Dear Paola,

According to this post on Ancestry, "Volinsky =olhynia. Prior to WW I,
this was a province wholly within Russia. Between 1921 and WW II, it was
split in half with the west being in Poland and the east remaining in
Russia. Today it is wholly in Ukraine."
http://boards.ancestry.com/thread.aspx?mv=at&;m!349&p=calities.ceeurope
.poland.unknown

And on Rootsweb, there is this comment: "Gubernia" in tsarist Russia was a
very large administrative unit, originally with population of about 200 000
to 300 000 or 400 000. That person came across [from] 'Volynska Gubernia',
nowadays Volhynian Oblast in Ukraine."
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/POLAND-ROOTS/2005-09/1126796349

In 1915, there is mention of a Jewish relief committee..." The Kieff
committee extends its activities to the governments of Kieff,
Podolia and Volhynia."
See
http://www.archive.org/stream/reportsreceivedb00joinrich/reportsreceivedb00j
oinrich_djvu.txt

I hope that is helpful.

Regards,
Richard S. Levine
Clearwater, Florida
Researching CONFELD(possibly KORNFELD/KORENFELD/SCHONFELD), DORFMAN, WINNER,
OXMAN, ZEKMAN...families >from Bessarabia (possibly Kishinev); KALISH/KALISZ,
ZILBERWASER/SYLBERWASSER, GILLER/HILLER, SENDLER...>from Brzeziny and Lodz;
LEVINE, FORMAN...>from Pereyaslav (and possibly Odessa), Ukraine
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Committe of Volinsky Colonist settlers
From: Paola Khalili <paolakhalili@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 13:07:45 -0700 (PDT)

Dear All

In a document date 1904 there is an interesting note next to my
gggrandfather name.
It says (translated >from Russian by a professional researcher as) ">from the
Committe of Volinski Colonist settlers".
Does anyone know about these committes?………………...

Best regards.
Paola KHALILI
London, UK

Dear Paola,

According to this post on Ancestry, "Volinsky =olhynia. Prior to WW I,
this was a province wholly within Russia. Between 1921 and WW II, it was
split in half with the west being in Poland and the east remaining in
Russia. Today it is wholly in Ukraine."
http://boards.ancestry.com/thread.aspx?mv=at&;m!349&p=calities.ceeurope
.poland.unknown

And on Rootsweb, there is this comment: "Gubernia" in tsarist Russia was a
very large administrative unit, originally with population of about 200 000
to 300 000 or 400 000. That person came across [from] 'Volynska Gubernia',
nowadays Volhynian Oblast in Ukraine."
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/POLAND-ROOTS/2005-09/1126796349

In 1915, there is mention of a Jewish relief committee..." The Kieff
committee extends its activities to the governments of Kieff,
Podolia and Volhynia."
See
http://www.archive.org/stream/reportsreceivedb00joinrich/reportsreceivedb00j
oinrich_djvu.txt

I hope that is helpful.

Regards,
Richard S. Levine
Clearwater, Florida
Researching CONFELD(possibly KORNFELD/KORENFELD/SCHONFELD), DORFMAN, WINNER,
OXMAN, ZEKMAN...families >from Bessarabia (possibly Kishinev); KALISH/KALISZ,
ZILBERWASER/SYLBERWASSER, GILLER/HILLER, SENDLER...>from Brzeziny and Lodz;
LEVINE, FORMAN...>from Pereyaslav (and possibly Odessa), Ukraine
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Committe of Volinsky Colonist settlers
From: Paola Khalili <paolakhalili@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 13:07:45 -0700 (PDT)

Dear All

In a document date 1904 there is an interesting note next to my
gggrandfather name.
It says (translated >from Russian by a professional researcher as) ">from the
Committe of Volinski Colonist settlers".
Does anyone know about these committes?………………...

Best regards.
Paola KHALILI
London, UK

Hello,

I found a new resource for some cemeteries in Poland. I actually found the
tombstone of my great-great-grandfather (Murdoch Asher BRA UN) of Rypin, Poland.

See:
http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/pwk/?obj_id=5411,lapidary-on-a-new-jewish-cemetery-on-spokojna-street
(MODERATOR: https://tinyurl.com/k6ty3gp )

Moishe Miller
moishe.miller@totalben.com

Hello,

I found a new resource for some cemeteries in Poland. I actually found the
tombstone of my great-great-grandfather (Murdoch Asher BRA UN) of Rypin, Poland.

See:
http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/pwk/?obj_id=5411,lapidary-on-a-new-jewish-cemetery-on-spokojna-street
(MODERATOR: https://tinyurl.com/k6ty3gp )

Moishe Miller
moishe.miller@totalben.com

Thanks to all of you who responded.I have been working on this problem for
years. Everyone had great or good ideas unfortunately all have been
tried and all of you are right with your info. Is as much as I know the
facts don't add up. Maybe the wives tales are wrong. They said she was crazy and
died in the county hospital. I can not find an OBIT. I live in the L.A. area. I
have been to the hall of records many times. Martin was a seaman but died in Las
Vegas. The person who handled his burial promised pic but did not believe I was
related, either did he..Her last address was 130 Pecan near her sister. I have
check the cemeteries. The 1940 census was the last proof it was really her.
Although she was close to my Grandma it is not enough. Those of you who know me I
am not a newbe. Sometimes they hide >from us. Gayle Schlissel Riley

Thanks to all of you who responded.I have been working on this problem for
years. Everyone had great or good ideas unfortunately all have been
tried and all of you are right with your info. Is as much as I know the
facts don't add up. Maybe the wives tales are wrong. They said she was crazy and
died in the county hospital. I can not find an OBIT. I live in the L.A. area. I
have been to the hall of records many times. Martin was a seaman but died in Las
Vegas. The person who handled his burial promised pic but did not believe I was
related, either did he..Her last address was 130 Pecan near her sister. I have
check the cemeteries. The 1940 census was the last proof it was really her.
Although she was close to my Grandma it is not enough. Those of you who know me I
am not a newbe. Sometimes they hide >from us. Gayle Schlissel Riley

Tracking name changes can be frustrating but also fun.

One thing that can help is the fact that our Jewish immigrant ancestors sometimes
switched back and forth -- it wasn't that they decided one day to take a new
American surname and totally ditched the old one. There was one line of my maternal
ancestors whose European surname had been long since forgotten. I found them under
their U.S. name (Kelsky) in Pittsburgh city directories >from around 1900, but not
in the 1900 U.S. Census. So I checked the census records for the address I'd found
in the directories -- and there they were, listed instead under their "old" name,
Wilensky. That quickly led me to many other records >from both sides of the
Atlantic, confirming their identity and taking their line back to the 18th century.

Another branch of my ancestors had adopted the American surname Martin-- a name so
common that it led me up many false trails and I almost gave up on ever tracking
them down. All we knew about their European roots was that they came >from somewhere
in Suwalki Gubernia in the 1880s/90s. But by using U.S. records and gravestones, I
was gradually able to work out the immigrant generation's family relationships and
approximate ages. Then one day I searched the JRI-Poland database just using
combinations of first names -- no surnames at all -- and limiting the search to
Suwalki Gubernia. Bingo, when the results came up, there they all were in the town
of Suwalki under the unusual surname Abramajtys, with all the birth dates and
family relationships matching up perfectly. This led me to their passenger
manifests and other documents confirming without a doubt that they were my family
and connecting us to many earlier records >from Poland. I even eventually found the
"pioneer" ancestor who'd immigrated back in 1865 and shortened his name to Mitis,
then (after a few years of indecisive back-and-forth) changed it permanently to
Martin, setting a precedent followed by dozens of his relatives over the next half
century.

A few more suggestions: it helps that various siblings and cousins often adopted
the new name at different times (or never); sometimes in the censuses you even see
siblings in the same household with different surnames, or children with a
different surname >from their parents. (Often it was young male family members who
took the lead on changing the name.) Or at first they might use the Americanized
surname only for professional purposes, so they'd be listed under the new name in a
business directory and the old name in a census >from the same year. There can even
be newspaper obituaries that list two sons with different names.

Adam Goodheart
Washington, DC

Tracking name changes can be frustrating but also fun.

One thing that can help is the fact that our Jewish immigrant ancestors sometimes
switched back and forth -- it wasn't that they decided one day to take a new
American surname and totally ditched the old one. There was one line of my maternal
ancestors whose European surname had been long since forgotten. I found them under
their U.S. name (Kelsky) in Pittsburgh city directories >from around 1900, but not
in the 1900 U.S. Census. So I checked the census records for the address I'd found
in the directories -- and there they were, listed instead under their "old" name,
Wilensky. That quickly led me to many other records >from both sides of the
Atlantic, confirming their identity and taking their line back to the 18th century.

Another branch of my ancestors had adopted the American surname Martin-- a name so
common that it led me up many false trails and I almost gave up on ever tracking
them down. All we knew about their European roots was that they came >from somewhere
in Suwalki Gubernia in the 1880s/90s. But by using U.S. records and gravestones, I
was gradually able to work out the immigrant generation's family relationships and
approximate ages. Then one day I searched the JRI-Poland database just using
combinations of first names -- no surnames at all -- and limiting the search to
Suwalki Gubernia. Bingo, when the results came up, there they all were in the town
of Suwalki under the unusual surname Abramajtys, with all the birth dates and
family relationships matching up perfectly. This led me to their passenger
manifests and other documents confirming without a doubt that they were my family
and connecting us to many earlier records >from Poland. I even eventually found the
"pioneer" ancestor who'd immigrated back in 1865 and shortened his name to Mitis,
then (after a few years of indecisive back-and-forth) changed it permanently to
Martin, setting a precedent followed by dozens of his relatives over the next half
century.

A few more suggestions: it helps that various siblings and cousins often adopted
the new name at different times (or never); sometimes in the censuses you even see
siblings in the same household with different surnames, or children with a
different surname >from their parents. (Often it was young male family members who
took the lead on changing the name.) Or at first they might use the Americanized
surname only for professional purposes, so they'd be listed under the new name in a
business directory and the old name in a census >from the same year. There can even
be newspaper obituaries that list two sons with different names.

Adam Goodheart
Washington, DC

Gayle asked:
"I am seeking the death record for Anna Schwartz born 1892 in Phil. and
died in L.A. after 1940."

Have you tried Ancestry's California death index?
http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=5180

There are 89 people named Anna SCHWARTZ in the index. You can limit the results to
look at by birth date, birth place, death place, and mother's maiden name.

Ancestry is availalbe for free on many public library computers.

Also, consider that her name could be mispelled either on the cert, or
mistranscribed >from the cert to the index.

Have you tried searching for an obit? This site lists on-line digitized newspaper
databases by geographical location.Some are free, some are free for the index only,
some are pay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_online_newspaper_archives

Regards,
Sherri Bobish
Princeton, NJ

Searching:WALTZMAN / WALZMAN, Ustrzyki Dolne (Istryker), Pol.
RATOWSKY, CHAIMSON, Ariogala (Rogala), Lith.
BOJDA, BERGER, BLEIWESS, Tarnobrzeg, Pol. LEFFENFELD, LEFENFELD, Daliowa, Pol.
SOLON / SOLAN / SAKOLSKY, Grodek (Bialystok), Pol. BOBISH, Odessa

Gayle asked:
"I am seeking the death record for Anna Schwartz born 1892 in Phil. and
died in L.A. after 1940."

Have you tried Ancestry's California death index?
http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=5180

There are 89 people named Anna SCHWARTZ in the index. You can limit the results to
look at by birth date, birth place, death place, and mother's maiden name.

Ancestry is availalbe for free on many public library computers.

Also, consider that her name could be mispelled either on the cert, or
mistranscribed >from the cert to the index.

Have you tried searching for an obit? This site lists on-line digitized newspaper
databases by geographical location.Some are free, some are free for the index only,
some are pay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_online_newspaper_archives

Regards,
Sherri Bobish
Princeton, NJ

Searching:WALTZMAN / WALZMAN, Ustrzyki Dolne (Istryker), Pol.
RATOWSKY, CHAIMSON, Ariogala (Rogala), Lith.
BOJDA, BERGER, BLEIWESS, Tarnobrzeg, Pol. LEFFENFELD, LEFENFELD, Daliowa, Pol.
SOLON / SOLAN / SAKOLSKY, Grodek (Bialystok), Pol. BOBISH, Odessa

Peter asked about tracing people in the U.K. I suggest searching
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ which are indices to U.K. vital records.

For instance, if you find the name of a child born to someone that you are
searching, than you can search for their marriage (especially helpful in the case
of daughters.)

Regards,

Sherri Bobish
Princeton, NJ

Peter asked about tracing people in the U.K. I suggest searching
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ which are indices to U.K. vital records.

For instance, if you find the name of a child born to someone that you are
searching, than you can search for their marriage (especially helpful in the case
of daughters.)

Regards,

Sherri Bobish
Princeton, NJ

I have been told that I am related to Bracha Globerman that married Mr. SHEMESH
and had a son Schmuel. I have no idea when they got married, when Schmuel was
born, or anything more on them. I looked on JFGG and found 88 researchers with the
same D-M code for Shemesh but not the same name and 4 for Globerman (that I have
contacted). My family Glauberman became Lieberman in America. Most lived in the
Chicago area. Glauberman and Globerman could be the same phonetic name.

Is this name on your family tree?

Trudy Barch

I have been told that I am related to Bracha Globerman that married Mr. SHEMESH
and had a son Schmuel. I have no idea when they got married, when Schmuel was
born, or anything more on them. I looked on JFGG and found 88 researchers with the
same D-M code for Shemesh but not the same name and 4 for Globerman (that I have
contacted). My family Glauberman became Lieberman in America. Most lived in the
Chicago area. Glauberman and Globerman could be the same phonetic name.

Is this name on your family tree?

Trudy Barch

Looking for descendants of Jack (Yankel, Yacov, Jacob?) Estis (b. about 1890,
probably Koziatyn, Ukraine). His parents are Leah Schechter and Hersh Estis.
Patronymic Gershovitch. His siblings are my grandfather Morris Estis (b. 1894,
Kaztin, Koziatyn, Ukraine: d.New Jersey), Isack Estis (b. 1896, Koziatyn, Ukraine:
d. New York), Abraham Estis (b about 1900, d. Montreal), Tuba Estis (b. 1905, d.
New jersey). The siblings of Jack Estis came to the states in 1913 and 1914 and
Abraham, Tuba, and Leah came to Montreal in 1926.

In 1926 the address of J. Estis was given as Col. Wedjamcy Poselck, Russia.

Jack Estis was married with at least four children. One of my cousins has a photo.

My dad's first cousin (b. 1940) told me yesterday that she remembers her mother
sending them packages after the war! So I have renewed hope that they have
survived. I now believe that the above address is a colony.

We are beginning DNA testing. I would appreciate any suggestions

Debbie Estis,
Murrieta, CA

Looking for descendants of Jack (Yankel, Yacov, Jacob?) Estis (b. about 1890,
probably Koziatyn, Ukraine). His parents are Leah Schechter and Hersh Estis.
Patronymic Gershovitch. His siblings are my grandfather Morris Estis (b. 1894,
Kaztin, Koziatyn, Ukraine: d.New Jersey), Isack Estis (b. 1896, Koziatyn, Ukraine:
d. New York), Abraham Estis (b about 1900, d. Montreal), Tuba Estis (b. 1905, d.
New jersey). The siblings of Jack Estis came to the states in 1913 and 1914 and
Abraham, Tuba, and Leah came to Montreal in 1926.

In 1926 the address of J. Estis was given as Col. Wedjamcy Poselck, Russia.

Jack Estis was married with at least four children. One of my cousins has a photo.

My dad's first cousin (b. 1940) told me yesterday that she remembers her mother
sending them packages after the war! So I have renewed hope that they have
survived. I now believe that the above address is a colony.

We are beginning DNA testing. I would appreciate any suggestions

Debbie Estis,
Murrieta, CA

In anticipation of a cruise to South Africa this coming March, I am searching for
possible cousins in Cape Town or Johannesburg. I began my search with the
boyhood stories >from my Grandmother concerning my Grandfather. My grandfather's
name was Benjamin Cohn. According to my grandmother, he and his brother immigrated

from Lithuania in the late 1800s, my granddad to the USA and his brother to South

Africa. Their family name, according to my Grandmother was Michaeloff. I'm not
sure of the spelling or where exactly they came >from in Lithuania, or if they
came >from Lithuania at all. However, my loving grandmother relayed this
information to me. I never spoke with my grandfather; he died in 1930 in
Pittsburgh, Pa., years before my birth. However, this is a starting point!

Benjamin Cohn, according to US census was born in 1881 and immigrated to the US
in 1886. My grandmother told me that he did not speak English and cousins who met
him at the boat gave him their last name, Cohn. I know this Ben Cohn is really
my grandfather. His records >from Monongahela , Pa. and Pittsburgh, Pa. show my
mother and uncle and aunt, her brother and sister.

I have been in communication with a Michaeluv family in Johannesburg, who are
quite active in this genealogy search for their family. I'm calling them
hononary cousins, but continuing my search. I would like to find possible blood
cousins. I believe they would have immigrated to Cape Town in the late 1880s or
1890s. I thank you for any help or direction you can provide!


Barrie Fisher
email: barriefisher2003@yahoo.com
city, zip: Los Angeles, CA 90024

In anticipation of a cruise to South Africa this coming March, I am searching for
possible cousins in Cape Town or Johannesburg. I began my search with the
boyhood stories >from my Grandmother concerning my Grandfather. My grandfather's
name was Benjamin Cohn. According to my grandmother, he and his brother immigrated

from Lithuania in the late 1800s, my granddad to the USA and his brother to South

Africa. Their family name, according to my Grandmother was Michaeloff. I'm not
sure of the spelling or where exactly they came >from in Lithuania, or if they
came >from Lithuania at all. However, my loving grandmother relayed this
information to me. I never spoke with my grandfather; he died in 1930 in
Pittsburgh, Pa., years before my birth. However, this is a starting point!

Benjamin Cohn, according to US census was born in 1881 and immigrated to the US
in 1886. My grandmother told me that he did not speak English and cousins who met
him at the boat gave him their last name, Cohn. I know this Ben Cohn is really
my grandfather. His records >from Monongahela , Pa. and Pittsburgh, Pa. show my
mother and uncle and aunt, her brother and sister.

I have been in communication with a Michaeluv family in Johannesburg, who are
quite active in this genealogy search for their family. I'm calling them
hononary cousins, but continuing my search. I would like to find possible blood
cousins. I believe they would have immigrated to Cape Town in the late 1880s or
1890s. I thank you for any help or direction you can provide!


Barrie Fisher
email: barriefisher2003@yahoo.com
city, zip: Los Angeles, CA 90024

Hi, I've been researching my Ukrainian roots for quite a long time and
haven't been lucky. My great-grandmother, Chaya (Clara) Bolotin was
born in Romny, Ukraine in 1894, and she emigrated to the US in 1912.
Unfortunately, she was really secretive about her origin. She never
spoke about her family or her life in Russia. Investigating and
speaking to relatives, I was able to find out that she came >from a
very humble and religious family. Her father was Mendel Bolotin, who
was probably born around 1870 and was a poor peasant. I do not know
where he was born, but I do know he died in the Holocaust c. 1942.
Mendel's wife and my great-grandmother's mother was Liba Narinsky. My
grandfather's sister was named after her, so I assume she died before
1920. My great-grandmother Chaya had several other siblings (about
eight), including one that was born in 1912. the same year she went to
live to the US. Also, I was told that one of her grandmother's name
was Gitel.

Instead of speaking of Romny, my grandfather's sister told me she said
she came >from the Poltavskaya guberniya (where Romny is located in).
The name of the shtetl appeared in her Ellis Island ship manifest. My
great-grandmother emigrated by herself, and never saw any of her
siblings or parents again. She was very good looking, had olive
complexion and blue-gray eyes. She was fairly tall for those times,
about 5'5.

This is all I know. If somebody has any piece of information, please
contact me to my e-mail address: brianchernin@gmail.com.

Thank you so much!

Brian Chernin
Santiago, Chile

Hi, I've been researching my Ukrainian roots for quite a long time and
haven't been lucky. My great-grandmother, Chaya (Clara) Bolotin was
born in Romny, Ukraine in 1894, and she emigrated to the US in 1912.
Unfortunately, she was really secretive about her origin. She never
spoke about her family or her life in Russia. Investigating and
speaking to relatives, I was able to find out that she came >from a
very humble and religious family. Her father was Mendel Bolotin, who
was probably born around 1870 and was a poor peasant. I do not know
where he was born, but I do know he died in the Holocaust c. 1942.
Mendel's wife and my great-grandmother's mother was Liba Narinsky. My
grandfather's sister was named after her, so I assume she died before
1920. My great-grandmother Chaya had several other siblings (about
eight), including one that was born in 1912. the same year she went to
live to the US. Also, I was told that one of her grandmother's name
was Gitel.

Instead of speaking of Romny, my grandfather's sister told me she said
she came >from the Poltavskaya guberniya (where Romny is located in).
The name of the shtetl appeared in her Ellis Island ship manifest. My
great-grandmother emigrated by herself, and never saw any of her
siblings or parents again. She was very good looking, had olive
complexion and blue-gray eyes. She was fairly tall for those times,
about 5'5.

This is all I know. If somebody has any piece of information, please
contact me to my e-mail address: brianchernin@gmail.com.

Thank you so much!

Brian Chernin
Santiago, Chile