DOLHINOV NEWSLETTER/ NUMBER 4,
Circulation 80
Edited by Barry Rubin
For a list of 153 members of the Dolhinower Young MenŐs Burial Society at Mt. Hebron Cemetery outside New York see:
http://www.mounthebroncemetery.com/search.asp
You can either put in the specific name you want or type in Dolhinower under Society to see full list. Burials were conducted from 1912 with one as recent as February 2008.
Lots of new research and information. My original mailing went to about two dozen people and now we are at about 80. Mailings have also been sent to Leon Rubin to Hebrew-speakers—so thatŐs probably a hundred or so in total.
Please note that due to the press of work I am not able to edit and respond as much as I like. I have finished a full analysis of the Rubins and of the Grosbeins in Dolhinov, 1775-1800 which I will send to anyone who wants it. I hope this will be a model for future work to compose full genealogies.
Do see if you can add to the information below or help those who have questions.
Are people willing to be family captains, to gather all the information on a specific Dolhinov family and collate everything? This means all the people of a given last name not just those who are your direct ancestors?
BARRY CHERNICK WRITES ABOUT THE DOLHINOV SOCIETY
But itŐs not good news. He explains that there was once a Dolhinov society in NY, a burial society for Washington Cemetery and another one. ŇThe society is now defunct and unfortunately the records were all destroyed before Ellis Rolett found the
last person who had been keeping the records. So no records are left. I do not know of
any other Dolhinov society.Ó
Thanks, Barry, if anyone knows more please tell us.
GOOD SITE
HereŐs a site well worth visiting if you havenŐt seen it:
http://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/newsletter/authors.htm
It includes lots of articles on history and genealogy of Belarus.
amazing dolhinov coincidences
--I have met at least four Dolhinov people in my normal life without knowing any of them were from Dolhinov. One is an old professional friend, a second is the husband of our interior decorator, a third is someone who interviewed me for a newspaper article, and a fourth is someone I work with. I had no idea of their Dolhinov connection until recently.
--Two cousins from Dolhinov--one whose family emigrated to South Africa and a second whose family stayed and survived the Shoah--both now live in Israel, work in the same academic department in the same university...and their offices are three doors away.
AND HERE ARE SOME MORE FROM EILAT:
I also
have many neat stories about the places I created pages for.for Dolginovo;
1. My mother in
Rehovot showed Chanik Golan/Gultz, her friend and neighbor for 50 years! , the
sites I created. Chanik said " My husband Yechezkel is from
Dolginovo!!!" He is Yechezkel Golan (Goltz) from Rehovot, his sister
is Dr. Goltz-
Doytch Miryam of Haifa. Both holocaust survivors from Dolginovo.
2. I
read in the Yizkor book the tragic story by Batya Sosensky Kramer ; "My
Brother Yosef And His Wife Katia Sosensky - Killed In The Hands Of Arab
Terrorists". Yosef was able to save much of his family during the
Holocaust and came to Israel with his non Jewish wife. I knew that the story
sounded very familiar and realized that I heard it from my mother. Some years
ago she told me about the son of her best friend from early childhood in
Bizaron, Nechama Shor. The son married Maya nee Sosenski, the daughter of Yosef
and Katia. Maya was driving the car that was attacked by the Terrorists. Since
then I was able to unite Maya' aunt: Batia, with relatives in the U.S ( who
wrote me some emails about Alperovitz from Dolginovo) who sent her a picture of
her grandfather whom she has never seen!
3. Via Jewishgen family finder I was able to find a distant
relative from the Kramnik family of Kurenets who came to America c 1900. I
spoke to them and they told me that they are related to Dov Rapson who they do
not know how to find. I found him and he was also a survivor from Dolginovo!
ANOTHER SITE TO TRY
http://www.jewishgen.org/gedcom/ Dolhinov gets 60 hits on different available family trees.
JUDY PARIS: A DOLHINOV VISIT AND ANCESTOR MYSTERIES
"Judy Paris" judyparis@optonline.net writes: The newsletters have been wonderful - good to know I'm
not alone in trying to learn about my family and our ties to Dolhinov. We spent
several hours in Dolhinov in July (as well as other areas in both Belarus and
Lithuania) with a wonderful guide/researcher. Some of my photos are at:
http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/dolhinov/dolhinov.html
I can't begin to describe how I felt walking into a barn
that was once the synagogue that my grandparents probably prayed in, and also
exploring the cemetery.
My grandfather spoke very little about his life in Vilnius and Dolhinov, but
he often said how much he loved Dolhinov and how beautiful 'Vilna' was (and
still is).
We also went to the archives in Minsk and paid to have them search
for our
family, even though they kept saying that all the records were in Vilnius.
Needless to say they found nothing. Perhaps my information might ring a bell
with the others who will read this.
Our family surname was some variation of Kapalovich,
Kopliovich,Capliovich,
etc etc - take your pick! It became Kaplan, Caplan in the US. We know my
great-grandfather Israel was born in Dolhinov around 1860 and married Gittel
Leah Kunkin aka Gertrude probably from Minsk. It seems that their 5 sons and
one daughter were all born in Vilnius. When and why they left Dolhinov is
unknown. They were:
Mere (Mary) b. 1880, Zalman (Samuel) b. 1881, Lazar
(Louis) b. 1884,
Yosef (Joseph), my grandfather, b. 1887, Avrom (Abraham) b. 1888, and Simon
Mordecai - Mutke (Max) b. 1890.
At some point, however, my grandfather Joseph returned to live in
Dolhinov
and he and his wife, Ida Barkin (from Kodonow) had their first two children
while living there. They were:
Schaie (Seymour) b. 1908 and Gittel-Gussie (Lillian) b. 1909
(probably named for her grandmother who may have been dead by then). All the
sons and daughter had emigrated to New York by 1912 and they all remained in
the area. Israel stayed behind and died around 1925. Something drove them to
all decide to leave their homes and make a better, safer life for their
children. I wouldn't be here now if not for that heroic, terribly difficulty,
decision.
There is another part of the mystery of my family. What happened to
Gittel?
We know Israel remarried and my grandfather referred to the second wife as
"the wicked step-mother" but we never knew her name. Ironically our
only photo of Israel is with the second wife.
There is also another Kopelovich Family who share an ancestor named
Israel and we've been trying to see if we do indeed share the same one. If so,
then wife # 2 was Bat Sheva Kugel and in fact she was much loved by their 6
more children.
I hope we're related because I've visited some of that family in Israel
where they emigrated to (except those who were killed ), and had an amazing
visit, and we'll be meeting another member later this month in Washington DC.
So, if any of this makes any sense or sounds familiar to someone, I'd
love
to hear from you: judyparis@optonline.net
I live in New York. Judy
GITLINS
Thia Gitlin Persoff is a genealogist of the Gitlin
family of Dolhinov. The Gitlins were 13 brothers and sisters and consequently
their descendents are numerous and fascinating...One became a nun, one (who was
reputed to be a stunning beauty) eloped
with a British officer and moved to England after the mandate. A few years back
there was a reunion and they gathered members from the corners of the
earth....Thia has made a hobby of building the Gitlin Family tree which now
goes back many generations and spreads out over hundreds of people.
Thia
Persov at birth and they have been married since 1951 with 4 kids. She is
involved in genealogy and lives in Cambria, California. thiap2@charter.net
Nehemiah Persoff
Spouse: name Persov
children; Jeffrey Jonathan Persoff
Perry Erez Persoff
Dan Deckel Persoff
Dahlia Persoff -Birth Date: 30 Oct 1962
her mother was Mina Gitlin
Born: Jun 1898
Lodz, Poland ( the family must have moved from Dolginovo to
Lodz in 1897)
Died: Feb 1980
Raanana, Israel
Her grandfather:
Gershon Moshe Gitlin
Born: 1865
Kreisk, Russia ( I know that it is very near Dolhinov, by 1890 the
family lived in Dolginovo)
Died: 1932
Lodz, Poland
I see that some of her mothers brother and sisters were born in Dolginovo:
Children Sex Birth
Mala Gitlin
Jan Ya Akov Gitlin
Dora Dvorah Gitlin F 1890 in Dolginov, Russia
Yitzkhak Issac Gitlin M 1892 in Dolginov, Russia
Betzalel Gitlin M 1894 in Dolginov, Russia
Shlomo Gitlin Hagity M May 1897 in Dolginov, Russia
Mina Gitlin F Jun 1898 in Lodz, Poland
Dinna Gitlin F 30 Jan 1901 in Lodz, Poland
Golda Ginna Gitlin F 5 Feb 1904 in Lodz, Poland
Mashah Gitlin F 1905 in Lodz, Poland
Bronek M. Bear D. Gitlin M 1906 in Lodz, Poland
Arek Aharon Gitlin M 1907 in Lodz, Poland
Fella Fanya Gitlin F 10 Apr 1912 in Lodz, Poland
Jan Jakov Gitlin M 3 Aug 1915 in Lodz, Poland
the grandmother; Sarah Khaya Weiner
Born: 1870
Kutno, Poland
Died: 1921
Lodz, Poland
---------------------
the great grandfather; Mordekhai Bear Gitlin
Born: 1808
Dubrovna, Belarus
Died: 1895
Dolginov, Russsia,
Spouse 1
Nekhama
Born: Kreisk, Russia
Marriage: 1824 in Kreisk, Russia
Children Sex Birth
Name Unknown Gitlin
Mina Khaya
Leah Gitlin (B: )
Sarah Gitlin (B: )
Hersh Gitlin (B: )
Gershon Moshe Gitlin (B: 1865)
Malka Gitlin (B: 1867)
Spouse 2
Mina Khaya
Born: Zhambin, Minsk, Belarus
Died: 1869 in Dolginov, Russia
Marriage: abt 1864
Children Sex Birth
Leah Gitlin F
Sarah Gitlin F
Hersh Gitlin M
Gershon Moshe Gitlin M 1865 in Kreisk, Russia
Malka Gitlin
MORE ON GROSBEINS by Eilat Gordin Levitan
No report about the Grosbein family should be without the most amazing story of survival of Chaim Grosbein. In 1942, at age six, he escaped the killing after his family hiding place was discovered.
His father ( Hirsh, son of Bela and Mendel, grandson of Shmuel Grosbein) was killed at the start of the war. His mother ( Haya, daughter of Shmuel and Chana Hefetz, born in 1907) and brother were taken by the Nazis and killed during that day of the last actzia ( July, 1942) . Chaim hid and they ( the Nazis and their collaborators) did not see him. After some hours he came out of the hiding place to find many dead in the streets of Dolhinov. He looked for his family members amongst the bodies. He met a few other survivors who also came out of hiding and they started running away from Dolginovo as the Nazis discovered them and started shooting. Chaim was shot, wounded, left all alone. He survived by hiding in the forest and eating (at nights) food that the farmers gave to the pigs. Somehow surviving all alone the cold winters starting at age six! he manage to survive the next 2 years of war ( a few times he was helped by the Soviet partisans)
After the war he grew up in a Soviet orphanage and later joined the Red Army. At age 20 he was done with his service and did not know where to go next. When asked what he remmembered of prewar times, he only knew the name of a place "Dolihnov"
Someone helped him find it. He took a train and arrived in Dolginovo in the middle 1950s'.
There were still some Jewish survivors who lived in Dolginovo at that point. The Christians he encountered sent him to one of their homes. He knocked on the door and when they opened it they started screaming. He looked just like his dead father!
They told him that a cousin survived. Eventually he was reunited with his cousin and came to Israel. Chaim' devoted sons sent me many pictures of the family
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/grosbein.html
they also sent a family tree
From Yad Vashem:
Hirsh Grozbein was born in Dolginov in 1905 to Mendel and Beyla. He was a butcher shop owner and married to Chaya nee Chefets. Prior to WWII he lived in Dolginov, Poland. Hirsh perished in 1942 in Dolginov, Poland at the age of 30. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 09-May-1999 by his son, a Shoah survivor
|
Grozbein Shmuel |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Grozbeyn Khaya |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FROM THE AMINETZAHS ON GROSBEINS AND OTHERS
"Aminetzah T. & Y." t_y_d_aminetzah@bezeqint.net:
My wife Tsipora and I would like to wish you and your families Shana Tova.
I am very interested in your project. As you may recall I met you at this yearŐs Dolhinov memorial telling you also about my extended family visit at Dolhinov and Lithuania.
I visited the graveyard as well, but not long enough, as it was close to sunset.
I am the Grandson of Eidel Dokshitski אידל (יהודה) דוקשיצקי The melamed) who was well known and respected among the previous generation of Dolhinovites - only few are still with us. Eidal died before the "first action' I guess late '41 or beginning of '42. I hope you can find his grave and I will visit again! BTW, his wife Feige (Died in the actions) maiden name was, I think, Ruderman.
Looking for more information and hoping for a successful project.
Pinchas Grosbein was from, only that he had a brother and maybe other siblings whom he travelled to visit. He would have been born about 1855. His son Nosen Haim Grosbein was born in 1880 and had 3 sons named Shmuel, Yosef and Benjamin. I assume one of these sons was named for Pinchas's father. Shmuel, my father-in-law, was probably born in Lubch, Lyubcha? Shmuel said the family lived in "Jebin", perhaps Zhabin?
He also mentioned "Blemye". I haven't
managed to find a town by that name.
I have a picture of Pinchas, his wife, daughter-in-law and grandsons circa 1912
0r 1913. Do you have any Grosbein pictures? [See the Dolhinov site. I only have
pictures of Chaya Grosbein and her descendants in America. My aunt has a very
few pictures of her family murdered in Dolhinov--BR]
The Toronto Grosbeins listed at the end of your doc are
all related. Who is
Fran, "(in Fran's family's area -- definitely Jewish)"? The two
Paul Grosbeins
are cousins and were named for their great grand-father Pinchas Grosbein.
Have you been in touch with the Grosbeins in Siberia? I
enclose 3 pages from a
book called Testimonies of Conscience Sent from the Soviet Union to the War
Resisters' International, 1923-1929, by Peter Brock, published 1997, University
of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-9690997. Eugene Grosbein, whose name you can find in a
google search, is a grandson of Aaron Grosbein. Perhaps you already know this.
I
believe Aaron's father's name was Mordechai Leib.
And just to add a bit more, there was a Bessie (Bashe
Rivka) Grosbein, born
1894, whose father was Natan. She married Isaac Irving Hantman. The
family tree
is at: http://www.hantman.net/geneology/Hantman.htm
and a picture of her tombstone is at:
http://www.hantman.net/geneology/grovest/grovest.htm
For us here, until we can find a birth record for Pinchas Grosbein
who became
Nosen's father, we are at a roadblock.
Have a good week :-) Sara Elberg Rojzman Grosbein, Toronto
Barry writes: this is not necessarily true. When it comes to birth records on Dolhinov there donŐt seem to be any—there are Christian records in the Mormon microfilms of Dolhinov. Has anyone ever seen this to see if they are of any use? BUT there are tax, army, and police records. When we get those you will be amazed at what we find out.
AND EVEN MORE GROSBEINS!
Hi
Barry,
I have 3 pages copied from Brock's book many years ago. I saved and sent them
as
jpg in my last email. They looked good opened with irfanview,
http://www.irfanview.com/
Here I've attached them as pages 1, 2 & 3 rtf docs. If that doesn't
work I'll
take them to the office where I work and save as pdf.
I've also scanned and attached 2 letters I received in 1999 from Eugene
Grosbein's father. You might find them interesting. Please note that
these
Grosbeins have changed their surname to Grossbaum. I spoke to Rabbi
Zalman
Aaron Grossbaum, a Lubavitch rabbi in Toronto, in 1999. The whole family is in
the 'rabbi business' all over the world. I think he said they were from
Vilna
Gubernia. I've been meaning to meet him in person but never did.
And last, I've attached a picture we are sure is of Pinchas Grosbein, his wife
(name unknown, of course), daughter-in-law Hinda Markman Grosbein and 3
grandsons. The oldest was my father in law Shmuel. The picture is from 1912 or
so. Nosen Chaim Grosbein was on his way to Canada already.
By the way, Hinda often pronounced the name as Grozhbein. The yiddish of my
in-laws had a lot of zh or j sounds compared to my Polish family. And,
some
years ago a yiddish teacher told my brother-in-law that this Yiddish is from a
particular area. Unfortunately we're not sure where.
On my old pc I had some email correspondence with Lauri Lytton whose mother's
family were Grosbein, Grossbein, Grosbayne etc. With luck I may be able to
revive that pc and print some letters.
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~jgff~C
Jeanne Grosbayne Lytton (#3342) 4315 Kenyon Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90066
Unfortunately, with all these tidbits I still can't find a tie to any other
Grosbeins.
Happy hunting.
Sara Grosbein, Toronto
A REQUEST FOR HELP
Judy Paris <judyparis@optonline.net>
it has puzzled me for quite some time why we can't at least find information on my Aunt & Uncle Schaie (Seymour) b. 1908 and Gittel-Gussie (Lillian) b. 1909 who were definitely born in Dolhinov - we got that from the source (my Aunt Lil) who was 3 years old when they left. I suppose many births were not recorded then. My grandfather use to talk about his farm in Dolhinov which we believe he actually owned. I've searched all the
> records on JewishGen, etc etc with no luck.
SHULMANS
from Ellis.L.Rolett@Dartmouth.EDU -----
Andy Vladimir (my brother-in-law) and Ginny (my wife) are the children of Sarah
(Geraldine) Schulman Vladimir. Geraldine, who is
102 years old, is one of the 5 children of Hinda Rosen Schulman and Abraham
Schulman whom Lester references in his letter. Both Abraham and Hinda emigrated
to America from Dolhinov around the turn of the century as teenagers and married
in New York. Abraham was the clothing
manufacturer (women's cloaks) whom Lester mentions and also the owner of the
farm in upstate
New York (Kingston). Hinda was known as Anna. Abraham was very generous and
started many relatives in business. I wouldn't be surprised if he loaned Aaron
Rosen the money he used to start his cloak business. Abraham hired Nachum Rosen
(his father-in-law and Eliezer's brother) along with one of Nachum's sons to
run the Kingston farm. Abraham's business went bankrupt in the Great Depression, and he moved the family from Brooklyn to the farm in Kingston. He converted the farm
into a children's camp.
The family name was not originally Schulman (Shulman). Abraham's father was
Baruch Hofstein. Baruch was orphaned as a boy and was adopted by Shliomo
Schulman who was married to Baruch's aunt. Baruch assumed the name Shulman when
he turned 13. Baruch was married twice. Descendants of Baruch and his wife are
Gitlin, Gordon, Cooper
(Kuperstock) and others as well as Schulman. The Hofsteins, who at various
times lived in Berlin, Dresden, Koln, Svencionys (Lithuania),
and Breslin (Wroclaw) spawned several generations
of cantors. Barry Chernick, a Schulman, who is on your mailing list, and I have
been working on the Hofstein-Schulman family tree for a number of years and
have filled in quite a number of descendants.
I asked Leon Rubin to see if he could find Shliomo Shulman's gravestone when he
visited the Dolhinov cemetery last year. Unfortunately, he did not find it.
Abraham Schulman (middle name Lapidus) left over 200 pages of handwritten
memoirs, actually personal vignetttes. A few were about Dolhinov, most about
his early years in America. These have been transcribed.
Kind regards, Mary You asked about Owen Garber - his wife's grandmother was Sonia Abramowitz/ Grossbein, daughter of Israel and Tzipora Grossbein.