[MaryLutak]

I was thrilled to find this site, and I've learned so much from reading all the posts; Thank You All!

I need help understanding why my grandfather changed his name from "Joirdovo Martiuska," to "Michael Kotuba." There are too many Michael Kotuba/Kotube/Kotula's in the Ellis Island records for me to be
completely sure which one is him. There is also a "Georg Martiuswka" that could possibly be him.
I even have cousins who spell our name with a Kotuby, but my grandmother always insisted that it was spelled K O T U B A.
Most of the Ellis Island records name places like Austria-Hungary or Russia as their ethnic origin or place of residence. That doesn't tell me much. I found my grandfather's draft card which had a city spelled
Kroginoi Mnitinko, and the date 1886 which is the year he was born.
I'm really trying to understand his drastic name change.

My grandmother's name was Mary Lutak, and someone in the family says that her father was from Odessa, but I do know she continued to correspond with a niece in Jakarpatsky Oblast, Munkacoisky Royan.
Her name was Hafija Kopcoa. I was also told that her mother was killed and her father then sent her and her sister with a group of people to Budapest area where she married, had one child, and left for the United States in 1909.

I'd love to know what Village she may have been from. I don't even have a village for her niece.
My grandparents never shared much information, and their daughters they did tell things to, would never tell the rest of the family, or they would make up information that proved to be inaccurate.
I don't understand the secrecy and I'd just like to know the truth.
And hopefully, I will find some distant relation and travel to meet them.
If anyone can shed ANY information on my grandparent's story, I would certainly appreciate it.
I wish everyone the best of Luck in their searches. This has really been hard for me with so little information.
Best Wishes,
Mary