21 July 2012

DNA: Another tool for the toolbox

I really like to concept of DNA testing for genealogy research. I like it just about as much as manifests and census records. Having no experience with DNA testing, I anticipate liking it a little less than the records I've found most useful: probate, naturalization and obituaries. In other words, I see DNA test results as a another source of data - another tool in my genealogical toolbox, to be used in conjunction with other good information. Perhaps DNA information will generate more questions than answers, but that is all part of what keeps me engaged in genealogical problem solving.

I'd been thinking about trying a genealogy DNA test for some time. Actually, what I'd really been thinking about was convincing a male relative of mine to do it. But then I thought, "Well, I need to do a test myself so I am familiar with the ins and outs and can honestly say, 'It's no big deal!' " So,this past Sunday, the last day of the recent Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) sale, I ordered up a mitochondrial (mtDNAPlus) and Family Finder kit.

I chose FamilyTree DNA because they are known to have the largest database of Jewish tests and they have partnered with JewishGen.org. If one is looking for matches, a large comparison population is a distinct advantage.

I first looked through a variety of resources on the Family Tree DNA website to ascertain which test would be best for me. Their resources include pages, articles and videos on not only the testing results, but also the testing procedures. When one selects the Products tab, the website asks you to tell them whether a male or female will be tested. It then offers you only the testing options for that gender.There are a variety of tests at a variety of prices - the pricier ones, naturally, provide results at greater level of certainty. But, one may upgrade later if one feels the need and has the cash.

Due to the character of DNA and genetic inheritance, women can only test along their female lines (i.e., mother's mother's mother, etc). Thus, my choices were limited to the mtDNA test. Men (lucky them), however, may track their DNA along either line, depending upon which test they select: mtDNA (which tests along the mother's line) or Y-DNA (which will only test along paternal lines (father's father's father, etc.)).

For me, then, the mtDNA test meant that I can only test my mother's mother's mother's side.
It is a good idea to tie oneself to a DNA project. These may be oriented to surnames,  geography, or both or haplogroup (something one wouldn't be able to identify until receiving Family Finder test results). One may change, add or subtract DNA projects from ones profile at any time. The DNAeXplained blog has a recent post regarding considerations for selecting a project.

Aside from the opportunity to compare notes with researchers with similar genetic genealogy interests, with project affiliation one may also find some discounts on FTDNA tests. In my case, I bought the test during a sale - so project discounts did not apply and would not have provided an advantage. However, current discounts in the project in which I was interested only apply to the Y-DNA 37 Marker test (the one most recommended for paternal line genealogy) on which one may save $20. The Family Finder and mtDNA tests are not discounted for the project I selected: Gesher Galicia.

Gesher Galicia is for those with Jewish origins in the area that is now part of Poland, and Ukraine. Around 1900 when most of my mother's family left Europe, Galicia was a province in the Austria-Hungarian Empire. There are currently 278 members of this Jewish genetic genealogy project. There are other projects to select, but I thought I'd start with one and see how it goes. This is all new for me, so information overload is a concern.

Having earned a little overtime pay recently, I chose to splurge a little and decided to not only go with the mtDNA Plus but also the Family Finder. The Family Finder is an autosomal DNA test. This is similar to the tests Henry Louis Gates has completed on his PBS series Finding Your Roots participants and gives one a breakdown of ones ethnic percentages. It may also provide information allowing one to connect with ancestral lines within about the last five generations. Since most Jewish people (including me) can't really trace much beyond that for people with surnames (for most of us surnames didn't appear until after 1800), this could prove useful in taking me back a generation or two. I believe my family line is 100% Ashkenzi Jewish. So, it will be interesting to see how that plays out with the autosomal test results.

Signing up with FTDNA meant selecting a project, selecting a test package, entering my name,  contact information, and credit card info and learning my kit number and password. After paying online, I received an email receipt reiterating my kit number and password.

My test kit arrived in the Friday's mail. I read the enclosed instructions and watched a suggested video demonstrating the DNA collection procedure. I'm glad I watched the video. The only tricky part is handling the scraper and releasing it from the handle into the specimen tube. The video does a better job explaining this than the written instructions enclosed with the kit.

After dinner last night, I waited, as prescribed, more than an hour and took the kit into the bathroom. (For some reason brushing my inner cheek seems like a bathroom type of activity but, truth be told, the collection procedure was not messy at all.) I unwrapped the first scraper, set my stop watch and scraped the inside of one cheek for 60 seconds. After I carefully delivered the scraper to the specimen tube and screwed on the lid, I repeated the procedure on the other cheek. I placed the specimen tubes into the provided zip-locked plastic bag, and put them and the completed waiver form into the provided mailing envelop. I will go to the post office this morning, buy postage for $1.95 and mail in my DNA.

One topic usually comes up when talking about this test. What about privacy? Well, while there are companies that will screen for some health information, the FTDNA tests only look into DNA for genealogical purposes. One does have the opportunity to select privacy settings for ones test results. Consider, however, that the concept of DNA testing for genetic genealogy is to connect with others. The larger the sharing group, the better for finding matches. And the usefulness of ones results will be tied to contacting those that FTDNA identifies as possible relations and figuring out the relationships. I don't see anything in these tests that someone may use against you.

Collecting the specimens was easy - no big deal. Stay tuned. I'll let you know how my DNA exploration turns out. And, if you're a relative, beware that if the results are interesting, I may be asking you for some cheek scrapings (!).

17 July 2012

Avrum's Women, Part 3: Following Feiga (and Raya), the heartland

Avrum's Women, Part 1: Chana
Avrum's Women, Part 2: Feiga Grinfeld
Avrum's Women, Part 4: The Trouble with Harry
Avrum's Women, Part 5: Finding Feiga 
Avrum's Women, Part 6: Added Confirmation
Avrum's Women, Part 7: Feiga's Family
Avrum's Women, Part 8: Fannie's Story
Avrum's Women, Part 9: Fannie's brother Morris 
Avrum's Women, Part 10: Morris Lederman - Who's you Mama? 
Avrum's Women, Part 11: Garber Y-DNA = Lederman Y-DNA
Avrum's Women, Part 12: Finding Family with Family Finder  
Avrum's Women, Part 13: Bond of Brothers  

Sometimes, the data and the records take one out of one's comfort zone and lead in new and interesting family history directions. Such has been the case as I have chased Feiga Grinfeld, trying to determine who she was and how she is related to my Garber family.

Let's review what we know thus far:
  • On Feiga and Aron Garber's Ellis Island manifest (2 April 1922), Feiga Grunfeld was identified as a cousin living in Warsaw [1]
  • On her Ellis Island manifest (10 Nov 1922) [2] she:
    • is identified as the wife of her traveling companion (and my great grandfather), Avrum Garber (who was otherwise known to my family as a widower).
    • is a housewife
    • is 44 years old (calculated year of birth = 1873-4)
    • has been residing in Wolomin, Poland (likely Volhynia Gubernia)
    • has a sister and a mother (one of whom is named Frieda Liderman) in Baranowka, Poland
    • was born in Baranowka, Russia
    • was joining her stepson (Awrum's son) N. Garber (Nathan Garber) of 242 Madison Street, New York, NY (Nathan's business address)
I'd lost Feiga after her arrival in New York. Since I'd very little information about her background (and manifests did not always accurately reflect the facts), I needed additional information to be able to locate and recognize her in the records. In my last post in this series, we'd located the manifest record for sisters Raya and Leja Grinfeld from Baranovka who had come to Ellis Island in 1921, leaving behind their mother, Feiga Grinfeld.[3] While I wasn't totally sure that my Feiga Grinfeld was their mother, the tie to the shtetl Baranovka made this a clue worth following.

Raya and Leja had arrived at Ellis Island nearly a year earlier on 2 December 1921 on the George Washington which had sailed from Bremen. Raya was 14 and Leja 15. [4] They:
  • last resided in Baranovka, Russia
  • had left their mother, Feiga Grinfeld in Baranowka, Wolynien
  • were born in Baranovka, Poland
Raya was headed to her uncle, "Charles Grinfeld, Johnsohn, Painsville, KY." Leja was going to her uncle "Harry Grinfield, 609 Bonnestow Ave., Lexington, KY." Now I could chase likely candidates for Feiga's Baranovka Grinfeld relatives and see if the trail would lead to her.

I'd been very New York City oriented in my genealogy research. I made some genealogical forays into upstate New York, Chicago, Michigan and Boston records, but Kentucky was the genealogical wilderness. I needed to locate Charles and Harry.

Lucky for me, they were not hard to find in the closest U.S. census to their nieces 1921 arrival: January 1920. I attempted to locate Charles Grinfeld in Kentucky and wasn't surprised when my exact query on Ancestry.com came up empty. I'd expected that the Eastern European surname might have been changed since arrival in the USA. So, I unchecked "match all terms exactly" and located a Charlie Greenfield in Paintsville, Johnson County, Kentucky.[5]





Forty year old Charlie lived on Main Street with his family (wife Flora, age 29, and his son Isadore J., age 10). He was from Poland and owned a general store.

I collected several records created earlier for Charles. He'd married Flora Albert on 26 December 1909 in Boyd County, Kentucky. His birth year on that indexed record is reported as 1880.[6] In the 1910 U.S. Census record, he and Flora lived in Ashland. He reportedly became a citizen in 1904.[7] I have not yet found naturalization records or a manifest.* Charles registered for the World War I Draft on 12 September 1918. He lived in Paintsville, reported his birthday as 15 August 1881, and identified himself as a naturalized citizen.[8] 

Of course all this was before Raya and Leja landed in New York. I have not located any city directories for Paintsville and have not found Raya in the company of Charles. I did, however, locate Miss Ray Greenfield in a 1922 Ashland, Boyd County, KY City Directory.[9] Ashland is about 60 miles north of Paintsville. Ray was the only Greenfield in that Ashland directory.


The same directory indicates that 115 1/2 W Greenup was the home of Isidore and Sadie Levison. Sadie and Isadore Levison are identified in the 1910 US Census for Ashland, KY living her parents, Nathan and Anna Albert.[10] Sadie is Flora Albert Greenfield's sister. So, it appears that Ray was living with Charles' sister-in-law and brother-in-law in Ashland shortly after she arrived in Kentucky.

Kentucky must have been a whole new world for Ray. Likely, she was born after her uncle Charles had left for the United States. She may not have met him at all before showing up on his doorstep.

After the 1922 Ray sighting in Ashland, I'd lost her. So far I'd not found Ray's mother, Feiga (whom I'd hoped would be my Feiga Grinfeld). I would have to continue my search by looking for Ray's sister Leja and their uncle Harry.

Next up: on to Lexington, Kentucky!

Notes:
1. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 19 June 2012), manifest, Lapland, Antwerp to New York, arriving 2 April 1922, list 7, Feiga and Aron Garber, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715.
2. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 18 June 2012), manifest, Aquitania, Southampton to New York, arriving 10 November 1922, list 4, Awrum Garber and Feiga Grinfeld; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715.
3. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 30 June 2012), manifest, George Washington, Bremen to New York, arriving 5 December 1921, list 8, Raya and Leja Grinfeld, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715.
4. One interesting note, something I'd not noticed until I reexamined the manifest page for this post, was that nearly very individual on the page was between 13 and 16 years old. I'd never noticed a manifest page like this before. I will have to go back and do some more research to see if this is has any significance historically.
5. 1920 U.S. Census, Boyd County, Kentucky, population schedule, Ashland, Enumeration District 29, sheet 4B, house 89, family 87, Charlie Greenfield; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 October 2011).
6. Charles & Flora marriage record (FHL)
7. 1910 U.S. Census, Boyd County, Kentucky, population schedule, Ashland, Enumeration District 23, sheet 1B, house 12, family 13, Charles Greenfield; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 October 2011).
8. "World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com, (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 October 2011), record for Charles Greenfield, no. 1952, dated 12 September 1918, Paintsville, Johnson County, Kentucky Draft Board; citing World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, National Archives and Records Administration microfilm publication M1509.
9. Ashland, Kentucky City Directory, 1922-1923 (Ashland, Kentucky: Piedmont Directory Company, May 1922), page 150, entry for "Greenfield, Ray Miss"; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 July 2012).
10. 1910 U.S. Census, Boyd County, Kentucky, population schedule, Ashland, Enumeration District 23, sheet 4A, house 64, family 66, Nathan Albert; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 October 2011).
* Update, now have their naturalization records.

04 July 2012

The Joint is Jumpin': Online Access to More JDC Documents


I'm in love! This morning I discovered that the Joint Distribution Committee (also fondly known as "the Joint") has been incredibly busy digitizing and uploading new documents for public viewing. This is relatively new and incredibly welcome. Now I find that I can search by village (shtetl) name and find useful historical documents. The Joint now offers over 250,000 digitized pages of text documents from their collections, 1914-1932,

For those uninitiated, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee has been in existence since 1914 when its mission was to provide relief to struggling Jewish populations in Palestine. Shortly after it began, it also served desperate Jewish populations in war-torn Eastern Europe. The JDC is still in operation and still does great work for Jewish people and others in need.

As one might expect with such a history of good work, they have quite an archive of documents and photos. The Joint's archives have been open to on-site researchers. But, it has only been in the last few months that the ongoing lengthy process of digitizing and uploading to the web has been bearing fruit for those wishing online access. In March of this year the New York Times featured an article about the digitization effort. When I'd checked in March 2012, the Joint had many photographs from their collection online and some documents searchable by surname.  But when I searched via the surname index I did not come up with anything of personal family history interest. 

In the case of my father's family shtetl Lubin (aka Labun or Yurovshchina) the Joint had previously in 2010 provided me (for a fee) webpage use of the only known extant photo of a building in the village: a photograph taken in 1923 when the Joint sponsored a project to renovate the shtetl's bathhouse. It occurred to me then that perhaps there would be documentation to go along with the photo, but my email correspondence and phone calls with helpful archivists did not result in any such finds. That is until this morning.

Now one may search the JDC digitized records by location. In doing so, I found several letters regarding the donation of $300 by the Lubin immigrants in New York to JDC for the express purpose of providing flour for Lubiners in advance of the Passover holiday. The correspondence is not complete - one wonders if they have the letters written to them, as well as the copies of ones written to others. And there were attachments and enclosures with these letters that are not, apparently, included in the record. But, the letters and, especially, the report paint interesting and sobering pictures of conditions between the wars in Ukraine.

Prior to April 1919, the town had a population of 12,000. 2,500 were Jewish. There were 225 houses and 50 shops that were owned by the Jewish population. The community produced flax, hemp and jute. And there were three oil refineries.[1]

The Jewish population was hit with a pogrom in April 1919 resulting in 24 Jewish people murdered and homes pillaged and robbed. Another pogrom occurred in September 1920. Most of the Jewish population left all they had and fled to Starokostyantyniv (20 miles south southwest). Later, many returned to a devastated community. In 1921 a raging fire destroyed 20 houses and left 30 families homeless. These horrors affected approximately 200 Lubin families. As of the May 1923 JDC report, there were 50 widows, 80 orphans and 50 invalids in Lubin. Public health was in a deplorable condition.[1]

A letter from the Moscow Headquarters of the Joint dated 11 May 1923 reported on the good that the Lubin Relief money had accomplished.
...The $300 was converted into 13,500 million roubles, 12,500 million of which was used for the neediest orphans, sick and those who are unable to work.  Aid was extended to 92 families consisting of 299 people. The population in Laboun argued that it is imperative to repair the Bathhouse in the town and for this purpose the balance if 1,000 million roubles was set aside. We hope this will be satisfactory to the Landsmanschaft...[2]
Apparently, it was.

In August The Moscow Headquarters reported that an additional $57.60 was delivered to Lubin as a result of differences in the exchange rate for the initial $300. In consultation with members of the Lubin community, the money was put toward the bathhouse repairs. Even so, the letter estimated that an additional $250 would be required to complete the work.[3]

Lubin shtetl names mentioned in the eight digitized documents include M. Myers (likely Myer Myers, my great great uncle), Secretary of the New York City Lubin Relief organization; and the following Lubin residents:
  • Yente Ravrebbe [4]
  • Noah Zaslavsky [5]
  • Simche Avrum [5]
  • Yosef Novak [5]
  • Chaim Ravrebbe [5]
  • Yankov Kesselman [5]
  • Leib Tzop [5]
  • Moishe Rosenfeld [5]
  • Miriam Kourman [2]
  • Leah Kourman [2]
  • Zousa Zak [1]
  • Mounia Boxer [1]
  • Mounia Kentzishin [6]
  • Ichiel Dolgopiaty [6]
If you have not yet checked out the Joint for your Jewish research, do so. It may give you excellent background information. The search page also provides video tutorials that may help you if you have trouble with their search function.
Notes:
1. "1921-1932 New York Collection, USSR: Localities, L-Mink," American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, JDC Digital Archives (http://archives.jdc.org : accessed 4 July 2012), "Report on Laboun (Lubin)," by I.M. Kowalsky, 05 November 1923 [sic: date should be 11 May 1923], Item 356444.

2. "1921-1932 New York Collection, USSR: Localities, L-Mink," American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, JDC Digital Archives (http://archives.jdc.org : accessed 4 July 2012), "Letter from Headquarters, American Jewish JDC, Moscow to Joint Distribution Committee, New York, Attention Landsmanschaften Bureau, Subject: S.R. Sp. 12-#300. Lubin Relief (Laboun)," 11 May 1923, Item 356443.

3. "1921-1932 New York Collection, USSR: Localities, L-Mink," American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, JDC Digital Archives (http://archives.jdc.org : accessed 4 July 2012), "Letter from Headquarters, American Jewish JDC, Moscow to Joint Distribution Committee, New York Attention Landsmanschaften Bureau, Subject: Additional Report on Labun (LDN-R 42)," 8 August 1923, Item 356446.

4. "1921-1932 New York Collection, USSR: Localities, L-Mink," American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, JDC Digital Archives (http://archives.jdc.org : accessed 4 July 2012), "Letter from I.M. Naishtut to Mr. M. Myers," 06 March 1923, Item 356440.

5. "1921-1932 New York Collection, USSR: Localities, L-Mink," American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, JDC Digital Archives (http://archives.jdc.org : accessed 4 July 2012), "Letter from I.M. Naishtut to Joint Distribution Committee, Moscow, Subject: S.R. Sp. #12 - #300 - Lubin Relief," 06 March 1923, Item 356441.

6. "1921-1932 New York Collection, USSR: Localities, L-Mink," American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, JDC Digital Archives (http://archives.jdc.org : accessed 4 July 2012), "Subject: S.R. Sp. No. 12-300-Lehman," 05 November 1923 [sic: date should be 11 May 1923], Item 356445.

URL for this post: http://extrayad.blogspot.com/2012/07/joint-is-jumpin-online-access-to-more.html

01 July 2012

Avrum's Women, Part 2: Feiga Grinfeld

Avrum's Women, Part 1: Chana
Avrum's Women, Part 3: Following Feiga (and Raya), the heartland
Avrum's Women, Part 4: The Trouble with Harry
Avrum's Women, Part 5: Finding Feiga 
Avrum's Women, Part 6: Added Confirmation
Avrum's Women, Part 7: Feiga's Family
Avrum's Women, Part 8: Fannie's Story
Avrum's Women, Part 9: Fannie's brother Morris 
Avrum's Women, Part 10: Morris Lederman - Who's your Mama? 
Avrum's Women, Part 11: Garber Y-DNA = Lederman Y-DNA 
Avrum's Women, Part 12: Finding Family with Family Finder  
Avrum's Women, Part 13: Bond of Brothers 

In genealogy it never pays to be provincial. For some reason, particularly when considering the lives of our ancestors overseas, we tend to focus on one town and one or two surnames. But, sometimes the smallest clue may lead to great geographical expansion of the research theater. Sometimes it opens up mysteries and new avenues for research. Such has been the case with Feiga Grinfeld. 

Manifest Destiny
Feiga first came into my (family history research) life when I had located and reviewed the Ellis Island manifest of my great grandfather Avrum's two youngest children: Feiga (Fanny) and Aron (Eddie) Garber. Feiga and Eddie arrived in April 1922 from Lubin (aka Labun), then in the USSR (now in Ukraine).[1] 

The manifest documenting their arrival includes column 12 that must be considered one of the family historian's best friends: "The name and complete address of nearest relative or friend in country from whence alien came." For Feiga and Aron Garber, the entry in column 12 was "cousin; Grunfeld Feiga, Warsaw." [2]

Grunfeld was not a surname on my family tree. So, I was pretty excited about the possibility of tree expansion to people and places hitherto genealogically unexplored. The plot thickened when I'd located the 22 November 1922 arrival manifest for pater familias widower Avrum Garber. [3] One of his traveling companions, listed as his wife, was 44 year-0ld Feiga Grinfeld. 

Feiga Grinfeld, Awrum's "wife"
Feiga had left behind "sister and mother Frieda Liderman Baranowka Poland." I was not quite sure, based on this information, whether it was Feiga's sister or mother who was Frida Liderman. But, the surname Liderman, like Grunfeld or Grinfeld, was not on my tree. Feiga's place of birth in column 33 was "Baranowka Russia."[4] Baranowka (aka Baranovka) was (and is) 24 miles NE of Avrum's shtetl, Labun. In 1900 the Jewish population of the village was less than 2000. I'd not previously studied any family from this shtetl.

Nearest relative or friend in country from whence alien came
Hide and Seek
My next step was to try to find Feiga with Avrum in New York City. This however, was not to be. She was not identified in the 1925 New York City directory where Abraham Garber was listed.[5] Avrum's 1928 death certificate noted that arrangements for burial were provided by Avrum's wife, Mrs. Garber - no first name.[6] The 1925 New York State Census showed that Avrum's wife was . . . Norma.[7]
1925 New York State Census record for 230-232 Madison Street, NY, NY
Norma??!!!! (Eeek! That was also my late mother's name.) What happened to Feiga??!! "Fanny" would have been a good Americanized guess for Feiga's name. This Norma was 53 (Feiga should have been about 46 or 47) and reportedly had been in the USA for 20 years (to Abraham and Feiga's 3 years). While it's possible Norma and Feiga were the same person, there were some significant  inconsistencies. 

I have found no indexed NYC marriage record for Abraham Garber and anyone named Norma or Feiga. I considered that the marriage between Feiga and Abraham might have been one of convenience or perhaps just a lie, since women traveling alone from Europe were considered "likely public charge" and their entry was often held up pending further inquiry. In this immigration case, both Avrum and Feiga were held anyway (due to advanced age) pending arrival of Avrum's son Nathan.[3]

Back to the Old Country
I had no solid information of the name that Feiga Grinfeld might have adopted in the United States, so seeking her in NYC records wasn't going to be fruitful.[8] Instead, I considered that she'd identified on her 1922 manifest that she had some relatives left in the old country. I decided to cast a wider net and see if there were any other people named Grunfeld or Grinfeld arriving in NYC from Baranovka. If I found them, perhaps I would be able to locate Feiga.

As usual, Steve Morse.org to the rescue! I used the Gold Form to search on town "sounds like" Baranovka. I limited ethnicity to Polish and Russian since people coming from that area of Ukraine tended to identify one or the other. The search received 893 hits for people from towns that sound like Baranowka. Fortunately, only two had the name Grinfeld: Raya, 14, and Leja, 16. The girls had arrived in NY on 2 December 1921 and identified their mother as Feiga Grinfeld, Baranowka, Wolynien. Both had been born in Baranowka.[9]
Nearest relative of friend in country whence alien came.
Now I had something to go on. Following Raya and Leja's path might lead me to Feiga. 
Next up (Part 3): we get out of our New York comfort zone and follow Raya and Leja Grinfeld to Kentucky....

Notes:
1. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 19 June 2012), manifest, Lapland, Antwerp to New York, arriving 2 April 1922, list 7, Feiga and Aron Garber, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715.
2. I do not know why they did not mention their father, who was still in Europe at the time. Perhaps, he had also left Labun in preparation for emigration.
3. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 18 June 2012), manifest, Aquitania, Southampton to New York, arriving 10 November 1922, list 4, Awrum Garber and Feiga Grinfeld; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715.
4. In its history, Baranowka had been in both Poland and Russia.  However, by 1922, it had been within the Russia Empire and then the USSR since the Revolution.
5. "U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Beta), Polk's Trow's New York City Directory, 1924-25, Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, 927, entry for "Garber"; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 July 2012).
6. New York County, New York, Standard Certificate of Death no. 376 (3 January 1928), Abraham Garber, New York City Municipal Archives, New York.
7. 1925 New York States Census, New York County, New York, population schedule, Block 2, Enumeration District 7, Assembly District 1, sheet 22, Abraham and Norma Garber; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 June 2012), New York State Archives: Albany, New York.
8. I considered "Fanny Greenfield" a good possibility, but that was a fairly common name at the time and I did not know enough about Feiga to differentiate among all those Fanny Greenfields. In fact, a search on Fanny Greenfield and Fannie Greenfield in the 1925 NYS Census on Ancestry produces seven and 15 hits, respectively.  None of them were the right age for our Feiga Grinfeld. 
9. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.amcestry.com: accessed 30 June 2012), manifest, George Washington, Bremen to New York, arriving 5 December 1921, list 8, Raya and Leja Grinfeld, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715.

The URL for this post: http://extrayad.blogspot.com/2012/07/avrums-women-part-2-feiga-grinfeld.html 

See also:
Avrum's Women, Part 1: Chana