My name is Jeanne, and I live outside Billings, Montana. Personally, I have had great response from LIST members in my own family searches; they are the most knowledgeable persons about their particular areas, and I have found them to be generous with their time and help as well. Now I've become a last-minute volunteer helping U of Montana students looking for more information about a group of more than 70 men and women imprisoned in Montana in 1918 during WWI for speaking out against the government (information below). The student project is seeking pardons for these people, and MT Gov. Schweitzer has been approached re. his approval of the pardons. He has not made a decision as yet, but the project faculty/students want to be prepared in the event he does give his approval and a pardoning ceremony can be arranged for sometime in April. Therefore, we need to work toward finding the descendants below now, so they can be contacted and make plans to attend any ceremony that might be held. (My Minnesota cousin's grandfather was one of these people, and she is so very excited at the prospect of seeing her grandfather pardoned; she is looking forward to hopefully going to Helena, along with other members of her family.) This project has been in th! e newspapers in Montana and across the nation and on NPR radio already, and much more news coverage is expected if they are pardoned. Some descendants have already been contacted, but many more are yet to be found. WE URGENTLY NEED YOUR HELP PRIOR TO APRIL 1. Students and faculty at the University of Montana have tried for months to find these persons with no success. We are now asking for outside help in order to meet our deadline of April 1st. In the states of MO and MN, we are looking for a man named BENJAMIN (BEN) KAHN, b. 12-25-1879, possibly in Russia/Poland. We know nothing of Ben's mother, siblings, etc. We need them in order to track present-day descendants. His father may have been AARON KAHN, b. est. 1836-46 in Russia as well. Aaron Kahn was in a Jewish Home for the Aged in Ramsey County (St. Paul) MN in about 1920--may have died there sometime in the 20's. Death index? Obituary with family information? BEN KAHN stated in his court testimony that he had come to the US at a very young age (under the age of 2 most likely) and had been raised, until he was 17 and left home in St. Joseph Missouri to help support his parents. In about 1920, he had a brother in Poughkeepsie NY, a sister in IL and another sister (widowed) in Seattle WA area. He spent about a year living in MT as well. Was a registered voter in Missouri, he said. A Louis Kahn was shown as "Russian-born" and in St. Joseph MO in the 1930 census; I am wondering if this was a brother to Ben, born 1879? If you can find any information on any current-day descendants of BEN KAHN or AARON KAHN or have historical knowledge of them in your particular county or area of expertise, please contact me ([email protected]) or Professor Clem Work <mail to: [email protected]> . More information about the project can be found at <http://www.seditionproject.net> We are grateful for any help you can provide. Thank you. Jeanne in Montana