Can't find any trace of my family before America

Question

So what information I have. My father's line was said to be full Jewish. Did a dna test and that seemed to pan out having 56% European Jewish and 12% Eastern European.

Now the fun part. I have traced my family to the first census they show up on. Some give arrival dates, not all. But before that, travel to America, anything from their lives in Poland, nothing at all.
I'm not looking for someone to just have or find answers, but any resources that don't show up as quickly in google or better websites that anyone might know would be super helpful. I can put down the first names I have and estimated dates of arrival to see if that helps out at all.

Solomon Roshinsky: Birth said to be Warsaw, Poland / Russia. Arrival noted on census is 1905

Lieba(Lena) Stavisky(Roshinsky after marriage): Birth also noted as Poland and Russia on different forms. Arrival also 1905 with Solomon and their daughter Anna.

Herman Lev: Born in Warsaw, Poland. Arrival before 1920 per getting married in New York.

Ester Rudnick(Lev after marriage): Born in Poland, Russia. Arrival noted as 1914 on census with Rudnick family.

All ended up in New York, but how they got there is a mystery at this time. Anyways, thank in advance for any tips and tricks for tracking people around this time period.

Comments

As far as little tips go, something that may help (you haven't used this already) is the wildcard search. Where you use an asterisk after a portion of the name to give you more results in the case of variants or transcription errors. For example searching "Rosh*" instead of "Roshinsky". I'm sure you've searched the variants but using the wild card in the search field helps even more.

Here he also is in the 1915 New York State Census:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9X5-GT9

Answer 1

If this is him then he came via England.

Findmypast 

Solomon

Last name Raschinski

Role Passenger

Others Arrival port relation (COUSIN): Mr N Raschinski

Sex Male

Age 33y

Birth year 1873

Nationality Russia, Hebrew

Residence London

Year 1906

Departure port Southampton

Arrival place New York

Ship name Philadelphia

Country United States

NARA publication number M237 and T715

Record set New York Passenger Lists & Arrivals

Category Travel & migration

Subcategory Passenger Lists

Collections from Americas, United States

Comments

Findmypast 

Solomon Or Sol

Last name Rushinsky Or Rosen

Birth year 1878

Birth place Russia

Birth country Russia

Language English

Naturalization year 1917

Naturalization date ? ? 1917

Place Chicago, Illinois

City Chicago

State Illinois

Country United States

Event type Naturalization

NARA publication number M1285

NARA roll number 146

NARA reference Soundex Index to Naturalization Petitions for U.S. District & Circuit Courts, Northern District of Illinois and Immigration and Naturalization Service District 9, 1840-1950

Record set Illinois, Northern District, Naturalization Index

Category Travel & migration

Subcategory Naturalizations

Collections from Americas, United States

---

Findmypast

 Solomon R Roshinsky Self Married Male 27 1883

: Lena R Roshinsky Wife Married Female 25 1885

: Annie R Roshinsky Daughter Single Female 4 1906

: Ida R Roshinsky Daughter Single Female 2 1908

: Betha R Roshinsky Daughter Single Female 0 1910

Solomon R

Last name Roshinsky

Relationship Self

Marital status Married

Gender Male

Age 27

Birth year 1883

Birth place Russia

Race White

Immigration year 1900

Spouse's first name(s) Lena R

Spouse's last name Roshinsky

Spouse's birth place Russia

Father's first name(s) -

Father's last name -

Father's birth place Russia

Mother's first name(s) -

Mother's last name -

Mother's birth place Russia

City/township Manhattan Ward 11

County New York

State New York

Record set Us Census 1910

Category Census, land & surveys

Subcategory Census

Collections from Americas, United States

Answer 2

Steven Morse’s One Step webpages for passenger lists may be helpful. https://stevemorse.org/

This link from American Ancestors provides some guidance for Polish Research. https://www.americanancestors.org/education/learning-resources/read/polish-guide

Answer 3

Marcus, I'm working on a lot of Polish Jewish familes.  My go-to source, the first place I look for Polish records is at jewishgen.org.  The bad news is that you have to be a member but the good news is that it's free to join, except that they'll inundate you with email begging for donations.  Also, they try to hook you into donating $100 or more by giving people who do that the ability to tailor searches better.

Familysearch.org, the all around best free place for United States records, has a lot of immigration records, including those from Ellis Island, but you might find more at libertyellisfoundation.org/.  Again, they're going to make you join and - again - it's free and this time nobody will ever bother you again.

This may sound way out in left field, but italiangen.org is another place I often find birth and marriage records for New York Jewish families.  They're also free and no membership required.

Feel free to holler at me if I can do anything to help.

Comments

Agree with Gaile: check: https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/#Poland

It’s free to join and has quite a lot of records.

Answer 4

Solomon Rushinsky

 in the U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992 (Indexed in World Archives Project)

Name:	Solomon Rushinsky  [Sol Rosen]
Birth Date:	2 Feb 1878
Birth Place:	Russia
Age at event:	38
Court District:	Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa
Year of Arrival:	1904
Date of Action:	16 Jan 1917

Source Citation

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Soundex Index to Naturalization Petitions for the United States District and Circuit Courts, Northern District of Illinois and Immigration and Naturalization Service District 9, 1840-1950 (M1285); Microfilm Serial: M1285; Microfilm Roll: 146

 

 

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Answer 5

My Jewish ancestors, Julius Bornstein, report on the 1850 US Census he married in NY, NY, in 1840. Several brothers had a rag-collection business, (what paper was made from; a thriving business, in its day) advertised in Boston newspapers Alexander & Julius, I have the beginning of a family group sheet. Find-a Grave had Alexander buried with another brothers and a sister; I've the beginning of a family group sheet. Each of their Boston obits gave me a small bit of information. The oldest son, the village they came, Julius gave notice he sold his portion in 1849. His 1850 US Census is San Francisco, California. His children's birth certificate state he is from Poland & his wive from France. I search San Francisco for Fannie Bornstein, and find the 19011 obit of her sister, born in Hagenau, Alsace, naming Fannie Bornstein & her brother Henry Houssmann, who arrived in 1840. Have the makings of a family group sheet. Found the ship manifest for entire group sheet. Julius Bornstein 1870 US Census indicates Germany as place of birth. It wasn't official, but Bismark had assumed the governance of Northern Poland. So, we learn about 1870 European history. The 19th Century village, they left, had an East Prussian/ German name. In the time since, its WWII population were transported & killed, or fled. The USSR returned it to Poland and the Polish name, different completely from the German name, THAT WAS the most difficult, matching a German village to a Polish village. Bornstein-76. is my grandmother.

I phoned NEGHS, I'm a member, and asked for The Jewish History group. I spoke with a kind, helpful assistant, who told me my families predate their records. They were each fecund and long-lived. My DNA map matched my Ashkenazi to a stunning number of relatives in the New York, New Jersey, and California Bay Area. 

(Fannie Bornstein died of injuries sustained in the 1906 Earthquake. Her husband, Julius, was killed in Corrine, Utah Territory, April 1874, stepping into a home invasion and killed by an axe to his head.) Things are better, now.

Answer 6

Pre-1918 Warsaw was located in Prussia, German Empire.  Wikipedia Link What you need to research is the proper name of Warsaw during the time of your ancestors. Most likely Warsaw belonged to an administrative district and also a judicial district (which may be different than it is today.)  This would be the proper place to look for records.  Polish archives have some information online: Click here.

Search results are by village, not by surname.  You'll just have to go the old fashioned genealogy way by looking through scans page by page. 

I do think you should add the "German Empire" category to your ancestor's profiles, as well as "Jewish Roots."  I hope that sometime Wikitree will begin to tackle the pre-1918 German Empire (as they are now tackling the Austro-Hungarian Empire) as it is very important (in terms of categorizing villages/cities.)  Good luck in your research!

Answer 7

The best resource I've ever found for Jews in Poland is Jewish Record Indexing Poland. 

https://jri-poland.org/

Along with 

https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Poland/

and 

http://www.isragen.org.il/siteFiles/1/455/7873.asp