Goals for the New Year...

Goals for the New Year on the Poray line are...

1. Learn how to get Russian vital records.

2. Maybe take up Russian language (to assist in research of course).

3. Find Russian Military Records on Anatole.

4. Find Anatole final resting place in Stamford, CT

Though most of these seem to be simple goals, I have no clue as to how to go about this. I am learning about overseas research as I go. Learning Russian, of course, would be cool to do. Not sure if time permits for this. But we shall see.

Fairfeild, CT GenWeb project

Since the reply from PPK in the previous post, I have emailed the administrator of the Fairfield County GenWeb project about finding Anatole in a cemetery. She has not had any luck and I have not found him on any of the web sites either. She has suggested trying to contact their vital records to see if I can find anything there. 

She did find them in the 1930 census, which I had problems finding the family. She did email all the information so that I could find the family. I do now have a copy of this record. 

Well, with help from PPK, we did prove that Anatole was in the Russian Military. Which is what I set out to do from the start. New goal is to see how far we can get this family tree back. We do know that Anatole's father was Petrovich, no information on his mother at this point. 

Again, this will be a long process. I just hope it will be a successful one.

Obit of A. Poray Koshits

So, in my emails from a PPK in Russia I have learned a bit. He found a book that gives obituary information for the United States. 

Not Forgotten Tombs: The Russian abroad: obituaries 1917 - 1997.

Pavlovsk Military College

Poraj -Koshits Anatoly Petrovich

Years of life: nearby 1874 (1879) - till May 29th, 1937, the USA

The Colonel.

The Pavlovsk military College left the second lieutenant in 1st reserve artillery brigade (1893). In a rank shtabs-captain it was translated on technical service. Examined the weapon in armies of Vilensky military district. In May, 1916 has survived to the USA with the Russian artillery commision (the inspector of artillery orders).

Worked in the perfumery company later. Then unemployed. 

A member f a society of Russian officers of gunners.

Under one data has died at the age of 58 years, on another -63 years.

It is buried on May 29th, 1937 in the city of Stamford, CT.

(though the English is rough in this post, this is how it was translated from Russian)

Where the Poray's came from

I have also learned from my email to Russia that the Porai Koshits have 2 lines, 1 from St. Petersburg, Russia and the other is from Kiev, Ukraine. He did give me a name of a man doing research in Kiev. I have replied asking how to get ahold of this man, I cannot find anything on the internet to make contact. We do know that William did at one point live in Lugansk, which is now part of the Ukraine. Lugansk seems to be about 600+ km from Kiev. My assumption would be our link would be through the Kiev line. Hopefully, I will be able to make contact with this other Porai-Koshits and be able to continue with this search. 

I fear that this is going to be a hard line to research. The language barrier alone is going to make this difficult.  I did find the Russian Nobilty Association which will assist for $100 to do basic research in Russia. Then $25 per hour if we would like further research. 

The Americanizing of a name...

I have spent the last week doing some research on the Poray's. Most of what I have found are the different variations of the name. When the family came to America, the name was Porai Koshitz. When Mary passed, it was Poray Koshetz. I have recently been in contact with a man from Russia who has given me the Russian variations of the name. They are...

Porai-Koshits

Poray-Koshits

Poray-Kochits - french in id passport

We also seemed to have Americanized the name Anatole from Anatoly. 

It seems that William dropped the Koshits from his name when he got married. Just need to find out when Porai changed to Poray?

Lakewood Cemetery burials

I also found the resting place for Anatole's wife, Mary (Marie) in Woodlawn Cemetery, Lakewood, Ocean, NJ. 

Mary Poray Koshetz

1885 - 1963

Also buried here is William (their son),

 William A Poray

1912-1955

Still looking for Anatole's resting place.

Anatole Poray

My in law's family has grown up listening to stories that their Great Grandfather Anatole Poray (Poray Koshetz (Koshitz)) was high in the Russian Army in 1916. We just have no proof at this point. I have started researching this family to prove this for my Mother in law. 

So far, I have found Anatole and his family in the 1920 census in Manhatten, NY. Anatole worked for the Russian Embassy. I also found his Draft Card for WWI. That is pretty much most of what I have found for the family so far. The 1930 Census though is proving to be much harder to find them in. I will not give up though. 

In Russia, I did find a school that holds the Poray Koshetz (Koshitz) name, in the town we believe they lived in (Luhansk) . I will find someone who can help us find the background for the school. It opened in 1923 and our Poray's  left the area in 1916 when they came to America.

Obviously, there is a lot of work to be done here and it will be a challenge to do. Hopefully, we will be able to get this family tree back into Russia!