Dear Genners,
I had a similar situation in my family; some of the family went

from Kolonie L'vovo, Kherson Guberniya to Libau before coming to the US.

Then I learned that the entire shtetl was formed in 1840 by floating
down the Dniepr River >from Courland (Latvia) to Kolonie L'vovo, which
was one of the Jewish Agricultural Colonies.
I was able to get a list of the family members (surname
specified), who left Courland in 1840 (for Kherson Guberniya). From
this list and a family letter, I was able to trace my family back to
Latvia and link up with the branches that did not leave Latvia in 1840.
So the short answer is, to say good-bye to family before they
crossed the ocean.
Sarah L. M. Christiansen,
Researching EDELBERG, EIDELBERG, SCHLAMOVITCH, KART, ARONSON, BAUM in
Latvia, Russia Ukraine
BIRGARDOVSKY, HITE, PERCHIK, MAGRUTSKY Ukraine
PERLSTADT, ANK(I)ER, KARMEL(EK), SZPILBAUM, FRO(U)M, NUTA,
BIGOS,KIRSHROT, WAGNER, ALPERN, ASPERSTEIN Poland
KAFRI, KOLODNY, ARIAV, ANKER, in Israel




Subject: Why Latvia?
From: Mark Shofron <shofron@...>
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:07:06 -0700 (PDT)
X-Message-Number: 1

Genners:

In 1906 my family immigrated to the US from
Pereyaslav, Ukraine (about 100 miles SE of Kiev.) They
boarded a ship to the US in Libau, Latvia. They lived
a relatively short distance to the Black Sea. Why
would they travel all the way to Latvia to embark for
America? Any ideas?

Mark Shofron
Mesa Arizona

Researching SHOFRON, SCHIFF/ SCHEWEZENSKY

My family also lived in the south-east Ukraine in Berdyansk, on the Sea of
Azov, and in the Jewish Agricultural colonies of Yekaterinoslav Guberniya.
My grandparents and mother left in 1913 and had to travel north to Libau to
catch a ship to London and then all the way back via the Suez canal to reach
Australia. Likewise, my grandfather's mother and siblings travelled >from
Yuzovka (Donetsk) in 1922 to Riga and others travelled via Poland.

None of this had any connection with family visits in the north where the
families originated in the mid nineteenth century.

Apparently there was no accessible route via the Black Sea ports.

Chaim Freedman
Petah Tikvah, Israel
chaimjan@...