My ancestors were Ashkenazi Jews; all four grandparents came to the U.S. between 1893 and 1914, as part of the mass immigration of Jews fleeing the Russian Empire. Below I list the families I’m researching, ancestral homes, and DNA haplogroups.
Branches I’m Researching
GERTZMAN HERTZMAN Branch
- From Mogilev (Mahilyow) on the Dnieper River, now in Belarus
- Also lived in Ekaterinoslav (Dnipropetrovsk), now in Ukraine
- Surnames associated in the Old Country include (that I know of):
-
EINHORN, SHIK, TALALAY, SHAFFER, FINKELSTEIN, BELENKI (WHITE), BENSMAN, BILLIPINSKY, GOLDBLATT. SCHULMAN, SHRAER
- In the US, lived mainly in Cincinnati, New York City, Louisville
- Surnames of cousins and descendents and in-laws include: KANTOR, KLEMPORT, WHITE, LEHRNER, SHORR, SHERMAN, COHEN, BIRSTEIN, FISHMAN, FREEMAN, SERVETTER, SHAPIRO, SHAW, SHENDER, LOW, KASAVAN, STEINBERG, STOUN, JASWOIN, GLASSMAN, KORKES, SACHS, SPITZ, BECKER, LEVENSOHN
GRINKER KAMINSKY Branch, aka GRüNFELD (GREENFIELD?)
- The elder Kaminskys were born in Bobrynets’, Kirovohrads’ka oblast, Ukraine in the 1840s
- John and Jenny Grinker Left Odessa ca. 1891; the earliest ship manifest shows their name as Grünfeldüü
- Some later, 2nd-hand documents list Chune (John) Grinker, b. ca. 1858, as from Germany
- Briefly lived in Maurico, Argentina, one of the Baron Hirsch agricultural colonies
- Immigrated to the port of Baltimore in 1893, going to a “cousin” named Itzig COHN
- Settled in Cincinnati
- Possible surnames associated with Kaminsky in the old country: ILSKY, OURISKY
- Surnames of cousins and descendents and in-laws include: KAMIN, LEVITT, SHUSTERMAN, DUBINSKY, DUBIN, KATZ, KOBY, GARDUNSKY, FIERMAN, SIEGEL, STEIN, LEVENSOHN, JENTELSON, BLODSKY, LORIMER, BAILEY, RABINOWITZ, LIPSON, MELLMAN, HUMPHRIES, FLOX, SHECTER, BACH, NOBLE, FRIEDMAN, BRAUNSTEIN, SIVITZ
LEVENSOHN GERSHENSON Branch, aka KIGEL KEGEL KUGEL
- From Kiev area, including towns of Ruhzin and Dzyun’kov, and possibly Belilovka,
- Surnames associated in the Old Country include (that I know of):
- HECHT, BELILOVSKY, possibly LITWACK, GOLDENBERG, MINCOWSKY, ROSENBERG, WEINHEIM
- Immigrated to US in 1890s and 1900s (1st decade) to ? port, then to Cincinnati. Most branches moved to San Francisco, Stockton, Berkeley, and Sacramento in the 1910s and later
- Surnames of cousins and descendents and in-laws include: NEUSTAT, BARASCH, CRAFT, KRAFT, RUBIN, WASSERMAN, SIVITZ, JENTELSON, MEYERS, BOGNER, LAIDLAW, IORNS, ROSE, SILVERMAN, STATES, CARPENTER, MEYER, EVANSON, ALTER, GOLDEN, GERT, ULLMAN, SIMON, BELL, GOLDEN
SKLAR SIMON SCLAR BERLIN Branch
- From Moletai, now in Lithuania; SKLARs also in Svedasai, Kovno, Lithuania
- Almost all my info about the BERLIN branch comes from an Israeli researcher who has done extensive work but will not release his sources
- Surnames associated in the Old Country – and these are all BERLIN related – include (that I know of):
- SHILER SILERAITE, DANTOWITZ, STOLOFSKY, COGAN, BURGIN, ZISKIND – all in Moletai
- SKLARs immigrated to Worcester, MA; Baltimore, then Philadelphia; and Cincinnati
- BERLIN branches immigrated to Israel and to New York and New Jersey
- Surnames of cousins and descendents and in-laws on the SKLAR side include: SCLAR,BERMAN, BECKER, SIMON, DEUTSCH, JACOBS, WILSON, LEVENSOHN
DNA Haplogroups
mtDNA (mitochondrial)
female line SKLAR/SIMON—> mother GERTZMAN—>mother SHIK—>mother ? : K1a1b1a
female line JENTELSON—>mother LEVENSOHN—>mother GRINKER—>mother KAMINSKY—>mother ILSKY : N1b2
yDNA
male line LEVENSOHN J1 J-M267; negative for J1a and J1b; have not tested for J1c but negative for J1c1, J1c2, J1c3
male line SKLAR J1; J-M172
vivgenealogy 