Finding Your Town of Origin

Finding Your Ancestor’s Town of 

Origin 

with Citizenship and Immigration Records

by Marion E. Werle

with thanks to Paul Cheifitz

Introduction

Most people researching their Latvian Jewish roots are the descendants of immigrants who braved the unknown to leave their home country and pursue a new life in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel, South Africa, Argentina or elsewhere.  Before going overseas to examine our roots, we first need to examine our immigrant ancestors and find out all we can about them and their extended families.  In doing so, the researcher must learn about names and naming, immigration and naturalization records, and Latvian geography and history.

Much has already been written on names, both personal and the adoption and formats of Jewish surnames.  Latvia became part of the Russian Empire in 1795, and as such, most of the official overseas documents that are relevant to family research will reflect Russian spelling.  Jewish personal and surnames were translated to Russian equivalents according to their sound, so spelling was not consistent.  When Latvia became independent after World War I, records reflect the Latvian forms of surnames.  When looking at immigration records, especially ship manifests, the researcher needs to know both the original surname and the first name (typically in Yiddish) of the immigrant ancestor.  Not every immigrant changed his or her name, and if it was changed, it was not changed by officials at Ellis Island. 1   The original surname may be the subject of family lore, and aside from the Ellis Island myth, may likely be true.  Occasionally the original surname may be found on a naturalization record.  Warren Blatt presented an excellent talk on Jewish Given Names and their variations.  The classic work on the origins of Russian Jewish surnames is Alexander Beider’s reference book on the topic. 2   Jeffrey Mark Paull and Jeffrey Briskman have also written an interesting background article on the adoption of Jewish surnames in the Russian Empire.

Parents’ Names

In order to distinguish your ancestor from others with the same or similar name, it is helpful to know the given names of the immigrant ancestor’s parents.  Possible sources: are marriage records, gravestones (older stones show the Hebrew name of the father), U.S. Social Security applications (SS-5 form), and death certificates.  Documents filled out by the immigrant themselves are generally more reliable that those completed by descendants (e.g., death certificate informants), who may not have known the ancestor’s parents personally.  Name changes that took place in Israel during the British mandate period are described below.

Town(s) of Origin – Getting Beyond “Russia”

While some families immigrated together, it was common for younger relatives to strike out on their own and immigrate as individuals, sometimes joining an older relative who had already made the journey.  When researching the history of your family, be prepared to look for both individuals and families.  People left for many reasons, some economic, some personal, some fleeing the draft or persecution.  It was common for a father to leave his family behind while he got established in his new country, sending for his family some years later.  The first task in researching an ancestor’s family is to learn about their immigration story in order to identify where they lived before they immigrated.  There are multiple record types that can give clues about the immigrant’s place of origin.  The trick is to find a source that is specific and not just a reference to the generic “Russia.”  The categories of records which may be helpful include immigration records (ship manifest and border crossings), naturalization records, and passports.  Note that not all immigrants naturalized in the country where they settled.  In general, later records give more specific information than earlier ones.  The earliest ship records point only to the country of origin.  For U.S. naturalization information, pre-1906 certificates are not generally useful.  Other possible sources of immigrant origin information include some vital records (birth, marriage, and death), identity cards, and family photographs.

Note that the documents under discussion may not always be accurate.  People were not always knowledgeable about their birthdate or exact birthplace, depending on what they had been told by their families.  Often immigrants gave the name of the closest big city, rather than the small shtetl where they were actually born or lived.  The reliability of death records for parents’ birthplaces depends on the knowledge of the informant, which is sometimes lacking.  Conversely, parents are likely to know the birthplace of their children, whose names and birth places may be listed in naturalization documents.

If there is no information about a specific ancestor, research collateral relatives who immigrated (parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, etc.).  It is good practice to research the entire immigrant family, as records may exist for some members and not for others.  By researching the entire family, it is possible to create a tentative picture of the family’s origins.

A Note on Vital Records

Vital records (birth, marriage, and death) vary greatly, based on jurisdiction.  They are maintained by a number of different levels of government — municipal, state or province, or even country.  Some contain specific information on the ancestor’s (or their parents’) birthplaces, while others only contain the country of origin.  Availability of vital records depends entirely on location, both in terms of coverage and access laws.  Some agencies have made great strides in digitizing records, while others have not, so records may need to be ordered online, via mail or even viewed onsite.  Genealogy databases such as FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com ($), and MyHeritage.com ($) have also obtained both indexes and digitized copies of many vital records.

Vital records access is covered in a number of general genealogical “how-to” videos, and online or printed sources.  The FamilySearch Wiki can be especially helpful, as it details information about vital records access by geographical location.  Because of the wide variation of records and means of access, the beginning researcher should consult general genealogical sources to learn about the availability and contents of vital records for the areas where their ancestors settled.  This discussion will focus on immigration and citizenship resources that may identify the town of origin, divided by the countries listed below.

United States

Prior to 1891, U.S. passenger lists did not give much information on immigrant passengers.  After 1891, the U.S. Bureau of Immigration was created to handle immigration affairs, and steamship companies were required to complete the manifests at the port of embarkation.  Over time, responsibility for immigration shifted to other government agencies, and steamship manifests collected more details about new immigrants.  Depending on year of the manifest, there will be columns for the “Last permanent residence” and “Place of birth.”  Later manifests include the name and address of the nearest relative or friend in country of origin.  This information was also collected at border crossings between the U.S. and Canada.  Whether looking at a ship manifest or border crossing record, be sure to check for a page 2, which often has additional valuable information.  If the immigrant sailed from Hamburg, there will be a German emigration manifest in addition to the American immigration manifest.

In most cases, immigrants arrived in the U.S. under their “old country” names.  The exception might be if an immigrant lived in an intermediate country for some period of time (e.g., U.K. or Ireland) and changed their name prior to boarding the ship to America.  The spelling of the immigrant’s name depends on the way it sounded to the recording clerk, and may vary according to the jurisdiction under which they sailed.  Spelling of names was imprecise, so the researcher needs to be creative!

One useful video which will help in your search are Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors, by Crista Cowan on the Ancestry.com YouTube channel.

Obtaining U.S. Ship Manifests

U.S. ship manifests and indexes are available on a variety of websites, some free and some subscription.  Ancestors coming in through Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, or other ports will not show up on the Ellis Island website. 

• Ellis Island records – passenger search

  • One-step webpages by Steve Morse – includes one-step pages for Ellis Island and Castle Gardens; note that this website can also front-end Ancestry.com searches (members only)

• Castle Garden holds records of New York arrivals prior to the opening of Ellis Island, covering 1820 – 1892.

• FamilySearch.org has Ellis Island and other passenger lists, as well as border crossings.  Access is free, although you need to set up a userid.

• Ancestry.com ($) – has manifests for ships arriving at multiple U.S. ports.  It has a collection of Hamburg ship lists (in German) arriving at U.S. (and other) ports, and outward bound ship manifests from the UK and Ireland.  It also has border crossing records from Canada to the U.S. and vice-versa.  Ancestry.com and Ancestry.ca members have access to both sets of border crossings with a basic subscription.

• MyHeritage.com ($) – has ship manifests for ships arriving at multiple U.S. ports.

• Findmypast.com ($) - has a collection of passenger manifests, including Outbound UK ships destined for the U.S. and Canada.

If you can’t find your ancestor’s ship record, it may be mis-transcribed.  In that case, there may be a clue to the ship record in the ancestor’s naturalization record, if the ancestor naturalized.  Note that ancestors often did not remember their exact date of arrival in their naturalization petitions, but the ship name is usually correct, and through creative searching, the manifest can often be located.

Obtaining U.S. Naturalization Records

A good overview of U.S. Naturalization records may be found on the FamilySearch Wiki and on the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) website.

U.S. naturalization records may be found at the following sites:

• U.S. indexes to naturalization records are available on Ancestry.com ($) and FamilySearch.org.  Digital versions of Declarations of Intention and Petitions for Naturalization are available on Ancestry.com ($) and Fold3.com ($).  MyHeritage.com ($) also has indexes, and some links to actual petitions on FamilySearch.org.

• FamilySearch.org has U.S. digitized naturalization petitions and declarations of intent as part of an unindexed collection.  Go to the FamilySearch.org catalog and search under United States entries for 'United States – Naturalization and Citizenship'.

• If you have the index information and can’t find a digital copy, you can order the immigrant’s naturalization file from NARA using their online form.

This is a partial sample of a U.S. naturalization record showing the immigrant’s birthplace as "Ribeny, Latvia" (present-day Riebini):

Obtaining U.S. Passport Applications

• Digitized copies of U.S. Passport Applications may be found on Ancestry.com ($) and MyHeritage.com ($).

• FamilySearch.org has a searchable digitized collection called “United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925.”

Draft Registration Cards

Males in the United States had to register for the draft for both World Wars.  This included the so-called “Old Man’s Draft,” of World War II, which covered men too old to fight, born between 27 April 1877 and 16 February 1890, who may have had skills to contribute to the military effort.  The World War I draft registration cards generally only give the country of birth, but the World War II documents give specific locations.

• World War I draft registration cards are held in indexed collections (with images) by Ancestry.com ($), FamilySearch.org, and MyHeritage.com ($).

• Ancestry.com ($) holds collections called “U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942” and “ U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.”

• Ancestry.com-owned Fold3.com ($) also has a collection of World War II draft registrations.

• FamilySearch.org holds both an indexed and a non-indexed collection of World War II draft card images, with the non-indexed collection arranged both by state and by specific New York City borough.

Canada

Before searching for ancestors on Canadian ship manifests, search for the ancestor’s name in indexes for U.S. manifests.  Some immigrant ancestors settled initially in the U.S., and then moved to Canada at a later date, so there is a chance that the information may show up on a U.S. manifest that may have more information that its Canadian counterpart.  Canadian ship manifests, prior to the implementation of form 30A in 1919, only list country of origin.  Form 30A and manifests after 1924 list town name and the address of closest relative in country of origin.

Obtaining Canadian Ship Manifests

• Ancestry.com ($) and Ancestry.ca ($) have Canadian manifests; of special interest are “Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924” and ”Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935,” as well as the border crossing records described previously in the section on the United States.

• Library and Archives Canada – holds some indexed passenger lists.  It also holds digitized copies of all Canadian passenger manifests, indexed by ship name, date and shipping line, so if you know the date of arrival and ship name, you can find the manifest and search it manually.

  • If a Canadian ship manifest can’t be found, and the ship originated in the UK, see below for information on using the Ancestry UK Outward Passenger List collection as an index to finding mis-transcribed inbound Canadian or U.S. manifests.

Obtaining Canadian Naturalization Records

Library and Archives Canada’s naturalization records include two collections of interest:

• Montreal naturalizations: Citizenship Registration Records, 1851-1945 - Montreal Circuit Court, is an indexed collection of digitized naturalization records for naturalizations occurring in the Montreal Circuit Court.

• Naturalization Records, 1915-1951 is an index to naturalizations appearing in issues of the Canada Gazette.  The index is searchable.  Information from these index records can be used to obtain copies of the actual naturalization file.  The index gives the name, date, place, occupation, and certificate number for the naturalized person.

  • Copies of records can be requested online through the Access to Information Act by a Canadian citizen or resident.  Proof of death must be included for the deceased ancestor (obituary, gravestone, etc.), along with the information provided in the index entry.  The heading “Submitting Requests” at this helpful link by Gary Perlman explains the process in greater detail.

Other Canadian Records

The Library and Archives Canada collection “Immigrants from the Russian Empire, 1898-1922” contains personal documents that immigrants brought with them to Canada.  Immigrants surrendered these records to the consular officials in return for the required identity cards that would let them to work and live in Canada.  The documents are digitized.  Although file documents are mostly in Russian, the place of origin of the immigrant (e.g.: Varakļāni, Rezhitsa uyezd, Vitebsk gubernia) is clearly visible on the cover of the folder.

Records from the National Registration File of 1940 may be ordered from Statistics Canada.  These files were required to be completed during World War II by all non-military residents of Canada.  Among other things, they include information on the birthplace of the individual and his or her parents.  The address of the subject in 1940 is required, and may be found either from Canadian voter registration lists on Ancestry.com ($) or from city directories (various sources).

United Kingdom

The inbound ship records from the European continent to British ports were not preserved.  Occasionally, on some outbound UK ship records, there may be reference to the ship and country of origin of the inbound ship when the immigrant was using the UK as a transit point, but there is no information to pinpoint the immigrant’s exact origin.  Ancestry’s collection, "UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960" can nonetheless be very useful to immigration researchers whose ancestors left the UK.  The UK outbound manifests do not provide much detail, but can still be helpful in tracking ancestors who do not show up on U.S. or Canadian ship searches.  Sometimes transcription errors can make these ancestors untraceable.  If the researcher can verify the ship name, departure date and destination on the UK outbound passenger list, it easy to search for the ship on the U.S. or Canadian inbound side, using only the information about the ship itself.  The manifests can be located by ship name and date on any of the websites above; for Canadian ships they can be found for free on the Library and Archives Canada website.  A comparable collection, “Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960,” may be found on Findmypast.com ($).

Obtaining UK Naturalization Records

• The National Archives web page “Naturalisation, registration and British citizenship” gives an overview of British naturalization records.  The “Contents” section shows the available coverage periods and willtake you to the appropriate search screen.  Only some of the records are digitized and viewable.  If the record is not digitized, the researcher can order it to be available for onsite viewing in Kew, or can order either a certified or non-certified photocopy.

• Ancestry.com ($) has a collection called “UK, Naturalisation Certificates and Declarations, 1870-1916,” which holds digitized copies of naturalization records.  It is not as complete as the files available from the Archives (no supporting documents and character witnesses are included), but the records include the alien’s birthplace.

Israel

Immigration Records

The Central Zionist Archives is the best place to begin research on immigrants to Israel.

• The CZA holds files of most immigrants making Aliyah in the pre- and post-State periods.  Although their Aliyah files are not open to the public they will conduct research on your behalf.  Often these files indicate a place of birth.

• To request a search, the CZA has request forms for both individuals and families.

• Shipping lists of those arriving in Israel, which are unindexed and filed chronologically are also available for browsing, although they usually only list country of origin.

Naturalization files for immigrants who naturalized during the British Mandate may be found online at the National Archives of Israel. These files have also been indexed on MyHeritage.com ($).

• Files are searchable, and may include not only the applications, but also supporting materials such as photos and passports.

The Montefiore Censuses, which include place of origin, are a good source of information about 19th-century immigrants to Israel.  However, surnames of Ashkenazi Jews are often not included.

The Israel Genealogy Research Association (IGRA) has a variety of databases that may also have information about the origins of your ancestors.  Database access requires membership (nominal fee).

• IGRA records are also indexed by MyHeritage.com ($)

• The database “Name Changes - Pre-State” holds copies of name changes that were listed in the Palestine Gazette.  The listings include the old surname and first names, their new surname and first names, as well as their residence and nationality, all of which are helpful as a prelude to overseas research.  The example below shows that Irachims Sumerins changed his name to Irachim Shmerin, and Keile Karoline Smerins changed to Ella Karolina Shmerin.  Both Irachim and Ella were Latvian and lived in Tel Aviv.

South Africa

Ship manifests for South African arrivals have generally not been preserved, but there are other resources that may list immigrant towns of origin.

• The Kaplan Centre for Jewish Research website at the University of Cape Town includes the SA Jewish Rootsbank South African Jewish Database, which covers Jewish migration and genealogy.  The site includes extracts of English outbound ships arriving in South Africa, as well as those from Hamburg, and a list kept by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies listing immigrants to South Africa, their place of origin and nearest relative in South Africa (1924-1929), listed under “Passenger Arrival.”

• This is an example of a South African Jewish Board of Deputies arrival list, originally found in the above index; the copy was obtained from the archives at the University of Cape Town (note that the state of the archives since the April 2021 fire is not known):

• The Kaplan Centre website also includes a database of people housed at the Poor Jews Temporary Shelter in London, a transit point which included many Jewish immigrants destined for South Africa.  The index lists the person’s place of birth.

An index to South African naturalization records from 1840 to 1910 may be found at the website of the National Archives of South Africa.  Depending on the province, these records usually list place of birth.

• Search the database called “RSA - All Archives Repositories and National Registers of non-public records.”

• Once the user performs the search, there is no list of results returned, just a sentence that states whether the search found any documents.  If so, the user must then select the “Result Summary” button on the top left to return the list of search results.

• Scans of many of the original naturalization documents may be found in the FamilySearch.org unindexed collections.

• After obtaining the volume number and year of the naturalization from the National Archives index, use the FamilySearch.org catalog to search for “South Africa”, and then select “Places within South Africa” for a list of provinces.  For Cape Town, go to Cape Province > Naturalization and Citizenship, and search “Applications for letters of naturalization, 1883-1908,” arranged chronologically, by volume, and alphabetically by surname.

  • If the naturalization record is for a place not covered by FamilySearch.org, the requester must hire a researcher to obtain a copy.

Argentina

Obtaining Argentinian Ship Manifests

Immigrants leaving Hamburg for Argentina are included in Ancestry.com’s collection, “Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934.”  Note that the immigrant’s name may be spelled according to German spelling rules, e.g., Leah Minsk will be Leja Minsk.

There is a partial unindexed collection of inbound ship manifests to Argentina on the FamilySearch.org website, but it does not appear to give precise places of birth or previous residency.

Argentinian Identity Documents

If you are lucky enough to have a copy of your ancestor’s Carta de Ciudadanía, it will show his or her birthplace.

Latvian Town Names

Since jurisdictions and languages changed over time, most Latvian towns were known by three or four town names, with variants in German, Russian, Latvian, and Yiddish.  Most 19th-century archival documents from Latvia are in the Russian language, and researchers should be aware that there is no “H” in the Russian language, and a “G” was substituted.  This happened both in personal names (i.e.: 'Hirsch' became 'Girsch') and town names ('Hasenpoth' --> 'Gasenpoth').  Due to transliteration differences, a “V” and “W” can also be interchangeable.

For assistance in deciphering town names, the JewishGen Communities Database can be very helpful.

After finding the town name, the researcher should learn about the town, district and province during various time periods.  Maps, both contemporary and historical, can be used to find nearby towns and learn about the area where an ancestor lived.  Ancestors did not always spend their lives in one place.  They may have married someone from another town, or given birth in a different town.  Business was often transacted elsewhere, and some people relocated to other communities.  “Your” town may not have records, but a nearby town might!

There are profiles of several Latvian towns in JewishGen’s KehilaLinks.  In addition, the JewishGen Yizkor Book Project website has translations for a number of Latvian towns that are included in Dov Levin’s Pinkas Ha-Kehilot Latvia v’Estonia.

Notes

1. Marian L. Smith, 'American Names: Declaring Independence', Immigration Daily (https://www.ilw.com/articles/2005,0808-smith.shtm: viewed 29 Jun 2015).  Marian L. Smith is the senior historian at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, and a frequent speaker and author regarding immigrant research.  This is one of many articles debunking the name change at Ellis Island myth.

2. Alexander Beider, A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire, revised ed. (Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu, 2008).  This is an expensive book, but is often held by various Jewish genealogical societies in their reference library. 

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