From: "Beverly" <bbevy@...>

A friend of mine has been assured that the town "Bobrce" pictured in an
old postcard is the same as the "Bobrka" both she and I are interested
in. Although I am convinced that they are not one and the same town, I
cannot find "Bobrce" on any current map, nor is there anyone searching
that town on JewishGen or Gesher Galicia.

I have found one reference in English to the town on the internet by a
Polish genealogist who somewhat unclearly places the town near Krosno and
Zmigrod in Western Galicia. He quotes >from a translation of the
Polish "Slownik Geograficzny" published between 1880 and 1902.

If anyone has an old Gazeteer or detailed atlas, would you be so kind as
to look up "Bobrce", see if a town existed with that spelling, and help

us

clear up this mystery?

Many thanks in advance,

Beverly Shulster
bbevy@...
Yehud, Israel

Beverly,

Polish as the other Slavic and Baltic languages is using declensions. Seven
forms of Polish declensions are responsible for the changes that occur at
the word ends.

For example, in translation >from English "Town Bobrka" to Polish "Miasto
Bobrka", the Nominative declension is used and no change in word "Bobrka"
occurs.

But when translating >from English "Born in Bobrka" to Polish: "Urodzony w
Bobrce", the Genitive declension changes "Bobrka" to "Bobrce".

Similar changes occur in other town names declensions forms such as shown in
the examples below. Note the differences in the words ends:

Lwow-Lwowie,
Boryslaw-Boryslawiu,
Lomza-Lomzy,
Suwalki-Suwalkach,
Kolo-Kole

Poznan - Poznaniu
Gdansk-Gdansku
Sopot-Sopotach
Rawa Ruska-Rawie Ruskiej
Gora Kalwarii- Gorze Kalwarii.
........

Since ShtetlSeeker database or any other geographical references are using
Nominative declension form, the changes in the towns names suffices will not
occur.
Those changes on the other hand will be noticable in Polish or Russian
documents that describing places where birth or marriage events took the
place.

Hope this help,

Alexander Sharon
Calgary, Alberta

Dear Genners,
Has anyone heard of the 22nd Cavalary division which was stationed around or
near Zlochev in Galicia?
Thanks
Belinda Dishon Melb, Australia
bdishon@...

From: "Beverly" <bbevy@...>

A friend of mine has been assured that the town "Bobrce" pictured in an
old postcard is the same as the "Bobrka" both she and I are interested
in. Although I am convinced that they are not one and the same town, I
cannot find "Bobrce" on any current map, nor is there anyone searching
that town on JewishGen or Gesher Galicia.

I have found one reference in English to the town on the internet by a
Polish genealogist who somewhat unclearly places the town near Krosno and
Zmigrod in Western Galicia. He quotes >from a translation of the
Polish "Slownik Geograficzny" published between 1880 and 1902.

If anyone has an old Gazeteer or detailed atlas, would you be so kind as
to look up "Bobrce", see if a town existed with that spelling, and help

us

clear up this mystery?

Many thanks in advance,

Beverly Shulster
bbevy@...
Yehud, Israel

Beverly,

Polish as the other Slavic and Baltic languages is using declensions. Seven
forms of Polish declensions are responsible for the changes that occur at
the word ends.

For example, in translation >from English "Town Bobrka" to Polish "Miasto
Bobrka", the Nominative declension is used and no change in word "Bobrka"
occurs.

But when translating >from English "Born in Bobrka" to Polish: "Urodzony w
Bobrce", the Genitive declension changes "Bobrka" to "Bobrce".

Similar changes occur in other town names declensions forms such as shown in
the examples below. Note the differences in the words ends:

Lwow-Lwowie,
Boryslaw-Boryslawiu,
Lomza-Lomzy,
Suwalki-Suwalkach,
Kolo-Kole

Poznan - Poznaniu
Gdansk-Gdansku
Sopot-Sopotach
Rawa Ruska-Rawie Ruskiej
Gora Kalwarii- Gorze Kalwarii.
........

Since ShtetlSeeker database or any other geographical references are using
Nominative declension form, the changes in the towns names suffices will not
occur.
Those changes on the other hand will be noticable in Polish or Russian
documents that describing places where birth or marriage events took the
place.

Hope this help,

Alexander Sharon
Calgary, Alberta

Dear Genners,
Has anyone heard of the 22nd Cavalary division which was stationed around or
near Zlochev in Galicia?
Thanks
Belinda Dishon Melb, Australia
bdishon@...

We know only that my aunt was either a doctor or a pharmacist. I have photos of an aunt, alone, and one of my grandparents with a daughter. It is difficult to tell if this is the same person in the two photos, due to an age difference. They appear to be two different people to me. The photos were taken in Grodno and Wolkowysk. My grandparents were Samson and Alte Neome Ain LEAF (nee LIEBERMAN/LOW).

My dad was Samuel Isaiah LEAF, but the ship's manifest shows him to be Shaie LIEBERMAN. My uncle, Max LEAF, is shown on a manifest as Mendel LOW (with an umlat over the "o", name pronounced as LEV). I have been able to find Uncle Morris LIEBERMAN on a ship's manifest. I would like to be able to search the records of Swislowitz or medical schools in that area, possibly Bialystok, to see if a roster of students would reveal one of the mentioned surnames. I would be most appreciative of all suggestions of any direction I may take.

Please review these photos at ViewMate
http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/toview.html
The Files are - VM1153/54.

Please respond privately.

Thank you,
Rachelle Leaf Berliner
Savannah, GA
rlberliner@...
Searching: LEAF/LIEBERMAN/LOW/LEV >from Swislowitz

We know only that my aunt was either a doctor or a pharmacist. I have photos of an aunt, alone, and one of my grandparents with a daughter. It is difficult to tell if this is the same person in the two photos, due to an age difference. They appear to be two different people to me. The photos were taken in Grodno and Wolkowysk. My grandparents were Samson and Alte Neome Ain LEAF (nee LIEBERMAN/LOW).

My dad was Samuel Isaiah LEAF, but the ship's manifest shows him to be Shaie LIEBERMAN. My uncle, Max LEAF, is shown on a manifest as Mendel LOW (with an umlat over the "o", name pronounced as LEV). I have been able to find Uncle Morris LIEBERMAN on a ship's manifest. I would like to be able to search the records of Swislowitz or medical schools in that area, possibly Bialystok, to see if a roster of students would reveal one of the mentioned surnames. I would be most appreciative of all suggestions of any direction I may take.

Please review these photos at ViewMate
http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/toview.html
The Files are - VM1153/54.

Please respond privately.

Thank you,
Rachelle Leaf Berliner
Savannah, GA
rlberliner@...
Searching: LEAF/LIEBERMAN/LOW/LEV >from Swislowitz

If a name is put into the ALD and it comes up as being on a Hamaggid or
Prenumeranten list how can you find more information? Is this all that is
available is a name on a list?


AVA SWEENEY
Durham, NC

If a name is put into the ALD and it comes up as being on a Hamaggid or
Prenumeranten list how can you find more information? Is this all that is
available is a name on a list?


AVA SWEENEY
Durham, NC

I have some information that I am trying to follow up on and am wondering if anyone might have answers to some questions I am trying to find.

There is an article about Rabbi Abram SHERSHEVSKY in the Ozar Hatmunoth (one hundred and fifty portraits of famous orthadox rabbis of Israel and in the Who's Who in American Jewry. He was a realtive of mine.

1. In order to be listed in the Ozar Hatmunoth--would that indicate he spent time in ISRAEL?

2. He was born in BITTEN, RUSSIA (never found present day location ?
BITTHENEN, LITHUANIA?). Yeshivahs at BRISK, VOLOZIN and KOVNO. I know that
KOVNO is in LITHUANIA. Does anyone know where BRISK and VOLOZIN are
located?

3. It says he is the author of Nachal Avruham, Birchas Avruhum, Machnath
Avruhum. Can anyone translate what this means?

Thanks!

AVA SWEENEY
Durham, NC

I have some information that I am trying to follow up on and am wondering if anyone might have answers to some questions I am trying to find.

There is an article about Rabbi Abram SHERSHEVSKY in the Ozar Hatmunoth (one hundred and fifty portraits of famous orthadox rabbis of Israel and in the Who's Who in American Jewry. He was a realtive of mine.

1. In order to be listed in the Ozar Hatmunoth--would that indicate he spent time in ISRAEL?

2. He was born in BITTEN, RUSSIA (never found present day location ?
BITTHENEN, LITHUANIA?). Yeshivahs at BRISK, VOLOZIN and KOVNO. I know that
KOVNO is in LITHUANIA. Does anyone know where BRISK and VOLOZIN are
located?

3. It says he is the author of Nachal Avruham, Birchas Avruhum, Machnath
Avruhum. Can anyone translate what this means?

Thanks!

AVA SWEENEY
Durham, NC

At 15:12 12/28/01 -0800, Norman H. Carp-Gordon wrote:
> Has any of your heard of "Faya" as a nickname for Faivish (in a late
>18th century or later Polish record)?
>In Polish they were spelled Faja and Faywisz, respectively.

Yes, the Yiddish name Faya is a diminutive of the Yiddish name
Fayvish. You can check this yourself by visiting the Lithuania Given Names
Data Base web site at <http://www.jewishgen.org/litvak/srchlith.htm> . Use
the search-input name Fayv* or Faya with Text Search, or the search-input
name Fayvish with Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex. There are a number of linked
Yiddish names there, including Faya and Fayvesh.

Prof. G. L. Esterson, Ra'anana, Israel

At 15:12 12/28/01 -0800, Norman H. Carp-Gordon wrote:
> Has any of your heard of "Faya" as a nickname for Faivish (in a late
>18th century or later Polish record)?
>In Polish they were spelled Faja and Faywisz, respectively.

Yes, the Yiddish name Faya is a diminutive of the Yiddish name
Fayvish. You can check this yourself by visiting the Lithuania Given Names
Data Base web site at <http://www.jewishgen.org/litvak/srchlith.htm> . Use
the search-input name Fayv* or Faya with Text Search, or the search-input
name Fayvish with Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex. There are a number of linked
Yiddish names there, including Faya and Fayvesh.

Prof. G. L. Esterson, Ra'anana, Israel

I'm very very glad to announce you that the FIRST genealogy forum
in Israel (hebrew is the main language) is opened to the use of all of
you!!!

Its address (in "Tapuz") is:
http://www.tapuz.co.il/tapuzforum/main/forumpage.asp?id=3D325

It can be done in English too.

C U There,
Dedi Hatam

I'm very very glad to announce you that the FIRST genealogy forum
in Israel (hebrew is the main language) is opened to the use of all of
you!!!

Its address (in "Tapuz") is:
http://www.tapuz.co.il/tapuzforum/main/forumpage.asp?id=3D325

It can be done in English too.

C U There,
Dedi Hatam

Hello,

Is there a way to find the Brooklyn enumeration district number (for
the 1910, 1920 censuses) given a Brooklyn address?

Many thanks,
Bernie Hirsch Dallas, Texas USA

To those on the Baron de Hirsh colonies hunt: I am
wondering if we shouldn't also look at the activities
of Moses Montefiore, perhaps in conjunction with Baron
de Hirsh. In my materials on the Painted Woods
Wechshler colony, I found a newspaper clipping about
the colony being assisted by Moses Montiefore "leader
and benefactor of an aid society (HIAS?) which sought
to locate Jewish refugees >from southern Russia on the
land"....Hebrew Immigrant aid society sent 22 families
(including mine). There is still a school district in
North Dakota named Montefiore, according to the
article. (The Minot, ND Daily News. Dec 14, 1968)

Dorothy Dellar Kohanski
Laguna Woods, CA

I just broke down a huge brick wall in my FRIEDMAN branch, so I thought
I'd share my story with everyone. I am also curious if anyone can help
with a new surname that I have. The story is a bit long, so if you don't
care to read it (though you might learn something), scroll to the last few
paragraphs for info about the surname.

Some of you may remember that I posted not too long ago about my FRIEDMAN
family, asking about orphanages and about a potential birth record for my
paternal grandfather. I was at almost square one with this branch because
I never knew any of my grandfather's siblings.. not even their names. I
did know their parents names though.

Over the summer, I had found what I believed to be the 1920 census record
for my grandfather's family. The things that led me to believe it was the
correct record were: 1) correct age for my grandfather; 2) correct name
for his father; 3) ggf's wife was listed as a 2nd wife and I knew my
grandfather's natural mother had died when he was young; 4) I knew my
grandfather had a brother named Morris and this name was listed; 5) my
mother remembered a sister named Gussie, also listed. So far, so good.

Then the NYC index for the 1910 census came out a couple months ago and I
had a bit of fun looking up the *many* Jacob FRIEDMAN (ggf) records,
finally finding a record that matched the 1920 record, sans the youngest
two children who weren't born yet. I still wasn't 100% that these were
the correct records, but so far they matched the things that I did know.

I also found a birth record that appeared to be the oldest child, who was
a year older than my grandfather. Unfortunately, for the mother's maiden
name, her married name was listed.. or so I thought (more on this later).

My father is gone, his brother is gone and their parents are gone. The
only "older" person whose brain I could pick was my mother's, who only
knew a few of my father's relatives. She couldn't remember many names
though and couldn't remember married names of any of my gf's sisters. My
grandfather had one brother who was 6 years younger than him.

This week, I called the Social Security Administration to get some advice
on sending away for the brother's SS-5. I only knew an approximate year
of birth, his parents names and that the SSN most likely would have been
issued in NY. The person I spoke to was very helpful, taking my
information to determine if my request could be handled by them.
Unfortunately though, he said the request would probably be denied because
there were just too many Morris FRIEDMAN records to look through (they'll
look through maybe 15 records if you send a request without an SSN). He
said I could try if I wanted to, but he recommended against it. I decided
to save my $29 for now.

As I mentioned, my father had a brother. My uncle had two children...
these cousins were the only remaining ties that I had to this family.
Our fathers had kept us all in contact when we were younger. My father
and my uncle died a few years apart and at the time, my cousins and I
hadn't yet learned to keep ourselves in contact. We were also on
different coasts all our lives, so we weren't very close in the first
place. Being an adult now, plus doing all this genealogy, I finally
decided it was long past due to re-initiate contact... took me a while,
but I finally tracked them down recently. I spoke to their mother first
and during the conversation, she told me that my uncle had kept in contact
with some relatives near where they lived, but she couldn't remember their
names. Then today, I finally had a chance to talk to my cousin for a
while and asked if he had any idea what relatives his father kept in
contact with. He pulled out his phone book and gave me several names and
phone numbers! He wasn't 100% sure how they were related though.

So... I hung up with my cousin and called one of the people. She was an
older woman, so I figured maybe I'd be lucky and she would be a younger
cousin of my grandfather's. After a few minutes of explaining who I was
and that I was apparently related to her, she proceeds to tell me that my
uncle (and father) was her nephew and that my grandfather was her brother!

I was dumbfounded. I never imagined that there were younger siblings who
might still be living. I was just hoping to eventually contact
descendents of some siblings! This was much more than I was hoping for.

My new-found great-aunt was not on the census records that I have, so I
didn't have a clue that she existed. I found out that she was born in
late 1920, so that's why she wasn't on the 1920 census, which was taken in
January. There's also an even younger sister! These two sisters are my
grandfather's half-sisters, born >from my ggf's second wife. I read the
info >from the two census records and my great-aunt confirmed that I had
found the right ones. I also told her about the birth record for her
oldest sister and she again confirmed that it was the right one.
Remember I mentioned something about the mother's maiden name on the birth
cert earlier... well according to my great-aunt, the mother's maiden name
was FRIEDMAN as well! Very enlightening, yet very frustrating. I was
hoping for a maiden name that would be easier to research!

So my great-aunt was very happy to hear >from me and I'm sure you can
imagine that I was thrilled to get in contact with someone else in my
grandfather's family! I had a very nice conversation with her for more
than an hour. She gave me a ton of information, but it's still only a
fraction of the information that I need to fill in the family tree.
After all, my grandfather was one of 7 children! I also found out that my
ggf was one of 7 children... not surprising in the least. So I now have
my work cut out for me. Apparently my ggf arrived in the very early 1890s
with all his siblings and his parents, so I should be able to find the
family in the 1900 census. Only thing is that I still don't know my ggf's
father's name.. my great-aunt couldn't remember it. So first I need to
find my ggf's marriage and death certificates (I was already starting to
work on this, but my FHC has been closed for the holidays), which will
hopefully yield the correct info. My other option is his gravestone,
since my great-aunt was able to tell me where he's buried.

So by now you're wondering what this all has to do with the surname in the
subject of my message! Well according to my great-aunt, the original
surname was pronounced something like KIM-YA-TIK -- this is what she
remembers >from her childhood. She also said the family was >from Poland
and she thinks the town may have been Katowice. So I plugged "KIMYATEK"
into the JRI-PL search engine and came up with some variations via D-M
soundex. One common one is KMIOTEK, another is GNATEK. The first one
seems to be a very likely possibility for the original surname, though the
second one is possible too. The birth record results that came up don't
appear to match my ggf and his siblings' first names though (I know the
names won't exactly match, but with 7 children at least a few should be
recognizable), but at least this is something to go on. Maybe these are
children of my gggf's brothers, whose names I don't know yet.

There's a bit more to the story. My gggf arrived in the US with his
entire family. They also travelled on the same ship as one or more of his
siblings. When they got off the ship, my gggf's family and his siblings
were separated by other passengers. The Ellis Island officials gave my
gggf's family the surname FRIEDMAN, while later, not knowing they were
related, they gave his siblings the surname LEWIS. Of course we've all
been told many times that the "Ellis Island officials changed our names"
story is just a myth, but I didn't have the heart to tell that to my
great-aunt! Still, I wonder how exactly the different surnames came
about.

What I need to do now is see if I can corroborate at least part of the
story. It'll be interesting to see if they were really all on the same
ship. Since they may have arrived before 1892, I have my work cut out for
me at NARA. I'm also going to try the naturalization route, probably
first. And of course I plan to call my great-aunt again after I have some
time to digest all the info that she gave me today. I certainly have
plenty of work ahead of me for this branch of my family now!

Whoever made it this far, thanks for listening! I hope my story can help
others break down some of their brick walls. The basic moral of the story
is to leave no stone unturned. Have distant cousins or even first cousins
that you haven't been in contact with? You might be surprised with what
or who they know, so pick up the phone and call them! www.whitepages.com
is your friend. Even a few wrong numbers will only cost you a few cents a
piece.. it's definitely well worth it.


Elise Friedman
Columbia, Maryland
JGS Maryland - http://www.jewishgen.org/jgs-maryland/

Researching:
PALEVSKY/PALEFSKY, POLLACK (Horodetz, Kobryn); LIPSCHITZ/LIFSHITZ (Brisk);
EISNER, TAUB, SASS (Myszkowice/Tarnopol or Lemberg);
MILLER [or variants], TAUB (Dobromil/Byblo);
CHERNIACK/CHERNOCK/CHERMACK (Russia/Poland); CHESIN (Mogilev);
FRIEDMAN/LEWIS [originally KIMYATIK or similar] (Katowice?, Poland)

Hello,

Is there a way to find the Brooklyn enumeration district number (for
the 1910, 1920 censuses) given a Brooklyn address?

Many thanks,
Bernie Hirsch Dallas, Texas USA

To those on the Baron de Hirsh colonies hunt: I am
wondering if we shouldn't also look at the activities
of Moses Montefiore, perhaps in conjunction with Baron
de Hirsh. In my materials on the Painted Woods
Wechshler colony, I found a newspaper clipping about
the colony being assisted by Moses Montiefore "leader
and benefactor of an aid society (HIAS?) which sought
to locate Jewish refugees >from southern Russia on the
land"....Hebrew Immigrant aid society sent 22 families
(including mine). There is still a school district in
North Dakota named Montefiore, according to the
article. (The Minot, ND Daily News. Dec 14, 1968)

Dorothy Dellar Kohanski
Laguna Woods, CA

I just broke down a huge brick wall in my FRIEDMAN branch, so I thought
I'd share my story with everyone. I am also curious if anyone can help
with a new surname that I have. The story is a bit long, so if you don't
care to read it (though you might learn something), scroll to the last few
paragraphs for info about the surname.

Some of you may remember that I posted not too long ago about my FRIEDMAN
family, asking about orphanages and about a potential birth record for my
paternal grandfather. I was at almost square one with this branch because
I never knew any of my grandfather's siblings.. not even their names. I
did know their parents names though.

Over the summer, I had found what I believed to be the 1920 census record
for my grandfather's family. The things that led me to believe it was the
correct record were: 1) correct age for my grandfather; 2) correct name
for his father; 3) ggf's wife was listed as a 2nd wife and I knew my
grandfather's natural mother had died when he was young; 4) I knew my
grandfather had a brother named Morris and this name was listed; 5) my
mother remembered a sister named Gussie, also listed. So far, so good.

Then the NYC index for the 1910 census came out a couple months ago and I
had a bit of fun looking up the *many* Jacob FRIEDMAN (ggf) records,
finally finding a record that matched the 1920 record, sans the youngest
two children who weren't born yet. I still wasn't 100% that these were
the correct records, but so far they matched the things that I did know.

I also found a birth record that appeared to be the oldest child, who was
a year older than my grandfather. Unfortunately, for the mother's maiden
name, her married name was listed.. or so I thought (more on this later).

My father is gone, his brother is gone and their parents are gone. The
only "older" person whose brain I could pick was my mother's, who only
knew a few of my father's relatives. She couldn't remember many names
though and couldn't remember married names of any of my gf's sisters. My
grandfather had one brother who was 6 years younger than him.

This week, I called the Social Security Administration to get some advice
on sending away for the brother's SS-5. I only knew an approximate year
of birth, his parents names and that the SSN most likely would have been
issued in NY. The person I spoke to was very helpful, taking my
information to determine if my request could be handled by them.
Unfortunately though, he said the request would probably be denied because
there were just too many Morris FRIEDMAN records to look through (they'll
look through maybe 15 records if you send a request without an SSN). He
said I could try if I wanted to, but he recommended against it. I decided
to save my $29 for now.

As I mentioned, my father had a brother. My uncle had two children...
these cousins were the only remaining ties that I had to this family.
Our fathers had kept us all in contact when we were younger. My father
and my uncle died a few years apart and at the time, my cousins and I
hadn't yet learned to keep ourselves in contact. We were also on
different coasts all our lives, so we weren't very close in the first
place. Being an adult now, plus doing all this genealogy, I finally
decided it was long past due to re-initiate contact... took me a while,
but I finally tracked them down recently. I spoke to their mother first
and during the conversation, she told me that my uncle had kept in contact
with some relatives near where they lived, but she couldn't remember their
names. Then today, I finally had a chance to talk to my cousin for a
while and asked if he had any idea what relatives his father kept in
contact with. He pulled out his phone book and gave me several names and
phone numbers! He wasn't 100% sure how they were related though.

So... I hung up with my cousin and called one of the people. She was an
older woman, so I figured maybe I'd be lucky and she would be a younger
cousin of my grandfather's. After a few minutes of explaining who I was
and that I was apparently related to her, she proceeds to tell me that my
uncle (and father) was her nephew and that my grandfather was her brother!

I was dumbfounded. I never imagined that there were younger siblings who
might still be living. I was just hoping to eventually contact
descendents of some siblings! This was much more than I was hoping for.

My new-found great-aunt was not on the census records that I have, so I
didn't have a clue that she existed. I found out that she was born in
late 1920, so that's why she wasn't on the 1920 census, which was taken in
January. There's also an even younger sister! These two sisters are my
grandfather's half-sisters, born >from my ggf's second wife. I read the
info >from the two census records and my great-aunt confirmed that I had
found the right ones. I also told her about the birth record for her
oldest sister and she again confirmed that it was the right one.
Remember I mentioned something about the mother's maiden name on the birth
cert earlier... well according to my great-aunt, the mother's maiden name
was FRIEDMAN as well! Very enlightening, yet very frustrating. I was
hoping for a maiden name that would be easier to research!

So my great-aunt was very happy to hear >from me and I'm sure you can
imagine that I was thrilled to get in contact with someone else in my
grandfather's family! I had a very nice conversation with her for more
than an hour. She gave me a ton of information, but it's still only a
fraction of the information that I need to fill in the family tree.
After all, my grandfather was one of 7 children! I also found out that my
ggf was one of 7 children... not surprising in the least. So I now have
my work cut out for me. Apparently my ggf arrived in the very early 1890s
with all his siblings and his parents, so I should be able to find the
family in the 1900 census. Only thing is that I still don't know my ggf's
father's name.. my great-aunt couldn't remember it. So first I need to
find my ggf's marriage and death certificates (I was already starting to
work on this, but my FHC has been closed for the holidays), which will
hopefully yield the correct info. My other option is his gravestone,
since my great-aunt was able to tell me where he's buried.

So by now you're wondering what this all has to do with the surname in the
subject of my message! Well according to my great-aunt, the original
surname was pronounced something like KIM-YA-TIK -- this is what she
remembers >from her childhood. She also said the family was >from Poland
and she thinks the town may have been Katowice. So I plugged "KIMYATEK"
into the JRI-PL search engine and came up with some variations via D-M
soundex. One common one is KMIOTEK, another is GNATEK. The first one
seems to be a very likely possibility for the original surname, though the
second one is possible too. The birth record results that came up don't
appear to match my ggf and his siblings' first names though (I know the
names won't exactly match, but with 7 children at least a few should be
recognizable), but at least this is something to go on. Maybe these are
children of my gggf's brothers, whose names I don't know yet.

There's a bit more to the story. My gggf arrived in the US with his
entire family. They also travelled on the same ship as one or more of his
siblings. When they got off the ship, my gggf's family and his siblings
were separated by other passengers. The Ellis Island officials gave my
gggf's family the surname FRIEDMAN, while later, not knowing they were
related, they gave his siblings the surname LEWIS. Of course we've all
been told many times that the "Ellis Island officials changed our names"
story is just a myth, but I didn't have the heart to tell that to my
great-aunt! Still, I wonder how exactly the different surnames came
about.

What I need to do now is see if I can corroborate at least part of the
story. It'll be interesting to see if they were really all on the same
ship. Since they may have arrived before 1892, I have my work cut out for
me at NARA. I'm also going to try the naturalization route, probably
first. And of course I plan to call my great-aunt again after I have some
time to digest all the info that she gave me today. I certainly have
plenty of work ahead of me for this branch of my family now!

Whoever made it this far, thanks for listening! I hope my story can help
others break down some of their brick walls. The basic moral of the story
is to leave no stone unturned. Have distant cousins or even first cousins
that you haven't been in contact with? You might be surprised with what
or who they know, so pick up the phone and call them! www.whitepages.com
is your friend. Even a few wrong numbers will only cost you a few cents a
piece.. it's definitely well worth it.


Elise Friedman
Columbia, Maryland
JGS Maryland - http://www.jewishgen.org/jgs-maryland/

Researching:
PALEVSKY/PALEFSKY, POLLACK (Horodetz, Kobryn); LIPSCHITZ/LIFSHITZ (Brisk);
EISNER, TAUB, SASS (Myszkowice/Tarnopol or Lemberg);
MILLER [or variants], TAUB (Dobromil/Byblo);
CHERNIACK/CHERNOCK/CHERMACK (Russia/Poland); CHESIN (Mogilev);
FRIEDMAN/LEWIS [originally KIMYATIK or similar] (Katowice?, Poland)