Gitel’s First Years in America: A Genealogy Detective Story

Arriving in 1906 with no knowledge of English, changing her name every year and forgetting what name she used on her marriage license inspired the author on a 44 year search to document all the name changes and prove his grandmother's marriage license was authentic. Shows the very difficult search acquiring and interpreting historical documents, including old maps, ship passenger arrivals, census records, and naturalization papers when you don't know what last name you are searching. This ordeal turned the author into a genealogist against his will.