Confirmed!

[Judy]

A few years ago I met someone with the same surname as my grandfather (Brosgol) through the JewishGen Family Finder. But my grandfather was from Latvia and the ancestor of the Brosgol I connected with was from the Ukraine. Although we were able to come up with several hypotheses that could explain how his father could have ended up in Dniepropetrovk, we had no paper trail at all. We knew there was one Brosgol on a list of Jewish agricultural settlers who went to the Ukraine from Latvia in the mid 1800's, but we had no documents to verify that the agricultural settler was an ancestor of the person I found through JGFF. There was another hint that he might be: his paternal aunt remembers that her grandmother used to make a particular dessert (taiglach) that was local to Latvian and Lithuanian Jews. Again, this was a hint, not proof. I suggested to this possible Brosgol cousin that he get his Y-DNA tested and I would try to convince my only male cousin who is a direct male descendant of my Brosgol grandfather (who changed his name to Gold) to get his Y-DNA tested. Fortunately, my known cousin was interested. Their results came back as a match! My new-found cousin and I are planning a celebratory brunch
Judy

[Jim Barrett]

Isn't it fun when it all comes together!

[Victor]

Thanks for sharing your success story. Congratulations!

Victor

[efgen]

Congrats Judy!!

Interesting that you should mention Dnieper...... (I can never spell or pronounce that name), aka Ekaterinoslav. I have a similar case with my Palevsky project. There were some Palevskys from there who I originally wrote off as likely not having a connection to my Kobrin Palevskys, but I'm now finding that writing them off is a definite mistake. I have spoken to one family who knows for sure that their ancestors moved between the two places. Now I just need for them to agree to a DNA test to be 100% sure

There's quite a bit of material about Dnieper/Ekat around online, both on JewishGen and elsewhere.

Elise

[mari]

YES!!!!
Happy results, congrats you guys! Who knows where else this will take you now. Im really happy for you.

[Judy]

Isn't it fun when it all comes together!

It sure is! My newly confirmed cousin said he got the chills when he found out. He knew nothing about his father's background.
Judy

[Judy]

Thanks for sharing your success story. Congratulations!

Victor

you're welcome! It is very exciting to share this kind of news. We are hoping for another great discovery for my husband, who knows very little about his grandfather who was orphaned in the Ukraine in the late 1800's. I explained his situation to a few possible relatives I found through the JewishGen discussion archives, none of whom were direct male descendants. One of them put me in touch with a distant relative of his who is a direct male descendant who agreed to have his Y-DNA tested. The possibility to find somone related when we have already exhausted all the records we can find is awesome!
Judy

[Judy]

Congrats Judy!!

Interesting that you should mention Dnieper...... (I can never spell or pronounce that name), aka Ekaterinoslav. I have a similar case with my Palevsky project. There were some Palevskys from there who I originally wrote off as likely not having a connection to my Kobrin Palevskys, but I'm now finding that writing them off is a definite mistake. I have spoken to one family who knows for sure that their ancestors moved between the two places. Now I just need for them to agree to a DNA test to be 100% sure

Elise

I have convinced several people already to have their DNA tested. "Lure" is probably a better term than "convinced." Here is my method, in case it works for you. First I explain the plight of the relative looking for a connection, in a succinct but compelling way, without begging Then I mention that FTDNA is the company that contracted with the National Geographic Genographic project to do their DNA testing. I tell them a known relative's haplogroup and give them a link to the interactive timeline page of the Genographic project website so they could chart the relative's early migration. Then I offer to give them more information if they are interested. It worked so far in every case but one.
Judy

[Judy]

YES!!!!
Happy results, congrats you guys! Who knows where else this will take you now. Im really happy for you.

Thanks Mari!

[dentate]

Judy,

I am off by one step at the 12 marker level from a Brozgol according to Ysearch. The 12 marker tests may not mean much since I am a J2 and I have matches 12/12 who are J1. On the other hand, I have people who are off by several steps in the first 12 but match me 61/67 and are J2f*, like me.

It would be very interesting to know how many markers you tested--the Brozgol I match only tested 12--and if you know the haplogroup. All of us Ashkenazim are pretty well interrelated, but it is still interesting to try to reconstruct family trees, even when the branches spread wide.

[Judy]

Dentate, we have three Brosgol's who tested. One of them is not a match (he is haplogroup Q and we are still trying to come up with hypotheses how that happened) and the other two matched on 11/12 markers. Their Y-search user ID's are UUK3A and YNP2M. What is your Y-search ID?
Judy

[Judy]

Dentate, I just realized something. My brother is a J2f (the other side of my family from the Brosgol's!) and he may match you within a few steps too. We just got his 37 marker results. His Y-search ID is N6SR8
Judy

[dentate]

I am 8PGV3. My match is to YNP2M, one marker off at the 12 level. You should try to get him to test more markers!

Jeff

[dentate]

I am a 31/37 match for your brother. Related, but pretty far back on that particular line, maybe pre-Diaspora.

[Judy]

I am 8PGV3. My match is to YNP2M, one marker off at the 12 level. You should try to get him to test more markers!

Jeff

He can't at this time but probably will in the future.
Judy