SAFER FAMILY HISTORY - PART 1

Who are the KATZ's and how are they related?

Safer Name Origins

SAFER - Hebrew/Yiddish word for “book”

Variations: Seifer, Sojfer (Hebrew/Polish), Safir, Szafir, Sapir

Meaning: scribe, especially of Torah Scrolls, Phylacteries and doorpost amulets

Supposedly, Yitzchak-Isaac Safer and his father were Torah scribes, and hence, the surname.

OTHER SAFER NAME ORIGIN COMMENTS:

SAFER: Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): ornamental name from northeastern Yiddish dialect safir and German Saphir ‘sapphire’. Compare Sapir.

SEIFER: 1. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Siegfried. 2. Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a soap maker, from an agent derivative of German Seife, Yiddish zeyf ‘soap’.

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GENERATION No. 1

ITZKA SEIFER

ITZKA SEIFER was born about or before 1784 and most likely died before 1836 as it seems his grandson, ICKO OREL SEIFER, born in 1836, was named for him. We only know of ITZKA having one son, ZELIK ICKOVICH but it is possible he had many other children. As several female descendants in this line are named PESCHE, we guess ITZKA's wife MAY have been named PESCHE.

GENERATION No. 2

ZELIK ICKOVICH SEIFER (aka Isaacovich or Zelikovich)

Zelik Ickovich Seifer (son of ITZKA SEIFER) was born in PRUZZENEH in 1804 and died after 1882 in Pruzzeneh. His father was Itzka (hence the ICKOVICH middle name ) and his mother was UNKNOWN. He married Eska-Brocha UNKNOWN, b. 1805, Pruzzeneh, d. after 1867 in Pruzzeneh. They had at least two sons and may have had several daughters as well. He is listed in records as follows:

Seifer Zelik, son of Itzka in 1850 was 46 years old (in list of male Jews of Pruzhany - 1859)
Zelik son of Itzka Seifer paid 1/2 ruble in taxes (on the 1861 List of Pruzhany tax payers)
Zelik, son of Itzka Seifer - 63 years old (on the 1867 list of Jewish Pruzhany residents)
Eska-Brocha, age 62 is listed as living with him (on the 1967 list of Jewish Pruzhany residents)
Zelik Seifer lives alone on Slonimskaya Street in a wooden house - 150 rubles (1882 Inventory of Houses)

Jesse Safer, a great-great-great grandson of Zelik, was told that in 1812, Zelik, a small boy about age eight, saw Napoleon on his white horse as the French troops were on their way into Russia. The army distributed hay to the Jews in his home town. Zelik described Napoleon as a small man in a green uniform.

Children of ZELIK SEIFER andESKA-BROCHA UNKNOWN are:

i. HENACH SEIFER, b. 1827, Pruzzeneh; d. after 1891, Palestine.

ii. ICKO OREL SEIFER, b. 1836, Pruzzeneh

GENERATION No. 3

HENACH SEIFER (aka Genach, Henoch, Chanokh, Enoch, Harry, Henry, Hyman)

Zelik’s older son, HENACH SEIFER was born 1826 or 1827 in Pruzzeneh and died after 1890 in Palestine. Henach married FEIGE-GITTLE COHEN. Feige-Gittle was born in Russia in 1830 and died before 1912 in Palestine. We believe Henach and Feige-Gittle had ten children.

In 1850, Genoch is listed as being 23 years old in a list of male Jews in Pruzhany
In 1852, Henach owned property in a school yard in Pruzzeneh
In 1857, Genoch is listed as being 30 years old in a list of male Jews in Pruzhany
In 1861, Genach was listed in a "search of people who evaded taxes" by the Grodno Gubernia Police Department. They stated he was 31 years old, lived with his family in Pruzhany on Kobrinskaya Street, possessed his house and "dealt illegally with production and sale of alcohol. On the run. Wanted since 1860." !!!
In 1861, Genoch paid 75 copeika in taxes (list of Pruzhany taxpayers)
In 1867, Chanoch is listed as being 40 years old in a list of male Jews in Pruzhany and Feige-Gittle is listed as age 37
In 1882, Genach Sofer lives with his family ina wooden house on Kobrinskaya Street - 150 rubles (1882 Inventory of Houses)
In 1883, Genach voted in an election for the Pruzhany Rabbi
In 1891 the Grodno Guberniya Police Department gives permission for Genach and Feige-Gittle to emigrate abroad (to Palestine)

This last is confirmed as David Wittenberg (Henach's great-grandson) reported Henach and Feige-Gittle moved to Palestine to be with their daughter Pesche Safer-Quatinsky and eventually died there.

Sources & Assumptions: Chaia Safer Blinderman’s death certificate lists her mother as Feige COHEN. I have made the assumption that my mother, Flora Pomerantz-Weller b. 1912, was named “Feige-Gittle” after her great-grandmother, Feige-Gittle Cohen and hence, have assumed Feige Cohen’s death date to be prior to my mother’s birth.

Children of HENACH SEIFER and FEIGE-GITTLE COHEN are:

Leah Safer (1849 - ) b: 1849
Simcha Safer (1851 - ) b: 1851

... + Chava-Sora Unknown (1851 - ) b: Abt. 1851

Rivka Safer (1854 - ) b: 1854 (twin)
Mar'yasha Safer (1854 - ) b: 1854 (twin)
Gita-Rochlya Safer (1856 - ) b: 1856
Tziv'ya Safer (1857 - ) b: 1857
Yitzchak Isaac Safer (1858 - 1948) b: 1858 in Pruzzeneh, d: 30 Oct 1948 in NY

..... + Chayie-Malka Katz (1862 - 1935) b: 1862 in Pruzzeneh, m: 25 Jul 1881 in Pruzzeneh, d: 19 Nov 1935 in NY

Chaia Sarah Safer (1860 - 1928) b: 10 Dec 1860 in Pruzzeneh, d: 19 May 1928 in Brooklyn, NY

...... + Herschel Blinderman (1837 - 1902) b: Abt. 1837 in Pruzhany, m: Abt. 1892 in Pruzzeneh, d: 1902 in Pruzzeneh

...... + Elya M. Berezniak (1851 - 1891) b: Abt. 1851 in Pruzhany, m: Abt. 1878 in Pruzzeneh, d: Abt. 1891 in Pruzhany

Chava Safer (1872 - 1950) b: Abt. 1872 in Poland, d: Abt. 1950 in Stamford, CT

..... + David Spelke (1870 - 1908) b: 1870 in Poland, m: Abt. 1894 in Poland, d: Nov 1908 in of pneumonia in Stamford, CT

Peshe Safer (1874 - 1954) b: 1874 in Pruzzeneh (Pruzany), d: 1954 in Israel

... + Yosef Jacob Quatinsky (aka Kovatinnitz) (1863 - 1943) b: Abt. 1863 in Pruzzeneh (Pruzany), m: Aft. 1880 in Israel, d: 1943 in Israel

ICKO OREL SEIFER (aka Isaac-Orel or Yitzko-Orel)

Zelik’s son, ICKO OREL SEIFER was born in Pruzzeneh in 1836. What we know of him is as follows:

in 1850 he is listed as being 14 years old in a list of male Jews in Pruzhany
in 1857 he is listed as being 21 years old, single and the son of Zelik Seifer (son of Itzka) and Eska-Brocha (daughter of Kushel UNKNOWN). Written in pencil it states he was recruited to the artillery troops of the town of Kaluga.
in 1857 he was listed as a soldier in the Tsar's army — age 21, on the 1857 Pruzhany Revision List.

No other records have been found. It is not known whether he actually served in the army or ever returned from the army.