Brick Wall

Tammy Lynn Driver

I've been trying to help a cousin break down the brick wall that is his paternal line. His father was born in the Ukraine in 1909. He immigrated to the US with his mother, sister, and step-father in 1916. 

We have been unable to find the children's birth or christening records, or the marriage record for the mother's 2nd marriage, since we don't know when or where they got married. We don't know what her maiden name was, or what her 1st husband's name was. The children took the step-father's name when their mother remarried, so we don't know what their birth surname is.

Not being able to read Russian or Ukrainian makes research there difficult.

IgorYa

Hello,

I don't quite understand what's the question here. What do you have to start with? Ship records, more specific birth dates, names for anyone in the family, location references of any sort in Ukraine/Russian empire? Any other documents in Russian you need help translating?

thanks,

Igor.

Tammy Lynn Driver

Son's name Egor Mikhail Kell-Polyakov born 26 Aug 1909 Vapniarka, Tomashpil Raion, Vinnytsia, Ukraine. His name was changed to Edgar Michael in the US. Mother's name Sophia Mikhailvona. Maiden name unknown. She was born 21 Feb 1889 Tulchyn, Bratslav Uyezd, Podolia, Russian Empire. His step-father was Leo Alexander Kell-Polyakov. Father's name, dates and places of birth, marriage, and death unknown.

IgorYa

Hello,

considering there are 0 results when searching for any variations of Kell-Polyakov spelling that I could come up with in Russian, I would assume that Polyakov or Kell is actually either the maiden name or the first husbands last name.

Not sure how this goes in other countries, but in Russia in early 1900s it was fairly common to keep maiden name and add husbands name as the second one. Quite possibly the mother was Софья Михайловна Келль (or Кель) and the son was Егор Михайлович Келль and after second marriage everyone became Келль-Поляков.

Also consider the ever changing geography around those times, for example Vapniarka back then was

Вапнярка Журавлівської волости Брацлавського повіту Подільської губернії (in Ukrainian)

For instance ДЕРЖАВНИЙ АРХІВ ХМЕЛЬНИЦЬКОЇ ОБЛАСТІ (ДАХмО) has the following metric books:

1. Подільська губернія

2. Подільська духовна консисторія

3. Свято-Параскевинська церква, с. В апнярка Брацлавського пов. Журавлівської вол.

5. Народження: 1908, 1911: ф. 315, оп. 1, спр. 12714

6. Шлюб: 1908, 1911: ф. 315, оп. 1, спр. 12714

8. Смерть: 1908, 1911: ф. 315, оп. 1, спр. 12714

I don't see this document scanned and online and unfortunately dates aren't the 1909 or 1912 (seems to be the alternative birth year of Egor per the ship records) but it still may be worth querying for it to see if there would be any familiar names in there.

thanks,

Igor.

Tammy Lynn Driver

Hi Igor,

Egor's mother remarried after the death of her first husband. Her 2nd husband's name was Leo Alexander Kell-Polyakov. Supposedly, He was a chief of police in Kiev, and was involved with the railroads in China and/or the Ukraine. He had a daughter named Theresa Kell-Polyakov from his first marriage. He died in Nov 1923. That's all I know about him.

I've forwarded the information you provided on to my cousin. It's very much appreciated.

Tammy

IgorYa

Hello,

comment was probably too long, shortened and trying again

Tulchyn situation is much better, Державний архів Вінницької області (ДАВіO) has a lot of records in fund 904.

(Народження is births, Шлюб - marriage, Смерть - death) so 1898 or 1890 births are covered provided the birth was registered by either of these two orthodox churches. If they were catholic or lutheran, let me know, there are more churches/metric books listed.

Again these doesn't seem to be digitized, so you'd probably have to hire someone remotely to visit the archive for you. Alternatively you could send a query to archive yourself, it has to be done in Ukrainian as far as I understand. Archive won't do the research for you, they will only answer queries for specific names/places/dates, not sure how they'd feel about sending a copy of the entire metric book if you are not certain about the last name. See some rules here:

https://davio.gov.ua/page/zvernennya_gromadyan

Please note that this is just my impression reading the forums, I'm not a pro in genealogical research and so far only sent one query to one of the Ukrainian archives three weeks ago and so far only got the acknowledgement but no response.

Still I think these are your best way forward:

1. Подільська губернія

2. Подільська єпархія

3. Свято-Успенська церква м. Тульчин Брацлавського повіту Подільської

губернії

4. м. Тульчин,с.Мазурівка

5. Народження: 1865-1867: ф.904, оп.35, спр.39; 1874-1877: ф.904, оп.35, спр.66; 1878-1884: ф.904, оп.35, спр.104; 1885-1889: ф.904, оп.35, спр.133; 1890-1894: ф.904, оп.35, спр.167; 1895-1898: ф.904, оп.35, спр.196; 1899-1900: ф.904, оп.35, спр.224; 1901: ф.904, оп.35, спр.232; 1902: ф.904, оп.35, спр.236; [and on to 1921]

6. Шлюб: 1865-1867: ф.904, оп.35, спр.39; 1873-1877: ф.904, оп.35, спр.66; 1878-1884: ф.904, оп.35. спр.104; 1885-1889: [and on to 1922]

8. Смерть: 1865-1867: ф.904, оп.35, спр.39; 1871, 1873-1877: ф.904, оп.35, спр.66; 1878-1884: [and on to 1921]

1. Подільська губернія

2. Подільська єпархія

3. Церква Різдва Христового м. Тульчин Брацлавського повіту

Подільської губернії

4. м. Тульчин

5. Народження: 1873-1877: ф.904, оп.35, спр.71; 1880-1882: ф.904, оп.35, спр.112; 1883-1885: ф.904, оп.35, спр.131; 1886-1889: ф.904, оп.35, спр.146; 1890-1895: ф.904, оп.35, спр.166; 1872-1873, 1893-1896: ф.904, оп.35, спр.191; 1897-1898: ф.904, оп.35, спр.196;

6. Шлюб: 1873-1877: ф.904, оп.35, спр.71; 1880-1882: 1880-1882: ф.904, оп.35. спр.112; 1883-1885: ф.904, оп.35, спр.131; 1886-1889: ф.904, оп.35, спр.146; 1872, 1890-1895: ф.904, оп.35, спр.166; 1893-1894, 1896: ф.904, оп.35, спр.191; 1897-1898: ф.904, оп.35, спр.196;

8. Смерть: 1873-1877: ф.904, оп.35, спр.71; 1880-1882: ф.904, оп.35, спр.112; 1883-1885: ф.904 оп.35, спр.131; 1886-1889: ф.904, оп.35, спр.146; 1872, 1890-1895: ф.904, оп.35, спр.166; 1893-1896: ф.904, оп.35, спр.191; 1897-1898: ф.904, оп.35, спр.196;

thanks,

Igor.

Tammy Lynn Driver

Hello Igor,

Thank you for the information. I will forward this to my cousin.

Tammy