GREASING THE FAMILY TREE CHAIN, ONE LINK TO GO
My grandfather’s sister Fruma prophetically wrote, “…our family chain is falling apart, the links are rolling away.” That was in a letter dated circa 1935. See my blog post Our Family Chain Is Falling Apart, The Links Are Rolling Away, at sharonmarkcohen.com, dated March 29, 2022.
Grandaunt Fruma’s assertion stood true for many years. My paternal grandfather, one of seven children, immigrated in 1911, settling in Newark, New Jersey. Around the same time, one of their brothers made his home in Philadelphia. The brothers left an older brother and four sisters, including Fruma, their youngest sibling, in the old country.
The two brothers in America, while living 85 miles apart, maintained close ties. See The Philly Branch From Chudnov, dated May 3, 2022, at sharonmarkcohen.com.
After the devastation perpetrated by pograms and bouts of starvation, little did the brothers living in America know that many of their family members would perish in their beloved shtetl of Chudnov, Ukraine at the hands of the Nazis during WWII. Luckily for me, my family in America saved letters from our relatives abroad. The treasured mail came from my great-grandfather (my paternal grandmother’s father), plus the many siblings, and several nieces and nephews of my paternal grandparents.
Somehow, even with mail confiscated in Russia, much of the heart-wrenching correspondence made it to loved ones in America. The clues that those hand-scribed letters, mainly written in Yiddish, disclosed were monumental in piecing together our family history.
One lengthy piece in the pile was from my illiterate grandmother, penned by her brother-in-law/cousin. That letter followed after my grandfather left for the States a year before his wife emigrated. See Amen at sharonmarkcohen.com, dated March 15, 2022.
With the help of Grandaunt Fruma’s surviving daughters Raya and Anna, we learned much more about various relatives. Raya lived to age 90 in Ukraine. For more about Raya see last Tuesday’s blog post.
From Fruma’s family of five children, Raya’s youngest sister, and only surviving sibling post-WWII, Anna emigrated from Israel in the late 1950s. After being housed in a displaced person’s camp in Germany after the war, Anna and her husband, along with their first child, settled in Israel. Once living in Israel, Anna bore their second daughter before the family of four eventually made their home in Los Angeles.
Anna, as her sister Raya, was blessed with longevity, living to age 90. Anna, and her husband Harry, who lived to age 93, merited to spend time with their great-grandchildren. (See Harry’s Story Parts I-!V, April 4- April 7, 2023 at sharonmarkcohen.com).
In 1990, Polina, a cousin from another family branch from my father’s side of the family, immigrated to Owings Mills, Maryland. Polina knew Raya in Ukraine, which prompted her to contact Raya’s sister Anna when she got to America. Anna and Harry quickly put Polina in touch with me.
Polina and her family living on the East Coast, in Owings Mills, Maryland, allowed us to get together many times. Through Polina, I was able to establish communication with more of our cousins, even though they live across the world in St. Petersburg and Sochi, Russia. It’s mind-boggling.
There were so many other fascinating family finds through various routes of discovery. They include but are not limited to finding my second cousin Lova when he immigrated from Ukraine in 2000. That connection was made through another second cousin, Alla, living in Brooklyn.
My second cousin, twice removed, Marc, who had done extensive genealogical research short of the part on my side of his family, came to light with volunteer help from a genealogical Facebook group. Marc’s brother facilitated the connection by forwarding an email I sent after finding their branch of our family tree through clues I sent to the Facebook group. Along with my request, I included information from letters my aunt saved from Marc’s great-grandparents dated from the early 1920s.
As for a connection with my second cousin, twice removed, Jamie, Marc’s second cousin (their maternal grandmothers were sisters), I found her through her sister, whom I found on Facebook. Similar to Marc and his brother, Jamie has more of a passion for the family history than does her sister.
Cousin Yury from my grandfather’s side found me on the JewishGen website and I found Cousin Yuriy, spelled with an i, from my grandmother’s side by finding my cousin Slava with the help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS).
Yuriy and Slava are double cousins and before coming to our house they met at their mutual cousin’s home in Jersey City. That cousin in Jersey City, from the other side of their family, was a granddaughter of my grandmother’s step-sibling.
Going back a generation, since my paternal grandparents were first cousins before marriage, Yury and Yuriy are more distant cousins to one another than they are to me. I am a second cousin once removed to each of them.
I would be remiss not to include Igor in this discussion. Igor and I, both consummate researchers, met through various Facebook groups. Igor is a volunteer researcher and we share roots in Chudnov, Ukraine. It turns out that he has a distant relative who married one of my apparent distant relatives.
Between Igor in New Jersey, and my cousin Alexey (Raya’s grandson)living in Germany, their brilliant translations have helped us make tremendous strides in connecting the dots and piecing together an almost lost history. My sessions with Alexey and getting to meet each other’s families on WhatsApp is what dreams are made of.
Speaking of connecting dots, I was at my wit’s end trying to find a long-lost cousin from the Philadelphia clan. My Granduncle and his wife had four daughters and I knew or could find all but one offspring of one daughter. That granddaughter of my Granduncle and his wife eloped when she was 17 and married someone with a common name, making it a real challenge to find her.
In December 2022, a message appeared on my website from that lost cousin’s grandson, Justin (See last week’s blog post, How Could We Be So Closely Connected and Disconnected ? and stay tuned for You’re Basically My Family Google, at sharonmarkcohen.com, coming on April 30, 2024.) He said that he learned about me and my knowledge of our family history from his mother’s first cousin, Steven.
While Steven and I have yet to meet, we have been in communication via email for many years. Justin drove from his home in Sylvania, Ohio to meet us with his brother, a surgical resident at the Cleveland Clinic, at our son’s home in Shaker Heights, in May 2023.
Soon after the thrill of finding Justin’s grandmother Gracie's family and filling in the blanks in the spaces of their branch, I received an email inquiry from someone who turned out to be the great-grandson of my father's Uncle Shmuel. He was my granduncle who penned the letter from my grandmother, which we have in our treasure trove of correspondence from the family in the old country. Highlighted in my blog post Here We Go Again!, dated May 17, 2022, at sharonmarkcohen.com, Shmuel was my grandfather’s older brother who never made it out of Ukraine.
We now have a connection! Cousin Yury, Shmuel’s great-grandson, contacted me through my information registered years ago, almost at the start of the genealogy group JewishGen (Stay tuned for blog post Yury coming soon at sharonmarkcohen.com). Yury lives nearby, in Staten Island, and his mother, my second cousin, lives in Brooklyn.
When asked about religion, Yury, a registered nurse, responded that he was raised Jewish and attended 12 years of day school. At an ah-ha moment after reading my blog posts, he revealed that he had addresses that his grandmother kept of other cousins, the Bludoys. I told him we met some of our Bludoy cousins in North Carolina (See What Was Their Story of Survival? at sharonmarkcohen, dated April 12, 2022).
After Yury inquired more about the Bludoys, specifically about Boris Bludoy, I took pictures of the pages of Boris’s part of the family tree and emailed them to him. I also copied the notes I kept about Boris, whom I spoke with only once on the phone when I invited him to our house. At the time, he was training to become a doctor and being newly engaged, could not find the time to visit. He ended the conversation, “…another time.”
Yury and I were both excited to figure out that he knew our mutual cousin, Dr. Boris Bludoy. They worked at the same facility before the pandemic. I put Yury on a mission to find Boris and pick a date to come to our home with their families.
Additionally, I sent Yury pictures of pages from my five-inch binder filled with letters from our ancestors. After sending those letters to him that my grandparents received from his great-grandfather, my grandfather’s older brother, I followed up by sending letters in my collection from the Bludoy branch.
That revelation is almost too exciting for words. When Yury saw my blog post about his grandmother’s place on the family tree charts, he said it was his “ah-ha moment.” He wrote that he had goosebumps; I felt the same. When he sent the European addresses of our Bludoy cousins, which his grandmother saved, chills ran down my spine.
Upon hearing all the latest and greatest news, Cousin Natalia living in Sochi, Russia, who originally contacted me via my website at sharonmarkcohen.com for the first time on September 10, 2021, wrote, “All the new information is incredible. And it's a miracle that our relatives are not indifferent to our history.” She added, “My task is clear - to look for the Roitmans.” See my blog post Our Cousins, Our Heroes, dated March 22, 2022, at sharonmarkcohen.com.
Now that our family chain was oiled, and the links are being fastened, I'm hopeful that the Roitman link, including the descendants of my grandfather’s sister, Rosie, will shortly be added and all our cousins will come along for the ride. Cousin Natalia, living in Russia, is onboard:
“May 6, 2023
Наталья xxx
Dear Sharon,
I'm on vacation for 4 days now. The whole country celebrates the great Victory day on May 9. This is a special day for our family. As you know, the Eida’s sons died except for my grandfather Avrum. Avrum fought but returned alive. My father survived the siege of Leningrad. The kindergarten was bombed. All his life he had a scar from a wound on his head. I'll tell you about it in my story about my daddy.
Sharon, I am so grateful to you for your letter. I was cooking dinner in my kitchen and thinking about you. After checking my mailbox, I saw your letter and my heart started beating faster. I read it as fast as I could. And then I read it 5 more times. I'm so excited. I can't believe it. I need time to memorize all the new names. I will share this news with my brother and Galina [Cousin Galina’s father, my father’s 1st cousin, was killed in WWII and never got to meet his child.] [Here, is where Natalia added the all-important excerpt shown above. “My task is clear - to look for the Roitmans. All the new information is incredible. And it's a miracle that our relatives are not indifferent to our history.”]
I'm waiting for new details.
Hugs,
Natalia”
There is no greater reward than the appreciation of others. Another example shines in the email that I received on May 2. 2023, from Cousin Alexey Portnoy (Grandson of Cousin Raya) who lives in Germany:
“Your blog is not only your self realisation but it also brings a results and connects people.
Great job Sharon!
Hugs
Alexey“
Believe me when I say that I feel all those hugs. I relish the memories we are making and I’m thrilled to have this forum to document each discovery along the way. Someday, it will all be in a book dedicated in memory of Cousin Fruma.
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Initial correspondence from Justin forwarded by my webmaster, my son Judd:
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Squarespace <form-submission@squarespace.info>
Date: Mon, Dec 26, 2022, 6:23 PM
Subject: Form Submission - Contact
To: <juddxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
Sent via form submission from Sharon Mark Cohen
Name: Justin Reinert
Email Address: xxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com
Message: “Hi Sharon,
My name is Justin Reinert, and I believe I am a distant relative of yours through the Mark/Saffier line. My grandmother is Grace (Greta) Saffier, daughter of Isadore Saffier and Anna Mark. I have just begun the quest to search for information on this side of my family, and was referred to you by one of my grandmother’s nephews via Bernard Saffier, Steven Saffier. I recognize that it’s the holiday season, but would be most grateful for the opportunity to learn about my family history from you at your convenience. My email is included in the message, and my cell is xxx-xxx-xxxx. Please feel free to call, text, or email. Warm regards and hope to hear from you soon, Justin.”
Initial correspondence with Yury:
“The JewishGen Family Finder:
Yury Kalyuzhny <jgff-comms@jewishgen.org>
To: cohenetal3@aol.com
Thu, Apr 20, 2023, at 11:55 PM
“From : Yury Kalyuzhny, (researcher code 356066) xxxxxxxx@gmail.com
To : Sharon Mark Cohen, (researcher code 6076)
Subject : The JewishGen Family Finder:
Hello,
My grandmother was from Polonnoye, Ukraine. Her maiden name was Murovanny. Her parents names were Samuil and Bracha. She lived in Starokonstantinov, Ukraine after the war. My mother remembers going to Chudnov to visit my grandmother’s uncle. Please share any information you have.
Thank you
Yury Kalyuzhny <xxxxxxx@gmail.com>”
My reply to Yury:
On Apr 21, 2023, at 10:06 PM, cohenetal3@aol.com wrote:
“Unbelievable Yury! We are definitely cousins!!
Where do you live? Where were you born?
What is your birthdate?
There are also my published articles on my website. You will get more information from some of the articles.
I am excited to go over all the information with you the week of May 1.
I met two of our Bludoy cousins. We have much to discuss. So exciting. I have been seeking your branch of our family and my grandfather’s sister Rosie’s family. Do you have any knowledge of her branch of our family? That will complete our mystery members of our family tree.
❤️Sharon”
After my response, I received another email from Yury:
“To: cohenetal3@aol.com
Fri, Apr 21 at 10:41 PM
This is unbelievable! I literally have goosebumps as I am writing. I went over more of your blog posts and found this family tree:
Shmul Murovanny was my great-grandfather and Rachil was my grandmother! Some of the birth years are slightly off but I knew that was them when I first saw them. I furthermore confirmed it by reading the letters on your blog from Shmuil to his brother in the US. He writes to send money to his wife Bracha which is my great-grandmother and who my mother is named after. So that would make you and my mother 2nd cousins.
I was born in Starokonstantinov, Ukraine in 1984. Me and my family immigrated to the US in 1990. I currently live in Staten Island, NY.
Looking forward to discussing further.
Thanks”
5-3-2023, I asked Yury causes of death of our ancestors and he responded:
“Shmuel [Yury’s great-grandfather, my grandfather’s brother] - we don’t know
Bracha [Shmuel’s wife] - she was hit by lighting a few months before my mother is born. My mom was named after her.
Rachil [Bracha and Shmuel’s daughter, my father’s 1st cousin, Yury’s maternal grandmother] - officially. Cirrhosis of the liver. She was hit by a car and fractured her leg. Doctors didn’t notice that she also lacerated her spleen which cause her to have many medical problems for years before her death. All preventable if she had better medical care…
Abram Dorfman [Rachil’s husband] - asphyxiation. He fell down face first. My suspicion is he had a heart attack…”
I wrote to Yury again with more questions and I sent him copies of letters his great-grandfather penned.
“Yury Kalyuzhny
10:02 PM (13 minutes ago) 5-3-2023
to me
“I got the letters. I will look through all of them. Thanks! …
I have done 2 DNA tests. 23 and me and my heritage. 23 and me has me as 99% Ashkenazi. Are you or kids on any of the DNA websites?”
5-3-2023, asked about religion, Yury wrote, “I was raised Jewish. I went to Yeshiva for 12 years. I’m not observant but we celebrate the Jewish holidays.”
5-4-2023, asked about his work, Yury replied, “I’m a registered nurse. I work for a home care agency. Work mostly from home. My wife is a nurse practioner and works for a dermatology office.”
5-5-2023 our conversation via email continued in rapid fire,
“Yury Kalyuzhny
10:46 AM (54 minutes ago)
to me:
Good morning,
I’m reading your blogs over and over to get a better understanding of our family. It’s a lot to take in!
I’m attaching 2 handwritten notes by my grandmother in Russian which I thought you might be interested in.
The first note has the address for Yuriy Bludoy and reads ‘Mogilev- Podolsk Vinitskaya Oblast. Sverdlova 10 apt 47. Bludoy Y.M.’
The second notes says ‘Yaryshiv; Bludoy S.M.’ My grandmother might have been in touch with Seymon Bludoy as well. However, seems like she didn’t have his address so perhaps she and Yuriy corresponded via mail and he told her where Seymon lives. Yaryshiv, is southern Ukraine near the border of Moldova.
Both Bludoy brothers are close in age to my grandmother but I assume they lived in Chudnov while my grandmother lived in Polonnoye. I wonder what their relationship was like. If they were close prior to the war.
Yury”
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Gathering the links of the family tree has been a rewarding lifelong mission. One more link from the descendants of Grandaunt Rosie Roitman and the chain will miraculously be restored.
A wad of sad letters, kept in a cookie tin at the bottom of my aunt’s food pantry, which Cousin Harry painstakingly translated, supplied the grease to rusted links of our family tree chain. Those of us so devoted to our ancestry are forever grateful.
Nathan and Justin Reinert Great-grandsons of my long-lost second cousin Gracie April 2023 Shaker Heights, Ohio The family similarities are uncanny.