I understand that surnames mean very little when interpreting mtDNA matches because we are referring to mothers and the matrilineal line. I have read and have been told that mtDNA matches seem generally to trace back 1000s of years, well beyond recorded history in most cases. However, what I am going to relate may simply be coincidental and nothing more. I’ve always had an interest in finding evidence that might show a familial connection to Spain as I am Jewish and considered Ashkenazi and have a close Y match whose family may have left Spain after the expulsion. I have had extensive DNA testing with Family Tree DNA beginning in 2007.

I have never paid much attention to my mtDNA haplogroup which is K1a4a until very recently when I noticed that of my 44 matches, 12 or slightly more than 25% seemed to have Spanish sounding surnames. What a coincidence. They include Reyes Cairo, Moncayo, Gonzalez, Silva, Cardozo, Ricardo, Ramos, Benator, Pavellas, Hinojosa, Gonzales, Avila. I wrote to them and received responses from several who actually said they had a Spanish connection. Obviously, those connections could have nothing to do with the mother’s side.

So my question is, while not quantifiable, given such a “coincidence” of Spanish sounding surnames, could “birds of a feather flock together” and perhaps the haplogroup K1a4a might actually exhibit a matrilineal line with Spanish connections?

Thank you for any thoughts.

Would the following people please contact me at lincanfamily@... re: Kupiskis SIG

Martin Kessel
Lily Warnick
Cecilia Aron
David Harnick-Shapiro
Abraham Barron
Elliot Sachar

Just trying to get the correct email addresses for members of the Kupishok group.
Linda

I think I found the Revision List entries you're referring to in the Litvak SIG All Lithuania Revision List Database in Vilijampole.  Setting aside the rabbinical issue for the moment and just going by what I see, I would take the index at face value that Movsha 'Shames' and Meyer Soloveitchik were brothers.  I would want to see the original because they appear to be in the same household listing as well, although didn't come up that way the search results presentation for some reason as would typically be the case.  Movsha is a typical Russian form of Moshe . . . I would not consider them to be different names.

Note that the children and grandchildren of Movsha have question marks after that 'Shames' surname which implies to me that the indexer assumed that was their surname.  It's important to note that 'Shames' is also an occupation in the synagogue.  So, this could have been referring to his occupation or it could be that this was the secular surname that he took and was referred to in official documents, while he was known in the community as Movsha/Moshe Soloveitchik.

So, if this were my research I would take the working hypothesis that Movsha 'Shames' and Moshe Soloveitchik were the same person and then conduct additional research to prove/disprove that to be the case.  You're fortunate to have these revision list entries that will greatly assist with that.  If this is indeed a rabbinical family, there should be additional rabbinic sources that can be consulted that would help.  I don't see the corresponding 1818 Revision List entry for the family . . . I'm not sure if it has been indexed yet but you should seek that out as well.  Hopefully this helps!

By the way, as the previous responder suggested it's always best to include specific information in a question so that other researchers can assist without having to reproduce it themselves.

Regards,
Aaron Slotnik
Chicago, IL

Dvorzsák's gazetteer says Jewish residents of both Kis- and Nagy-Ludány were recorded in Szécsény. FamilySearch has browsable images of some of that congregation's records between 1850 and 1885 (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/261203).

Julia
. /\ /\
.>*.*<

With a treasure trove like that, I suggest that he contact the Leo Baeck Institute in New York (lbi.org).  Not only is his collection of great historical value, but they have lists of translators who might be able to help.
--
Fredel Fruhman
Brooklyn, New York, USA

See Guide to the YIVO Archives:

http://www.yivoarchives.org/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=33998&q=Hyman+Schiff

David Rosen
Boston, MA

Ancestry indexes the Detained Alien Lists and the Board of Special Inquiry Lists.  Ancestry includes images of these lists and of the manifest itself.. Each list has  a Group and Number column. Each manifest page has a Group identification, added at the destination port.  You can find it in the upper right or in the upper left of the manifest page.  The Number is the line on which the immigrant appears.  You can sort through the manifest to find the page with the matching Group.  
Sometimes the the name on the lists is more legible to the indexers than is the name on the manifest, making it harder to match them both up.

David Rosen
Boston, MA   

Hello everybody,  Shavua Tov to you all.

You probably tired to hear from me about new discoveries.  But I cannot be silent and I  should share this new finding with all of you.

This time we got an oldest set of records for Bessarabian Jews...  these are records from 1808-1811.
Most records are from Khotin uezd, at that time Russian word "uezd" was not in use yet - the region was not yet under official Russian rule.  It was Moldova principality with ts suzerain, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire. It was Khotin tsinut.  That is an incredible interesting records with a lot of documents written with the records... 
But, here are few problems: 
  1) Jews at that time did not have surnames, actually Jews in Turkey received surnames late 19 century, beginning of 20th century.
 
  2)  It is not an easy read.   The records are in Russian,  but sometimes notes written in different languages, possible in Old Slavonic script.  I have enclosed an image (#856) with statistics on population in Khotin in 1808... On the right side at the bottom it is written in Russian, and it is stated that there were 1349 Jews in town from total of 2797 people.   The others were peasants and others (Russian orthodox) - 1309, and also 99 Armenians.  Imagine we have all records on these 1349 Jews!

Look above from the statistic table.  On the right site, it is still Russian, more or less regular with several letters not part of alphabet anymore, and some words nobody uses,  but on the left side script, which I cannot read at all.
If there is a specialist in Slavic old languages, please come over, and tell us what that language is...  I think it is old Slavonic, but maybe I am wrong.
Here is another page #860, and it seems to me more Greek script.

By the way there are 18 pages with families of Jews, men and women with first names of Jews, and father's name for the head of household in the family  (man).  For many there is also professions and in some cases I see a village near Khotin they live...  

In any case the #3) is to get someone to work on these records...  you got the idea.

Same microfilm might have records from Kiliya. and Bendery,  need to look more.

You might ask, why the records are written in Russian, even the region was not yet under Russian rule?

The answer to this is that Russia occupied a lot of lands in 18 century, like part of Moldova Principality, Walachia Principality (which is now in Romania), and also smaller regions on Balkans, like Serbia, etc.  All the documents are signed by Military generals of Russian Empire.  Only in 1812 with Bucharest agreement Russians left Balkans, Walacha, part of Moldova, and only Bessarabia remained under their rule,

I know from historical papers, that there is a census done for Jews in 1770-80s in Moldova Principality (included all Bessarabia)  by Russian military, occupying that land at that time.

I am looking forward to hear from you...  hope you are existed as I am.

Any volunteers?  specialist in old Slavonic languages?

All the best,
Yefim Kogan

A cutter worked in the garment industry, and was the one who cut the fabric from patterns.  It was a highly skilled position because the cutter had to be faithful to the pattern while minimizing the amount of fabric wasted.  I had several ancestors who were cutters, and they were noticeably better off financially than other relatives of the same era in the garment industry.

I am trying to determine where in Galicia my great-grandfather, Simon Hoffert, came from. He is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery in New York, in the Hyman Schiff Sick & Benevolent Society Inc. area. Anyone know where I can find the history of this society, specifically whether is for people from a specific town in Europe? Thanks.

Carl Kaplan
Winchester, MA

Forgive my ignorance, have these census records been indexed? i.e. if I only know a name and not an address is it possible to find them?
Thanks,
Larry Bassist
Springville, Utah, USA

I've seen this where a child dies, and then later on another child is named after him/her. That doesn't look like the case here.

There can be errors in transcription of those revision lists (the handwriting is sometimes very hard to read), and there can also be errors in the original lists.

It's possible that Movsha and Moshe are one and the same person.

Give us more to work with:
     approx DOBs,    
     children's names,   
     mother's Hebrew name, if known.  
     occupation

Barbara Mannlein
Tucson, AZ

My Great Grandfather came from Nowy Szacz in the 1880s.   At the time it was Neu Sandez, Austria Hungary.   Don't know if that will help you but thought I would mention it since records from that era might be under Austria Hungary.

If a name in the Manifest is on the Record of Detained Aliens or Held for Special Inquiry, wouldn’t that name also be in the body of the complete Manifest List? Ancestry and the other search sites point me to a name on Record of Detained Aliens or Special Inquiry lust, but do not find the name in the complete Manifest. Why? Is there an explanation for this?

Does anyone know the name Gershon Kleinman that left Warsaw in 1921

Thank you
Jerry
Jerry2000K@...