Subject: Genealogy #66 Reply-to: IsraelP@pikholz.org Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:11:40 +0300 Dear Pikholz Cousins, Quite a bit has happened since I last wrote, but not from expected quarters. The Gesher Galicia researcher who went to Arolsen Germany on our behalf reported back, but it is the Germans themselves who are to send up copies of the files - and they have not yet done so. But before I tell about the new material from other sources, let us have the mazal tovs and condolences. Mazal tov to Pickholz descendant Phyllis Stern and her son Ira (both on this list) on the birth of Ira's son Ryan Michael Stern on 28 July (IF4 family). Mazal tov to Arny Pickholtz (IF1/IF4 families) on the birth of granddaughter Lea in May. Mazal tov to Chaya Hakak (IF2 family) on the marriage of her son Ehud, in Bene Berak. And mazal tov to Linda Pickholtz (Pittsburgh family) on her marriage to Mitch Klein. Many condolences this time. To Dina Ostrower (DINA and RavJG families) of Ramat Gan on the passing of her husband Yosef, at age ninety, after a long illness. To Judge Ruth Pickholz of NY (IRENE family) on the passing of her mother Rose, at age ninety-three. To the family of Chana Haniel Kopf (Eliezer family) of Tel-Aviv. This was awhile ago, but I only learned about her passing when I was at the cemetery for something else. Chana was eighty-five. To the family of Shmuel Marbach, age ninety-five, the widower of Pikholz descendant Sarah Wohlman Marbach (Petah Tiqva family) of Jerusalem. I attended that unveiling and discovered that his granddaughter is a friend of my daughter. To Sharon Smith and family (IF4 family) on the passing of her father Michael Reisner in Florida, at age eighty-four. To the family of Judge Jeffrey Winikoff (IF4 family) of Florida, at age fifty-nine. To the family of Ted Aptowitzer (Orenstein family) of New Jersey, at age sixty-two. May they all be well-remembered by family and friends and may their families be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. Our move to Jerusalem was completed successfully six weeks ago, though I am still digging my way out of the piles of things to do. No change in phone number. We joined a small, young shul up the street and at least four members are children of old friends of mine. In my most recent summary, I told you about making contact with the descendants of Gusta Pikholz Lippman of Skalat and Lwow. I have received some photos from that family and would be pleased if the Skalaters among you would have a look, to tell me if you see any family resemblances. The photo can be found at http://www.pikholz.org/Mailings/cccc.jpg and the people from left to right are: Jakob Schwefelgeist and his wife Anna Lippman, Anna's mother Gittel / Gusta Pikholz with her husband, Solomon, and their son Dawid Lippman. The photos are from Dawid's son.  A new online database became available a few months ago and I found a 1946 Youngstown Ohio death certificate for a woman named Ethel Spitzer Berman whose mother's maiden name is listed as Pickholz. This is a woman we knew before - though Spitzer is incorrect, it is Spacierer - and her maternal grandparents are Peretz and Perl Pikholz of the IRENE family, from Skalat. Additional research led me to the death certificate of her husband Nuchim Berman, whom we knew from a child's birth record in Europe. Turns out they had five surviving children in Europe and the whole family went to the US in 1907-09. Subsequent documents show them in Sharon PA and later Youngstown and I have made contact with some of their descendants. Family members lived in Pittsburgh and Johnstown PA, Cleveland and elsewhere. There are other family members we haven't found yet and of course I would like to add appropriate grave photos to my collection. Meantime, I have acqiuired some census, draft registration, immigration and other records. The same online database also has Texas death certificates and I found one from San Antonio in 1950, for Sarah Madansky May, whose mother was Ethel Pickholz from Skalat. This Madansky-May family is the same one that owned the department stores, and which Henry Ford attacked in one of his anti-Semitic essays. Some of Sarah's records say that she and her older brother Max(well) were born in Omaha, but in fact we have a birth record for Max (called Markus) in Skalat. A younger brother Harry was indeed born in Omaha. I have identified Ethel as aprt of the MATI family and she is the sister of Minnie Pikholz Kaplan who went to Omaha in 1893. Sarah had three sons - one of whom died in Houston the same week as Sarah and another has a widow living in Houston. I wrote her recently and hope she can help me out regarding this family. I have also found a May woman connected to a different part of the family, but her knowledge is limited. The documentation here is kind of strange. Markus was born in 1880 in Skalat to Ettel Pikholz and Jachiel Pikholz, whose parents we cannot identify. I have a theory, but no proof. We have no birth record for Sarah. In 1890, we see Ettel and her children Max and Sarah going to the US to joing the husband/father. On those passenger lists, Ettel and the children are called Madansky and when I see the family in the 1900 census, I learned that the husband is Edward Elias Madansky, which is the father's name on Sarah's death certificate. So who is Jachiel Pikholz? The Madanskys are from Russia, not Galicia, but Skalat is near the border, so one possibility is that Jachiel Pikholz died and Ettel married Edward Madansky, who adopted Markus. It is not clear which is the father of Sarah, but there is a US census record that says that Ethel and Max are Austrian-born, while Edward and Sarah are Russian-born. (That's when Sarah wasn't claiming to be born in Omaha.) This 1900 census is in Detroit. In 1910, Ettel is still in Detroit, but alone. Max and Sarah are married and the younger brother is with Sarah and her husband. I assume that Edward died in Detroit between 1900 and 1910. Ethel is not in the 1920 census, so I'm guessing she died, maybe in Detroit. I would like to find graves, but that is difficult without Detroit help and without a date of death. Now here is the wild card - according to the May genealogist, Edward Madansky's Jewish name is Jachiel. Maybe that is a coincidence or maybe Edward Madansky and Jachiel Pikholz are the same person. It is all very strange. I have found some additional Pages of Testimony at Yad Vashem and we have now identified five hundred forty one Pikholz descendants and spouses killed in the Holocaust. That will do for now. I'll speak to you again soon. Israel P. -- End --