My g-grandmother's name was Lizzie (Ida) Spharago (Sphrago). She married Shoile (Charles) Redman in the Ukraine, possibly in Ladyzinka. She died when my grandmother, Sara Redman Smason was 16 years old in Chicago, IL. We know little about her roots, except that her family was Sephardic Jewish in Ashkenazi Russian Jewish community. It has recently been suggested that the name Shparago may have been changed from the word Spharado which means Sephardic and became a descriptive surname. I have contact with a living relative, a distant cousin. But in looking at her geneology we cannot figure out how we are related except that our grandmother and her mother were close friends and they carried the name of my great-grandmother. Lizzie was not one of her parent's (they were 1st cousins - both from Shparago families) sisters. I have not been able to find record of the surname except through these probable relatives. I have absolutely no record of any siblings or ancestors of Lizzie Shparago. Would welcome any information or ideas about the origin of the name in eastern europe and any links.
My name is Diane Kriegman Claussen/Atlanta, GA/
didado@mindspring.com