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.

For a run-down of my direct ancestral families, their places of origin and interrelationships, click here.

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: 12 September 2011 Family: Rose   Mazeltov to Paul and Kathryn Lewis of Melbourne on the birth of their son Joshua James on 15 August and Boruch Yona and Pnina Reuben of Jerusalem on the birth of their daughter Chaya Malka Reuben on 29 August!     Date: 5 September 2011 Family: Tiskofsky   It is with great sadness that I must report the passing of my great-aunt, Anne Gaden-Nathan, on 3 September. She was the matriarch of my mother's immediate family & everything revolved around her.   Aunty Anne was born Hannah Tiskofsky in London. She was always glamorous and intelligent and was well-educated at the prestigious Godolphin & Latymer School in West London. She married furrier Reuben Gaden in 1947 and they were very successful. Following Uncle Reuben's death in 1969, Aunty Anne remarried Eph Nathan in 1973, and spent 15 happy years with him until she was widowed a second time. She was a very astute financier who could be relied on for advice and knowledge on all sorts of types of investment.   Aunty Anne was fundamentally a kind, generous person for whom family meant everything. Having had no children of her own, she doted on her sisters' children and grandchildren, myself included. She would speak regularly to everyone in the family and to her wide circle of friends and insisted on being kept abreast of all the latest developments in everyone's lives. So many of her sentences would begin, "Now do tell me...". She could always tell you the date she last spoke to any given person.   She was a woman of fine tastes, wearing exquisite jewellery and beautiful clothes. Her favourite restaurant was at the magnificent Four Seasons Hotel on Park Lane which, as she would remind us regularly, "used to be called the Inn on the Park".   Even as she aged, she didn't lose her glamour or her faculties. In particular, her elegant floral handwriting never deteriorated, even the week before she died. Even when she became effectively bed-bound, she still worked hard on her personal paperwork & kept in touch with friends and family literally round the clock. In her 80s, she acquired a mobile phone and used it constantly to send and receive text messages, demonstrating her practicality and ability to embrace new technologies.   Aunty Anne will be deeply missed by everyone who knew her. She was a wonderful character, a true British eccentric with a heart of gold. "Bub-bye Aunty, bub-bye, bub-bye, bub-bye, bub-bye..."     Date: 5 September 2011 Family: Tiskofsky   Mazeltov to Marc and Rhonda Ziman on the birth of their daughter Martha on 16 August!     Date: 9 January 2011 Family: Goldberg, Tarakhovskii   You will all remember my enthusiasm about my research into the destruction of my grandparents' house in the Blitz, found here. Well I've submitted the page to Your Family History Magazine and they hope to publish it in their July issue, if not before. If anyone out there subscribes to the magazine, keep an eye open for it!     Date: 9 January 2011 Family: Tempelchof, Lewis   Happy New Year everyone. Finally, I can report some good news: mazeltov to Jérôme and Julie Finkel on the birth of their son Vadim, in London on 8 December. No doubt another bi-lingual member of the Lewis/Suchait/Finkel family!     Date: 8 November 2010 Family: Rose, Barnett   When will this end? Another sad loss, again on 4 November, was Stanley Lewis of Melbourne. We wish long life to Sandra and the twins, along with Naomi & Merv who were so close to him.     Date: 7 November 2010 Family: Kowalski, Kaiser, Goodman, Debson   Reporting deaths is never pleasant and I seem to be doing far to much of it recently.   On 4 November, the Kaiser family of Chicago lost the last of a generation in Miriam Olken, aged 90. I met her on my American trip in November 2006, although she had already suffered some terribly strokes by then. Nevertheless, I believe in her prime she was a real character & our condolences & wishes for a long life go to Scott and Kimberley and, by association, Jeff, who helped look after her for a long time.   On the same day, the Debson family lost Ena Debson of Liverpool. I first met Ena in 2002 and she was an active and family-oriented lady who was happy to lend me her wedding album, amongst other items, in order to contribute photos to this website.   Both women will be sadly missed by their families; may their dear souls rest in peace.     Date: 28 October 2010 Family: Goldberg, Parzenczewski   I have been informed of the passing of Daniel Valeri in Villepinte, France, aged 57. Although I didn't know him personally, I understand he led a somewhat tragic life. May his dear soul rest in peace, free from further torment.     Date: 28 October 2010 Family: Tarakhovskii, Tarachow   With great sadness, I must report the passing of Mildred Hoffman in Milwaukee on 27 October, aged 92. I met her and her lovely family on my American holiday in November 2006 and she was, in many ways, the life of the party. She exemplified the warm welcome I received, with her big smile and positive attitude to everything. She was a very proud family woman and my deepest condolence go out to Stuart and Sandy and all the family. May her dear soul rest in peace.     Date: 14 October 2010 Family: Tarakhovskii, Goldberg   On the 70th anniversary of the destruction of my grandparents' house in the Blitz, I have added some major updates to my research, following my trip to London earlier this week. You can read them here:   The Destruction of 73 Chevening Road     Date: 22 September 2010 Family: Tarakhovskii, Goldberg   In October 1940, my grandparents' house in London was destroyed in the Blitz, with my grandmother inside. Miraculously, she survived, and I have been researching the incident on and off for two years. I'm now excited to release this new page of the website, containing a summary of my findings:   The Destruction of 73 Chevening Road     Date: 19 September 2010 Family: All   I must apologise to all my readers for having been out of action for so long. I have been encouraged by the increase in numbers of people who have e-mailed me with photos, updates for the family tree and general news. Only now have I been able to make the time to incorporate all these changes.   The main reason for my absence is that I married my beloved Leanne here in Liverpool on 22 August. She is in the process of uploading various sets of photos, including the official ones, to a photo-sharing website so, if anyone wants to see them, drop me an e-mail and I'll let you have the login details when it's active.   Meantime, I can notify you of the following pieces of family news and updates to the website:     Y I was devastated to learn of the passing of Ralph Tish in New York on 14 September, aged 103 years and 138 days. He was born in London on 29 April 1907, the sixth of seven sons of Mortchaj Tyszkowski and Chaja Fejga Bejnsztejn. In 1910, the family moved to New York after a decade in London, and Uncle Ralph lived in Manhattan for the rest of his life. He lived through two World Wars and survived the Spanish 'flu pandemic of the late 1910s. He was at home in his apartment on the Lower East Side on 9/11 and witnessed the terrorist attacks from his window.   I first met Uncle Ralph on my first visit to New York in November 2006. At the age of 99, he was still living on his own quite a number of floors up, and hopped on a bus to meet his daughter Phyllis and me for dinner at a restaurant without giving it a second thought. He walked unaided, always sporting a baseball cap or his yarmulke, depending on his location.   On that same visit, we attended Shabbat morning service at the beautiful Bialystoker Shul together, along with Phyllis. Uncle Ralph was clearly thrilled to have a guest at the service and was admired by all the congregants for his positivity and light-heartedness. It was a great privilege to be there with him.   In May 2007, I went back to New York to attend his 100th birthday party, held at the Educational Alliance where he still worked as a volunteer, organising outings for senior citizens. He was incredible as ever, even helping to clear up after all the guests had left!   Longevity runs in the Tish family, to a certain extent. Uncle Ralph's father lived to 95 and his brother Alex was 101, but Uncle Ralph topped both those scores. As they say here in England, "he had a good innings", and was a very much loved uncle, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. As has become clear by the length of this impromptu obituary, Uncle Ralph was very dear to me and I'm sure all my readers join me in wishing a long life to his daughters Phyllis and Marianne, and the whole family. May his very dear soul rest in peace.             Y I am sad to report the passing of Jack Brightbart on 15 July in Leeds. He was a remarkable man whom I only met on one occasion, but remembered fondly my grandmother Marie and her sister Bella in their youth. Jack was a colourful character with plenty of stories and our condolences go to his wife Joyce and all his children.             Y Another sad passing is Penny Goodman, on 30 July in West Skillington, Kent. I first met Aunty Penny late in my childhood and will always remember visiting her, Niki and Lynne very fondly, interspersed by the sound of their budgies tweeting above our heads when they lived across the road from my grandparents in Chiswick. She was always smiling.             Y As many of you will know, the most frustrating and difficult line of my ancestry to trace has been the Tarakhovskii family. There always seems to be a shroud of mystery at every step: a total (and deliberately orchestrated) lack of oral family history, fantastic artefacts with the crucial details smudged, tantalising snippets of information, mysterious gaps in records and so on. It was in keeping with this, then, that the only branch of my British-based family who I could not find on the 1911 census when it was published last year was my own great-grandparents, Myer and Jane Marks, and their three children. However, over 18 months after the census was published, I finally found them on 16 September! The transcription and link to the image are at the Tarakhovskii 1911 Census Listings page.   This is the first census return to show any of my grandparents: my grandfather Sam Marks, after whom I am named, appears aged 4 (although he wouldn't actually turn 4 until a few months later). Not only does it give us an idea of when Myer and Jane married, but it also gives their birthplaces, which is the first official indication of this anywhere that I have seen. They were both born in Bakhmach, in the northern Ukraine. Although obviously not stated on the census return, they were in fact first cousins, and the name Meyer (sic) runs through the Tarakhovskii family for generations, along with the initial S for male children. I feel quite humble to be the bearer of an S-name in this family; had I been born in the Ukraine along with my ancestors, I might have been called Shmuel Tarakhovskii. I think Leanne's greatly relieved that the Anglicised version of my surname is only five letters long!             Y Mazeltov to Alan and Tanya Simmons on the birth of their second son Max on 2 August.       Date: 9 May 2010 Family: Debson, Goodman, Reuben   I can now confirm that Louis Debson indeed died on 13 March at 7.30pm. May his dear soul rest in peace.   Mazeltov to Paul Lewis and Kathryn Sherry on their marriage in Melbourne on 10 April and to Yair and Feigy Reuben on the birth of their second son, on 1 May.     Date: 19 April 2010 Family: All   I apologise for the inaccessibility of this website for the last couple of months, but it's now back online, as you can see. I started receiving e-mails from an encouragingly large number of people, saying that the website was down. I checked the billing status and made sure that both the server space and the domain name were renewed, but still the address wasn't leading to the website. My lifestyle is so busy these days that I simply didn't have time to ring Bizland (from whom I rent the server space and domain name) and sort it out. Finally, this evening, I've got round to doing it. It appears that the web address had been set to point at a "parking page", which is what you saw if you visited this website since mid-February. It was easily corrected by Bizland's technical support team over the phone. This setting was not of my doing and, after a little persuasion, they have agreed to give me a credit for the two months lost.   So, everything is back up and running. Sadly, the website's fifth anniversary in early March was missed due to the technical problem, but it's definitely worth a mention here. I had a lot more time, back in 2005, to work on this website and my family history in general. I do still try to make updates when I have time, but that's not too often. I am still grateful to everyone who visits. It was encouraging to find quite a few people e-mailing me about the site, so at least it does receive some readership!   I will conclude by wishing mazeltov to Sarah and Matthew Barron of Leeds on the birth of their second son Sonny Nathaniel on 2 February and also to the Lipman family in general on the marriage of Sarah's sister Amanda to Kevin Crooks on 10 April in Harrogate. On a sad note, I must also report the passing of Dr Louis Debson of New Brighton, aged 95, on or around 13 March. I have yet to establish the precise details or send my personal condolences to Uncle Louis' family, but he was an inspiring and courageous man with a strong sense of duty and responsibility, who will be sadly missed.     Date: 15 February 2010 Family: Rothstein, Kaitiff   Sadly, I must announce the passing of Bernard Rothstein last month. He was a lovely, sweet man whom I first met at the Tarakhovskii family reunion in Liverpool in July 2002. He will be missed by all his extended family.     Date: 13 November 2009 Family: Peters, Rose   Mazeltov to Adam & Esther Peters on the birth of their second son, Yisroel Yitzchak, on 2 October!     Date: 26 October 2009 Family: Debovitch   With regret, I must announce the death of Edith Debovitch of Leeds, at the age 100, on 3 October. Her grandson, Dr Alexander King of Jerusalem, has created these two memorial pages:   http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=151513681850 http://bit.ly/debovitch     Date: 26 October 2009 Family: Plager, Feldman   Mazeltov to Charles & Kate Plager on the birth of their son, Adam Benjamin, on 22 October!     Date: 26 October 2009 Family: Hoffman   Mazeltov to Jeff & Shelley Dean on the birth of their third daughter, Shira Neshama, on 20 October!     Date: 14 April 2009 Family: Goodman   Mazeltov to Simon & Rafaela Goodman on the birth of their son, Daniel Jack, on 9 March!     Date: 6 March 2009 Family: Rothstein   I must also report the passing of Mattis Rothstein in Manchester on 1 February. He was a long-term servant of the Leeds community and we wish a long life to his brothers Bernard & Michael & to all the family.     Date: 6 March 2009 Family: Tarachow   Sadly, I have to report the passing of Jerry Sher in Florida on 2 March. We wish a long life to Helen & the family.     Date: 27 February 2009 Family: All   I should also probably announce that my girlfriend Leanne & I are now engaged...!     Date: 27 February 2009 Family: Tiskofsky, Ronen   Mazeltov to my dear cousin Zivi Sainsbury & husband Mark on the birth of their daughter, Lily Jane, on 9 December. Apologies for the late notification.     Date: 19 February 2009 Family: All   The 1911 census of England & Wales was released a few weeks ago at www.1911census.co.uk, and I've now created pages containing transcriptions & images from this census, relating to our ancestors. I haven't collected all the census returns yet, as I simply can't afford to fund everything in one go, but the pages at the moment are: Goldberg Group 1911 census Tarakhovskii Family 1911 census Tyszkowski Group 1911 census Gutman Group 1911 census