Hi; when my grandfathers dad came to America he was told by his brother that was here eleven years before him to get rid of all his papers then they will think you are an American citizen. They were afraid, the years in Poland and caused a glitch in their way of looking at things. I too have that problem, and even some still alive are strange about the whole thing. Hope we can make these people feel safe. Vicki Steen ---------- > From: Anne Mary C. Chapirson <Hcounter@AOL.COM> > Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.slavic > Subject: Re: Why were immigrants so secretive? > Date: Saturday, May 10, 1997 5:04 PM > > In a message dated 97-04-08 13:52:36 EDT, you write: > > << I've often jokingly said that it is so hard to find information about my > immigrant grandfather > that it was almost as if he deliberately tried to hide. Maybe it's not such > a > joke! > >> > I have found the same thing with my husband's Russian Jewish family. > Paperwork is really hard to find on them, including the census. > > Annie >