Simon Klionsky lives in Ventura, California (near Los Angeles).

Simon and his family (wife Diana, son Gary, daughter Lana) moved to the United States in 1989 from Minsk, Belarus.

Note Klionsky, Simon's grandfather, lived in Zembin, near Borisov, Imperial Russia.

He immigrated to the USA via Ellis Island at age 40 in 1912 According to ship records, he travelled alone with a surname of Klensky. But, according to family stories, he was accompanied in emmigration by one daughter Sosha.

Note left behind in Zembin his 2nd wife and all but one of his children. Soon after 1920, with the death of Note's second wife, the connection between him and his remaining children in Soviet Russia was lost. After the death of their stepmother some of Note's children were raised in a Soviet orphanage.

Note apparently had at least five children - Sosha, Chae "Isay", Faivel "Yefim", Manya, and Riva "Rita".

All survived WWII, although Faivel "Yefim"'s first wife and children did not.

In the United States historical record, no evidence of Note (or of his child who may have also emmigrated here at around the same time) has yet been found except for an Ellis Island record that is assumed to be his.

Note's family constitutes one of the 10 currently recognized Klionsky clans in the world, none of which have a known relationship to any of the others.