I have been looking through the JewishGen databases and e-mail archives and
believe that this is a group that might help be find out something about my
ancestors. I know very little about them.

My grandfather's name was Alter or Abraham GINSBERG. He came to NYC in
the early 1900's with his siblings, Hinde and Isle. He died when my
mother was very young.

My grandmother's maiden name was Sarah LUBANSKY who came to the US some
time after her husband (They had been married in Russia), and my mother
tells me that she was well educated and very proud that she was from
Bobruisk. Her father's name was Lazar and her mother's name was Nettie
LEVY. Her father may have been a teacher of some sort. She had a sister
who remained in Russia, and cousins in NYC. She didn't remain close to
her sister or cousins, and would not talk much about the past because she
came to this country "to forget all that." One cousin may have had a
restaurant on East Broadway in the 1920's. Another cousin that my mother
remembers quite well was Sam RUBIN, who was a reporter for the Jewish
Daily Forward.

I've learned that -sky can mean that a person was >from that town, and
someone who wrote an aticle in the Belarus online newsletter told me that
he found one LUBANSKY in the translation work of Slutzk Historical Society
with the Slutzk Chevra Kadisha records. The record is: 589. On Friday
the eve of the holy day of shabat the ninth of tamuz (25 June 1920) passed
away in a institution the venerable mh't Yakov the son of Shmarya-Shlomo
Hacohen LUBANSKY.... Can someone tell me what mh't and Hacohen might mean.

Any connections? I'm not even sure of when my grandparents arrived in this
country, just some time before 1910, so I don't even know where to start
looking.

TIA!

Margaret Moreland
mmoreland@...

Margaret Moreland wrote to the digest Feb 16th saying that she did not
know where to start.

Many new member try to jump right in before they learn the basics. Every
new member and even us older ones should periodically read FAQ (frequently
asked questions on the Jewishgen home page). Sources are constantly
changing and are updated continuously.

Margaret seems to have done the first steps already. That is to interview
ever living member on that side of her family for any details they have.
You should take a tape recorder to avoid missing anything. With very old
family members several visits may be necessary, as their memories may be
better on different days.

A recommended next step is to visit the cemetery where the first
generation buried in the US are. Many of the immigrant families came to
the US through the efforts of Landsfaft Societies are their graves may be
part of the society's plot. The gates or entrance posts may identify the
town >from which they came.

FAQ will give every member new insights on where to search. Remember that
genealogy is a very detailed hobby and your research will take years of
very enjoyable and rewarding work.

Best regards,

Stephen A. Cohen
East Meadow NY
Coordinator: Vilieka Uyezd (district) of Belarus

PS: I am researching the following families:
Germany:BAUM in Bosen;EISENKRAMER,MARX & LEFEVRE,
LEFEBRE:Rhineland Palat//Belarus:BASIST - Lida Dist; SHINHAUS, SHEINHOUS,
SHEINHAUS,SHEINGAUS in Radoshkovichi, Molodechno
in the Vilieka Dist// Galicia:BIRNBAUM,GOLDBERG,LEINKRAM in Krakow;
SCHNEPS,SHNEPS,SZNEPS in Dembitz,Tarnow; GELLER:in Mielec; KREINDLER;
ECKSTEIN;

MODERATOR NOTE: JewishGen FAQ, written and updated frequently by Warren
Blatt, can be found at <http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/faq.html>.