Kovnovich family

alternate spelling: Kovnovitz

►  See also • Escape from Trashkun in 1941, a memoir by Shmuel Kovnovich
• Interview with Shmuel & Hasia Kovnovich by Dov Levin (1965)

The earliest known member of the Kovnovich family is Peysach Kovnovich, who was born in Raguva (yiddish: Rogeve) before 1812. He died before 1892. His wife's name is unknown. The two known children of Peysach Kovnovich:

I.  Getzel Kovnovich was born in Raguva in ~1829. He married Rivka Leah Nusbaum, who was born in Lithuania in ~1834. Getsel's entire family were klezmer players. They all played the violin and entertained Lithuanians, Poles and Jews at ‘simhas.’ Getzel and Rivka both died sometime after 1912.

• The six known children of Getzel Kovnovich and Rivka Leah Nusbaum:
• Moshe Itzik (Meyshitzik) Kovnovich was born in Troskunai in ~1866. He married Mina, who was born in ~1866, daughter of Yankel. Mina died in Troskunai on 13 August 1896, presumably in childbirth. Moshe Itsik was killed in the Holocaust in Pajuoste (yiddish: Payost), outside of Panevezys, in August 1941.
  PHOTO Moshe-Itzik Kovnovich
• The two known children of Moshe Itzik Kovnovich and Mina:
• Peysach Zelik Kovnovich (later Paul Kovner) was born in Troskunai on 15 March 1891. He emigrated to the US, and died in Massachusetts on 26 May 1942.
• Mina Ita Kovnovich was born in Troskunai on 13 August 1896.
• Chaya Feyga Kovnovich was born in 1867. She married Meyer Glezer, who was born in Troskunai in ~1867. Chaya Feyga died young, according to recollections of Meyer Glezer's family in Berl Glezer's memoir. The two children of Chaya Feyga Kovnovich and Meyer Glezer:
• Zelda Nechama Glezer was born in Troskunai in ~1895.
• Sora Etla Glezer was born in Troskunai in 1896. On 30 December 1924 she married Shmuel Grin.
• Shlioma (Shlomo, Shleyme) Kovnovich was born in Troskunai in ~1870. In 1901 he married Sora Brafman, who was born in Panevezys or Troskunai in ~1873, daughter of Itzik Brafman. During World War I Shlomo's family, along with tens of thousands of other Jewish families, were forcibly expelled to the East. While in exile, two of Shlomo's young sons died of typhoid fever. The family returned to Trashkun after the war. In 1921, Shlomo Kovnovich was elected chairman of Trashkun’s Jewish Community Committee (Va’ad Kehilah).^[NOTE]Such committees were established after World War I to give Jewish communities some autonomy over their own education and taxation in the wake of Lithuania's new independence. Shlomo and all his children were gifted musicians (see description). Both Shlomo and Sora were killed in World War II, most likely in Pajuoste in August 1941.
  PHOTO Shlomo Kovnovich with wife Sora (Brafman) and son Shmuel (~1928)
• The five children of Shlomo Kovnovich and Sora Brafman:
• Zelman Yosel Kovnovich was born in Troskunai on 3 March 1903. He died of typhoid fever while the family was in exile during World War I (sometime before 1921).
• Chana Liba (later Hannah) Kovnovich was born in Troskuani in ~1904. At age 11, she went to St. Petersburg, Russia, and stayed with her maternal aunts and uncles. Like the rest of her family she was musically gifted, but she became a physician. Her married name was Bykovchenko. Hannah died in Leningrad in 1985.
• Abram (Avrom, Avremke) Kovnovich was born in Troskunai on 28 January 1905. Avrom became a chalutz (Zionist pioneer) and went to Palestine in 1930. There he played violin in the Palestine Orchestra, which later became the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He died in 1988 in Haifa, Israel.
  DOCUMENT  Avrom Kovnovich application for internal passport (1927)
• Leybe Kovnovich was born in Troskunai on 27 November 1906. Like his brother Zelman, Leybe died of typhoid fever while the family was in exile during World War I (sometime before 1921).
• Shmuel (Shmulke) Yankel Kovnovich was born in Troskunai on 9 July 1908. He survived World War II by fleeing to Russia. After the war he married Hasia Dlot, who was born in Vidzy [yiddish: Vidzh], Poland (now in Belarus). They had two children. The family lived in Vilnius before moving to Israel in 1957. Shmuel died in Israel in 1989. Hasia also died in Israel.
  DOCUMENT  Shmuel Kovnovich application for internal passport (1927)
  PHOTO Shmuel Kovnovich (1928)
  PHOTO Shmuel Kovnovich with his parents in Troskunai (~1928)
  PHOTO Shmuel with Zionist pioneers in Trashkun (1930)
  PHOTO Shmuel with Trashkuner youth (1930s)
  PHOTO Shmuel Kovnovich with wife Hasia (Dlot) Kovnovich and children (Vilnius, 1953)
  PHOTO Shmuel Kovnovich with Itzik Konkurovich in Vilnius (1957)
  PHOTO Shmuel Kovnovich with Itzik Konkurovich at Holocaust monument in Pajuoste (1957)
  PHOTO Shmuel Kovnovich at reunion of Trashkuners in Tel-Aviv (1987)
• Leyzer Wulf Kovnovich (later Wolf Kovner) was born in Troskunai on 15 November 1876. On 4 August 1900 in Kaunas/Kovno he married Chana (Anna) Levin, who was born in Vilnius/Vilna in ~1883, daughter of Benjamin Levin. The couple emigrated to the U.S. Anna died in ~1912. Wolf later married Helen Aronwald, who was born in ~1880 in Warsaw, Poland. Wolf Kovner died on 13 June 1958 in Los Angeles, California.
• The three children of Wolf Kovner and his first wife, Anna Levin:
• Benjamin Kovner was born in New York City on 27 November 1901. He married Kathleen Dorothea (Jane) Lane, who was born in Massachusetts in ~1913.
• Marjorie Estelle Kovner was born in New York, NY on 26 July 1906. In 1924 in New York she married George J. Schechter, who was born in "Austria" on 29 December 1896. George died in Los Angeles, California. Marjorie died in Pasadena, California, on 27 November 1992.
• Lola (Lillie) Kovner was born in New York, NY on 1 March 1909. On 9 June 1961 in Clark County, Nevada, she married Emanuel Raymond Isroff, who was born in "Russia" on 24 July 1900. Emanuel died on 4 April 1975, and Lola died on 31 May 2000, both in Akron, Ohio.
• The two children of Wolf Kovner and his second wife, Helen Aronwald:
• Elinor Kovner was born in New York on 16 November 1917. On 21 July 1939 in Los Angeles, California, she married Richard Gershoy, was born in ~1915. Elinor died in Los Angeles County, California, on 15 July 1995.
• Daniel Arthur Kovner was born in the Bronx, New York, on 15 June 1921. On 26 November 1949 in Los Angeles, California, he married Betty M. Scaife, who was born in ~1927. They had two children. On 2 August 1976 in Clark County, Nevada, Daniel married Mary Ann Jackson, who was born in Los Angeles, California on 14 January 1923. Mary Ann died on 17 December 2003 in Newbury Park, California. Daniel died on 1 March 2017.
• Benjamin Beynash (Benesh) Kovnovich (later Benjamin Kovner) was born in Troskunai in ~1880. He married Bertha Wiener, who was born in "Russia" on 14 November 1886. Benjamin died on 18 February 1938, and Bertha died in June 1969, both in Brooklyn, New York. The four children of Benjamin Kovner and Bertha Wiener:
• Irving Kovner was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 22 December 1910.
• Sylvia Kovner was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 24 March 1913. In Florida on 15 March 1949 she married Mitchell M. Pollack, who was born in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, on 19 August 1918.

II.  Gitel (Gitla, Gutel) Kovnovich was born in Raguva (yiddish: Rogeve) in 1835. She married Yankel Meyer Glezer, who was born in Raguva in 1834. Yankel Meyer died in 1905, and Gitel died in 1907.

• The four children of Gitel Kovnovich and Yankel Meyer Glezer:
• Chana Basya Glezer was born in Troskunai in 1865. She married Leyb Elye Shepsel/Shepselevich, who was born in Troskunai in ~1867. Chana Basya died in Panevezys on 20 December 1924. Leyb was killed in 1941 during the Holocaust in Birzai (yiddish: Birzh), Lithuania. The eight children of Chana Basya Glezer and Leyb Elye Shepselevich:
• Sora Dveyra Shepshelevich
• Leyzer Shepshelevich (later Abramovich)
• Nechama (Necha) Shepshelevich
• Shimen (Shimel Peysach) Shepshelevich{ See details on Shepshel/Shepshelevich family page }
• Hirsh Bentsel Shepshelevich
• Moyshe Itzik Shepshelevich
• Mordechai (Motel) Leyzer Shepshelevich
• Mera Yenta Shepshelevich
• Mortkhel (Motel) Leyzer Glezer was born in ~1867 in Troskunai or Raguva. He married Basya Rayna Kavalsky, who was born in 1865. Motel died in Troskuani on 14 October 1932. The four children of Motel Glezer and Basya Kavalsky:
• Dobra (Dobl) Glezer
• Dvora (Dveyra) Glezer { See details on Glezer family page }
• Eliahu Glezer
• Berl Glezer
• Yudel Glezer (later Glazer) was born in Lithuania in 1870. He married Sora (Sarah) Sklar, who was born in ~1873 in Kavarskas (yiddish: Kovarsk), Lithuania. The family moved to America in 1910. Sarah died on 2 March 1930, and Yudel died on 19 May 1948, both in Des Moines, Iowa. The five children of Yudel Glezer/Glazer and Sara Sklar:
• Myer (Mike) Glazer was born in Kavarskas on 2 May 1894. On 23 May 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa, he married Vera Givant, who was born in "Russia" on 24 November 1905. They had five children. Myer/Mike died on 1 December 1924, and Vera died on 17 July 1957, both in Des Moines, Iowa.
• Leah (Lena) Glazer was born in Kavarskas in ~1903. On 20 June 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa, she married Sam Rosenbloom, who was born in Kavarskas on 13 September 1903. They had one child. Sam died on 12 August 1975 in Hollywood, Florida.
• Mina Glazer was born in Kavarskas on 21 December 1906.
• Marianna (Mary) Glazer was born in Kavarskas on 14 October 1908. On 24 December 1928 in Valley Junction, Iowa, she married Nathan Goldstein, who was born in 1908 in Des Moines, Iowa. They had two children. Marianna/Mary died in Henderson, Nevada, on 3 February 2005.
• Gitel (Ida Gladys) Glazer was born in Kavarskas on 27 March 1912.
• Peysach Zalko Glezer was born in Lithuania in 1872. He married Chaya Tsena, who was born in 1878.

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• Compiled by Johanna Kovitz with research by Jonathan Levine
• Copyright 2016 Sonia & Johanna Kovitz
• Updated January 2025