Searching My History

SEARCHING MY HISTORY

I am very frustrated. I checked at the Ellis Island website, and even allowing for misspellings of names, I could not find anyone that fit the period of my father's father arrival in the US. Either the timeline was good but he was much too old, or the timeline was off by several years and he was too young. Then I entered the exact name of my mom's father, (again allowing for misspellings), and it turned up no record!

THIS is very frustrating. I KNOW that all those on both sides of the family had to have arrived prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Moreover, I cannot find anything. Ancestry. Com was no help either. Years ago, when I was a child my dad USED to get letters from his cousins that were still living in Russia. I wish I had just ONE of those letters.

At least I would have a good spelling of a name with which to work. I had a copy of my dad's HS diploma and his name was then Eli Voytovitch, somehow it changed to Alex Woitowitz. I do not know when the change happened, or even why it happened. It could be that that was his original name, and was later, for whatever reason was changed to Eli, and then back again.

I just want to know my history. I only know as far back as my grandmother on my mother's side. She had to arrive as I said prior to 1917, as my aunt was born in NY in 1917 and my mom was born in NY in 1919. I know my grandmother was born in Russia, around 1896. They had a large farm, or so I had been told. I had a grandaunt that was either two years older or younger than my grandmother. Never was sure about that either way. From what I had been told my grandmother, aunts, and uncles were rather wealthy landowners, and saw the handwriting on the wall just before the communist takeover, sold everything and left.

I also had two granduncles on my mother’s mother side in the Russian military. Both were officers, which would speak and attest the idea of them being wealthy, as peasants were never commissioned officers. They were not royalty, but they were not dirt poor either. This is all I know. It might be that much of this is fanciful thinking on my grandmother’s part, an embellishment of the truth, or it could all be as she told it to me.

Somewhere I believe I have my grandmother's INS papers, and possibly a birth or marriage certificate. I might then be able to get some idea or a starting point.