Until I started researchig my own family history a few years ago, it seldom
occurred to me to wonder about anyone's Jewish origins. So when Ida
Schwarcz mentioned her friend Monty PAVLOVICH's family legend that
PAVLOVICH's famiiy may have had ties to the ballerina Anna PAVLOVA, I was
very curious and a little surprised.

But my dancer daughter Sophia in New York has all our books on dance so I
couldn't easily look up information about PAVLOVA when Ms. Schwarcz sent in
her inquiry, and besides, I've been too busy preparing for Sophie's imminent
visit.

When I went online this morning, I did a "quickie" search for
biographical information about Anna, and learned that the great ballerina was
born prematurely in St. Petersburg in 1881 (the year of some of the great
pogroms) to a washerwoman named Lyubov Feodorovna. Lyubov was married to
Matvey PAVLOV, a reserve soldier. The biographical passage also remarked
that she may have been the product of an affair between Lyubov and the
(Jewish) banker Lazar POLIAKOFF (or POLIAKOV)! But Anna sometimes called
herself "Anna Pavlovna Pavlova," suggesting that her mother, who died when
she was two years old, had had a first marriage with someone named "PAVEL."
If she was of Jewish parentage she may not have been permitted to enter in
the St. Peterburg Ballet Academy, unless someone influential (like a rich
banker), managed to pull the right ropes.

I have not been able to find out more, but I found this reference to
Lazar POLIAKOFF fascinating and I will later try to find something
somewhere that discusses this possibility, if indeed it is a possibility AND
there has been some scholarly research about her true parentage.

According to my Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer, there are a number of
place names with the stem "Pavlov" (Pavlovka, Pavlovsk, Pavolovski,
Pavlovskaya, etc...), and the Gazetteer notes that (present day) Slutsk, in
the Leningrad oblast, had been charted in 1796 as "Pavlovsk," but the
history of Slutsk at

http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/Slutsk_history_of_jewish_community.htm

does not mention this charter which may have lasted only until Paul's death.
( By the way, there are some "POLYAKs" listed on Slutsk's 1816 Revision List
and in its School Records, which name might be related to the name
POLIAKOFF.) I assume that all such places were named after the Tsar Paul, and
it may be that Mrs. Schwarcz's friend merely had ancestors who came >from a
place with "Pavlov" as a stem to its name. Of course, it could also be that
her friend is distantly related to the POLIAKOFF family.

After reviewing several photographs online and remembering others I've
seen, all I can say for now is that Anna PAVLOVA "looked Jewish"!

NFatouros@...
Bloomington, Indiana
8-28-00

Until I started researchig my own family history a few years ago, it seldom
occurred to me to wonder about anyone's Jewish origins. So when Ida
Schwarcz mentioned her friend Monty PAVLOVICH's family legend that
PAVLOVICH's famiiy may have had ties to the ballerina Anna PAVLOVA, I was
very curious and a little surprised.

But my dancer daughter Sophia in New York has all our books on dance so I
couldn't easily look up information about PAVLOVA when Ms. Schwarcz sent in
her inquiry, and besides, I've been too busy preparing for Sophie's imminent
visit.

When I went online this morning, I did a "quickie" search for
biographical information about Anna, and learned that the great ballerina was
born prematurely in St. Petersburg in 1881 (the year of some of the great
pogroms) to a washerwoman named Lyubov Feodorovna. Lyubov was married to
Matvey PAVLOV, a reserve soldier. The biographical passage also remarked
that she may have been the product of an affair between Lyubov and the
(Jewish) banker Lazar POLIAKOFF (or POLIAKOV)! But Anna sometimes called
herself "Anna Pavlovna Pavlova," suggesting that her mother, who died when
she was two years old, had had a first marriage with someone named "PAVEL."
If she was of Jewish parentage she may not have been permitted to enter in
the St. Peterburg Ballet Academy, unless someone influential (like a rich
banker), managed to pull the right ropes.

I have not been able to find out more, but I found this reference to
Lazar POLIAKOFF fascinating and I will later try to find something
somewhere that discusses this possibility, if indeed it is a possibility AND
there has been some scholarly research about her true parentage.

According to my Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer, there are a number of
place names with the stem "Pavlov" (Pavlovka, Pavlovsk, Pavolovski,
Pavlovskaya, etc...), and the Gazetteer notes that (present day) Slutsk, in
the Leningrad oblast, had been charted in 1796 as "Pavlovsk," but the
history of Slutsk at

http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/Slutsk_history_of_jewish_community.htm

does not mention this charter which may have lasted only until Paul's death.
( By the way, there are some "POLYAKs" listed on Slutsk's 1816 Revision List
and in its School Records, which name might be related to the name
POLIAKOFF.) I assume that all such places were named after the Tsar Paul, and
it may be that Mrs. Schwarcz's friend merely had ancestors who came >from a
place with "Pavlov" as a stem to its name. Of course, it could also be that
her friend is distantly related to the POLIAKOFF family.

After reviewing several photographs online and remembering others I've
seen, all I can say for now is that Anna PAVLOVA "looked Jewish"!

NFatouros@...
Bloomington, Indiana
8-28-00

Dear Genners,

I have a birth record >from Tarnopol which states that:
Mariam Chaje vel Clara was born 01 March 1861,
What does "vel" mean in the context of the record?

TIA

Elizabeth Shamroth

Dear Genners,

I have a birth record >from Tarnopol which states that:
Mariam Chaje vel Clara was born 01 March 1861,
What does "vel" mean in the context of the record?

TIA

Elizabeth Shamroth

Recently found out that my paternal grandfather, MORRIS METERSKY had first
cousins in Baku, Azerbaidzhan, a brother, SOLOMON METERSKY and sister, MINNIE
ROSENBLAT last time heard >from in 1961. Does anyone have information that
could help me find out about surviving decendants or records >from Baku on
them? Please respond to Mort Metersky at metersky@...
Thanks.
Mort Meterskuy

Recently found out that my paternal grandfather, MORRIS METERSKY had first
cousins in Baku, Azerbaidzhan, a brother, SOLOMON METERSKY and sister, MINNIE
ROSENBLAT last time heard >from in 1961. Does anyone have information that
could help me find out about surviving decendants or records >from Baku on
them? Please respond to Mort Metersky at metersky@...
Thanks.
Mort Meterskuy

My grandfather, Samuel LAVETTS, a very religious man, married a woman wth
the same name as his mother (Annie). Ther marriage took place in 1894 in
the US, while the parents were in Russia. Annie LAVETTS' first name was
listed as Sarah in the 1900 census. Several years ago I raised a question
about this apparent name change on the JewishGen Discussion Group and
received a response that when a man married a woman with the same name as
his mother, the new bride changed her first name for as long as her mother
in law was alive.

Al Rosenfield
Columbus OH USA
alanpeg@...

My grandfather, Samuel LAVETTS, a very religious man, married a woman wth
the same name as his mother (Annie). Ther marriage took place in 1894 in
the US, while the parents were in Russia. Annie LAVETTS' first name was
listed as Sarah in the 1900 census. Several years ago I raised a question
about this apparent name change on the JewishGen Discussion Group and
received a response that when a man married a woman with the same name as
his mother, the new bride changed her first name for as long as her mother
in law was alive.

Al Rosenfield
Columbus OH USA
alanpeg@...

Shalom.

I think the explanation is much simpler than what Alexander Sharon says.
My father surname was Chmielnicki before he changed it to Carmi, upon
arrival to Paletine/Israel in 1929.
This surname goes with his family now for more than 250 years and the
explanation to its origin is very simple - the family came to Opoczno (where
my father was born) in the mid 18thC >from Chmielnik, a town in the Kielce
gubernia in Poland. They were first called Chmielniker (meaning those who
came >from Chmielnik), until about the 1820's, and then they changed the
surname to Chmielnicki, in accordance with the new registration rulings in
post Napoleonic Poland. I have enough copies of BMD akta with these facts in
them.
And by the way - nobody of my ancestors or relatives with that surname had
anything to do with beer brewing etc. They were peddlers, merchants,
furriers, tailors, shoemakers, painters, bakers, simple daily workers
(wyrobnik), teachers and rabbis.

Gideon.

this a follow up to the following emails.

Subject: Re: CHMELNITSKY and PAVLOWSKI
From: "Alexander Sharon" <a.sharon@...>
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2000 09:29:58 -0600
X-Message-Number: 24

Sandra,

One of my best Jewish Polish friends, is also named Henry Chmelnicki,
currently he resides in NY, NY.

"Chmiel" translates to English as "hop", and name Chmielnicki is associated
with beer brewing or retail, this is probably where >from your family name
has originated.

I wouldn't worry about association with the 17th century Ukrainian murderer,
just a coincident.

Regards,

Alexander Sharon
mailto: a.sharon@...
Cakgary, AB, Calgary

Shalom.

I think the explanation is much simpler than what Alexander Sharon says.
My father surname was Chmielnicki before he changed it to Carmi, upon
arrival to Paletine/Israel in 1929.
This surname goes with his family now for more than 250 years and the
explanation to its origin is very simple - the family came to Opoczno (where
my father was born) in the mid 18thC >from Chmielnik, a town in the Kielce
gubernia in Poland. They were first called Chmielniker (meaning those who
came >from Chmielnik), until about the 1820's, and then they changed the
surname to Chmielnicki, in accordance with the new registration rulings in
post Napoleonic Poland. I have enough copies of BMD akta with these facts in
them.
And by the way - nobody of my ancestors or relatives with that surname had
anything to do with beer brewing etc. They were peddlers, merchants,
furriers, tailors, shoemakers, painters, bakers, simple daily workers
(wyrobnik), teachers and rabbis.

Gideon.

this a follow up to the following emails.

Subject: Re: CHMELNITSKY and PAVLOWSKI
From: "Alexander Sharon" <a.sharon@...>
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2000 09:29:58 -0600
X-Message-Number: 24

Sandra,

One of my best Jewish Polish friends, is also named Henry Chmelnicki,
currently he resides in NY, NY.

"Chmiel" translates to English as "hop", and name Chmielnicki is associated
with beer brewing or retail, this is probably where >from your family name
has originated.

I wouldn't worry about association with the 17th century Ukrainian murderer,
just a coincident.

Regards,

Alexander Sharon
mailto: a.sharon@...
Cakgary, AB, Calgary

A group in Germany is trying to publish a Yizkor (Memorial) Book on the
Jewish community of Gevelsberg, Ruhr, Westphalia. They have found app.
250 names >from the former Jewish community but do not know the fate
or whereabouts of any of these people. Any information or help would
be appreciated.

Henry Birnbrey
Atlanta, Ga.
hbirnbrey@...

A group in Germany is trying to publish a Yizkor (Memorial) Book on the
Jewish community of Gevelsberg, Ruhr, Westphalia. They have found app.
250 names >from the former Jewish community but do not know the fate
or whereabouts of any of these people. Any information or help would
be appreciated.

Henry Birnbrey
Atlanta, Ga.
hbirnbrey@...

I know that a member of my family moved to Israel and died there but I
do not know where. Is there a way to find out, preferably online but
otherwise and address that I could write to?

Thanks

David Zeidman
Malmö, Sweden

I know that a member of my family moved to Israel and died there but I
do not know where. Is there a way to find out, preferably online but
otherwise and address that I could write to?

Thanks

David Zeidman
Malmö, Sweden

My late father in law visited Israel in 1971. Yesterday I came across what
appears to be a list of relatives he intended to contact.

One name is not familiar to me:

Goldie BLOCK
Sikum Daram
Herzlia

The BLOCH family was >from Sudargas, Lithuania. I have over 1200 members of
this family >from a single ancestor, but have no record of any Goldie.

Martin Miller in Syracuse, NY
mailto:millerm@...
http://web.syr.edu/~millerm/index.htm

My late father in law visited Israel in 1971. Yesterday I came across what
appears to be a list of relatives he intended to contact.

One name is not familiar to me:

Goldie BLOCK
Sikum Daram
Herzlia

The BLOCH family was >from Sudargas, Lithuania. I have over 1200 members of
this family >from a single ancestor, but have no record of any Goldie.

Martin Miller in Syracuse, NY
mailto:millerm@...
http://web.syr.edu/~millerm/index.htm

I have been searching for Sarah WEINER, who in 1971 lived at 19 Braude
Street in Petach Tikva. She had a daughter Nechama, who married Canoch KNOPF
of Leeds, England in 1969.

Sarah is a member of the BLOCH family of Sudargas, Lithuania.

Martin Miller in Syracuse, NY
mailto:millerm@...
http://web.syr.edu/~millerm/index.htm

I have been searching for Sarah WEINER, who in 1971 lived at 19 Braude
Street in Petach Tikva. She had a daughter Nechama, who married Canoch KNOPF
of Leeds, England in 1969.

Sarah is a member of the BLOCH family of Sudargas, Lithuania.

Martin Miller in Syracuse, NY
mailto:millerm@...
http://web.syr.edu/~millerm/index.htm