I've got Russian Roots too. My ancestors - great great grandparents - fled Kiev - the night before the Bolshevik Revolution (they were tipped off by a government official). They fled the country - with the clothes on their backs - and 4 children (all girls). They traveled by ship - into Canada, and/then settled in New York. They were educated, sophisticated, and wealthy (they had amazing tapestries) - their home and all of their possessions - were destroyed in the Revolution. They lost everything, and escaped with their lives.

(I can pm you my family name - I want to be mindful about protecting my identity on glp). One of the "girls" was my great grandmother - who married a Scotsman, and had 12 children. They traveled (by covered wagon) - across the United States, and settled in Montana. They were sheep ranchers - and were somewhat nomadic. The boys wanted to be 'cowboys' - and they got their wish!

My great grandmother never learned English! She had a little accordion - and she would play and sing Russian folk songs, (in their sod house, with twelve children). My grandmother said her mother would sometimes cry, (because she missed Russia so very much). My great grandmother always grew a garden, and that is what got them through.

Buffalo were plentiful, and would stampede over their sod house! My Great Grandmother would put some of her children in the cool oven, to protect them. She never had a doctor, and delivered all of those children. They all survived, and 2 young men died fighting in the War (WWII) - the rest lived a very long time.