Getting to... New York?

This is one part of my family’s immigration story, continued from the previous post. Each of my mother’s grandparents, had a different experience. This month we’ll continue to follow Lena Matlin and her siblings from Ukraine to America.

Finding their records was not easy because they changed their names at various points along the way. The Matlins didn’t change their surname, so that part was easy. But Libe became Libby or Lena, Lieb became Louis, Zalman became Simon, and Berl became Benjamin or Bennie.

Starting with my great grandmother, Libe/Libby/Lena, I slowly discovered other family members who started with her in Ukraine and ended up in four different places in North America.

To be continued…. what about Lena’s husband, my great grandfather? My mother never even heard his name. How was I going to find him?