Searching for great grandparents born in Ukraine in 1880s. Nothing comes up in searches. Any sugge
Looking specifically for Max Sokol DOB 1881, immigration to US 1907. And his wife, Betty Paul, born 1888, both in what is now Ukraine, have heard Odessa mentioned. Little known about them, except they had 3 children, one of whom is my deceased grandmother who would not speak of her parents.
Answers
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Hello Karen!
In Russian Empire research, records were kept at a local level, so you will need to know the name of the town before you can locate information about them in the Russian Empire.
I located your family in the 1920 census and noted a few important details from the census:
- Their language is listed as Yiddish, which implies they were Jewish.
- The census suggests they immigrated to the US in 1907 and in 1920, they were listed as aliens, which means they had not yet naturalized by 1920.
- Two of their children were born in New York, and one of them was born in Canada.
Using this information, I located a border crossing record from Canada into the US for the family. They came from Canada to the US in 1914. You can see the record here on Ancestry. If you don't have access to Ancestry, I've also attached the record below. On the second page of the border crossing record, it lists the birthplace of both Max and his wife. It is listed as "Dwinsk," which upon closer examination is not located in Ukraine, but rather in Latvia. You can see more about the location here. Another important detail from the border crossing is that it states that they resided in the US from 1906-1910 and left the US in February of 1910. There is also a brother in law listed on there. He might be good to research as well.
As your ancestors appear to have been Jewish, probably one of the best steps moving forward is to use the databases found on JewishGen.org. The site is free (donations unlock some extra search features), but requires registration. If you need help using the website, let me know.
You may also want to do some additional research in the US and Canada before moving on to research records in the Russian Empire. You can use the US and Canada Community groups or if you prefer face-to-face research help, try signing up for a free online research consultation with a specialist from the Family History Library. You can read more about that here.
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Oh my gosh, I'm gobsmacked! Yes, they were most definitely Jewish and this is a side of the family about which little is known and in which I'm very interested! Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is great information and thank you for advising me on where to search next! Bless you!
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Happy to help! Keep us posted on how your research goes and if you have any additional questions
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