Why is this site named Flora-and-Sam.com?
My name is Joan (Weller) Engel. My parents, Flora Pomerantz and Sam Weller are the starting point for this website. Their parents came to the US from what were then the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires. Today, the towns our ancestors came from are in the countries of Belarus, Lithuania and Poland. Throughout this website, when it states someone came from Russia or Austria, it means they came from the Russian Empire or the Austrian Empire.
PLEASE BE AWARE: We have done our best to report information accurately, but erroneous assumptions, imprecise reporting and incomplete facts all contribute to potential faux pas. To compound the issue, many of our ancestors used significant variations of their names and the names of their ancestral towns. For example, Chaia, Chaje, Chaia, Ida, Annie and Anna all refer to the same person! We have opted for capturing the original flavor rather than ensuring consistency. This may prove to be confusing at times and we apologize in advance for the confusion. If you notice inaccuracies, please let us know.
The website traces Flora and Sam's ancestors as far back as we have been able to track them to date, and it also includes descendants of those ancestors. We have attempted to provide some historical and geographical context and have included some links for further research you may find useful.
INSTRUCTIONS: Double click image, hover your mouse over the image until a gizmo appears in the lower right hand corner. Click the gizmo to enlarge the image.
How to use this site and help keep it current...
BE SURE YOUR BROWSER ALLOWS POP-UPS and REMEMBER TO BOOKMARK THIS SITE!
The best way to explore the site is to click on a family name on the navigation bar on the left. That will get you to the family history page. Don't miss the family information links on the right side of the screens!
Additional information, such as maps and immigration details, are listed on the left hand side of the screen below the family names. Don't miss these sections as they provide considerable background information on each of the families. If you get lost, try using the SITE MAP to find your way around.This site is a work in progress and your input is welcome. For those of you who have already sent corrections, please know that we tried to include everything you sent, but may have missed some. If we still don't have it right, please send your corrections again and we will do our best to get it right next time. For those of you who have not yet contributed, please E-MAIL updates, additions and corrections of family information along with your comments, suggestions, documents and photographs, so that we can include them in your family albums. To memorialize as many of our ancestors as possible, we would like to include your memories of them. Please use the link below to record your thoughts or email eulogies, anecdotes or biographical information for inclusion in the MEMORIAL SECTION of this site.
NOTE: If the email link above does not work with your browser I can be reached at: joan.engel@gmail.com
Acknowledgements
Thanks go to so many relatives for generously helping with this site. However, several merit special mention: Neil Frieser for beginning the journey; Toni Fine for inspiring and developing the memorial section; Gloria Cohen for persistent editing; Miriam Kelty and Richard and Helen Albertson for their encouragement and feedback; Sibi Shuman for her enthusiasm; and David Katz, Shirley Morson, Rozzie Gottlieb and so many others, too numerous to mention here, for sharing their memories and photos. Finally, I would be seriously remiss if I didn't mention the countless hours of research and analysis my husband Bobby contributed to this family history. Were it not for him, much of this information would not be here.