tell me more
cousins …cousines
What our ancestors must think of this thing we call “The Internet”!
Back in the shtetel, in the Old Country [ Zhabokritch/ Ukraine, Soroka, Sharhorod ] family communicated at the Shabbos table, or maybe via word-of-mouth from seeing one another at the Market…?
Then, at the turn of the century, in just a short amount time— driven by the fear of persecution and by the passion, the necessity, to seek a better life— our ancestors fled the Ukraine (Romania, Russia, call it whatever you like, the borders changed a lot)…
— they travelled by mule and pushcart or maybe by train and then by ship: they ultimately arrived in Montreal, Quebec and later to Kirkland Lake, Ontario in Canada:: they arrived in Galvaston, Texas and later to Waco, Texas and eventually in Dallas, Texas:: they arrived in Paris, France.
First-cousins, who knew each other so well from when they were young, now had only letters with which to communicate and bridge the new geographical distance. Young people married (and sometimes divorced) they had children and created their own family traditions and long-distance cousins would come from far to visit and enjoy get-togethers (likely with the presence of much tasty food).
Children were born and our ancestors— immigrants— desperate to thrive in their adoptive countries—busily assimilated in their new Canadian/American/French way of life.
The older generation died off and the family bonds, once strong, now weakened due to inactivity.
And then: the Shoah.
Today, in 2021, we are still combatting evil forces that are bigger than all of us —they call it “Covid”.
And yet: the world continues to rotate. We are here today to read this website. We celebrate birthdays with candles and cake. And this past summer, on July 17th, 2021, we celebrated the 90th birthday of an incredible lady Ginette Mandelblum Albert.
Ginette, a child who was hidden and protected during WW2, was raised alongside her two orphaned first-cousins and virtual sisters Monique and Micheline [may their respective memories be for a blessing]. Nelly, another first cousin to Ginette as well as to Monique and Micheline, was raised by her father Ely alone as her mother Sossi (and sister to Ida and to Joseph) also died tragically, in a car accident when Nelly was just a girl.
So on November 6th, 2021, we celebrate Life.
Ginette at age 90 plus 4 months! — is returning to Paris in order to finish an important [yet heretofore incomplete] documentary project. This documentary film, a story about the family’s wartime experiences in France, was initiated by Micheline and then later, when she passed away— continued on with the help of Micheline’s sister Monique. Monique sadly passed away in January 2021, only a few months ago. Ginette has agreed to work with the filmmaker and ensure that the project is completed.
Nelly and Jacques (who are ages 86 and 91, respectively) are traveling to Paris from Herry, France (about 2 and half hours away) for La Grande Retrouvaille.
In this new Covid-context, fresh from the memory of quarantine and lockdown- we celebrate our relationships as cousins and we bring new meaning to our present-day lives by a tip-of-the-hat to the lives led by those who came before us.
the genesis of this soiree in paris
July 2021: I have a little catch-up chat with Cousin Katherine who lives in Dallas. Katherine tells me about her mom Ginette’s 90th birthday celebration (many glorious events on the docket) as well as the description of a plan to head to Paris, Ginette’s hometown, in late fall.
Why late fall? Because the tourists are gone and it’s delicious sweater and scarf weather.
Why this fall? Ginette wants to pick up where her first cousins, her virtual sisters Monique and Micheline, left off. And no time like the present! Ginette is an energetic and healthy 90 year-old.
Ginette wants to see this important documentary film project (based on the family’s experiences before, during and after WW2) through to its completion.
—Naturally, I asked, “Can I come too?”
Shabbat Dinner in Dallas, at the home of Ginette & David, February 2013
Tkacz:
Scott, Garber, Cohen, Cohn, Cole, Coleman, & Charaponofsky
(all the same family)
You are related to this family, let’s say.
You look at the this highly extensive list of names and you ask yourself, “How can these vastly disparate names all be from the same set of siblings, the same family?”
Not one descendant from our family tree has preserved the name “Tkacz” (or even with a different spelling, “Tkatch for example”.)
The Top of the Tree shows that Yehoshua (Ovshya) Tkacz Ha’Cohen and his wife (name unknown at present) had 5 children: two daughters and 3 sons.
The girls were born first and the boys were born last. These children were named, in birth order: Pessia, Khana, Lazer, (“Lazarus”) Yehuda Idel (“Eli”) and Mordechai (“Marks”).
Pessia would marry Yankel Charaponofsky. She lived a very long life, although she was blind in the later years of her life. Pessia died of old age in Moldova. The descendants of Pessia and Yankel would ultimately immigrate to Paris, France in the 1920’s. Only in 1950s after WW2, did more than one of Pessia’s grandchildren immigrate to Mexico, & the United States. The rest of Pessia’s descendants remained in Europe and currently reside in France or Israel, for the most part.
Khana Tkacz would marry Mordko Berkovich Voskoboynik. Unfortunately I have no information whatsoever on Khana or her [potential] descendants.
Lazer Tkacz is my great-great grandfather. Lazer was married to Chana Rive Abramovich but he lost his wife & the mother of his five children, before 1905, in Zhabokritch, Ukraine. All 5 of the couple’s children were born in Zhabokritch, Ukraine with my great-grandparents also marrying in this town in the year 1904. My great-grandfather Aaron (“Henry” or “Harka”) was the second-born son of Lazer and Chana Rive.
It was Lazer’s first-born son, named Abraham Yitzchak at birth but later known as “Alter” —who immigrated to Canada in 1903. Legend has it that the Canadian Immigration Officer could not pronounce this foreign-sounding name with so many syllables so he declared, “you will be now known as ‘Scott’ ”.
When Lazer arrived in Montreal, Canada in 1906 (after a brief stop in Texas, where he left his grown daughters Reisl (“Rose”) and Eidel (“Ida”) to fend for themselves) — Lazer was accompanied by his youngest child, his son named Israel. Father and son promptly changed their names to follow suit of Lazer’s older sons, Alter and Henry, who came before them.
The story of Yehoshua’s 4th-born child, Yehuda Idel (later known as “Eli”) also has a lasting effect on the family name of his descendants. In 1892, Eli Tkacz suddenly died a young man, leaving his wife Hannah Garber Tkacz alone with an infant son, Ben Zion age 2. Hannah would soon re-marry but little Eli was beaten by his step-father. When Ben Zion was a bit older and decided to run away from home (taking over one week to reach Odessa, before landing in Montreal in 1909 —his first cousins were already there) Ben Zion Tkacz became “Ben Garber”: the new immigrant assuming his mother’s maiden name.
As for Mordechai, the youngest sibling? His story is especially colorful. Mordechai found himself in London from the Ukraine— few details about his younger years exist. In London, Mordechai was taking English lessons from the man who would one day be his father-in-law, an educated former lawyer, Mr. Schulman. Mordechai Tkacz and Beile Schulman became sweethearts and then they became “Marks and Bessie Cohen”: their new surname a similar adoption as “Scott” of an easier-to-pronounce, more modern “American” moniker.
Marks and Bessie’s route was London, England> Baltimore, Maryland> Savannah, Georgia> Los Angeles,California Beaumont Texas and finally settled in Waco, Texas.
Cohen became “Cohn” (less obviously Jewish-sounding) and then Mark’s three sons, Charles, Isidore “Tex” and Jacob changed their surnames to “Cole”. A grandson named William (“Billy”) was a vaudeville performer in Australia, England and South Africa, and Billy assumed the surname “Coleman”.
…I think that just about covers all the different versions of the nominal journey of the surname Tkacz.
“
hiking in Colorado, August 2021: with Doug, Jack, Leah and Naomi
About Me
Julie scott, your cousin
I have always been a “family person” and I have always been a photographer. The pursuit of genealogy and the exploration of family history would come over time, a natural extension of my innate interests.
At age 15, I learned how to process black & white film and to print in the darkroom. I would later become Editor of my yearbook, teach photography to others, and oversee my own Children’s Portrait Photography business.
In 2011, I was among several parents lucky enough to chaperone the 4th Grade field trip to Ellis Island in NYC. My first-born daughter Naomi was 9 years old at the time.
On TV around this same time, there was a show on NBC called “Who Do You Think You Are?” — a deep-dive into the family histories of celebrities and noteworthy people. My takeaway? All families have fascinating stories to tell.
Technology is a big help. I utilize resources such as Ancestry.com and other websites to help locate certain facts. But email and cheap long-distance telephone also helps: as does meeting cousins face-to-face. Using scanners or even the camera on my iPhone to digitize the vintage photos of cousins…and then bringing the photos into Photoshop, cropping each photo, placing an estimated date, and naming the people present. I come to “know” my cousins of long-ago, spending a lot of time with them at my computer. I love the pursuit and the slow, contemplative work.
Ultimately? It is my ambition to piece together the narrative of the Tkacz family and share it back with you (and your progeny) someday.
I have to confess that I do jump around researching my four families (each one of us has four— our mother’s 2 sides and our father’s two sides)…but I have to say: the Tkacz family is particularly captivating.
My personal passions as a photographer, videographer, historian and “Mom”— all woven together— lead me quite naturally to this new-ish role as amateur genealogist.
I don’t necessarily love doing jigsaw puzzles, but I love solving genealogical puzzles!
