A number of our GUREVITCH family came from the Kiev region c 1900 to England and some onwards to Canada.  By rail to Riga, Latvia, thence boat to Hull, rail to Liverpool via Leeds and Halifax.
From Liverpool to Ireland (Dublin or Belfast) could be your final route.
Dennis Flavell, Cambridgeshire.

Hello, my great grandfather was Solomon Gertzovsky.

I have some documents that someone translated for me - 

 

“Looks like draft documents for Zalman Movshovich Gertzovskiy. He was drafted 1898 age 24. He resided in shtetl Dyatlovo in Slonim region Grodno municipality.”

 He married Leah and they had 4 kids including my grandmother. 

One of their children died age 16 and in the burial record it mentions he is mourned by Solomon and Leba. Not Leah. But on their own burial records she is listed as Leah.

Not sure if this is intentional or a mistake. 

Im not sure exactly when my Solomon (Zalman) married Leah and if it was before emigrating to London.

Also I am confused why his surname is Movshovich Gertsovsky on the document but went by Gertsovsky only once in London? Can anyone explain?

I would love to find out more about Leah and if her name was also Luba and what her maiden name was and where she came from. Any ideas how I can find out?

One more mystery. I have photos of a Jack Miller who is a half brother to Simon Gertzovsky - the child who died age 16 and is buried in Edmonton, London.

I have no idea who he is and how he came to be half brothers. He is alot older than Simon by the photos. 

I assume if his surname is Miller he was perhaps a child of Leah?? 

I have two photos of Jack Miller in New York and then a photo of Jack with Simon in London. My family lived in London.

So how can I track down where Jack fits in, and who his parents were?

I did try looking on the US federal census for 1920 but i have no real idea which Jack Miller is listed.

Many thanks for any advice!
Emma Field great grand daughter of Solomon Gertzovsky, UK

My family has always said that my great-grandmother (born 1870 in Borisov) was named Kuna.  I had long doubted that that was her "real" given name but recently discovered one of her travel documents (she came to the US, through Latvia, in 1923) and the US consulate in Riga entered her name on a receipt as "Kouna."  I've poked around and have been unable to find out much about the name.  Can anyone tell me (1) whether it would be a Yiddish (or other) name and (2) whether it is likely to have been her given name?  Many thanks in advance.

David Gordon
Evanston, IL
HORWITZ (Lapichi and Smolevichi, Belarus); GIBALOVITCH (Borisov); GORDON (Butrimonys); HURWITZ (Gomel)

Hi all
I have also used the Berthold Rosenthal documents available online from the Leo Baeck Institute. I have also noticed this document available from Family Search which looks like it could be a copy of the microfilm held in the Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe. David, could you confirm ?
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS63-VS6B-7?i=25&cat=486426

Unfortunately the document is hard to use because of the way it is assembled. First, all left pages, then all right pages.

Also, I read on one of the old Jewish Gen forums that there were two documents : one in 1809 and one in 1815 and that Berthold Rosenthal only copied the 1809.

Best Regards
Daniel Mayer

The Botosani research team has acquired and indexed all available records for Botosani and many other locations in the area. 
You can contact me privately, or join our group on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1465078043774333

Sorin Goldenberg
Israel

Jake - Alex Krakovsky has the following posted on his wiki page - here are the links:   

Ekaterinoslav County [ ed. ]

• Metric books of the Jews of Katerynoslav. // ДАДнО. F. 193. Op. 3.

• List of Jewish voters in Katerynoslav and Katerynoslav County to the 4th State Duma. 1912 // DADpO .

Ekaterinopolya

Auditory tales of local peasants of Zvenigorod county

1811

280-2-254

--

Katerinopil	The auditory fairy tale of the Jews of the town of Katerinopol.	1806	280-174d-226
Katerinopil	Auditory tales of Jews of Zvenigorod county	1816	455-2-2
Katerinopol	Metric book of the synagogue of the town of Katerinopol. 1854. Divorce  // CDIAC. F. 1166. Op. 1. Ref. 5.		1166-1-5
Katerinopol	Auditory of the Jews of the town of Katerinopol. 1795, 1806  // DAKO. F. 280. Op. 174 (add). Ref. 236		280-174-236
Katerynopil	A fairy tale of Jewish merchants and burghers of Zvenigorod district. 1858  // DAKO. F. 280. Op. 2. Ref. 1382	1858	280-2-1382
Katerynopil	Additional auditory fairy tale of the burghers of the Jews of Uman, Zvenigorod, Chyhyryn and Cherkasy counties. 1818  // DAKO. F. 280. Op. 2. Ref. 381.	1818	280-2-381
Katerynopil	Auditory tales of Christians and Jews of Zvenigorod county. 1834  // DAKO. F. 280. Op. 2. Ref. 572.	1834	280-2-572
Katerynopil, others	Family lists of Jews of the Katerynopil Jewish Society and neighboring villages, subject to regular recruitment. 1862  // DAKO. F. 280. Op. 164. Ref. 1134	1862	280-164-1134
Katerynopol	Census of Jews in the town of Katerynopol Zvenigorod county. 1875 // DAKO. F. 12. Op. 3. Ref. 612.		12-3-612
Katerynopol	Census of Jews Katerynopil and Petrykivskys of Zvenigorod county. 1875 // DAKO. F. 12. Op. 3. Ref. 614.		12-3-614

Several years ago, Miriam Weiner did extensive research into the archives of Eastern Europe, documenting what records were existant in the various archives.  Her database is publicly available at https://rtrfoundation.org/ . She does include holdings for DNEPROPETROVSK.  The direct URL to that list is at https://rtrfoundation.org/results.php?townName=DNEPROPETROVSK&testing=0 .

It is my understanding that those records have not been scanned by the Family History Library (Mormons) and are not indexed, one must hire a researcher onsite.  (If I'm wrong, I'd love to know it!)

Records for some nearby cities may be within the FHL holdings - I found the 1887 Pavlograd marriage record for my great-grandparents.

As a side note, a few years ago, Ekaterinoslav > Dnepropetrovsk is now officially known as "Dnipro."  https://www.unian.info/politics/1349664-dnipropetrovsk-renamed-dnipro.html

Hilary Henkin

Researching:
Mogilev - BERLIN;  BELIISKI;  HENKIN - GENKIN;  MESCENIKOV;  POZ - POZE
Ekaterinoslav - KATZ; LAPIDUS;  LAVROTIN - LAVRUTIN - AVRUTIN;  PESACHINSKY; SHIMERNITSKY - SEMERNITSKY;  STEINHART
Roumania:  DONNENFIELD;  DOLLINGER;  RINCOVER - HARINCOVER;  WISENTHAL - VIESENTAUL
Harbin, China:  FELDMAN;  PENZNER;  SREBERK - SCHRIEBER;
Lublin, Poland:  KATZ;  JARMUSZ

Looking for records of family members in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipropetrovs'ka), Ukraine.  Does anyone know if there are any records from the 19th century, and where I might find them?  Thank you!

Diane Jacobs
Austin, Texas

Contact Ladislau Gyemant at gyemantld@... He lives in Cluj. He is a professor and professional genealogical researcher.

Gary Mokotoff

does anyone know when the new JRI website is going live?  I thought it was supposed to roll out in december.
thanks
relly coleman

Would anybody know if ships records contained the children travelling with them too? 

thanks in advance
mandy molava

Can anyone take photo of Fanny Baumgarten stone who was buried 18 Oct 1897 in Vienna central cemetery for payment of money?-
Section T1 Group: 50 Row 41 grave:64. Her maiden name was Feige or Fanny Indianer born Jaaroslaw, Poland.

Mark Roseman

Any coonection to INDIANER, my family from Jaroslaw? Who can we get to invntory stones?-
Mark Roseman

Hi Diane,

I found on google contact information:

Державний архів Дніпропетровської області

Hi from Paris,
I have been often in New York for my researches at :
Center for Jewish History https://www.cjh.org/
Yivo  https://www.yivo.org/
and I know they detain archives on Yiddish theater, in Europe and in America, specially New York.
Khavershaft
Bernard Flam
Archives & History at Medem Center - Arbeter Ring (Bund / Workmen Circle of France)

Gail H. Marcus:

One of the librarians at the New York Public Library Dorot Jewish Division (who I got to know in the 10 years (before March of this year) that I regularly spent time reading material there) -- a lady named Amanda (she also goes by Miryem-Khaye) Seigel -- is a devoted Yiddishist and is interested in the history of Yiddish-language theater (and -- in fact -- has sung and acted in Yiddish); she might be able to track down information about the Bronx Art Theater (or know sources already).

The Dorot Jewish Division can be reached (librarians -- at least in September when I last sent email to them -- can be reached by email, even though the old NYPL main building is closed to the public) via dorotjewish@.... (I hope that it is OK to include that email address -- and the one I will be giving below).

(A page on Amanda/Miryem-Khaye Seigel -- with a link to her website -- may be found here: https://web.uwm.edu/yiddish-stage/author/amanda-miryem-khaye-siegel .

(I wish you Good Luck, too.)

Ethan Kent
New York City
ewkent@... .

A LATVIAN CHANUKAH PRESENT - DAY 3

The Latvian Jew Who Composed the Lyrics for “Hava Nagila”

by Ann Rabinowitz 

 

In memory of my great uncle Max Hillman, who was born in Bauska, Latvia, and who started me on my genealogical research, which is so long ago now, I am posting a piece about Latvia every day throughout Chanukah. The posts will be about people, events, and daily life. These posts can also be viewed on the JewishGen Blog at: https://www.jewishgen.org/Blog/

 

One of the new facts about Latvian Jews that I learned in my research in the Historical Jewish Press website was from the article in The Palestine Post, Sunday, August 21, 1938, Page 2, which featured the obit of Abraham Zvi Idelsohn. There were approximately 115-120 references to him on the site.

 

He was born on July 14,1882, in Feliksberg (now Jurkalne), Latvia, and died on August 14, 1938, in Johannesburg, South Africa. A talented ethnologist and musicologist, he was known as a modern Jewish music pioneer and one of the primary individuals who brought Oriental Jewish music to the notice of the Jewish and general public.

 

Idelsohn spent his formative years in Leipsig, Koenigsberg, and Berlin, and then went to Johannesburg, South Africa, before his productive stay in Palestine from 1905 to 1922. He then took a position at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1922 and then settled in America in 1932.

 

He felt that “the key to Jewish unity and survival lies in Jewish music” and he did his best to promote that music in his studies and creations. His most famous accomplishment was the lyrics for “Hava Nagila” which was published in 1922. This song has become the favorite of the modern Jewish music repertoire and is known the world over. One can even hear it sung at athletic events such as England’s Tottenham Hotspurs games. 

 

In addition to “Hava Nagila”, it was Idelsohn, and his compatriot Eduard Birnbaum, who identified the melody of Chanukah’s traditional prayer, “Ma-oz Tzur”, as being related to a group of Protestant chorales and a German soldiers’ song.

 

To learn more details about Idelsohn and his career, check out the following site:

http://www.seligman.org.il/joffe_AZIdelsohn.html

 

--
Nancy Siegel
Director of Communications
JewishGen.org
(San Francisco, California)
nsiegel@...

I have done some searching, with no luck. I may not have tried hard enough--I seem to get undone when it comes to the difference between the way I know a name is pronounced, and the way it's spelled. This may simply be a matter of getting better with experience. But I did hope there would be information not in databases available to researchers like JewishGen.

Then there's the mixed messages I've received regarding one person who was said to be from Harlau but also said she was from Betashan (Botosani, I believe). She left Romania as a child, with her family, in 1888. Some of her aunts and uncles emigrated to Canada, Israel, or not at all.

Sincerely,
Marcia Segal

A cousin passed on to me a matchmaker's postcard ca. 1910 of my grandfather in front of his Newark, NJ grocery. Does anyone have any information on these postcards?

Barbara Krasner
Somerset, NJ
Searching Krasner, Zuckerkandel, Dvorkin, Seife, Pryzant, Entel, Drewno, Donsky