Finding The Dead

Stanczyk ‘s wife, (moja żona, Tereza Eliasz-Solomon) is Jewish. Jewish genealogy is even harder then Polish genealogy … due to so much documentation being destroyed or too little remaining.

 

So I knew her paternal grandmother (Bessie Wolf). I knew of her brother Harry Wolf. I was pretty sure their father was Israel Wolf whose wife had many variations on her first name. I knew Harry’s wife’s name (Rose Itskowicz another family probably from Maramures region (modern day Romania and part now in Ukraine (Drahovo/Kovesliget). So with these tiny bits and records being added to the Internet (Ancestry, FamilySearch, JewishGen, etc.), I have been able to knit together a smallish narrative and more importantly enlarge it.

 

So I found a death certificate for Harry Wolf. I knew his wife, his birth (roughly), his death, his parents names. But I did learn his FINAL residence/address. I wrote it down (good genealogist) in the tree. I decide to look for his siblings on the basis of Wolf, died in Philly, with a father named ISRAEL. Just those bits and then proceed through each one and look at the mother’s name (for Nancy, Nessie, Gussie, etc.). 

 So I found a Samuel Wolf. I had Simon, Samuel, Max, Louis and my wife’s grandmother, Bessie. I never knew Samuel’s wife’s name. In Samuel’s death certificate, his wife precede him in death (pity, her name was needed). But he had the right parent names so I was getting comfortable. His birth location and birth date were in the tolerance for correct. So I was more comfortable. I looked at the Informant. His name was Harry Wolf. Unfortunately, Wolf is a common name in Philadelphia (Christian and Jewish families) and Harry & Samuel were common Wolf first names. Oh, the Informant’s address was there? Well what do you know it was the newly learned address for Harry Wolf (who died after his brother Samuel). So, I had reached 100% certainty now. Two death certificates juxtaposed against each other with slim tidbits of info and I had furthered my wife’s family history!

Chust, Xyct, Khust, Hust, Huszt … Synagogue for Kovesliget, Drahiv, Drahovo, Drahova — #Genealogy #Jewish #HapsburgEmpire #Maramaros

The earliest mention of a Jewish presence in Kovesliget (Drahiv) is from 1735 when there were two Jewish families. By 1746 they had been counted as 17 (5 men, 5 women, and six children). In both instances the names were not recorded.

By 1768, there were a total of 16 individuals, including: Wolva (that is, Wolf), the head of a family of four, paying the sum of 12 florins per year rent; So this is the earliest mention of Stanczyk’s wife’s family. These scant details are from:  Sefer Marmarosh; as translated by Moshe A. Davis (accessed at https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/maramures/mar270.html on 02/26/2019). Drahiv/Kovesliget was the village where they lived and the synagogue was in Chust. 

From FamilySearch – https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSK8-NS94-9?i=31&cat=231564, I found a census of the Maramaros region for Koveslegit on image 43 of 693 for Kovesligeth (starting at image 32), I found at line 104: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSK8-NSM1-H?i=42&cat=231564

I found Stryj Volvovits (Jud). It was in 1828 Census. 

When going back to Moshe A. Davis ‘s work (from above), He mentions:

62 years later, in 1830, Drahiv was already well-populated by Jews, in comparison to other neighboring villages. There can be no question that in the first third of the 19th century that there was already established in Drahiv a proper Jewish community with all of the institutions necessary for it’s proper functioning and development; that is, the triple foundation of a synagogue in which to pray and learn, a mikvah, and (to distinguish between the living and those who already have passed on) a Jewish cemetery.

This growth of the Jewish communtity of Drahiv is found recorded in a manuscript in the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest which lists the names of 18 heads of Jewish households from Drahiv, totalling 99 individual family members. A photocopy of this manuscript exists in the University of Tel Aviv (Muller Collection). The names listed are as follows (the numbers in parentheses is the number of individuals in each family):

Isaac Hofman (8, including a Jewish servant);
Barko Shimonovits (7);
Yanko Leibovits (10);
Mendel Zelikovits (3);
Moshko Hershkovits (6);
Sruli (=Yisroel) Wolfowitz (4);
Marko Shimonovits (10);
Folk Leibovits (4);
Yecheskel Davidovits (3);
Tzala (=Betzalel?) Davidovits (7);
Marko Sheyovits (9);
Chayim Sheyovits (3);
Pinchas Chaimovits (4);
Moshko Leibovits (4);
Hillel Leibovits (6);
Shlomo Gedaliyovits (6);
Itzko Hershkovits (3);
Shimon Itzkovits (2).

I see Sruli Wolfowitz in this 1830 census. Sruli is I am confident the same Stryj Volvovits from 1828. So perhaps Sruli/Stryj/Israel is the earliest forbear from which we have a full name.

 

Now these Wolva/Volvovits/Wolfowitz are all the same family and I am afraid you will have to take my word for it right now. I will be offering a further genealogical proof from US records (ship manifests, tickets records, HIAS records, etc.) that will make the case for these names being the same family who came to  Eastern PA (and some on towards Cleveland). My interest is in my wife’s family who settled in Philadelphia as the WOLF family (a common name to be sure).