Help Finding an Immigrant Russia to America

MR writes to ask 4 questions

I am trying to find an ancestor that emigrated from Russia to England, then England to the US. I found his marriage certificate stating that his name was Morris Yudavich and that he was married in Nov.,1902 to Katie Kishon in Mile End, Old Town, London. His grandson told me that prior to his marriage, Morris came to the US to make certain arrangements and then returned to England to marry. His wife became pregnant but remained in England and Morris returned to the US without her in 1903 or 1904. I found that she emigrated to England via Antwerp in June,1904 on the Kroonland with her newborn, Hillel (born Apr. 1904); and her name appeared on the ship manifest as Gittel Judowitz/Judowitz.

Morris's brothers, Israel and Shomer (Shamer) immigrated to the US in 1905 and 1906 (SS St. Paul), respectively, as did his brother, Abraham (Abram) Judin in 1912, but the last name that was listed for them was "Judin" not Judowitz (or a version of Judowitz).

I cannot located a Morris leaving or entering England or the US with any of the above surnames. The only possibility, based on the timeframe, was the transcribed name of Mosche Judin, listed on Ancestry.com, (Hamburg Passenger List) departing Hamburg on Mar. 27,1901, arriving in port of Grimsby (destination, Hull). But, when I checked the accompanying original manifest, the name was not on the actual passenger list, so I could not check for any additional information or any misspelling of the names.

So, the questions are, how do I find:1. the ships Morris was on both inbound and outbound to/from England and to/from the US?
2. the ships Shomer (Sam) Judin (Yudin) traveled on from Russia (Sharkovshchina) to England? (Israel went to
London, via Hamburg and then to NY two months later on the SS Viola)
3. What ships or means would they have taken to get to European ports from Russia (I know that some people
took transport from the Kovno area--one brother listed his last place of residence as Kovno)
4. Did the travel agencies/shipping companies that sold travel packages to immigrants, maintain lists of those
they served?

Olive Tree Answer: You've done a lot of good research on your family and explained it very clearly for me. Thank you! I'll tackle one of your questions above - the arrival of your Morris. First though, you said that you could not see Mosche Judin on the Hamburg Passenger List on Ancestry.com but I just clicked on it and he is there, second from the top. There is a thick black line drawn through the entire entry for him, it is possible he was booked to be on that ship but did not take it.

There is also a Mowsche Judin age 29 departing 5 Apr 1906 on the ship Blücher in the Hamburg Passenger Lists. He is accompanied by one family member so you may want to have a look at the image to see if this is your ancestor.

I wish I knew when your Morris Yudavich was born - even a approximate year - because there are several possiblities for his arrival in America in those Hamburg Passenger Lists. But without an idea of his date of birth, I've no way of knowing if any might be him. For example, this man "Morische Judowitz". Say it out loud. It sounds enough like Morris Yudavich to be your ancestor! Also this man "Moritz Judkiewicz". Try using wildcards in the Ancestry.com search engine and just search for MOR* and JUD* to see who pops up.

For the second part of your question - that is, the outbound voyage that Morris may have taken from USA to England - have you checked Ancestry.com UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960? These are ships going from USA to England. There is a Morris Judowitz sailing from New York to Liverpool on 29 Apr 1913. The year is off but this man is a better fit - Capt M Judon leaving New York for England on 23 Oct 1901.

Again, since I don't know your Morris' date of birth, I can't eliminate anyone, so am just presenting to you some names that seem to be in the ballpark. If you are searching this database, you may want to read the two CAVEATS I wrote regarding the problems with it , and also that there are many hits for men named MORRIS with NO SURNAME transcribed. So a search under your ancestor's first name and year of birth (+/-) with no surname may be a good idea for you to try.