Hello! I just joined this list because I really need help from somebody that knows about Russia. All my life I have been told my GGgrandfather was from Belarus outside Minsk. I have his naturalization papers but I can not locate any of the places mentioned in the documents. MapQuest is not able to help either. Well his name was Trofem Nekoloff (Nikolaev) born 1894. The first place mentioned is were he was born on his entry form (april 1913), it states he was born in "Neszczicz, Russia" but I can not find it. That same document also states he last lived with his brother in "Meganicz, Russia" which I also can not locate. Next on his Origianl papers for Citizenship filed in 1960 his place of birth is listed as "Niehaniec, Russia" and it states that it is "100 miles from Minsk" His alien registration states his place of birth was "city-Niehaniec,provison- Minsk,country- Russia" Then his petition for his Alien Registration just states he was born "100 miles from Minsk, Russia" His petition for Naturalization shows the place of birth as "Neszczicz" again. I have tried looking for every variation I could think of but since I do not know the language I don't have a clue how it might of been distorted with the differnce in the languages. Can somebody please point me in the correct direction so I can start looking in the right place for his birth information and the family that remained in the old country. Thank you for any possible help you can offer. Judi