Subject: Genealogy #63
Reply-to: IsraelP@pikholz.org
Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:08:30 +0200

Dear Cousins,

Just two things.

Condolences to the family of my second cousin Jim Pickholtz, who was 
killed Sunday last week when his motorcycle was hit by what appears to be 
a negligent driver.  Jim's wife was seriously injured and is hospitalized 
near their Louisiana home.  We have spoken a couple of times.  Jim and I 
didn't exactly know each other, though we were both born in Pittsburgh, 
because he is eighteen years younger than I (as our fathers are eighteen 
years apart).  In fact, Jim and his sister are the youngest of our 
generation in the PITTSBURGH family.  So I am sorry to to say that I 
cannot say more on a personal level.  (Jim's mother receives these 
summaries.)

However, I can speak about Jim genealogically and in that context he is 
very significant.  One of the very oldest Pikholz ancestor is the 
Skalater Josef Pikholz (1784-1862), but we learned from his death record 
that his name was actually Isak-Josef.  The farthest we go back in our 
own family is my grandfather's grandmother, Rivke-Feige Pikholz, but it 
is my estimation that Josef was her father.  Several people were named 
Isak-Josef soon after he died and the one we follow to adulthood was  
known simply as Josef, like his namesake.  Those named after him later, 
were called Josef, probably because people didn't know about the full 
name.

In 1890, Rivka-Feige's son had a son whom he named Isak-Josef, but he too 
went by Joseph and his gravestone says Yosef-Yitzhak.  This Joseph had 
two younger brothers, Jim's grandfather and mine.  Uncle Joe died in 1965 
and Jim was named for him less than a year later - James Joseph as a 
secular name and Yosef-Yitzhak as a Jewish name.

Double names often deteriorate over generations, especially when people 
don't know the full name.  And of course the Holocaust played a role in 
reducing the number of descendants significantly.  Jim is the last person 
to hold this ancestral name in its entirety.  Perhaps he will not be the 
last.

The second item for today is a happy one.  In the last few summaries, I 
have mentioned discovering three Pikholz sisters from Grzmaylow who 
married in New York some ninety years ago.  I made contact with two 
descendants of one of the sisters and learned from them that  another 
cousin had been in contact with a related Pikholz family here in Israel.  
I have now learned who that is.  The Israeli family is the one called 
BIRNBAUM http://www.pikholz.org/Families/Birnboim.html and until now no 
one has known if they are Skalaters or Rozdolers.  So now that is 
settled.  The head of the BIRNBAUM family, Israel, is the brother of 
Jachiel, the father of the three sisters.  The sisters had a brother 
Israel who was killed "by Cossaks" and all three named sons for him.  So 
this merged family will be called ISRAEL.  Look for them on the website 
in maybe a week.

More as it happens.  Let's hear some good news please.

Israel P.

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