MYSTERIES

 

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES

DUBINER vs. FRIEDMAN: Marriage certificates of four of the Pomerantz children list Chana Raisel’s maiden name as “DUBINER” (with some spelling variations) but Chana Raisel’s death certificate (completed by her husband David) clearly shows her father as SCHOLEM FRIEDMAN and her mother as BELLA LEVINE. Rosie’s tombstone states she is the daughter of SCHOLEM but does not give Scholem's last name. So we have noted her last name is DUBINER but ...who is SCHOLEM FRIEDMAN?

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We still have no information about Schje DUBINER nor have we ascertained whether or not Frieda DUBINER-CHESSLER was actually a DUBINER sibling.

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Kissing Joe: Family has said there was a JOE RUBIN and there was also a JOE POMERANTZ. One of them was known as "Kissing Joe" - but which one? We know who Joe RUBIN was, but who was Joe POMERANTZ? Could he have been Yetta POMERANTZ’s brother?

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Schulem DUBINER, age 18 (b. 1888), was a salesman from Kamenets-Litovsk. He immigrated 26 MAY 1906 and was going to his brother Abram DUBINER at 720 East 5th Street in NYC. We are not sure how or if he is related.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WELLER-ZEMSER FAMILY MYSTERIES

Did Kasril, Jacob, Gussie and Lena WELLER have other siblings that never came to the US? ... We assume whoever remained in Vilna perished in WWII – but who were they? Did any survive? ...

KALMEN WEJLER ... Immigration records show “ Lea Wejler”, age twenty, single from Wilna, traveling with KALMEN WEJLER, single, age twenty-one arrived 23 Mar 1914, on the SS CARMANIA that sailed from Liverpool. Lea (LENA) is listed as Kalman's sister (!!!) and they are headed to their sister "M. Shapanko" in Brooklyn, NY. (Gussie Weller had married Morris Shapanka by 1914.) Lea states that her passage was paid by her sister and Kalmen states he paid his own passage. Lea is listed as having twenty-five dollars. Both could read and write, she is listed as a seamstress and he as a tailor. They list their mother "[?emen] Wejler" as their nearest relative back home. . . . . . So, WHO IS KALMEN? We have found records of a Pesia Weler from Kovno who was killed in the Holocaust. Her parents are listed as Kalmen and Dvora. Could it be that Kalmen returned to Kovno? Was he really Lena, Gussie, Jacob and Kasril's brother?

YUDEL ZEMSER, age thirty, immigrated to the US in 1909 from Vilna. He was going to W. Hoboken, NJ and was a glovemaker. He claimed his nearest relative from whence he came was his father, ISRAEL ZEMSER. Given Yudel was thirty, we guess his father was at least fifty, making him a potential sibling or cousin of Jacob/Raphael ZEMSER. Is he related???

Moisesville, Argentina: In the late 1890's and early 1900's, many Jews emigrated from the Grodno area to Argentina where they established several Jewish communes. Records show 36 WELLER's in Moisesville, Argentina. Who are they and what happened to them?

Frances (Fruma) Weller-Albertson (b.1915) and Frances (Fruma) -Wealer-Cohen (b. 1916) both have the same Yiddish and English names. Who were they named after?

Shirley (Weller) Strassler says we are related to the MORO, KALISH and the BENGIS families. The MORO mystery is partially solved (See solved mysteries below.)

Why can’t we find BESSIE ZEMSER’s US immigration records? ... Did Bessie have other siblings that never came to the US? ... ISRAIL STRELETSKY immigrated to the US at age fourteen. He arrived on the PETERSBURG 12 Apr 1907. He is listed as traveling with his sister SORE STRELETSKY who was eighteen and a tailoress. They both listed their last residence as Pradir or Pradin (Radin?) and stated they were going to their brother MR. STRELETSKY at 315 Lispenard, NY. They were both of light complexion, he had brown hair and eyes, she had black hair and brown eyes. HOWEVER ... to the best of our knowledge, ISRAEL did not have a sister SARAH. At present,we are speculating that ISRAEL's niece, BESSIE ZEMSER, may have mis-represented herself as SARAH STRELETSKY. Having been denied entry to the US previously due to an eye infection, BESSIE may have returned under an assumed name. As we have not been able to find any record of her entry to the US, and the age and timing are right, we entertain this as a possibility.

Who were JACOB ZEMSER’s family? ... Was JACOB really his name or was it RAFAEL? It is possible he was born JACOB and his name was changed to RAFAEL (to fool the Angel of Death) at some point.

Where in Vilna (or Radin) was the inn the ZEMSER family supposedly owned?

WHO WERE THE ENGELSON's?

The photo below was sent to Gussie (Weller) Shapanka some time after 1964. Gussie's mother was Neche ENGELSON. It is believed some of the ENGELSON's migrated from Europe to Israel prior to WWII.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Engelson) Miller and her husband - K'far Saba, Israel - April 21, 1964

The back of the photo above:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transliteration:

tsum andenkung fun unze
libe tokhter fun kibuts
far unzer oysgezukhte kusine
(oysgesukhte; litt
Gitl un ir man)
far Engeltsen (Miller) un ir man Ozer Miller

K'far Saba 21/4.1964

TRANSLATION: In memory of our dear daughter Nili from kibbutz, for our favorite cousin Gitl and her husband --- from Fruma Engeltsen (Miller) and her husband, Ozer Miller - K'far Saba - April 21, 1964

NOTES written on the card: "Cousin has a store from hand painting pictures - Tel Aviv?" ; "Aunts uncles name Velvel - his children"; "Vilna gabernia - stetle is Nemitzen"; "Engelson is name (female) working as telephone operator - lived in kibbutz"

I don't believe the translation "in memory of" means Nili had passed away, but rather, "here's a picture of our daughter for you to remember her by".

To date we have not been able to track down the ENGELSON's in Israel.

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Both of my grandmother's are in this photo (Bessie Weller and Pauline Pomerantz)... but who are the rest of the people?

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WELLER FAMILY PHOTO ISSUES:

We have two photos of SHIMON WELLER's family taken after he died. We believe the date of this first photo to be around 1910. The woman in the middle of the first photo is NECHE (ENGELSON) WELLER

 

One of the children in the photo BELOW (taken in the 1930's) was the same age as Rosalyn (Donsky) Lyons, who was born in 1926. Rosalyn reports corresponding with her cousins in Vilna in 1939, just before the war broke out. They were never heard from again.

We believe the woman in the center of the photo below was one of Neche's daughters and is the same woman holding the baby in the photo above.

 

Bobby and I went to the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, Germany in 2008 in the hope of identifying the people in the two photos above. Read our TRIP REPORT.

And finally ... who are the people in the next photo? ... Rosalyn Lyons says this was mailed to her mother, LENA (WELLER) DONSKY. The back says: "Sister and Brother-in-law."

 

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Who is this little girl?

Who is this pensive lad?

Who is this celebrant and what is she celebrating?

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SOLVED MYSTERIES

For the longest time we wondered, who are the FRIEDMAN's? Immigration records show Pauline SAFER’s US contact as her brother-in-law, J. FRIEDMAN on E. 59th St. In 1910. Her cousins, the BLINDERMAN’s, list their US contact as Abraham (Avrum Mendel) FRIEDMAN on 115 Broome St. and later on Madison St. It turns out that Chaia-Sarah SAFER's eldest daughter from her first marriage, Chana BERESNIAK, married Abraham FRIEDMAN (aka Avrum Mendel). Avrum Mendel had at least two brothers - Selig FRIEDMAN and Hyman FRIEDMAN. Chana and my grandmother were cousins, close in age. While my grandmother, Pauline SAFER, is listed as going to J. FRIEDMAN she most likely was going to A. FRIEDMAN. I"m not sure why she listed him as her brother-in-law, but clearly they were related.