Find Your Cousins

OY VEY..

Don't take a "no" as an answer. From every situation that seems like a dead end, there is a way to break through. I'm working on a difficult case - not just from the tree-building perspective, but also from the emotional side. This is a non-parental event (NPE) case.

After years of research, we've found a close match from a branch that's been a black hole. The match has accepted our invitations to connect, but they've ignored all our attempts to exchange family names and locations. There are a bunch of people with the same first and last name, so it's taken an enormous effort to build the trees for all the namesakes. It's starting to feel like a dead end.

We can't triangulate anymore, we can't identify the match, and it seems like we've hit a wall. But that's when I realized we need to shift our perspective. Instead of focusing on what we can't do, let's think about what we CAN do.

And that's when it hit me! We can check this match against all the other unrelated kits I manage and see if there are any common matches that could help us identify the right person. And sure enough, a second cousin of this match showed up for one of the other kits I manage! Now, I no longer need the match to respond to my questions about their ancestral locations and names.

This case has been incredibly challenging, both logistically and emotionally. But by staying persistent and looking for alternative solutions, we've managed to break through the dead end. It's a great reminder that even when things seem hopeless, there's usually a way forward if we're willing to think creatively and not take "no" for an answer.

Using secondary resources to learn more about your family history. Genealogist at work :)

Searching through the archives..

Best wishes in New Year!!!

Things that make me very very happy - family reunions ! It took only 110 years for the members of the same family to meet and hug each other. I'm so happy for them! I truly hope they won't lose the connection anymore!

National Archives provides access to 1950 Census

1950 Census - Home | 1950 Census The 1950 census records were released by the U.S. National Archives on April 1, 2022. This website provides full access to the 1950 census images, including population schedules, enumeration district maps, and enumeration district descriptions.

Rashkov's vital records are not in the database yet, but they are already helping researchers to break through the brick walls! It's amazing what one word on that vital record can lead to, especially if this word points to a place where your ancestor came to Rashkov from! This one word is like a magical pathway that leads you to more discoveries!

There is a small shtetl of Rashkov in what's called Transnistria Republic today. It had a decent Jewish population at the beginning of 1900s. Limitted Jewish vital records have survived and will be available in my database soon.

Communication is a key when working on research and reaching out to potential relatives or resonding to their emails. Unfortunately, sometimes we are running into issues that are outside of our control. One of this issue is a recently impemented policy by Google that requires owners of private domains to set specific keys in order for their emails to reach to google email accounts. What does this mean to us? When we send an email to a gmail user from another domain, the email either bounces off or goes straight to spam where your potential relatives less likely to find it unless they make a habit of checking spam. So if you were wondering why someone isn't responding to your emails including me.. now you know.

I am switching to a gmail from my private domain webaddress and hoping that this will resolve the issue. Please check your spam and share this message. Hopefuly, it'll help someone to find their long lost relative. Good luck!

Google article about the new policy
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126?hl=en

Happy New Year! Wishing you to make many interesting discoveries in the new year and connect with new relatives!

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy New Year! Wishing you many more new discoveries and meeting new relatives in the New Year!

Shana tova umetuka!

Dear friends,

I wanted to take a moment and wish you and your families a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year! May the New Year be filled with successful research and great discoveries!

חנוכה שמח!!

The latest reunion of two cousins in more detail is published today in Jewish Standard Newspaper
https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/lost-and-suddenly-found/

Lost — and suddenly found Fair Lawn woman connects New Yorker and Russian rabbi

When a small letter makes a big difference.

Some time ago I wrote about a recent moment where I had the opportunity to help two relatives reunite. The grandmother of one of them wrote a letter to her brother in the USA telling how much she’s missing him and how she’s waiting for his letters impatiently. Little did she know when she sent this letter from Moscow that almost 100 years later this letter would be the thread leading her grandson to meeting his second cousin, the grandson of her brother. Her brother kept this letter all his life in a drawer of his nightstand and never told anyone that he had a sister. His son discovered this letter after his death and passed it to his son. This exact letter was what started my research. I started with address books, then various databases and websites and one thread after another led me to a person who lived in Russia and who took some time to respond to my multiple messages because he had just come back from a trip to the USA. Jetlagged upon his return from New York, he opened one of my messages and responded that the woman I was looking for was his grandmother, but told me that she didn’t have any brothers in the USA. We talked and talked; I showed him the letter and he recalled that he had her autobiography. He pulled out several pages covered with her handwriting, and there was something that attracted our attention: she had a unique way of writing one of the letters and we could clearly see this letter written the same way in both the autobiography and the letter to her brother! No DNA test was needed at that point. We knew right away that this is the same person!

Five months later, I find myself in one of the city's restaurants sharing the reunion excitement with the two newly found relatives. They ask questions; they share information; they are excitedly speaking about family ties. The Russian relative tells us about a tradition he has with one of his cousins, in which they enjoy a tea drinking ceremony every time they meet. His newly found cousin orders a cup of tea, and happily joins the tradition.

It's one of those days when I started the morning from having a cup of coffee and checking my inbox to find a message from a stranger: Hi Inna, is this your great grandfather I found in geni tree? We exchanged a few pieces of information, we get on a video call and we talk about common family members. The woman gets a little emotional and I am trying to calm her down: please don't cry! we found each other and this is awesome! She's just at the beginning of a long research into her family history and as she speaks and mentions some names, I am realizing that I know these names and I can probably help her finding relatives from the other side of her tree. I am writing to an acquaintance in Australia, including the photos from the family album of the newly found family member in my message, waiting for the answer because we are 12 (!) hours apart. By the end of the day, I get a response that someone thousands kilometers away in Australia recognized a man on the photo - it's his uncle. He thanks me for the photo of his uncle and asks for time so he can help our common relative with her research. I am ending a day with a phone conversation with another relative, who's adding some details and colors to the story and it feels so satisfying to be able to fit more pieces of this family tree puzzle together.

Interesting stuff you find and learn while working on a research. I found a photo of Karaims family from Trokai (Lithuania). It turns out that there was a relatively large Karaims community in this town in 1800s. The Karaims had the exclusive right to live in Trakai. Using their privileges, Karaims petitioned for the expulsion of the Ashkenazim in 1809 and in 1835, this decision was made, and 192 Jews were forced to leave Trakai (at that time 172 Karaims lived there).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/JUDAICA-ANTIQUE-CABINET-GROUP-PHOTO-JEWISH-KARAIM-FAMILY-TRAKAI-LITHUANIA-1910s-/293409205087?_ul=IN

1880. An advertisement about a new newspaper, Russian Jew. The subscription is now can be purchased and there are some famous people who'll be joining the publication and writing for it: Blyumenfeld, a rabbi in a Jewish colony of Kherson, Rabbi of Pinsk, Beylin, Gershfeld in Balta, Goldenveyzer in Moscow etc.

How often does this happen to you that while trying to help someone to connect with their family members, you're discovering your own connections?

Where FYC is researching today? In France! Interestingly enough Russian State Military Archive has interesting information about Jewish magazine that was issued in France. La Terre Retrouvée was the monthly “illustrated” magazine of the French Jewish National Fund K.K.L. (1928–1959)

Long overdue - the new logo that I feel totally reflects what I do: put pieces of a puzzle together by connecting cousins.

I am looking for descendants of Greenberg /Grinberg family from Vinnitsa, Ukraine. Boris and Faina Grinberg had two sons: Grigoriy and Aleksandr, they were born in 1920 and 1924-25. I was able to find Aleksandr's military photo and the address where the family lived when the war started - Lenin street 32, Vinnitsa. Also based on the information that I found in the US records, Aleksandr could've immigrated with his family to the US and settled in Brooklyn. There is a record that states that the person with the same first and last name, and the same date of birth lived at 1447 E 2nd St in Brooklyn and died in 2010. There are no records that could be found to either confirm that this is the same Aleksandr or refute this idea. Sometimes in situations like this, the social media can be a great aid with research. Lets see if this time it'll produce any results.

Я разыскиваю потомков семьи Гринберг из Винницы. У Бориса и Фаины Гринберг было два сына Григорий и Александр приблизительно 1920 и 1924-25 года рождения. Я нашла на сайте память народа, запись о том, что семья проживала в предвоенное время по ул. Ленина 32. На этом же сайте удалось найти военное фото младшего сына Александра. По неподтверждённым данным, Александр с семьёй иммигрировал в США, перед смертью проживал по адресу 1447 E 2nd St Бруклин и умер в Бруклине в 2010 году, но к сожалению ни подтвердить эти данные ни найти следы его родных пока не удалось. Может быть кому-то эта информация покажется знакомой, тогда я буду благодарна если вы со мной свяжитесь.

I never know where my clients' research will take me to. Yesterday it was villages of Belarus, today I am learning about Jewish society of St. Petersburg.

The best part of my job is hands down family reunions. The excitement of watching newly found or long-lost family members meet or talk for the first time never fades away, never becomes routine. Every new reunion comes with a wave of incredible emotion and endless desire to reconnect more families.

I got to be a part of a reunion once again yesterday when I sat in on two second cousins talking to each other for the first time. Their excitement and elation during the conversation was palpable. They were given the chance to meet each other all because of one letter, written in Yiddish, in which one cousin’s grandmother wrote to the other cousin’s grandfather to say how much she misses him. The grandfather kept this letter for 50 years, but never spoke to anyone about relatives left behind in the old country.

Now that the cousins have discovered their family ties, they’ve spent time exchanging pictures and sharing stories, and hope to meet sometime soon. I hope these two cousins will be in touch and will create memories together!

Stopped at Old Book Shop, Morristown, NJ . OMG! Some of the items on the shelves left us speechless! Old maps, ledgers, newspapers dated 1800x. What a gem for a genealogist!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CM7oHNaps1L/?igshid=1a74sx4sr3snc

Stopped at #oldbookshop in Morristown, Nj OMG! Some of the items on the shelves left us speechless! Old maps, bank ledgers, newspapers dated 1800x. What a gem for a genealogist!

It's amazing what you can find on the internet auctions! When I got a newsletter that there is a new lot available and I looked at the names listed, I knew exactly what to do with it.

"This is the letter from my grandpa to my grandma! Inna, are you a magician?" was the reaction of the person who recognized the names on the letter.

That case when you are working on a research for a client and come across a record that makes someone else happy!