My name is Peter this is my first post.

I am trying to find out information about my great grandmother who
immigrated to the United States in 1892. Her maiden name was Anna DAVIC or some
variation of this. I have not seen any record of this name written. She
was either born Jewish and later converted to Catholicism or had Jewish
family history in previous generation and was born Catholic. This is unclear

from oral family information. So I don't know if DAVIC is a form of a known

Jewish name or not. This is one of my main questions at this point.

My father says she was >from Vilnius Lithuania (and there are many document
that give their nationality as Lithuanian) but the ship record states that
both her and my great grandfather were Prussians >from Kasan. His name on
the passenger list is Jan ZERFIN and her's is Anna ZERFIN. I only found
this out last night as they are known with the family name SERAPHIN(e) or
SERAPHIM in other records.

Anna was pregnant on the voyage to the United States and my grandmother was
born in Eastern Pennsylvania in 1893. Her name is also Anna. I was
wondering if someone who was born Jewish and converted would name their child
after a living relative. This seems unlikey to me but I am not sure. I have
also heard that Sephardic Jews will name children after living relatives
but I am not sure how many Sephardic Jews settled in either Lithuania / Kasan.

Another question I have is how likely is it that the passenger list is
accurate in term so "Prussian >from Kassan". I have found Information on
Prussian Lithuanians (Lietuvininkai) but they were generally not Catholic but
Lutherans / Protestants. And on those ship manifest, would it be written
down automatically that the wife was >from the same area as the husband.

This is what I have so far and am looking for suggestions or information
that my be useful.

Peter Lynch
Manchester, Michigan
United States

Dear Peter:

Welcome!

Could you tell us a little more about the ZERFIN ship record? I can't
seem to find it. I see them in the 1930 census, though.

To your question about naming: "someone who was born Jewish and converted"
covers a lot of ground. Moreover, you're asking about a woman, and the
rules about naming children after living ancestors (not relatives!) were
applied much more strictly to boys than to girls. So I wouldn't want to
use that as evidence of any particular background. (As to the Sephardic
angle: a person of Sephardic ancestry in an Ashkenazi community would have
gone with local custom. Sure beats having to explain oneself all the time.)

"Kasan in Prussia": I don't know of a place by that name, and besides,
Prussia ceased to be an independent state in 1871 when the German Empire
was founded.

Finally, please take the one most important step you can take: register
your interests at the JewishGen Family Finder. Sign up (it's free and
as anonymous as you want it to be), then enter your interests, say,
DAVIC/Lithuania. When you've done that, people will know what you're
interested in, and you can also search for people with *your*
interests. You and they can then contact one another via blind email if
you wish. Not to give anything away, but you'll be glad you did.

Oh, and once you've registered you can show us some of that ship's
manifest. Sounds interesting.

Good luck, and let us know what you find!

Roger Lustig
Princeton, NJ USA

The name that I posted that was listed on the ship manifest was
incorrect. The name is ZERAFIN and not ZERFIN. The ship Darmstadt
departed >from Bremen and arrived in New Youk on June 6, 1892. Anna
Zerafin age 23 and Jan Zerafin age 23. I do not know how to link the
photograph of the ship manifest to this post, but I found it through
ancestroy.com and Ellis Island site.

Under the "Country of Which they are citizens" colums it looks like it
says Prussia. It looks different then where the scribe wrote Russia under
another passange, but I am not 100% sure. Then in the last untitled colum
it says "Kassan". I know Kazan is in modern day Russia, not sure if at the
time it was considered Russia or Lithuania. I knkow borders snifted
at that time. On many later documents, it is noted that Jan (John)
and Anna were >from Lithuania and that is the family "identity" today.
My Aunt did say that she recalls that her Grandfather (John) said that
if he went into the Army, he had to have choosen which one.

-Peter Lynch

On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 9:24 PM, Roger Lustig (GerSIG)
GerSIG.Research@...> wrote:

... Could you tell us a little more about the ZERFIN ship record? I can't
seem to find it. I see them in the 1930 census, though.

To your question about naming: "someone who was born Jewish and converted"
covers a lot of ground. Moreover, you're asking about a woman, and the
rules about naming children after living ancestors (not relatives!) were
applied much more strictly to boys than to girls. So I wouldn't want to
use that as evidence of any particular background. (As to the Sephardic
angle: a person of Sephardic ancestry in an Ashkenazi community would have
gone with local custom. Sure beats having to explain oneself all the time.)

"Kasan in Prussia": I don't know of a place by that name, and besides,
Prussia ceased to be an independent state in 1871 when the German Empire
was founded.

Finally, please take the one most important step you can take: register
your interests at the JewishGen Family Finder. Sign up (it's free and as
anonymous as you want it to be), then enter your interests, say,
DAVIC/Lithuania. When you've done that, people will know what you're
interested in, and you can also search for people with *your* interests.
You and they can then contact one another via blind email if you wish.
Not to give anything away, but you'll be glad you did.

Oh, and once you've registered you can show us some of that ship's
manifest.

On 3/20/2013 11:02 AM, Pglscs1@... wrote:

I am trying to find out information about my great grandmother who
immigrated to the United States in 1892. Her maiden name was Anna DAVIC
or some variation of this. I have not seen any record of this name written.
She was either born Jewish and later converted to Catholicism or had Jewish
family history in previous generation and was born Catholic. This is
unclear >from oral family information. So I don't know if DAVIC is a form of a
known Jewish name or not. This is one of my main questions at this point.
My father says she was >from Vilnius Lithuania (and there are many
document that give their nationality as Lithuanian) but the ship record states
that both her and my great grandfather were Prussians >from Kasan. His name on
the passenger list is Jan ZERFIN and her's is Anna ZERFIN. I only found
this out last night as they are known with the family name SERAPHIN(e) or
SERAPHIM in other records.
Anna was pregnant on the voyage to the United States and my grandmother
was born in Eastern Pennsylvania in 1893. Her name is also Anna. I was
wondering if someone who was born Jewish and converted would name their
child after a living relative. This seems unlikey to me but I am not sure. I
have also heard that Sephardic Jews will name children after living relatives
but I am not sure how many Sephardic Jews settled in either Lithuania /
Kasan.
Another question I have is how likely is it that the passenger list is
accurate in term so "Prussian >from Kassan". I have found Information on
Prussian Lithuanians (Lietuvininkai) but they were generally not Catholic
but Lutherans / Protestants. And on those ship manifest, would it be written
down automatically that the wife was >from the same area as the husband.