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The Khmelnitski Region State Archives contains old synagogue metrical records of
Jews who lived in the Peschanka, Olgopol district (uezd), Podolski region (gubernia).
In addition to metrical books containing death records, there are separate books with birth and
marriage records, as well. A rabbi maintained these metrical books, where he recorded
birth and marriage data for the local Jews.
Birth entries include genealogically-valuable information such as the names of the
parents and those of the children. Marriage records, too, are an obvious source of
genealgically-rich data. Unfortunately, few metrical books survived the travails
of time and war.
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The records below (click box) are those of the fifty-nine Peschanka Jews who passed away in 1883.
These individuals died from natural causes. Typical causes of death were diphtheria,
typhoid fever, pneumonia, and phthisis (any wasting disease, such as tuberculosis).
There was a high mortality rate among infants and young children due to being born weak,
from poor nutrition, from poor sanitation, and from inadequate medical care.
To compensate, families often had many children; it was not unusual to have families
with ten or more children, of whom a significant number would not survive to adulthood.
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