Hi, I too have often wondered why my grandfather left virtually no trace of his relatives in Bohemia. He left behind 3 sisters and his father, while he and his brother came to America. My grandfather's brother dies in his late twenties. My grandfather never really talked about the family he left behind to my father or my father's siblings. My uncle said that he would write them occasionally, but never spoke of them. My uncle said that my grandfather did not want to serve in the Austian armed services and left for America, after serving an apprenticeship in Vienna as a cabinent maker. But despite my grandfathers silence about his Bohemian roots, I found all my relatives in the old country..it was quite a miracle for me. My 9 year old daughter slept in her great-great-great-great granfathers farm house where the first Sarsok came to the little hamlet of Jemnice 100 Km south of Prague. I do not know where he came from, that is my next search. But along the way, I found that my great grandfather had a half brother and from that half brother there are also other Sarsoks living in the Czech Republic. I must say that it was the grace of God that allowed me to discover the relatives I never knew. And I redicovered something of myself in what I saw in them. In them I saw some of my own psycholigal nature. I discovered the family I never knew. It is strange to me that my relatives here in America never had such an interest, except for my uncle. During WWII, as the war wound down, he tried to visit his 3 aunts, but was not given permission. He could only visit a father or mother. So close but so far away. Nevertheless, my grandfather did not talk of his life and what things were like in his native Bohemia, to his children. I only know that as a child my grandfather was left handed and the teacher slapped his hand and forced him to write right handed..he became ambitextorous. He once saw a priest who was tipsy and he became an athiest, and here in America he believed in socialism. But that's it. I was too young for him to talk to me..and to scaried to ask. He was a very sarcastic man, and to a young boy's mind VERY mean. He was a very moral and upright individual, but did not beleive in God. He was and is a mystery to me. ..gary... flass@lbdc.senate.state.ny.us wrote: >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! Kde vira, tam laska. Kde laska, tam mir.