Trying to figure out where the heck I came from. I've actually already visited all the places in Greece where my moms family came from, but I am yet to visit my place(s) of origin in the FSU. A large part of my interest in women from this region stems from curiosity about my paternal history. Regardless of whether or not I connect with any ladies, I am planning to visit sometime very soon.
When I was growing up I remember my grandfather mailed us a map that had a small town circled that was supposed to have been the origin of our family and family name. According to him, his great-great-?? grandfather of the same last name started a boot factory around which the employees began to build their homes. This eventually became the town of Shiryaev Ширяев. As Olga Mouse kindly pointed out, my last name is a rather common Russian last name. As some of the Shiryaevs moved to Europe and the US, the name has been changed to Shiraev and Shiraef. One of my brothers got tired of people mispronouncing and misspelling it so often so he actually changed it to "Sheriff" which is actually the way we have pronounced it all our lives. The journey from Ширяев to Sheriff seems rather comical to me, almost redneck in a way. Here in the Southeast we have a way of combining words, and eliminating syllables. The most famous examples are the expressions "you all" and "are not" which have become "y'all" and "ain't". It's all about the path of least resistance, I guess.
I am Джон Ширяев IV. My grandfather is Джон Ширяев III, and I have no idea what happened to the other two. My grandfather passed away while I was deployed in Iraq. I think he was in his mid-90s. I think he worked as an itinerant lecturer traveling and speaking on the subject of the Soviet Union during the "Red Scare". Sadly, we had very little contact.
I am trying to find this town of Ширяев as I would very much like to visit it.
My online search has only taken me to a plethora of people name Shiryaev, but I have been able to find very little about a town by that name.
I did find the following link which is slightly long but appears to indicate that this town is in the Odessa region:
>>Link Here<<If anyone can confirm that this is an actual town and can dig up any additional information I would greatly appreciate it. Also, if there are any other towns in the FSU with this name I would appreciate knowing that as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated by my entire family.