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The Stories of Eight Families

Yigal Rechtman 1999-2006 ©

PREFACE

This book is intended to preserve and communicate family history which I have collected since 1982, comprising both my own effort at gathering information, as well as the work of others. I have divided the work into eight families, corresponding to my eight great-grandparents.

Other than the trivial fact that all these families are related to me, the expectation is that the typical reader will read only the chapter that describes his or her immediate branch of the family. The chapters are arranged almost independently from each other; seven of the eight chapters are preceded by a narrative, telling the story of the research of the particular family (or a branch.) For example, the narrative regarding the "Levinson Case" describes the pursuit of the my grandmother's first cousins. The Rechtman family chapter describes in general the entire Rechtman clan.

Following the narrative, each family's "genealogy(1)" is presented: it is arranged alphabetically by family name and within each family-name each generations is listed. Each continuing child (a child that has descendants) is numbered. When a child appears in his or her parents' record marked with a number and a "+" sign to the left, it is indicative that this child is a continuing child,

for example:

MARKUSEWITZ Family

First Generation

1. Haim Motel Markusewitz was born ...

Haim Motel Charles and Sara Keila Markusewitz had the following children:

i. Miriam Berman. She married Benjamin Berman. (See Benjamin Berman for the continuation of this line.)

ii. Malka Kagan ...(end-note)

+ 4 iii. Moshe Gdaliya "Morris Gerald"[foot-note] Markusewitz.

...

Notice that the family name, and the sequential generation number (if there is more than one) appears at the top. Haim Motel is numbered No. 1, and his 3 children are listed. Child (i), Miriam Berman has a different last name; thus, her personal information and genealogy will be found under the Berman last name (which will preceed the Markusewitz genealogy, because they are arranged alphabetically.) Child number (iii) continues in record number 4 which will appear within the Markusewitz family genealogy in the second generation section:

Second Generation

4. Moshe Gdaliya "Morris Gerald" Markusewitz [Haim Motel Charles 1] was born in Russia ...



The child's ancestor and the ancestor's generation number appear in square brackets ("[Haim Motel Charles 1]") following the child's name, and preceeding any other information. This enables the reader to navigate both "up" and "down" the family tree. Even though both parents are available for most children, only the ancestor that "connects" them to the family in this book is denoted in brackets,

for example:

10. Haim "Sonny" Hyman Vogelman [Reuven Rubin Yitzchak Fogelman 5] was born in Cape Town, South Africa ...

Chapters will refer to each other when overlap occurs. For example, when the Rechtman family appears in the Wybranczyk chapter, a notation in the following format will be included with a person's information: "See the Rechtman family chapter for more information about this line."

Endnotes and footnotes abound. Because these genealogies were produced as part of a long and well-documented research process, almost every event was annotated by a source or sometimes multiple sources. An "event" might be the very knowledge that a person existed or it might be a more ordinary meaning such as a birth, engagement or a wedding. During the research, it is very common that one source or informant (be it an interview, a letter or a census record) refers to a multitude of persons. Hence, when annotating the genealogy, that source appears in the citation for many persons and events. In order to save time and space, repetitive sources appear in their short form, with only the first appearance available as a full citation. Furthermore, information that is relevant to the immediate reading of a genealogy appears as a footnote. Endnotes appear at the end of each chapter.

Throughout the genealogies and the narratives I have included quotations from articles, letters and other notes, including my own imaginary scenarios that relate to a person or a family. These appear within a genealogy as "From My Research Journal" entries. Within the text Family Names appear in bold, and citations appear in italics.

A full index is available to help the reader find references to persons in the book and to some place-names and events. The table of content describes the interior format of each Family Chapter. Several appendices are available, describing mostly precious narratives that I felt could not be ignored but could not be incorporated into their family's genealogy. Appendices were written primarily by contributors other than myself and are wholly unedited and unverified.

A note about name spelling:

Standardized name spelling was introduced late in the 1800s. In my research, I adhere to the principle that the original spelling is used. Because a name was often transliterated between languages, there is no consistent manner in which to spell it. Most variations occur in names from the 19th century and prior. For example, Wybranczyk (Polish) is also spelled Webranchek (English) and Vebranchik (Hebrew) as well as spelling in Russian and Yiddish. Because names like Wynbranczyk, Shiplicoff and Sher were not standardized when a record containing them was created, the readers are advised to be creative in searching for names or trying to pronounce them. Contemporary names also have their pitfalls: names from Hebrew, Spanish and German were transliterated here and could result in a different spelling than, say, the way the name bearer himself spells his own name. I must apologize in advance to any such inconsistency and ask that you contact me with the correct name spelling.


FOREWORD


Among the greater achievements of mankind are the written records of its heritage. And yet on the personal, individual and family level there is so much that was never recorded - more the pity!

It is with gratification and gratitude that I note the appreciation of so many closely, and not so closely related families to my grandson, Yigal, who in this work - monumental for all the branches of his parents' families in the most extended form.

What started out as a schoolboy's task, engendered in him an unsatiable curiosity and inquisitiveness about his roots, forebearer's and antecedents. It has developed into a "major opus".

This research, painstakingly undertaken, has doubtless afforded him a sense of achievement. It however also did much more. I doubt if he ever anticipated the renewal and consolidation of so many family ties. Persons dimly aware of the fact that there might be cousins four and five times removed somewhere made contact with each other.

In the twilight of my years as an octogenarian, making the acquaintance of so many distant relatives which contacts warms to fond attachment is heartwarming.

I will be eternally grateful as, no doubt, are the hundreds whose antecedents and common bond have been traced by Yigal. The outcome of his persistence in making contacts and following up on the slimmest leads is a work which affords pleasure and gratification to so many.

It will remain a memorial of past generations for the present, and for generations to come.

.

Solly Rechtman

Kibbutz Tsora, Israel

March 10, 1997


INTRODUCTION


One's reflection is one's identity. One might be reflected in the mirror, and can see one's self. The familial past can be such a mirror. Using it, we can sense where one's identity derived from. In my life, I choose to see my own reflection through the study of my family history because it has so many "mirrors" that reflect on my own life.

Knowledge is like a mountain. From its very bottom it looks like a wall. But as you climb its peeks you discover that each intermediate peek is only a step towards the higher peek. One such intermediate peak is the ability to tell a story. It's a learned skill and in a sense, a form of production. It's a skill because -- I believe -- that a communicative person is a successful one. For example: the well-versed person has more chance of success than the "regular" person. Unlike mere productivity, Art is also an integral part of contemporary communication: the artist leaves behind her an expression of an idea, adding to the accumulation of human consciousness.

In my family history research I have maintained three elements: research, preservation and communication. The time frame I imposed upon myself was roughly fifteen years - from start to finish, five for each element. Now the time has come to struggle with the more complicated task of the trio: communication. The artistic expertise required becomes complex because the research and preservation processes never cease to halt: I discover more family-branches all the time; new material is always surfacing. However, I feel that it is important to keep - more or less - with this schedule, because the research and preservation effort are moot without their complement, communication of the findings.

Research is the first step of getting hold of the facts. It is incorrectly assumed by some that facts teach us about real life's experiences. For instance, the fact that my forebear was born in 1889 and died in 1984 tells me little about his life; furthermore, such facts reflect nothing about me. Still, to get the "inside story" of one's heritage, facts are crucial foundation stones. When scientifically reconstructed and verified they prove to be helpful in the process of preservation.

Accordingly, preserving the family's heritage requires using every aspect that is derived from factual cognition. I have tried to preserve family stories, artifacts, photos and memorabilia. This is the stuff that a persons' life is made off. Imagination, a non-factual process indeed, is also helpful. At times I have used fictioned reconstructions of a family's life by imagining, for example, the influence of historic events on the family. Some of the preserved material, mostly in the form of oral history, is included in this publication. The rest, mostly audio- and visual-documents are safely stored for those more interested and for special gatherings of family members.

I therefor humbly submit a first draft of my family's history. It is labeled a "draft" because I intend to submit a revised one, in the time frame of another fifteen years. Just as I found the groundwork of our recent family history waiting to be told by the family elders, old Bibles or torn photos, so I shall use the current cycle's end as the basis for next cycle: research, preservation and - maybe - another publication. Thus, such a work is an antithesis to the dialectic process: the more you struggle with it the farther the end seems.

1. 1 Genealogy here will be interchangably used with "family". Although the subject on a whole is called Genealogy, the term here refers to a family that carries the same last name through several generations.