From: Israel P Subject: Genealogy 70 Reply-to: IsraelP@pikholz.org Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:20:35 +0200 Dear Pikholz Cousins, Frances, Devir and I are flying to Chicago (actually, suburban Buffalo Grove) Thursday for my eldest grandson's bar mitzvah. We'll be two weeks altogether, including two-three days in Pittsburgh. This summary is part of clearing off my desk before we leave. Mazal tov to Boris and Elena Sokalski on the birth of a second daughter, Etel. Boris belongs to the ELIEZER, ROSA and ORENSTEIN families - his grandmother had four Pikholz grandparents. I first introduced to you his mother in http://www.pikholz.org/Mailings/Letter39.txt and have mentioned them subsequently from time to time. Mazal tov to Israel and Shoshana Weiss in New York (IF2 family) on the November birth of Ozreale. And mazel tov to Dina (Seigel) and Shimon Weiss (BREZDOWICZ family) on the birth of Yishai, who was named Sunday. And mazal tov to Avi and Esti Drot (PITTSBURGH family) on the birth of Benaya, eighteen days ago. A few brief research items to report. A few years ago, we found an immigrant from Russia living in Ashkelon - Vladimir Pigoltz (see http://www.pikholz.org/Mailings/Letter39.txt ) - and I now have the birth records for his father and grandfather. This new documentation tells us that Vladimir's grandfather Yakob (whose name we knew) was born in 1878 and that Yakob's father was Jechiel son of Mordecai. The name Jechiel pops up in all sorts of unexpected places (see http://www.pikholz.org/Given/Yehiel.htm) and Mordecai is likely to be the same Mordecai we know as the head of the Eliezer family from Skalat. However, I haven't a clue how we might prove that. I do not maintain direct contact with Vladimir, as we have a bit of a language barrier. I have not drawn up a proper VLADIMIR family, but will one of these days. Last week, I was at a memorial service for a cousin of my wife's and renewed acquaintance with a couple I had known slightly forty-odd years ago in New York. She mentioned knowing a Pickholz family who had once lived next door to them in Jerusalem and that they had two daughters and a son. I was quite interested as I had only one daughter in that family. (Although I know the son, he refuses to talk to about genealogy since he says he is from Vienna, not Galicia. LOL!!) Anyway, turns out the second daughter is someone I had among my "loose ends." I had seen a reference to her, but it appeared that she was a Pikholz spouse rather than a descendant. I should fiollow up with her directly, one of these minutes, despite the brother. I received some additional documentation from the International tracing service in Bad Arolsen Germany. Several items requires follow-up with them and I have asked for additional information. But one led me to someone in Tel Aviv. Arolsen told me that Lea Pikholz Keller was born 1906 in Drohobycz and that her parents are Benzion and Rivka-Rachel. I am assuming that Rivka- Rachel was the Pikholz, as Benzion is almost unknown among Pikholz descendants. Anyway, the new material from Arolsen showed that Lea's husband Pinkas Keller was living in Tel-Aviv in 1965. Now it turns out there were two possiblities here - one born 1904 and one born 1900, both died in the 1990s. I found a son of the one born 1904 and he tells me that indeed his father lived in Drohobycz. He knew that his father Pinkas had lost a wife and two children in the Holocaust, but he did not know anything about the wife, including her name. We are now comparing notes and he has given me some additional possibilities for follow up. I have been able to tell him quite a bit about his Kellers. That's all for now. I am not going to the Conference in Los Angeles this summer. Maybe next year in washington DC. Another member of our Pickford branch (DORA family) checked in briefly. I hope there will be some follow-up. I am on the trail of the children of Rubin Horn from his second marriage in hopes of learning a bit more about his first wife Dora Pfeffer (DORA family). More as it happens. Israel P. -- End --