That's it.

Until and unless other resources become available, whether electronic or from interested individuals, my research will be ending. There are some people who have professed an interest in this topic, but they have not maintained and shared their research and/or communication. I do want to be clear that some of their information was very helpful! I've chased every lead that appeared and was financially reasonable to pursue. If I had unlimited funds, I'd hire people to do a whole lot more research and translate documents for me. I'd cajole people with my last name in Latvia and Germany to take a DNA test to see if they are related.

I have had some success. I've found, confirmed and established some relationships with people as a result of my research. I've accessed archives and found out some interesting and some very sad things about relatives. Most of my (male) ancestors in Latvia were skilled artisans (tradesmen) such as millers, smiths, or merchants. I have at least one mayor of a medium sized city as well as another who was a city council member. I had one relative who was a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union and actually survived long enough to be released, while I had another who was sent to a Nazi concentration camp and perished. I have another relative who was forced into military service for the Nazis and did not survive, but there is no record that I've found and survives about him, his service or his death. I have a ancestor who was a medical doctor and died in Russia. I (very likely) have a relative who was Stalin's maid/housekeeper, but sadly, "disappeared", according to Stalin's daughter, during one of his purges. I've learned that there is no evidence that even hints at the distant Swedish heritage that my grandmother suggested nor of any royal line or linkage to a "Polish Baron" that my grandfather had suggested. Again, while the men in my paternal ancestral line were skilled as far back as my research goes (until the early 1800s), there was never any indication of royalty. While I have been quite pleased with the knowledge I've gained from the research, I'm also filled with envy of people who are fortunate enough to be able to research their family heritage in a bunch of easily accessible records that go back centuries!

I've learned that most people don't really give a shit about genealogy. Oh, and I'm a distant relative of a local weatherman. :-)

Some of my unresolved questions:

1. Why was Kurschinsky changed to Truschinsky and why was it not merely by one person, but also for adult (close) relatives?
2. In what role did my grandfather serve while under Nazi occupation in Latvia?
3. Where was Alma Gunther born and to whom? Do adoption records still exist?
4. What is the maiden name of Heinrich Wigert's wife, Anna?
5. Which "Trusinskis" who are in Latvia are related to me?
   
6. Where is the link between the Odessa Deifels and my Deifels from Wurtemburg?
7. Is there any relationship between "von Truschinsky" and "Truschinsky"?
8. From where did August Till come when he moved to northern Latvia in the early 1800s?
9. Are there any Trusinskys in Russia?
10. Is the "Truschinski" found in a google book search related in some way?
11. To what extent do internal passports and emigration records exist/survive in Latvia?
    

If anyone wants to share information, feel free to contact me here or on facebook. If you're researching your family history, good luck and have fun!

Brigitte T.

So, my father called his cousin, Brigitte, for the first time. He got the number from his cousin Karina in Latvia. The call didn't go very well. She wasn't particularly interested in starting a relationship, citing her age and the fact that there was no attempt on the part of anyone to do so years and years ago. My dad did discuss visiting with her when he next visited Latvia, and she said that she would be willing to and even offered to let him stay with her. I found that to be interesting given the very direct and dismissive way in which she said that she didn't want any sort of relationship. My father noted that we didn't even have any contact information for her and have only recently -through my research, I might add- found out her name and so forth. He said that he isn't the person who didn't maintain the relationship with her and her family -it was his parents. That didn't seem to placate her.

I hope that -over time- she becomes a bit more interested, understanding and forgiving.

We did learn that she was married and had at least one daughter and two grandchildren. I am going to attempt to contact them via frype.com

Long overdue update

Well, after a series of failed deadlines, the Estonian research has been completed and sent to me. My only real complaint is the inability to complete the service in a timely manner. I had to inquire about the progress in a series of emails to get them to move on the project. It certainly seems as if I not continued to inquire with them it may never have been completed. I had first contacted them in early 2010 and ordered the translation some months later. I agreed to pay them a very reasonable fee (from my perspective) to acquire the documents from the Estonian archives and then the scanned them and sent them to me without asking for payment. I did tell them that I would be asking them to translate them, so I am sure they relied on that and I know they added on the fee after the whole process was completed early this year. After reviewing them, I considered their fee structure, and said that I'd like 10 hours of translation services. I specified which pages to translate first and what would follow. As you can see, I've attached a few of the pages that were scanned and sent to me prior to their translation.

I have no real ability to comment on the quality of the translation services, specifically, though I can say that there were very few gaps in the pages that they did translate, so I presume they were skilled in reviewing and translating German handwriting. The fee for everything worked out to a little over $200. They wanted me to send my credit card information by fax and specified that I not send it by email. I also could have wired it to their bank, but I learned that the bank fee for doing that was quite high. Because of that, I chose to pay it via Western Union. I received the completed translation the following day.

What did this whole process further in my research? The following events occurred in the early 1880s.

I had figured my relative, Eduard TRUSCHINSKY, was being sued by his landlord, but I was wrong because he sued the owner of a mill with whom he had an agreement for a few years. He sued the landlord for failing to comply with the terms of the lease. This landlord was Baron KRUDENER and it occurred merely a few miles north of the present Latvian-Estonian border and along the Baltic coast. Those terms required the landlord to maintain the property, provide materials for the tenant to make any repairs, etc. From the statements gathered in the court process, it seems that the landlord was wholly negligent in this matter so Eduard sued for damages. Eduard passed away before the legal process had concluded. After Eduard's death, his attorney indicated that Eduard's widow wanted the case to continue. The last communication from the attorney is a second request for a document and in that request the attorney notes that the case cannot proceed without the specified document. There are no further communications present in the series of documents, implying that the other party didn't supply the needed document. Perhaps that is a coincidence or perhaps it is not. What would you do if you had received that last document from the party who was suing you??

A second and in some ways a more exciting benefit is the identification of the attorney acting on behalf of Eduard TRUSCHINSKY, August KRUMING. In a correspondence, he identifies himself as the attorney and brother-in-law of the plaintiff, Eduard TRUSCHINSKY. What that bit of information does is confirm a whole group of TRUSCHINSKYs which I had documented and strongly suspected -but been unable to definitively confirm- as being related to Eduard. Because of this information I can add at least 27 other TRUSCHINSKYs, their spouses and descendants. Further, it provides the possibility I can link this line of Truschinsky's in the past to "Trusinskis" in the present who are still in Latvia. That is useful, because the other, more established line of research doesn't link to any TRUSCHINSKIS in Latvia today, though it does to some other relatives, albeit not with the surname TRUSINSKIS. Unfortunately, it still doesn't solve the problem of getting a few different people in Latvia with the name TRUSINSKIS to reply to my inquiries.

If any of you TRUSINSKIS in Latvija are reading this, do you have any heritage from the Leipaja region of Latvija? If so, we may be related. If you are unsure, perhaps you could ask an older relative who might know...

Overall, though a bit tedious, I am glad to have used the Estonian research service. It provided a more interesting story on one of my relatives on my paternal side AND, perhaps more importantly, provided a link to a whole new set of relatives which -in the future- I may be able to link to TRUSINSKIS in present-day Latvia.

Another Trusinsky!

Here is Aleksander Mikko, our new son. He was born on September 13, 2010. I just thought I should add him here as he is certainly a very important addition to my family tree!

He isn't playing hockey... yet. :-)

CONFIRMED!

Great news! I have now confirmed that almost all the living Vigerts in Latvia are relatives of mine! I was lucky enough to find someone online, sent them a note about the information I had about my Vigerts and asked her to inquire with her older relatives to see if any of it sounds familiar. She did and we thought we may have shared a common ancestor, so she visited a grave of someone who was born in the 1880s to confirm the date of her relative with the date of my relative on the birth documents that I found. IT WAS A MATCH! She didn't know that this person had at least four other siblings -one of which was my great grandmother, Julia Vigerte.

I am super excited about this. She seems to share a strong interest in researching this stuff. She has sent a couple of pictures (I anxiously wait for more to be sent!) and has some interesting -though sad- stories about some of our shared ancestors.

It has made me wish that the TRUSINSKIS that I had emailed in Latvia were as interested as this person. I am even more sure that some of them are the descendants from a common ancestor. I believe that because every single TRUSINSKIS I have found in my research from the 1800s is related in some way to each other! I have never found a TRUSINSKIS in the records to whom I could NOT show a relation. Remember: the problem I have is that I cannot review almost any records from here in Minnesota, USA, that are from 1905 or later. **If any of you (KARLIS, ROBERTS, etc) or your relatives read this, send me a note!!! All specific information about living individuals will be private, so do not worry about that if that issue is a concern.

Brigitte Truschinsky, part 2 FOUND

She has been found! I am currently corresponding with a relative of mine named Karina from Latvia. She is the daughter of my father's uncle. Her mother either chose to remain in Latvia after the Germans were pushed out by the Soviets or returned to Latvia from a displaced persons camp after the war. I do have a few relatives (who, again, where ethnic Germans) who chose to return to Latvia after World War II. One relative said "you can't ever escape the Russians". Well, I inquired about August Johann Theodor Truschinsky and what I knew about him (apparently married twice and had three children, though we only knew the name of one, "Brigitte"). I enclosed an old photo we had in my letter to her with these facts. She "looked up" this person and found her! I don't know how she went about looking up this person, but she told me that they had a great conversation and are now friends! She shared that Brigitte had a sister named Erica who died in 1993 and also a bit about August -a man I had been trying to find out more information about for what seems to be quite some time! She said that August was a member of the Latvian Legion -a unit made up of ethnic Latvians who faught for the German army in World War II. Others might more accurately describe them as fighting against the Russians, not for the Nazis. He survived, but was captured by the Soviets and sent to Moscow for some period of time. All of the allies (except the Soviets, of course), after investigating the role of the Latvian Legion in World War II concluded that they were, indeed, clearly electing to fight the Soviets, instead of really fighting for the Nazis. The Finns did the same thing, but in the role of allies not actually a part of the German military machine. Indeed, documentation from the German military demonstrates increasing concern about the loyalty of the Latvians. I am looking forward to learning more about him and his daugthers. A major bummer of this information is that it doesn't seem to show that he had any male children, so that I still have yet to find a link between the various "Trusinskis" and "Trusinska"s (Latvian spelling of Truschinsky) in Latvia with our Trusinsky/Truschinsky's in the USA.

A letter from Latvia!!

I just got a very nice letter from Latvia from a relative on my father's paternal side of the family. Her name is Karina and she is my father's cousin. It included a photo of their mutual grandmother. It was very detailed in her description of what her mother was like. In essence, it looks as if her grandmother had a very significant and positive role in her upbringing.

I plan to write her back quickly with more questions and will include a few photos of our own and also a basic family tree that shows how we are related and to whom I am referring when I have more questions.

This is GREAT news!!

On a slightly less positive note, we got information back from the Latvian government as a result of our query through their embassy. While I haven't viewed the information myself (my dad ordered it and had it sent to his home, of course), we were seeking a birth date from one individual (his grandmother on his mother's side) and hoping for a next-of-kin information on another individual. We got a birth month and year but not a location (a very necessary point to find more ancestors in that line) for the grandmother and nothing -pretty much- other than a death date on the other individual. I have not concluded, however, we are at a "dead end" with either individual, because the census records for the 1800s have yet to be posted online and there may be leads for the grandmother.

Overall, not much there...so far.

A Latvian connection found...

...for someone else. :p I made contact with someone in Latvia who shares a similar name. He gave me a bit of information (I LOVE google translator!) It has yet to be determined that he is a relative of mine, but -based upon the information that he sent me- he is very likely related to someone in the US with whom I've been in contact on a limited basis. I sent the US guy the info and told him to contact me if he was interested in learning more about or getting the contact information for the guy in Latvia. I hope he responds. Of course, I am hoping this leads to some connection to my family tree.

трусинскис!

Someone found my blog from Russia! "Trusinskis" is spelled "трусинскис" in Russian! I don't think I ever posted it here, but somewhere I found an item online that told of someone having a housemaid or servant named Trusinsky while living in Moscow. I wish I could find that entry -I have looked. I added "трусинскис" to a list of terms that would be used to direct people to this website for search/googling purposes.

It is unlikely anything much will come from this, but you have to always expand your chances and every little bit may help. Given the ethnic makeup of Latvia both now and in the past, it is almost a sure thing that I have relatives in Russia.

a new source found

I was contacted a few days ago by a woman of Latvian descent. She found me through the message board on ancestry.com. She suggested a Latvian website for me by which I could contact people with a similar surname in Latvia. In fact, she did her own preliminary search and noted how she found around 20 people with the name Trusinskis or Trusinska (the female version of Trusinskis). One has to be invited into the website and she graciously offered an invitation which I, of course, accepted. I will post any successes that I have!

Family crest?

Here is an image from a gentleman with the last name of "Treschinsky" whom I had emailed. He commented on the fact that he did know of some relatives in Riga, as well as Kiev. I wonder if I will find any basis for my heritage being related to this image...

I got an answer from Roberts Trusinskis!

"Declined". HAHA. I sent him an email a couple of times through what appeared to be his work email address. No response. So, I saw that he had a profile on "LinkedIn.com" and paid a small fee to send him an email there. I just got a message back saying that my message was "declined" with the reason given as "inappropriate".

I am only barely annoyed. What is it about someone who doesn't have the level of curiosity to respond to a "hey, we may be related" note that included an explanation?? The note clearly wasn't spam and doesn't solicit any information unless we were both convinced that there was a biological relationship -and the information in that instance would be very limited. Is the suspicion a legacy of the Soviet era?? At least now I know that I shouldn't bother to contact him again. I did ask that he reply if he weren't interested so that I would know not to bother him any further.

If he is a descendant of Johann Theodor Truschinsky -as is possible- I won't contact him.

We do have our source in Latvia who will likely know of this person and any other "Trusinskis" if they are indeed related. Indeed, I probably should have only pursued that route.

DNA Results are in

They arrived late last night. There are 12 exact matches to people in the FamilyTreeDNA.com system. I ordered the most basic, "12 marker" test. To further refine the results, I will have to order the 37 marker test. Of course, the more matches the greater the likelihood of a close biological relationship.

It is unlikely this will yield much new information for my genealogical research, unless I get others who share a similar surname to take the test, as well. I can think of a number individuals I would like to take the test but given they don't even reply to emails, it is unlikely they will take a DNA test for this purpose.

Oh, one more thing: overall, the most matches were with people in Norway (as a percentage of those in the FamilyTreeDNA.com system). I did find that to be interesting!

August Johann Theodor Trusinskis/Truschinsky

I found what I was looking for. I found a birth record for August Johann Theodor's first child. Don't get this wrong, but I am disappointed because it is a daughter, not a son. I am a bit disappointed because when she got married (if so) she very probably did not retain her family name. If it were a son, he and his descendants would be easier to find! I just sent an email to a gentleman in Latvia who may be of some help. I sure hope he responds! (UPDATE: That was the "Roberts Trusinskis")

How many variations of Trusinsky are there??!!

I search for variations of my family name and have found -as I have mentioned before- at least four other versions of the name in church documents for people of whom I am quite sure I am related. Now I search for "Trescinskis" and over 2000 hits come up! I wish someone from Latvia would email me and say (if this were true), "Um, Trusinskis and other, similar names are far more common than you suspect. So, it is not likely there is much of a relationship." Maybe that is why some people that I had sent emails in Latvia had not replied (of course, language may be an issue...)

Tomorrow I review some records and DNA update

The records are for both Truschinsky and Till. I may have already reviewed the Till records, but I want to be sure I am hoping to find a more detailed death record that what I have found online (http://www.lvva-raduraksti.lv/en.html). The Truschinsky record (two of them, with a lot more on the way!) seeks to find a particular birth record for a Truschinsky, but I will still be quite pleased and a bit surprised if I find any Truschinskys -the records for this area haven't been particularly helpful. I get lots of references to this broad geographic region, but no supporting data to help me develop the links between three broad groups of Truschinskys. If I did find a particular birth record for this Truschinsky, I may be able to link the 20 or 30 individuals I found in the last few weeks with my existing tree. If I can, it will be very exciting and will very likely lead to some living relatives in Latvia!

DNA UPDATE: I have been notified by Family Tree DNA that my samples have arrived and will be heading out to their lab in the next week or so. While I am annoyed at the length of time this takes, I am still excited about the possibilities of where this might lead.

DNA UPDATE ON THE UPDATE: Family Tree DNA has now projected my tests will be complete by...get this...September 5. Ugh.

Truschinsky DNA test

The test has arrived and I will give a sample tonight. It requires three different swabs of the inner cheek. I will send it away tomorrow. I believe the company says that it takes about 3 weeks to get the results.

I want to encourage others to take said test if they feel that may be related (though it only works for the paternal heritage and only on males). The cost is $99 if you make your order as a part of a group/surname project (such as Trusinsky). Here is a link for more information. Also, here is a link to the Trusinsky project. I will post results on the second link.

You can also join a geographic project, as well or in lieu of, to get the discount. The test costs $149 if you do not get it through a project. So, if your heritage is Latvian -or German- you could join one of those groups.

I've found some more trusinskys

I received a response to my email/letter to the DBGG. It was a nice letter that didn't provide to many insights into what I was asking but there was one bit of information which directly let to me finding at least a DOZEN more Truschinskys! (not including children born of a marriage to a female Trusinsky who -hence- have a different surname) My earliest confirmed Truschinsky is a witness to a baptism and I am suspecting that he is a brother of the father. It also gave me a number of birth locations that should be useful -particularly since I ordered records from that area earlier last week. I've started a separate family tree file for the new Trusinskys and will only link them to my existing Trusinsky tree when I've proven a link between them. I am very confident that I will be able to do so!

Also, I sent out an email to a "suspected" "Trusinsky" in the US who I had found online. He responded and shared a bit of information which indicates that there may be a link. He has a relative that does some genealogy and forwarded my email and website to her. That reminds me -I should reply to the gentleman!

I'm back

We arrived from Europe this last Monday. Jane and I visited Iceland, Sweden (2nd time for me) and Finland.

Now that I am back, I have ordered my DNA kit from Family Tree DNA. I've started a group based upon my surname. If people have a similar surname to Trusinsky, they are invited to join the group and -in return- they receive a price $50 lower than if they joined on their own. The lower price is $99 for the base kit. The kit examines the DNA of a male descendant that remains unchanged from generation to generation. It is for this reason that the group is based upon the surname, as the son of Trusinsky has the surname of Trusinsky, etc. However, that being said, I have found at least 4 different spellings of Trusinsky in the documents I have found for my ancestors. I am sure that these are relatives (unless, of course, someone was adopted along the way...).

Here is the link to the project.

Another Trusinsky found!

This one was born in the early 1800s. I have yet another community into which I can search for more Trusinskys. I can't dig too much further, as I have a few items in which I need to make a bit more progress (Australia, Karlis Trusinskis, etc.)