I hope this is the right place to post
So I have a picture (painting) of my Ancestor, a Rabbi from a long line of Rabbi in the old country - how do I show you all the picture?
I'm hoping someone can identify him.
I have a name, family stories, and even a probable town identification- and I can not find anything about him.
Since I and all known relatives are descended from his daughter rather then his son my family is not elligible for the DNA projects.
Since we left between WWI and 2, the holocaust lists don't really help.
We believe the name is Yudzik or Udzik or something like that and we believe he was the city Rabbi of Wolpe which I *thought* was Volpe/Volpa - feel free to suggest where else it could be?
There are two known daughters one who became E Swartz. and one who became Chinka/Sarah Szapero/Shapiro. Chinka/Sarah was my great-grandmother.
On Sarah's grave stone it says her father was Yehuda - the Rabbi in question may have been her Grandfather.
Sarah married Shmuel/Samuel who owned a "pop factory" back in the old country and became a Rabbi in the United States.
Samuel came to the USA first then WWI broke out and Sarah and the children arrived in 1921.
I have the immigration documents and family stories.
There is also a family story about brothers taking different names to avoid Tzarist conscription - I do not know whether that is Shapiro or "Yudzik" side it and I have a vague awareness of the original name but am just not sure.
I would really really like to identify the Rabbi and/or find a record of the family before they left so I can get through this brick wall.
Almost everyone left behind in "the old country" is believed to have perished or at least no connection was ever reestablished following WW2.
My family believes this Rabbi was fairly well-known and apparently had quite a touch with animals or at least a certain bear.
I wish I knew more but the resemblance between my grandfather and the man in the picture is pretty strong.
So how do I show people this picture and who is he?
Thoughts?
