Twenty some years ago, in a talk at the Los Angeles conference, I stressed the importance of reviewing previously acquired material as it may contain important, earlier overlooked, information. "... One man's background noise is another man's great-grandfather..." It is time to put the theory to the test.

In 1922, a young couple by the names Naftali b. Ber Lasutra and his wife Nechama b. Meishe (nee Gluzman), both natives of a small shtetl Pulin near Zhitomir, arrived in Toronto. Within the first ten years, they changed names to Nathan and Annie Lester. They lived on Borden Street for a number of years. By two independent accounts, they did not have children, although Nechama had a sister named Khaya who may have also lived in Toronto.

In the late 1940's, they moved to a new development on Elm Ridge Drive. Annie Lester died in 1956. In a year, Nathan Lester left for Israel where his brother, a photographer and a documentary filmmaker Yaacov Ben-Dov lived since 1907. Nathan died in 1974 and is buried in Holon.

There is evidence suggesting that Nathan Lester and some of his neighbors at Elm Ridge Drive were long time friends. It is therefore logical to assume that he wrote them from Israel.

So, if you research any of the names below, please check your "other stuff" folder. It may contain a never translated letter in Yiddish, or a picture of "uncle Sam with neighbours", or something else.

The names are copied from the 1951 Toronto City Directory The numbers are house numbers. Just in case, the entire page can be viewed at http://www.bfcollection.net/images/torontocitydirectory1951_2043.jpg

139         Max Solomon

141         Banjamin Scinberg

142         Morris Rubinoff

143         Ciro Romanin

144         Joseph Steinberg

145         Albert Ciavir

146         Sam Berke

148         Nathan Lester

149         Boris Litman

150         Israel Rotblott

151         Harry H Berman

153         Max Axsmith

155         Samuel Blustein

157         Harry Goodfellow

159         Samuel Samer

Thank you!

Thank you, Jeremy,

From google street views, it is clear that the area was redeveloped later; I just did not know it was because of the expressway construction.

That whole area was very Jewish from the beginning, that's why my hope is that there are a few genealogists who will recognize the names (and that's why I posted the entire 1951 Directory page).

Boris