But let me start from the beginning.
My great great grandfather was Paltiel Seligson or Zeligzon. He was born in 1840 in Grajevo Poland. He married Hinda. Their son Yankel married Bryna and they had 5 children:Sheina, Sam, Mayer, Rubina, and Mirchie (Mary). Mirchie was my grandmother.
Before his death, Paltiel arranged for the marriage of his granddaughter Mirchie to Mendel Rosenberg in Grajevo because both he and Mendel's father were Gerer Hasidim from Bialystok who had settled in Grajevo.
Mirchie and Mendel lived in Bialystok where their two daughters were born, Beatrice and Edith (now both deceased). Mendel decided to go to America to seek his fortune. He left Mirchie and the girls behind in Bialystok. Mendel served in the army where he was wounded. After WW1 he was trained by the government to be a watchmaker.
The Red Cross helped Mirchie and the girls to go to the states. They settled in Philadelphia where their sons Paul (now deceased), Samuel and Richard were born. Samuel married Goldie Ellis and had me and my younger sister Marla.
Great grandfather Yankel married twice. He married Bryna (my great grandmother) and when she died he married her sister Rivka and they had 5 children: Goldy, Esther, Hymie, Chai Sora, and Dvora.
Goldy married Mr. Weinberg and had 3 children. Goldy died before the war. Sadly, the rest of her family lost their lives in the Shoah.
Esther married Mr. Kaimsky in Grajevo. They had one daughter Elfreda. Esther died in the Warsaw Ghetto after she refused to go to Brazil in fear that she would jeopardize Elfreda's chance to leave the country with a Youth Aliyah group. Elfreda got to New York and then settled in Texas.
Chai Sora married Shlomo Zuckerbraun. Before the war broke out they had 3 children. Chai Sora gave birth to a little girl whilst living in the Warsaw Ghetto. The entire family was sent to Treblinka where they all perished.
How do I know all this? One of my cousins found some of our cousins and discovered that Hymie had dictated what he could remember about the family. Hymie would be my great step-uncle.
The sad thing is, my really don't know anything about Mendel's family. We know that he had brothers but not sure how many. We know that his father owned an inn in Bialystok and was unkind to my grandmother.
Here is, I think, the only photo of my grandfather Mendel and one of his brothers.
2 comments:
I was fascinated by your ancestral story since it resembles my own so much. (I believe we have been in communication before because of your comment on my blog.) As I revealed at that time, my father's family were also Gerer Hasidim. I was surprised that yours originated in Bialistok (sp?), since that town was a center for the anti-Hasidic misnagdim (opponents also known as the Lithuanian school of ultra-Orthodoxy.) But then you did reveal the move to another town, which was probably more hospitable to Hasidim.
Dear dm,
I just Googled Paltiel Zeligzon, and found this post on your blog. I met Gail Packer several years ago, so some of the story you tell is familiar to me. I am descended from Kalman Zeligzon, Yankel's brother. I have only just begun reading through your blog, so it's possible the answers to some of my questions are just waiting to be found. But I would love to hear from you, if that is also your wish.
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