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Famous Descendants Families from Mlynov Ancestors By Birthdates- Memories
. Families from Mlynov and Mervits
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Family of Israel and Mollie (Gruber) Herman with birth locations. Courtesy of Miriam Berkowitz.❮ ❯11 / 8
Schwartz Brothers, Chaim, Morris and Israel. Courtesy of Howard Schwartz, Audrey Goldseker Polt and Myra Schein.
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Contents
The family histories from Mlynov and Mervits are based on a combination of available historical records complemented by oral traditions and written accounts preserved by descendants. They provide a window into what life was like in these small towns when the family members were there and insights into experiences of migration and after leaving.Discussion covers the history of the following Mlynov and Mervits families as well as the themes:imagining life in Mlynov, and the mobility of residents:
| B | the Berger family, | D | the Demb family | F | the Fax family, the Fishman family | G | the Gelberg family, the Goldberg family, the Goldseker / Holtzeker family | H | the Herman family, the Halperin family (see Hirsch family), the Hirsch family, the Hurwitz / Rivitz family | K | the Katz Family (see Wurtzel) | L | the Lerner family | M | the Mohel Family | N | the Nudler family | P | the Polishuk family | S | the Schuchman family, the Schwartz family, the Shargel family, the Shulman family, the Steinberg families one from Mervits and one from Mlynov | T | the Teitelman family | W | the Wurtzel/ Vortsel Family, among others to be added.
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Imagining Life in Mlynov and Mervits
Because of the paucity of data contemporaneous with the lives of those living in Mlynov, we have to exercise other ways to imagine what life may have been like when our ancestors lived there. The best available contemporaneous information about these communities are the 1850 and 1858 Russian revision lists which enumerate the households in Mlynov and Mervits in those years and their composition. All of the first hand accounts of life in Mlynov or Mervits, including those in the memorial book, come from memoirs of people thirty to fifty years after they lived there. And while they are invaluable recollections of the place and life there, they are after the fact and are recollections tinged by the challenging history that happened afterwards.
One of the best ways to reimagine life in Mlynov and Mervits, therefore, is to grasp what we do know about the families who lived there and left there once upon a time. When doing so, what is striking is the robust interconnectedness of all the families. Every family it seemed had married every other one. When you realize that these townlets were smaller than typical American high schools today, it makes perfect sense that this deep intermingling occurred. Whom else would they marry? I have found three first cousin marriages among the families I have researched as well as marriages between an uncle and a niece, a child and her uncle's brother, a boy and his aunt's niece, and so on. The interconnectedness across families was deep and pervasive.
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Mobility in Mlynov and Mervits
Not only were Mlynov and Mervits small, but there was much less general mobility than today. In the 19th century, trains were starting to connect the nearby cities of Dubno and Rivne which Mlynov residents visited occassionally to purchase nice goods for the Jewish holidays, or to catch a train to a port when visiting or emigrating to the US. The reliance on horse and wagon and walking made such trips infrequent, except for those engaged in commerce. Reflections in the Memorial book refer to coachmen who used to transport grain from Mlynov's mill to Dubno and other neighboring towns and bring groceries from surrounding towns back to Mlynov.
Market days may also have been a source of local mobility. "They occurred once a week and hundreds of people, mostly farmers from the area and Jewish businessmen would come to the market square. A large variety of items were sold, such as tools, supplies, food and drinks. Some Jewish families made their weekly earnings from this one single day at the market."[3]
It is not surprising, giving the small nature of the towns, and the limits on mobility, that so many of the marriages of young men and women took place with others they knew from Mlynov and Mervits. The young people from the town of Mervits socialized with their counterparts in Mlynov leading eventually to marriages like that of Ben Fishman from Mervits, who married Clara Shulman, from Mlynov. Subsequent DNA tests seem to bear out the interrelatedness of many Mlynov descendants who don't otherwise appear in the same family trees. A funny story in the Memorial book recalls that at the wedding of Sonia and Mendel Teitelman the local rabbi had a difficult time finding witnesses who were not related to the bride and groom.
Still, we do find some marriages between Mlynov born individuals and those in other towns and villages and we do see some mobility of families from these towns. Moshe Gruber, for example, left Mlynov and travelled to yeshivot (centers of learning) in Ludmir (Volodymyr-Volynskyi) to find a learned scholar to marry his daughter Rivkah. Pearl Malka Demb married Tsodik Shulman from Lithuania who, the family suspects, may have been passing through Mlynov when serving in the Russian army. Pearl's younger sister, Mollie Demb, married Samuel Roskes who came from the town of Lutsk and Ida Rivitz married Getzel Fax from Demydivka.
In the next generation, we find what appears to be increased mobility. By 1902, David and Bessie Rivitz's oldest daughter, Gulza, for example, had moved with her husband Leizor Mazuryk (Louis Mazer) to Berestechko for commerce opportunities closer to the Austria-Hungary border. Simha Gruber, with his two sons, Samuel and Nathan, were in Novohrad-Volyns'kyi presumably for business around 1912, and Simha's brother, Motel Demb, apparently settled there and married a local girl. For his part, Simha, apparently was in Berdichev (today Berdychiv, Ukraine) in 1912, but back in Mlynov by 1913. This mobility likely exposed Mlynov Jews to a variety of the impulses shaping Jewry during the period of the Tsarist regime. For example, by 1897, Berdichev, which Simha visited in 1913, already had a population of 53,728, and 41,617 (about 80%) were Jewish. To a Mlynov born son, this must have felt like going to London or New York. Berdichev thus crystalized some of the key conflicts in the Jewish community of the time being the center of conflict between Hasidic and enlightenment-oriented Mitnagdim (Oppposers).[4]
Traditional religious education was also a source of mobility during the period. For example, Mendel Teitelman from Mervits describes studying in the yeshiva in Baranovitch (today Baranavichy, Belarus) during WWI when the Germans occupied the city during an offensive on the Eastern Front. Mendl was moved, along with his friend Simha Zutelman, to army barracks near Ostrov where they were assigned to heavy labor parties supporting local noblemen for the duration of the War. Before the War, he recalls, having studied in a yeshiva in Rovno and Stolpts as well.[5] One can get a sense of mobility at this time, from the distances of the various towns that people from Mlynov and Mervits mention and visited.
Known Mobility of Mlynov / Mervits residents
Name of Former and Current Town Distance from Mlynov Driving Time Today Demidovka (Demydivka, Ukraine) 23km/14m 25 min Example: Getzel Fax was from Demydivka and married Ida Rivitz from Mlynov. They were the pioneers to Baltimore. A photo in the Memorial book shows members of the Zionist Youth Group from Mlynov in Demydivka playing volleyball. Shmuel Mandelkern also recalls collaborating with Demydivka residents following the Bolshevik Revolution when both towns were organizing self-defense. Baranovitch (Baranavichy, Belarus) 409km/254m 5 hrs Example: Mendel Teitleman from Mervitz studied in yeshiva here in WWI when Germans occupied the city. Boromel (Boremel, Ukraine) 37km/24m 40 Example: The Mohel children were born in Boremel and came to Mlynov in the 1920s when their father was hired as the third schohet in town. (See the Mohel story) Berdichev (Berdychiv, Ukraine) 288km/179m 4 hrs Example: Simha Gruber was in Berdichev in 1912 and back in Mlynov by 1913 according to records. Berestetchka (Berestechko, Ukraine) 38km/23m 48 min Example: The oldest daughter of David and Pesse (Demb) Rivitz, Gulza Mazuryck, moved to Berestechko with her husband before 1902. Dubna (Dubno, Ukraine) 22km/14m 22 min Examples: Clara Fram reports in her Memoir that her father, David Rivitz (later Hurwitz), left for America and returned via the train station at Dubno. Dubno was also where her mother, Pessie (Demb) Rivitz went to purchase nice things for the holidays. Sonia (Gruber) Teitelman in "Joys and Sorrows in Mervits" recalls that brides would travel to Dubno to get wedding dresses. Survivor Ezra Sherman recalls walking by himself from Dubno, where his father had moved, back to Mlynov to visit his grandmother. Ludmir (Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Ukraine) 113km/70m 1 hr Example: Moshe Gruber brought back Israel Jacob Demb from Ludmir to marry his daughter Rivkah. Lutsk (Lutsk, Ukraine) 36km/22m 37 min Examples: Mollie Demb from Mlynov married Sam Roskes from Lutsk before 1901. Bassa Tatelbaum (also spelled Ferteybaum) married a Isadore Barditch from Lutsk and moved there. They were the parents of Sylvia (Barditch) Goldberg who was on the editorial book of the Memorial book. Syvlia writes about how much she liked leaving her crowded city of Lutsk and going to the rural community of Mlynov to visits her grandparents. Sylvia describes a wedding ceremony between a Mlynov woman and a Lutsk man in the Memorial book. Novograd (Novohrad-Volyns'kyi) 150km/99m 2 hrs Example: Simha Gruber (née Demb), his two sons, Nathan and Samuel, were in Novograd in 1912 possibly for business. Simha's brother Motel Demb married a local girl and had a child here. Ostrog (Ostroh, Ukraine) 90km/56m 1 hr 10 min Example: Liba Tesler's father, Abraham Kotel, came to Mlynov from Ostrog after receiving his draft notice. He acquired false papers and took the name Avrum Tesler. See David Sokolsky's, Monument: One Woman's Courageous Escape from the Holocaust, p. 18. Ostrozhets (Ostrozhets', Ukraine) 26km/16m 30 min Example: Moshe Fishman indicates that his father's sister married Rabbi Benjamin Putcher (or Futcher) from Ostrozhets a brother of Aaron who lived in Mlynov. Radzivilov (Radyvyliv, Ukraine) 73km/45m 56 m Example: Avraham Gelberg from Mlynov married a woman from Radzivilov and moved there to live with her family before migrating to the US. Rovno (Rivne, Ukraine) 94km/58m 40 min Examples: When a refugee in WWI, Helen Lederer (née Gelberg) recalls how her family wandered to Rovno after trying to find shelter in closer towns. The Shulmans from Mlynov list Rovno as their last residence before heading to Baltimore in 1921. After the Liberation by the Russians, a number of the Mlynov survivors went to Rovno to get behind the front lines for safety, as reported by Fania (Mandelkern) Bernstein in "Mlynov After the Liberation of the Soviet Army" Stolpts (Stowbtsy, Belarus) 46km/290m 5.5 hrs Example: Mendel Teitleman from Mervits studied in yeshiva here before 1914. Trovits (Torhovytsya, Ukraine) 19km/12m 40 min Example: Shmuel Mandelkern describes heading to Trovits, among other towns, for a wedding in the winter as part of an effort to raise money to send Yaakov-Yosi to the Land of Israel. Varkoviche [alt. Warkowicze] (Varkovychi, Ukraine) 34km/21m 29 min Examples: Helen Lederer (née Gelberg) describes being a refugee from Mlynov during WWI and walking to Varkovitchi in her essay in the Memorial Book. So too Eliyahu Gelman recalls that his father fled Mervits to Varkoviche during WWI. According to family memories in the Goldberg family, Sura Gelberg's met her future husband, Sam Spector, in Varkoviche before he left for America. According to family memories in the Steinberg family, Steinberg survivors had a sister, Faiga, who married a man named Shtivel Falik and moved to his home town in Varkoviche. Her sister Bunia used to travel to Varkoviche to help her sister. They and their two children perished there. We can assume that mobility was motivated by a variety of factors: commerce opportunities elsewhere that drew young families away, traditional education in the yeshivas, WWI which led to an evacuation of Mlynov at one point, and probably by the internal turmoil in Russia during its first revolution which reached as far as Mlynov. Russia also pursued a policy of "selective integration" and Jews who pursued higher education were able to move beyond the pale to large cities such as St. Petersburg.[6] For the most part, the impact of these larger macro trends in Russian history on the residents of Mlynov and Mervits has to be inferred and imagined since so little is left of contemporaneous accounts or records.
For this reason, one important window into life in Mlynov before WWI and WWII is by understanding who married whom, who stayed and who left, and when. Many were lucky enough to leave when they did in the first European Jewish migration from Russia to the United States, between 1890 and 1914. Another wave followed after WWI between 1920–1929. The migration to Palestine appears to have picked up speed in the 1920s due in part to dislocation and violence from WWI experiences, the growing popularity of Zionism, and the quotas imposed on immigration to the United States, which drastically reduced immigration from Eastern Europe!
Ben Fishman from Mervits hanging with Shulman sisters from Mlynov along Ikva River, before 1920. Photo courtesy of Karen Passero.
Four Generations in Demb / Shulman Family circa 1917. Courtesy of Neena Schwartz, Pam Leaderman, Ted Fishman and Karen Passero.***
THE BERGER FAMILY
A large Berger family from Mlynov made their way to Chicago between 1910–1914. I originally stumbled on the Berger family name on the 1926 passenger manifest of another Mlynov boy named Isaac Wulaj (soon to be Isadore Wallace) who had passed through Buenos Aires on his way to the US. He was heading to someone named Sol Berger in Chicago. Was Sol Berger also from Mlynov and if so when and why did he land in Chicago?
What I discovered was a fascinating saga of a Mlynov family that had been split between Mlynov, Chicago and Palestine, a family that would produce a significant Chicago politician, a young soldier who scaled the cliffs of Normandy during the invasion of WWII, and an expert sheep breeder in Palestine. I found, too, that many of the surviving photos we have today of Mlynov were taken by one of the Berger descendants who went back to Mlynov in 1938, shortly before WWII started.
These Bergers were all descended from four Berger brothers who were born in Mlynov (Tevel, Faivel, Wolf, and Ben Zion). Their father, Nuta Bir Berger, is listed in the 1850 census and 1858 census showing this Berger line had been in Mlynov for quite some time.
The Chicago Bergers
The first Bergers who settled in Chicago were the children of Ben Zion and Zelda Berger. Zelda was herself from the large Hirsch family in Mlynov. Ben Zion and Zelda married by 1892 when their first daughter Sheindel (Sarah Berger) was born. They had three other children: Chava Berger (Eva Neistein) (1884–1947), Nathan Berger (1889–1958), and Samuel (Symon) Berger (1894–1986).Their son, Nathan (Nuchim), was the first of this Berger family to arrive in the US, landing in Baltimore in May 1912, before heading to Chicago. He was following his sister's husband, "Pinchus Neustein" (Paul Neistein) from Lutsk, who had arrived in Chicago in 1910. Nathan was joined two years later by his widowed mother, Zelda, and his two sisters, Sara and Eva Neistein, and Eva's two children, who arrived in the US in May 1913. Nathan's brother, Symon (Samuel), was supposed to be traveling with the large group of travelers, but his name was scratched out on the manifest, apparently being delayed for some reason; he would arrive a month later.
[left] Samuel Berger and wife Sophie (Selkoff), [right] Nathan Berger with Mlynov-born wife Rose (Ruchel Steinberg). Mlynov Memorial Book, 499 and courtesy of Alan Berger.
First generation in Chicago. "Bernie Neistein" (left) a powerful Democratic political boss and Ben Berger (right), scaled the cliffs at Normandy. Courtesy of the family.Accompanying the large Berger group of travelers were two other Mlynov immigrants: Yankel Wulach and Ruchel Steinberg. Yankel Wulach (soon to be Jacob Wallace) was also headed to the home of Eva's husband, Paul Neistein, and lists him as a nephew. Ruchel Steinberg, the other traveler, was the daughter of Abraham Steinberg and Sarah Hannah (Shulman), and a niece of Tsodik Shulman. She was headed to her brother Symon Steinberg who was living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At this point in time, Ruchel was probably already betrothed to Nathan Berger, who arrived already, and she would soon marry him and become Rose Berger.
Among the first generation of cousins born in the Berger family in Chicago were: Ben Berger, who would become a hero in WWII, and Bernard Neistein, who would become a powerful Chicago political boss in the rough and tumble politics under Chicago Mayor Daly.
Traveling on the SS Chemnitz, from Bremen to Philadelphia, Zelda Berger, two daughters, two grandchildren, and fellow travelers Jacob Wallace and Rose (Steinberg) arrive in May 1913.
Nathan Berger traveling on the SS Brandenburg from Bremen to Baltimore, with a young woman from Mlynov named "Heine Weinstein." They arrived on May 23, 1912.The Children of Wolf and Golda Berger
Another young Berger man, Israel "Sol" Berger, arrived in Chicago during July 1914 just before the outbreak of WWI. "Sol", as he would come to be called in America, was 17 at the time he followed his first cousins to America. Sol was the eldest son of Wolf Berger and Golda (Kentor) who had married by 1897/98 when Sol was born. Sol's four other siblings included Shaul (1901–?) Hannah Berger (1903–1942), Kalman (Karl) (1906–1990), Aaron Harari (1908–1984), and Rosa (Berger) Chizik (1910–1994).
Wolf Berger and Golda (Kentor) in Mlynov with four of their children. Standing Hannah, and Shaul, seated Aaron and Rosa. Courtesy Hagar Lipkin
Raisel (Rose) Berger on a bridge over the Ikva river. Rose and her older brother, Aaron, made aliyah to Palestine, where she married Moishe Chizik who was also from Mlynov. Mlynov Memorial Book, 279.As we shall see, only one of Sol's siblings followed him to the US. Two of his other siblings made aliyah in the 1930s. Read more of the Berger Story.
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THE DEMB / GRUBER FAMILY
When Rivkah Gruber was eleven years old, and was of marrying age, her father Moshe Gruber left Mlynov and "traveled to various Yeshivohs [centers of learnings] to find the proper scholar for her to marry. From the town of Ludmir (today "Volodymyr-Volynsky", 68 miles away), he brought a fifteen year old scholar named Israel Jacob Demb and, according to the prevailing custom, promised perpetual support for him and his growing family." Moshe Gruber was apparently wealthy enough to support a son-in-law who would study full time and apparently didn't think there was a local boy good enough for his daughter in Mlynov.
This story was recorded in the memoir of Rivkah's granddaughter, Clara Fram, who was born in Mlynov in 1902 and recorded her memories in 1981 in Baltimore.[7] Clara recalls that her grandmother had been "an only child of wealthy parents;" and Rivkah's father, Moshe Gruber, "owned a brass and copper foundry, employing about two hundred laborers." The size of the foundry appears to be exaggerated in Clara's memory since she left Mlynov when she was about seven-years-old and there is at least one external source that mentions an iron-casting shop in Mlynov employing 60 people in 1903–1904.[8]
This Rivkah Gruber and her father Moshe appear to be the "Rivka" and "Moshko-Leib" Gruber who are listed in the smaller of two Gruber households in the 1850 and 1858 censuses from Mlynov. These censuses (or "revison lists" as they were called in Russian) suggest a small household of five individuals who have been living in Mlynov since at least 1830 and may have been there when Mlynov became part of Russia in 1793. In 1858 Moshko-Leib is head of household, age 34, with an implied birth year of 1824. His father's name is Srul-Noah (i.e., Israel Noah). Moshko is married to a woman named Surah, age 32. Rivka is 16 in 1858, not yet married, with an implied birth year of 1842. According to this census, Rivka had two siblings: a sister, Molka-Roislya, age 4, and a brother Mordko, who had died in 1855 at the age of 9.
Patriarch and Matriarch Israel Jacob and Rivkah (Gruber) Demb. Photo courtesy of Ted Fishman.
The Nine Demb Children. Courtesy of Demb descendants: Tamara Kirson, Carol Engelman, Barry Laken, Marvin Demb.
Israel Jacob Demb and Rivkah became the patriarch and matriach of the Demb family and had nine children: Six of the nine immigrated to Baltimore between 1909-1921. By 1930, there were thirty Demb descendants living in Baltimore.
The Demb children who migrated were: Pesse Demb (later Bessie Hurwitz) (1864–1939) and her husband David (Rivitz) Hurwitz (1867–) and five children, Yenta Demb (1870–1962) and her husband Chaim (Hyman) Schwartz (1865–1933) and three sons (Benjamin, Norton and Paul), Pearl Malka Demb and her husband Tsodik Shulman (1863–1947) and five of their seven children and their families, Motel Demb (Max Deming) (1871–1929) and his wife Freida Korusnia (1881–1966) and one of their children, and Aaron Demb (1876–1970) and his wife and two sons.
Simha (Demb) Gruber (1864–1913) remained in Europe and apparently remarried. Family oral tradition speculates that he was given his mother's maiden name of Gruber instead of Demb to avoid conscription in the Russian military. The three children from Simha's first wife, Chava, all immigrated to Baltimore. They were Malka (Mollie Gruber) Herman, Nathan Gruber and Samuel Gruber.
According to oral traditions from the Herman family, the oldest daughter Malka (Mollie) Gruber:
left home when, after her mother died when she was 13, her father married his second wife, Chaindel. Mollie did not get along with her stepmother. It is unknown whether there were children by the second marriage [ed note: a photo from the Gruber clan suggests there might have been]. Mollie went to Berdichev where she worked in a dress factory sewing sequins onto dresses. She later was back in Mlynov and married Israel Herman (see Herman family below) and they had their first child there.
We don't know much about other two Demb children who are remembered in family trees only. One, Edle, died young, in a possible drowning, and there is no family information about another daughter beyond the name of Hannah.
I recently discovered and connected with descendants of another Gruber family in Mlynov and Mervits who were Shoah survivors and are living in Israel. Rachel and Sonia Gruber were daughters of Yosef Gruber and Shifra Teitelman. Their grandfather was Mordechai Gruber. Both of them became part of the Teitelman family through marriage. It is not known how this Gruber line was related to Moshe Gruber from whom the Demb line descended.
You can purchase a printed copy of The Demb Family Journey from Mlynov to Baltimore from JewishGen or Amazon or download an earlier version of the full length digital version.
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THE FAX /FOX (originally FUCHS) and RIVITZ FAMILIES, PIONEERS TO BALTIMORE
Getzel ("Eliakim Getzel") and Ida (born "Chaia" Rivitz) Fax (originally "Fuchs") are the first known Mlynov family to leave for the US in the early 1890s. Their addresses at 818 and 836 E. Pratt Street in Baltimore, next to what is now the Star-Spangled Banner House, became the launching pad for the first wave of Mlynov immigrants to that city, between 1890–1910.
To date, I have not found records of any Mlynov resident who immigrated to the US before Getzel and Ida, and almost all the Mlynov immigrants to Baltimore in the first wave of migration stayed for a while at the Fax flat. Getzel and Ida's son, Joseph Fax, was the first descendant from a Mlynov family to be born in Baltimore and he went on to become a well-respected lawyer who ran for city council in 1919.
Contemporary map showing the path of the 2 1/2 year journey of Mordechai and Zecil Rivitz from Sevastopol to Mlynov
Getzel and Ida (Rivitz) Fax (center), daughter Teresa Goodman (right), brother David Rivitz (left), Courtesy of Marcia Goodman.
Getzel Fax was born in 1862 in the small town of Demydivka, which is 24 km (24 minutes driving today) southwest of Mlynov on the road to Berestechko. His brother Sam (Fox), also an immigrant to Baltimore, was born quite a bit later in 1883. We don't know how Getzel met his wife Chaia (Ida) Rivitz, who was born in 1867 and living near Mlynov. Perhaps he was in Mlynov one market day during business or staying at the inn that the Rivitz family ran outside of Mlynov.
Ida, for her part, was born during a lengthy journey of her parents, Mordechai and Zecil (also "Lisel") Rivitz, from Sevastopol in the Crimea back to Mlynov. In a short memoire, her niece, Clara Fram, recounted the story of how Ida's parents (and Clara's paternal grandparents) first met: Mordechai Rivitz had been conscripted into the Tsar's army at the age of seven and released after fifteen years in Sevastopol, near the Turkish capital of Constantinople. There "at age 22, he met a young Jewish orphan girl, the owner of a wine cellar. He married her, and began making plans to bring her to his home town in the Ukraine." It took them 2 1/2 years to get there, during which time Ida Rivitz was born.[9]
Back in Mlynov, Ida's brother (and Clara's father) David Rivitz was born. Clara recounts that the family lived in the countryside not far from Mlynov and had a variety of means on their property to produce a living, including "an inn where travelers could stop and be refreshed," "a distillery making vodka," "cattle," and farming. It should be noted that Jews were known to dominate the liquor trade during the Russian period, and were blamed at times for the debauchery of Russian peasants on that account.[10]
David grew up and went to school ("cheder") in Mlynov and there met and fell in love with Pesse Demb (later Bessie Hurwitz), the beautiful, eldest daughter of one of the town's scholars, Israel Jacob Demb, and his wife Rivkah (Gruber) Demb, daughter of the well-to-do Moshe Gruber. According to Clara, it was an unlikely match because Bessie's father, Israel Jacob Demb, would have preferred a scholar for his eldest daughter. But Israel was himself supported by the foundry business of his father-in-law, Moshe Gruber, and the business had started to decline and could not support another non-working scholar. Clara explains, "By the time my father and my mother saw each other in Cheder, though he [i.e., Pesse's father, Israel Jacob Demb] would have desired a scholarly bridegroom for his beautiful and accomplished Pesse, my grandfather did not object to her marrying into the Rivitz family that was well-off in their Possessia."[11]
In 1891, after Tsar Alexander II was assassinated, the Rivitz family had to sell their property outside Mlynov and moved back into town. This loss is what triggered Getzel and Ida Fax to leave for Baltimore. Being such a small town, word must have spread fast about the pending migration. Over the next twenty years, many Mlynov families followed the Faxes to Baltimore and lived with them until they got on their feet.
Getzel and Ida had three children. Their oldest child, Theresa (also Teresa) Fax, born around 1880, arrived in Baltimore in 1891 (probably with her mother) where she married Israel Goodman and they had their first child, Rose, in that city in 1898.[12] Theresa and Israel Goodman went on to have an additional eight children in Baltimore.
As noted earlier, Getzel and Ida's son Joseph Fax, born in 1894 in Baltimore, was the first child of a Mlynov immigrant to be born in Baltimore. He went on to be a prominent Baltimore attorney and represented a number of lantzmen in real estate and even in interesting zoning disputes with the city of Baltimore. Joseph married Zelda (Selma) Bronstein (1897–1935), from a large prominent Baltimore family in the garment business. Zelda arrived in Baltimore with her mother in 1899 at the age of two.
Getzel and Ida had a third son, Michael or Max, who was born in 1896 and appears in the 1900 census. But then he mysteriously disappears from the records and is not present in the 1910 census. When I tracked down Getzel and Ida's great-grandson, Charles Fax, I asked him about this and learned that Max had been run over by a trolley car while riding a bike just outside their home. The incident was documented in this story in the Baltimore Sun on March 21, 1903 (p 12). Recounting this story, Charles told me that this loss stayed with his grandfather and none of the children were allowed to ride bikes for the longest time. The descendants were thus surprised when I turned up this newspaper story, which mentioned nothing about the bike.
Ida's brother, David Rivitz, traveled back and forth from Mlynov to Baltimore throughout the 1890s and lived with the Faxes before moving permanently to Baltimore in early 1901. During his itinerent period, David's wife who was still back in Mlynov was known as "Pesse the American," "a name given to her because her husband keeps going to America and returning, because he doesn't want to raise his children in the 'traife' America." Clara adds: "'My mother, years later, fond of reminiscing about my father, said frequently: "Whoever didn't see him get off the train in Dubno [on his return], has never seen a handsome man.' He had come home perhaps to go into the grain business, so he thought." Apparently it didn't work out and David left permanently for Baltimore in 1901. According to Clara, David changed his name from Rivitz to Hurwitz there, because he was told by someone in the synagogue when he first arrived that Rivitz was too hard to spell. Growing up, Clara never knew her family name was Rivitz back in Europe. David Hurwitz became a peddler and worked for a company called Nachlas and Freiden in dry goods. (Clara Fram recalls other memories of Mlynov here.)[13]
In 1904, Getzel Fax's brother, Sam and his wife Zipporah arrived in Baltimore and at Getzel's urging took the family name Fox rather than Fax, which was the spelling Getzel had accidentally adopted upon his arrival in the country. In fact, Getzel's name appears in many different English variations in the records, including Georg Fax, Geo Fax, and Getzel Fox, indicating in part the attempt to settle in and find a new identity. As one of the few Faxes in the Baltimore City directory who was not African-American, Getzel's name appears without an asterisk next to his name, the asterisk a convention at the time signaling a person was "Negro." This lack of an asterisk is an early indication of how Russian Jewish immigrants were being mapped "white" in the hierarchies of Baltimore in the late 19th and early 20th century, even though they were also subject to housing discrimination because they were not Christian. Getzel's great-grandson, Charles, explained to me that the African Americans with the name Fax often:
decended from the slaves who were freed, at his death, by Lord Fairfax, who owned much of Northern Virginia during the colonial period. In gratitude, the emancipated slaves took the surname "Fairfax" or "Fax",... The author Elton Fax is from one of those slave families. My father used to recount how, when he was on business travels, occasionally he would get a call in his hotel room from another hotel guest who introduced himself as "Fax," advised that the front desk had told him that there was another "Fax" registered at the hotel, and asked whether they might be related. "I doubt it," was my father's standard reply.
Soon after his arrival, Sam Fox married a woman named Zipporah, and the couple had two sons (Martin and Ernie) in Baltimore. Unfortunately, Sam was widowed sometime before 1910 due to unknown causes.
1901 Baltimore City Directory showing Getzel Fax and Ida Fax without an asterisk by their names, mapping them as "white" instead of "Negro" in the hierarchies of early 20th century Baltimore
A contemporary map showing the 1600 km trek of the Rivitz Family across Europe from Mlynov to Triest in late 1908 on their way to Baltimore. They arrived in Baltimore in early 1909.
In 1907, David's son Yitzhak Rivitz ("Jechok Riwez" and later "Isaac Hurwitz") arrived in Baltimore via Bremen followed in early 1909 by David's wife, Pesse, his mother Zecil, and three youngest daughters, Minnie, Rose and Clara. They traveled across Europe from Mlynov to Trieste, Italy where they caught took a ship called the "Martha Washington" to New York and then took a train to Baltimore.[14] The youngest daughter, Clara, the author of the memoire from which I have been quoting, apparently did not recognize her father when they were reunited. He had left Mlynov when she was two years old and was seven when they were reunited in 1909. Clara tells us that there was not much room in the Faxes' home when they first arrived and her sister Minnie lived around the corner at the home of her Aunt Mollie (Demb) Roskes before Minnie was quickly married off through an arranged married to her uncle Getzel's brother, Sam Fox, who had recently become widowed. Sam and Minnie Fox went on to have three additional children together: Sarah Ann (Fox) (Kappelman) Harris (1910–2019), Michael (also Michel) Fox (1911–1973), and Jack Fox (1914–1982).
Sadly, Yitzhak Rivitz would be the first Mlynov immigrant to die in Baltimore in 1918 from the Spanish flu epidemic, but not before he married a woman named Cecilia and had a son named Howard Hurwitz. (Ceilia became Sheila Shapiro after she laer remarried). David and Pesse's oldest daughter, Gulza (Rivitz) Mazer, would not arrive with her family in Baltimore until after WWI in 1921, as part of the third wave of immigration following the War.
Rose went on to marry, Henry Finkelstein, who ran a men's clothing business in Baltimore and they had four children. Clara would later marry Philip Fram from Texas, son of an immigrant rabbi, when he was stationed in Baltimore. They had two children: Betty J. Korpeck (1933–) and David H. Fram (1937–2019).
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THE FISHMAN FAMILY
The Fishmans were a large family from Mlynov. Fishmans married members of the Demb, Goldseker, Gruber, Schwartz, and Shulman families. From the Baltimore descendants, we know of three Fishman brothers: Berel, Nathan and Qabish.It appears that the ancestor remembered as Berel Fishman may be the man listed as "Ber" in the Fishman family in the 1858 census. In 1858, Ber is 14-years-old with an implied birth year of 1844. He is part of a small household comprised of four individuals: his father, Abram-Itsko, his mother Sura-Rivka, and a 16 year old sister, Hava. In the earlier 1850 census, only the parents Abram-Itsko and Sura are listed even though the children Ber and Hava would already have been born. We do not know why they were not listed in that earlier census, whether because they were living elsewhere or the parents were hiding their son to avoid his conscription. The 1850 census indicates that Abram-Itsko's father, Leib, died in 1840 at the age of 41 (implied birthdate of 1793).
The other two Fishman brothers, Nathan and Qabish, do not appear in the 1858 census. We have very little information about Qabish Fishman and his wife Gitel, only the names of their four children: Benjamin, Hinda, Silke and Yankel. The other brother, Nathan Fishman, was born in 1862 and would not have appeared on the 1858 census. Nathan and his daugther Anna came to Baltimore in 1911, where Anna soon married Mlynov immigrant Ben Schwartz in 1914. It was not until ten years after Nathan's arrival that he was joined in Baltimore by his wife Ida after WWI. Nathan was among a number of Mlynov husbands who came to Baltimore before 1914 and were separated from their wives and children when WWI broke out in late July of that year. Many were reunited only six to ten years after they had last seen their families.
Toba Fishman. Photo courtesy of Ted Fishman.
The Five Children of Toba and Berel Fishman: Photos courtesy of Ted Fishman, Audrey Goldseker Polt and Myra Schein.We know from descendants that Berel Fishman married a woman named Toba and had five children: Hennie (Anna), Sarah, Meyer, Moishe, and David. According to an essay in the Memorial volume written by their son, Moishe Fishman, Berel had a sister who married the Rabbi from Ostrozhets whose name was Benjamin Putcher (or Futcher) and who had a brother in Mlynov named Aaron.
The eldest daughter of Berel and Toba was Anna Fishman (1867–1914). She married Shimon Goldseker (1867–1926) and they twelve children, a number of whom came to Baltimore (see summary of Goldseker family below). Berel and Toba's daughter, Sarah Fishman (1878–1963), married Israel Schwartz (1874–1935) and they both were in Baltimore with their two children by 1912. (Sarah's husband, Israel Schwartz, traveled to the US with Sarah's uncle, Nathan Fishman and the two of them an a third Mlynov man appear on the passenger manifest together.
Berel and Toba's son, Meyer (also Meier) Fishman (1884–1965), married his niece, Ida Goldseker (1888–1968), the eldest daughter of his sister Anna (Fishman) and her husband Shimon Goldseker. Meyer and Ida had a child, Ben ("Berl"), before coming to America. Meyer arrived in Baltimore in April 1909, traveling from Trieste, Italy to New York. Ida followed him to Baltimore in January 1912 with their 4-year-old son. Meyer and Ida subsequently divorced. Meyer was remarried twice more. Once to Ethel Moverman and they had two children, Tillie and Sydney. He subsequently divorced again and married Tillie Bierenbaum.
Berel and Toba's son, Moishe Fishman (1873–1968), writes in the Mlynov Memorial volume that he lived for many years in the nearby logging town of Slobada and worked in road construction before becaming a passionate Zionist. He, his wife Chava (Gilden), his son David ("Dudek"), and daughter Chuva, immigrated to the Land of Israel (then Mandate Palestine) in 1921 and were early settlers in Moshav Bafouria.[15] Balfouria was founded in 1922, the third moshav to be established in Palestine, and was named after Arthur James Balfour, writer of the Balfour Declaration, which endorsed Zionist plans for a Jewish "national home". The Fishman family was one of the first families to leave Mlynov for Palestine and made a big stir in Mlynov at the time, a story recounted in the Mlynov Memorial book.
In 1920, before Moshe left for Palestine, his other son Ben (Berel) (1902–1993) volunteered to join three other Mlynov families as they migrated to Baltimore. Though Ben didn't seek his parent's permission, they ultimately supported his decision to go to America and gave him some money for the trip. In Baltimore, he married his Mlynov sweetheart, Clara Shulman. This split in the Fishman family between America in 1920 and Palestine in 1921 signaled a growing shift in the inclinations and opportunities of Mlynov immigrants who wanted to migrate after WWI.
The last of Berel and Toba's children David Fishman, passed away young before 1899 when Moshe named his son (David) after his father's deceased sibling.
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THE GELBERG / GOLDBERG FAMILIES
There are two Gelberg family lines from Mlynov which both migrated to America. One of those lines stayed with the Gelberg name and settled in Jersey City. The other line took the name Goldberg and settled in New York and Baltimore.The first Gelberg line I initially learned about when visiting the Schuchman family in Baltimore in 2019.[16] This Gelberg line is descended from Labish Gelberg who married Eta Leah Schuchman (more on the Schuchman line below). The descendants from this line who immigrated to America adopted the surname "Goldberg." Photos from this family appear throughout the Mlynov Memorial Book. I became particularly intrigued to know more about Sylvia Goldberg, whose photo appears throughout the Memorial book, and who was the only woman and only American on the Book Committee of eight that pulled together the memorial volume. Sylvia, is as it turned out, married into the Goldberg family and was not even born in Mlynov. I eventually discovered that Sylvia had a special connection to Mlynov.
As I started researching this "Goldberg" line from Mlynov and their migration to the US, I bumped into records of other Gelbergs from Mlynov who arrived in the US. In Hebrew lettering, there is no difference between Goldberg and Gelberg, so it seems very possible that these two lines from Mlynov are related and even one family back in Mlynov. Indeed, the line that would eventually call themselves "Goldberg" in the US was originally called "Gelberg" back in Mlynov as I learned from the family.[17]
In the family line that stayed "Gelberg" in the US, there were in fact three brothers from Mlynov who came to the US and at least one who remained in Europe. One of these Gelberg brothers traveled on the same ship as the first member of the family who became a "Goldberg" in the US, appearing just one page away on the same manifest. It seems hard to believe that the two travelers with the same family name from the small town of Mlynov didn't plan their trip together and know of each other. Yet descendants of the two lines don't remember a family relationship between these two family lines, though the evidence of a relationship is suggestive and discussed in a more detailed account .
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The Labish Gelberg Line
Labish Gelberg, as he was known back in Mlynov, is remembered by descendants in the Goldberg family as an orphan who was knowledgeable in Torah studies, and who showed up in Mlynov and was taken into the Schuchman home. Descendants don't know anything else about Labish's life before he married.
It seems possible, though not provable, that Labish Gelberg was the young orphan son of the man named Haim Leib who is listed in Gelberg family (#48) in the 1850 census and family (#54) in the 1858 census. The records show that Haim Leib died in 1855 and left behind a young orphan son, "Freidel," who is living with his older first cousin. It seems possible that after Haim Leib passed away that his son Freidel was referred to in Yiddish as "Labishes" [meaning Labish's son] and simply became "Labish."[17b]
Whatever his origins, Labish comes into focus in family memories when he was married off to Eta Leah, a daughter of Gershon and Shaina Bluma Schuchman who also appear in the 1858 census. Labish and Eta Leah were married by 1874 when their first child was born and eventually had seven children. Descendants include members of the Schuchman, Schechman and Sherman families.[18]
A great many of the oral traditions I learned about this Goldberg family line came from my recent exchanges with Edith Geller, a sharp ninety-six year old with many memories of the various members of the Goldberg family. Edith was born in 1923 and is the daughter of Sarah (Sura Gelberg) and Sam Spector and a granddaughter of Labish and Eta Leah.
As was the case of other Mlynov families, three of the older children stayed behind in Europe when younger members of their family left for the US. The three who remained behind were Pinchus Gelberg (1874–1935), Esther (Gelberg) Malar (1888–~1942) and Chana Gittel (~1890–~1942). Pinchus became an educated man, married Chaia Rive in Klevan, where he had a leather goods store and two sons. He was wealthy and visited his parents often. He died in 1935 and his wife and sons were later killed during WWII.
Esther Gelberg, for her part, married a man named Yussel (also "Josef") Malar and they had two children: David and Gissie Malar. All of the Malar family were killed in the Shoah except David who survived, got married in a displaced person camp and subsequently came to America and died at the age of 94 in 2004.
Goldbergs who remained in Europe, (left) Yankel Preziment married Chana Gitel Goldberg, (center) Ester (Goldberg) with husband Yossel Malar and children, (right) Pinchus Gelberg. Mlynov Memorial Book, pp. 473, 502, 503
Moishe (Morris) Goldberg (left) and brother Gershon Joe Goldberg (right) in the US. Photos courtesy of Edith Geller and Harold GoldbergLabish and Eta's third child who remained in Europe, Chana Gittel, married a man named Yankel "Preziment," the proper pronunciation located recently on the back of a postcard in the family.[19] Chana Gittel and Yankel had three children. The family all died in the Holocaust as well.
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The Gelberg Migration
Labish and Eta's other four children all made their way to the US and as a result we know much more about them. Those who came to the US were: Moishe (Morris) Goldberg (1875–1967), Chaya Gelberg (Ida Gevantman) (1893–1949), Sura ("Sorke") Gelberg (Sarah Spector) (1894–1941), and Gershon (Joseph/George) Goldberg (1896–1984).Moishe Goldberg apparently was the first of Labish and Eta's children to make his way to the US in 1911. By the time Moishe left for the US in 1911, he already had four children with his wife Gitel (also "Gitla" and "Gussie") whose family name was Weitzer (or Weizer) and who lists a relative, possibly a brother or father, named Aron Weizer back in Mlynov on her 1921 passenger manifest.
"Mojshe Gilberg," as his name appears on his passenger manifest, left Hamburg on the SS President Grant and arrived in NY on Dec. 13, 1911. Like a number of other Mlynov husbands who came ahead of his family during this period, he would be separated from his wife and children during WWI for ten years and would be reunited with them only in 1921. His youngest son most likely had no memories of his father by the time they remet in 1921.
Also traveling on the same ship and listed only one page away on the manifest, was "Nussen" Gelberg, one of the three brothers from the other Gelberg family in Mlynov. He was traveling to the US with his oldest daughter Sima. It seems likely that Nussen Gelberg and Moishe Gelberg knew each other and in fact planned their passage together. As we shall see, two of Nussen's brothers, and two sons, had already arrived in the US and had settled in Jersey City.
Moishe's passenger manifest also makes evident that other Goldberg cousins had already made their way to the US. Moishe's destination was a cousin in NY, whose name appears to be "Idel Goldberg" (Judel?), a person whom no one has yet been able to identify. Moishe's destination, which I couldn't decipher on my own, turned out to be 60 Orchard Street in the tenement district, as I learned from my 96-year-old collaborator, Edith Geller, who recalls visiting with the Krellin family at that address growing up.
Sarah (Goldberg) on wedding day with Sam Spector. Courtesy Edith (Spector) Geller.
Moishe (Morris) Goldberg (left) and his aunt Chissa (Klepatch) Schuchman. Mlynov Memorial Book, p. 502.During this time, two other close relatives of Moishe arrived in the US. Moishe's sister Sarah (Sura) Goldberg arrived in September 1913 and she was headed to the home address of her boyfriend's uncle. According to family accounts, Sarah was brought to the US with the help of her future husband, Samuel Spector, who met her briefly in Dubno before he left for the US, fell in love with her there, and made arrangements for Sarah to join him in the US. Upon her arrival, however, Sarah fell in love with another man. But then a dream of her father Labish set her straight and convinced her to marry Sam. They were married on New Years Eve 1918.
Like other Mlynov immigrants who had arrived before the WWI, Moishe and Sarah were separated from their family who was still back in Mlynov during this time. Meanwhile back in Mlynov,...
Read more about this Gelberg/Goldberg family line in Mlynov, about the Pinchus Gelberg family line below, or return to the top
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THE PINCHUS GELBERG LINE
When I first learned about the Goldbergs who had come to America from Mlynov, I started searching for records of their passage. They were from the Labish Gelberg line and they settled on the name "Goldberg" in Ameica.As I was looking for their records, I started stumbling into records of other "Gelbergs" from Mlynov who retained the Gelberg name in America and were unknown to the Goldberg descendants. It seems plausible that both of these lines were related to each other since back in Mlynov both family lines were in fact called "Gelberg." Furthermore, was it purely an accident that the first member to arrive in America from the "Goldberg" line was traveling on the same ship with one of the brothers who stayed "Gelberg" in America? They were less than one page away from each other on the passenger manifest and, had the page break fallen differently, they would have appeared on the same page. Coming as they did from the same small town of Mlynov, could their passage on the same ship have been purely an accident? Unlikely.
From tombstones in America, we know the father of these Gelberg brothers who arrived in America was named Pinchus Meir. I suspect he was related to Labish Gelberg, the ancestor of the Goldberg line, though it hardly matters since everyone in Mlynov seems to have been related to everyone else anyway.
The ancestor of this Gelberg line appears to be the man listed as "Pinhos-Meer" Gelbarg in the 1850 census, in one of the two Gelbarg households listed (family #26). Pinchos-Meer is age 21 with an implied birth year of 1829. The census indicates that he was present in Mlynov when an earlier 1834 census was conducted, and it seems likely he was born there. In the household with Pinhos-Meer is his father, Ios Fayvish, age 46, who is head of the family and Ios Fayvish's wife "Henya" age 25. It appears Henya is a second, younger wife since she is not old enough to be the mother of Pinhos-Meer, age 21, or his sisters, Hana and Sura, who are listed as 18 and 15 respectively.
By the 1858 census, Pinchas-Meer (listed in family #29) is 29, has married a woman named "Sima" (who is remembered by descendants as "Sadie") and has a daughter Gitlya who is age 4. [We can guess that Gitlya was the namesake of Pinchas-Meer's mother who was already absent in the 1850 census and perhaps had died]. His father, Ios Fayvish, now age 54 is still alive and head of the household and is still married to "Genya" (called Henya in the 1850 census) age 33. Three daughters are listed (ages 6, 4, and 1) who were born in the intervening years. A son Duvid-Morko is now listed as having died in 1856 at the age of 14. He did not appear in the 1850 census at the age of 9 and may have been in hiding to avoid conscription. Based on his birth year (1842) it seems likely he may have been a son of Ios Fayvish's first wife.
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The Four Gelberg Brothers
On December 23, 1911, "Nussen Gilberg" from Mlynov arrived in New York and was heading to his son Gershen. Traveling with him was his daughter "Sima" (Sarah) and their manifest indicates that Nathan's wife "Reise" was still back in Mlynov. Nathan and his daughter were traveling for fifteen days on the SS Grant from Hamburg, the same ship taken by Mlynov-born Moishe Gilberg, the first immigrant to New York from what became the Goldberg line.
The discovery of Nussen and Sima's passenger manifest provided the first clue to the presence of the three Gelberg brothers who were born in Mlynov and who had come to the US and settled initially in Jersey City. We shall see that there was a fourth Gelberg brother in this family, who remained back in Mlynov and who is mentioned as a well-to-do person in two of the narratives of the Mlynov-Muravica Memorial Book.
Nathan Gelberg from Mlynov. Courtesy of Amy Westpy.
1911 Passenger Manifest of Nussen (line 4) and Sima Gilberg (line 6), arriving on the SS Grant in NY on Dec. 23, 1911Nussen, or Nathan as he was soon to be, was the first of the Gelberg brothers I found but he was not the first to arrive. After digging into his records, I tracked down one of his great-granddaughters, Amy Westpy, and with the help of her knowledge managed to begin piecing together the Gelberg family story.
When I first approached her, Amy was not certain her great-grandfather, Nathan, was from the same Mlynov town I was researching. "There are two Mlynovs," she said to me, "And I'm not sure which one they were from." There is in fact another Mlynov that is now in Poland, and not in Ukraine where our families' Mlynov (now called Mlyniv) is now located. The records, however, eventually confirmed that her Gelberg family was from the district of "Volyn" and that meant we were talking about one and the same Mlynov. Our Mlynov became part of Russia in 1793 with the Second Partition of Poland and returned to Poland only after WWI when Poland was recreated. When Nathan and Sima left Mlynov in 1911, it was still part of Russia.
From Amy, I learned that her great-grandfather, Nathan Gelberg, had a brother named Abraham Gelberg. My hunt in the records would turn up another brother, Joseph (Gedale) Gelberg, who was the first of the brothers to arrive in the US. One thing led to another and I eventually tracked down and connected to Joseph Gelberg's granddaughter, Denise Gelberg, a writer now living in Ithaca upstate New York.
One of my great pleasures was getting to introduce third cousins, Amy and Denise, who discovered they had common childhood memories of family gatherings in the Catskills. What follows is the story of this Gelberg line from Mlynov as best as I can reconstruct it. If you prefer, you can read download the longer version here.
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Nathan Gelberg and his wife Reisel
Nathan Gelberg, born in about 1858 in Mlynov, was the oldest of at least four Gelberg brothers, all of whom we will meet below. Nathan's seven children were also born in Mlynov. He wrote their names on his Petition for Naturalization in the US on June 23, 1927. By this point, six of his seven children had arrived in the US as well. The children's names were David (1884), Sima (Sarah Epstein) (1886–?), Morris (1895–1965), Gussie (Gertrude Miller) (1893–1976), Gershen (Jack) (1895–1928), Chane (Anna Curtiss) (1897–?) and Sadi (Hirsch) (1897–?).Only Nathan's oldest son, David Gelberg, stayed in Russia. Amy tells me that there were oral traditions in her family that David may have had a deformity that may have prevented his immigration with the rest of his siblings, though we know from other Mlynov families that it was often the oldest in the family, who had put down stronger roots in Russia, perhaps having married and had children, who never immigrated. This was true in the Goldberg line, as well as my own Shulman line.
As noted earlier, "Nussen Gilberg" (line 4) and his daughter "Simai"(Sarah) (line 6) traveled on the SS Grant from Hamburg to NY landing on December 23, 1911. "Nussen", (line 4), age 51, described himself as a "dealer" and his daughter Sima, age 17 identified as a "Tailores." The manifest indicates that father and daughter were headed to Nathan's son and Sima's brother, Gershen Gelberg, who is living at what appears to be 184 1/2 E. 7th Street, in Jersey City. We'll come back to Gershen in a moment, who arrived in 1907.
Nathan's wife, "Reisel Gelberg" (soon to be called Rachel), followed her husband to the US three years later in 1914 accompanied by Nathan's two younger daughters, Gittel (later Gussie Miller, Amy's grandmother) and Chane (later Anna Curtiss). From Amy I learned that Reisel was Nathan's second wife. The name of Nathan's first wife and the mother of his children is lost to history. Reisel's own daughter, Ruchel, from a previous marriage we believe, was also traveling with them.[20]
Little is known about Reisel's background. Her passenger manifest says she and her daughter, Ruchel, were born in Mlynov. A death certifcate suggests her father's name was Hyman Steinberg, a family name familiar in Mlynov. But Reisel's later Petition for Naturalization, which Amy put her hands on, indicates she was from Studinka, which is about a 4 1/2 hour drive from Mlyniv on the maps today, quite a distance in the early 1900s when they got married. Whether Nathan met her in Studinka or she arrived in Mlynov for some other reason, we do not know.
In any case, the blended family of Reisel and the children travelled on the SS Pretoria from Hamburg to New York and landed on US soil on March 16, 1914. War would break out at the end of July that same year. Arriving a few months before WWI broke out, the family managed to avoid the situation that confronted a number of other Mlynov husbands, like Moishe Goldberg, Aron Demb, and Avram (Joseph) Lerner, among others, who came to the US before the War, and were subsequently separated for the War's duration from their families they left behind in Europe.
Upon arrival, Reisel and the children where headed to her husband Nathan who by this time was living at 230 Van Horne Street in Jersey City. We shall learn of other Gelbergs living there as well during that time. It turns out that members of the Hirsch family from Mlynov also settled in the same neighborhood and started a successful laundry business only a few years earlier.
1914 Passenger manifest of Reisel, Gussie, Chane and Ruchel. They travelled on the SS Pretoria from Hamburg to NY arriving March 16, 1914
Reisel's manifest shows her closest relative was brother-in-law Yossel Gelberg back in Mlynov***
Reisel's passenger manifest indicates that her closest relative back in Mlynov was her brother-in-law, one Yossel Gelberg. This is the only record to indicate that Nathan still had a brother living in Mlynov. Yossel Gelberg turned out to be a well-to-do owner of the mill in Mlynov as recalled from essays in the Mlynov-Muravica Memorial book. Read more of the Gelberg Story.
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THE GOLDSEKER / HOLTZEKER FAMILY
The Goldseker family (also called Holtzeker by some descendants) is remembered as the largest family in Mlynov once they arrived in Mlynov around 1891. According to descendants in two different family lines, the original word "holtzhaker" means "wood chopper" and alludes to one of the family's early occupations.
In the Mlynov Memorial Book, the spelling of the family surname in Hebrew lettering appears in two variations: sometimes with a "he" (Holtzeker) and sometimes and a "gimel" (Goltseker). In the list of martyrs, the surname appears with a gimel as "Goltzeker." The variations probably reflect the fact that Slavic languages couldn't originally pronounce the "h" sound. Other surnames from Mlynov exhibit a similar variation in the Memorial Book such as “Galperin” and “Halperin.” In English, the transliterated variations of the family name multiplied and sometimes morphed and include Goldseker, Golceker, Golcekier, Holtzeker, Holzeker, Golz, Givoni and more. In what follows, the family name is spelled Holtzeker except when referring to the Baltimore line which thinks of itself as Goldseker.
Five Holtzeker/Goldseker brothers were in the original family to arrive in Mlynov and each of them had children. An overview is followed by a summary of each brother's family line. The five Holtzeker brothers, children of Avraham and Baila Holtzeker, include: Hirsch, Moishe, Yankel, Shimon and Yoel.
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Overview
The Holtzeker family was originally from Dubno according to the essay "Mlynov in the Past," written by Moshe Fishman who was born in Mlynov but met the Holtzeker family while working and living in the nearby town of Slobada. Moshe's sister, Anna, subsequently married Shimon Goldseker, the second to youngest of the five Holtzeker brothers. Records of "Golcekers" in the Dubno Memorial Book and Yad Vashem records for Dubno may belong to relatives of this Holtzeker family.
The head of this Holtzeker family was a man named Avraham Holtzeker and his wife Baila. According to Moshe Fishman, the Holtzekers arrived in Slobada by 1870 where they worked a piece of land they leased from the local nobleman. The village was remembered by descendants as a thirty minute ride by horse and wagon from Mlynov. Slobada is also mentioned by Shmuel Mandelkern in the Mlynov Memorial book (see page 118) when describing where one of the self-defense units trained on the east side of Mlynov. The area, he wrote, was "encircled by a large expanse of fields, which leads towards the villages of Slobada, Ozliiv and the main road that regularly was busy with movement 24 hours daily...." It appears from an old Polish map that "Slobadka" was located in the area that was between contemporary Uzhynets' and Ozliiv, Ukraine, both towns close to Mlynov.
Old map of the area showing "Slobadka" between Uzhynets' and Ozliiv...
Contemporary map of the area showing Uzhynets' and Ozliiv near Mlynov.The Holtzekers remained in Slobada until Tsarist Russia promulgated the law forbidding Jews to live outside towns, a law put in place after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. At Moshe Fishman's recommendation, the Holtzeker family moved to Mlynov, where the father, Avraham, worked in construction for the local Count. Baltimore Goldsekers documented the names of Avraham and Baila's five sons, several of whom had their own very large families in town: Hirsch, Moishe, Yankel, Shimon, and Yoel. Moshe Fishman mentions the existence of a Holtzeker daughter as well, though Baltimore descendants have no recorded knowledge of her.
The Goldsekers became the largest family in Mlynov and were known by their nickname "Slobadar" because they previously lived there. In another Memorial book essay, "Small Shtetls, Large Families," survivor Mendel Teitelman recalled the large Holtzeker family in Mlynov. "I want to write about the multi-branched, honorable Goldseker family, the largest family in Mlynov. I greatly doubt that there was such a large family in the kehilla [community] of another shtetl. Thanks to its sizeable numbers, this family had the luck of having a few surviving remnants. Very many other families did not leave the slightest trace of their existence; they were literally wiped out.”
The Goldseker/Holtzeker family tree below is based on the Baltimore Goldseker records supplemented by information recovered from Yad Vashem records and the list of martyrs in the Mlynov Memorial book.
What is known about the five brothers who came to Mlynov and their descendants, follows in the narrative below. We know the most detail about the descendants of the second to the youngest brother, Shimon, since five of his children survived and four migrated to Baltimore where many family memories and photos have been preserved. The other family lines were devastated by the Shoah with the result that the information available about them is fragmentary and had to be recovered from Yad Vashem records, a few descendants contacted in Israel, and from episodic citations in the Mlynov Memorial book.
Read more about the Holtzeker brothers and their families.
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THE HERMAN FAMILY
There was a large Herman family in Mlynov and the nearby town of Dubno. The family name sometimes appear in variations of "Erbman" and "Herbsman." We know of two brothers, Moshe and Joseph Herman, though we know more about Moshe than Joseph.[21]Moshe married Chaya Golda from the (Lerner family) and they had seven children. Moshe, Chaya, and three of their children, Israel Herman (1881 –1942), Isaac Herman (1895–1975), and Sadie (Shava) Korn (1899–1992), all immigrated eventually to Baltimore. The other children, Paul, Aaron, Samuel and Sonia, perished in the Holocaust.
In 1899, Moshe's oldest son, Israel Herman (1881–1942) married Mollie (Malka) Gruber (1882–1959), the oldest daughter of Simha (Demb) Gruber (a son of the (Demb family). Israel was a cabinet maker and was drafted into the Tsar's army according to family oral traditions. In 1906, the couple and their two eldest children, left on the qt so Israel could avoid conscription. Israel and Mollie traveled across Europe before making it to the United States, as you can see from the birthplaces in four different countries of their children (see photo below, left to right): Jennie (Zlate), was born in Mlynov in 1900, Hyman (later Albert) and Betty who were born in England in 1908 and 1911 respectively, and Sarah born in Toprev, Austria in 1907 (later part of Czechoslovakia and called Toplice).
According to family accounts, another son named Herschel died of a fever and by falling off a bed (or both) while the family was in Toprev. Sarah was told that her father was so depressed that he decided they should leave. He went ahead to Paris but didn't like it there and headed to London, where he earned enough as a cabinet maker to send for his family. In London, the family's surname became Herman and two children were born there. Two other children, Joseph and Sadie (later Sally) were born in Baltimore.
The Herman family.[22] Courtesy of Deb Weinberg and Lynne Sandler.
Israel Herman and Mollie (Gruber) with children: Jennie, Albert, Betty and Sarah. Courtesy of Miriam Berkowitz.Israel arrived in Baltimore in Decemember 1911 traveling via Halifax and Toronto, and Mollie and the children followed in August 1912. Israel and Mollie had other additional children who were born in Baltimore, Joseph and Sadie Chancey.
Israel's brother Isaac, and their father Moshe arrived in Baltimore in 1913. Isaac later married Helen "Elke" London (Lamdan) in Baltimore and had four children. I suspect, but cannot prove, that Elke was related to the Lamdan family from Mlynov.
Israel and Isaac's sister, Sadie Korn, was in Toronto with her husband Samuel Korn by 1932 when their first child was born before eventually entering the US in about 1939 and heading towards Baltimore.
Moshe's brother, Joseph Herman and family, remained in Europe through WWI and appear to have been living in the nearby town of Dubno for much of this period. I have no information about how many children Joseph had. Joseph's daughter, Rebecca ("Rifka") married a man named Simon Seltzer (1867-1925) from Dubno before 1889 when their first child, Rose Stein (1889–1972) was born and they had four additional children.
Rebecca's husband, Simon Seltzer, immigrated to Baltimore in 1913, according to his naturalization papers (or possibly earlier) but like several other husbands was not joined by his wife and children until 1921, after the war. Simon and Rebecca's oldest daughter Rose, and her husband Paul Steinmann (Paul Stein), arrived in Baltimore sometime in 1913. While living in Baltimore during those years, Simon, Rose and Paul were sharing addresses with the other Herman immigrants from Mlynov who had already arrived and were living on Albemarle Street. They eventually purchased the mom-and-pop grocery of Mlynov-born, Benjamin Schwartz, who had arrived in 1910.
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THE HIRSCH FAMILY
The story of the large Hirsch family from Mlynov is in many ways the story of Jewish identity in the 20th century. Among the Hirsch descendants was a grandson, Aleph (Morris) Katz, who would become a respected Yiddish poet in America. Aleph was only one of a large number of the Hirsch descendants who, beginning in 1905, migrated to the US.
The majority of Hirsches who immigrated to America did so by 1914 before the outbreak of WWI. The first Hirschs to arrive stayed in the Lower East Side before moving uptown to 116th Street in East Harlem. They were not there long. They soon settled in Jersey City where they purchased a laundry business and capitalized on a new laundry method which helped the family become well-off in their new community.
Their success enabled one of the Hirsch families to return to Mlynov in 1935 and they took a home movie during that visit, the only known such film taken of Mlynov. The story of the Hirschs, like that of the Berger and Gelberg families as other examples, spans three continents and evokes all the key themes of that century: American migration and success, Zionism and aliyah, the Shoah and survival. The whole history of Jewish identity in the 20th century is rolled up into this family's story.
Ephraim with (ltr)second wife Mollie, with sisters, and first wife Gitel. Photos courtesy of Deborah Dickmann and Jenny Silverman
Ephaim and Gitel's son, Albert Lewis (Row 5, 2nd from right), the day the Titanic went down. Photo courtesy of Deborah DickmannThe patriarch of the Hirsch family was Aaron Hirsch ("Nuta Behr") who married a woman named Liebe before 1862 when their eldest son, Ephraim, was born. They had five other children in Mlynov: Pessia (1864–?), Zelda (1865–1938), Henie (Anna) (1875–?), Clara (1879–1962) and Moishe. Five of their six children came to the US with their families. Of those families who stayed behind in Mlynov, a few of their offspring got involved in the Zionist Youth movement and were able to get certificates to make aliyah to Palestine in the 1930s; almost all of the rest were killed in the liquidation of the ghetto in 1942. The one survivor, Saul Halpern, made his way to Toronto, Canada and settled there.
Before the large Hirsch migration to the US, all of the Hirsch children had married and had begun families of their own in Mlynov.
The Children and Grandchildren of Aaron and Liebe Hirsch Children Spouse # of Children Grandchildren Ephraim Hirsch
(1862–1929)Gitel Kolter (1863–1915) 5 Isaac Hirsch (1879–1973) | Ruchel Leah (Ruth Gurtin) (~1881–1960) | Abraham "A. D." Hirsch (1881–1975) | Harry (Hersch) Hirsch (1884–1986) | Jacob (Gedalie) Hirsch (1889–1981) | Lewis Albert "Abe" Hirsch (1897–1975) | Jeannette "Jennie" Levine (1899–1967) Pessia Hirsch (~1864–?) Lipa Halperin (?–?) 5 Yosel (Joseph) (1880– ?) | Israel (1882–1942) | Avraham (1924–1942) | Sarah (?–? ) | Faiga (?–? )| Chaya Leah (?–?) Zelda Hirsch (~1865–1938) Ben Zion Berger (1865–~1912) 4 Eva (Chava) Neistein (1884– 1947) | Nathan ("Nuhim") (1889–1958) | Sara (Sheindel) Berger (1892–1972) | Samuel (Symon) (1894–1986 ) Anna (Henie) (1875–?) Chaim (Hyman) Yeruchim Katz (1872–?) 5 Shifre (Sophie) Cohen (1893–1982) | Samuel B (1895–1969) | Aleph (Morris/Moshe) (1898–1969) | Helen Goldstein (1904–1997 ) Clara (Chaya) Newman (~1879–1962) Jacob (Yankel) Newman
(1871–1941)5 Leo H (Hyman) (1896–1970) | Harry B (1898–?) | Sophie Mendelsohn Lehmann (1902–1995) | Benjamin (1906–1989) | Leo (Leon/Leonard) (1915–? ) Moishe Hirsch (?–?) Bluma Fischmann (?–?) 1? Esther (?– ?) ***
The Hirsch Migration To America
The sons of Ephraim and Gitel Hirsch were the first movers in the migration to America. Hersch (Harry), age 22, arrived in July 1905, followed by Jacob "Gdalie Girsch" in December 1906 and Abraham "A. D." in August 1907. In 1907, two of the Hirsch uncles also arrived: Jacob Newman (Clara Hirsch's husband) and Chaim Yerukim Katz (Anna Hirsch's husband). Chaim Yerukim was also accompanied by his eldest daughter, Shifre (soon to be Sophie Katz and then Sophie Cohen).In July 1909, the eldest of the brothers, Isaac ("Eisik Girsch"), age 30, followed his brothers to the US leaving behind his wife, Sure (Kypher later Cooopersmith) and four children who wouldn't join him until 1912. In December 1909, five months after Isaac arrived, the Hirsch brothers were finally joined by their parents, Ephraim, age 48 at the time and Gitel, age 47, and their two youngest siblings: Abe (Lewis), age 11, and "Yeute" (Jennie), age 10. Ephraim and Gitel were traveling together with another young woman from Mlynov, Mollie ("Mali") Shargel, who was the eldest daughter of the Shargel Family from Mlynov and the first of her immediate family to immigrate.
With the arrival of Ephraim and Gitel and their two youngest children in New York, all of their immediate family had made their way to the US with the exception of one daughter, Ruchel Leah, who had married Jacob Gurtin by 1904, when they had their first child, Saul Gurtin (1904–1986). Four other Gurtin children followed: Beatrice (1907– ~1926), Miriam Fidel (1908–2002), Edna Aronson (1912–1995), and Milton (1915–1977). The Gurtin famiy remained in Europe until after WWI when they finally were able to immigrate and join the family in Jersey City in 1922.
The Hirsch brothers initially lived in the Lower East Side of Manhattan at 86 Lewis St. and stayed with a friend or cousin whose name was something like "A. Waitzer" or "Weizer", but who has not yet been identified. They remained in the Lower East Side until shortly before their parents arrived in 1909 when they moved uptown to 116th in East Harlem. They were not there long and by 1911 moved across from Manhattan to the up-and-coming Jersey City where they acquired an existing laundry business. There they capitalized on the shift emerging in the industry from "steam" laundry to what was called "wet wash." The laundry business now picked up dirty clothes and linens from a family's home, washed them, and then delivered them back to the family still wet, for the wife of the house to hang dry. The innovation in practice significantly dropped the cost of the laundry and made it available to a far great number of families. Advertisements at the time touted the cost-effective, labor saving new approach that improved the lives of housewives, and also leveraged a cleaner more sanitary process. Wet wash laundry took the industry by storm.
Article about the up-and-coming area of Jersey City across from Manhattan. The New-York Tribune, Mar. 8, 1908, p. 12.
The first "Standard Wet Wash Laundry" ad. The Jersey Journal May 13, 1911, p. 17. The ad ran multiple times that month.By 1930, "Standard Wet Wash Laundry," as the family called it, had grown from the old Sherwood firehouse with two horse-drawn wagons into a modern plant with a fleet of cars and over three hundred workers. During this time, the business supported all of the Hirsch brothers' families, plus a number of cousins such as Aleph Katz, who worked there. By the late 1920s, A. D. Hirsch and his brothers were the largest financial contributors in Jersey City to the new Jewish Community Center, the auditorium of which they named after their mother, Gertrude (Gitel) Hirsch, who had passed away in about 1915.
The Hirsch brothers gave more than half the pledges for the new auditorium, which they dedidcated to their mother, Gertrude Hersch. The Jersey Journal, August 7, 1930, p. 3.
A. D. Hirsch also got involved in the development of a new synagogue in Jersey City that was "rooted in historic traditions of their fathers" but would also "modernize the services." The Jersey Journal Nov. 17, 1928, p. 10.Read more about the Hirsch family, their migration and what became of those who remained behind in Mlynov.
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The Lerner Family
On December 16, 1919, a 24-year-old young man, known by family and friends as Itsig Lerner, filled out a US passport application. Just months earlier, he became a naturalized US citizen and he wanted to return to his hometown, Mlynov, to assist his mother and his four younger siblings with their immigration to Baltimore. He already served in the army in 1918 and even shipped out to Europe, part of a unit that repaired the army’s motor vehicles.
Now that the War was over, he wanted to return to Mlynov. On his passport application he used his anglicized name, “Isidore Israel Lerner,” and he explained that that he wanted to visit “Poland and France and other necessary [countries]” and that his purpose was “to bring my mother, sister and brother to America.” Along the side of the application an official wrote “Letters from mother in distress…”
Itsig Lerner 1919 Passport ApplicationBy the time Itsig filled out his passport application, he had been in Baltimore with his father Yossel Lerner for seven years. Father and son arrived five months apart back in 1913. Yossel came first in March that year, making his way from the small town of Mlynov to Antwerp, Belgium, most likely by train. There he boarded a ship called the SS Montreal which was headed to Quebec, Canada, where he landed on Aug. 24th. He appears on the manifest as “Josel Abram Lerner,” age 45, with the occupation of mason. His last residence is listed as “Mlynow,” and his closest relative there was his wife “Chaile Lerner.” In the US, Yossel would be known by his anglicized name of “Joseph Lerner.”
It appears that Yossel Lerner was accompanied on his journey from Mlynov to Baltimore by a friend or at least a contemporary he knew from his hometown. This man, named Jossel Schuchman (from the Schuchman family), appears on an adjoining list of passengers (List 3). Jossel Schuchman was 40 years old and like Yossel Lerner he too left a wife and children back in Mlynov. Although the two Mlynov men do not appear next to each other on the manifest like many immigrants who traveled together, it seems improbable that the two contemporaries from the same small shtetl accidentally ended up on the same ship sailing to Quebec on their way to Baltimore.
Yossel Lerner’s destination address in Baltimore was that of a nephew, a man named Israel Herman, the son of his sister. Yossel may have modeled his own migration path after the route of this nephew, who came to Baltimore in 1911 via Canada. Nephew Israel Herman was joined subsequently in 1912 by his wife and children. They were living at 106 Albemarle Street one block from Baltimore’s inner harbor.
The flat where Yossel Lerner was headed at 106 Albemarle Street and the adjoining flats at 102 and 104 Albemarle were, by the time Yossel arrived, already a key landing pad for those in the second wave of Mlynov immigration to the city. Upwards of fifteen Mlynov immigrants stayed at those addresses on Albemarle Street between 1910–1914. Most were relatives of the first couple to rent there, Samuel Roskes and his wife Mollie (from the Demb family), though some, like Yossel Lerner and his son Itsig were relatives of relatives.
The Lerner Family Tree based on the 1850 and 1858 revision lists and oral tradition.The Lerner Family in Mlynov
According to US records, Yossel Abram Lerner was born in Mlynov in 1866. His tombstone in Baltimore shows that his father’s name in Hebrew was “Yitzchak Yisrael.” It seems highly probable that Yossel was born into the Lerner family listed in the 1850 and 1858 revision lists for Mlynov.The head of that Lerner household in 1858 was a man named Itsko-Srul, a Yiddish variation on the Hebrew name “Yitzchak Yisrael” which appears on the tombstone of Joseph (Yossel) Lerner. In 1858, seven years before Yossel was born, this Lerner family had five members and was in a list of households of other “craftsmen” in town. This trade background of the family plausibly explains where Yossel got his own training as a mason, the occupation he listed on his passenger manifest to Baltimore in 1913.
According to the 1858 record, Itsko-Srul was 40 years old with an implied birth year of 1818. His deceased father's name was Leib. In the same census, he was married to a woman named Sosya who was 30 years old. Sosya appears to be Yosel’s second wife, since his son Leib (also called “Litman-Leib” in this record) was 23 years old and obviously too old to be the son of Sosya, who was only seven years older. The same 1858 record indicates Litman-Leib (Itsko-Srul’s son) was already married to a woman named Huma who was 21 years old. The couple had a one-year-old daughter, named Beila, suggesting that they had perhaps married in about 1857.
The Lerner family in the 1850 revision in Mlynov.
The Lerner family in the 1858 revision in Mlynov.It seems very likely that Yossel (Joseph) Lerner was the son of Itsko-Srul and his second wife, Sosya. Itsko-Srul would have been 46 years old when Yossel was born in 1866. Yossel’s mother, Sosya, would have been 38 years old at his birth. It seems likely that Yossel’s eldest son, Itsig Israel (i.e., Isadore Lerner), was named for his grandfather, Itsko-Srul, and that Yossel’s daughter, Sophie (“Sosya” in Hebrew) was named for her grandmother. It is not known what happened to Yossel’s half-brother, Litman-Leib, or Litman-Lieb’s daughter, Beila, who are listed in this 1858 revision.
The earlier 1850 revision provides additional insights into the Lerner family. In 1850, Itsko-Srul was 32 years old. This record gives the name of his deceased father, Leib. Itsko-Srul is also listed with his first wife, Hena (also spelled Genya), who was 30 years old. Their son, Leib, was obviously a namesake of his grandfather. In 1850, he was only 15 years old, still single, and was not yet called Litman-Leib. Leib Jr.’s age of 15 suggests that his grandfather, Leib, probably died not long before 1835 when the younger Leib was born. The 1850 revision also indicates that Itsko-Srul was present in Mlynov by at least 1834 when an earlier revision was taken, though that record has not been recovered.
In Mlynov 1865–1913
While we know that Yossel (Joseph) Lerner was born in 1866 from US records, we know little else about the Lerners during the period Yossel was growing up. Yossel was still a teenager in 1882 when a well-known Rebbe (Aharon II of Karlin) died near Mlynov, putting the small shtetl on the map and making it a pilgrimage site for the Stolin-Karliner stream of Hasidim. Like other Mlynover boys his age, Yossel probably enjoyed swimming in the Ikva River in summer, climbing the mythic hill known as “Mount Sinai” across the river, and telling tales about the “Graf,” the Count who owned the large estate across the river and all the property in town. Perhaps he helped his father Itsko-Srul with carpentry and built some of the houses and fences that appear in later photos of the town.By about 1894, Yossel Lerner married a Mlynov–born woman known in some of her US records as “Rose Lerner.” It appears that Yossel knew Rose growing up in Mlynov. She was part of the family in Mlynov called “Kuperstein and Kipperstein.” She had at least three siblings, two of whom came to the US.
Yossel and Rose’s eldest son, Itsig Yisrael, was born in 1895. Yossel was 29 years old, and Rose was 25 when they became parents. The couple had four additional children after Itsig. Their dates of birth are a bit ambiguous since US records are not entirely consistent. They were Anna (Hene) 1902, Morris (Moishe) 1906, Sarah/Shirley (Sura) 1905/06, and Sophie (Sosya) 1910. Joseph left for Baltimore in 1913 when Sophie was three years old.
Yossel’s sister, Gitel (Lerner) Herman
It appears that Yossel Lerner grew up with at least one other sister named Chaya Golda. As noted earlier, evidence of their relationship comes from Yossel’s manifest to the US which lists his destination as the address of a “nephew” named Israel Herman. Quite a bit is known about Israel Herman. He was the son of a couple named Moishe Herman (surname also spelled Erbman and Herbsman) and a woman called variously in records as Chaya Golda and Goldie.Support for the hypothesis that Chaya Golda was likely Yossel Lerner's sister comes from several sources: there is a social security record in Ancestry that lists her birth name as “Goldie Lerner” and her husband as Moishe “Herbsman.” In addition, the tombstone of Golda’s son, Israel Herman, indicates his Hebrew name was “Yitzhak Yisrael,” the same name that Yossel Lerner, gave to his son Itsig Lerner. Apparently, both Yossel and his sister Chaya Golda named sons after their father, Itsko-Srul, the head of household listed in the 1858 Mlynov revision. Finally, DNA matches between great-grandchildren of Yossel Lerner and Chaya Golda (Lerner) Herman support this hypothesis.
Chaya Golda Lerner married a Dubno-born man named Moishe Herman (Erbman, Herbsman) by 1891 when their son Israel Herman was born. Israel was followed by the birth of Isaac in 1895 and Sadie (married name Korn) in 1899. Four other children were born who perished in the Shoah and the dates of their births are not currently known. Golda and Moishe’s son, Israel Herman, married Mollie Gruber (from the Demb family line) and they had 7 children, two of whom were born in the US. As noted earlier, Israel Herman came to the US in 1911 and was followed by his wife and children in 1912. Their story is told in detail as part of the Herman Family story.
The 1920 Lerner Migration from Mlynov
By the end of 1919, Itsig began to make plans to return to his hometown. Apparently, Itsig brought his US army uniform with him. The uniform played a memorable role in the stories recounted later by a young man who joined Itsig and the immigrating group of families on their way to Baltimore. As Itsig made plans to return home, he coordinated with three other Mlynov-born husbands whose wives and children were also stranded during the War. They were Aaron Demb, Isaac Marder, and Nathan Gruber.A passenger manifest from June 1920 shows a large party of immigrants from Mlynov leaving Southampton, England for Baltimore. We know from oral traditions in the Fishman family that they traveled by train to Warsaw first where they got their papers. They probably caught passage to Southampton on a ship from Bremen or Rotterdam. They departed Southampton on June 9th and arrived in New York on June 19th.
The party included three Mlynov wives, nine of their children, plus one teenage boy from the Fishman family, a young man who appears on the manifest as “Boks Fishman” and whose memories provide additional insights into these families’ migration experience.
In the traveling party was Itsig’s mother “Radie,” [i.e., Rose] and Itsig’s four siblings, Hene (Anna), age 18, Soara (Sarah, Shirley), age 13, Mojsche (Moshe/Morris), age 10, and Spre (Sosya, Sophie), age 11. The group also included Isaac Marder’s wife, Clara, and her three children, and Aaron Demb’s wife, Bejla, and her two sons. Itsig also coordinated with Nathan’s wife but they followed a month later.
The 1920 manifest of the SS New York showing the Lerner, Demb and Marder families on their way to New YorkThe June manifest lists “Melnow” as the last residence of both the Lerner and the Marder families. Radie (Rose) Lerner lists her closest friend there as Mrs. Lamden, a sister probably of the famous Itzhak Lamden from Mlynov. On the second page of their manifest, the wives Rose Lerner and Clara Marder list their destination as their two husbands at “1516” Presbury (also spelled Presburg) Street in Baltimore. Isak Marder was living there and Joseph Lerner was renting a room from him.
Itsig was not listed on the manifest with his mother and siblings. However, since he was already a naturalized citizen, he is listed instead on another page of the manifest with US citizens. He appears next to his new wife, “Gitel” (Czainik), whom he married on his trip back to Mlynov. Because US laws before 1922 conferred a husband’s citizenship status on his wife, Gitel is also listed as a citizen on the manifest.
A Lerner family oral tradition recalls that Itsig was set up with Gitel on the trip. We can guess that Gitel quickly fell for this Jewish boy who served in the US army and came back to Poland. According to a short memoire she wrote, Gitel was apparently born in a place called Michalkovitz but grew up in Oleksandriia, Russia (today in Ukraine). She writes in her memoire:
Per custom at that time the first grandchild was born in the home of the maternal grandparents so I was born in the village of Michalkovitz but raised in the little shtetl of Aleksandria [now Oleksandriia, Ukraine] a railroad town where for 16 kopeks you could ride four times daily to the large city of Rovno an industrial commercial and town of many institutions of learning. Aleksandria had only one small grade school so most of our primary grade learning was acquired from private tutors in Russian, German, or French and the Hebrew also from private teachers as our father insisted that both his sons and daughter learn as much as he could afford to pay for …
Oleksandriia is just 16 km (10 m) north of Rovno which is 55 km (34 m) northwest of Mlyniv. Itsig and the migrating families went to Rovno from Mlynov before heading to Warsaw where they got their visas. It seems very possible that Itsig and Gitel met or were set up in Rovno at the time.
Itzik Lerner an wife Gitel in Baltimore, 1920s. Courtesy of Fredda Lerner.
Isadore Lerner (from r to l) his daughter Shirley, his wife, Gertrude, his son Jack. Courtesy of Fredda Lerner.Although there are no records of Itsig Lerner’s presence in Mlynov, the story of his return became mythic in the oral history of the young teenager, Benjamin Fishman, who joined the traveling immigrants. According to Ben’s account, there was an extra ticket or space available somehow with the traveling party and his friend poked Ben and suggested he join the party. Benjamin agreed without asking his parents’ permission. Ben recalled that Itsig brought his army uniform with him and that the uniform played a key role in their immigration experience. Itsig insisted the group of travelers ride first class on the train to Warsaw where they would secure their visas to leave. None of the travelers had traveled first class before and felt quite uncomfortable doing so in the newly created Poland. As an American, Itsig insisted, and he put on his US army uniform so that no one would give them any trouble.
Settling into Baltimore
In the 1920s, the Lerner family settled into life in Baltimore and began to expand. By the end of the decade, two more of their children (Morris and Sarah) married and Joseph and Rose had a total of 5 grandchildren. In the 1920s, Joseph remained working in the garment industry, and he and Rose and the four younger children made up one household, at least until Morris and Sarah got married. Joseph and Rose and the four children lived initially in East Baltimore at 9 Wolfe Street until the late 1920s.
Joseph and Rose Lerner at wedding of grandson, Jack. Courtesy of Fredda Lerner.
Isadore (Itzik) and Gertrude (Gitel) Lerner walking daughter, Shirley, down the aisle in 1950. Courtesy of Fredda Lerner.Download the Lerner Family Story to read more.
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The Mohel Family
The Mohel family came to Mlynov from Boremel in 1924–1925 when Rabbi Eliezer, a shochet (ritual slaughterer), mohel (ritual circumciser), and scribe was hired for a position in Mlynov. He arrived in town with his wife Hanna-Leah (also remembered as Hanna Beila née Kaszkiet) and their five children: Batya (1906–1942), Yehuda (1908–1989), Yaakov (1911–1974), Dvorah (1914–1987), and Chaika (Chaya) (1916–1985). Two other daughters were born while they were living in Mlynov: Bouzke’leh (also called Bracha and Batya) (1926–1942), and Yenteleh (1930–1942).Four of the seven children (Yehuda,Yaakov, Dvorah, and Chaika) fled at the German invasion in 1941 and survived WWII in Russia. Yaakov contributed a lamentation and an essay to the Mlynov Memorial book about his family's fate. His sister Dvorah contributed a moving poem about the "menorah tree" that grew between Mlynov and Mervits near where the liquidation of the ghetto's residents occurred.
We know the most about the extraordinary and unique life story of the second oldest child, Yehuda, as told in his own words later in life and captured by his son Dani Tracz (née Issachar Mohel). Yehuda was born in Boremel sometime in 1908, but his formative teenage and young adult years were in Mlynov which he considered his “hometown” for the rest of his life.
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Yehuda Mohel, Vegetarian, Zionist, Communist and More...
The arc of Yehuda’s life is breathtaking. His life was affected deeply by the critical events and ideologies of the 20th century. As a young boy, he became a vegetarian for personal reasons—an extraordinary and rebellious decision for the son of a shochet. The decision created tension in his family and anticipated both his deeply moralistic outlook and his willingness to follow the beat of his own drum.As a young man, he got involved in Zionist youth group activities especially after he arrived in Mlynov. After a few years, he made aliyah to the Land of Israel (called "Mandatory Palestine" at the time), was arrested and jailed in Palestine by the British for being a Communist, was deported back to Poland where he was again jailed for being a Communist. Upon his release he finally returned to Mlynov shortly before WWII. At the German invasion in 1941, he fled east with his wife and three siblings deep into Russia where they survived under extraordinary circumstances.
Not much is known about Yehuda’s parents. His father, Eliezer was from another town, Kopachovka (Kopaczówka), not far north of Lutsk. Yehuda didn't remember his grandparents. A younger brother of his father lived with them for a time in Boremel but went to Argentina in 1925 while the family was living in Mlynov. Another brother and sister, apparently, were living in Minsk for a time.
It is unknown how Eliezer first met his wife Hannah Leah in Boremel, but apparently she was his second wife, after his first marriage did not work out. Eliezer and Hannah Leah married sometime before 1906 when their oldest daughter Batya was born. Later in life, Yehuda recalled that his father was a Olyker Hasid and he would accompany him to the Olyka synagogue in Boremel. There was no formal school in Boremel and he studied for two years with the rabbi’s son, a man named Moshe Zucker who was an “apikoros” and who later ended up teaching at the Jewish Theological Seminary in America.
Yehuda’s mother, Hanna Leah Kaszkiet, was the daughter of a shochet and by marrying her Yehuda’s father, Eliezer, acquired the right (called “a holding”) to be a shochet as well. In Boremel, the competition was fierce between ritual slaughters and Eliezer was persecuted by the other two shochets in town. During the years of dislocation caused by WWI (1914–1921), when Yehuda was between age 6 and 14, the family was nomadic traveling from village to village for short stays of up to six months as Eliezer found work.
It was during this time that Yehuda became a vegetarian through a deeply personal experience. Yehuda grew attached to a hen and chicks that the family was raising. When they began slaughtering them for food, Yehuda was heart-broken and sickened and couldn’t eat the meat. In response, he decided to become a vegetarian. It was unheard of: a shochet’s son had become a vegetarian and the decision created friction in the family. This was not the last time that Yehuda was moved by his deeply moralistic perspective, nor the last time he and his father diverged on religious issues.
Yehuda Mohel and his mother Hannah-Leah (Kaszkiet). Courtesy of Dani Tracz
Batya (right), Yehuda's older sister, and Bouzia (left). Courtesy of Dani Tracz***
The Mohels Go to Mlynov
In 1921, following WWI, the Mohel family returned to Boremel only to find all of their belongings and property gone. There was not enough work for three shochets in town and Eliezer had the least seniority. The shochets made an agreement to compensate him if he would leave town. The payment made it possible for the Mohel family to purchase their own flat in Mlynov when an opening for a shochet became available. They arrived in Mlynov in 1924–25 in the autumn when Yehuda was 16 or 17 years old.Mlynov already had one shochet named R. Pesach Gelman, a son of Itzi Shochet (Gelman). It is not known for certain why a second shochet opening became available, though it might have been related to the tragic and premature death of Anshel Steinberg, the head of the Steinberg family in Mlynov. According to descendants, Anshel Steinberg was a butcher in town and died about this time from an infection after cutting his hand. Perhaps his death created the vacancy that Eliezer Mohel filled.
Yehuda's brother, Yaakov, sisters Dvorah and Chaya (Chaika). All survived fleeing eastward into Russia. Courtesy of Dani Tracz
Mohel home in Mlynov. Dvorah (seated 2nd from left), Chaya standing (3rd from left), Bayta seated (on right). Courtesy of Dani TraczThe first flat the Mohel family occupied was in a communal building. It was somewhat dilapidated but had three rooms. It was the first time the family owned their own place. Yehuda recalls being friendly at this time with another young man in the building named Yona-Reuven, whom Yehuda recalled only by his first name.
He was a relatively well-educated fellow who had studied and was quite clever. I did become quite friendly with him. We talked, we debated, and we also wrote together. Sometimes we wrote letters to each other, even though we lived next door to each other. These were my first social connections in Mlinov.
It seems likely that Yehuda’s friend was Yona Reuven Holtzeker, a grandson of Yankel Holtzeker, one of the five original Goldseker brothers who arrived in town in 1891.***
Zionist Youth Group Activities
Not long after Yehuda’s arrival in Mlynov, a celebration took place for Shmuel Mandelkern and his wife Malcah (Lamdan) who were leaving soon for the Land of Israel. Yehuda was quite a bit younger than Shmuel Mandelkern who is remembered in the Mlynov Memorial Book as one of the first Zionists in Mlynov and a founding leader of the Zionist Youth Group, HaShomer HaTzair. The celebration of Shmuel’s aliyah made a deep impression on Yehuda. Yehuda recalls that:There was a very large party before he left. Of course, I was not invited, but nonetheless, together with [my friend] Yona-Reuven, we wrote a farewell poem, and the first letters of each line formed Shmuel’s first name and surname. We sent this poem to him, with a messenger, to the party, but of course, we never received a response.
When recalling this part of his story, Yehuda remembered Shmuel Mandelkern as the second person to leave Mlynov to go to the Land of Israel. Yehuda probably knew that Yitzhak Lamdan, the brother of Shmuel's wife Malcah, had gone to the Land of Israel in 1919. Since Yehuda arrived in Mlynov only in 1924–1925, he apparently didn’t know that the Fishman family made aliyah in 1921.Photos from Mlynov in the late 1920s show Yehuda and his sisters with the Zionist Youth Group HaShomer Hatzair which gained popularity in Mlynov in the 1920s. Yehuda became the group secretary during this period when Aaron (Berger) Harari was head of the local “nest.” The group apparently met at times in the Mohel home. Looking back on this time, Aaron Harari believes the educational model of the youth group influenced Yehuda’s own father:
Twice a week, after the evening prayers, there was a study group on the books of the Chofetz Chayyim etc., for Jews who didn't know [how to study] a chapter of the Mishnah; the leader of them was Rabbi Eliezer [Mohel], the shochet, z”l, the father of Yehuda, Yaakov, Dvorah and Chaika, who are living in Israel. This study group was modeled on the discussions of the older youth group in the nest of The Young Guard (Hashomer Hatzair). Since Rabbi Eliezer's home housed the leadership committee of the movement, where meetings and preparations took place and occasionally continuing education discussions of the older youth, and he related to us with much friendliness—I have a reason to conclude, that he borrowed the [educational] model from us... ("Local Color in the Synagogue," p. 159)
1926 - Yehuda (back row, second from right) in Hashomer Hatzair nest, Aaron Harari (back row third from left). Courtesy of Dani Tracz
Yehuda, standing second from right, with friends Aaron (Berger) Harari (back left) and Rosa Berger (front right). Courtesy of Dani TraczYehuda remembers the Zionist youth group as a “movement of rebellion” which considered itself revolutionary. “Clashes arose between the older and younger generation." Yehuda remembers that instead of saying "Hearken, my son, to the discipline of your father," which is a saying in Proverbs, they would say "Do not hearken to the discipline of your father.”
Looking back, Yehuda recalled that none of the youth could see a future for themselves in Poland at the time. Under the influence of the Zionist Youth Group, Yehuda made the decision to make aliyah. He went for prepatory training ("hachsharah") and recalls being the first person in Mlynov to do so. He headed to Horyn’ the small settlement near Stolin. It was 188 km away from Mlynov (2 hr and 41 min driving today). There Yehuda met his future wife, Riva, for the first time; they would meet again and become close later in Palestine. The Zionist group worked in a sawmill and 20 people rented a place and slept together in one room on the floor on matresses. Yehuda worked there for a year before moving to another group in the city of Siemiatycze (today in Eastern Poland) where he worked in a plywood factory.
In the summer of 1929, Yehuda learned that the British had approved his certificate for emigrating to the Land of Israel.
Yehuda sitting second from right with a pen. Leadership of the Hashomer Hatzair nest in Mlinov, Shevat 1, 5688 (January 23, 1928). Courtesy of Dani Tracz
Farewell party given for Yehuda Mohel (center in white shirt) by the Hashomer Hatzair nest. Dated September 1, 1928 (Elul 16, 5688). Courtesy of Dani TraczIn September 1928, the Hashomer Hatzair nest bid convened a party to bid Yehuda farewell (photo of large group above). In addition to Yehuda (in the white shirt center), his brother Yaakov is also present (standing right with white tie) as well as his two sisters, Batya (next to Yehuda) and Dvorah (third row, on the right with black tie in front of Yaakov).
Note: Other members identified in the farewell photo include: Aaron (Berger) (row 3: 4th person from the left), Moshe Chizik (or Tzizik) (Rosa's future husband) (row 3: third from left), Rachael (Shapovnik) Givol (row 4 standing: 4th from left in dark dress), Aaron's sister, Rosa Berger (standing row 4: 5th from left in white shirt and tie), Saul Halpern (back row: 3rd from right), Yitzhak Gelberg (2nd row: first on left).
Read more about the Mohel family and Yehuda's amazing journey leaving and returning to Mlynov.
***
The Nudler and Polishuk Families
The story of Nudler / Polishuk families, like other Mlynov families, is a tale of two cities, with some members of the family immigrating to Baltimore and some remaining behind in the shtetl.[23]Arke (Aron) Nudler (1888–1948) was one of four Nudler sons born in Lutsk. He came to Mlynov when he married Masha Ita (or Etta) Polishuk (1890– ~1942) sometime before 1918 when their eldest son was born. Masha Ita Polishuk was one of four siblings, children of Ben Zion and Malka Polishuk.
Masha Ita's uncle, Chaim Polishuk, was an early immigrant to Baltimore landing in that city in May 1899 as “Chaim Polaschick” with his wife, Ester (Sadufsky/Sody), and a young 11 year old, named Abram Polishuk, who was perhaps a cousin or younger brother of Ester. There in Baltimore, Chaim became Hyman Polashuk and five children were born: Mary Strauss (1900–1999), Morris Polashuk (1902–1973), Anna Cohen Scherr (1906–1975), Lillian (1908–1970), Lillian (Lena) DeSilva (1907–1973), and Ida Polashuk (1911–1979).
Apparently, Masa Ita's father, Ben Zion, also came to Baltimore in the early 1900s, with the intention of bringing the family over when he had established himself. However, after working for a few years in the sweat shops, he chose to leave and return home. A younger brother of Masa Eata's, “Pesach Eli,” as the family called him, followed his uncle Hyman to America landing in Philadelphia February 9, 1912. He was headed to Baltimore where his uncle was then living at 1013 Watson Street.
Massa Ita's brother Peisach Eli became Ellis Poleskuk in Baltimore, c. 1930. Courtesy of Barry Shtadd
Peisach Eli traveled from Bremen to Baltimore on the SS Koln. He landed in February 1912In America, Pesach Eli became "Ellis Polashuk" and some of his descendants would eventually shorten their name to Polk. In the 1915 Baltimore City directory, he is listed as a peddlar living in crowded East Baltimore at 1155 Lombard Street, near or with the Mlynov family of Israel Schwartz and Sarah (Fishman) who were at 1152 Lombard during this same period.[24]
In May 1913, Ellis's wife "Gittel Polezuk" (Edelstein), as she was called on her manifest, and eldest daughter Celia ("Tossie"), arrived in Baltimore. Between 1914 and 1918, Ellis and Gitel had two more children, Hyman and Jeannette, before Gittel passed away. By 1920, Ellis had remarried Ida Robavsky and had gained a step-son, Nathan. By this point, they had moved out of crowded East Baltimore to Springfield Ave in Carroll County, Maryland. Here Ellis and his wife, Ida, would have a son together who became Leonard Polk. Ellis went on to become a very successful rag (cotton waste and remnants) merchant. His sons carried on the tradition in Charlotte and Statesville, NC.
Ellis’s presence in Baltimore would end up preserving the only family photo of the Nudler family in Mlynov that was still remaining after WWII. The photo would eventually make its way back into the hands of those Nudler family survivors who later came to North America.
Arke Nudler with Masa Ita Polishuk from Mlynov. Courtesy of Marla Nudler.
A part of the Nudler and Polishuk families ~1930. Courtesy of Barry Stadd.Above is the family photo later recovered from Ellis Polashuk who had gone to Baltimore. In the family photo, Masha Ita (Polishuk), seated on the right, and her husband Arke Nudler (standing behind her) lived in Mlynov with their five children, four of whom are present in this family photo. Moshe (later Morris) (~1921–2004), standing in the back second from the right, Itzhok (1924– ~1943), all the way to right, Etka (later Helen Fixler) (1927– ) with her hand on her mother Masa Ita's shoulder, and Feigale (1930– ~1943), in the very front. The eldest son, Yehiel (later Harold) (1918–1992), was away and absent from the photo. Seated on the left side of the photo is Masa Ita’s father, Ben Zion Polishuk, his wife, Chaya, seated center, with the family of their son Moshe, who is standing behind them. I imagine that this photo was taken after Ben Zion returned from Baltimore and perhaps sent a copy of it to his son, Ellis, who was still there.
The Nudler family lived in Mlynov in a large house with a barn in the back, which housed a cow and two horses. Masha Ita would make butter and cheese from the cow’s milk. Arke worked as a peddler buying and selling grain in partnership with his father-in-law, Ben Zion. Arke’s son, Moshe, would recall traveling with his father and grandfather to Dubno on their wagon to sell their goods for income.
As the oldest siblings, Yehiel (Harold) and Moshe (Morris) were very close to one another. Their younger brother, Itzhok was a great artist, always drawing, painting, and copying images. Feigle was the youngest, and looked a lot like Moshe; both had freckles, blue eyes and light-colored hair. The other children and their parents had dark hair. Arke’s mother, Rochel Laya Nudler reportedly had red hair. Because the children grew up after Mlynov had already become part of the newly created Polish state following WWI, they recall attending Polish school and learning Polish. Helen, later in life, recalled being chosen to sing the Polish national anthem for her class. You can listen to Helen, still alive in her 90s, speak about her life in Mlynov before the War.
A photo of Moshe as a young man captures him sitting with a Zionist Youth Group, The Young Guard (Hashomer Hatzair), which became popular in Mlynov after WWI and which would gather for activities, get together to listen to speakers, have discussions, and read literature.
Moshe Nudler seated second from right in Zionist Youth Group, Hashomer Hatzair. Mlynov Memorial Book, p. 225.
Yehiel and Moshe Nudler in Red Army, after Russian invasion of September 1941. Courtesy of Marla Nudler.Read more about what happened to the Nudler family when the Russians invaded during WWII and later when the Mlynov ghetto was built in the summer of 1942.
***
THE SCHUCHMAN / SCHECHMAN FAMILY
Gershon Schuchman and his wife Sheindel Bluma are the earliest Schuchmans remembered by descendants. They and eldest daughter, Eta Leah, are listed in the Mlynov 1858 census under the family name Hehman (family #9), which evolved apparently into the name Schuchman. Gershon, called "Chaim Gershon" (and Chaim Zus) is age 32, head of household, with an implied birth year of 1826. His wife "Scheindel-Blum" is age 28, and their daughter "Itta-Leia" is a year and a half.
In the earlier 1850 census, Gershon (listed as "Chaim Zus") is listed with his father, Yos-Bir, whose whereabouts are listed as "unknown," but whose personal details indicate he was born in about 1802 and already in Mlynov by the 1834 census. Between the 1850 and 1858 census, Gershon and Sheindel Bluma apparently got married and had their daughter, Eta Leah.
After Eta Leah, they had four other children: Joseph (1874-1958), Noach-Moshe, Hana and Dansia. Quite a bit is known about descendants of the siblings Eta Leah and Joseph. A bit is known about Noach-Moshe's and Hana's and almost nothing about Dansia.
Eta Leah married Labish Gelberg and a number of their children came to the US as discussed in the Gelberg family story above. A great deal is also known about Joseph Schuchman who came to the US in 1913 and was joined by the rest of his family in 1921 as discussed in what follows below. The brother, Noach-Moshe, stayed in Mlynov and was killed in the Shoah and is memorialized in the Mlynov Memorial Book, p. 229. Only one of his sons, Shlomo, survived and eventually came to the US as the "Schechman" family.
Very little information is remembered about the two other sisters, Dansia and Chana. Chana Schuchman married a man with the surname Golisuk and they had a number of children. Most of this family was killed in the Shoah. One of their daughters named Etel married Moshe Sherman and two of their sons, Yechiel and Ezra, survived the Shoah. Yechiel briefly memorialized his family in the Mlynov Memorial Book and his experience leaving home when the Germans attacked. His brother, Ezra, recounts his family memories and harrowing survival ordeal in an oral interview.
Etl (Golisuk) Sherman (right) was the daughter of Chana Schuchman, Joseph Schuchman's sister. She is here with her husband Moshe Sherman. Their sons, Yehiel and Ezra Sherman, survived the Shoah.
Original Mlynov Memorial Book, p. 462.
Shlomo Schechman (top right) survived the Holocaust. Here with friends in Mlynov (from right to left), Yidl Lieberman (standing), Chuna Goldseker (seated), Avraham Goldseker (standing), Pinchas Klapper (seated) and Pesach Mendelkorn (seated). Original Mlynov Memorial Book, p. 461.***
Joseph Schuchman
As noted above, we know quite a bit about Mlynov born, Joseph Schuchman, and his family. Sometime before 1902 when their oldest son, Samuel, was born, Joseph (1874–1958) married Chusia or Chissa Klepatch (later known as Jessie in America) (1876–1947). Jessie was born in the nearby town of Smordva. Her brother, Moshe, a wagoneer, also raised a large families in Mlynov which later perished, told in the heart-breaking story about his daughter, Chana Klepatch in the Mlynov Memorial book.
Joseph and Jessie had four children in Mlynov: Samuel (1902–1984), Ida (Chaya) Greenberg Cohen (1907–1986), Anna ("Enia") Yoffee (1909–2000), and Rose ("Rejzia") Klavan (1912–2002). The entire family ended up in Baltimore by 1921. According Joseph's granddaughter, Joyce Jandorf,
"My grandfather, Joseph, was 13 when he was married to Chusia; she was 19. He was 6 ft, very tall and very mature looking in those days. They would draft you into the Russian army if one looked big enough. So they were married off to avoid conscription."
Joseph, like a number of Mlynov husbands, went on ahead of his family to the US before WWI. He arrived in North America on August 24, 1913 as "Josel Schuchman" at the port of Quebec, having sailed from Antwerp via the SS Montreal. "Josel" was 40 years old when he arrived and his youngest daughter Rose was just a year old.
Joseph "Yossel" Schuchman (right), his wife, Chusia (Klepatch) (center), and relative Moshe/ Morris Gelberg/Goldberg (left). Mlynov Memorial Book, p. 502.
Chana (Schuchman) Golisuk and son Shmuel, and daughter Tzviya. Mlynov Memorial Book, p. 462.Joseph was not the first Mlynov immigrant to come via Canada. In November 1911, Israel Herman also from Mlynov landed in Halifax, Canada and made his way by railroad to Toronto where he took a ferry to Buffalo, NY. Joseph, for his part, took a ship to Quebec and then crossed into the US via the railroad at Alburg, VT. His passenger manifest indicates he was headed to Baltimore to a nephew M Weinstein at 152 E. Lombard, whom I am told was Morris Weinstein, a relative of the Schuchmans. Morris was from Mervits and landed in Baltimore in 1907 according to his naturalization papers. We do know something about the address at 1152 E. Lombard Street, which was the home of several other Mlynov immigrants at various points. In 1912 when she arrived, Sarah (Fishman) Schwartz was headed to 1152 E. Lombard, which was the address at the time of her husband Israel Schwartz.
Joseph's wife, Chusia, and his children were back in Mlynov when Joseph first arrived in the US and he became one of the several Mlynov husbands separated from his family when WWI broke out in 1914. He wouldn't see his family again until 1921.
By the time, Joseph signed his WWI draft registration card in 1918 as Joseph "Schugman," he was living at 205 Albemarle St., an address he was still using in 1920 when he filled out his Declaration of Intention to naturalize. A significant change took place between his 1918 and 1920 papers. In his 1918 draft registration card, he signed his name with the Hebrew alphabet, apparently not yet knowing how to represent his name in the Roman alphabet. Two years later he signed his name in English rather than Hebrew letters. In his 1918 record he identified himself as a presser at a pants house called Morganstern and Rieser, and by his 1920 records he was identifying himself as a tailor. He would be a grocer soon thereafter as he and others abandoned the challenging garment industry which was also suffering after WWI.
According to family accounts, Joseph's brother-in-law, the husband of his sister Chana Golisuk, came to Baltimore about the same time and worked in the sweat shops with Joseph. But he didn't like Baltimore and eventually went back to Mlynov. There his family would perish.
The address of 205 Albemarle Street where Joseph had moved was a landing spot for Mlynov immigrants and even a bachelor pad of sorts for husbands whose wives were still back in Russia. It was close to 104 Albemarle, the home of Mlynov born Mollie (Demb) Roskes and her husband Samuel, an address where many of the Mlynov immigrants stayed when they initially arrived. As that address overflowed with Mlynov immigrants, reaching about 14 by 1914, a number of the Mlynov immigrants moved into 205 Albemarle Street. Morris Schwartz, for example, was already there in 1915 with his wife and son and still there in the 1920 census. Nathan Gruber, whose family was also still back in Mlynov, was at that address in 1915, and his brother Sam Gruber and wife Bessie were there in 1917 along with Morris Fishman and his wife that same year. As noted elsewhere, these streets of Baltimore had become a little Mlynov.
In what appears to be his 1920 census, Joseph is still living at 205 Albemarle and boarding with Morris Schwartz and family, another Mlynov immigrant family. The record, however, is misleading, saying Joseph had arrived in 1914, and that his and the Schwartz's last birthplace had been what looks like Kovno. The date could have been an error of memory, since he arrived in 1913, but it is unclear why Joseph, (and the Schwartzes) all listed Kovno as their birthplace. It was not long after the 1920 census that Joseph's family finally arrived in Baltimore.
Joseph's wife, "Chasia Szuchman" and their children, Shaie (Samuel, age 21), Chaja (Ida, age 17), Enia (Anna, age 11), and Rejzia (Rose, age 9) arrived in New York on Nov. 5, 1921 traveling from Belgium on the SS Gothland. "Chasia" noted that her brother "M. Klepacz" was still back in Mlynov at the time and that she was headed to her husband who was living at 205 Albemarle St.
That address must have been crowded. By 1923, the family had moved to 603 Charles St. and Joseph is now listed as a grocer, though in 1924 he is listed again as a presser at the same address. By 1930, the family had suficiently improved its situation and has move Northeast and is living together at 106 Old Pimlico Road.
Joseph and Chusia's children married and had families in Baltimore. Samuel married Sadie Lichter (1917–2006) who was quite a bit younger, and they had three children: Sidney Morris, Jacob Gutman Schuchman, and Mordecai Aaron Schuchman. Ida Schuchman (1907–1986) married twice, first Barney Cohen, who passed away in 1960, and then Max Greenberg, but had no children of her own. Anna (1909–2000) married Rueben Yoffee and they had four children: Diane Hawk, Leon B. Yoffee, Bluma S. Lewin, and Benyoman Yoffee. Rose (1912–2002) married Morris Klavan and had three children: Joyce Jandorf, Irving Klavan and Eileen Reiss.
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THE SCHWARTZ FAMILY
There were four brothers in the Schwartz family of Mlynov who came to Baltimore between 1905 and 1912. Chaim (1863–1946) was the oldest, followed by Moshe (Morris) (1873–1943), Israel (1874–1935), and Michael ("Heschie") (dates uncertain). At least three of the brothers had sons named Paul Schwartz, named after the brothers' father, Peretz Schwartz, who must have died by 1902 at the latest, when Paul H. Schwartz was named. There is a family memory that there was a fifth brother who remained in Mlynov and the Mlynov Memorial Book includes photos of Schwartz family members who died in the Shoah and may have been his children. His name is not known.Moshe and Michael Schwartz were the first to leave Mlynov for Baltimore. Moshe arrived in 1907 and his brother Mschil (Michael) arrived bringing Moses' wife with him later six months later.
According to a written story circulating in the family, Chaim (Hyman) Schwartz was a widower and was married off to Yenta Demb (1870–1962) through an arranged marriage. The story, which sounds like folklore and is not verified, indicates that Yenta was unhappy with the marriage but had no choice because her reputation had earlier been besmerched when she was getting fitted in the shop of the ladies' tailor in town. According to the story, the tailor's apprentice grabbed her hand and uttered the words of bethrothal in front of two valid witnesses. Jewish law says that such an act creates a valid marriage. Yenta's parents were unhappy with the marriage and forced the young man to grant their daughter a divorce, ruining her reputation. Chaim Schwartz was willing to take the younger woman whose reputation had been besmerched, though Yetta loved another man, one of the Roskes brothers. Chaim and Yenta had three sons: Benjamin, Norton (Nuchim) and Paul (Peretz). Chaim and Yenta's eldest son, Ben Schwartz, migrated to Baltimore in 1910 and the rest of the family followed in 1912.
Israel Schwartz married Sarah Fishman. They had two children, Ida (Irene Edelstein) and Paul Schwartz. Israel left Mlynov in 1911 for Baltimore traveling with Nathan Fishman, his wife's uncle, and another Mlynov husband, Harry (Usher) Teitelbaum. Sarah and her children followed in 1912. Sarah travelled to the US in 1912 with several others from Mlynov, her brother-in-law Chaim and Yenta Schwartz, her nephew Morris Fishman and Nathan Gruber, Yenta's nephew.
Schwartz Brothers from Mlynov. (left to right): Chaim, Morris, and Israel Schwartz. Photos courtesy of Howard Schwartz, Audrey Goldseker Polt, and Irene Siegel
Chaim and Yetta Schwartz with sons: Norton (left), Paul (seated), Benjamin (left) and Ben's wife Anna Fishman (center), circa 1914 Baltimore.
Photo courtesy of Howard Schwartz***
THE SHARGEL FAMILY (also Szargel)
According to his naturalization papers and passenger manifest, Joseph Shargel (1870–1954) was born in the town of Lutsk. He married Yenta (also called Yetta) Breindl Weiner (1872–1956) from Mlynov by 1887 and their photos appear in the Mlynov Memorial book (see below). Joseph Shargel had at least one brother, Mendel, who was living in Mlynov when Joseph emigrated in 1925. So it is possible that his family had moved to the area by then.
Yetta Breindl, for her part, had at least one sister named Udi whose photo appears in the Memorial book (p. 507) and apparently one brother living in New York, whose home was the destination of Yetta's daughter Mollie when she migrated to the US.
Yetta Breindl's mother (remembered as "Baba" by descendants) was a sister of the famous Solomon Mandelkern from Mlynov. There is a humorous story in the Mlynov Memorial Book (p. 32 in original), that one Sabbath eve Solomon was passing by Mlynov on his way from Vienna. When he stopped in his sister's store, she didn't recognize him due to his top hat and changed appearance, the result of his embracing haskalah and European mores.
One of Yetta's grandsons, Colonel Bernard Feingold [son of Mollie (Shargel)], was inspired by the story of Solomon Mandelkern's life and later wrote one of the best biographical sketches of him available in English:[25]
Even as a child, I remember having a flame burning in my mind, heart and soul about my famous uncle, Rabbi Doctor Solomon Mandelkern. This flame was kept alive by the stories told to me by my mother, Mollie (Shargel) Feingold; my grandfather, Joseph Shargel; and, above all, my Uncle Israel Mandelkern as I affectionately called him. Israel was Solomon Mandelkern's only child.
Joseph and Yetta had eight children. They and five of their children migrated to the US and ended up living in Baltimore. Two of the children came in the second wave of Mlynov migration (1910–1914) and the others in the third wave of Mlynov migration (1920–1929) after WWI. The story of the family's migration, recounted below, spanned twenty years and must have caused some serious angst in the family during the various separations that both occurred and were embraced out of necessity.
Joseph and Yenta Breindl Shargel. Mlynov Memorial Book, p. 507.
In April 1925, Joseph and Yenta Shargel made their passage to the US (see lines 27 and 28), to join their daugther and son in Baltimore, leaving behind children in Mlynov with hopes to be reunited in the US.The Shargel children who migrated were Mollie (Shargel) Feingold (1891–1976), Julius Shargel (1897–1947), Bernard Shargel (1906-1979), Amelia (Shargel) Meren (1910–2005), and Earl (also "Israel" and "Ezra") Shargel (1912–1981). As we shall see, a few of the children made it to the US via Mexico during the late 1920s when US quotas had limited immgration, and one of them, Yitzhak ("Itzhik"), married and settled in Mexico and changed his family name to Rom. After he died, his wife and children made their way to the US, according to Shargel descendants. Two of Joseph and Yetta's children, Shmuel and Elka (Shargel) Yakobovitz, stayed and died in Europe at unknown dates.
The Shargel Family Migration
Mollie Shargel ("Male") (1891–1976) was the first of the Shargel family to arrive in the US. She arrived Dec. 14, 1909 at the age of 19, traveling from Antwerp to New York on the SS Finland. She was traveling with the Mlynov family of Efraim and Gitel Hirsch and their two youngest children. She was headed to one of her uncles with the last name of Weiner in New York, likely a brother of her mother. [There is an immigration record of a "Morris Weiner" from Mervits traveling to the US with Mlynov immigrants, though it is not clear if he was related to Yetta Breindl Weiner.]
By May 25, 1913, Mollie had married Abraham "Abe" Feingold (variants Fingold and Finegold), a cabinet maker, who had arrived in the US by 1906. In about 1914, they had a daughter in New York by the name of Beatrice Shargel (later married name Kraft). By 1917, the couple moved to Baltimore apparently to join the other Mlynov immigrants there. "Abe" filled out his WWI draft card after their arrival and reported they were living at 115 Harrison Street at the time. Mollie and Abe's son, Bernard (1922–1999), was the "Colonel Bernard Shargel" who was later inspired to write the essay about his great uncle Solomon Mandelkern.
Mollie's younger brother Julius ("Itzik") Shargel (1897–1947) arrived in New York soon after Mollie in 1911, and following in his older sister's footsteps, headed to their uncle with the family name of Weiner, just as his sister had. According to his obituary, Julius was 14 when he arrived. He filled out his 1918 draft card while living and working in Greensburg, PA. But he too made his way to Baltimore and was there by at least 1921 when he was engaged to Rebecca Edlavitch, whose family had arrived in Baltimore in the 1890s from Russia. Rebecca's father, Meyer, had just died in 1920 and the juxtaposition of his death to the engagement suggests that the loss in the family may have made the marriage welcome economically at that moment in time. By 1924, Joseph and Rebecca purchased a property in Northeast Baltimore at 2518 Druid Park Drive, in a nicer area of the city to which Baltimore Jews had been migrating. They probably were getting ready to receive Julius's parents, Joseph and Yetta, who would immigrate shortly from Mlynov to Baltimore.
On April 15, 1925, Joseph ("Josel Szargel") and Yetta arrived in New York traveling first to Warsaw for their visas, then to Southhampton, England and on to New York on the SS Olympic. They were headed to their son, "Yodal" Shargel at 2518 Druid Park in Baltimore. Joseph's brother Mendel Shargel is listed on the manifest as still back in Mlynov at the time.
After arriving in Baltimore, descendants indicate that Joseph Shargel became the "shammash" (sexton) and sofer (scribe) of the Shomrei Mishmeres HaKodesh Congregation which had purchased the Lloyd Street Synagogue building in 1905, the oldest synagogue building erected in Maryland and the third oldest standing synagoguge in the United States. A number of other Mlynov immigrants belonged to Shomrei Mishmeres congregation, such as Getzel Fax, the pioneer from Mlynov to Baltimore , who was president of the congregation in about 1909.
Because quotas were imposed in the United States in the 1920s, not all immigrants could come directly to the US. Joseph and Yetta made what must have been a difficult decision to leave behind several of their children in Mlynov with the hopes of bringing them to the US. Other Mlynov families also split up during this same period in their migrations to the US as well.
Oral traditions and photo postcards preserved by descendants of Sam David Goldseker indicate that Joseph and Yenta's children, Amelia and Earl, rented a room in the home of Shimon Goldseker after his son Sam David emigrated from Mlynov in 1924. Sam headed to the US via a lengthy stay in Buenos Aires, in a story recounted elsewhere. His daughter, Audrey Goldseker Polt, recounts the story told to her:
While in Argentina, Sam Goldseker received a New Year's picture postcard showing his sister Charna Goldseker with her friend Amelia Shargel. A second postcard, written in Spanish by Bernard Shargel, who was in Mexico at the time, was sent to his close "amigo," Sam Goldseker, in Buenos Aires. The postcard written from Chihuahua, Mexico, captures this moment in time, as these two young Mlynov boys waited in Spanish speaking countries to try to get into the US and rejoin family there.In 1925, at the age of 14, Amelia Shargel and her younger brother, Earl, moved into a rented room in Shimon Goldseker's house in Mlynov. Their parents immigrated to America in hopes of bringing the children later. In December 1926, they left Mlynov and joined their two older brothers in Mexico, Yizkah (Isaac) and Bernard. Amelia, Earl and Bernard joined their parents in America in 1929.
Amelia Shargel (left) and Charna Goldseker (right), 1925. Courtesy of Audrey Goldseker Polt.
In 1926, Bernard Shargel sent postcards in Spanish from Mexico to his good friend Sam David Goldseker who was in Buenos Aires at the time. Both Mlynov boys were waiting to get into the US. Courtesy of Audrey Goldseker Polt.According to US records, the three Shargel children did in fact make it into the US in 1929 via El Paso, Texas. Bernard (appears as "Bertha" in the record) arrived in Jan. 24, 1929. Amelia arrived in the US on Feb. 5, 1929 at El Paso Texas, from Chihuahua, Mexico, via the C.P.E. (Central Pacific Railroad). Earl's record indicates he arrived in the US the same month and may have been traveling with his sister. The 1930 census shows that the three children (whose names appear in the record as Burnett, Milka and Isak) were now reunited with their parents, Joseph and Yetta, and living together in Baltimore on 618 Aisquith St. Another brother Isaac married and settled down in Mexico.
Bernard Shargel married Sarah Monarch before 1934 and they had their first son, Norton, in 1933 and a second son, Emanuel, in about 1937. Amelia Shargel, for her part, went to Palestine in 1939 to marry Baruch (also "Boruch") Meren, also from Mlynov, and managed to bring him to the US one year later. Boruch later was a major contributor to the Mlynov Memorial book. The story of how Boruch ended up in Palestine is recounted elsewhere. Boruch and Amelia had their first child, Allen, in 1943.
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THE SHULMAN FAMILY
No one knows why Tsodik Shulman (1863–1947) (also "Zadok," "Codyk" and "Tsodick" Szulman) ended up in Mlynov. Recollections from the family memoir of his niece, Clara Fram, indicate he was from Lithuania originally and spoke Yiddish with a Lithuanian accent, though the family's passenger manifest says he and the rest of the family were born in Rowno [Rivne], which apparently was where they moved sometime after WWI.
Tsodik's 1926 Petition for Naturalization[26] says they were all born in Mlynov, Poland, which was true of his wife Pearl Malka Demb and the children. The later identification of Tsodik's birth location in Mlynov was probably to simplify his naturalization process and reduce any discrepancies in his immigration papers. The family in fact already fudged many of their relationships on their 1921 manifest to the US and Tsodik may not have wanted to expose even more inconsistencies by listing his original birthplace.
DNA matches in recent years led to the discovery that Tsodik had a sister in Mlynov too, as documented in an essay on this site. Her name was Sarah Hannah Shulman and she married Abraham Steinberg and they had four children according to handwritten family trees documented in the family. Sarah Hannah's manifest from 1926 lists Mlynov as her birthplace. "Sura Sztejnberg" came to the US as a widow in Feb. 1926 and headed to Chicago to join her daughter Rose (married name Berger) who traveled to the US in 1913 with several members of the Mlynov Berger family. Rose soon married Nathan Berger in Chicago. Sarah Hannah's son David Steinberg apparently arrived in Chicago in 1911.
It is surprising that Tsodik and his sister ended up in the small town of Mlynov. They were descended from a well-known family. Their uncle, Kalman Schulman (1819–1899), was a well-known Jewish enlightenment (maskil) figure and Hebrew writer known for popularizing Jewish history and literature and "whose work was significant in the development of modern Hebrew literature." Kalman Schulman (and Tsodik's father) was born to a Hasidic family in Stary Bykhov, in the Mogilev district of Belorussia. Kalman studied at the Volozhin yeshiva for about six years, subsequently learning German and developing an interest in Haskalah literature. He went on to be a tireless popularizer of more than 30 books on Jewish history and literature and was eventually able to support himself as a writer in Vilna.[27]
The Shulman family circa 1915 in Mlynov or Rovno. The photo includes four generations.[28] Courtesy of Howard Schwartz
The Shulman 1921 Passenger Manifest in which the family identifies their birthplace as Rowno.
Tsodik's father (and Kalman's brother), Naftali Hertz Schulman, was named for Tsodik's great-great grandfather of the same name. Scholars identify the earlier Naftali Hertz Schulman (1770–30) as a significant figure in the early Eastern European Jewry Enlightenment (haskalah)and modernization, who was among a group who first "challenged traditional beliefs and values, and called for the reform and renewal of Jewish culture."[29]
Tsodik thus came with an well-educated enlightenment perspective to Mlynov. Clara Fram (his niece) remembers her grandfather, Israel Jacob Demb, and his son-in-law, Tsodik sitting and talking about the work of his famous uncle Kalman Shulman. She writes about her recollections of him in Mlynov.
Frequently, our cousin Hertz Shulman, a youth of about seventeen, a student in that school, would stop in our house to study, memorizing his work, while walking back and forth in the room with his book. We knew he was the son of my Aunt Pearl [Pearl Malka (Demb) Shulman] and her distinguished husband [Tsodik Shulman] whom my grandfather [Israel Jacob Demb] was delighted to have marry his second daughter. This man had arrived in Mlynow from Lithuania, well educated, rolling his R's when he spoke Yiddish; an emancipated, proud Jew, resembling one's image of Tolstoi, and possessing books in Hebrew and Russian, as well as Yiddish translations of French novels. He also subscribed to a Yiddish newspaper, and would talk to my grandfather about his uncle, the famous Hebrew writer, Kalman Shulman.
Tsodik and Pearl Malka (Demb) Shulman before 1919. Courtesy of Howard Schwartz
Sarah, Clara and Pepe Shulman in Mlynov circa 1910. Courtesy of Karen Passero
Whatever the reasons Tsodik ended up in Mlynov, by 1887 he had married Pearl Malka Demb (1867–33), the second oldest daughter of Israel Jacob and Rivkah (Gruber) Demb. Tsodik and Pearl went on to have five daughters and two sons, all but two of whom ended up in Baltimore with their families by 1922. They were Nachuma (Shulman) Meiler (1887–1944), Liza (Shulman) Koszhushner (1889–?), Simon Judah Shulman (1890–1970), Ertz (Harry) Shulman 1894–1964, Sarah Shulman (1898–88), Clara (Shulman) Fishman (1904–1990), Pauline "Pepe" (Shulman) Schwartz 1905–1985.
According to family traditions, Tsodik had a prestigious livelihood overseeing the forest for the Count who owned the village and the areas surrounding it. We are not sure what this meant exactly, but we can guess that it involved overseeing the use of the forest and its harvesting. Tsodik was not the only Mlynov resident to work for the Count and the Count's presence hovered over the life of the town as evident in other accounts in the Mlynov-Muravica Memorial book.[30]
Chodkiewicz Palace in Mlyniv by Napoleon Orda (around 1870).[31]
Caption reads: Winter: the Count's garden in the background, Memorial Book, p. 186
Family speculate that because of his strong education, Tsodik was able to secure this position and perform these duties for the Count. Clara Fram in her memoire recalls her delight in visiting the forest and her cousins the Shulmans. "A visit with my Shulman cousins in their forest home was always exciting. Their father was the important manager of the entire forest. My recollection of their beautiful mother, my mother's sister, was that she wore a sweeping "pin-yar" (peignoir) and was generally reading books." [32]
It is possible that when the Count lost his property in the Bolshevik takeover, that Tsodik also lost his livelihood and this may be one reason the family decided at that point to emigrate and leave two of their daughters behind, a fateful decision for one of those families that stayed.
In 1921, Tsodik and his wife Pearl Malka, three daughters (Sarah, Clara and Pepe) and a son Ertz Shulman (named for Naftali Hertz) headed to the US with the help of a nephew. The family fudged their relationships. Ertz's new wife, Eta Perelson, and his friend Pesach (Paul) Settleman pretended to be Shulman children and joined them on their passage. The older Shulman son, Simon, was studying to be a pharmacist in Berditchev near the end of WWI and didn't know the Shulmans had migrated until he returned to Mlynov in 1922 with his wife Edith (Fixman), whom he met in pharmacy school. In 1922, Simon and Edith made their way to Baltimore, as well.
Arriving in Baltimore, Pearl Malka was reunited with her three sisters, Bessie Hurwitz, Mollie Roskes, and Yetta Schwartz, who had all arrived there before the war. There her youngest daughter, Pepe Shulman, fell in love with and married her first cousin, Paul Schwartz , son of Yetta. Sara Shulman married Paul Settleman who had traveled with them and pretended to be a Shulman son on the passage to America. In the US, he retained the family name "Shulman" to remain consistent with his passenger manifest. Clara Shulman married Ben Fishman who had left for America the year before.
Two of the Shulman daughters, Nechama and Liza, remained behind when Tsodik and Pearl left Mlynov probably became they had already gotten married and had children. How hard it must have been for their parents to take leave and split the family across the ocean. The oldest daughter, Nechama (Shulman) had married Saul Meiler and they had their first daughter, Tamara, in about 1914. You can see the baby Tamara in the photo of the four generations of the Shulmans above. Mlynov descendants speculate that Saul Meiler may have been from the "Malar" family which is mentioned in the Mlynov-Muravica memorial book.[33]
Also staying behind in Mlynov was the second oldest Shulman daughter, Liza. Liza had married Shia Koszhushner and they had three children. In 1942 when the Nazis invaded, the Koszhushners headed east and made it to Kiev, where they survived the war. They had waited as long as they could for the Meilers to join them at a set rendevous point, but the Meilers had never showed up and the Koszhushners could wait no longer and had to go on East without them. The Meilers did not survive. The Koszhushners, for their part, remained in Russia under Communist rule. The Shulmans in Baltimore eventually learned they were alive after WWII and first cousins eventually got to visit them in Russia in the 1990s.
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THE STEINBERG FAMILIES
There are two Steinberg families remembered by descendants, one Steinberg family that was living in Mervits and the other in Mlynov. It is unknown if or how these two families were related to one another. Asher Anshel Steinberg was head of the Steinberg family from Mervits. This family was still in Mervits in 1942 and several of the adult children survived to tell their story. Abraham Steinberg was head of the Mlynov Steinberg family. His wife and three of his children migrated to Chicago. One of his daughters perished in the ghetto liquidation in 1942. These are their stories.The Mervits Steinberg Family
Asher Anshel Steinberg (1881–1921) from Mervits married Chaya Malka Lerner (1881–1942) sometime before 1907 when Getzel, their eldest of seven children, was born. What we know of this family comes from three of the seven children who survived the Shoah and whose story is documented in a powerful and moving book length narrative by one of the survivors' children.The three siblings who survived were: Getzel Steinberg (1907–2003), who later became George Steinberg in America, Menachem Mendel Steinberg (1909–1998), and Bunia Steinberg (1913–1995). She became Bunia Upstein after marrying a young Mlynov man who was conscripted into the Red Army, survived the War in Siberia and who returned to Mlynov after the war. His name was Yitzhak Upstein and, according to family memories, he was a cousin of Bunia's. The other Steinberg siblings who did not survive were: Faiga Shtivel (1910–1942) and her husband and two children, Tzvi Herschel Steinberg (1913–1942), Eliaykim (Yukal) Steinberg (1915–1942) and Chuna Steinberg (?–1942).
Life Before WWI
We don’t know much about the family of Asher Anshel Steinberg before the 1920s when a tragedy struck the family. We know that Asher Anshel had a sister named Golda who married Gedaliah (George) Preluck in Mervits in 1906. They had five children before 1913, when Gedaliah left and made his way to Providence, Rhode Island. He headed there to join family who was already there. It seems likely Golda knew that by 1911 Clara (Hirsch) Newman from Mlynov had also settled in Providence with her husband Jacob and perhaps the two husbands, who were both peddlers for a time, knew each other. Golda finally joined Gedaliah in Providence in July 1922 when she and two of her children arrived after WWI had ended. She managed to get an emergency US passport from the consulate in Warsaw.
Golda (Steinberg) Preluck. Stamped passport photo 1921.
Gedaliah Preluck's Naturalization Petition, May 1921, showing Golda was born in "Mirowitz"***
A Family Tragedy Strikes
Family life for the Steinberg family in Mervits comes into focus in the 1920s with the recorded memories of Asher Anshel’s daughter, Bunia, whose story is told by her daughter, Shoshana (Upstein) Baruch. After WWI, when the family came back to Mervits after their evacuation durng WWI, Asher Anshel took council with the rabbi about whether to open a butcher shop. The rabbi counseled against it. Ignoring the rabbi’s advice, he opened the butcher shop anyway and things were going well until a disaster struck.Asher Anshel cut his hand and was taken to the hospital in Dubno. His wound got infected and since penicillin had not yet been discovered he passed away in his forties. Bunia later recalled that she and her siblings were not told about their father’s passing; she only realized what had happened when they came to take his tallit away for the burial ceremony. She began to sob and wouldn’t let go of his tallit.
Asher Anshel’s passing left his widow, Chaya Malka, with seven children and no means of support. We don’t know much about Chaya Malka (Lerner). It seems plausible that she was the sibling of Joseph Abraham Lerner (1866–1954) from Mlynov who migrated to Baltimore in 1913. With their father gone, the Steinberg children had to help with the burden of the family income. Getzel, the oldest son, who was just a teenager at the time, began to work in the grain business, and Bunia, a younger teen at this point, helped with the geese and housework.
Bunia Steinberg and her sister Faiga. Courtesy of the Upstein Family.
Chaya Malka, Bunia, Faiga, Mendel, Mlynov Memorial Book, p. 463.Getzel had a knack for business and improved the family’s economic situation with a farm where he raised wheat and hay, cattle and horses. Bunia took over management of the household and brought in a number of innovations: she replaced straw mattresses with modern ones, changed the bedding to white, acquired a radio, an uncommon item at the time, and set up a room for plants. Bunia also regularly traveled to Varkovychi to help her sister, Faiga, who had gotten married by this time to a man named Shoyleh Shtival, had two children, and moved to that town, which was about 33 km (20 mi) from Mlynov.
Like many youth living in Mervits and Mlynov under Polish rule in the 1920s and 1930s, Bunia was influenced by the Zionist impulses of the time. She appears in this photo below with other members of the Zionist youth group, Betar, the youth group for Revisionist Zionism started by Ze’ev (Vladimir) Jabotinsky Her mother’s home became a center for Zionist social activities and meetings in Mervits. Bunia even went to Dubno and Rovno to hear Jabotinsky’s speeches and she hoped to make aliyah one day.
After her father’s death, Bunia’s grandfather, Eliezer, was guardian of the family, and like some of the other men of that generation in town, he had no sympathy for Zionism and he wanted to get Bunia married. Ignoring the advice of matchmakers, however, Bunia had a secret relationship with a boy named Shmuel, a friend of hers in the youth movement. Bunia never managed to get a British certificate authorizing her aliyah due to her grandfather’s resistance and the need to help her sister’s household, not to mention the increasing difficulty of securing the desired documents. Bunia and her siblings were thus still in Mlynov as WWII began.
Bunia travelled regularly to Varkovychi to assist her sister Faiga who had moved there and needed help.
Bunia Steinberg (seated second from right) with Zionist Youth Group. Courtesy of the Upstein Family.***
World War II and Shoah
There is not much information remembered by the Steinberg family about the period starting in September 1939 when the Communists occupied Mlynov and Mervits as part of the agreement with the Germans to split Poland in half. As Bunia’s daughter, Shoshana, explains, the family “did not speak about the Soviet period, because the hardship of that period was minor compared to the Nazi occupation that came afterwards.”More is known of family’s fate after June 22, 1942 when the Nazis reneged on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Hitler had brokered with Stalin and attacked the half of Poland held by the Russians. Bunia herself was beaten the first day the Gestapo appeared in Mervits while trying to protect her mother. Her boyfriend Shmuel was among the first ten victims killed on November 7, 1941, when Jewish sabotage was blamed for downed telephone wires, which had been caused accidentally by a Gestapo motorcyclist who never reported the incident. Because of her German skills, Bunia was able to work for a time in a military hospital where she had to do menial work such as polishing the boots of officers and where she sustained regular beatings. But work later gave her authorization to leave the ghetto that would be constructed later, and eventually saved her life.
By the beginning of WWII, Bunia’s brother, Getzel, had already married Pesie Wurtzel and they already had a son, Zelig (later Gerry), who was born in 1937 (despite records saying 1939). Pesia's parents were Zelig Wurtzel and Sooreh (Gruber). During the 1930s, Bunia’s brother, Mendel, had fallen in love with a young woman named Sheindel Grenspun, who was from a poor and lower-class family from Trochenbrod. Because Mendel's older sister Faiga had not yet married, Mendel’s mother frowned on the arrangement and so the couple ran off and got married in secret. In 1936 they had a young son, Anshel (later Albert Steinberg), named for Asher Anshel. During the 1930s, Getzel and Mendel continued to build business relationships in the grain business, which ultimately helped saved their lives.
Getzel, Pesia, son Zelig and the rescued Aviva in Pocking. Courtesy of the Steinberg Family.
Mendel, Sheindel and daughter Susie, in Cleveland. Mlynov Memorial Book, p. 505.Read more about the survival of the Steinberg family from Mervits.
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The Steinberg Family from Mlynov
It is not known whether the Steinberg family from Mlynov was related to the Steinberg family from nearby Mervits. They surely knew of each other. What is clear, however, is that the Mlynov Steinberg family and the Mlynov Berger family were thoroughly intertwined.Two of the daughters in this Steinberg family married men from the Berger line of Mlynov. One daughter (Ruchel/Rose Steinberg) married Nathan (Nuchim) Berger in Chicago. Nathan migrated to Chicago in 1911 and Rose joined Nathan's mother and sisters in 1913 as they migrated to Chicago to join him. Shortly after arriving in the US, Rose Steinberg married Nathan Berger.
The other Steinberg daughter, Matil, (possibly an elder sister) married Feivel Berger and stayed in Mlynov. Feivel was an uncle of Nathan Berger. Thus, two Steinberg sisters, Matil and Ruchel, were married to an uncle and his nephew in the Berger family.
Descendants of the Steinberg family in Chicago did not preserve a memory of Matil and her family until her name was discovered on a passenger manifest of her mother coming to America in 1926. Sadly, as research on this family revealed, Matil, her husband and her daughter, Batia, perished in the Mlynov ghetto liquidation. An essay in the Mlynov Memorial Book called "Jewish Farmers in Mlynov" (English vol., pp. 72-74) shows the only known photos of Matil and her daughter and tells how her husband Feivel aspired to become a farmer in Palestine but his aspiration remained unfulfilled. The author of the essay was Berger descendant (Aaron Harari) who made aliyah from Mlynov in the 1930s. The story of how this family line was rediscovered from a DNA match and a handwritten family tree is recounted in an essay, "Finding Simon Steinberg."
Matil (Steinberg) (seated right) with her husband Feivel Berger and (in front of) her daughter Batia. They are with Feivel's brother Wolf Zeev Berger and his family. Photo taken by Wolf's son, Aaron (Berger) Harari, during a visit in 1937-1938. Mlynov-Memorial Book page 76 [English volume].
Matil's daughter, Batia, milks a cow in Mlynov in 1937-1938. Photo taken by her first cousin, Aaron (Berger) Harari, in 1937-1938. Mlynov-Memorial Book p. 75 [English volume].Not much is known about the earlier years of this Steinberg family before their arrival in the US. The father of this Mlynov Steinberg family was Abraham Tzvi Steinberg, his name known from the manifest of his daughter and the tombstone of his son David. The birth surname of Abraham's wife was recovered from a hand written family tree circulating in the Shulman family. Abraham Steinberg married Sarah Hannah Shulman (sister of Tsodik Shulman). They married by 1880 when their first son, David Steinberg (1880-1956) was born. Abraham and Sarah Hannah had three additional children: Rose Steinberg (married name Berger) (1889-1963), Shlermieh Symon ("Simon") Steinberg (1889-1974), and Matil Steinberg (married name Berger) (?-1942). Three of the children came to Chicago (David, Rose and Simon). Rose and Simon were single and came first. They were followed by their brother, David, whose wife and children arrived in Chicago after WWI. Matil married and stayed in Mlynov.
From US records, we know that the children's mother, Sarah Hannah Shulman, was born in about 1859, and we can thus guess that her husband Abraham Steinberg was born in that same decade or somewhat earlier. We also know that Abraham was still alive in Mlynov in 1913 when their daughter, Rose Steinberg, headed to Chicago with members of the Berger family. She was probably already bethrothed to Nathan Berger and married him a few months after arriving. Her manifest lists her father, Abraham, as her closest relative back in Mlynov, indicating he was still alive. We know too that Abraham died before Feb. 1926 when his wife, Sarah Hannah (called "Sura Sztejnberg" on her manifest), migrated to Chicago and was listed as a widow.
It is not clear when Abraham Steinberg or Sarah Hannah initially came to Mlynov or where they married. Neither the Steinberg or Shulman family is listed in the 1858 revision list for Mlynov or Mervits. Sarah Hannah's manifest from 1926 indicates she was born in Mlynov, though we have to take this with a grain of salt. Shulman family history recalls her brother Tsodik being from Lithuania and coming to Mlynov as an adult and marrying one of the Demb daughters. We know that Tsodik Shulman was in Mlynov by 1887 when his first daughter was born, so it seems possible Sarah Hannah Shulman arrived around the same time.
At least two of Abraham and Sarah Hannah's children were born in Mlynov. The 1913 manifest of their daughter, Rose, lists Mlynov as her birthplace and the 1917 draft registration card of their son, Simon, lists "Mylnoff" as his birthplace. The birthplace of their son, David, is less clear. David's Petition for Naturalization from 1923 lists his and his children's birthplaces as the nearby town of Dubno and his wife's birthplace as "Mlinov." When David's wife and children arrived in 1925, however, their manifest indicates that his wife was born in Boremel (not far from Mlynov) and the children in Mlynov. We don't have any record of Matil's birthplace but she married Feivel Berger who was born in Mlynov.
Rose Steinberg with husband Nathan Berger. Courtesy of Alan Berger.
Simon Steinberg. Courtesy of Becky Pederson and Larry Steinberg.There are various ways of reconciling these records. It could be that Abraham Steinberg was from Dubno and married Sarah Hannah Shulman before or after she came to Mlynov. The couple may have had their first son David in Dubno and then moved to Mlynov, which was close, by the time their children Rose and Abraham were born. Alternatively, all the children may have been born in Mlynov and David Steinberg may have listed "Dubno" on his 1923 record because the town was better known in the US than the tiny Mlynov. Unfortunately, David's name has not been located on the 1914 manifest of the ship he listed for his naturalization Petition.
The Steinberg Migration
Reconstructing the Steinberg migration, it appears that Simon was the first of the three Steinberg children to migrate to the US, though his manifest has also not been located. The much later 1951 Naturalization Petition of his second wife, Estelle (also called Sarah), indicates he arrived on March 14, 1907. Simon's Declaration and Petition for naturalization, which could provide additional information, have unfortunately not been located. Other records which might provide a clue (like the 1920 census and a 1922 naturalization record) belong to a Simon Steinberg, but not unambiguously, this Simon Steinberg.What we know for certain is this: Simon appears in US records for the first time in 1909 in Wisconsin living with his first cousin David Schulman. David was the son of Eli Schulman, the brother of Simon's mother. A letter written by David Schulman's son, Sol, (dated Nov. 2000), recalls how David Schulman ended up in Wisconsin in 1902. Sol wrote to his cousin Irv Settleman:
Thought you might be interested in the little I remember about my family. My Dad, who was married before he left Europe, came to America and was sent to Three Rivers Wisconsin [he means Two Rivers, Wisconsin] by the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society (they felt he had a chance for a good job there). After a short period he started selling insurance, did well and sent for my Mom. [Their first child] Leon was born in Three Rivers. They moved to Milwaukee: I was born and then [my brother] Robert. (Letter Courtesy of Irv Settleman)
David Schulman's home became the launching pad for brother Josef and his cousin Simon. Josef Schulman, who also arrived in November 1907, the same year as Simon, lists his last residence as Mlynov suggesting that perhaps the first cousins Josef Schulman and Simon Steinberg planned their migration together around the same time.
In any case, when Simon arrived in the US, he apparently also headed to the home of his first cousin David Schulman in Milwaukee. We find him in the Milwaukee city directory for the first time in 1909 as a "molder" living at the same address as his cousin David Schulman. The 1910 city directory shows he is still living with David's family and David's brother Josef, in 1910 at 505 9th Street in Milwaukee. It may even be the case that the "Simon Schulman" listed in the 1910 census with David's family was in reality Simon Steinberg. A photo of Simon preserved by descendants is remembered as one where he is with "the family that sponsored him to come to the US." This might be a photo of his first cousin David Schulman in Milwaukee with his wife, Anna and son Leo, who was born in 1906.
Simon Steinberg with family who sponsored him, believed to be that of David Schulman. Courtesy of Becky Pederson.
1909 Addresses of Simon Steinberg and his first cousin David Schulman in MilwaukeeA Milwaukee marriage record indicates that a Simon Steinberg got married on Aug. 5, 1911 to a young girl named Lena Feldman. Simon's descendants recall that he had a first wife but not her name. Lena Feldman was born in 1894 and arrived with her family in the US in 1905. She was about seventeen years old when they married. Lena appears in the 1910 census in Milwaukee with her parents and 3 younger brothers living at 410 Walnut Street. This is the same address that Simon appears at in 1911 in the city Directory. He apparently moved in with Lena's family that year. Simon remained in Milwaukee until 1915. By then both his sister Rose and his brother David had arrived.
Rose and David Steinberg's Arrivals
In 1913, Ruchel (Rose) Steinberg followed her brother, Simon, to the US traveling with members of the Berger family and Yankel Wulach (Wallace) who were headed to Chicago. Rose's destination on her manifest was her brother "Shlermieh" (Simon) at 549 8th Street in Milwaukee. Simon is listed as a "tanner" at that address in the city directoryRose did not stay long in Milwaukee. She was probably already betrothed to Nathan (Nuchim) Berger and she was back in Chicago and married Nathan by July 12, 1913. Their son, Hyman B. Berger was born in 1914. A daughter, Libby/Lydia (married name Levin) was born in 1915. The family was still in Chicago in the 1920 census but by the 1930 census moved to Hammond, Indiana, just across the Indiana border near the south end of Lake Michigan and still part of the Chicago metropolitan area.
Rose and Simon's brother, David Steinberg, apparently arrived in the US in February 1914. The details are provided on his naturalization petition, which he signed in Philadelphia in 1923. The document indicates that David's birthdate was Jan. 4, 1877 and that he was a bookbinder. As noted previously, he indicated his wife, Chaya, and his three children (Bessie, Hyman and Harry) were born in Dubno. David's Petition also indicates he arrived in New York on Feb. 6, 1914 on the SS Grosser Kurfurst which sailed from Bremen on Jan. 6. The SS Grosser Kurfurst did in fact arrive in New York on Feb. 5, 1914 though it left Bremen on Jan. 14, not Jan 6. A review of the manifest of the Grosser Kurfurst for that date has not turned up David's name.
It is apparent that David joined his siblings initially in Chicago or Hammond, Indiana. His Declaration of Intention to naturalize was filled out on July 19, 1919 in Hammond, Indiana. And a city directory shows he was still there in 1921. Why was David's 1923 Petition signed in Philadelphia? It seems likely that David Steinberg followed his first cousin, David Schulman (who earlier lived in Milwaukee),to Philadelphia when the latter was offered a lucrative position in an insurance company there, according to a letter written by his son.
David Steinberg's Family Arrives
David's wife, Ida and three children (Bessie, Hyman and Harry) arrived in the US in 1925. They departed Antwerp, Belgium on the SS Pittsburgh on February 25 and arrived in New York on March 8. David's wife, "Chaja Feiga Sztejnberg," was listed as 39, daughter Basia (Bessie) 17, son Chaim (Hyman) 16, and son "Uszer" (Usher/Harry) 13. Interestingly, Chaim was described in the manifest as a "student" but the younger Uszer as a "scholar." The manifest lists "Boremel" as Chaja Feiga's birthplace and "Mlynow" as the birthplace of the children and their last residence. Their closest relative there was the children's uncle "Fajwel Berger" (Faivel Berger) who was the husband of Matil, the other Steinberg sibling who remained in Mlynov. Their destination was Chaya Feiga's husband, and the children's father, David Steinberg who was living at 1112 S. Hermitage Ave in Chicago at that time. He apparently had not stayed in Philadelphia for long after he filled out his naturalization Petition. Notation on the second page of the family's manifest indicates that Chaya Feiga was hospitalized for 4 days upon arrival and not released until "3/12" (March 12th).David and family appear all together in the 1930 census living in Chicago at 1331 Millard Avenue. David was 50, Ida (Chaya Feiga) was 45, Bessie 22, Hyman 20, and Harry (Usha) 17. David was described as a laborer in [book] binding. Ida passed away in 1940 and in the census that year David is head of household. His son "Hymen" age 30 and daughter Bessie age 28 are still single and living with their parents. Bessie is described as a "framer" in "ladies hand bags" and Hyman is an organizer in the Jewish Workers Alliance.
Simon's Missing Years
As noted earlier, Simon left Milwaukee and followed his sister Rose to Chicago by 1915. In 1917, he filled out his Draft registration card indicating his birthdate was Jan. 10, 1889 and his birthplace "Mylnoff." He was still working as a tanner for a business concern called "G. Greenebaum." By this point, his draft registration record indicates he was already married. He requested an exemption from the draft because he was "sole support of wife and parents" (even though his parents were still back in Mlynov). He also described himself as a "conscious objector." His address on the draft registration card (1145 So Albany) is identical to the one that appears on draft registration of his wife's brother (Morris Feldman) showing that he was still living with his wife's family at the time.
In the 1920 census, a couple named Simon and Lena Steinberg appear at 1255 Madison Ave in Chicago. If this is the same couple, then Simon is now working as a proprietor of a hotel at that address. Simon is 31 years old (an implied birth year of 1890/91). Lena is 26 with an implied birth year of 1896. The record indicates that both arrived in the US in 1906. Simon's naturalization status is difficult to read, but it appears to say "[first] paper," suggesting that he had already started his naturalization process. No children are listed for the couple. In 1927, Simon and Lena's relationship ended and they went their separate ways.
No other records have been discovered of Simon's presence in the 1920s until he reappears in Hammond Indiana. A record shows that on July 14, 1930, he married his second wife, Estelle Forman (also known as Sarah in some records). A 1929 city directory in Hammond, Indiana shows Simon and Estelle already residing together. Simon and Estelle had three children: Allen Harris Steinberg (1931-1966), Rhoda Lee (married name Marney) (1937-still living in 2024), and Marvin Steinberg (1940-2023).
The Arrival of Sarah Hannah Steinberg
Sarah Hannah, the mother of the three Steinberg siblings, arrived in America in 1926. She was 66 years old and a widow now. Her brother, Tsodik and his family, had already left Mlynov in 1921 with the help of their nephew David Schulman, who had gone back to Mlynov to assist Tsodik's family with their migration. "Sura Sztejnberg," left Rotterdam on Jan. 30, 1926 on the SS Veendam and arrived in New York on Feb. 10, 1926. Her destination was her daughter, Rose Berger, who was living in Chicago. Sarah Hannah's last residence was "Mlyknow" and her closest relative there was her daughter, "Matel Berger," who lived at 26 Szkolna [Street].
1926 Manifest of Sarah Hannah Steinberg (nee Shulman) showing daughter "Matel" in Mlynov.
Handwritten Shulman family tree, showing gaps in knowledge. Documented by Bernard Shulman, sent to Fred Mann, both Shulman descendants.Matil Berger
The fourth of the Steinberg siblings born in Mlynov was Matil (probably pronounced Ma-teel) Steinberg. In a handwritten family tree in the Shulman family (see above) she appeared as "Motel," leaving those doing family history thinking Motel was a male child and noone knew what had happened to him. Sarah Hannah's manifest revealed the forgotten story. Motel was "Ma-teel Berger" and was a daughter. Her photo appeared in the Mlynov Memorial book and she was later a victim of the ghetto liquidation. She married Faivel (also called Shraga) Berger and they had at least one daughter named Batia. Faivel was one of four Berger brothers living in Mlynov (see the Berger family story). His brother, Ben Zion Berger, was the father of Nathan Berger who married Matil's sister, Rose Steinberg.
This Berger family perished in the Shoah. Steinberg descendants in Chicago did not know from family oral traditions that they had a relative who stayed behind in Mlynov and perished in the ghetto liquidation in early October 1942. Matil was lost to memory until the 1926 manifest of her mother Sarah Hannah Steinberg was discovered.
Learn how the Steinberg/Shulman family connection was rediscovered from a DNA match and a handwritten family tree in an essay, "Finding Simon Steinberg."
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THE TEITELMAN FAMILY
What we know of the very large Teitelman family comes from members of two families who lived through and survived the Shoah. The first was the family of Nahum Meir and Rachel Teitelman who lived in Mlynov and the second couple, was their cousins, Menachem Mendel and Sonia Teitelman, who lived in Mervits. They and a number of their children and siblings managed to escape the Mlynov ghetto, in a story told partially by Nahum in the Memorial book and in a first hand account by Nahum and Rachel’s son, Asher Teitelman.
The two Teitelman couples were all related to one another. The two wives, Rachel and Sonia, were themselves sisters, daughters of Shifra (Teitelman). Shifra married a man named Yosef Gruber who was son of Mordechai Gruber. Both of the sisters married Teitelman first cousins, sons of their mother Shifra’s brothers. Rachel’s husband, Nahum, was son of Shifra’s brother, Ephraim, and Sonia’s husband, Mendel, was son of Shifra’s brother, Abraham. The two husbands were not only first cousins to their wives but to each other as well.
To visualize the relationships, you can click on the images below to see a video illustrating these first cousin relationships.
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The Teitelmans all had a common ancestor named Mordechai Teitelman who is believed to have come to the area before it even became part of Russia. The 1850 and 1858 revision lists for Mlynov shows there was already a sizeable “Teitelboim” family living in Mlynov at the time but the connection to the ancestors remembered in the Teitelman family cannot be firmly established.
The patriarch Mordechai Teitelman had a son, Asher Teitelman, who married a woman named Sura Alta and had six children, each of whom had large families. The six children were: Abraham Leib, Chaim Meir, Doba, Mordechai, Shifra and Efraim-Fishel. The names of 31 grandchildren are known from the next generation and you can do some multiplication to estimate the number of great grandchildren, the majority of whom did not survive. The Teitelman family may have been as large or larger than the Goldseker family remembered as one of Mlynov’s biggest families.
In addition to the Teitelman couples mentioned above and some of their children and siblings, there were also several Teitelman descendants from other lines who made aliyah in the 1930s and whose descendants live in Israel and the United States. Among others, Moshe (Teitelman) Tamari (1910– 2007), grandson of Efraim Fishel Teitelman, was born in Varkovitchi but grew up in Mlynov and made aliyah in 1933. He contributed two marvelous essays to the Memorial volume, including his memories of a special hill in Mlynov which the children called "Mount Sinai" and a evocative story about the visit of Yitzhak Lamdan to Mlynov in 1932.
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Sonia (1900–1980) and Mendel (1893–1991) had a general store in Mervits. Their business relationships later saved their lives during the Shoah as one of their customers later helped hide them. The man's surname was Bogdan. While hiding in the forest, they ran into his 12 year old son who realized they were Jews. He told them to wait there until after a Ukraianian guest had left their house and then he brought them to their home. Mendel and Sonia write with moving gratitude about Bogdan in one of the essays they contributed to the Memorial book:
I have here the privilege of talking about our dear Bogdan, who kept us together. All Jews, without exception, who wandered in that part of the woods, meaning Novyna-Dobryatyns’ka at the Pańska Dolina, had only one address: Bogdan. A secure trustworthy man. When we needed to dig shelters, and for everyone separately so that not all would be discovered together, I was the digger. Where to get a shovel, a saw, a spade? At Bogdan’s. And to know exactly where to make the shelter, so that it would not, heaven forbid, be close to a Ukrainian community, whom do we ask? Bogdan. And for provisions, if we wanted to go to a secure farmer in the area at night to get food, and we don’t know our way through the forest paths, we took Bogdan with us. He never refused. He did all that not for riches, but because of his kind character and his goodness. I want to add, that in the course of that time many unfortunate events occurred, and always, Bogdan’s help was the first and the most useful.
They later became the most prolific contributors to the Mlynov Memorial Book writing essays about the religious, political and daily life in the towns which they sometimes referred to as as one entity called "Mlynov-Mervits." The couple who never had children made their way to Palestine and lived out their lives in Israel. They are seated in the back right corner of the celebration photo below.
Sonia and Mendel Teitelman. Mlynov Memorial Book, p. 325. The most prolific contributors to the Mlynov Yizkor Book.
Teitelmans celebrating later in life in Israel. Nahum and Rachel (center), Mendel and Sonia (back right). Asher (back left corner). Courtesy of Efraim Tomer.We know quite a bit more about the lives of Nahum (1890–1976) and Rachel (1894–1980) from the book-length memoire of their son, Asher, who was born in 1922. Nahum Teitelman was a middleman in a grain business in Mlynov. He would buy from the farmers from the nearby farms who would come to Mlynov to sell their grain and he would resell the grain to buyers in other towns.
In 1924, Nahum was able to purchase a plot of land from a Polish nobleman in Mlynov and built a sizeable house on it, which had two sections. The first was large enough to include a living area for the family and a space for a shop in the front which sold necessities, including grocery products, sacks of flour, different kinds of ointments, and also barrels of kerosene. The second area was for storing grain which Nahum bought from local farmers. To the side of the storage area was a stable for horses and a stall for cows.
- History
