INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Shmuelbennachum.com – A Genealogical Study. My name is Saul Marks and I am a professional genealogist and lecturer in tracing Jewish ancestry. My career choice was a direct result of years of research into my own family history, and this website is intended as a summary of that research, facilitating the sharing of information with family members, immediate or distant. It is also hoped to solve some the many minor mysteries within the family, and reconnect with descendants of as many of the numerous “lost” branches as possible.

How It All Began

Click this link to read an answer to two of the questions I am asked most frequently: “When did you first become interested in tracing your family tree?” and "How did you become interested in genealogy?"

SUBDIVISION OF THIS WEBSITE

I have subdivided the website exactly as I did the 1992 version of my family tree, with one section for the family of each grandparent. Links to each of these four sections are below. Of course, over the years, more and more ancestral surnames have been found and added to the tree. These sections are referred to as groups and all the families within them are referred to as families of that group. For example, the Goldberg group families include Brajtbart, Cymerman, etc. For the benefit of more distant family members, as well as unrelated visitors to Shmuelbennachum.com, I have included an alphabetical list of some of the main surnames within each group of families. My ancestral surnames are in CAPS; others are not. All surnames are listed in their original Polish or Russian male form, where these are known, with any later Anglicised spellings in brackets below them. This should help to direct your navigation of the site.

The website menu bar is at the top of every page, enabling you to navigate between sections easily. Each group homepage contains a number of sections, containing various types of information on as many as possible of the families in that group. To see how the families fit together, go to the Trees section of each group homepage. You can use the Search section to search Shmuelbennachum.com for a particular word, phrase, or even surname. Remember to try different spellings of any surnames you enter.

A TEAM EFFORT

I could not possibly claim the rights to all the information I now have about my ancestry. Any genealogist, particular one working on his or her own family, relies heavily on others to provide information, stories, photos and, where necessary, funding. I have been fortunate enough to have had a great deal of help in all these areas, not only from my immediate family, but also from many of those with whom I have had contact over the years. Each group section of this website includes an acknowledgements section, in which I thank my main contributors personally.

This site has been designed to evolve with the research, and it is hoped that it will be the catalyst for more connections to be made and more information to shared easily amongst those of us who are interested. Therefore, I would urge all who read this to address the following questions:

• Can you contribute photos, recollections, memorabilia, documentation or genealogical data?

• Can you spot any mistakes or inaccuracies in the website?

• Can you make any suggestions for improvements to it?

• Are you related to one of the families mentioned here?

If any of your answers are "Yes!", PLEASE contact me at saulmarks@hotmail.com. Genealogy is all about co-operation, communication and teamwork to achieve common goals, and the establishment of this website would not have been possible without this attitude. I would love to hear from anyone, inside or outside the families covered on this website, who feels they can contribute in any way to the research. There are many people all over the world who have done just this, and discovered connections they never knew existed!

Finally, if you like what you see at Shmuelbennachum.com, I would appreciate your comments in my Guestbook!

 

BULLETIN BOARD     Date: 23 July 2008 Family: Goodman   During my trip to London last week, I visited the National Archives to look at various documents. One of these was the naturalisation papers of a Joseph Goodman of Leeds, dated 1894. I assumed that this was the Joseph Goodman who was the eldest son of my great-great-grandfather, Symcha Gutman. However, it turned out to be a completely different man - Symcha's younger brother! I had not known that Symcha had had any brothers, but this Joseph applied for naturalisation on the same day and using the same agent as Symcha had done. Why had I never picked him up before? Who knows!   After some initial research, I can say that this Joseph and his large family arrived in Leeds from Poland in 1888, the same year that Symcha and his family arrived. Joseph and his branch moved to Manchester at some point between 1894 and 1897 and I have not been able to trace them far into the 20th century as yet.   Additions to this website as a result of this find are: Joseph Goodman naturalisation papers (1894) (new page) Joseph and Fanny Goodman and family on the 1891 census (addition to existing page) Joseph and Fanny Goodman and family on the 1901 census (addition to existing page) There are other Goodman naturalisation papers held at the National Archives, so I will have to go again when I am in London in early September, and see if there were any other branches of this family that have been lost.     Date: 22 July 2008 Family: Goodman   Mazeltov to Suzy Goodman on her marriage to David Harris in Portsmouth on 22 June!     Date: 22 July 2008 Family: Marks, Goldberg   Mazeltov and all my love to my dad, Nachum Marks, on his marriage to Susan Lewin at Yarnton Manor, Oxfordshire, on Sunday (20 July)! It was a lovely occasion, the rain just about stayed away and everyone had a good time.     Date: 10 July 2008 Family: Temple   Congratulations to Kim White, who married John Knights on 5 July.     Date: 6 July 2008 Family: Tarachow   I am very sorry to announce the passing of Beatrice Kapper in Milwaukee, WI. When I first discovered my connection to the Tarakhovskii family in April 2002, I made contacts in each branch of the family tree and Beatrice was my contact for the Milwaukee branch of the family. She was always thrilled to hear from me on the phone or by letter and was a wonderfully family-orientated woman. I was glad to meet her on my trip to the US in November 2006, although her health had declined since our initial contact. Nevertheless, she was someone who I became instantly fond of and who will be sadly missed by all who knew her. My sincerest condolences go to Ed, Howard, Miles, Sally and Chuck.     Date: 2 July 2008 Family: Krzywe   Following my contact with Howard Kramer, I tracked down Stephanie Canci of Montreal, who is also researching a family named Krzywie from Lodz. After many excited e-mails and a couple of phone calls, I'm happy to say that Stephanie and I are fourth cousins! Her branch of the family have some horrific Holocaust stories and her grandparents were lucky to escape the Lodz Ghetto.   I met Howard in person yesterday and he told me how his own grandparents were killed in the Blitz in the East End of London on 13 October 1940. The following night, a stray bomb fell on my grandparents' house in Kensal Rise and my grandmother was lucky to escape alive. It seems the Kramer and Goldberg branches of the Krzywe family lived through the Blitz together without realising that each other existed.     Date: 20 June 2008 Family: Tarakhovskii, Hoffman   Also belatedly, although on a happier note, I'm pleased to announce Shelley and Jeff Dean's new daughter's name is Leora Tova Bella.     Date: 20 June 2008 Family: Tiskofsky   Belatedly, we wish Sheila Lamb, Bonnie, Nigel and all their family a long life on the passing of David on 2 June in London.     Date: 20 June 2008 Family: Krzywe   I was contacted a few days ago by a gentleman named Howard Kramer, with a suggestion he may be related to my Krzywe ancestors. After a little investigation, I'm thrilled to say that he is indeed my third cousin once removed and his research has revealed a number of branches previously totally unknown to me and takes the family back another generation, to Berek Krzywe, who was born c.1794. Howard has also established that the Krzywe family did not originate in Aleksandrow Lodzki, as I had thought, but in Burzenin, just over 30 miles to the south-west. I will be uploading new Krzywe trees and information about Burzenin in due course. Meantime, Howard and I are teaming up to purchase the Krzywe BMD certificates from Aleksandrow in order that we can learn more.     Date: 20 June 2008 Family: Goldberg, Tempelchof   Several announcements of different sorts today...   Finally, after several years in the preparation, the JRI-Poland indexing project has uploaded BMD indexes for Lodz covering the years 1901-05. I had been dying to see these and, as I had hoped, the marriage of my great-grandparents, Izrael Goldberg and Chana Ita Tempelchof was listed, in the 1904 index. Sadly, the PSA cancelled their arrangement with JRI-Poland regarding online ordering, so I'm ordering this certificate direct from the Lodz Archive and hoping it will arrive before my dad's wedding on 20 July.     Date: 31 May 2008 Family: Tempelchof, Temple   I regret to announce that Nat Temple passed away in the early hours of Friday morning, 30 May. Regardless of his professional fame, he was a warm family man whom I had the privilege to meet on two occasions. My deepest condolences to Lynda & all the family.     Date: 27 May 2008 Family: Tarakhovskii, Hoffman   Mazeltov to Shelley and Jeffrey Dean on the birth of their second daughter (yet to be named) in St Louis, Missouri, in the early hours of this morning!     Date: 1 May 2008 Family: Niedzwiecki, Kowalski   Sadly, I have to announce the passing of Sara Malka Kamin (née Niedzwiecka) in Israel. We wish her family a long life.     Date: 22 April 2008 Family: Tiskofsky, Kowalski   Another mazeltov: this time to Ben and Sarah Ziman on the birth of their second son, Isaac Che, on 25 March!     Date: 23 March 2008 Family: Tiskofsky, Kowalski   A belated mazeltov to my dear cousin Elizabeth and her husband Yianni Cheilas of Athens on the birth of their son, Paris Alexandros, on 20 February! Wonderful to see all these new births in the family.     Date: 4 February 2008 Family: Davis, Gutman   Mazeltov to Alex & Liat King of Jerusalem on the birth of their son, Harel, on 16 January!