BIRENBAUM Inquiry #usa


Carl Shuman
 

I am hoping someone can assist me. My maternal great grandmother was Nechama Birenbaum. According to her Blitzstein Bank and YIVO records, she was born in approximately 1858. She took the S.S. Haverford from Hamburg (via Liverpool) on November 2, 1907 with my great aunts, Reise (Rose) and Dabe (Dora) and arrived in Philadelphia on December 7, 1907. One of her other daughters, Shprintze (Sophie), was my grandmother, who had arrived in Philadelphia the year before. Under the “Passenger Address” space Nechama listed “Abram Goldfarb Wisoko Litowsk - Brest Lit Gub Grodno." The purchaser of her ticket was my great grandfather and her husband, Michel Schmukler (aka Shmookler), who had emigrated from his “last place of residence” of “Brisk" via the S.S. Werkendam, arriving from Rotterdam to Philadelphia on February 13, 1900. Here is my question. I recently discovered several Birenbaum relatives on Ancestry.com. We are certain we are related because in my family photo album I discovered photos of Birenbaum relatives (first names unidentified) that I have shared with my newly discovered cousins and which they confirm as their father and great uncle; also my Great Aunt Rose’s grandchildren took a DNA test which confirmed that we are related to the Birenbaum cousins with whom we have recently been in contact. The mystery is that we do not know how Nechama (also known as Anna in the U.S.) and our newly discovered Birenbaum cousins are related. Their Grandfather and Uncle, Morris (Moshko), was born in the town of Kleshelyah, in the “Nemirovskaya Community” in the “Bilsky Borough” in the “Grodensky” Region on October 16, 1906. This comes from his birth certificate. Morris' parents were Pinkos (Philip) Yankelavich Birenbaum and Perlya Birenbaum. Pinkos arrived in the U.S. in 1913, at around the age of 40; this means he would have been born in approximately 1873. I am guessing that Pinkos (Philip) and Nechama were siblings but it is only a guess. Does anyone have any guidance that could tell me how Nechama and Pinkos Birenbaum may have been related? I have searched JewishGen and Ancestry.com but have not found any connections. I have no information about Nechama’s parents or siblings.
Thank you very much, Carl Shuman
 
P.S.  If this is any help, my grandmother Shprintze (Sophie) arrived in Philadelphia on the S.S. America on June 2, 1906. Accordiing to the Blitzstein Bank records she listed the “Passenger’s Address” as “Gershko Schmukliarsky” and what looks like “Umeni Schimson wod Listinakol m. Wisoka Litowsk Brest Litovsk Gub Grodno."  


Raina Accardi
 

Without records it may be impossible to make a definitive connection but with careful analysis of the DNA matches you may make an educated guess. In terms of locations, Kleszczele, Bielsk, Grodno (Kleshelyah in your message) was 15 miles from Vysokaye, Brest, Grodno (Wysoko-Litowsk). Brisk is Brest-Litowsk the nearest city to those shtels.

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Raina Accardi 
Saugerties, NY
RAgenealogy@...
Poland: GEVIRTZMAN in Kobylin; JESINOWITZ/YESNOWITZ in Mszczonów; FELSENSTEIN in Parysów.
Belarus: GUTTWOCH/GOODMAN and ZISSERMAN in Volchin; BUSHMITZ in Vysokaye.
Ukraine: TRAUB and JANOVSKY in Kolki, Sofievka, Radomysl, and Zhytomyr; WEISMAN or ROSENBERG.


Kathryn Kanarek James
 

My great grandfather’s sister was Esther Birnbaum (née Kanarek), widow of Joseph Birnbaum. Her family came from Galicia. She had two daughters who died in NYC (Rose Appel and Rebecca Lichtblau). I have been trying to find records for them on JRI-Poland without success. I have found American records but not European records. If you run across them in your research, please let me know. Thanks!

Kathryn Kanarek James
Annandale, VA
kathrynbkj@...
Poland: KANAREK in Tarnobrzeg, Tarnow; SINGER in Tarnow
UKRAINE: WANG in Lublin, WEGODNER in Sokolievka/Justingrad, SADUCH/SEDUCH/SIDUCHE, GOLDSTEIN and LANDA in Shpikov