How can I find out what my great grandparent's names were before they came to America?

Question

My great grandparents came over to America through Ellis Island. They were from Russia and like many immigrants changed their names to more "american names" upon arriving. They were named Baker and the only one who may have known was my grandfather but he died before I was born and no one ever thought to ask him. How can I figure out what their names were before arriving in America?

Answer 1

The first poster was close. The revisions in the forms started with the 1906 changes and affected everyone traveling to the US after 1900 (or who hadn't lived in their state for 18 months before the Sept 1905 deadline and had to wait to fill out the "long forms").

You also don't need to search for a member of the family who might (or might not) have the documents. If you know the state where your grandparents lived when they applied for citizenship, you can either get copies of the Declarations of Intent and Naturalization petitions for each from either the State Archives or the National Archives and Records Administration regional archives supporting that state.

The next thing to look for if they did file the long form is the names of their parents, town of birth, ship/date/port of arrival. Passenger lists were completed based on records given before they left Europe. Contrary to popular mythology, employees at Ellis Island did not routinely change names. They pulled the names from passenger lists and tags prepared by the ship's crew. Spelling errors were common if the handwriting on the documents was difficult to read or if the individual passenger were illiterate and couldn't clarify the situation. So if you can find the ship/port/date, you can pull the passenger list and see who arrived that day.

The next thing to research is the synagogue where they probably worshipped. Did they have sons who would have turned 13? If so, find his Bar mitzvah records and find out what was written about the family. Anglicized names somehow don't find their way into many religious records.

Answer 2

Check with your relatives to see if anyone has naturalization papers for your great grandparents or any of their children born in Europe. Those papers should give the port, date of arrival and ship name. If they were naturalized after 1922, the records are much more complete and may contain the "name traveled under." Naturalization records are usually at the circuit court level in your county; not online.

See if anyone had the Hebrew marriage certificate for your gr-grandparents. Any rabbi would be able to translate the names on the certificate for you.

Check records for your "extended" family because one of your ancestors could have been a witness to someone else's naturalization or marriage and their original name may have been recorded along with their current name.

If you know their Hebrew first names, it's likely they traveled under that name or a Yiddish variation. If you don't know their Hebrew names, check their headstones for Hebrew inscriptions.

Answer 3

the only checklist i can discover is for the 1940 US Census: 1940 u . s . a . Federal Census call: Ludwig Deniels Respondent: sure Age: 40 4 expected start 3 hundred and sixty 5 days: abt 1896 Gender: Male Race: White Birthplace: Germany Marital status: Married Relation to go of abode: Head abode in 1940: West Deer, Allegheny, Pennsylvania View Map highway: Tarentum highway Farm: No Inferred residence in 1935: West Deer, Allegheny, Pennsylvania residence in 1935: comparable abode Citizenship: Alien Sheet style: 10A style of considerable different and babies so as of Visitation: 183 pals: View others on website considerable different and babies individuals: call Age Ludwig Deniels 40 4 Josephine Daniels 28 Ivan Daniels 4 Ludwig Daniels 2 Frank Daniels a million I appeared in Germany, Births and Baptisms, 1558-1898 for Deniels (strategies-blowing spelling) and found not something. This oftentimes potential that the spelling of the call became replaced sometime around whilst they immigrated. Ask any residing kin here questions: a million) How did they spell the surname in Germany? 2) what element of Germany became he from? 3) approximately whilst did he come to u.s.? Did he incorporate kin individuals or on my own? Any solutions provide you with a place to start up finding.