELL from Utena and Vyzuonos, Lithuania
FELLER from Pabrade, Lithuania
Local History - CJH Genealogy Coffee Break shout-out #usa #records #names

Lee Jaffe
 

I would like to give a big shout-out to Center for Jewish History's weekly Genealogy Coffee Break series and in particular last week's session which lead to a big break-through in my family tree research.

Maybe the strategies and tools suggested in this program (you can see the recording at the above link)  might be second-nature to more experienced researchers, but it really got me to explore areas I hadn't considered before.   Specifically, following their suggestions I discovered that my grandfather's hometown newspaper (The Perth Amboy Evening News) has been digitized by Rutgers U. and is available to search and view through the Library of Congress's Chronicling America project (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/).  The search tools are quite good and it turned out that my great-grandparents and my grandfather and his siblings were very active in various social and political (and legal) arenas, enough to get mentioned often in these pages.  For papers of that time, "Mr. Joseph Schwartz motored to Princeton yesterday" was newsworthy.  Lucky me.  

There were a lot of meaningful items retrieved through a series of searches:  my grandparents' wedding announcement, my great-grandfather's run for election as alderman (Socialist Party) and his death announcement, a front page item detailing my great-uncle's arrest for grand larceny at the age of 14, and a letter commending the same great-uncle for meritorious service in France during WWI. I even found an item describing a boating party of young people listing my still-unmarried grandmother and grandfather in attendance.  

More curious were some of the more oblique references.  One of these included a description of the will of a recently deceased businessman, mentioning my great-grandfather as a trustee and brother-in-law, a family connection that was news to me.  There were a couple of social events attended my great-grandparents and a number of Weinblatts, which I believed was my great-grandmother's maiden name, but I had no documentation nor information about her family.

Refining my searches, I found my Rosetta Stone: a death announcement for the wife of the above-mentioned businessman, detailing her surviving family, including her husband, children, father, and six Weinblatt siblings, one of whom was my great-grandmother.  In two paragraphs, I added ten family members, including my 2x great-grandfather. 
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85035720/1918-03-20/ed-2/seq-4/
True, it took several days of digging, reviewing more than 100 items retrieved through different search attempts.  There were a more than a few false leads, such as two Leo Schwartzes, one a city health commissioner and president of a local synagogue, when the Leo Schwartz who is my grandfather was still in knee pants.  
 
I mention this experience for several reasons.  First, I want to recommend the Center for Jewish History's weekly Genealogy Coffee Breaks.  Though they seem aimed mostly at the beginner, even an experienced researcher can learn something new.  I've been looking for these people for more than 20 years and the other approaches I tried haven't worked.  Finally, a caveat, that this particular strategy won't work for everyone: not every town has a newspaper (or archive) that's searchable online and, even for those that do, finding an item like the one I discovered has to be a rare event.  But it's still worth "thinking laterally" – going around brick walls when you haven't been able to break through them.  

Shana Tova,

Lee Jaffe
SCHWARTZ – JOROFF – WEINBLATT - KOSHKIN
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
USCIS Genealogy Program Questions #records #usa

Aaron Slotnik
 

Hello Fellow Genners,

Prior to the previous increase in USCIS genealogy program fees nearly 4 years ago, I submitted a number of requests at that time.  With the dramatic increase in USCIS genealogy program fees looming, I reviewed the results of those requests to see if there was anything outstanding or follow ups that I wanted to try to resolve.  As a result of that review, I have the following questions for the group:

  1. I submitted an index search request for my great-grandmother.  The response I received was "that the Alien Registration Form (AR-2) is the only file available for purchase from the USCIS Genealogy Program; no A-File exists".  This was consistent with my expectations; however, I subsequently found that she traveled back to Europe with my teenage grandmother to visit family.  This surprising realization was the result of finding their return passenger manifest by chance (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G54W-NC7?i=721&cc=1923888&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A24FK-YF9).  That manifest indicates that a visa was issued to her in Warsaw to enable her to return.  Should I resubmit a new index search request with this new information in hopes that the visa application file will be found?
  2. I submitted a request for my grandfather's derivative citizenship replacement file, but received a response that the file "had been lost and/or misplaced".  He gained citizenship as a child through his father's naturalization in 1920.  I have his physical naturalization certificate from 1947 and used that number to make the request, but am hoping that the full file may have some additional information such as his birth record from Europe.  Should I resubmit the same request in hopes that it is found?

Shana Tova,
Aaron Slotnik
Chicago, IL
1869 Hungarian Census #hungary #translation

Shana Millstein
 

I am trying to decipher the handwriting used in the 1869 Hungarian census. It doesn't seem to fall into any one specific type of script. In the entries I am trying to figure out some letters look like Kurrent, some like Roman cursive, and some unlike anything I am familiar with.  I am struggling with making sense on a number of entries that would really help me in my family research. Can anyone enlighten me, help me decipher the segments I am most interested in? I have uploaded them to Viewmate.  Thank you for any advice, leads. So far, my best guess is that the entires of my interest are in Roman script with some letters (like k) in Kurrent and some I cannot make out. 
Shana Millstein #66829
San Francisco area
Re: Agricultural colony of Zhankoye #russia

Alan Shuchat
 

Here's an old video of Pete Seeger singing about Zhankoye in Yiddish: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0W4L4X7j3U
There's an English translation at https://lyrics.fandom.com/wiki/The_Klezmatics:Dzhankoye/en, and I've attached a map showing where Zhankoye is in Crimea.
--
Alan Shuchat
Newton, MA
Seeking photo of grandfather's shop, Vienna #austria-czech

Selma Sheridan
 

In the 1930s, my grandfather, Israel SIGAL, had a small textile shop with his name on the front, at Weyprechtgasse 3 in the 16th District / Ottakring.  The landlord was named Kretschmer.  Although the shop was vandalized and looted, the building survived the wartime bombing and presently holds a physician's office.  Would photos exist of the 1930s storefront before the atrocities began, in city archives or elsewhere?  Any positive suggestions would be much appreciated.  Many thanks!
Selma Sheridan
Oswego NY
Re: LAKOBOVIC or JAKOBOVIC? #names #russia #ukraine

Sherri Bobish
 


Toby,

Try doing a soundex search at Ancestry or FamilySearch or the Ellis Island Database at www.stevemorse.org

You will get hits with alternative spellings, i.e. Lakubovic, Lakabovicz, Lucobovitz, and others.

A soundex search of JAKOBOVIC on Ancestry shows people with that name that changed it to HILLMAN during naturalization.

Regards,

Sherri Bobish
Re: DNA results vs records #dna

Adam Turner
 

I make no judgment on whether your grandnephew and mother's assertions on your family's Latvian origins are correct - only more research can prove whether they are right. But there is nothing inconsistent with the following clues you've mentioned:

-if your mother/grandnephew are correct, your family likely immigrated from some part of present-day Latvia
-they were Jewish, but considered themselves "Prussian" in some cultural sense
-their immigration records, which may predate the establishment of Latvia as an independent country post-WWI, say they came from "Russia".
-your AncestryDNA ethnicity estimate may list your DNA as being a part of an ethnic Community that includes Germany, suggesting that they may have been part of a population that had lived somewhere well west of Latvia several hundred years ago.

To understand why all of these are very easily reconcilable with one another, you need to acquire some familiarity with Latvian history, and particularly the history of Jews in Latvia. This article from Professor Ruvin Ferber, posted a long time ago by the JewishGen Latvia SIG, seems like one useful starting point on the latter topic: https://www.jewishgen.org/latvia/historyOfLatvia.html

Adam Turner
Re: Zagradowka, Ukraine #ukraine #latinamerica

Sherri Bobish
 


Merrie,

I did read that Mennonite farmers settled in that area, and that Jewish farmers co-settled with German Mennonite families.

And, quoting from the website noted below:
"Zagradovka Colonies   The Zagradovka colonies were to the west of the Ingulez River on 60,000 acres.  The land was purchased by Leo V. Kochubey in 1871 for the purpose of establishing daughter colonies for the Molotschna Mennonites.  There were 16 colonies settled between 1872 and 1883.  Another colony to the north, Nikolaidorf, considered itself a part of the Zagradovka settlement except administratively.   It was sold in 1908 to Russians."

https://www.germansfromrussiasettlementlocations.org/p/maps.html

Regards,

Sherri Bobish
Re: How to find UKRAINE birth and marriage records #ukraine #records #russia

David Mason
 

Has anyone checked with the district civil registry (РАЦС = RATS in Ukrainian; ЗАГС = ZAGS in Russian)?  Ostroh is the administrative center of its district, so the civil registry for the whole district would be there.   Looks like their phone is +380 (3654) 2-30-92.  Email: vcs@... 

 

Phone calls should probably be done by someone fluent in Russian or Ukrainian, but emailing in English might actually work.  Chances are reasonably good that someone in the registry knows English, or they can recruit someone to translate.

 

-David Mason, Los Angeles
4341 - 4360 of 654737  
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