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Background
My grandfather Iaac Louis WITTEN was born in 1892 in Panevezys Lithuania. JewishGen records him as Itsyk Leyb VITAN son of Tsalel (son of Iosel) and Elka Mera (daughter of Girsh BLOKH). Itsyk was their second child - both were boys.
Tsalel and Elka appear to have divorced before 1896. I cannot find a divorce record or a second marriage record for Tsalel, but he had his first of 4 children with his second wife Rokhel in October 1896. That child was Yosel VITEN
Eka Muse BLOCH (I believe to be Itsyk's mother, despite the name variation), is listed as divorced on her second marriage record in 1897. She died in 1898, when my grandfather would have been just 6 years old.
My grandfather and his older brother Girsh Eliyash VITEN (Harry WITTEN) were taken to South Africa by a maternal uncle (Louis BLOCH) in about 1900, aged about 13 and 8 at the time. As far as we are aware my grandfather never returned to Lithuania, and I doubt as a cabinet maker he could have afforded a return journey. I have a trustworthy document that shows he was in Cape Town on 1 November 1922. He married my grandmother in June 1923 and I am fairly sure he never left the country after that.
My grandfather's half brother Yosel VITEN married Rebecca in Lithuania(date not known and record not found) and had one child Miriam born there 19 October 1923. I assume they were married prior to Miriam's birth, whose birth record I have also been unable to find. They all emigrated to Cape Town, arriving probably by around 1928/1929, probably not all at the same time. I know Miriam was aged 5 when she arrived.
My grandfather and his young family met Yosel at the docks when the ship arrived and do not talk of his wife or child being present at the time. I cannot find a record of Yosel or his family's trip to the Cape, but an Isaac WITTEN born about 1892 came out alone in 1926. My grandfather was definitely in Cape Town at that time and I am unable to find another Isaac WITTEN of that age in any records relevant to the Cape.
I have been researching this family for years, and was surprised to find the marriage record below for someone with the same name, father and year of birth as my grandfather, at a time when I am fairly certain he was in the Cape and only 7 months before the document I have proving he was there in November.
The mother Rokhel is incorrect. Tsalel was still married to Elka in 1892, so could not have had a child with Rokhel at that time. And it seems strange anyway he would give another son the same name. Tsalel is an unusual given name, and I have been unable to find evidence of another Tsalel VITEN, so the person in this marriage record appears to be my grandfather, who was almost certainly in South Africa at the time, and Rokhel his stepmother.
I have found other JewishGen records for a Rebecca or Rivka or Riva of about the correct age; her father is listed as Itsik/Itsek/Itsyk, her mother as Malka-Inda and the surname Chelemovichaite/Khelemovich.
The above record puzzled me for many years, but this year I found a possible piece to the puzzle when I read the probate records of Yosel VITEN (Joseph WITTEN) in the Cape Town City Archives. Joseph's parents are correctly listed as Bezalel and Rachel WITTEN. His marriage is listed as having occurred in Wilkomir (which is now known as Ukmerge, same place as the record above) and his wife's name and maiden name is listed as Rebecca CHELENOWITZ (in two different places).
I understand that the letters N and M look quite different in the Russian alphabet
Using the search term CheleNovich (sounds like) on JewishGen the most similar sounding names usually use an M though some a small handful use an N. The Rivka/Rebecca/Rivas that match the above record also match the spelling variation of KheleMovich
Questions
1. Is it possible that the Rebecca CHELENOWITZ in the probate record is the Rivka KHELEMOVICH in the marriage record and that Yosel married using my grandfather's identity, and perhaps also used his identity to travel to South Africa in 1926?
2. If yes, why would that be necessary in the years 1922 - 1926?
In favour of this is her age of 3 months in the 1897 census, 23 in 1921 recorded in an internal passport application (= b abt 1898), 23 in April 1922 at marriage.
Against this is that in the probate record the name is spelled CheleNowitz with an N (not KheleMowitz with an M) and on Rebecca's gravestone her father is recorded as Abraham not as Isaac.
I am interested to hear other peoples thoughts on this. I cannot think why he might do this. I know that first born sons were exempt from the army and this was sometimes a reason for name changes, but my grandfather was a second born son and arguably Yosel was the first born son of the second marriage. I am wondering if it has something to do with plans for emigration to South Africa.
Many thanks for any input, thought, ideas or suggestions for further research into this.
Cathy Miller
cathymillernz@...
