Bessarabia Province
Dombrivtz
Dumbravitsa
Dombrivtz
Dumbravita
Dumbrevitsa
Dombrovista
Dumbrovitsa
47° 29' / 28° 08'
Dumbravitsa is about .8 miles from Valya Luy Vlad (less than 1 mile). My Grosslerner and Ziselman families came from these two small villages. Although it was Bessarabia in Russia at the time that my grandparents lived there, Romanian soldiers were billeted there in WWI, and it is now in Moldova. It is not to far from the town of Beltz (now called Balti).
The story is that a male forebear served in the Czar’s personal guard. The Jews that served in his guard were given land in the colony or colonies. They eventually owned a seven room house and my Grosslerner grandfather (on my mother's mother's side) owned the local mill where the grains from the local area were ground. Non-Jews used this mill. Even though they were religious, my grandfather used to keep the mill open on Shabbos for the non-Jews. He wouldn't go to collect the money but would send one of the children They also owned fields that they farmed and put up food in a cellar for the winter. They were village people but were considered middle class. They were not poor although they were rural people. They had a melamud (tutor) who lived in their house to educate the children. They would go into Beltz (Balti) once a year to have their clothes made. During WWI there were Romanian soldiers billeted in their home. Once, the non-Jews warned the colony of an impending pogrom, but it never happened. |
My mother’s family the Grosslerners from Dumbravista My great grandmother, Chrandel Devorah married a Grosslerner, said that the area they were from was Bessarabia at that time. Their daughter was "Anna" Chanka Grosslerner born in Dumbravitz around the turn of the century. The date was on the Jewish calendar but we celebrated it on Aug. 31, 1900. My grandmother married Scholem (called Samuel in the States) Munishav.(Miller).He was not from that area. He was from the Ukraine and left perhaps to avoid conscription in the army. His father managed a rich man's property. He told his daughter that he used to swim in the Dnieper or it may have been the Dniester River as a boy. They came to the United States in 1924 as he was having difficulty making a living due to the changes that occurred after WWI. My grandmother had these siblings, Esther and, Harry who came to the United States , Leib and Heicha who remained in Russia). The children of those that stayed in Russia eventually emigrated to Israel. Samuel Munishav had one sister who married and lived in Russia. The family lost contact with them after WWII. As in many families, pictures were exchanged but names have long since been forgotten. I have a picture but never knew her married name. I have no idea what happened to her children and children's children. My father’s family the Ziselman’s from Valya Luy Vlad My grandmother, Esther Machla Greenspan, on my father’s side was from Valya Luy Vlad. She married Israel Mordeccai Ziselman. Although my parents had never met each other, the grandmother's knew each other from Europe since these two colonies were less than one mile from each other! My parent's were set up on a blind date! Israel Max Ziselman and his wife were from Beltz where he was a shochet (butcher). |
Population:
Surnames: Grosslerner, Munishav
Sources:
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Mystery Picture |
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My father in law is Velvel (Zev) Naiditch from Dumbrovits, but we are not sure which Dumbrovitz.