On March 23, 2017 I received an email from Russian teen and genealogist Luba Kirsanova, inquiring about her grandfather's uncle Morris, who had emigrated to the USA from Russia. My Google Analytics had shown multiple hits from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, looking at Thorner pages. It turned out that the connection was someone who had married into Paul Thorner's family--his wife Edith's father Morris Horowitz.

Lyuba asked after her grandfather's cousin, Edith Horowitz Thorner, who was lisited on my site with photos. Alas, Edith had died in 2008, but I contacted her widower, Paul, and he put me in touch with Edith's last living sibling, Rebecca Horowitz Mann. Rebecca was surprised, to say the least!

Next, by means of photo scans and many emails we established the legitimacy of the family stories and identities. Lyuba sent us photos of the American family which her family had received and cherished:

Paul and Edith Thorner

October 2002, I met Paul and Edith when they visited their daughter Nancy in California.

1942-43 Edith and Paul Thorner from the collection of Lyuba Kirsanova of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

And then we established the identity of the two families with an exchange of 100-year old photos. From Lyuba:

1914-18 circa, Liozna, Belarus. Gourevich Family. Collection of Lyuba Kirsanova and Genadiy Gourevich.
Top row, left to right: Grigoriy Gourevich,

Same photo passed down in Rebecca Mann's American family!