Having a hard time finding much about my family any tips?

Question

I am trying to find information on my great grandparents(my paternal grandmother's parents) but I can't find much information on them and I don't know why I do know they were born in the late 1800's, they were Jewish and from Eastern Europe I believe my great grandfather was from Russia and my great grandmother was from Poland I also know they immigrated to Canada but my main thing is I am not able to find many records on them or even where they were really from also birth locations and their names changed in different records for example on some of my great grandfathers records(that I do have) it shows different first names such as Henry, Harry, Harris my aunt said it was Abraham/Avraham idk and for my great grandmother it showed names such as Sarah Rachel Fonovich or Rachel Addnorach my great aunt(grandmothers sister) said she used two maiden names I am guessing Fonovich and Addnorach I know last names won't tell where she was from but are these last names found in any country or are they fake last names? also it shows their birth locations changing from both Russian, both Polish, both German and then one Russian and one Polish how do I get to the bottom of this? the problem is my grandmother is the only one out of 5 children who actually had kids so this is really all my dad knows

Nothingusefullearnedinschool · Accepted Answer

Start out with what you know.  If you are doing your genealogy, such things as "the problem is my grandmother is the only one out of 5 children who actually had kids so this is really all my dad knows" is irrelevant.

If you are trying to find all your relatives, give up: there are millions of them.  You will just have to stick with who is important.

So, try such sites as www.familysearch.org.  Then try www.cyndislist.com to find genealogy sites for Poland, Russia, Canada and wherever else your ancestors lived.

It can be confusing, it can be daunting, but in your search for ancestors, look up the city/country on google to get a background view of things.  That would include the language spoken in the region.

Abraham/Avraham is no big deal; look at John/James/Jeems/Joan/Joanne, Joanna, Juan, Juana, etc....all variants of the same name.  Of course, when it occurs in the surnames it becomes more challenging.

No doubt a part of it can be due to moving from one country to another (sometimes all that needs to be done to "move" is to have one country invade the other, as Russia invaded Poland not so long ago, Germany invading France repeatedly, etc.  So, folks line up to sign up, then they have a new regime, and have to sign up again...in a different language.

So, stick to it, try the above sites, and good luck.

DrJ · Answer

First, you want to explore and even join the free website, JewishGen.org.

There is a family finder there and you may find someone else researching your surnames.

Did they become citizens?  Do you have the naturalization documents?  Do you have gravestone pictures with information on them?  Do you have death and birth information?  Do you have obituaries?  Do you have ship manifests?  Do you have........   you get the idea.  There are many ways to search.... both directly and through siblings of ancestors.

Observer · Answer

Jewish Genealogy is  separate  from general genealogy because there are some different things that must be considered when researching.  Try looking for a Jewish Genealogy society in your area

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Having a hard time finding much about my family any tips?

3 Answers