Sample dossier · a fictional family
The Bershadsky family: first dossier
This is what you receive on day 7 — shown on the family from the example report.
The Bershadskys don’t exist. The structure, the level of detail and the kinds of sources are those of a real dossier. The people, dates, entry numbers and results are invented — yours will differ, and so will the count. The guarantee is 10 documents.
1. Where the tree stood, and where it stands
Uploaded: 15 people, built from what the family remembered. No documents.
023documents — records with an image and a reference
35generations on the father’s line
0 of 107 of 10known direct ancestors with a document
73lines still stopped — each with the reason and the next move
2. An ancestor card
Every person on your direct lines gets a card like this. Each statement points to a record; each record has its image and its reference.
Chaim (Hyman) Bershadsky
great-grandfather · father’s line · 1896–1941
| Born 3 (15) March 1896 in Zhitomir | Birth register of the Zhitomir Jewish community, 1896, males, entry 114State Archive of Zhytomyr Oblast · image attached | proven |
| Father: Moshe-Leib, son of Avrum, registered in Chudnov | the same entry | proven |
| Mother: Sura, daughter of Itsko | the same entry | proven |
| Circumcised 10 (22) March 1896 | the same entry | proven |
| Killed in 1941 with his wife Rachel | Page of Testimony submitted by their sonYad Vashem · image attached | probable |
| Marriage to Rachel, about 1921 | Not found. The Zhitomir marriage registers for these years aren’t online.We name the archive and the reference; you can order a copy yourself | not found |
№ 114
Марта 3 дня родился, 10 обрезан.
Отец: чудновский мещанин Мошко-Лейб Аврумов Бершадский.
Мать: Сура Ицкова.
Кто родился и какое ему дано имя: сын Хаим.
TranscriptionМарта 3 дня родился, 10 обрезан. Отец: чудновский мещанин Мошко-Лейб Аврумов Бершадский. Мать: Сура Ицкова. Сын Хаим.
TranslationBorn on March 3, circumcised on the 10th. Father: Moshko-Leib, son of Avrum, Bershadsky, a townsman registered in Chudnov. Mother: Sura, daughter of Itsko. A son, named Chaim.
Why this is your Chaim and not a namesake
- The year matches the family’s “about 1896”, and the town matches.
- He is the only Chaim Bershadsky in the Zhitomir birth registers for 1890–1900 — we read all eleven volumes.
- The Page of Testimony, filed independently by his son, gives the father’s name as Moshe.
- What stays open: the family spells the surname with a “d”; one later record has “Bershatsky”. Noted on the card.
3. People the tree didn’t have
Moshe-Leib Bershadsky2× great-grandfather, born about 1868 in Chudnov. Named in his son’s birth record; his own birth found in the Chudnov register.
Sura, daughter of Itsko2× great-grandmother. Named in three birth records of her children — two of them siblings the family had never heard of.
Avrum Bershadsky3× great-grandfather, born about 1840. Named as the father in the Chudnov register. The line stops here for now.
4. Where we looked and found nothing
This part is as long as the finds. It saves you — and anyone who continues — from searching the same places twice.
- Kaplan, Berdichev. Abraham Kaplan was born about 1890. The Jewish birth registers of Berdichev that are online cover only 1916. No record found. Next move: the register for his year, if it survives, is in the archive and not digitized — the dossier gives you the archive and the reference to ask for.
- Shapiro. No town in the tree and none in any record we found. We searched wartime databases by name and year: 14 candidates, none that can be tied to this family. Next move: question 2 below.
- Rachel, wife of Chaim. Her maiden name isn’t in the tree, and her children’s birth records for the 1920s aren’t online. Next move: question 4 below.
5. Questions for your family
Short, answerable from memory, each one opening a specific door. “Don’t know” is a useful answer.
- Did grandpa Boris ever mention Chudnov, or relatives who lived there?
- Where was grandma Fanny’s father, Leib Shapiro, from? Even a region helps.
- Boris had a sister, Ida, born in 1928. Did she have children — and does anyone keep her papers?
- What was great-grandmother Rachel’s maiden name? Is it on any gravestone or old document?
- Is there a photo with something written on the back — in Russian or Yiddish?
6. What’s in the package
- Cards for every person on your direct lines and everyone found along the way — like the one above.
- The records: each image with its transcription, translation and reference. Copies are for your personal use.
- A PDF book you can print or send to relatives:
- The family at a glance
- The tree before and after
- Line by line: what we found
- The towns and their records
- Every record, in full
- Where we looked and found nothing
- Questions for the family
- Sources and references
- A private family-tree site — the same content, open only to you and the relatives you invite, with a place to answer the questions.