Let them come to you

When I started doing family history research fifteen years ago, there were certain mysteries that I wanted to solve.

• Where in Europe did my family come from?
• What were the names of my ancestors?
• How and when did they arrive? Is the story of [fill in the blank] true? But the most important and interesting part of it all was
• What happened to all of the descendants of my ancestors, especially those with whom we have lost contact long ago.

I never expected that they'd find me, though.That happened yesterday.

My great grandfather, Isadore Telles, was born Itzhak Telefus in Khotin, Ukraine. Following his sister Sheava Fisherman and her family, who immigrated around 1908 Itzak traveled on the S.S. Kroonland to the Ellis Island in 1909. Itzak had a brother Pesach who immigrated to Israel, and another sister Anna who came to the US. The name Telefus was changed to Telles soon after he immigrated. In the 1950s, Itzak traveled to Israel to visit his brother and his family. In fact, my mother still has a little doll that her grandfather had brought back from Greece - a stop on his return trip.

I had always wanted to find out what happened to Pesach's family, but Pesach only had daughters, and we did not know their married names. What to do? I tried to look through old Israeli phone directories several years ago and contact many "Telefus" families, but without luck. The best I could do is post the mystery to my genealogy website, to JewishGen's Family Finder, and to wait until there were new resources to try. I posted that in 2002 or so.

Yesterday I received an e-mail from Pesach's great-grandson. He had been bored and Googled his great-grandfather's name. Google took him right to my website. He e-mailed me immediately. Their family remembers my great-grandfather's visit and have letters from my great-grandfather still. He said his mother was crying at the idea of being reunited with the long-lost family. I was just stunned. In the end, they found me.