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Family History
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Marilyn Schifter Bakker |
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Introduction |
The Schifters from Eastern Europe |
| In the old country |
My father's
family came here in 1903 from a town then called Stanislawow,
which was part of the province of Galicia, which was part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time. After WWI, the area was part
of Poland for about 20 years, but after WWII it was annexed to the
Soviet Republic of Ukraine. Today, as part of Ukraine, the town is
called Ivano Frankivsk.
[More about
Stanislawow] |
My
father's grandfather was Gottman Schifter
(his name might have been Litman), born in about 1810 in Czernowitz
(now part of Rumania). He and his
wife had six children there: Gittle, Moses,
Herman, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. By 1900, all or parts of the family
had moved to Stanislawow.
Gottman was my
great-great-grandfather. Moses was my great-grandfather. His son
David
was my grandfather. David's son Benjamin, my father, was born in
Stanislawow in 1895. |
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| Putting the
story together |
| Descendants of
Gottman. In 2000, via the Web, I found my third-cousin Jay Wilamowski, a great-grandson of Herman,
who had put
together a tree of Gottman's descendants that included over 350
individuals. I provided the Moses line
that had been missing, and he and I then collaborated on finding new information. |
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In 2000 I had just some
family papers to work with. Since then,
much information has become available on the Internet. First came
the ship manifests in the
Ellis Island Passenger Arrivals database. Then came the
Heritage Quest Census Facts. And now we have the records in the
growing
Jewish Records in Poland (JRIP) database, which have solved some
mysteries. |
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One of the mysteries was
about my father, Benjamin, who's name showed as Bernard on the
passenger list.
As Benjamin, he didn't appear in JRIP -- but he did
appear as Berl Moses. Berl Moses was born to Marjem Dellman the year
before she married David Schifter. It looks like he was
illegitimate, but that might be because their marriage by a rabbi
was not recorded. |
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Another mystery was
about my Aunt Fay, who had always said she was born in Austria. But
the Social Security Death Index shows her born here on June 29, 1903
(before the boat arrived). She did celebrate her birthday on June
29, but JRIP shows clearly that she was born as Feige in Europe. |
Gottman Schifter's descendants
Main source: JRIP |
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1. GOTTMAN SCHIFTER was born Abt. 1810 in Czernowitz, Bukovina. He
married RACHEL?. They had six children including MOSES. (There is a
question as to whether Gottman and Litman were the same person.) |
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2. MOSES SCHIFTER was born in Austria. He married FEIGE RUCHEL GRATZ.
She was born in Austria. They had one child, DAVID SELIG.
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3. DAVID SELIG SCHIFTER was born December 21, 1871 in Austria, and
died December 23, 1941 in Bronx NY. He married MARJEM (MARY, MARIA)
DELLMAN GRATZ 1896 in Stanislawow, daughter of BERL GRATZ and NESSIE
DELLMAN. She was born 1874 in Austria, and died January 10, 1926 in
Bronx NY. He married MOLLY November 04, 1928 in Bronx NY.
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Children of
DAVID SCHIFTER and MARJEM GRATZ were: |
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BERL MOSES
(BEN) SCHIFTER was born June 12, 1895 in Stanislawow, Austria, and
died August 26, 1946 in New York, NY. He married ISABELLA GREEN
March 20, 1918 in New York, NY, daughter of SAMUEL GREEN and MARY
SIMPSON. She was born June 02, 1898 in Scranton, PA, and died
September 1974 in Evansville, IN. They had three children: Walter,
Samuel, Marilyn (me). |
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NATALIA (NETTIE)
SCHIFTER was born September 21, 1896 in Austria, and died February
1968 in South Orange NJ. She married Marcos Singer. Two children.
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FEIGE RUCHEL
SCHIFTER, b. 1898; d. 1898, In infancy?. |
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SALOMON (SCHLOME,
SAM) SCHIFTER, b. 1900; d. August 07, 1920. |
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FEIGE (FAY,
FAGELE, FANNY) SCHIFTER was born 1902 in Austria, and died February
22, 1991 in Hollywood FL. She married Hans Klaber. Two children. |
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AGUSTA
(GERI, GUSSIE) SCHIFTER, b. August 28, 1906, Bronx NY; d. May 1987,
Hallandale FL. She married Charles Schifter. No children. |
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GEORGE
SCHIFTER was born January 07, 1909 in Bronx NY, and died April 1968.
He married Dorothy Dixon. Four children. |
| Notes |
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Re Austria. As birthplace,
Austria is shown on the passenger lists and in the census. On this
page it sometimes appears as a generic term for Stanislawow and its
surroundings. |
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Immigration records
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| The Ellis Island ship
manifests became available in 2001. Jay and I and others scoured the
records to find more Schifters. Ellis Island records,
list
of names . |
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1902. David (a metalworker) came alone in 1902. He
sailed on the Koningin Luise out of Bremen, and arrived here on
September 2, at age 31.
record
1903. Maria (29) and four children
followed on the Bulgaria, which arrived in NY on July 18, 1903.
The left side of the 1903 manifest
lists Bernard (8), Natalie (6), Schlome (2), and Feige (nine months).
"Bernard" is surely my father (Berl, Ben). Schlome was Salomon.
The right
side of the manifest says that they came to join David. It looks
like his address was E. 237 Street NYC. |
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Census records
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The
1910 Census shows the family (address unclear) with Agusta (Gussie) (1906)
and George (1909) as new additions. |
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Photos
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Family photos
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