FRIEDMAN FAMILY

My paternal grandmother's family — Friedman — originated in Sečovce.

My grandmother Pepi (a.k.a. Perl), age 16, and her older pregnant sister Mina and her husband Simon Schon, immigrated to America in 1880, settling in Boston. The rest of the family, a younger sister Freydl (a.k.a. Fannie) and their mother Pesel (my great-grandmother) followed in 1883. My great-grandfather, Azriel, died in Sečovce in 1879.

I don't know much more than that, as my grandmother died in 1940 when I was very young. No family remained in Sečovce and no family stories were handed down. I do know that the family rendered the pronunciation of the town as "Chechovitz", which caused some confusion when I tried to locate it. My wife and I visited the town briefly in 1990 and could find nothing remarkable. The Jewish cemetery was reasonably well maintained, but we could find no ancestors buried there.

A conflict with the Hasidim who immigrated to Sečovce from Galicia reminded me that it was passed down that my Friedman family fervently considered themselves "mitnagdim" in opposition to the Hasidim.

To contact Aaron E. Rosenberg, the author of this family page, log on to the JewishGen JGFF page (you will need a username & password), click search and enter 'Friedman' in the surname box, and enter 'Secovce" in the town box. Look for ID #1680, and click on 'Here'.