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Our Family History

“Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.” JOEL 1:3

Undocumented genealogy is mythology!
I used to have a life, then I started doing genealogy!
Hi Ho! Hi Ho! Where did my ancestors go?
Life is too short and you are dead too long!
If you want to find a needle in a haystack, you've got to be scientific about it. Otherwise it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Pruning the family tree is NOT permitted!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Site History

 

 

Stay tuned for more updates! Wish I had more time to capture all the updates that have been sent to me! I have kept them all and will eventually get them all loaded.

IFYOU HAVE OTHER CORRECTIONS, ADDITIONS OR UPDATES, PLEASE EMAIL ME. THANKS. If this link does not work for you, please try: joan.engel@gmail.com

If you have sent me corrections before and I still have not gotten it right (or gotten it at all), PLEASE let me know. It is not easy to keep it all straight! THANKS!

Changes made December 2010 (9th release):

UPDATES & CORRECTIONS:

  • DUBINER / RUBIN FAMILY - Many updates were made to this family history:

  • It was determined that Isaac DUBINER never actually immigrated to the US and his brother-in-law David GRUSHKIN came using Isaac's passport.

  • We discovered a new brother Moishe whose family went to Israel and Argentina (Moishe's siblings were Chana Raisel, Schrage-Feivel, Ahron-Michal, and Schje DUBINER).

  • MYSTERY: We still have no information about Schje DUBINER nor have we ascertained whether or not Frieda DUBINER-CHESSLER was actually a DUBINER sibling.

  • DUBINER Trees and Descendant Lists have been updated.

  • Attribute added for Radin information.

 

Changes made June 2009 (8th release):

UPDATES & CORRECTIONS:

  • Cemetery Maps were updated to include Menorah Gardens map in FL where my sister, Carol Frieser is buried. And additional headstone photos were added: Perlman, Udin, Blinderman.
  • SAFER/SEIFER FAMILY - Research conducted in the Grodno Historical Archives in Belarus turned up some very interesting information. For starters we identified the rest of Genach SAFER's children and now have either confirmed or corrected birthdates for most of them and we have gone backwards another generation to the 1780's! The trees, the history and the list of descendants have all been corrected and seriously updated.
  • New KATZ family members have been discovered! Information on Chetzkal KATZ and Celia KATZ-PERLMAN, siblings of Chaye-Malka KATZ-SEIFER have been added to the site.
  • BLINDERMAN - Corrections made to dates based on SAFER research.
  • QUATINSKY/KIVATINITZ - Information on the Argentine branch has been updated.
  • The Maps album was updated to include a detailed street map of Pruzhany in the 1930's - complete with shops and residences.
  • All Trees and Descendant lists were updated with the info that has been sent to us over time. (major effort!)

COMING SOON: updates of ship manifests and all photo albums!

Changes made April 2009 (7th release):

UPDATES & CORRECTIONS:

There have been some updates to the Mystery Page ... as some mysteries have been solved. A few corrections have been made thoughout the site and some Wysokie-Litovsk info has been deleted upon request of W-L researchers. I have also added some tributes and memorials. My personal favorite is the article on my 86-year old cousin Shirley who still volunteers as a tutor in NYC public schools.

In May 2008, Bobby and I went to the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen with the first group of Jewish researchers to visit. The ITS is the German repository of Holocaust records. We went in the hopes of identifying family members who perished in the Holocaust. Our trip report was published in DOROT, a geneaology publication. We have also included it on the site.

Many of you have sent me updates to family info as well as photos. While I have captured this info in Family Tree Maker, I have not had the time to upload the new trees, descendant charts, etc. to this site. So while I have captured your information, it may not yet be reflected on this site.

Here's the technical explanation of how this works: Bobby and I get info and do research. I load the info into Family Tree Maker where it sits until I export it in the form of charts, trees and lists. All those charts, trees and lists then need to get transferred to Dreamweaver (the software I use to build this site) and then I need to upload my local version of what's on Dreamweaver to the host server. To add photos or ship manifests, etc., I need to re-configure albums in Dreamweaver. There are hundreds of albums and adding one photo requires reconfiguring an entire album. All of this takes HOURS and HOURS of time and unfortunately I have only been able to capture the info ... without having the time to make charts, transfer and upload data or re-run albums.

I apologize to all who are waiting to see their updated info on this site. We do this as a labor of love and do the best we can. I've gone back to working full time and rarely get a chance to work on this. At some point in the future I hope to be able to do a full update and include all your info. In the meantime, please continue to send me your information. I do really keep it all and one day I hope to get it on this site.

Changes made Jan/April 2008 (5th & 6th release):

SITE IMPROVEMENTS:

  • Added a link to cousin Matt Stein's website ... where he has a graphical family tree of SAFER descendants. This is a must see!

UPDATES & CORRECTIONS:

  • Site Contributor List updates (thanks to all who have helped provide and correct information!)
  • a huge amount of DUBINER information added and corrected
  • NEW POMERANTZ BRANCH DISCOVERED! David, Israel and Sam Pomerantz did have a brother named CHARLES!

PHOTOS & DOCUMENTS ADDED:

  • DONSKY photos added
  • Immigration Timeline for Ahron-Michal DUBINER's family's immigration
  • Ships added: Viola, Tongariro, Graf Waldersee

ANCESTRAL TOWNS:

  • ZELVA information added (some WELLER's and ENGELSON's came from ZELVA)

Changes made December 2007 (4th release):

SITE IMPROVEMENTS:

  • Family Tree Buttons added
  • Most descendant lists have been updated
  • Stay tuned ... trees to be updated soon

CORRECTIONS:

  • Bessie ZEMSER-WELLER immigration and marriage information corrected
  • Selig SAFER immigration information corrected
  • STRELETSKAJA info updated and corrected

DOCUMENTS ADDED:

  • ZEMSER ship manifests
  • Wellwood Cemetery map - Pomerantz (Elsie, Sam & Lorraine); Bessie Weller
  • Headstones updated

PHOTOS & DOCUMENTS ADDED:

  • Bessie ZEMSER-WELLER headstone photo added
  • ZEMSER family photos added
  • STEIN family photos added

ANCESTRAL TOWNS:

  • New maps and info for all ancestral towns
  • Russian names added to towns

Changes made as of June 15, 2007 (since 3rd release):

MYSTERIES SOLVED / NEW MYSTERIES ADDED:

  • Ann Lynne Pomeranz identified
  • added ENGELSON mystery to WELLER section
  • Are we related to the FRIEDMANs, SAFERs, DUBINERs, POMERANTZs on the Kartuz-Bereza Yizkor List?

FAMILY MEMBERS ADDED:

  • All trees and descendant lists have been updated with newly identified relatives - specifically new info on: BEREZNIAK's, BLINDERMAN's , DUBINER's, GRODEN's, SAFER's, SCHMUCKLER's, STRELETZKAJA's
  • Taylor KELTY

DOCUMENTS ADDED:

  • WELLER / ZEMSER - added ship manifest for Kasriel, Sura & Louie Wealer; Flora & Sam Weller marriage certificate
  • POMERANTZ - added Charles & Lil Friedman marriage certificate, Sam Pomeranz death certificate, William Radish WWI draft registration

PHOTOS ADDED:

  • Taylor KELTY and several others

NAMESAKES & LIST OF SURNAMES UPDATED.

ANCESTRAL TOWNS:

  • maps added

Changes made as of May 1, 2006 (since 2nd release):

  • MYSTERIES SOLVED:

    • Photo of Louis & Rose Bresnik with sons Leibl and Nathan identified by Norma Cavey
    • (see note under corrections re: ROSIE POMERANTZ photo)
    • AVRUM MENDEL FRIEDMAN (destination of Pauline Pomerantz upon immigration) has been identified.

    FAMILY MEMBERS ADDED:

    • STRELSER/STRELETSKY/STRELETSKAJA - many!
    • FRIEDMAN's, BEREZNIAK's - related to the SAFER's
    • POMERANTZ descendants updated
    • ZEMSER descendants updated
    • also ... new information on JACK SAFER, STRELETZKAJA's, BEREZNIAK's, SAFER's BLINDERMAN's

    IMMIGRATION INFORMATION ADDED:

    • The BEREZNIAK's - Herschel, Chana, Louis and Rose added.
    • Avrum-Mendel and Chana FRIEDMAN added.
    • Ship photos added: SS Statendam, SS New York, Eisenach, President Grant, SS Barcelona, SS Moltke
    • STRELSERS: Charles & Israel (Little Izzy) - ship photos and manifest added

    PHOTOS ADDED:

    • STRELETSKAJA descendants

    NAMESAKES & LIST OF SURNAMES UPDATED.

    ANCESTRAL TOWNS:

    • PRUZHANY town maps added
    • Additional maps of PRUZHANY and WYSOKIE-LITOVSK added
    • Additional photos of PRUZHANY and KOBRIN added

    CORRECTIONS:

    • Photo correction: A photo in the mystery section incorrectly identified! We thought it was ROSIE POMERANTZ and four of her children but it turns out to be Chaia-Sarah Safer BLINDERMAN and four of her children.
    • Sam ZEMSER, not Hymie ZEMSER, died in March 1952
    • SAFER - BLINDERMAN family information updated and corrected
    • STRELETSKAJA history and descendants revised and enhanced (again)
    • Hyman FRIEDMAN (m. Jennie Pomerantz) is Avrum-Mendel FRIEDMAN's brother
    • NATEY POMERANTZ offspring updated

Changes made as of October 9, 2005 (since first release) :

  • The SEARCH ENGINE became functional.
  • FAMILY TREE CHARTS added to each descendant list.
  • THREE MYSTERIES SOLVED:
    • Photo identified- photo of a "dapper gent" turns out to be ZELIG SAFER.
    • Photo clarified - photo of ROSIE POMERANTZ and four of her children was taken earlier than originally thought. The reason only four of her children show up is because the other two were born at a later date.
    • MARIASHA STRELECKAJA did have at least one other sibling ... MORDECHAI. His offspring are detailed in the STRELECKAJA HISTORY section.
  • CEMETERY PAGE - updated to include additional Hebrew and Yiddish words found on tombstones or on cemetery gates.
  • IMMIGRATION INFORMATION added for:
    • DUBINERS: BASCHE-CHAYIE, SORE-BEILA, SCHENE and ETTEL.
    • STRELSERS: BIG IZZY & LITTLE IZZY, and ROSE
  • PHOTOS added to these albums:
    • NATHAN and PAULINE POMERANTZ's descendants (from Melissa and Greg Friedman's wedding) and new babies
    • FANNIE and NATHAN HERSHKOWITZ's descendants;
    • KASRIL, GUSSIE and LENA (WELLER)
  • CORRECTIONS:
    • ANNA (SAFER) WEISENFELD's death place
    • Ages of DAVID and ROSIE POMERANTZ's offspring (Pomerantz history was revised to reflect this)
    • MAX STERN (son of ESTHER ZEMSER), rather than his father Morris Stern, died in an airplane crash sometime before 1943. Max may have been the pilot of the aircraft.
    • STRELETSKAJA history and descendants revised and enhanced.
    • LYONS family details updated and corrected.
  • FAMILY MEMBERS ADDED:
    • SAFER descendants: RINA RALL and MARCO BOARDMAN (wife and son of ROBERT BOARDMAN)
    • DUBINERS: SORE-BEILA, SCHENE and ETTEL.
    • STRELSER/STRELETSKY/STRELETSKAJA - many!
  • NAMESAKES updated.
  • NAVIGATION IMPROVED - added links to make returning from photo and document albums easier. (hopefully!)
  • Grammatical and other minor edits were made throughout the site. Let me know if screen fonts are big enough!
  • ANCESTRAL TOWNS - WYSOKIE-LITOVSK and RADIN history added.

 

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DISCLAIMER: THIS IS WORK IN PROGRESS. WE ARE NOT SURE THIS INFORMATION IS ENTIRELY CORRECT, AND WE KNOW IT IS INCOMPLETE.
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