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This project is a meeting place for users who share the J-BY268 Y-DNA haplogroup, which means they are related along their paternal lines. Users in this group may want to share their family trees with each other to find overlaps and merge duplicate profiles in order to join or expand the World Family Tree and discover new relatives.
From the Blecher (Blejer, Bleger in Argentina where they immigrated in the early 20th century) family history, we believe that this family came to Southern Ukraine from Courland, possibly from Bausk or Goldingen (Kuldiga). The families who settled the small agricultural village of Novopoltavka in Kherson Gubernia and intermarried with the Blecher family are listed in the records of Jews from Courland who were resettled in Kherson in 1839-40. Those families were most likely originally from Prussia, since they were found in earlier records from Courland, e.g., 1799, and these early Jewish settlers of Courland were from Prussia.
In addition to belonging to the J-BY268 sub-group of J2, the Blecher family members tested match a number of descendants of Latvian families and Prussian families on a segment on Chromosome 4 that needs some study.