Immigrant from Russian Poland

[JustinL]

That's good news.

Further investigation has revealed that FORDONSKI was a common enough name in western areas of Congress Poland.

Justin

[zoolew]

Thanks for the latest info.  What is meant by 'Congress Poland'?  Do you know of an online site showing the boundaries of the countries of Poland/Russian Poland in the mid 19th Century?

In a previous message, you asked about where Lipman was born in the various Cenus returns -

1861  L H Lewis -  Russian Poland
1871  Lewis  Lewis - Poland
1881  Harris Lewis - Pol
1891  Lipman H Lewis - Russian Poland
1901  Lipman H Lewis - Poland (British Subject)
   

[JustinL]

Congress Poland was created after the Congress of Vienna in 1815 (after Napoleon's defeat). This link gives a thorough explanation with some maps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_Poland

Justin

[JustinL]

Where was Morris in 1881?

I found Harris and Miriam Lewis in the 1881 census at familysearch.org, but Morris wasn't with them.

Justin

[JustinL]

Here's a very good map:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Congress_Poland_1831.jpg

If you find where the River Wisla crosses the Prussian / Polish border, you can see Fordon.

Follow the river upstream to the town of Wloclawek, and then SW along a tributary to Lubraniec.

In the 1820s, a Shmuel and Dobrys Fordonski had a couple of children. The records only go as far as 1825 on that film.

Justin

[zoolew]

Thankyou for 3 more replies, Justin.  The info on Congress Poland was interesting, as were the maps,but unfortunately the link in your reply 22 didn't open.

Morris wanted to travel, & in about 1880 worked his way to New Zealand as a cabin boy.

According to one source, Lipman  arrived in London about 1859 from Poland with his cousin Ansell. Their surname 'may have been something like Fordonski'.
The 1861 census lists Ansell's birthplace as Liprah, Plotse, Poland.  On Ansell's marriage Cerificate his father's name is Lewis Fordon, Dead.

Does this help?

zoolew

[JustinL]

That does indeed help.

Anshel would be the more recognizable form.

Plotse = Plotsk, the Yiddish form of Plock.

Liprah = Lepnah, Yiddish for Lipno.

The town is also close to Wloclawek, but on the northern side of the river.

Copy the link at reply #22 and paste it into the address bar of your browser. That should take you there.

Now I'm excited. I shall go and do some more digging.

Justin

[JustinL]

Here's a snippet from the map.

[JustinL]

Now the bad news. I quote:

According to Miriam Weiner's "Jewish Roots in Poland," there are no surviving Jewish vital records from Lipno. This is confirmed by the latest information available from the Polish State Archives.

Stanley Diamond
Project Coordinator, Jewish Records Indexing - Poland

The Jewish community (and all its records) in Lipno was obliterated by the Nazis. Think yourself lucky that your ancestors decided to emigrate.

Justin