Sacks (Saks) Family from Rujiena (Rujen), Latvia
My grandmother was JENNY SACKS (SAKS) from Latvia.Fleeing her homeland because she had been involved in Bundist revolutionary activity and many in her group had been arrested, at age 19, she passed through Ellis Island.Her sibling, ANNIE (HANA), arrived that same year on a separate ship.They were from Rujiena (Rujen), about 130 kilometers NE of Riga.Their parents were JUDE and HELENA SMULYAN SACKS (SAKS).Helena was from Germany.According to the 1910 census,Jenny and Annie lived with and near relativesat E. 114 St., NY. ISAAC and ROSIE MILNER were their uncle and aunt.Rosie Smulyan Milner was Helena's sister.They are identified in documents as British Hebrews.Isaac was a bookkeeper and may have worked at 33 Union in NY. Isaac and Rosie, at that time, had two surviving children,VICTOR and BERNARD.Victor Milner became a famous Hollywood filmmaker and won an Academy Award in the 1930s.Living next door to the Milners were cousins, JOSEPH SMULYAN and his two sisters, BERTHA and FREDA.I have been able to identify these individualsin America but have hit a stone wall when trying to get information about JUDE and HELENA SACKS (SAKS) back in Rujen, Latvia and am therefore seeking suggestions and assistance in locating them.