BARRY HYMAN of Hertfordshire always believed his great-grandfather Simon Bernstein abandoned his wife and five children to head for America in the early 1900s.
But his great-uncle recently told him the true story — Simon had an affair with the maid and fled to Sunderland.
‘‘Perhaps he got on the wrong train,’’ Barry joked.
Simon would like to find anyone in the North East whose grandfather was called Simon Bernstein.
Write to 4 Priory View, Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire or email barry@hypeople.freeserve.co.uk

HILDI KORSE of Ohio made an appeal through the Jewish Telegraph last year and, as a result, was reunited with long-lost family.
But she also learnt some new facts about her family.
Her great great grandfather Morris Cohen settled in Manchester around 1878 from White Russia (Belarus). Prior to emigrating, Hildi believes his name was Moses/Moshe/Movshe Seid/Zeid/Zayat.
His death certificate listed him as a Macintosh maker.
Morris married Hannah Goldberg from Poland who died as Annie Cohen in 1913 in Cheetham.
Their last residence was 24 Julia Street where Morris died in 1921. They had four children — Rachel, born 1867 in Poland; Joseph, born 1869 in Russia; Abraham Woolf, born 1877 in Berlin; and Esther, born in Manchester in 1879.
Abraham married Yetta Blumstein/Bloomstein/Blumenstein from Piotrkow, Lodz, Poland in 1899.
Hildi has also located branches of Annie’s family in the UK. Morris Goldberg was a nephew of Annie’s who married Rachel Farber, both born in Poland. They also lived at 24 Julia St around 1899. They owned a grocery store which later moved to Salford.
The couple had four children who were born and raised in Manchester — Joseph moved to Sunderland; Wolfe left for Canada; Hyman went to New York; and Hetty stayed in Manchester.
Write to 312 Wilmington Drive, Loveland, OH 45140, telephone 001 (513) 583-0089 or email her at momofkorse@fuse.net

DEREK STAVROU of Israel who appealed last month for details about Rabbi Avram-Itse Ephraim Moisievic has discovered more information.
Derek found some facts on Rabbi Moisievic in the 1929 South African Jewish Year Book. He was born in 1878; educated at the yeshiva in Vilna; married Sheba Mikhalisky in 1910 and emigrated to South Africa the same year, where he had five children.
He became rabbi of the Hebrew Congregation of Krugersdorp, where he was known as Rabbi Eliezer Hillel Matthews and died in 1929. 
Write to 14 Mor Street, Kfar Saba 44242, Israel or email dereksue@netvision.net.il