It winds from Zaturya to LA: a song of migration
When: Wednesday, March 5, 2025, 7:00-8:30pm
Where: Zoom only
The Zaturensky siblings and their cousins moved from Pinsk in the Russian Empire to Peoria in the USA over a period of 25 years, from the early 1880s onwards. With the help of maps, documents, history, and a bit of imagination, we accompany them as they move across the Pale from the shtetl to the town and on to the city. Then, one by one, they cross Europe and the ocean to the United States, and make their way to Illinois. Eventually, several of them get hip to our kindly tip, and take that California Trip. Although we have only managed to find a couple of references to them in the Belarus records, a careful and critical look at US documentation enables us to trace at least some of their movements. For the rest, we have to make do with deduction and inference, which lead us back to the little village in central Belarus where we think they originated.
Presenter: Michael Shade
Michael Shade is a British genealogist and a member of the Gombin Society Board, specializing in Jewish family history from Gombin, Poland, and Belarus. With deep family roots in these regions, he has extensively researched surnames including Frankensztajn, Zegelman, Szczawinski, Chern, Ilyutovich, and many more. Born in London towards the end of World War II, he was raised in a family with strong immigrant ties to Poland and Russia, sparking his lifelong interest in genealogy. Now retired from a career as a language teacher and educational technology specialist, he applies his expertise in digital storytelling to share his family’s rich history. Michael has presented his research at International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies conferences and continues to explore and document his ancestry for future generations.
Registration: Registration by Tuesday, March 4, is required for this Zoom-only program. JGSC members' registration is free. The fee for non-members is $5.
Contact: Please contact Jane Rothstein at president@jgscleveland.org with any questions.
