Klimaszewnica

Hi Dale,
I have found a huge part of my family tree from in and around Radzilow. Mostly with the last names Gryngras, and Calecki. I have found relatives in several foreign countries but I have actually only talked to the relatives in Costa Rica. Most of my closer relatives came to America and settled along the Erie Canal in Rochester, Amsterdam, and Schenectady. At these locations they prospered as butchers, bakers, and tailors.
I am forever fascinated how these families put there children on boats to get the away for safety.

Bart's Gryngras's married into our Wierniks, and the Costa Rican cousins are my Costa Rican cousins as well! Barney Greengrass (famous deli in New York especially known for smoked fish) is the same family and Barney was from Grajewo like my grandfather (whose mother was Freida Wiernik).

Bart and Jeanne, dud you get your info directly from Poland? There's an unreliable source out there so I'm looking for a double check on everything. Thanks!

Dale,
Most of my information came from other relatives and Ancestry 'hints'. I have visions of plotting out a big tree, but I have hit many roadblocks. I can never seem to get my tree 'cleaned' up and ready and I just have thousands of outstanding 'hints', many of which I have seen before but keep reappearing. It's been frustrating to the point where I need help.
There is a source out there who has offered me information from Poland who was actually nice to me, but I have heard he is short with others. Although I'd love to see this material, the cost was simply more than what I was willing to spend. He did send me a wonderful gedcom file.
I'm curious, what would you do with this information from Poland? How would you display it?
I also wonder about DNA testing. What do you think about that? I'd think if we got a few of us to do the testing through the same vendor, the results might be interesting. I do not know one vendor from another, but I do know some are good and some aren't. I have asked others in out tree and some aren't interested for security/privacy reasons.
Almost every year our family hosts an event called "Noshfest". It's basically a casual event my wife and I started a long time ago. The intent was basically a picnic where the young and old could get together for a happy occasion. It's typically, bring your own food and at a local park. Originally, the event was in the Northeast to be closer to the older generation but there have been events in Portland, Washington, DC, and here in Phoenix.
I have met many new relatives at these events. They include the Fischler's, Benson's, Gottfried's, Korenstein's, Platt's, and Ressell's. One day I hope to see you and one day I hope to attend a Noshfest in Israel!
In any event, have a wonderful Hanukkah and a very Happy New Year!

Hi, Bart. My DNA test was done through 23andme. I can't speak on the good or bad ones but those tests are their focus, not selling ancestry chachkes. I found my cousin's son and an old family friend on their matches. They faced down the FDA until the agency blinked and now they are also offering medical analysis (when they can) in addition to genealogical information.

I'd like the Polish info to be sure our original source is not making things up. Also, there is much confusion on my Polish side. I was told the elders (my grandparents) never spoke about Poland. My grandmother's brother and sister have different mothers on their NYC marriage certificates, and their father is Mendel on one and Max on the other, etc.

My main tree is on MyHeritage but Jeffrey Meyerson, a super Geni user, has been very helpful in hunting down German Jews. He is convinced we all link up eventually. Plus the German families kept amazing family trees!

I'm still in the Northeast (New York City) so if you come to visit, give me a shout. Thanks, all!!

I got my information largely from jewishgen and from Landsmen, the journal for Lomza and Suwalki gubernias. My father was a first generation American whose father was from Grajewo (Meyer Swack) and whose parents were from Grajewo and Ragrod. Wiernik was the name of my great-grandmother from Grajewo. They were a huge family. The cousin who went to Costa Rica from our Wiernik family was a survivor of 3 camps and was from Grajewo. He was my father's second cousin.

Your discussions above are fabuous to read. I took a My Heritage DNA test and received results about 3 weeks ago. I uploaded the results to Family Tree DNA. I was just contacted by someone who is attending the Genealogy Conference in Poland. Apparently we had a DNA match, somewhere 2nd to 4th cousin, and have a long strand of DNA that was 32 Centimorgans long. I am still learning about Centimorgans and the significance.

Further, we do both share an ancestory with a common name from Lomza, Poland. We believe it to be Lewandowky. Which on my branch become Levendofksy, Levy, then Leve.

I wanted to share in the discussion, if anyone might have a connection to the surname Lewandowski. It would be fascinating to compare DNA in small town projects. Wonder if its ever been done.

Hello, my cousins! Well, obviously I have not checked in here for a while. Thank you all for your information! I'd be happy to join up with any of "youse." I'd also like to include Ilan Guy here because he has a lot of information (like he paid for the original Pniewski/Szimbowski records which I would not). If any of you are in touch with him via Geni, please let him know! Thanks.