Can anyone help me find these villages that were on two ship manifests? My GGF lived in Crestuda, my grandmother lived in Batruska, and my grandfather named Kisiel was from Moling(sp?)and later Baranowich.

Let's have a proper look. Neither place is featured in the contents in the spelling you suggest. However, there are Mlynok a few km to the south from Baranovichy, with Kryzhyki and Bogushy next to it. Very much not sure about these, but seem the only options very near Baranovichy.

A

Thank you Andrei for pointing me in the direction.

Since my great grandfather lived in Crestuda much earlier I think it may have been spelled like Krestuda. Or Crestuda may have been either in Poland or in the Minsk area?

I learned that Baranovichy used to be the center of a region from 1939 till 1954. Nowadays it is in Minsk Region which is very much Belarus. If you have something written in Russian that you can scan and put online - I can have a look and decipher.

As for the spelling - it doesn't matter here. It still reads as K- in Russian and it is not on the list (I am using a local detailed map in Cyrillic).

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Andrei,

I took a closer look at the ship manifest and it appears the village the Kisiel's were from might be Wolny. Have you ever heard of it?

That's fantastic! There is a VOLNO Village in Baranovichy Area - 53.294759, 26.239933 on Google Maps. Lovely church and an old park...

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Andrei,

I will start learning more about Volno and also Vorony/Volny/Worony (same village?). I also learned the in-law's name was either Emalewsky or Malewsky.

Cheers,

Tony

I think my grandparents lived in Volna which is about 15 to 20 kilometers northeast of Baranovitchy. Volna was called Wolna many years ago. I will try to find more information about the Catholic Church and the village.

Other villages near Volna are Haradzisce, Haraddzieja, Stajki, Mir, Lipa, and Vssokaja.

I pass Gorodeya by on my way to Mir. There is a Mir Castle down there, one of the two well-preserved ones in Belarus.

A

Variations depending on language:
* Gorodische - Городище (in Russian), OR Haradzisca - Гарадзiща (in Belarusian)
* Baranovichi - Барановичи, OR Baranavichy - Баранавiчы
* Gorodeya - Городея, OR Haradzeja - Гарадзея
* Vysokaja Lipa - Высокая Липа, OR Высокая Лiпа
* Stajki - Стайки, OR Стайкi
* Mir - Мир, OR Мiр

The town of Gorodische is north of Baranovichi, but there is also a village by that name just outside of Minsk and one north of Pleschanitsy (search for Haradzišča, Belarus).

Village of Stajki (Стайки) is north of Orsha, but there is also one north-east of Maladechna (there is also a lake by that name south-east of Minsk) and another along a major route from Baranovichi (Stajki, Obwód brzeski, Białoruś).

There is no Lipa, but there is Vysokaja Lipa close to Haradzeja, Volna and Baranovichi.

Mir is an obvious one with a gorgeous castle that is now a UNESCO heritage site. BUT there is a village of Mir very close to Baranochivi... Putting together Volna + Haradzisce + Haradzeija + Baranovichi + Stajki + Vysokaya Lipa you get your approximate geographic area :)