Posting to this list a forward from Gen-Slavic on the Morse form which searches Ellis Island. Ashley > >X-Mailing-List: <GEN-SLAVIC-L@rootsweb.com> archive/latest/108 >X-Loop: GEN-SLAVIC-L@rootsweb.com >Resent-Sender: GEN-SLAVIC-L-request@rootsweb.com > >After reading Megan Smolenyak's article posted to the list by Michelle >Tucker Chubenko, I was inspired to try the EIDB one more time, despite >numerous previous visits which were utterly fruitless. This time I used >the Morse search form rather than going directly to the Ellis Island >site. > >Very few of my maternal relatives emigrated -- my mother had no first >cousins in the US -- so I didn't have a huge number of relatives to look >for, but I'm pleased to report 100% success in a search for information >on three relatives, using the Morse form. > >My maternal grandmother was first on the list generated by the search >for her, as was my maternal grandfather's older brother. My maternal >grandfather was third or fourth on the list generated by the search for >him. Arrival dates for all three were within the time frame I had >speculated. I was never able to find any of them using the standard EIDB >search, even inputting multiple spelling variations of surnames and a >broad time range. > >My grandmother's (maiden) name was spelled exactly as I was told it was >by my mother. However, my grandfather's and great-uncle's surnames were >not only rendered very differently from each other, but also spelled in >ways which have little to do with any possible phonetic rendition. > >While performing the search for my grandfather, I also ran across two >young men who arrived with him. Both came from my grandfather's village >and bore the same surname as the married name of one of my grandfather's >sisters (also spelled differently from each other and with unusual >spelling variations), and may have been my grandfather's >brothers-in-law. It will be interesting to see what other names from my >family tree show up with the Morse search tool. > >I'm excited not only to have found my forebears, but to have turned up >more leads to follow up on my next trip to see my living relatives, with >whom I made contact for the first time a couple of years ago. > >I hope others who previously have been disappointed with the results of >a standard EIDB search will try again with Mr. Morse's wonderful search >tool. --