I noticed a similar acrostic on my grandfather's stone at a cemetery near
Chicago. Reading >from the top, it has the letters spelling his Hebrew name,
"Chanoch". followed by the Hebrew letters, Heh, Ayin, Nun, Yud, Chaf, which I would
spell, "Henich". I remember that his yiddish name as "Henach", so I presume
that the second word is a form of Yiddish kinnui of his Hebrew name. He was a
"Galitzianer" >from Kuty.

Harold J. Heyman
Glenview, IL

I noticed a similar acrostic on my grandfather's stone at a cemetery near
Chicago. Reading >from the top, it has the letters spelling his Hebrew name,
"Chanoch". followed by the Hebrew letters, Heh, Ayin, Nun, Yud, Chaf, which I would
spell, "Henich". I remember that his yiddish name as "Henach", so I presume
that the second word is a form of Yiddish kinnui of his Hebrew name. He was a
"Galitzianer" >from Kuty.

Harold J. Heyman
Glenview, IL

Dear Joel et al,

Thanks for giving some of your holiday time to lecture
the various groups here in Israel.

I must just publically put on record that I was not at
all active in the coordination of the IGS meeting -
just a happy participant.

Regards
Angie Elfassi
Yehud, Israel

Subject: Lithuanian Vital Records Indexing Project -
Summer Update
From: "Joel Ratner" <Joelrat1@...>
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 10:13:09 -0400
X-Message-Number: 2

We just came back >from Israel and had a wonderful
time. While we were there,I was able to give vital
records lectures to the Israel Genealogical Society
[IGS], the Jewish Family Research Association [JFRA,
Ra'anana] as well as participate in a discussion of
the vital records via the all-Hebrew language
online forum "Shorashim Mishpachatayim".

Thanks go to those who invited me to participate and
who coordinated the efforts of these groups.

Arnon Hershkovitz, Roni Golan and Chana Gonen -
Online Forum

Angie Elfassi, Martha Lev-Zion and Rose Feldman - IGS,
Tel Aviv

Ingrid Rockberger - coordinated efforts for JFRA

Lou Zetler - Galilee Genealogical Society

I also had the privilege of meeting Chaim Luria. Chaim
took on the challenge of raising the necessary funds
to have the vital records for Pumpenai
translated. In only one month, he succeeded in raising
sufficient funds. The result of his effort has enabled
these records to go into translation
at the end of last month. I hope to be able to
announce in the late fall these records have been
translated.

The purpose of relating the above story is to
encourage anyone who is interested in seeing the vital
records for their shtetl translated to consider
becoming a Shtetl coordinator. I am not looking for
professional fundraisers here, but rather, individuals
who are interested in seeing the
records translated and who would consider contacting
the bulk of the researchers for their town, asking
they contribute to the Vital Records Indexing Project.
Shtetl coordinators also serve to proof the
translations.

There are no language skills necessary to proof the
records, since the proofing is to assure consistent
format. If you are interested in considering such a
role, I would suggest contacting Chaim Luria. Chaim
has offered to explain the role he took on, as well as
to provide tips on what techniques he found
successful. Chaim can be reached at
chaim@... When the translations for
Pumpenai are received, Chaim will be proofing them as
well.

Status of Vital Records Indexing Project translations
by town Birzai - some records translated earlier this
year. Contact Michael Witkin at michael@... .
Michael has not reported any further information for
several months.

Moletai - birth records translated and distributed to
qualifying donors
Keidan - birth records translated and distributed to
qualifying donors; translation and fundraising
continue; contact Olga Zabludoff at oz@...
for information.

Pumpenai - records submitted for translation; contact
Chaim Luria at chaim@... for
information.

Raseiniai - records submitted for translation

Shirvint - records submitted for translation; contact
Tova Jaffe at tovaj@... for information.

Vilna - preparing 5 years worth of records for sending
to translator.

Other towns

Vilkija - Three more qualifying donors are required to
bring the total up to the threshold where we can begin
translations. Please contact Dr. Marc Berger at
BergGyn@... for information.

Mikaliskis - Three more qualifying donors are required
to begin translations.

Kovno - Three more qualifying donors are required to
begin translations.

Viliampole - Three more qualifying donors are required
to begin translations.

Telsh - Three more qualifying donors are required to
begin translations.

The list goes on, with most of the remaining towns
requiring $300 - $500 to allow translations to begin.
This is an arbitrary threshold set up to make
our efforts worthwhile. The total required varies by
town and far exceeds the numbers above. There are
somewhere between 500,000 - 800,000 vital records in
the entire project. If you are researching family in
Lithuania, please consider donating to the VRI project
to unlock the information contained in the records.

The full list of towns with vital records can be found
at
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/FHLC/VilnaMicrofilmsIndex.htm


Joel Ratner
Coordinator, Vilna District Research Group

Dear Joel et al,

Thanks for giving some of your holiday time to lecture
the various groups here in Israel.

I must just publically put on record that I was not at
all active in the coordination of the IGS meeting -
just a happy participant.

Regards
Angie Elfassi
Yehud, Israel

Subject: Lithuanian Vital Records Indexing Project -
Summer Update
From: "Joel Ratner" <Joelrat1@...>
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 10:13:09 -0400
X-Message-Number: 2

We just came back >from Israel and had a wonderful
time. While we were there,I was able to give vital
records lectures to the Israel Genealogical Society
[IGS], the Jewish Family Research Association [JFRA,
Ra'anana] as well as participate in a discussion of
the vital records via the all-Hebrew language
online forum "Shorashim Mishpachatayim".

Thanks go to those who invited me to participate and
who coordinated the efforts of these groups.

Arnon Hershkovitz, Roni Golan and Chana Gonen -
Online Forum

Angie Elfassi, Martha Lev-Zion and Rose Feldman - IGS,
Tel Aviv

Ingrid Rockberger - coordinated efforts for JFRA

Lou Zetler - Galilee Genealogical Society

I also had the privilege of meeting Chaim Luria. Chaim
took on the challenge of raising the necessary funds
to have the vital records for Pumpenai
translated. In only one month, he succeeded in raising
sufficient funds. The result of his effort has enabled
these records to go into translation
at the end of last month. I hope to be able to
announce in the late fall these records have been
translated.

The purpose of relating the above story is to
encourage anyone who is interested in seeing the vital
records for their shtetl translated to consider
becoming a Shtetl coordinator. I am not looking for
professional fundraisers here, but rather, individuals
who are interested in seeing the
records translated and who would consider contacting
the bulk of the researchers for their town, asking
they contribute to the Vital Records Indexing Project.
Shtetl coordinators also serve to proof the
translations.

There are no language skills necessary to proof the
records, since the proofing is to assure consistent
format. If you are interested in considering such a
role, I would suggest contacting Chaim Luria. Chaim
has offered to explain the role he took on, as well as
to provide tips on what techniques he found
successful. Chaim can be reached at
chaim@... When the translations for
Pumpenai are received, Chaim will be proofing them as
well.

Status of Vital Records Indexing Project translations
by town Birzai - some records translated earlier this
year. Contact Michael Witkin at michael@... .
Michael has not reported any further information for
several months.

Moletai - birth records translated and distributed to
qualifying donors
Keidan - birth records translated and distributed to
qualifying donors; translation and fundraising
continue; contact Olga Zabludoff at oz@...
for information.

Pumpenai - records submitted for translation; contact
Chaim Luria at chaim@... for
information.

Raseiniai - records submitted for translation

Shirvint - records submitted for translation; contact
Tova Jaffe at tovaj@... for information.

Vilna - preparing 5 years worth of records for sending
to translator.

Other towns

Vilkija - Three more qualifying donors are required to
bring the total up to the threshold where we can begin
translations. Please contact Dr. Marc Berger at
BergGyn@... for information.

Mikaliskis - Three more qualifying donors are required
to begin translations.

Kovno - Three more qualifying donors are required to
begin translations.

Viliampole - Three more qualifying donors are required
to begin translations.

Telsh - Three more qualifying donors are required to
begin translations.

The list goes on, with most of the remaining towns
requiring $300 - $500 to allow translations to begin.
This is an arbitrary threshold set up to make
our efforts worthwhile. The total required varies by
town and far exceeds the numbers above. There are
somewhere between 500,000 - 800,000 vital records in
the entire project. If you are researching family in
Lithuania, please consider donating to the VRI project
to unlock the information contained in the records.

The full list of towns with vital records can be found
at
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/FHLC/VilnaMicrofilmsIndex.htm


Joel Ratner
Coordinator, Vilna District Research Group

Hello,
Regarding location of the town Pamusi, Lithuania--there are 3
possibilities on shtetl seeker (http://data.jewishgen.org) with the
Lithuanian spelling as Pamusiai. One is 39 miles WSW of Vilnius and the
other two are labelled I and II and are 29-30 miles NW of Vilnius. Best
regards.

Ann Buzaitis

Hello,
Regarding location of the town Pamusi, Lithuania--there are 3
possibilities on shtetl seeker (http://data.jewishgen.org) with the
Lithuanian spelling as Pamusiai. One is 39 miles WSW of Vilnius and the
other two are labelled I and II and are 29-30 miles NW of Vilnius. Best
regards.

Ann Buzaitis

Dear Fellow Researchers,

I recently came across a reference to a meeting of the
Palm Beach Jewish Genealogy Society in April 2003.

The presenters for that meeting were listed as Harry
and Rose SCHLACHTER and the title was "How we found
our Schlachter relatives in Golub Dobrzyn"

This represents for me the first "glimmer" that
someone else is interested in this family >from this
part of Germany/Poland/Russia.

I would dearly love to contact them because I have
made several trips to Salt Lake City and their films
of old Polish vital records in script! I suspect we
truly do have things to share.

My husband's grandfather was Wolf SCHLACHTER, b. 1840
and arrived in Northern CA before 1865.

Thanks for any help!

Ruth Rosenberg, researching ROSENBERG, SCHLACHTER,
SILBERSTEIN in the Golub-Dobrzyn, Rypin area.

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Please respond privately.

Dear Fellow Researchers,

I recently came across a reference to a meeting of the
Palm Beach Jewish Genealogy Society in April 2003.

The presenters for that meeting were listed as Harry
and Rose SCHLACHTER and the title was "How we found
our Schlachter relatives in Golub Dobrzyn"

This represents for me the first "glimmer" that
someone else is interested in this family >from this
part of Germany/Poland/Russia.

I would dearly love to contact them because I have
made several trips to Salt Lake City and their films
of old Polish vital records in script! I suspect we
truly do have things to share.

My husband's grandfather was Wolf SCHLACHTER, b. 1840
and arrived in Northern CA before 1865.

Thanks for any help!

Ruth Rosenberg, researching ROSENBERG, SCHLACHTER,
SILBERSTEIN in the Golub-Dobrzyn, Rypin area.

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Please respond privately.

I am computerizing the Mormon LDS films for Pilica, Poland. I know that
the Polish put endings such as owa and owna to designate Miss or Mrs. I just
came upon a surname with the ending zina. The surname is Paliwoda and was
written as Paliwodzina. What does zina mean?

Jackie Wasserstein
East Meadow, New York

I am computerizing the Mormon LDS films for Pilica, Poland. I know that
the Polish put endings such as owa and owna to designate Miss or Mrs. I just
came upon a surname with the ending zina. The surname is Paliwoda and was
written as Paliwodzina. What does zina mean?

Jackie Wasserstein
East Meadow, New York

Dear Ravsiggers

On the headstone of my ggfather Abraham BERGER (1838-1918), 'Hagodl
Hatoyre' is written between Pey Nun and his name. Does this phrase
have any special significance?

Regards

Charles Nydorf
New York

Dear Ravsiggers

On the headstone of my ggfather Abraham BERGER (1838-1918), 'Hagodl
Hatoyre' is written between Pey Nun and his name. Does this phrase
have any special significance?

Regards

Charles Nydorf
New York

Dear List:

I am looking for any information about my granddparents Louis (or Leon)
ROSENBLATT and Sophie

BERKOWITZ. They came >from Romania (possibly Iasi) in the late 1890s and
married (most likely in NYC) in 1901.

They may have lived in Canada in the early 1900s but they lived in NYC in
the 1910s.

Thank you,

Doris Wilson,

Rochester NY
MODERATOR NOTE:It would help if everyone would state where you have looked for
information and whether you have searched the JewishGen Family Finder and also
added your names to the JGFF

Dear List:

I am looking for any information about my granddparents Louis (or Leon)
ROSENBLATT and Sophie

BERKOWITZ. They came >from Romania (possibly Iasi) in the late 1890s and
married (most likely in NYC) in 1901.

They may have lived in Canada in the early 1900s but they lived in NYC in
the 1910s.

Thank you,

Doris Wilson,

Rochester NY
MODERATOR NOTE:It would help if everyone would state where you have looked for
information and whether you have searched the JewishGen Family Finder and also
added your names to the JGFF

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 15:02:53 UTC, gruenerg@... (Greg Gruener)
opined:

Hey Generz,

Does anyone have information on this family surname?

If so, I would love to hear >from you to compare
records.

Variations may also include: Punya or Puhnya etc...
(pronounced: "Puhn-Yah" according to my family
history)

Shalom!

~Greg Sampson-Gruener

I hesitate to ask: Where is your family from? "Pun-Yah" does not sound
like a surname that reasonably might be expected in any part of
Europe, East or West, with which I am familiar, nor does it resemble
any name >from North Africa, Turkey, or the Arab world that I know. But
those areas are but a small part of the globe.

Where did Pun-Yah live, if you know?

--
Stan Goodman, Qiryat Tiv'on, Israel

Searching:
NEACHOWICZ/NOACHOWICZ, NEJMAN/NAJMAN, SURALSKI: >from Lomza Gubernia
ISMACH: >from Lomza Gubernia, Galicia, and Ukraina
HERTANU, ABRAMOVICI, LAUER: >from Dorohoi District, Romania
GRISARU, VATARU: >from Iasi, Dorohoi, and Mileanca, Romania

See my interactive family tree (requires Java 1.1.6 or better). the
URL is: http://www.hashkedim.com

For reasons connected with anti-spam/junk security, the return address
is not valid. To communicate with me, please visit my website (see the
URL above -- no Java required for this purpose) and fill in the email form
there.

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 15:02:53 UTC, gruenerg@... (Greg Gruener)
opined:

Hey Generz,

Does anyone have information on this family surname?

If so, I would love to hear >from you to compare
records.

Variations may also include: Punya or Puhnya etc...
(pronounced: "Puhn-Yah" according to my family
history)

Shalom!

~Greg Sampson-Gruener

I hesitate to ask: Where is your family from? "Pun-Yah" does not sound
like a surname that reasonably might be expected in any part of
Europe, East or West, with which I am familiar, nor does it resemble
any name >from North Africa, Turkey, or the Arab world that I know. But
those areas are but a small part of the globe.

Where did Pun-Yah live, if you know?

--
Stan Goodman, Qiryat Tiv'on, Israel

Searching:
NEACHOWICZ/NOACHOWICZ, NEJMAN/NAJMAN, SURALSKI: >from Lomza Gubernia
ISMACH: >from Lomza Gubernia, Galicia, and Ukraina
HERTANU, ABRAMOVICI, LAUER: >from Dorohoi District, Romania
GRISARU, VATARU: >from Iasi, Dorohoi, and Mileanca, Romania

See my interactive family tree (requires Java 1.1.6 or better). the
URL is: http://www.hashkedim.com

For reasons connected with anti-spam/junk security, the return address
is not valid. To communicate with me, please visit my website (see the
URL above -- no Java required for this purpose) and fill in the email form
there.

Dear Alex,
There is an online database for the London Gazette, which published
legal notices, including deaths, probate, naturalizations, military
awards and promotions, business changes, etc. Go to
<http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveSearch.asp?WebType=0>. The
archives span 1900 - 1979, and the service is free.

The results are PDF, and can be printed or saved to your own
computer. The software does not highlight your search terms on the
page, so you'll have to review each result carefully.

If you find a record of interest, it may be possible to get a copy of
the certificate or file, depending on the date and data. Others here
will be able to offer assistance on that.

Good luck!

Hilary Henkin
Atlanta, Georgia

Researching:
Mogilev - BERLIN; BELIISKI; HENKIN - GENKIN; MESCENOKOV; POZ - POZE
Ekaterinoslav - KATZ; LAPIDUS; LAVROTIN - LAVRUTIN -
AVRUTIN; PESACHINSKY; SHIMERNITSKY; STEINHART
Roumania: DONNENFIELD; DOLLINGER; RINCOVER - HARINCOVER; WISENTHAL
Harbin, China: SREBERK - SCHRIEBER; LITEBSK; SCHON --

Dear Alex,
There is an online database for the London Gazette, which published
legal notices, including deaths, probate, naturalizations, military
awards and promotions, business changes, etc. Go to
<http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveSearch.asp?WebType=0>. The
archives span 1900 - 1979, and the service is free.

The results are PDF, and can be printed or saved to your own
computer. The software does not highlight your search terms on the
page, so you'll have to review each result carefully.

If you find a record of interest, it may be possible to get a copy of
the certificate or file, depending on the date and data. Others here
will be able to offer assistance on that.

Good luck!

Hilary Henkin
Atlanta, Georgia

Researching:
Mogilev - BERLIN; BELIISKI; HENKIN - GENKIN; MESCENOKOV; POZ - POZE
Ekaterinoslav - KATZ; LAPIDUS; LAVROTIN - LAVRUTIN -
AVRUTIN; PESACHINSKY; SHIMERNITSKY; STEINHART
Roumania: DONNENFIELD; DOLLINGER; RINCOVER - HARINCOVER; WISENTHAL
Harbin, China: SREBERK - SCHRIEBER; LITEBSK; SCHON --

Marc D. Machtinger wrote:
I would be grateful for any thoughts on the likelihood that my "Hersch"
would be the same as either or both of these "Hermans," or for any
suggestions for further research along these lines.

Dear Marc,
In the oldest documents (before 1787) the name of my gggggrandfather was
Herschel (ben/son of) Isaak. In later dated documents (after 1787) his name
was Herrmann Grab.

Hirsch/Hersch/Herschl/Herschel is the Jiddish form of the Hebrew name
Naphtali. In the range of the integration in the mainstream society Jewish
people changed in Middle Europe Jiddish names in similarly clinking German
names. For example Hirsch/Hersch/Herschl/Herschel in Hermann/Herrmann/Herman
or Mosche/Moische/Moises in Moritz etc.

Best Wishes
H. Grab

Marc D. Machtinger wrote:
I would be grateful for any thoughts on the likelihood that my "Hersch"
would be the same as either or both of these "Hermans," or for any
suggestions for further research along these lines.

Dear Marc,
In the oldest documents (before 1787) the name of my gggggrandfather was
Herschel (ben/son of) Isaak. In later dated documents (after 1787) his name
was Herrmann Grab.

Hirsch/Hersch/Herschl/Herschel is the Jiddish form of the Hebrew name
Naphtali. In the range of the integration in the mainstream society Jewish
people changed in Middle Europe Jiddish names in similarly clinking German
names. For example Hirsch/Hersch/Herschl/Herschel in Hermann/Herrmann/Herman
or Mosche/Moische/Moises in Moritz etc.

Best Wishes
H. Grab