The Cooperstein / Kuperstein Family (continued...)

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The Kuperstein / Cooperstein Story continued...

I first heard the Cooperstein/Kuperstein name when working on the family history of the Wurtzel family. Descendants of that family had a well-defined family tree reaching back to their ancestors in Mervits, a couple named Yankel Volf Katz and Ronya Leah (née Wurtzel).

According to their family tree and history, the eldest daughter of Yankel Volf and Ronya Leah named Chaieh married a man named David Cooperstein. The Wurtzel descendants didn't know much more about either of them except that David came to the US by himself and Chaieh stayed back in Mervits with their children to help care for her sister's orphaned children after she passed away. According to descendants, David and Chaieh had five children: Avrum, Lifsha, Smeelik and twin girls who died at a young age. Avrum and Smeelik died in WWII in unknown circumstances. Lifsha's fate is unknown.

David Cooperstein/Kuperstein

After learning of David Cooperstein, I began searching for evidence of David's presence in the US and indeed found some records of a man with that name who was from Mlynov. The historical record is fragmentary, but I was pretty sure I found the David Cooperstein who married Chaieh Katz in Mervits.

The key document was a Declaration of Intention for "David Cooperstein." The document was signed on March 15, 1928 and indicates the man was 60 years old, and born on June 13, 1867. He is listed as a laundryman in New York, living at 86 Ludlow Street, and gives his birthplace as "Mlinow Russia." His wife's name is listed as "Chia," and her birthplace as "Russia." The document indicates Chaieh was still residing in Russia.

"How many David Cooperstein's from Mlynov would have a wife name Chaieh who was not living with him?" I thought to myself.

David Cooperstein's Two Declarations, 1921 and 1928

David Cooperstein's wife, Chaieh Cooperstein (seated middle row, right) with her Katz family back in Mervits.

David was a small man. The record describes him as 5'4" and 130 lbs with brown hair and brown eyes. His arrival date in New York was on Oct 2, 1906 on the SS Caronia. After being in the US since 1906, he was still signing his name in Hebrew lettering in 1928, more than 20 years later. In 1928 when he filled out his Declaration, he was living at 86 Ludlow Street which was in the Lower East Side, close to Delancey Street and the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge.

David apparently also filled out another Declaration of Intention seven years earlier (signed Jan 21, 1921). That earlier Declaration was valid for seven years only and was about to expire in 1928.^[1] Since David did not submit a Petition for Naturalization in the interim, his first Declaration was expiring, which must have prompted him to filled out his Declaration a second time. Lucky for us he did. It was only on the second Declaration that he wrote "Mlinow, Russia" as his birthplace.

David's failure to become a citizen after 20 years in the US seems to reflect the mindset of a man whose family was still back in Russia and who probably never intended to become a citizen, but who still wanted to be perceived as a loyal American.

The information on David's earlier Declaration is mostly consistent with the later version. The earlier record shows "David Cooperstein" was 53 years old, a laundryman, 130 lbs 5' 5" living in the Lower East Side at 96 Ludlow St, very close to where he was seven years later. On this earlier record he listed his birthplace as "Wolyn, Russia" using "Volyn" the name of the district in which Mlynov was located. His birthdate is listed as June 15 1867 [instead of June 13].

He again gives the same immigration information as his later record, indicating his arrival in New York from Liverpool on the SS Caronia on Oct. 2, 1906. The SS Caronia did in fact arrive in New York on October 3, 1906. I located its manifest and went through each name, one by one, a couple times, but so far have not located a man named David Cooperstein or Kuperstein on the manifest. It appears he either came on a different ship or used a different name.

David appears again in the 1930 census in New York. He is listed in the record as "David Kuperstein," age 62, renting in the Lower East Side in the rear of 21 Willet Street. His status is "married" but still has no wife or children living with him. His occupation is described as "helper" in the Laundry business.

A decade later in the 1940 census, David Kuperstein was living at 79 Columbia Street, still in the Lower East Side. He is 72 years old and described as a "machine dryer" in a laundry. There is a lodger living with him at this time. He still has not naturalized and is listed as an "alien." He apparently never went through with his citizenship, and therefore should not be confused with the man named David Nathan Kuperstein who filled naturalization records in Pennsylvania.

By the 1940 census, of course, WWI has begun and Mlynov was already occupied by the Soviets since September 1939. David must have found it exceedingly difficult that his wife and children were presumably still back in Mervits during this time. As noted earlier, the descendants of the Wurtzel family preserved a tradition that David and his wife Chaieh had five children: Avrum, Lifsha,Smeelik and twin girls who died at a young age.

The Mystery of David's Burial in Baltimore

David died on April 30, 1942. It was five months before the residents of Mervits and Mlynov were liquidated in a pit between the two towns. It is possible his death preceded his two sons who died in WWII in unknown circumstances.

I was surprised to find a death notice for David in a Baltimore newspaper, The Evening Sun, that indicated his funeral would take place in the Jack Lewis Funeral home in Baltimore. I knew a slew of Mlynov immigrants settled in Baltimore including my own great-grandparents and suspected a family member or relative of David's had taken care of the arrangements. But who?

I tracked down a photo of David's tombstone in the Tifereth Israel Anshe Sfard Cemetery in Rosedale, Maryland. Rosedale has a large number of old Jewish cemeteries for the immigrant population that were belonged to early Baltimore congregations. The tombstone showed that David's father's name was "Shmuel the Cohen," ("cohen" designating that he was descended from the ancient priestly family of Aaron). I also found a summary of a New York death record indicating his mother's name was Rebecca Lipsky. The same record indicated that a nephew, "Sevin Char," had taken care of the arranagements.

At the time, I had no idea who "Sevin Char" was and I could get no further in understanding why David Cooperstein was buried in Baltimore. That would change when an email arrived in my inbox many months later from a descendant of the Wasserman family.

Tombstone of David Cooperstein and death notice in The [Baltimore] Evening Sun Fri, May 01, 1942, Page 49

Summary in Ancestry of David Cooperstein's Death Certificate

Rose Wasserman's Story

I was researching other families when an email appeared in my inbox from Jessica Klass, a descendant of the Wasserman family. She wrote:

My grandmother had a cousin named Irene Edelstein, whose daughter was named Nadine. My grandmother either was born in Mlynov and then moved to Beremeal or vice versa. My mom used to talk about an aunt called Mima Scharwz. Are you related to these people?

Indeed I was. Mima Schwartz was the wife of my great-grandfather's brother Israel (Schwartz) from Mlynov. Their daughter was Irene Edelstein.

As it turned out, Jessica had other oral traditions from which I was able to piece together more of her family’s story. Some sleuthing eventually suggested that her great-grandmother, Rose Wasserman, was a sister of the David Cooperstein who lived in New York and another Mlynov immigrant, a woman named Rose Lerner, who lived in Baltimore. All of these insights would bubble to the surface gradually and help crystalize what we know about the Cooperstein / Kuperstein family from Mlynov.

Jessica wrote:

My grandmother’s name was Lillian (Lifsha) Wasserman Shmuner. She was born in 1900, I think in Boromel, Ukraine. She came to the US by herself in 1912. I think she lived with one of two aunts. The two aunts were called Mima Shwartz and Mimi Hulia. I think Irene was the daughter of one of them and Nadine was her daughter. I believe that the two aunts were the sisters of my great grandmother ... Rose Cooperman Wasserman. I think that Rose was born in Mlyniv in 1883. Her [husband's name] was Itzhak Wasserman and he was from Boromel, Ukraine. b. 1879. d 1905.

My grandmother [Lillian] had a brother who died in WWI and a sister named Bertha. Bertha and my great grandmother came to Baltimore after WWI, around 1920. Bertha married a guy named Sklar. One of the aunt's had a confectionery stand.

Brother of Lifsha Wasserman, name unknown. Courtesy of Jessica Klass.

Lifsha's sister, Bertha Sklar (née Wasserman) (middle row left) with grandchildren (front), niece (Jessica) seated right, and Jessica's grandfather (back). Courtesy of Jessica Klass.

A few other clues emerged from our email exchange. Jessica indicated that her mother, who was born on Feb. 20, 1917, used to play with Lerner cousins.

“There were some relatives named Lerner," she wrote. "One of the aunts must have married a Lerner. I know there were Lerner cousins and quite sure they were on my grandmother's side.”

To make a long story short, I first tracked down the Declaration of Basia (Bertha) Wasserman, the sister of Jessica's grandmother Lifsha. The document was dated Nov. 24, 1925 and confirmed that Basia/Bertha was born in "Mlinow, Poland" and her birthdate was Aug. 25, 1906. When Basia/Bertha was born, Mlynov was part of Russia but became part of Poland in 1919 following WWI. She lived under Polish rule for only a few years before arriving in the States.

The Declaration describes Basia as single, a "Clothing Operator," 4'10" and 110 lbs., with dark brown hair and blue eyes. According to the record, Basia/Bertha emigrated to the US from Hamburg, Germany on the SS Reliance and her last foreign residence was "Krsziemieniec, Poland" [now Kremenets, Ukraine]. Her date of arrival in New York was July 20th, 1923.

In April 1930, five years after Bertha signed her Declaration, she signed her Petition for Naturalization. In the intervening years, she had married and her name on the document appears as Bertha Wasserman with her married name "Bertha Sklar" in parentheses. "Sklar," sounded familiar and, as it turns out, it was her husband, Irvin Sklar (transcribed online as "Sevin Char") who settled the estate of David Cooperstein when he died in 1942. David Cooperstein was Bertha's uncle.

Bertha Wasserman's Declaration and Petition

With the information provided on Bertha’s naturalization papers, I located her manifest showing her arrival with her mother Rose Wasserman.

The Arrival of Bertha and Rose Wasserman, 1923

"Rejza" (Rose) and "Basia" (Bertha) Wasserman embarked from Hamburg on July 10, 1923 on the SS Reliance. They arrived in New York on July 20th. Their last residence was "Kremionice" [Kremenets’, Ukraine] and their closest relative was Rose’s brother Joel [Yoel] Kupferstein who was living in “Dymydowka” [today Demydivka, Ukraine]. Demydivka is just 24 km west of Mlynov.

The surname of Rose’s brother (“Kupferstein” rather than Cooperman as Jessica initially wrote) triggered an association for me. Were Rose and her brother siblings or relatives of David Cooperstein? This hunch became key to unlocking more of Rose’s family story. In addition, this is also the only unambiguous record found to date showing the name of the fourth Cooperstein sibling, Yoel Kupferstein. A record from Yad Vashem of a Yoel Kuperstein, son of Samuel, who died in Demydivka in 1942 may describe the fate of this sibling.

The 1923 manifest indicated “Rejza” Wasserman, was age 57, widowed, and a h'keep [housekeeper]. Poland is listed as her nationality since the area was part of Poland when they left. She was traveling with her daughter Basia, who was single, age 17, and posing as a “h'maid,” a description trying to imply that she was employable and would not be a social burden. One page 2, Rose and Bertha’s birthplace is spelled “Utynow," an effort by custom officials or the travelers themselves to transliterate the Yiddish pronounciation of "Mlynow." This was not the first manifest I've found to spell Mlynov this way.

1923 Manifest of Rose and Bertha Wasserman on the SS Reliance.

From page 2 of Rose and Bertha Wasserman's manifest

On the second page of the manifest, a custom official cryptically wrote “Cert 1447 senility” in the row by Rose’s information, the precise meaning which is not clear. Was Rose being called senile? “Cert 1447” appears to be some kind of certification around dementia or Alzheimer which was only becoming identified as an illness separate from aging at the time.”

The manifest indicated that Rose and her daughter, Bertha, were headed to the home of "son i. l." [son-in-law] Isador Schmuner, 300 Nann [N. Ann] Str.”^[2] Isador Schmuner was the husband of Rose's other daughter Lillian/Lifsha [Jessica's grandmother] who arrived in Baltimore before WWI. The Baltimore Sun reported Lillian and Isador's marriage license on July 11, 1916, p. 4, and her age as 16 years old. Jessica let me know that her grandparents lied on their marriage license and she was only 15 years old when they in fact married. She would turn 16 that August. According to family received tradition, the photo of Lifsha and Isador after they were married was taken at the Hutzler's Department Store in Baltimore. I'm told that "for their honeymoon, they took a street car ride to the end of the line." Lifsha was later called "Buddy" in the family because her first grandchild couldn't say "Bubby"- the nickname subsequently stuck.

Marriage License recording, The Baltimore Sun July 11, 1916, p. 4.

Photo of Lifsha (Wasserman) and husband Isador Shmuner, Courtesy of Jessica Klass.

Lifsha Wasserman

Lillian/Lifsha Wasserman was Jessica's grandmother. She was a daughter of Rose Wasserman (Jessica's great-grandmother) and a sister of Basia/Bertha Wasserman. Jessica wrote in her original email to me that Lifsha had arrived in 1912.

For the longest time, I couldn't find any information about Lifsha/Lillian's arrival in Baltimore. Since she arrived before she was 17, I suspected she travelled with someone else and wondered whether she had used a different surname, a tactic I had seen used by other immigrants on occassion. While I was speculating on these questions, Jessica dug into a box of old records and found an original record of Lillian’s arrival. The record revealed that Lillian came under the surname of “Lerner,” which confirmed Jessica’s family tradition that her mother had Lerner cousins. According to the same document, she arrived on June 18, 191[?] on the SS Main. Her age is listed as 16, though she was probably still only 14 and had exaggerated her age to get through customs. That would explain why she was still "16" two years later on her marriage license.

An original record showing the arrival of Lifsche Lerner. Courtesy of Jessica Klass.

The record of arrival told me everything I needed to know to find Lillian’s manifest. I searched and found “Lifsche Lerner” on the manifest of the SS Main leaving Bremen on June 18, 1914, and arriving July 1 in Baltimore. The beginning of WWI at the end of July was only weeks away when she arrived.

The manifest lists “Lifsche Lerner," age 16, traveling by herself. There is no traveling companion or family member next to her on the manifest as was so often the case of most Mlynov immigrants. We can guess that her widowed mother was not yet ready to make the trip at this time and that Lifsha was sent on ahead alone.

In any case, WWI intervened and Lifsha was separated from her mother and sister for the duration of the war, just as other Mlynov immigrants to Baltimore still had family back in Mlynov at the time, including one of her uncles as we shall see. Her last residence is listed as Radziwilow, Russia (today Radyvyliv, Ukraine), which is about 73 km southwest of Mlynov. Radziwilow was also listed as her birthplace on the next page.

The manifest lists Lifsha’s closest relative in her last residence as her “mother Reisel Lerner.” Was Lifsha simply listing her mother with the surname Lerner for consistency with the surname she was using on her manifest? Or was Lifsha’s mother born with the surname Lerner which she reverted to now that she was widowed?

Manifest of "Lifche Lerner" on SS Main June 1914

Last residence and dstination of Lifsha "Lerner," heading to uncle Yossel Lerner 104 Albemarle Str. Baltimore

The next page of the manifest provided some additional insights. Lifsha was headed to Baltimore, to her "uncle" “Yossel Lerner at 104 Albemarle Street.” I not only knew who Yossel (Joseph) Lerner was, but I knew that a slew of Mlynov immigrants stayed at 104 Albemarle Street between 1910 and 1914, including my own Schwartz great-grandparents (Chaim and Yenta) and grandfather (Paul Schwartz). Best of all, I knew that Yossel (Joseph) Lerner, the man I now suspected was Lifsha’s uncle, was living at 106 Albermarle Street starting in 1913 when he arrived. Was Lifshe's mother (Rose Wasserman) the sister of Yossel / Joseph Lerner or was she a sister of Joseph Lerner's wife, Radie Lerner? A social security record showed that Radie Lerner's surname at birth was “Cooper.”

“Cooper,” I thought to myself. “That is similar to Cooperman,” the birth surname Jessica remembered for her grandmother Rose Wasserman.

My excitement grew when I discovered that Rose Waserman and Radie Lerner were both buried in the same cemetery, Tifereth Israel Anshe Sfard, in Rosedale Maryland, just one row apart, the same cemetery where David Cooperstein was also buried. On both of their tombstones their father's name was "Shmuel the Cohen," the same father's name on the tombstone of David Cooperstein.

Radie Lerner’s tombstone indicated her Hebrew name was Chala Rachel (חלה רחל). She must have been the “Aunt Hulia” whose name Jessica remembered. David Cooperstein, Radie Lerner, and Rose Wasserman were all siblings. In addition, both Rose Wasserman and David Cooperstein named daughters "Lifsha," which suggested they shared an ancestress by that name in an earlier generation.

The tombstones of siblings, David Cooperstein, Rose Lerner, and Rose Wasserman

The Early History of the Cooperstein / Kuperstein Family in Mlynov

As we saw from their tombstones, the Cooperstein / Kuperstein siblings were children of a man named Shmuel the Cohen. The expression "the Cohen" indicated he traced his lineage back to the prietly clan of Aaron in the Bible. Surnames were not used on tombstones, and we can assume his name was Shmuel Kuperstein or something like that.

It appears likely that the siblings father was the man called Shmul Kipperstein in the 1858 revision list of Mlynov. Revision lists were Russian census-like documents that enumerated the population for the purposes of conscription and taxes. They included the names of houseshold members, their ages and relationships. The 1858 revision for Mlynov includes a Shmul Kipperstein who was 23 years old and married in the 1858 census. His implied birth year was 1835.

Kiperstein household in 1858 revision list for Mlynov

In this 1858 record, Shmul Kiperstein is the eldest living male in the household. The record indicates that Shmul had an older brother, Abram-Ber Kiperstein, who passed away in 1854 at the age of 21. I suspected that David Cooperstein may have named the son called Avrum after this uncle. Shmul's wife is named Beila and she is age 21. Beila could be the woman remembered as "Rebecca" on David Cooperstein's death certificate. Shmul also has a sister in the household named Milka who was 15 and whose implied birth year was 1843.

Shmul and his wife Beila have no children listed yet in 1858. This seems consistent with the birth years of the US Cooperstein siblings. David Cooperstein was born in 1867 when Shmul would have been 32 years old. Radie (Rose) (Kuperstein) Lerner was born in 1870 when Shmul would have been 35 years old. Rose (Kuperstein) Wasserman was born in 1878 when Shmul would have been 43. We don’t know when the Cooperstein brother Yossel Kupferstein was born but we can guess he was born between 1867 when David was born and 1878 when Rose was born.

The records allow us to reach back a bit further in the Kiperstein story to 1850. The family appears in the earlier revision for Mlynov from that year.

Kiperstein household in 1850 revision list for Mlynov

In the 1850 revision record, Shmul Kipperstein (transliterated here with two letter "Ps") was 15. His older brother Abram-Ber was still alive then and was 17. Their father Yankel Kiperstein is listed but had already died two years earlier in 1848 at the age of 42, which explains why the brothers are the only men in the household in 1858. The record also indicates the name of Yankel’s father: “Mordko-Fayvish.” Since it was customary to call a son by his father’s name, it is possible that Mordko’s father may have been called Faivish. Yankel’s widow, Khvulya-Rukhlya was still in the household and was 41. Was she the namesake of Shmul’s daughter Rose Lerner (Chala Rachel) after? It seems plausible.

Reconstructed Kiperstein Family Tree based on revision records and research by Howard I. Schwartz, PhD

Return to the beginning of the Cooperstein / Kuperstein Story

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Notes

[1] See the history of the Declaration of Intention. ↩

[2] Jessica Klass figured out that Nann meant N. Ann Street. ↩