<<My grandfather Pinchas LERNER lived in Tsfat in the late 1800's-early 1900's. He
claimed descent >from R' Naftali KATZ (died about 1719), author of the S'michas
Chachamim.
<<My gggrandfather Harav Binyamin HACOHEN lived in Kosov around 1850, and claimed
descent >from R'Naftali KATZ.
<<Benjamin Lerner
<<Brooklyn, NY, / Jerusalem

I have been on a similar search for several years as I also have an ancestral line
that claims descent >from R' Naftali KATZ, the Smichat Chachamim. Although I have
done extensive research, I am still missing about 3 generations. This is partly
due, of course, to the lack of civil records >from that time period. The main
problem, it seems, is that the missing ancestors were not recorded in the
rabbinical literature because they were not prominent rabbis or, for that matter,
were not rabbis.

The ancestral surname I have been researching is HORENSTEIN (>from Ukraine). In that
earlier time period, they, like your ancestors, used the appelation HaKohen. I
have traced them back to Berestechko around the end of the 18th century.

As part of my search, I have developed an extensive genealogical tree for the
descendants of R. Naftali Katz. I couldn't find an exact match for your ancestor,
although I did find two descendents of his brother, R' Jesaia Katz, named Benjamin
HaKohen:
One was R' Benjamin Benish HaKohen, a student of R' Akiva Eiger. I don't have
dates or a location for him; however, his son was born in Warta in 1790. Moreover,
his greatgrandson was R' Avraham Benjamin HaKohen; he died in Warta in 1881.

Mel Werbach
Los Angeles

Researching: HORENSTEIN, KOMISAR, KANFER, KORENBLIT,VERBUKH/AVERBUKH >from Volhynia,
Podolia and Kiev guberniyas, Ukraine; ABRAMSKI, AUZENBERG, BRODOWICZ, LEWINOWSKI,
RUBINSKI, SEJNENSKI >from Suwalki guberniya, Poland; GOLDBERG, MENDELSON, MISHURSKY