Smiela (Ukrainian: Сміла, Russian: Смела, Polish: Smiła, Hebrew: סמילה) is a city located on the Dnieper Upland near the Tyasmyn River in the area of Cherkasy Oblast of the Ukraine.
Jewish Population in Smela by year:
1765: 927
1847: 1,270
1863: 6,906
1897: 7,475
1923: 5,867
1939: 3,428
1959: 1,800
~ Kosowsky Family Genealogy Research ~
This page will describe the genealogy research of Israel Avner Kosowsky to show the evidence that he was a resident of Smiela and married there.
It will also uncover information on his father based upon pictures, documented testimonies via letters and documents from the United States and from what is today the Ukraine, which was part of the Russian Empire during most of his lifetime.
We will discuss the correlations as well as the descrepancies and attempt to find the balance between them, which is important for proper genealogy research. This research would not have been possible without the work of jewishgen.org, the sponsors
and volunteers as well as those who have made these records available.
Thank you for all who have and are continuing to contribute to these efforts.
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Israel Avner Kosowsky (~1834-1918) Photo courtesy of Steven Rosenberg. |
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Ida aka Khaya Rivka Kosowsky (~1834-1911) Photo courtesy of Steven Rosenberg. |
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The reverse side of Israel Avner Kosowsky's Photo states: Israel Abner (Kosow) Kosovsky Born 1813 Died 1919 at age of 106 Born in the town of Smaela, Russia. Served in the Russian Army for 21 years. Received 100 lashes with the knoite while in the Army for being a pious Jew. Fought in the Crimean War. Arrived in the USA in 1881 and lived in Cinn. (Cinncinati), Ohio until 1900. Moved to Brooklyn, NY where he remained for the rest of his life. He was my paternal grandfather. Signed: Florence Kaplan |
Anaylsis: This gives us a great deal of preliminary information, but as we will see it also provides us with information which may not be completely accurate.
For example:
1. The 1813 year of birth and age of 106 may be exaggerated.
2. The year of death 1919, is slightly off from the Death Certificate and Gravestone which gives the Date of Death as Dec. 10, 1918.
3. I was told by other sources that he served 22 years in the military, but 21 year is close enough and provides documentation of his service.
4. Another story states he received 100 lashes with a knout for refusing to remove his tsitsis (a religious garment). The knout is a Russian whip that consists
of a rawhide throng or a rope attached to a long wooden handle. The rope may be knotted.
Note: The number of lashes may be exaggerated.
5. Evidence does show that the Kosowsky family, it seems after living in the City of Kiev immigrated to the United States about 1881 or 1882.
6. Evidence shows the Kosowsky family did live in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1885 until 1900 according to the Cincinnati, Ohio Residential Directories.
7. Evidence shows the Kosowsky family lived in Brooklyn, NY from the year 1900 including an entry from the 1900 US Federal Census.
The document copies provided herein will focus on Israel's connection with Smiela and douments correlating with documents found from the town, but will
not provide documents from the City of Kiev nor from Cincinnati, Ohio. I will describe some of them when relevant.
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| Correspondence letter from Elias Kosow(sky) to his sister Florence Kaplan Page 1 states: |
Dear Florence:
The difficulty of writing a letter is to start it and then the train of thoughts start to follow each other. However, for the past 3 weeks I have started this letter about
seven or eight times and each time I was called away about some urgent piece of business. Now I feel sure that I am able to finish this missive without disturbance.
I owe you this letter for almost two months.
I wish to thank you for many things and that I do not leave anything out.
I wish to thank you very much for the trip you took to New York.
I was permitted to see you and that you shared in my simcha of Danny's Bar Mitzvah.
I also want to thank you for the pictures you took and mailed to us.
We enjoyed them very much and also grateful that we received them from you for our 46th anniversary.
Most of all I am thankful that we were able to see each other after so many years. That I enjoyed immensely.
In your last or rather supplimentary letter you mentioned that Bert wants to write of his heritage.
There is something to be said about young folks wishing to write about their forebears.
I believe you may be able to write about our heritage much better than he. You should really try.
Zaid Kosovsky used to tell us many stories from his youth and also about his family.
He told me that when he was about 11 years old he was returning from the Yeshiva or Cheder ...
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| Correspondence letter from Elias Kosow(sky) to his sister Florence Kaplan Page 2 states: |
He found his mother and sister lying on the floor of the cabin. He understood that they were both dead and he quickly ran out of the house.
He waited on the road that his father took in returning home with his horse and wagon.
He told his father what happened and his father told him to get up on the clipboard wagon and they road away.
At the time that he told me this story I could not comprehend it and I related it to Mom. Mother seemed to understand
everything, but she made it more ambiguous to me as I was only about 12 years old and could not understand when she said
that they must have burned the cabin before they left.
Later on when I studied European history I realized that the dreadful disease of Cholera was raging through Russia about that time.
Zaida's father's name was Yehuda Benyamin or Judah Benyamin.
Our brother Benny was named after him. For the sake of euphony I assume that mother named him Benjamin Edward.
Getting back to Zaida's father, he was a coppersmith by trade thus they named him Kessler. They called him Kessler but he never forgot that he was Kosovsky.
He mainly worked with the hunters and trappers. He made their pots and pans.
Anaylsis: Pages 1 and 2 of this letter are included because they do give genealogy information as well as an interesting account of what life was like in the Russian Empire at this time and it seems the Town of Smiela.
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| Correspondence letter from Florence Kaplan Page 3 describing Cinncinnati, Ohio states: |
The house was red rick with shutters. The summers in Cinn. are very humid. The family lived on the upper two stories.
Zayda and Bubba lived there. They had a live - in maid.
Born in Cinn. 5 Yarzeits:
1. Morris Aaron - 1889 - May 12
2. Benjamin Edward - 1891
3. Louis Erwin - 1893 - Mar 23
4. Dora - 1896
5. Paul - 1898 - Feb. 8
Sarah and Ezra - the 5 children and Bubba & Zayda left Cinn. Ohio and moved to Brooklyn, NY in 1899.
Anaylsis: This letter is included because it also gives some historical information on the family. Here too we can find some descrepancies:
1. Morris Aaron was born Jul 18, 1891 in Cincinnati, Ohio according to his Birth Certificate.
2. Benjamin Edward was born Jul 17, 1893 in Cincinnati, Ohio according to his Birth Certificate.
3. Louis Erwin was born Jul 05, 1895 in Cincinnati, Ohio according to his Social Security Application and other documents.
4. Dora was born Jan 22, 1897 in Cincinnati, Ohio according to her Birth Certificate.
5. Paul was born Jan 20, 1899 in Cincinnati, Ohio according to his Birth Certificate.
6. The migration from Cincinnati, Ohio to Brooklyn, NY in 1899 conflicts slightly with the previous description and Cincinnati, Ohio
Residential Directories which favor a migration year of 1900. Still it is only a difference of one year. It may be that some of the family moved to Brooklyn, NY
in 1899 and others by 1900.
There may be many explainations for resolving what seem to be descrepacies.
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| Correspondence letter from Florence Kaplan Page 2 states: |
I don't know much about great-grandparents. Zaida-Israel Abner lived with my family until his death 103 years 1918.
He could not live with uncle Jake because they were not kosher.
Anaylsis: Again we see descrepancies with age, 103 instead of 106 and as we continue we will see more.
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Death Certificate of Israel Kosowsky Residence: 630 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY Born: Jan 12, 1823 Birthplace: Russia How long in US: 37 years (1880-1882) How long resident in City of New York: 18 years (1899-1901) Name of Father: Benjamin Kosovsky Birthplace of Father: Russia Maiden Name of Mother: Fannie or Lannie Yasonoff Birthplace of Mother: Russia Date of Death: Dec. 10, 1918 Place of Burial: Mt. Zion FamilySearch link to Death Certificate |
Anaylsis: Israel Kosowsky's Death Certificate correlates with much of what we are told from Florences' letters and verifies much of her description.
The father's name of Benjamin matches Elias' letter as well.
One important descrepancy is the mother's name which may be Fannie or Lannie. It depends upon whether
the first letter of the name is an 'F' or an 'L'. Though it does not look like a capital 'F', it could be a lower case 'f'. But being that we expect a capital letter we may
consider it to be a captial 'L'. This may be important as we will see.
We should note the statistical information and how they correlate and differ from the information we received preiviously:
1. A birth date of Jan 12, 1823 making him almost 97 years old, less than the 106 or 103 year old ages given by others.
2. The immigration of 1880-1882 (derived from the 37 years in the US) does correlate with the immigration years given previously.
3. The 18 years residency in the City of NY implies that the family moved to NY some time between 1899-1901 or about 1900 which also correlates with the information
given previously.
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Gravestone of Israel Kosovsky Inscription: Our Dear Father English Name: Israel Kosovsky Hebrew Name: Israel Avner Father's Hebrew Name: Yehuda Benyamin Date of Death: Dec. 10, 1918 Age: 97 Yrs Burial: Mount Zion Cemetery, Maspeth, Queens County, New York, USA FindAGrave link to Memorial Page |
Anaylsis: Israel Kosovsky's Grave Stone correlates with the information we have so far as well:
1. Found in the same Cemetery as referenced on the Death Certificate.
2. Name and Date of Death correlates with the Death Certificate. Note that Kosowsky is a Polish spelling, 'w' is pronounced as a 'v' in Polish. So the
spelling variations Kosowsky on the Death Certificate and Kosovsky on the Gravestone correlate.
3. The middle name of Avner correlates with Abner given by Florence. Note 'v' and 'b' are phonetically the same so both are equivalent names variants.
4. The father's name Yehuda Benyamin matches the information from Elias' letter while the middle name is used as the first name on the Death Certificate.
Many times people will use their middle names as their given name such as Florence's and Elias' brother was named Benjamin Edward, not Judah Benjamin or
Edward Benjamin even though his Hebrew nme on his Gravestone was also Yehuda Benyamin.
We may be seeing a tradition of using the middle name as the secular name, while the religious name has a different given name.
5. The age is 97 years old correlating with the Death Certificate, not with our original information.
6. The Gravestone was found original from information from family documents for visiting the graves, so there is no mistaken identity here.
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Death Certificate of Ida Kosofsky Residence: 73 Leonard St., Brooklyn, NY Age: 66 Yrs. (1843-1845) Birthplace: Russia How long in US: 28 years (1881-1883) How long resident in City of New York: 10 years (1899-1901) Name of Father: Moses Aron Polibiusky or Polibinsky Birthplace of Father: Russia Maiden Name of Mother: Sarah Sovolsky or Sokolsky Birthplace of Mother: Russia Date of Death: December 1, 1910 FamilySearch link to Death Certificate |
Anaylsis: Ida Kosofsky's Death Certificate also gives us some valuable information:
1. The spelling of the name Kosofsky is acceptable because the letters 'f', 'v' and 'b' are phonetically the same.
This means that this is an acceptable name or spelling variation.
2. Ida and the Hebrew name Khaya are name equivalents as can be verified by viewing the
Name Variations page and can be searched on the
Jewishgen.org Given Names Database.
3. Her father's name was Moses Aron which will be important when correlating with Smiela documents.
4. Though the Death Certificate gives her maiden name as Polibiusky or Polibinsky, it seems this information was not enough to trace her family further.
It appears she may have moved to Smiela with her previous husband from somewhere else as we will see.
5. The dates of immigration of about 1881-1883 and relocation to New York about 1899-1901 also correlate with previous documentation.
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Gravestone of Ida Kosovsky Inscription: The Humble Woman English Name: Ida Kosovsky Hebrew Name: Khaia Rivka Father's Hebrew Name: Moshe Aharon Date of Death: Dec. 2, 1910 Age: 76 Yrs (1833-1835) Burial: Mount Zion Cemetery, Maspeth, Queens County, New York, USA FindAGrave link to Memorial Page |
Anaylsis: Ida Kosovsky's Gravestone verifies much of what we know and provides strong correlations:
1. Ida's Gravesone is next to Israel Kosovsky's Gravestone providing us with a strong correlation of relationship even though the
Death Certificate does not give the name of the Cemetery. We are told she is buried there from family documents as well.
2. The Date of Death of Dec. 2, 1910 is one day off from the Death Certificate date, but it could have been the date of burial.
3. The English name is Ida while the Hebrew name on the Gravestone is Khaia Rivka giving us a correlation between the names.
4. The Father's Hebrew name is Moshe Aron, correlating with the Death Certificate and other documents.
5. The age between the Death Certificate which states 66 years old and the Gravestone which states 76 years old are descrepant.
This is a difference of 10 years. We may assume that the Gravestone is more accurate. and that she was born about 1833-1835 and not 1843-1845.
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1900 US Census Entries for the Kosovsky Family: Isaac: Born Jan 1867 in Finland; Years Married: 10; Immigrated 1881; Occupation: Tailor Sarah: Born Sep 1870 in Finland; Years Married: 10; Immigrated: 1885 Morris: Feb. 1891 in New York; Occupation: School Benjamin: Feb 1893 in New York; Occupation: School Louis: Jan 1895 in New York Dora: May 1897 in New York Paul: Jul 1898 in New York Israel: Jan 1825 in Finland; Years Married: 45; Immigrated: 1882; Occupation: Tinsmith Ida: May 1834 in Finland; Years Married: 45; Immigrated: 1882 FamilySearch link to 1900 Census FamilySearch link to 1900 Census Image |
Anaylsis: The entry from the 1900 US Federal Census is included here because it provides more information on Israel and Ida Kosovsky:
Correlations:
1. The Head of Household is Isaac, but Florence states her father was Ezra. Note the family explanation that he was born Abraham, his name was
changed to Ezra, but later in life he prefered the names Ike as well as Isaac. The different names was verified by many documents that correlated otherwise.
Name changes do make genealogy more complicated.
2. The wife's name is Sarah, correlating with Florence's letters and information from the family and other documents.
3. The five children's names match Florence's letters including the age order. The years of birth also match the information I gave from reliable
documents, though the months do not all correlate. Still, this is the correct family. There are too many correlations with this entry and the
family of interest.
4. Israel is listed with a Date of Birth of Jan. 1925 which makes him even younger by two years from the Death Certificate.
5. Israel's immigration of 1882 correlates and occupation of tinsmith seems interesting due to his father's occupation of coppersmith as per Elias' letter.
6. Ida's birth of May 1834 does correlate with the Gravestone as does the time of immigration. The marriage of 45 years implies a marriage date of 1854-1856.
7. This Census states that Isaac and Sarah were married for 10 years, which correlates with their Marriage Return from Cinncinnati, Ohio dated Jul 07, 1890.
8. If we use a point system to quantify the correlations, giving a point for each correlation, for just the names alone we have 9 points for each given name,
10 when counting the surname and 11 for the place name Brooklyn, NY which is a large amount of correlations.
Descrepancies:
1. Israel and Ida are listed as Boarders, not Father and Mother though it is obvious with the same surname, origin and place of residence that they are most likely related.
2. Isaac's, Sarah's, Israel's and Ida's birth place is Finland, when we would expect Russia. Still it does not rule out the correlations and there are many.
There are many possibilities for explaining this inconsistency.
3. The birth places of the children is New York, even though we know they were born in Ohio. There are also reasons for this descrepancy that would not rule out the correlations.
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Marriage Certificate Translation Groom: Srul Katsovsky Groom's Age: 26 Bride: Khaia Riva Zaslavsky Father of the Bride: Moyshe Aron Bride's Age: 23 Date of Marriage: Feb 3, 1859 FamilySearch link to the Marriage Certificate Image |
Anaylsis: This is a translation of a Marriage Certificate from Smiela loaded to Jewishgen.org.:
Correlations:
1. The surname Katsovsky is phonetcally the same as Kosovsky. There is no 'ts' sound in English, so the letter 's' is a reasonable substitute.
2. The Groom's name Srul is a name equivalent or diminutive name for the name Israel. This can be verified by viewing the
Name Variations page and can be searched on the
Jewishgen.org Given Names Database.
3. The Bride's name Khaia Riva correlates with Ida's Gravestone, Riva and Rivka are name equivalents and this can be verified by viewing the
Name Variations page and can be searched on the
Jewishgen.org Given Names Database.
4. The Bride's Father's name is Moyshe Aron which correlates with Ida's Death Certificate and Gravestone.
5. The Groom is a soldier on temporary leave which correlates with Florences's note that Israel served during the Crimea War which ended in 1856.
This correlates with historial accounts that after 1856, conscription laws were changed releasing many veterans from service. They still had to
server 3 years of reserve duty, but only if needed. The year 1859 fits into that time frame.
6. We are told Israel was born in Smaela by Florence, so the place name Smiela which is phonetically the same also provides another correation.
7. If we use a point system to quantify the correlations, we have at least 8 points, two each for the Bride's and father's given and middle names, the Groom's given and surname,
the place name of Smiela and occupation of the groom as a soldier. This gives very strong correlations.
Descrepancies:
1. Khaia's surname is Zaslavsky, but that was her married name from her previous marriage to Elya Zaslavsky, not her maiden name as per the document. The 1900 census states they married
about 1854-1856 while this Marriage Certificate is dated Feb 3, 1859. But the 1900 Census may have given the time of Khaia's previous marriage which may explain the descrepancy.
2. Khaia's age of 23 in 1859 impies a birth year range of 1835-1837 which is close enough to the 1834 year of birth provided by the 1900 census and as implied on the Gravestone.
3. Srul's age of 26 implies a birth year range of 1832-1834 which is far from the 1900 Census birth of 1825, but he may have exaggerated his age as was common at the time.
4. If Israel served in the Army for 21 or 22 years as per family member information, this length of service does not fit the timeframe if the birth range is 1832-1834. We can assume
that this claim may also be an exaggeration.
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Divorce Certificate Translation Husband: Elya Zaslavsky Husband's Age: 21 Wife: Khaya Riva Father of the Wife: Meyshe Aron Wife's Age: 20 Date of Divorce: Aug 14, 1857 FamilySearch link to Divorce Certificate Image |
Anaylsis: This is a translation of a Divorce Certificate from Smiela loaded to Jewishgen.org.:
1. The Wife's name Khaya Riva daughter of Meyshe Aron matches solidly with the 1859 Marriage Certificate verifiying Khaya was divorced.
2. The Husband's name Elya Zaslavskiy also correlates with the 1859 Marriage Certificate giving the ex-Husband's name.
3. The Wife's age of 20 implies a birth of 1836-1838 which is very close and would not be considered a descrepancy with the other documents referenced.
Notes:
1. There is also a Birth Certificate for a Tovba Zaslavskiy dated Jun 21, 1856, daughter of Elya and Khaya Rivka in Smiela, but not included here.
2. Though Elya Zaslavsky came from the City of Cherkassy and Revision Lists were found for him there before his marriage to Khaya, Khaya's previous
Marriage Certificate with Elya was not found in Cherkassy City nor in other towns in Cherkassy Uyezd.
It is possible she came from another town besides Smiela. Marriage Certificates were filed in the town the Bride resided in. Other documents for her were not
found in Smiela nor Cherkassy City, nor in Revision List entries so far.
3. Birth Records for Smiela date back only as far as the year 1839, ruling out finding the Birth Records of Srul or Khaya in Smiela nor in other town records
in the area.
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1858 Revision List English Translation Father: Beynysh son of Meer Kutsovsky Father's Age in 1850: 44 Son: Srul Kutsovsky Son's Age in 1850: 16 Date of Registration: May 29, 1858 Image # 940; Page: 953; Registration: 97 Link to the 1858 Revision List Image |
Anaylsis: This is a translation of an 1858 Revision List (Russian Census) from Smiela loaded to Jewishgen.org.:
Correlations:
1. The surname Kutsovsky is phonetcally the same as Kosovsky. There is no 'ts' sound in English, so the letter 's' is a reasonable substitute.
2. The surname Kutsovsky is phonetically the same as Katsovsky which we find on the 1859 Marriage Certifiate, so these are valid correlations.
3. The Father's name Beynysh which is phonetically Benish is a name equivalent or diminutive name for Benyamin or Benjamin. This can be verified by viewing the
Name Variations page and can be searched on the
Jewishgen.org Given Names Database.
4. The son's name Srul correlates with the 1859 Marriage Cerificate and with the name Israel as stated previously.
5. If we give points to quantify the correlations, we have 4 correlation points, given name and surname of the son which correlates with Israel Kosovsky, his father's name
Benish which is equivalent to Benyamin and the place name Smiela correlating with the 1859 Marriage Certificate and with Florence's note on the reverse side of his photograph.
6. Srul's age of 16 in 1850 (the previous Revision List), implies a birth year range of 1833-1835 which overlaps with the 1859 Marriage Certificate's
birth year range of 1832-1834, providing another correlation.
7. We do obtain more information that Byenesh's father was named Meer which will be important tracing the family further as we will see.
Descrepancies:
1. Accorrding to this document both Byenysh and Srul passed away in 1854, which if true means this Srul could not have been the same Srul mentioned in the 1859 Marriage Certificate.
Due to the correlations and as we see in the 1900 US Census and in other documents that have descrepancies, this may have been a mistake. Beynysh is listed as a Nephew of Moshko
Teletsky, son of Leyba. But as we will see in the 1850 Revision Lists, Beynysh is the Nephew of Leyba Teletsky the father of Moshko which is another descrepancy. It is possible
just Beynyesh passed away in 1854 as we will discuss when analyzing the 1850 Revision List. It seems that there are enough correlations and enough possibilities to mitigate the descrepancy.
Finding the proper balance between not being too liberal, but not being too conservative is a good rule to follow when performing genealogy research.
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1851 Conscription List Father: Beynysh son of Meer Kutsovsky Father's Age: 45 Son: Srul Kutsovsky Son's Age: 17 Previous Revision List Registration: 97 Date of Registration: 1851 Image # 39; Page: 36; Registration: 91 Link to the 1851 Conscription List Image |
Anaylsis: This is an entry from the 1851 Recruitment or Conscription Lists from Smiela:
1. The previous registration number is 97, which correlates with the 1858 Revision List entry's registration number
and more so with the 1850 Revision List entry's registration number for the famliy, verifying
it is the same family.
2. We have the same name correlations and information as we do on the 1858 Revsion List entry referenced previously and as we do
here so I will not repeat them.
3. Srul's age of 17 in 1851, implies a birth year range of 1833-1835 which overlaps with the 1859 Marriage Certificate's birth
year range of 1832-1834, providing another correlation.
4. These are recruitment lists which may include another correlation as per occupation of army service. Which means one could add
another correlation point, though being on these lists do not prove that these indiviuals actually served.
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1850 Revision List Father: Beynysh son of Meer Kutsovsky Father's Age: 44 Wife: Lya (Laya) daughter of Volko (Wolf) Wife's Age: 40 Son: Srul Kutsovsky Son's Age: 16 Date of Registration: Oct 28, 1850 Image # 769; Page: 754; Registration: 97 Link to the 1850 Revision List Image |
Anaylsis: This is an entry from the 1850 Revision Lists (Census) from Smiela:
1. The registration number is 97, which correlates with the 1851 Conscription List and 1858 Revision List entries mentioned perviously verifying it is the same family.
2. We have the same name correlations and information as we do on the 1858 Revision List and as we do here so I will not repeat them.
3. As stated previously, on this list Beynysh is the nephew of Leyba while Moshko is listed as Leyba's son, creating questions concerning how reliable Moshko's
information may have been by 1858 concerning the status of Srul who would have been serving in the army by 1854 if the correlations hold.
Srul would have been a first cousin once removed to Moshko assuming Moshko was Beynysh's first cousin, not an uncle as the 1851 and 1858 lists imply.
Which would mean he was a distant relative that may not have had updated information, did not provide correct information or the clerk collecting the information
may have misreported this, amoung other possibilities.
4. Srul's age of 16 in 1850 and the fact that he was not listed in the 1834 Revision Lists because he was not born yet according to this list, implies a birth year
range of 1833-1834 which still fits within the 1859 Marriage Certificate's birth year range of 1832-1834, providing another correlation along with correlations
with the 1851 and 1858 lists.
5. Beynysh's wife is listed as Laya. Israel's Death Certificate states that his mother was either Fannie or Lannie Yasonoff depending upon how one reads it. Assuming the
first letter of the given name is 'L' for Lannie, which is phonetically the same as the more popular name of Lena, then Lena and Leah, which is the same name as Laya
are all name equivalents. This can be verified by viewing the
Name Variations page and can be searched on the
Jewishgen.org Given Names Database.
However, Fannie is a more popular name and if we assume the first letter is an 'F', name equvalents for Fannie would usually be Feige which does not correlate with Laya.
Being that the informant for Israel's Death Certificate information probably did not know Israel's mother personnally, the information may not be accurate,
one name could have been a middle name, Beynysh could have remarried by 1850 and we are told Israel's mother passed away when Israel was 11 years old, which seems to be about 1844-1846
assuming an 1834-1835 birth, or other possibilities. Therefore it would be wrong to rule out the entry if we believe Israel's mother's name was spelled Fannie.
6. If we accepted the Lannie = Lena = Leah = Laja correlations, we could add another point making it 5 or 6 correlation points. Unfortunately, it seems we lack the information to do
this comfortably, but the 4 or 5 correlations points we do have if we assume Srul lived passed 1854 seems to be accepatable.
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1843 Recruitment List English Translation Beynyish son of Meyer Kutsovskiy Age: 41 Date of Registration: 1843 Previous Revision List Registration: 102 Image # 47; Page: 47; Registration: 291 Link to the 1843 Reruitment List Image |
Anaylsis: This is an entry from the 1843 Recruitment Lists from Smiela:
1. The previous registration number is 102, which as we will see will correlate with the 1834 Revision List entry's registration number.
2. Beynish Kutsovskiy the son of Meyer is listed alone. The entry correlates with the 1850, 1851 and 1858 lists by given name, father's name, surname and place
name giving 4 correlation points which is enough to make the correlation.
3. Because they are recruitment lists and Beynish appeared in the 1851 Conscription lists, it may be that he also served in the Army which may or
may not warrant another point. But it seems all males over a certain age needed to be listed in these lists even if they did not actually server.
So the extra point may not be warranted.
4. Srul is probably not listed both because he was not listed in the 1834 Revision List, which these lists were based upon and because he would have been
too young to server assuming an 1834-1835 birth range.
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1841 Recruitment List Nephew: Bennish Kutsovsky Age in 1834: 37 Date of Registration: 1841 Registration: 106 Previous Revision List Registration: 102 Image # 61; Page: 59; Registration: 106 Link to the 1841 Recruitment List Image |
Anaylsis: This is an entry from the 1841 Reruitment Lists from Smiela:
1. The previous registration number is 102, which correlates with the 1843 Recruitment List entry and as we will see, also with the 1834
Revision List entry's registration number.
2. Beynysh Kutsovsky the son of Meer is listed as the Nephew of Ayzik Leib Kutsovskiy.
3. The correlations between this list entry and the 1843 Recruitment list entry are clear due to the previous registration number of 102 so the 4 point
correlation with later documents holds here as well.
4. It seems from about 1850 and later, Beynysh lived with his Terletskiy relatives, most likely from his mother's side, Meer's wife. We do not know her
given name. Before that, possibly from 1841 and earlier he lived with his Kutsovskiy relatives, most likely on his father's side.
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1834 Revision List Nephew of Ajzik: Bejnishch Age in 1818: 16 Date of Registration: Apr 30, 1834 Image # 635; Page: 707; Registration: 102 Link to the 1834 Revision List Image |
Anaylsis: This is an entry from the 1834 Revision Lists from Smiela:
1. The registration number is 102, which correlates with the previous registration numbers of the 1841 and 1843 Recruitment Lists
discussed previously.
2. I did not post it, but the Terletsky family is listed in entry 104 in these lists and includes Leyba and his son Moshko adding some extra
correlation between this and later Revision Lists due to the registration numbers being so close, for they may have been neighbors in 1834.
3. Bejnishch the son of Meer is listed as the Nephew of Ayzik Leyb, while Ayzik Leyb is listed as the Nephew of Leyzer Varshavskiy.
This document does not actually state their surname is Kutsovskiy, but because of the correlations with the registration number
from the 1841 and 1843 Recruitent lists and the many other family members in this entry I did not list, we know the entrires
correlate and that the surname is Kutsovskiy, not Varshavskiy for Ayzik and Bejnishch.
4. Bejnishch did not have a wife listed on the 1834 Revision Lists, and females were not included in the Recruitment Lists, so
unfortunately we cannot resolve the issue of who Srul's mother was and whether she just was not listed or they married after
Apr 30,1834 when the entry was dated. So this remains a mystery.
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1818 Revision List Nephew of Aizik: Bejnjsh son of Meer Kutsovski Age: 16 Date of Registration: Jun 20, 1818 Image # 865; Page: 908; Registration: 108 Link to the 1818 Revision List Image |
Anaylsis: This is an entry from the 1818 Revision Lists from Smiela:
1. There is no previous registration number on the 1834 Revision List to correlate this entry with the 1834 Revision List entry.
2. I did not post it, but the Terletsky family is listed as entry 112 and includes Leyba adding some extra correlation between this and
later Revision Lists. This was before Leyba's son Moshko was born.
3. Bejnjsh son of Meer Kutsovski is listed as the Nephew of Ayzik Leyb Kutsovski. Ayzik Leyb is listed as the Nephew of Luzer Varshavski.
It is clear from the names and relationships, many I did not describe but are on the documents, that even without the previous registration
number this is the same family as the entry with registration 102 in the 1834 Revision List.
4. Bejnishch is only 16 years old in 1818 and does not have a wife listed.
5. Unfortunately, no entries for the family were found in the 1806 / 1808 Revision Lists. They appear to be fragmentary so the entries may not
have survived or were missed.
6. Based upon these and other Revision List entries, Aizik Leib Kutsovski's father was named Moshko, a name equivalent for Moshe or Moses in English.
Being that Bejnishch was a nephew of Aizik Leib with the same surname, we may assume Bejnishch's father Meer and Aizik Leib were brothers and their
mother's maiden name was Varshavski because Aizik Leib was the Nephew of Leyzer, a name variant for Luzer. With this information I searched the 1795
Revision Lists. Keep in mind, these records did not include surnames because Jews did not have surnames in the Russian Empire at this time, making genealogy research quite difficult.
The results were finding an entry in the town of Budishchie, Cherkassy District where the Head of Household was Moshko son of Meer,
with two sons one named Meer old enough to be Bejnjsh's father and another Ajzik close in age to Aizik Leib Kutsovski. But with Leyzer being their uncle and having a
different surname Varshavski, he would need to be the brother of Meer's and Ajzik's mother, or so we would assume from our cultural time period.
The mother is listed as Malka daughter of Deli (probably Delio). Leyzer's father was Moshko, not Deli. Therefore there is a descrepancy. Still there may be a reasonable
explanation. Jews took surnames in these areas only in about 1804 or so, but still the fathers' names are too different betwen Leizer, Moshko and Malka to correlate either
as siblings.
Interestingly, Malka's father, Deli (Delio) did not have an Ashkenazi name. The female equivalent Delia is used by Sephardic Jews and its male equivalent Delio is used by
Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and possibly Aramaic speakers.
According to family oral history, the Kosowsky family were originally Sephardic Jews who migrated to Turkey from Spain
when Jews were expelled from Spain and afterwards migrated from Turkey to the Ukraine, which may correlate with the use of Sephardic names.
Though there are minimum correlations for this entry and posibilities for mitigating the descrepancies, the correlations are quite weak and
circumstantial while the descrepancies are hard to resolve reasonably.
We include a link to this 1795 Revision List entry here:
Link to the 1795 Revision List Image # 58-59; Page: 31-32
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