Family Story Finder

The sweep of family history across the generations

Bradley homestead in Wapello County, Iowa
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Widow Patty Smith Swett and six children by two husbands were among the first settlers who staked claims in Wapello County near Ottumwa in May 1843

Janis Brenner—a Ratner in motion
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An innovator in modern dance and choreography since breaking in with the Murray Lewis Dance Company in the 1980s. The Ratners moved geographically. Janis moves artistically.

Life on the Western Reserve
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Families from Connecticut settled northeastern Ohio in the early 1800s

Long Beach—taking in the Klein family
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During the Depression, families helped each other out. The Kleins moved in with the Rubys in Long Beach.

Rabbi Spektor's true genealogy
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Most of what we discovered about Rabbi Spektor's genealogy was entirely true. All but the myth of our family's connection to it

Sandy Klein
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A precocious Ratner girl takes on life in midcentury America.

The Klein family in the 1940s
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Leon Klein continued to work for American Spirits as its upstate New York sales representative

The Yeserskys of Volkovysk
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Joseph Rabinowitz’s mother was Bertha Yesersky. Was she related to Sora Yesersky, the wife of Rabbi Elchanon Spektor?

Yichus and our relation to the famous rabbi
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Walter thought he had proved the family legend of descent from the celebrated Kovno Rav, Rabbi Yitchak Elchanon Spektor. Later facts emerged that suggested a more tenuous connection.