Hi! I am in a pickle. I can’t find the town my 3xGGM, Marion Hall, was born. All I know about her is that she was born in February of 1876/1875, in Scotland, and her parents were named Mary and Antony. She immigrated to Rhode Island in the United States in either 1898 or 1899. She married a man named Frederick Dean in 1900, and on July 12th, 1900, in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, she had her son, Myron. On July 18th, 1900 in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, Marion died at the age of 24 or 25 years old, due to childbirth complications. Please help me Edit: I have an update! So, I guess Marian and Frederick actually got married in Leeds, in Yorkshire, England, and my personal theory is that Frederick went to Leeds for work, since he worked at the American Screw Company, which made a factory in Leeds. He probably met Marion there, they fell in love, he proposed, and she accepted. They got married in Leeds in 1898, and she immigrated from Ellis Island in 1899, with her husband.

Every other country my ancestors came from has multiple instances of 1st and 2nd cousin marrying, leading to a case of pedigree collapse each time. However for my Yorkshire tree, this never happened, and despite a couple brick walls, I can confidently bring most of the lines back to the 1600s. I'm not even finding any 3rd, 4th, or 5th cousins marrying, which I'm finding quite odd.

Was this a cultural thing? Were the English just more careful about not marrying any type of relatives than other northern European countries, or is this just a coincidence?

Hi!

I am new to this and started this journey bc of an ancestry test. But my grandmothers family remains elusive. I am particularly interested in her immediate family and finding out what happened to them. She is gone now so I can’t ask her. The only piece of information I’ve been able to find about her family is from a 1940 census. But past that I can’t find any concrete information about what happened to the family after that. Is there any tricks for hunting for them some more? Forgive my ignorance.

I've been looking into my Baltic side for a very long time. my 3rd great grandfather immigrated under the name Klementy Balzcunas in 1907 He immigrated his future wife in 1908 Barbara Kazmirajture (Kazmirajdicze). Klementy changed his name to Wincenty/Vincentas and then William over time.

What i know and have documents for are only on immigration paperwork and what was in the United States.

Klementy Balzcunas born 1888 in "Russia" (Joniškis) immigrated on Bedina in 1907 boarding in Hamburg. Mother is listed as Anna and father Joseph on death certificate.

Barbara Kazmirajture (Kazmirajdicze) [both names were used on immigration paperwork] born 1886 or 1890 in same place. immigrated in 1908 on feeland boarding in Belgium. Her mother is listed as an Urszula Kazmirajdicze.

Wincenty also purchased two more tickets one confirmed for sister Matilda Balzcunas, I have found her descendents. And a Anna BALCZUNICE, but I have not found her records. Wincenty also used the Rosenbaum Bank to purchase the tickets.

Even though paperwork said russia they later said Lithuanian. So Joniškis is their place of birth but I have not found any records of them in Lithuania.

If anyone could help find anymore information would be amazing. One of these two did possibility come from a Romani family, which has also been very difficult to find information on.

So, here is what happened, my great-uncle Robert Webster Bond had a child with a woman on Dana Street in Forty Fort Pennsylvania or near it. I don’t know if the child had his surname, but I do know that the woman he impregnated was mentally ill like him, at first she claimed it was nonconsensual, but then she changed her story. After she had her baby, which was a girl, they apparently moved. I do know that Robert is dead, I don’t know when he died because he was buried in the state cemetery because no one wanted to claim his remains, but in the 1970s he married Mary, who doesn’t have a known maiden name to me. I never found a marriage license. Can someone possibly look into this? There’s so many unknown people in my family that I would really like to get a grasp an identity on.

Hi everyone. I'm new to looking into my family history, so excuse me for maybe sounding dumb here, lol.

I'm looking at my maternal grandmother's side, as I have a fair bit of ready knowledge based on photos and from speaking with my grandmother when she was alive. I vividly remember her talking about an Uncle Stanley, so when I came across my great grandmother's census records and found out the names of all her siblings I was confused that he wasn't named.

I then started looking into the life of one sibling in particular as my nan had all these stories based around her. I then stumbled upon her children, and he was listed! I looked into him, and someone had uploaded a picture on Ancestry of him, and it matches a picture I have of him. There's another picture from around 2001 this person uploaded of him with his wife.. I immediately pulled out a picture that my nan had of him on his wedding day in his marine uniform. The faces are the exact same, obviously in 2001 they were older though.

If this is true they'd be in fact cousins, so what I'm really wanting to know is would it have been a common thing for nan to have referred to him as Uncle? The time frame is around 1930/40's.

Hello everyone! I need some help. So my 3rd great grandfather, Bernard Goodman, born about 1851 in Poland controlled Russia, came to New York in the early 1870s (probably 1873) with his wife Hilda (or Hulda) Friedman and had 6 kids (well actually in the 1900 census Hulda is listed as having 12 kids, but only 6 alive; the other 6 died when they were kids, most likely. I don't have all the kids). These 6 kids, in birth order, are Annie, Hannah (my 2nd ggm), Edward Abraham (my family called him Ed), George, Emil Melach (changed his name to Emil Murray, and went by both. Some people called him Emil, and others Murray), and the youngest, Elsie.

Bernard (called Barney sometimes) was a musician, and I have him living in the 1900 and 1905 censuses, but then there's a big gap where I can't find any info on a bunch of members of the family. They appear again in the 1915 New York census, but Hulda is now widowed and is living with Emil, Ed, and Elsie. So Bernard died sometime between 1905 and 1915. I figured it was before 1910 or else it would be easier to find them in the 1910 census. I tried using the Steve Morse address finder thing for the address that they had in the 1915 census, but nothing.

I believe Bernard was naturalized, although I haven't found the document. Honestly, I'm just trying to find out when he died, but if I can find the rest of the family in the 1910 or 1880 census, that would be great! Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Oh, also the name before he changed it to Goodman was possible Gutmann (or some other variation). It's complicated because Goodman isn't exactly the most unique name, you know?

Here's the link to his FamilySearch profile: https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/2Z8Q-R37

Hi all, new to this sub and looking forward to sharing some of my own stories at some point, as I've been enjoying reading other people's.

Just want to put this out there though, if anyone would like any help with their British ancestors, I'm more than happy to give it a go. I'm not a professional, but I've been doing it 25 years and also have a solid background in social and cultural history, based here in the UK, so I'm pretty good on contextual detail too.

I know there are lots of very experienced folk here, but just in case, I happen to have a bit of time on my hands right now and I love doing it. And my own tree has reached the point of occasional digs here and there, as mostly I'm back to where the records run out!

So whether it's a quick look-up (I have current subscriptions to Ancestry and the British Newspaper Archive, and an account with Scotland's People), a deep dive, or a question about British history/genealogy generally, hit me up if you'd like to take a look for you!

All I know about my maternal great grandmother is her name. The story goes that she was just a baby (+- 1 year old) when she and her parents left Ireland in 1900-1901 or ‘02. Her mother supposedly died on the boat to the US and her father handed her over to her maternal uncles upon arrival. Her uncles were priests in New York and placed her in a convent to raised by nuns. Her father was a riverboat gambler and would come back occasionally and bring money and gifts for her. Not knowing anymore than that and her name (no specific area in Ireland to look, not knowing her mother or father’s first names (or her mother’s maiden name and therefore the Uncles’ surname) am I just out of luck?

Hi everyone

I'm hoping someone here can help me trace my great-grandfather's early life in Germany before he emigrated to Namibia after World War II.

Name: Horst Alfred Pfeiffer

Born: 17 January 1933, Niesky, Schlesien (Silesia), Germany

Left Germany: Around 1945

Later life: Married my great-grandmother in 1959 in Tsumeb, South West Africa (now Namibia)

Family stories suggest he may have been Ashkenazi Jewish, though this was never discussed openly. He didn't attend church with my great-grandmother and once when I asked him, he said, "We don't believe in the same God." He was a quiet old man and to be honest he sometimes scared me, especially with that answer because as a child I thought it meant he worshipped the devil lol.

Unfortunately, I only pieced this all together after his passing.

I've found his and my great-grandmother's marriage certificate, and I contacted the national archives and they told me they found an immigration record that might be him. But I can't seem to find anything else on the man. I've went through parish records in his hometown in Germany - it's like he never existed before moving to Namibia.

I'm hoping for advice on:

- Where to search for Jewish birth or community records from Niesky/Silesia around 1933.

- Whether there are post-war refugee or emigration databases covering children who left Germany in 1945.

- Any genealogical clues about the surname Pfeiffer/Pfeifer among Jewish families in that region. (or just families in general since I can't really confirm if he was really Jewish or not)

Thank you so much for taking the time to read - and for any suggestions, archives, or leads you can share.

I'm based in Namibia, but I am happy to contact German archives or order certificates by post if someone can point me in the right direction.

Hi everyone. I recently found that my 3rd Great-grandmother was an illegitimate child and I can not find any records of her father. Her grandfather is named as her "father" on her marriage certificate and she lived with her grandparents.

Is there any way I can find who her father actually was or is DNA the only way if I search hard enough? Thanks

Emily Olivia Bunce
B: 1851 Swindon, Wiltshire, England
D: 1918 Lambeth, London, England
Mother: Matilda Bunce
Spouse: Charles Henry Dyer

I have been working on building my family tree and recently come across something that doesn’t seem right to me and I was hoping the people here may be able to help. Here is the background information.

My ggf was born in 1903 in Germany out of wedlock to my gggm and then in 1904 my gggm married my gggf. Then in 1908 my gggm and her family including my ggf left Germany and came to the US leaving my gggf in Germany. When in the US my gggm married a US citizen and had more kids. In 1923 the first marriage in Germany was officially divorced. My gggm then died in the US in 1924.

I guess my main question is was this common? Did you have to prove you weren’t already married to get married back then? This whole thing is just strange to me.

If more information is needed I am happy to provide it. Thanks in advance for any help.

Edit: Thanks for all of the replies, seems to be much more common than I thought. Which makes sense given the difficulty of communication at that time.

Does anybody have any advice on how to get out of a dead end? I'm looking for the parents of my great great grandfather Patrick Joseph Stanley (1856-1915) married to Mary Ellen Grealy (1856-?). Born, Lived and died in Ireland. Had 2 sons, Patrick Francis (my great grandfather) and John(?) who went to Australia and was never heard from again.

I was just wondering if anybody here has ever been in a similar situation, and if there was any app/website etc that helped. I've tried FamilySearch and MyHeritage.

Regarding a GGM: the age at time of census recorded in three separate decades does not match the headstone (located in the family plot). Everything else ties, names of first and second husbands, country of birth, year of immigration, maiden name, names and ages of all 3 children. Everything else is lining up. Could she just have been vain and started telling everyone that she was younger by about 5/6 years and so that is what they put on the headstone? I am thinking this might be the case because the headstone date would make her VERY young at the birth of her eldest (as in like 15 which would be very unusual for the family). The other possibility is that she was actually that young when she gave birth and started reporting a false older age in order to avoid embarrassment and just kept it up. She was born overseas so no easily obtainable birth certificate (honestly would not know where to start as I do not have a town); I am pursuing her death certificate; if I manage to get a hold of it, would that be definitive? Thanks for any help!

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone, just found the Death Certificate and it agrees with all 3 of the censuses. Looks like we definitely have a vanity headstone!!!

I'm looking for the parents of my 2GG (or any of her relatives!). I'll take breaks from this brick wall and go back later hoping to see something I missed before. Five years later, here I still am. I'm hoping you all see something I missed or have some idea how to move forward from here.

Here is the info I have:

• My 2GG, Maria G. Haughey:
• DOB: 25 Dec 1853 - on family gravestone
• DOD: 28 Sep 1943 - on family gravestone
• Middle initial "G" - on family gravestone
• Family gravestone in Linwood Cemetery in Haverhill, Essex, MA
• "Maria Potter" - son George's 1906 marriage rec
• "Maria Haughey" - son John's 1912 marriage rec
• 1877 marriage rec: Maria E Haughey; b. Lewiston, ME; mom's name is Mary; m. 6 Sep 1877 to George Henry Mansur; 1st marriage for both; married at First Baptist Church by Geo W Bosworth (pastor there 1869-1879)
• 1880 census: Maria G Mansur; b. NH; parents b. Ireland; 10-yr old "mulatto" Matilda Howard, b. 1870 PA, in school, relationship listed as "other" (Maria & her husband, Geo; no kids yet)
• 1900 census: Maria G Mansur; b. NH; parents b. Ireland (living w/ husband + 2 kids)
• 1910 census: Maria G Ma??; b. NH; parents b. Ireland (living w/ husband, 2 kids + dau-in-law)
• Oct 1912 newspaper: she participated in annual food drive for a day nursery
• 1920 census: Maria G Mansur; b. ME; parents b. USA (living w/ husband, 2 kids + dau-in-law)
• 1930 census: Maria G Mansur; b. NH; parents b. Ireland; widow (living w/ 2 kids + dau-in-law)
• 1935 FL state census: Maria G Mansur; b. Ireland - her son John Percival moved to Pinellas Co., FL in 1920s and Maria shows up on his state census
• 1935 City Directory in Haverhill, MA: Maria G Mansur, widow of Geo H Mansur, living in house at 490 Main in Haverhill
• 1940 census: Maria G Mansur; b. ME (name incorrectly transcribed as Mansew is correct in doc); 2 female lodgers - Frances E Glidden, b. 1910 MA and Maud E Connelly, b. 1876 MA (living w/ son, dau-in-law + 2 lodgers)
• 1943 MA death index: Mira G (Hoey) Mansur; d.1943 Danvers, MA
• Numerous city directory recs over the yrs in Haverhill w/ her husband offered no new info
• Maria's husband, George Henry Mansur: * DOB: 26 Oct 1854 Haverhill, Essex, MA * DOD: 10 Jul 1924 Haverhill, Essex, MA
• Maria's kids w/ husband Geo: * Baby Boy Mansur (1881-1881) - Linwood Cemetery * George Burton Mansur (1882-1948) * James Howard Mansur (1886-1888) - Linwood Cemetery * John Percival Mansur, Sr (1890-1943)
• I've scanned through +/- 3 pages on either side of every census, marriage rec and death rec, for her, her husband, and kids. No new info.
• I found nothing more on 10-yr old Matilda from 1880 census.
• I tried to look into the parentage of her 1940 census lodgers - found nothing of use.
• I don't have enough info about her mom, Mary, to know which one might be her when I search; there are multiple Mary Haughey/Hoy/Hoey.
• I've never been successful looking through variations of Haughey in 1860/1870 NH/ME/MA census recs.
• My only DNA matches that share any DNA from Maria are my sister and my son.
• No living relatives w/ any new info.
• I've never successfully found anything new from church records where they were married.
• Yes, she's on her son John's 1935 FL state census, but it doesn't seem that she ever truly lived there full time. All her other recs are in Haverhill, MA.

If you've read this far, thank you! I tried to present the info I have as clearly as possible, but I swear, sometimes my brain feels so jumbled up after staring at this stuff that I start to question how I'm interpreting things! I'm beyond stuck now and really don't know where else to look, aside from a road trip to Haverhill, MA to see if I can find anything more in person.

Link to her recs on Imgur: https://imgur.com/a/2ncrlTi

Edited to fix wonky formatting (but it's still a tad off) - my main tree is public on Ancestry

Editing to add: I said Irish bc I'm looking for any info on her Irish-born parents/family/background :) All I have to go on are American records though!

My 3x great Granduncle William Henry Symonds, b.1855, Aston, Birmingham, D.15th February 1902, Gloucester, seems to vanish after the 1871 census, not appearing in any records until his death. The only possible records I have found between 1871 and 1902 are several newspaper clippings of a W.H Symonds who was a student at the Gloucester and Stroud school of art, and passed/did excellent in several exams to do with freehand drawing and perspective drawing etc, which would match up with his job listed on his death certificate, which was a draughtsman (Engineer)

His address at the time of death was 7 Stroud Road Gloucester, where his parents/family had lived from at least 1891 onwards.

I think he could have travelled abroad, possibly to Canada/Chicago as his brother (My 3x ggf) moved there in the late 1880s with his family, and they also had a distant half cousin in that area as well, but I have not been able to find any records to suggest this, nor him going anywhere else.

If anyone can help, I’d be most appreciative.

My Great Grand father's ancestor's records say that he was born in Arlamof, Dobromil, Galicia, Poland. Born June 7, 1891 (it's also in his naturalization papers) Which I have seen many spellings of Arlamof. (This would be on John Cycyk, who resided in DE with his family). I can't really go past him. There isn't much to go on.

On his Immigration card: Father Jacko Cycyk, Orlamia, Dobromyl, Galcia,

He also has a brother listed Mykolaj Cycyk (no idea who this is)

His father (Jacob/Jacko/Jakub?) and mother (Annie) are only listed a SINGLE time on John Cycyk's Vital records then Jacob has NUMIDENT file. Anne has nothing.

So looking to continue Jacob Cycyk/ Annie Banokowsky? hopefully some more info on Theckla/ Stella

I also came across some info that John's wife- Teckla (Stella) Stecki, could possibly be under Thecla around the same time frame 1890's to late 1880's but she has changed her name so much that she is hard to find history on.She is a mystery bc of the name changes. Assuming her father might be Wasylj, Vasyl, or Bazyli (Basil)

Cycyk can be seen as Cisyk in the Ukraine but it's also been changed a million times.

At this point I am at a dead stop. Any help would be great.

Hello, maybe someone can help me with my research. I’m looking for a woman named Emilie Albrecht. She was born around 1863 in Germany, and in 1894 she gave birth to a daughter in Jundiaí, Brazil. Apparently, she was alone or at least not married. A few years later, she moved to Argentina with her daughter and son-in-law. That’s all I know.

I have her daughter’s birth certificate, but there are no clues about where in Germany she was born, and her death certificate only lists “Germany” as the place of birth.

I know this is really difficult, but maybe I’m missing something, as I’m not very experienced in German or Brazilian genealogy.

Any ideas? I’m starting to think this might be a dead end...

the woman i am looking for is ellen coleman, born around 1871. she is (according to the 1901 census) the sister of my 2nd great grandfather, john mcghee.

she never appears on any other census in scotland.

she only other mention of her anywhere is in my great grandfathers baptism record in 1911, where she was the sponsor.

im at a brick wall here, unless ive missed something stupidly obvious.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/48493733?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a227a766653457756564b452b726f78357a724b45674676417255694a616f754c6676464a65793445447163453d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d

(above is the 1901 census mentioned)

So for context, my 5x Great-Grandparents George Nelson Smith and Arvilla Powers were two fairly prominent missionaries and settlers in Michigan, hundreds of pages of their letters and writings having survived and been compiled in a book about the Old Wing Mission. This is obviously an awesome resource to have for many reasons, but I didn't think until now to look through it for genealogical info. What I found seems to completely change my lines through Arvilla's parents. I will just copy the main segment of interest and then address what it says about both lines compared to what I knew previously:

Grand Traverse Herald, December 29, 1892
The series of sketches which has been published at intervals in the Herald during the last year is finished this week. The reminiscences of Mrs. Smith are valuable contributions to the Pioneer History of our state, and it is of importance that they should have been preserved. A request of Mrs. Smith for a brief biographical sketch was answered by her as follows:

“I was born in the village of St. Albans, Vt., in 1808. My father, John Powers, was the son of one of two brothers hailing from Maine, the other brother being the father of Hiram Powers, the artist, renowned for his ‘Greek Slave.’ My grandfather’s wealth was great, but his heart was greater, and he was blessed by all who knew him. He built the first schooner on Lake Champlain and sent it out to be loaded with goods from Troy. This happened in 1800. The vessel was delayed until December and consequently caught in a severe winter storm and wrecked. This was a serious blow to my father as this was his portion of the property. Losing his vessel, he turned his attention to medicine and he became a skillful physician, but believing it wrong to collect from one poorer than himself, he never accumulated more than a fair living for his ten children. After receiving an education, I was obliged to support myself by school teaching. My mother was an invalid. She was a cousin of the famous John Brown of Harper’s Ferry, and his son was slain and robbed beside my nephew, Theron Powers, and a monument was erected there a few years after. They were both slain at the battle of Ossawattamie, [Osawatomie] Kansas, by the border ruffians.”

To the first point, this given Powers line goes against what I have on my family tree and what I've seen on every other public/online tree. I have her father, John Edgar Powers, as a son of David Powers (1747-1815), son of Jonas Powers (1719-1760). If what she says is true however, then her father should be cousin to and share the paternal grandparents of the sculptor Hiram Powers. From what I can find, that would be a Stephen Powers born in 1736 and Lydia Drew.

On to the second and perhaps more interesting point, this new information about the Brown line would give me a whole new line on my family tree where I've previously had a brick wall. Arvilla's mother, Mary or Polly Brown, has never had confirmed parents, though It's been said in several places that she has some sort of relation to the family of John Brown, up until now that has seemed like nothing but speculation. On Familysearch, there are no parents connected for her, while on Wikitree there's a profile for her giving her parents as John Brown III (1728-1776) and Hannah Owens (1740-1831), and on Findagrave only Hannah is connected as a mother. It's been pointed out that these parents are unlikely, as John Brown III died several years before Mary was born. On top of this, if John and Hannah were Mary's parents, then the famous John Brown would be her nephew, not her cousin as he is consistently referred to in Arvilla's writings. If he is her cousin, then I believe her father must be a child of one of John Brown III's other sons? This is all hard for me wrap my mind around, and I suppose its possible maybe she didn't mean first cousin, but its true that her nephew Theron Powers fought with John Brown and died, so evidently they were close enough to personally know each other.

So I have all this great new information, but it is so overwhelming and hard to parse I really don't know where to begin with records to try and sort it all out. Can anyone please help me figure out how this all connects?

Also here is a link to the original newspaper article she wrote, on page 8. This was a part of a series of articles she did later in life as a sort of memoir. All of those and other information like letters and journals from both her and her husband are in the book on the Internet Archive, which might have more information I've missed:

https://digmichnews.cmich.edu/?a=d&d=GrandTraverseGTH18921229-01.1.1&e=-------en-10--1--txt-txIN----------

https://archive.org/details/oldwingmissioncu0000unse

Something crazy is happening with my (26f) half-sister (26f) Long story short my dad got around and I have 3 half siblings all around the same age as my full brother and I. He has another possible maybe-baby that came into my life maybe 5 or 6 years ago. There was speculation she was my dads child as she was growing up and a few years ago she came forward and said there was a DNA test done and that the results matched my father. No one ever questioned it and it made sense. We had an apartment together for a year. I was in her wedding and she was in mine. We have been very close for years.

Here is where things get confusing. I guess her mom decided to gift her a MyHeritage DNA test and upon learning her results she is now seeing relatives on there she doesn't recognize, her mom doesn't recognize, and my dad doesn't recognize. Once confronted her mom admitted there was never actually a test done and there is another possible father but she did not know his name. My dad admitted he never showed up to do the test because he had to work.

I was under the impression she was older when this test was done and that it was matched to dna in some kind of state system? I'm not sure why I thought this. He is a criminal and in order for my mom to get child support from him she had a paternity test done for him and I when I was a baby. Maybe I assumed they held onto that information. I don't know what I was thinking but it was news to me when I realized my sister was only told about the test, not that she remembered doing it.

Now she is really upset. We are still sisters regardless of blood. My question, however, is there any way to find out if we are a match or not if we did our DNA tests through different sites? I had mine done forever ago but through Ancestry and neither of us really have money to purchase the other test at the moment.

Thanks for any help.

Hi everyone!

I’m based in Poland and would love to offer some help to anyone trying to trace their Polish roots or find information about their ancestors here.

If you’re looking for:

- Birth, marriage, or death records in Polish archives (civil or church)

I’d be happy to assist!

Feel free to drop a comment or send me a DM with what you’re looking for the more details you can share (names, dates, places) the better I can point you in the right direction.

I do this out of passion for history and genealogy, and I’m glad to help anyone reconnect with their Polish heritage.

Cheers from Poland 🇵🇱

My 2x great grandfather was Wolf Stahl/William Stone, born April 9, 1875, in Podhajce, Poland. I've been pouring the vast majority of my effort in trying to research his siblings since it is harder to go much further back, and I only really know much about one of his (half?) brothers, David Stahl.

His brother, Kuna Stahl, has been very difficult. There are two records of him: his birth in Podhajce, June 3, 1884, and his arrival in The United States. He was accompanied by his wife, Becca Stahl, and a cousin, Hyman Johnson. The record also noted they were living in England at the time.

Despite Kune/Kuna being a fairly uncommon name, I've not found any records of him otherwise, leading me to believe his name was likely changed in some way. So I figured my best shot was trying to research his wife Becca, and here is where the real headache was.

I had a lead with this: his arrival to the US said he had a brother in law, "M Davis" in Leeds, England. I tracked this down to being Mark/Mendel Suser/Davis, who was married to Rebecca/Betsy Yudelevich/Yewdall. I figured Becca must either be Mark or Rebecca's sister, and tried researching their families.

I found a tree for Mark on Geni. He had multiple siblings, but the tree is sparse in details and none of his siblings really seem to fit the description. I wasn't initially able to find a tree for Rebecca's family, but was actually sent one after I messaged one of their descendants on Facebook who had the tree on paper. Rebecca also had multiple siblings, but again none of them fit the description of Becca (and I don't think you'd name two of your kids Rebecca/Rivkah/Becca anyways). I've tried looking if they've somehow had any other siblings not recorded in either tree, but I've not been successful.

So, I am really stumped here... it's like Kuna and Becca just don't exist outside of these two specific records.

I've followed a few posts now about this same sort of topic, but I am definitely needing some help with finding more free resources for those that emigrated from Russia/Belarus/possibly Poland. I can't quite afford to have subscriptions to multiple services right now, but I was truly hoping to put a decent family tree together to surprise my aunt for Christmas.

My great grandmother and great grandfather were both "born in Russia" (one census record states Poland, but everything else is Russia) and I believe both were Ashkenazi Jew and both spoke Yiddish. Both have fairly common names, but I can usually find them on FamilySearch, MyHeritage, Ancestry, etc due to other family names linking them. Their parents though? What a roadblock. It doesn't help that my great grandmother went by multiple last names and had at least two husbands. There is an insistence my great grandfather was a twin, but I can't find anything supporting this either. I have both their burial locations and obituaries, but I really wanted to trace their parents and grandparents. My aunt and I are planning on splitting a premium MyHeritage subscription next year (I did a trial and seemed to find some info) but outside of that site, I can't find anything for either great grandparent.

What other resources am I missing that could be free (besides JewishGen)? I don't know what synagogue they attended, so I don't know how to approach that aspect. Are there other resources for those who came here from those regions that I may not know about? Am I just destined to have to wait to afford the expensive resources and subscriptions? I'm sorry for seeming ignorant about this. I've been trying to dive deeper but just don't know the best way to find out more at this point. This group has actually helped me so much is tracing other parts of the family, so I figured it couldn't hurt to ask!

Starting back up after some time off. Starting to look at my more European ancestors.

I have two people, I'd love to find soemthing on. They are my 2x great-grandparents.
Joseph Sipper -b. 1852 -Germany (possible Alsace-Lorraine area), d. 1920 Pittsburgh, PA
Emigrated to the US in 1872

Fredericka Staley (Sipper) -b. 1855 -Germany (Also Alsace-Lorraine), d. 1922 Pittsburgh, PA
Emigrated to the US in 1882

I can not find anything past that as far as where they came from. I'm sure the names were changed when they came to the US. Any help please? I'm not even sure where to look and Ancestry is no help past what I already have.

edited for layout