I am trying to find information about my ancestor Moses David ABRAMS who
immigrated to the United States in 1882. I recently found the following
Hamburg Passenger List on Ancestry:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/curwin/9640737623/sizes/o/in/photostream/

You can find Moses Abrams on the page on the right-hand side, third line

from the top.

Ancestry transcribed the town he originated >from (his residence)as:

Radsewelsch, Russland (Russia)

However, I cannot find any town that resembles that name.

I've seen on another document that one of his daughters is listed as being

from Kovno, Lithuania. Now that could just have meant the region, not the

actual town, but I think it's reasonable to assume that he at least came

from Lithuania.

Can anyone try to decipher that word in the document?

I don't think it will help much, but here is the immigration record to the
United States (not so easy to read):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/curwin/9643973062/sizes/o/in/photostream/

(He and his daughter Rebecca are just above the thick black line in the middle).

Thanks so much in advance,

David Curwin
tobyndave@...

snip..

Ancestry transcribed the town he originated >from (his residence)as:

Radsewelsch, Russland (Russia)

I would say: Radsewitsch

However, I cannot find any town that resembles that name.

Russia is not a fixed place during the ages.
<http://www.jewishgen.org/communities/LocTown.asp>
[using Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex]
gives so many possibilities.
To name a few:

Radzewice populated place
52°13' N 16°59' E
Poland
170.0 miles W of Warszawa 52°15' N 21°0' E

Radevichi, Radzeviche populated place
53°31' N 23°45' E
Belarus
158.5 miles W of Minsk 53°54' N 27°34' E

Radzeviche populated place
53°23' N 24°08' E
Belarus
144.7 miles WSW of Minsk 53°54' N 27°34' E

Racewicze Pierwsze, Ratsevichi, Ratsevichi Pervyye populated place
54°33' N 26°36' E
Belarus
59.2 miles NW of Minsk 53°54' N 27°34' E

Rausowitz, Rousovice populated place
50°21' N 14°30' E
Czech Republic
18.5 miles N of Praha 50°5' N 14°28' E

Rodzevichi, Rodziewicze populated place
54°16' N 27°45' E
Belarus
25.9 miles NNE of Minsk 53°54' N 27°34' E

Rodzevichi, Rodziewicze populated place
54°33' N 26°39' E
Belarus
58.2 miles NW of Minsk 53°54' N 27°34' E

Rácovice populated place
49°01' N 15°41' E
Czech Republic
91.5 miles SE of Praha 50°5' N 14°28' E

Evertjan Hannivoort.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)
Visit [recently changed URL]: <http://synagogeenschede.nl/>

After looking on the Ellis Island search site, I found a number of similar
sounding town names:

Radsiwiliszi, Russia; Radzwilishuj, Russia; Radsiwilischu, Russia;
Radzwilisch, Russia; Radzivilis, Russia; Radziwilizhi, Russia

Are these possibly all referring to the same town on my document?

And if so - could they be referring to this town:

Radzilow, Poland (which at the time was controlled by Russia?)
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~community~-525026

I realize I am getting further and further >from my document, which might be
a mistranscription of what someone said.

This town seems a bit far >from Kovno (although perhaps the family moved)
and I haven't found any records of ABRAMS there, but perhaps this is a good
fit in any case. Thoughts?

toby...@... wrote:
snip....
Ancestry transcribed the town he originated >from (his residence)as:
Radsewelsch, Russland (Russia)
snip.........

David Curwin wrote:

"Ancestry transcribed the town he originated >from (his residence)as:
Radsewelsch, Russland (Russia) However, I cannot find any town that
resembles that name.

I've seen on another document that one of his daughters is listed as being

from Kovno, Lithuania. Now that could just have meant the region, not the

actual town, but I think it's reasonable to assume that he at least came

from Lithuania. Can anyone try to decipher that word in the document?"

It looks like "Radsewelsch" to me, too. I searched the FallingRain
Gazetteer for place names that started with RADS- or RADZ- and found
Radzevelishki (now Radviliskis), a town that is just a few miles from
Kovno (Kaunas). It was likely named after the Radziwill family, which
was a prominent and extremely wealthy aristocratic family that owned
vast properties in Lithuania.

Susan Steeble
Baltimore, MD

Researching: FREEDHAND/FRIEDHAND/FRIEDGANT (Bershad, Ukraine > NY and CT,
Romania, France); KESSELMAN (Chorna/Krasny Okna, Ukraine > NY); KAHAN
(Grodno [now Belarus] > NY); STUCHINSKY (Yurburg and Taurage [now
Lithuania]); SLUTSKY/SLOTE (Kiev,
Ukraine > NY); BODNAR (Mihaileni, Romania > Israel); GELBER and
SCHECHTER (Bucecea, Tirgu Neamt, and Iasi, Romania > Israel