31/12/78.
Caprice,

{p Greenlees Gardens,
Cambuslang,
Glasgow G72 6BQ
Tel: 041-641 7462

De a r Susan,
I am the Syd Balarsky ( Mr. S. Bell) for whom your letter was
ori g inally intended . Mr uncle Ralph (Reuben) tells me that he
has a lready forwarded to Jou the photo you requested,and a lso
that Betty and my mother(S o lly 's wife) have wri t ten to you.
I am married wit h two boys a ged 8 and IO and assume that you
will be of a similar a g e t o mys e lf,37. We live in a rura l area
just outside Glasgow.I was brought up in the Jewish faith a nd
my wife is a Catholic of Polish origins.She converted and we
belong the Reform Jewish community which is non orthodox .I
assume from your family tre e that Re bec ca Woolf also married
out of the Je wi s h re li g ion and therefore your branch of the
tre e will be either Ca tho l ie or Pro test a n t.I don 't know if
Ral ~h told you that Fanny and Ev a r e deceased a nd t hat his branc h is Catho lic.
I was very p l eased to receive your letter a s our family in the
Uni t ed Kingdom is very s mal l and apart from a Uruguayin con nection now d ece a sed and a small branch in the U. S .A. we have no
links abroad .It was particularly pleasing to hear from you at
this point in time a s my wife and I are very i n terested in our
roots a nd ori gins and hav e traced our familys back through my
mot hers side(Lithuanian and Whit e Russian) and my wif e s side
( Fathe r side,P o lish Mothers side American/German). Your letter
completed the t r ee fo r us.
WE a re going on a pil g r a ma ge to P oland in June 79 mai nly to
make cont a ct wit h my wi fes family but we are if we c an get the
n ece s sary permis s ion goin g i nto Rus sia a nd hope to trace s ot e
l inks on our side.This could prove extremely difficult a s
I am led t o b eliev e t h at when t h e rtus s ians ov eran Lithuania
a nd exiled the Jews all records were destroyed.
I would b e v ery pleased if you c oul d furnish me with more
detailed information re gar ding Lyon ~
n partic u larly if his
ori g ins are in t he U. S . S . R.If his ori g ins \are Eng lish perhaps
we can
)

6ct lc.oV\

help you go further back. So could you ple a se let us know if
you have it his place of birth .

If we share a Great Great Grandfather what relat i on are you
and I? Second Cous ins?

I enclose photos of my fami ly a nd a sk in return if y ou have
the time to supply details of your family and way of life.

In closing I extend a s i ncere in vit a tion to you that if you
e ver consid e r a U. K. holyd ay we woul d be very pleased t o
acco no.-l ate you and s how you r ournit our be autifu l country .

N
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