Slonim Archives

Yuda Wolfowich, a farmer, was born circa 1865
in Deretchin. He was married to my great-aunt Dvora Leah Mereminsky born
circa 1870 in Slonim. They lived & died in Deretchin not too long before
the Nazis came. Family stories tell us that Yuda's father (or grandfather?)
both names unknown had been the only physician in Deretchin. For some
unknown reason he was forced to give up his practice, & became a farmer.

Their eldest child Hadassah (Odel) was hiding in a cellar with her two
children when the Nazis came, & they were murdered. Her husband name
unknown went to the woods at his wife's urging, survived, & moved to Afula,
Israel. A mass murder took place in Deretchin 24 July 1942.

Daughter Rachel born in 1917 was murdered by the Nazis.

Daughter Mina, married to name unknown, with two children, was murdered by
the Nazis. Mina is the woman called "name unknown" in the photograph.

Son Lyota 1914-1984 immigrated and became Elliott Wolf in Los Angeles.

Son Yankel 1902-1990 immigrated to Buenos Aires, where he met Bettina
Dintzer, & took on her surname in order to facilitate immigration to
America, & eventually to Los Angeles.

Daughter Yaffa 1917-1989 imm. to Palestine in 1935 & married Ze'ev Hendler.

Please let me know if the photograph comes through, & if this is the sort
of information you want.

Best, Steve Orlen
Tucson, AZ
----------------------------------------------------------
My grandfather left Slonim when he was thrown out of the Russian Army.

He went to Grochow, a suburb of Warsaw, to teach languages. There he met my grandmother and they married. My father was born in 1901 in Grochow. They did not register his birth. They came to London, England the following year, 1902. My father was stateless until after WW2, when he became a British citizen.

Once again, thank you for linking me up with Joseph and, hopefully, other possib le Shereshevskys out there.

Best wishes,

Louisa Spivack

Grandpa Shears (Szereszewski)'s Notes

I ( Abraham) was born on 16th April 1869 in the town of Slonim,
Governa of Grodno, Russia. Malcah was born in April 1875 in the
village of Dechnowo, District of Nowo-Minsk, Governa of Warsaw,
Russian Poland.

In 1885 I became a teacher of Hebrew in a village near my native town,
Slonim. I subsequently occupied the post of teacher in several other
villages.

In 1887 I arrived in Moscow. At the end of 1887, I was taken to
military service. I was released after three months service.

In 1892, owing to the wholesale persecution of the Jews, I was among
others expelled from Moscow.

In the same year I arrived in Poland. After great misery and
misfortunes, I at last found a resting place in the townlet of Karczow
near Warsaw. Having stayed there in the capacity of a teacher of
Russian over a year, I afterwards occupied the position of a teacher
in several other places. At last, in 1895, I opened my school for
Russian and Polish in Grochow (a village, rather a suburb of Warsaw).

For the first time I met Malcah who was intgroduced to me as a future
private pupil, and turned out to become my wife.

On the 13th January 1893, while in Karczow, my mother died.

My father died on 24th Nissan, 5652 ( April, 1892).

Our wedding took place on 23rd February 1896 in Grochow.

My father in law - Isor Kleinburg died on 9th Nissan 5657 (1897).

Isadore (Isor) was born in Grochow 12th January 1901.

My mother in law died 7th Nissan 5663( 1902).

Our daughter, Leah, was born on 27th Elul 5663 (1903). She died at
12.00 noon on 10th May 1904. Buried on May 12th at 3.45 p.m. Sign of
the grave - C - 3-26. Next tombstone Rebecca Feld.

We arrived in London from Warsaw on 28th February 1902.

Elizabeth was born on July 1st 1905.

Bath-Ammi was born at 11.30 July 30th 1907.

Sylvia was born on May 12th 1915

---------------------------------------------------------------
Does anyone have knowledge of a Rabbi Eliezer (possibly KANTOR) and
his wife Rachel, who were from Slonim, and their descendants? Eliezer
may have been a Rosh Yeshiva in Karlin. Time period: early to mid 19th
century.

.
Yoni Ben-Ari, Efrat
-----------------------------------------------
A visit to Molchad in the Slonim Area- by Myrna Siegel
http://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/newsletter/Molchad2.htm

------------------------------------------------------
I think that rabbi menachem mendel shereshevsky of Kossov ( picture
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kossovo/koss_pix/090904_1_b.gif) is
buried on
Har hazeisim mount of olives in Jerusalem near my father Rabbi chaim
shereshevky and his father Rabbi Yoseph Shereshevky of Slonim. Any
descendents of Rav Menachem Mendel should try please to contact me. N.
Shereshevsky
Site for Shereshevsky family membes with pictures;
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/shereshevsky.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------
My mother's family, CHEPELEVSKYs from Slonim, mostly left Slonim
in the early 1900s, going mainly to the US (New York, Denver) and
Palestine.

Family lore has it that some family members emigrated to South
Africa. I'm interested in contacting descendants of this
family that moved to South Africa.

Known names that Chepelevskys have adopted are: Chappell,
Sapir, Cipel, Sepel, etc.

Ray Stone
Santa Barbara, CA
----------------------------------------------
I am about to publish a family cookbook. My grandparents came from

Slonim and I have a chapter about the history of the town. Would it be possible
to use
one or more of the photos of Slonim on your web site in my book? Thanks.
Judy Kancigor
------------------------------------------------
I had my tests upgraded to 67 markers. So far, I have one match for 37 markers with a genetic distance of 4. That person, a Mr. Kaplan, has ancestors from Slonim , Belarus. He says his family was actually the Weinbergs since the Kaplan name was due to an adoption to keep a son out of the Russian army. He and I probably have a common grandfather within the past 500 years. That is an improvement over 10,000 years (ha!). The really interesting thing is - I got a photo of Mr. Kaplan and he resembles my Dad a great deal.
--------------------------------------------------
My maternal grandparents Tsivia/Celia and Joseph SALBERG (we are not sure
that this is really his last name) emigrated from either Warsaw or Ruzany
which is near Slonim circa 1900 to Manchester, England. My uncle Solomon was
born there. Joseph left for NYC in 1903. Celia who is listed on the Ellis
Island manifest as Ciolie (?) followed with Solomon, age two, and a cousin
Leah Goldberg, single, age 21 in 1904. My assumption is that Leah was from
Manchester and that Joseph and Celia went to Manchester because there was
family in place.

How do I get the emigration records from Poland to England? How do I find
records of my family in Manchester?

Thank you all,
Anita Arkin
California
---------------------------------------------
My great-greatgrandfather was the railway-official Jakov Ben DAVID KANTOROVICH from Slonim/Belorus
(married 1860 in Riga with Wilhelmina Minne Mindel ISAAKOVNA KEILMANN, a
daughter of the career Itzig Ben FEIBUS KEILMANN and Jette Hinde COHN),
who worked for the russian St. Petersburg Vilna raylway compagny till
1896.

Best greatings

Robert Dupuis
Berlin/Germany
-----------------------------------------
am looking for a way I could contact Esther Shapiro Rafaeli,
author of a book on Rabbi Yehoshua Yitzhak "Eisel Harif" SHAPIRA
called "A Modest Genius." R. SHAPIRA lived his life in the early to
mid-19th century in what was then Lithuania (Gluobokie and Slonim,
primarily). She (Ms. Rafaeli) is a descendant of the rabbi.

I am looking for her so that perhaps she could clarify the
relationship between SHAPIRA and R. Jehiel HEILPERIN, author of
Seder Hadorot. I have seen this on a tree available on "Family Tree
of the Jewish People," but since I have not heard back from the
submitter of the material to FTJP, I have no way of knowing how
reliable this information is without clarification from people who
are more familiar with primary source material. I assume either Ms.
Shapiro Rafaeli or a close cousin submitted the material, since they
are the only line on the tree that extends from the 17th century to
the present day.

I would appreciate it if you would contact me privately with any
information on Esther Rafaeli or on how I might contact her. I know
she might be quite elderly, since her husband passed away at age 89
some years ago.

Thank you.
Steve Bloom
-----------------------
I contacted you last year regarding my grandfather's family - Szereszevski (Shereshevsky) from Slonim, Bylorusse.

I wonder if you could help me in relation to my grandmother - Mrs. Szereszevska (maiden name Klejnburg).

My grandmother's family - Klejnburg - were bakers from Grochow, just to the east of Warsaw.

I would love to go visit Grochow as I have read that it did not get destroyed during WWII.

My father was born in Grochow and he and his parents emigrated to the UK in 1902.

I never met my grandparents as they both died before I was 1.

Would you be able to find out for me whether the Klejnburg family was registered there so that I could try to trace my roots? My grandmother's name was Malka Esther Klejnburg. She was born in Dechnovah in the Novominsk district near Warsaw in April 1875. Her parents were Israel Issar and Gitshe Klejnburg. She and my grandfather were married in Grochow in 1898 or 1899.

I very much look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Louisa Spivack

-----------------------------------
...the family history series "Who Do You
Think You Are?" starts again on Thursday 6th September at 21:00 BST. In the
first programme, the popular newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky visits Slonim in
Belarus to find out more about her grandparents.
(information from the LidaRoots newsgroup)

David Fox
Belarus SIG Founder & Past Coordinator
Arnold, Maryland, USA
-----------
Does any Belarus list member know if the BBC1 TV broadcast centering on
Slonim, which was mentioned in the last newsletter, is available on Israel
satellite or cable TV?
Irene Berman
Shoham, Israel

-----------------------------------
My Great-Great Grandfather, Harris VENEZKY (ne Hirsch WINNITZKY) dictated a
memoir of sorts when his wife, Rebecca DOMISCH, died. He mentions that his
wife's family is from "Slovain state in Russia." Well, I don't find
reference to a Slovain, but I have two thoughts: 1) Slovain means either
Slovenia or perhaps it's an old term for Slovenia, Hungary, parts of
Ukraine, all lumped together or 2) He meant Slonim , but the person to whom
he dictated it thought he said Slovain.

Here are his words - maybe it will make sense to someone? The caps in the
names are mine:

"My wife was Rebecca DOMISCH. She was born August 4, 1861 and died July 30,
1934. Her father was Julian DOMISCH, who is buried in Rosenhayn, NJ. Her
mother was Zelda DOMISCH. Rebecca's sisters were Esther, Sophia, and
Pauline, and her brother was Louis Wolfe. Rebecca came from the state of
Slovain in Russia. She came to America (NY) in 1882 and lived at Rodkens
Place, NY City, near Cherry Street."

I am open to any thoughts or suggestions you may have.

Judy Myers Bolton
--------------------------------------------------
In the case of my maternal family, the family was from Slonim and went to
Odessa (where my Uncle was born) on their way out of Russia. If you asked
the family where from in Russia? they would say Slonim,
while my Uncle always proudly announced he was from Odessa.
"Added prestige" - perhaps as a sign they were able to leave Russia?

Malka
===================================

Yehoshua Isaac Eisel_harif SHAPIRA
Born: 1801, (Glubokie, now Belarus)
Died: 23 Dec 1873, Slonim- now Belarus

Spouse: Haya FINE
Born: Abt 1806, Minsk, Belorussia
Died: Slonim

Children:
Issahar Dov Ber SHAPIRA Born: 1828, Minsk, Belorussia. Married: Abt 1865, Ostrow. Died: 1902, Ostrow, Poland.
Moshe SHAPIRA Born: 1835, Kalvariya, Lithuania. Died: 23 Dec 1911, Riga.
Mordechai SHAPIRO Born: Abt 1838, Kutno ?, Poland. Died: Slonim, Lithuania.
Nechama SHAPIRA Born: Abt 1840, Slonim, Lithuania. Married: Abt 1858, Slonim. Died: Slonim.

===============================================
Regarding the R. Yehoshua Issac Shapira of Glovenka and Slonim, etc.,
was
he supposed to have been the GREAT GRANDSON of Jehiel Heilperin ("Seder
Hadorot") or GREAT-GREAT GRANDSON via his father Yechiel? The way I have seen
it spelled out before is that his father's mother was a grandchild of R.
Jehiel, through Jehiel's son Isaac.

This isn't meant to be a complaint, but a true question, since I don't really
have access to the primary sources that would spell this out.

Thanks!
--------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Heilprin (1660-1746) published Seder HaDorot, which contains a chronology of events and personalities from creation until 1696. He was the first of the rabbi-genealogists to record rabbinical family origins.(now in very fine print)

From the Minsk Yizkor book;

The Gaon Yechiel Halpern, known from his historical work "Seder Hadorot" [The Order of the Generations], served as the Rabbi of Minsk in the 18 th century, and headed a famous yeshiva. At that time, the great one of the Gaonim of that generation and the following generations arrived in Minsk: Reb Aryeh Leib, the author of "Shaagat Aryeh" who also founded a large yeshiva ( he was connected to Volozhin). However, something took place between these two yeshivas and they became hostile to each other. The people of Minsk defended the author of " Seder Hadorot", and sent the author of the "Shaagat Aryeh" away from the city on a Friday. The monument of the grave of the " Seder Hadorot" stands to this day, intact and fenced off, in the old cemetery, which was completely ploughed and paved over. All of its monuments and graves were willfully desecrated.
-----------------------
Byten was a small town just south of Slonim prior to WWII with
approximately 1200 jews. Thanks to the help of Dave Fox we were able
to obtain the revision lists for 1806, 1850 and 1858. They were
translated, but I think that some where along the way they were not
included in the Belarus data base. At least they are not obvious to me.

I do have copies of these records and would be happy to provide them
to anyone who may have an interest in Byten.

Alan Tapper
Ashburn, Va
------------------------------------------------------Has anyone tried to obtain copies of the 1806 or 1808 revision lists
for Slonim? According to Miriam Weiner they are available. She lists
the locations for these records.

Alan Tapper
Ashburn, Va.
---------------------------
My Grandmother's maiden name was Slonim, which is the
name of a little town near Minsk. I am just guessing
that her father, David Slonim and mother Basha (?)
Slonim were from Slonim and took that surname when
they came to New Jersey before the turn of the
century. I keep wondering what name they used in
Slonim ?

kind regards
Avrum Marc Levine
Dunedin, New Zealand
Researching,

MENDELOVITZ,MENDELOVICH and MENDELEWICZ from Slonim, Byten and
Baranovichi
------------------------
I am looking for, but have not yet found, a town, Zetl (no, not shtetl),
that is in the general area of Dvoretz, Slonim and Baranovichi in
Belarus. Any ideas or alternate names, anyone? Thanks.

Mel Comisarow
Vancouver BC
------------------------------------------------------
My great-grandmother Rachel (nee Prushkin) Meyerowitz came from
Brestovitsa, south
of Grodno and just east of Krynki.

I've found a couple of paths worth pursuing immediately.

1) I've found a fellow genner whose ggm was a Prushkin from Amdur nearby
and whose father was also
Yehuda Prushkin! Hopefully I have a cousin there but time will tell.

2) At Ellis Island, I found a 1921 arrival for Kajla (age 40) BREZKIN
and her son Zejdel (11) from
Wielke Brestowice (same town!!). Kajla listed a brother Abram RUBIN
back in Brestovitsa and was
going to her husband Abraham (address in NY crossed out, penciled in
address in Paterson, NJ).
In the 1930 census, I found an Abraham BRESKIN (age 60) with wife Katie
(age 56, immigration date 1921) and son Samuel (21) living
on Bide(?) Street in the Bronx. In 1934, a Samuel BRESKIN married a
Sue SHAPSS on 6/9/1934 in Brooklyn.
A Samuel BRESKIN died 1/16/1995 in Jamaica, Queens. I have not yet
found a death certificate for Abraham
BRESKIN or tracked down any descendents.

3) Many other BRESKIN come from Slonim, but I have no known connections
there.

So, progress is being made in my search for descendents of Yehuda and
Rose (nee FARS) Prushkin from Brestovitsa.

Marty Meyers
Montclair, NJ
-------------------------
I have renewed the Jewish Barg Families Web site (http://geocities.com/bargfamily) and incorporated new data
The site has today the family trees of the following:
1. Usher Zelig BARG 1780-1827 & wife Leah 1790-1848, our Mythical Ancestor Barg,
common root of many of the families detailed below
2. Shmuel Meyer (Samuil) BARG 1812-1888 from Odessa in Imperial Russia (today
Ukraine)
3. Ana-Jane BARK 1845-1909 & David Eliezer ben Matitiahu Haim ROSENTHAL 1844-1907
from Podolia who were among the first settlers of Moisesville, Argentina
4. Solomon Shloime BERG 1851-1921 & Paulina HOFFMAN BARG from Odessa in Imperial
Russia (today Ukraine) who had descendants emigrating to Argentina
5. Elisa TRIANSKY & Isaias BARG (born ca 1870-?) Originally from Odessa in
Imperial Russia (today Ukraine) and later from Parana, Argentina
6. A link to Hannah STEINBERG & Itzik BARG 1820-1890 from Horochow/Lutsk - Vilna
area of the Ukraine with descendants emigrating to the USA
7. Hana SILBERBERG & Shaie (1862-1932)BARG Oginally from Berezovka in Imperial
Russia and later from Monigotes, Argentina
8. Etie 1871-1941 & Yerachmiel BARK 1865-1927 Originally from Berezovka in Imperial
Russia later from Moisesville and Buenos Aires (my own Greatgrandparents)
9. Chana and Nathan BERG (born ca 1800- ) From Berdichev, Volhynia and
Kamenets, Podolia
10. Esther BARG ISENBERG-HERMAN 1870-1943 daughter of Pesya & Asher Zelig BARG
From Kamenets and later Providence, RI, USA
11. Sinai Dov Ber Boris BARG 1865-1913 son of Pesya & Asher Zelig BARG From
Kamenets and later from Argentina
12. Yeta BARG and Abraham (Avrum) SHAPIRO from Slonim, Lithuania later from New
York, Usa
13. Tsiril and Guershon BARG From Dombroven, Bessaravia
14. Feige KLUR (1900-1942) and Yankl (1880-1942) BARG From Kamenets, Podolia
15. David BARG (ca 1850)From Podolia
16. Hanna and Morris L. BARG from Goroshko, Russia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
17. Bella and Morris (1871- 1929) BARG From Kovel and later from Cincinnati, Ohio,
USA
18. Beileh GORDON & Beryl Benjamin BARG
19. Other Families posted in the FTJP having a BARG relative
20.Leah BARG & Shlomo Zalman ZALAZNIK from Jerusalem

Please visit, browse and comment

Dr Shimon Barak, Tel Aviv, Israel.

-------------------------------------
Slonim Rebbe, Rabbi Szmuel WEINBERG burried in Warsaw
-------------------------------------------
There is an excellent book, in french, " Lituanie juive 1918-1940 Message
d'un monde englouti" ,
editors Plasseraud & Minczeles
in the collection " Memoires" Editions Autrement,
sept 1996 ISSN 1157-4488-130F

Nicole Berline, Paris

Searching for ROTENSZTEJN ROCHMAN RAKOWER from Warsaw, OGUS, ARONOWITCH from
Paberze,Lithuania, TREIVAS from Russia and Lithuania, BERLIN from
Derechin and Slonim, Belarus, LEIBOVITCH Saint-Petersburg