John Berech Sr. Post 6

OK like I was saying. I couldn't think of anything else to do or look at. I've looked into where he was, where he's going, how he got there. But the winning ticket still eludes me, his name on the manifest. The name!! The mysterious name that no one seems to actually know! Argh!


On that day I went to bed and said to Rick. I don't know what else to do. And he suggests to put it away for a while and go back to it later. So I do. I don't look at it again for a couple of days. So here I have all this information and what do I do with it. That's when it comes to me that I need to send emails to the family members so they know what I'm doing. I've already bugged them for information, I need to give back. So I start writing a note and I find I have more information to give for it to be just a note. That's when it occurs to me to start a blog. My girlfriend had just started one about a month ago and I thought it was cool. So I looked into it. I had to learn how to build it and work it, which was hard for me, probably should have had my 19 year old do it, he could have done it in a day, but the little entrepreneur would have charged me a fortune!

I start compiling the information trying to get it to make sense. I go back to the documents and look at them again so that I make sure that I have the information correct. And I find the blog is also great because I can post photos of the documents so you can see them.

So I come to the Petition for Naturalization. The document is actually out of a book. The copy I posted for you I have cropped out the left side of the book. The document is on the right side and what you see on the left side is the backside of the previous page. Here is what is actually looks like.

It's kinda hard to explain exactly what happened but hopefully I can get it so it makes sense. So I'm looking over the Petition making sure I have the information correct. I look over to the left side of the book and I can see that the pages are getting really old. My first thought is that the ink from the Petition has transferred to the page on the left because they have been stuck together so long, but at a second glance I realize that it is not a mirrored copy of the Petition but a totally different document. You can actually see through them. I can read backwards that the previous document is called a Declaration of Intention. I'm zoomed in pretty close so I can read the Petition and because of that, I can see typed there on the first line what looks to be ..... the name John Berech. Shit... Is this another document! I'm trying so hard to read backwards. But it's so faded and I can only pick up bits and pieces of it. I see Minsk Russia! but there this other name attached to it as well! What's that all about? I try to see if I can turn the page but when I do, it looks like nothing happened. So I run and get a mirror and I'm holding it up to the monitor trying to read it, and I can!! haha! The information is still faded and I can't make out a lot of it. When I get to the end of that document there is another slip of paper, a separate one. It's says "Certificate of Arrival Ellis Island" ! Cool! AND THERES A NAME THERE!! OMG is that an " i " ? it looks like 2 " i's " WHAT IS IT!!! WHAT DOES IT SAY!!!!



I pull Rick out of bed and tell him I need him to see something and help me. He looks at it and says the same thing... Yeah... it looks Like there are I's in it and the First name Doesn't look anything like John. He says to me..... "did you turn the page?" Me getting all huffy.... "Yes! I did! But it doesn't do anything!" So of course he has to try it himself. (The bugger).. and when he tries, it does the same thing..... It looks the same. Rick gets the mouse and scrolls down the page and there.............

at the bottom.............

clear as can be...........

is the small little slip of a document Titled Certificate of Arrival Ellis Island............

Turned over....................



(The top document did not turn over) We turn the page again and that document turns over too.



And this is what we see. I'm screaming with glee!

Hello everyone..... Meet Iwan Biricz!


I"ll post more tomorrow...............   G-nite!