Kushner family
alternate spellings: Kusner, Kushnir
The earliest known family member is Abram Khonel Kushner, who was born in Raguva (Rogeve) before 1829. He married Paya, and he died before 1868. Paya died before 1875. The two known children of Abram Khonel Kushner:
I. Berko Kushner was born in Raguva in 1846. He married Pera, who was born in 1845. Berko died on 20 July 1893, and Pera died in 1892, both in Troskunai.
- The seven known children of Berko and Pera Kushner:
- Abram Itzke Kushner was born in Troskunai in ~1868. In 1891 he married Basia Dvera, who was born in 1868. The only known child of Abram Itzke and Basia Dvera Kusher:
- Mortkhel Kushner
- Chaya Beyla Kushner was born in Troskunai in ~1870. She married, but her husband's name is unknown.
- Moshe Kushner was born in Troskunai in ~1873. In Panevezys (Ponevezh) on 3 March 1898 he married Sora Rivka Viten, who was born in Pumpenai (Pumpyan) in 1875.
- Zelik Kushner was born in Troskunai in ~1874. He married Chaya Rasha. The only known child of Zelik and Chaya Rasha Kushner:
- Reyza Pera Kushner was born in 1900.
- Paya Kushner was born in Troskunai in ~1875.
- Shevel Kushner, later Saul Butler, was born in Troskunai in ~1884. He emigrated to the United States, using the spelling Kusner before changing his surname to Butler. On 30 June 1914 in Chicago, Illinois, he married Lillian Kaden, who was born in Chicago on 28 November 1894. Lillian died on 21 June 1915. On 9 December 1917 in Cook County, Illinois, Saul married Kate (Gittel) Bertha Levin, who was born in Missouri in ~1894. Saul died in Chicago in May 1972. Kate died in Niles, Illinois, in 1980.
- The child of Saul Butler and his first wife, Lillian Kaden:
- Leon Bernard Butler was born in Cook County, Illinois, on 11 May 1915. In Chicago he married Gertrude Lappe, who was born in Chicago in 1906. Gertrude died on 23 July 1954, and Leon died on 10 August 1984, both in Chicago, Illinois. The child of Leon Butler and Gertrude Lappe:
- Corwin Jay Butler was born in Chicago on 3 August 1943. He married (wife's name unknown) and had three children. Corwin died in Naperville, Illinois, on 5 April 2002.
- The three children of Saul Butler and his second wife, Kate Bertha Levin:
- Harold Richard Butler was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 22 October 1918. He married Beatrice Natalie Scheffler, who was born in Chiago on 4 June 1919. Harold died on 25 June 2002 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Beatrice died on 2 October 2005 in Lake Worth, Florida. The child of Harold Butler and Beatrice Scheffler:
- Jeffrey Butler
- Ralph Butler was born in Chicago in 1925. He died in New York, New York in 1972.
- Alan Lester Butler was born in Chicago on 26 August 1926. He married but his wife's name is unknown. Alan died in Niles, Illinois, on 9 March 2008.
- Sora Kushner was born in Troskunai in ~1886.
II. Yakov (Yankel) Kushner was born in Troskunai in April 1846. He married Mariasha (Maria), born in ~1848, daughter of Eliezer. Yakov is mentioned in an account of the 1915 pogrom in Troskunai. Yakov died in Troskunai on 12 January 1929. Mariasha died in 1930.
DOCUMENT Yankel Kushner's passport (1917)
PHOTO Gravestone of Yakov and Mariasha Kushner
- The four known children of Yakov and Mariasha Kushner:
- Paya Kushner was born in Troskunai in ~1875. She married Itzik Israel Rutenberg, who was born in Ukmerge (Vilkomir) in ~1876. Paya and Israel Rutenberg are mentioned in an account of the 1915 pogrom in Troskunai. Israel died in 1919; according to Berl Glezer's memoir, he was shot in 1919 by Lithuanian partisans. Paya was killed in the Holocaust in August 1941 at Pajuoste. The four children of Paya Kushner and Israel Rutenberg:
- Mikhel Rutenberg was born in 1905.
- Leya Rutenberg was born in 1906.
- Mera (Mari) Rutenberg was born in Troskunai in 1908. On 28 March 1933 in Troskunai she married Elye Nosen (Natan) Barkhin, who was born in 1909 in Sarkovscizna (now Sharkovshizna in Belarus). Both were killed in the Holocaust at Pajuoste in August 1941, along with their children. The two children of Mera Rutenberg and Nosen Barkhin:
- Israel Itzik Barkhin was born in Troskunai on 18 February 1935. He was killed at Pajuoste in August 1941.
- Yakov (Yankel) Barkhin was born in Troskunai on 13 October 1938. He was killed at Pajuoste in August 1941.
- Rochel (Rochka) Rutenberg was born in Troskunai in 1909. She emigrated to Palestine on 28 January 1934.
PHOTO Rochka Rutenberg with Trashkuner friends
PHOTO Rochka Rutenberg with Trashkuner chalutzim (26 April 1930)
PHOTO Rochka Rutenberg with chalutzim (~1930) - Chava Kushner was born in Troskunai in ~1877.
- Sora Kushner was born in Troskunai in ~1884.
- Shlomo Chaim (Shleyme) Kushner was born in Troskunai in 1886. He married Dobra Stokol, who was born in Raguva in 1890. (Shleyme and Dobra are mentioned Part I of Berl Glezer's memoir. Part II tells how the family attempted to escape when World War II broke out but were forced to turn back.) Shleyme and Dobra were both killed at Pajuoste in August 1941.
PHOTO Shlomo (Shleyme) Kushner, Troskunai
PHOTO Dobra (Stokol) Kushner, Troskunai
DOCUMENT Shlomo Kushner's application for Lithuanian ID (internal passport)
DOCUMENT Dobra Kushner's application for Lithuanian ID (internal passport) - The eight children of Shlomo Kushner and Dobra Stokol:
- Dvora (Dveira, Dverka) Kushner was born in Troskunai in 1910. In Kupiskis (Kupishok) in 1940 she married Leib Rubin Slavinsky, who was born in Kupiskis in 1908. (Berl Glezer's memoir tells of her family's unsuccessful attempt to escape at the outbreak of World War II.) Dveira, Leib, and their four-month-old son were killed at Pajuoste in August 1941.
PHOTO Dveira Kushner
DOCUMENT Dveira Kushner's application for Lithuanian ID (internal passport) - The child of Dvora Kushner and Leib Rubin Slavinsky:
- [son], born in early 1941, killed at Pajuoste in August 1941.
- Eliahu (Elye, Elke) Kushner was born in Troskunai in 1911. He was killed on 24 June 1941, while trying to escape at the outbreak of World War II. (Berl Glezer mentioned Elke in Part I and Part II of his memoir. Shmuel Kovnovich wrote an account of Elke's killing.)
PHOTO Elke Kushner
DOCUMENT Elke Kushner's application for Lithuanian ID (internal passport) - Chaya Kushner was born in Troskunai in ~1913. In Traupis (Treyp) on 28 August 1934, she married Khonel Ruvel Dimant, who was born in 1909 in Anyksciai (Aniksht). Chaya was killed in the Holocaust at Pajuoste in August 1941.
PHOTO Chaya Kushner - Chasya Kushner was born in Troskunai in 1916. She went to Palestine in the 1930s, and she married Zvi Vitlin.
PHOTO Chasya Kushner, Troskunai (undated)
PHOTO Chasya Kushner with the Trashkun branch of Hashomer Hatzair (1929-30)
PHOTOS Chasya (Kushner) Vitlin at reunion of survivors from Trashkun (Tel-Aviv, 1987)
DOCUMENT Chasya Kushner's application for Lithuanian internal passport (1930) - The two children of Chasya Kushner and Zvi Vitlin:
- Nurit Vitlin
- Tamar Vitlin
- Musya (Muska) Kushner was born in 1923. At the outbreak of World War II, she and her sister Chanka fled east as far as Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where they farmed apricots in the nearby mountains, and later painted tank parts in a military factory in the Ural region of Russia. After the war the two sisters returned to Lithuania (Vilnius) for a time, then moved to Rēzekne, Latvia. There Muska married Ruven Kofman. In 1971 the family moved to Rishon LeZion, Israel, where Ruven died in 1978 and Muska died in 2015. The child of Muska Kushner and Ruven Kofman:
- Shulamit (Shula) Kofman, born in 1949
- Chana (Chanka) Kushner was born on 10 May 1925. At the outbreak of World War II she fled east with her sister Muska, ending up in Uzbekistan and later moving to the Ural region of Russia (see Musya Kushner, above). After the war, she and her sister spent a short time in Vilnius before moving to Rēzekne, Latvia, where Chanka married David Garber (born in Rēzekne). David died in 1979 and Chanka died in January 1990, both in Rēzekne, Latvia.
PHOTO Chanka Kushner with Itzik Konkurovich in Vilnius (1948) - The two children of Chanka Kushner and David Garber:
- Doba Garber
- Sioma Garber was born in 1956 in Rēzekne, Latvia. He and his family moved to Israel in December 1990.
- Paya Leah Kushner was born in Troskunai on 6 February 1928. She was killed in the Holocaust at Pajuoste in August 1941.
- Israel (Shrulik Yisrolke) Kushner was born in Troskunai in ~1930. He was killed in the Holocaust at Pajuoste in August 1941. (Berl Glezer's memoir tells of Yisrolke's attempted escape with his family at the outbreak of World War II.)
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