To: @PIKHOLZ.PML Subject: Genealogy #45 Reply-to: IsraelP@pikholz.org Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 11:53:52 +0200 I was not really planning to send out a Pikholz Project newsletter right now, but there is a new project that we are considering, which I would like to share with you. So some of my other subjects will sound incomplete. First, mazal tov to Ron Burger (Brezdowicz family) on the marriage of his daughter Danielle to Neil Walowitz. Also - abit early - mazal tov to Chaya Hakak (IF2 family) on the marriage of her daughter Mira to Daniel Rabchinsky in Bene-Berak, a week from Tuesday. Let's start with the new project. One of the problems we have is the lack of records before the last third of the 1800's. Towns differ as far as what is available - for instance, Rozdol records at AGAD are from 1869, while Skalat records are from 1859 - but the earlier ones are a big problem and as a result, we have difficulties in making positive identifications of early families, even if we sometimes can make a good guess. But there is another way. Most of the towns were owned by a single Polish land magnate and those who lived there - Jews and non-Jews - are listed as tenants in land records. We know that for Skalat, Zbarazh and Rozdol, for instance, the records for 1829, 1831-1850 and 1896 are in the Lwow archives and Jacob Laor has contacted them about doing searches for some of our people. It is hard to get a straight answer about what exactly is available and what the costs are - a lot is simply a function of what they find and how long they spend at it. (The search would be done by the archives, not by an outside researcher.) The truth is that of all the places where we had families, the only ones where we definitely had representatives before 1850 are Skalat and Rozdol. What I would like to do is to see if we can come up with say $150 for Rozdol and a similar amount for Skalat and see what they can do with it. I don't want to start with a smaller amount because there is a significant cost for the bank transfer, so I don't want to waste it on a very small sum. If anyone wants to participate in this project, please send a check to Jacob Laor, Arazim 11, Kefar Sava 44456 ISRAEL and make the check in Jacob's name. (Don't send it to me or in my name!) But please tell me you are doing this so we can plan out just what wa can ask them for. I'd like to have the money in hand before the end of February. Thank you. A few other things. The project to index Galician records - which I haven't asked you to participate in - has progressed nicely and we can expect indexed records for Skole very soon and Budzanow by the summer. there are other towns as well, which should be of interest. One of the KCMO branch in Kansas City ordered records of their births in Odessa. The results are in and the records are on the way. They confirm that the Rochesters were originally Rechister, but do not yet give us the parents of matriarch Necha (Nellie) Pikholz. That will probably have to wait until the Kamenetz-Podolski archives becomes available again, after the fire they had a year or so ago. Have a look, if you will, at the puzzle regarding Moshe Pikholz, Tonka's grandfather, at http://www.pikholz.org/Volunteer/Puzzles/Tonka.html I will probably order the Husyatin birth record next time we make an order. Last week, I located a family of Schreibers in London, whose grandmother was Jente bat Josef Pickholz of the RavJG family. This Josef (1854-1894) had eight children - five died in childhood and two were killed out in the Holocaust. Only Jente (b. 1888) remained unaccounted for and now we have live descendants. I made contact with two of those descendants - one actually lives in Israel and we will begin a proper dialogue soon. (He was abroad when I found him.) Speaking of London, Steve found us two London death records - Annie (1900) and Becky (1898) Pickholtz - who seem to be mother and young daughter. They may connect to the thirteen year old Jacob whom we found last year in the 1901 UK census. Steve is looking into acquiring the records themselve. At this point, we haven't a clue who they are, where the father was etc. Steve also came up with a Fritz Pickholz entering the US in 1864, but we are assuming he is from a Gentile family and are not going after him at present. Last, someone found us a new Hungarian family while looking at records at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. The family consisted of Felix (1888), Rosa (1892), Esther (~1922) and Mila (1926). I am assuming that this is parents and two children. They are somehow associated with a town called Szolyva that was once Hungary but which is now in Ukraine. I have asked my source there for additional information, because I am not even sure if these were Holocaust survivors or victims. More as it happens - meantime, I look forward to hearing from you on the Magnates Project. Israel P. -- End --