My greatgrandparents

[sschimel]

Howdy,
Both my maternal grandparents' mothers and fathers were born in Russia. I'm hoping that someone will be able to help me find out about their home towns and maybe even help me trace my ancesters back further. My greatgrandfather was born in Volina-Goberna and my granmothers' parents were both born in Vidzbegrodok. I have their names, so if any records still exist, I'd be able to specify who they are. Can anyone help? Even just information about the villages would be wonderful. Thanks. Spasibo.

[Ivan_25]

hallo, are you sure these villages are in Russia? in which part of?

[TeeGee]

Volina - Goberna may be Yiddish.
Russian Volina is now Vilnius,Lithuania
Vilnius City Municipality
I found a reference to Volina here
"Under birthplace,"Russian Volina" [Vilnius] is entered,and
Yiddish is given as his parents’native tongue."
Scroll down a bit to read it here
Jack Albertson's Kinship to Cloris Leachman and Sharon Stone
Maybe this information will help you to learn about your
ancestors.

[hannia]

Volina-Goberna /most likely Vohlynskaya (Vohlyn/Volyn) Gubernia/region > Czarist Russia from late 18th century to 1919, when it became part of Reconstituted Poland. Technically Poland had not existed as a geopolitical entity for the previous 125 yrs. Post WW2 most of the region became part of SSR Ukraine with a small part of the region going to Belarus, under Soviet domain, until Ukraine & Belarus became independent in 1991.

Today Vohlyn is broken up into several different oblasts/regions in Ukraine.

Have you examined your GGrandparents' immigration records? Where did they settle upon immigration. In order to succeed in your research you will have to establish EXACT place of origin. Was GGrandmother also from Vohlyn/Wohlyn?

What religion did your family practice?
_____________________________________________

Tee has a point. Are you sure it is not Vilna Gubernia? Today some of the former Vilna gubernia is located in modern day Lithuania. The other part is in Belarus.

[sschimel]

Thank all for your replies and information. I knew that there was the posibility that the village was no longer in Russia. I ahve no idea whether or not anyone still has their immigration papers as no one is left even from my grandmother's generation. And as we all know, Elleis Island wasn't always great at documentation or even keeping people's names intact. I forwarded your responses to my sister, who is the keeper of all info related to our family tree. I think we have a lot of work ahead of us if we're going to trace our tree back further.

[sschimel]

I Googled Vilnius, and found a site that seemed to be set up by the city. I checked for an email address and sent them a post with basically the same info I posted here. They never even sent a response. I seem to be at a dead end. By the way, in response to some of the earlier questions, my family is Jewish, as were my ancesters. And My greatgrandparents never emigrated so there are no papers for them. I have their names, however. Any ideas who I would contact in Vilnius about checking for birth or death records using their names?