As an experienced genealogist and a studier of kinship relations,
I have done a fair bit of research into my roots in the development of my family tree.
Here, I present some of my findings,
and the puzzles that are plaguing me the most.
If anyone out there knows anything about what I have presented here,
I respectfully request that you
and I will be more than willing to mutually share our family info.
Last update: Friday January 03 2025
On this page, you will find some "thumbprints" of graphics images. To see a larger version of the image, click on the image.
Moise Yitzhak Braunstein (1802 - 1885) and Ruhleia (maiden name unknown, 1825 - after 1885)
had at least two children:
David Leib son of Pascal (1828 - before 1879) and Haia (1830 - after 1867)
had at least eight children:
Rivenu and Adasia left Tecuci, Moldavia (now Romania) for Asia Minor (now Turkey) in the early 1900's, to escape some of the anti-semetic movement that was then taking place in Romania. They settled in a Jewish farm colony presumably named Kral Ermovan near Eskisehir. They went with their nine children: David, Becky, Annette, Maria (Mary), Leib (Louis), Ruhla (Rachelle), Mollie, Rosa (Rose) and Sarah. The Kieves family who were close friends were with them there in Asia Minor.
Marcu instead went with his family in April 1902 to Canada, settling in Lipton, Saskatchewan where he opened and ran a general store. Their store burned down in the 1920's. The family then moved to Lorlie Saskatchewan and ran the store there. Marcu and Esther had three children: Max, Morris, and Rebecca (Shafron).
In Asia Minor, Becky married Leib Feinger and they moved to Paris, France.
After Rivenu and Adasia died, David, Annette and Mary left for America to join their Uncle Marcu in Lipton in 1907. Louis followed in 1910 bringing his younger sisters Mollie, Rose and Sarah. The girls were detained in Ellis Island for 6 months, possibly with the measles.
Rachelle, who married Moses Kieves in Turkey, stayed there with her husband. After Rachelle passed away in 1925, Moses and their children went to Saskatchewan. The Kieves family, although not directly related to me, seem to be an important clue to my Braunstein's family background. The Braunstein and Kieves families were apparently very close. They lived in the same Jewish colony in Turkey. My grandfather, Louis Braunstein, supposedly set up his sister Rachelle with Moses Kieves, and they soon married in Turkey. There were four Kieves brothers and a sister - two came to Canada (Kiva and Moses to the Sonnenfeld colony in Saskatchewan), Philip went to New York, Zeida went to Porto Alegre in Brazil, and the sister Celia went to Paris France. I have obtained birth records for them. They were born in Darabani, Romania.
The Braunstein line is of Levite descent, and my Y-DNA test has confirmed this. I and my uncle are both Y-haplogroup R1a1a and have both contributed our DNA to the Levite DNA project. None of our Y-DNA matches have the Braunstein surname or are close enough to identify our common ancestor.
In 1996, I was able to acquire 9 Romanian birth records and 2 Romanian death records for my Braunstein family from researcher Gheorghe Mireuta that kickstarted all my Braunstein research and were the first records of my ancestors that I ever obtained from Eastern Europe.
David Leib, son of Pascal lived in Bacau and was the proginator of the Davidescu family. He did not have a surname. Many of his children chose Davidescu or something similar, meaning child of David. Some of the female children on documents had Meraru or Pascalu as their surnames. Meraru was an occupational name meaning "Fish seller" which was sometimes added to their father's name as in "David Meraru". Pascal was David's father's name, so David was David Pascalu.
David Leib's children other than Adasia stayed in Bacau. The early 1900s were especially bad for Jewish people in Romania, and many of the the other children left Romania and settled in Israel and some went to Philadelphia.
In 2024, I obtained about 30 Romanian records from researcher Sorin Goldenberg detailing the Davidescu family in Bacau. Through this, I was able to put together this previously unknown side of my family. I was a DNA match with a 3rd cousin descendant of the Grimberg (Greenberg) branch in Philadelphia, and these records helped us determine our exact relationship. I still have to try contacting the descendants that live in Israel.
My research has identified about 800 kin-folk of Rivenu and Marcu, and about 1450 kin-folk of David Leib
On this side of my family, I know at least the first names of 7 of my 8 great-great-great grandparents.
They are all from the Dorohoi and Zvoristea regions of Moldova which are now in northeast Romania.
Haim's son Hershcu Zvorashteanu (1826 - 1916) was supposedly a wealthy man who owned a winery. He and his wife Dvoira Naftulovici (1832 - 1892) lived in Dorohoi. They had 5 sons that I know of, and maybe other children that I don't:
My great-grandfather Josub Focshaner was the oldest son of Hershcu and Dvoira. He married Toba Sigal (daughter of Haim Hertzanu) in Ungureni, which is about 20 km NE of Botosani. Josub and Toba immigrated to Canada via Hamburg Germany in April 1902 on the German vessel S.S. Bulgaria, with their children, Hyman who was 11, Goldie (Braunstein Kessler) 10, Dora (Elfenbaum) 8, Shava (Zelickson) 2, Max 1, and Toba's brother Zalmon Hertzan who was 27. Zalmon was often called "Shlomo" - his Hebrew name. The Hamburg passenger lists state they came from the town of Ungureni in Romania. Upon arrival, they located in the Tullymet municipality near Lipton, Saskatchewan. The family lived in a log house that Josub and Zalmon built. Their youngest child Rebecca (Jacobs) was born in Tullymet in 1903.
"Joseph Folkshonner (sic) arrived with the second group (of Romanians). He was a simple, honest, hardworking farmer. He prospered so well that even the English farmers respected him.He, his wife and children all worked hard. You should have seen his daughter, Goldie, sixteen, ploughing with four large oxen. The plough left a furrow in a straight line. His seventeen-year-old son and his brother-in-law, could do equally as well."
- from Memoirs of a Pioneer Farmer in Western Canada by Jacob A. Baltzan
Louis Segal was an older brother of Toba who for a time lived in London England. Louis' Yiddish name was Laib. The story was told by Shava Zelickson that Louis and Shifra (Sophia) came to escape England prior to the First World War to join his brother Zalmon and sister Toba in Saskatchewan. Louis, his wife, and his daughter made the journey in 1913. Louis turned out to be absolutely inept at farming. Sol Sinclair, whose farm Louis and his family stayed at, recalled that Louis would often come over to borrow some horses because he didn't know how to handle his own team of oxen. Louis' wife and daughter Sarah were said to have completely domineered him. After the war Louis, Sophia and Sarah left for Florida. They were said to have then divorced, which was quite unusual in those days. The family then never heard from them again.
I have have been in contact and sharing information with Focshaner relatives on Sigmund and Simon's sides (two of Josub's brothers) who are also doing family research, including Joel Koenig (my 3rd cousin) who has a tree at Ancestry and Phil Rodd (my 4th cousin) who is adding his information to FamilySearch.
I have been able to acquire about 70 Romanian birth, marriage and death records for my Focshaner family from researcher Sorin Goldenberg that has greatly helped with my research. I am a member of Sorin's Jewish Genealogy in Romanian Moldova group on Facebook.
My research has identified about 500 kin-folk of Josub and Toba.
Josub and Toba Focshaner
Louis Kesler (1878 - 1940), Sarah Katkow (1877 - 1929)
This is my father's stepfather and his first wife. My grandfather Louis Braunstein passed away when my father was 6 months old, and 5 years later, his mother remarried the newly widowed Louis Kesler. My father was raised by his mother and stepfather and took on the name Kessler. I am named after his stepfather.
Louis Kesler was from Russia and fought in the Russian army. He came to Canada in 1904 and settled in the Sonnenfeld colony in Saskatchewan. Sarah came to Sonnenfeld about 1906. I believe Louis and Sarah must have been married in Russia. Sarah passed away childless in 1929.
I know of none of Louis Kesler's family, other than his father being Yossel (Joseph) from Louis' marriage record with Goldie, and none of Sarah Katkow's family other than her parents being Yehudah (Yidel) and Clara Rivka from Sarah's death certificate and gravestone.
Louis Kesler and an unidentified compatriot in the Russian Army
The grave of Sarah (Katkow) Kessler. She was one of about 10 people who were buried in the Sonnenfeld Cemetery.
"
Joseph was the son of Wolf German and Yacha/Yolha Lapides. They lived in the town of Mezhirichi that was then in the province of Volhynia in the Russian Empire, but now is Mezhyrichi in the oblast of Rivne in the Ukraine. The town numbered about 3,000 people in 1897, of which about two-thirds were Jewish.
Stories passed down told me that Joseph's parents died when he was about 11 or 12, and he was raised by his grandmother. Joseph came to Canada alone in 1906 when he was 19. His grandmother, Brondal, then 82 years old, had put him on the ship. He arrived in Winnipeg where many people from his town has previously emigrated to. His surname in Canada evolved into Girman.
Joseph had one known sister, Minnie, who married Gedalia Zew (sometimes written Zev or Zeff). Minnie and Gedalia were murdered in Mezhirichi by the Nazis during WW II. They had eight children. Eunice (Tenenbaum) came to Winnipeg in 1928 before moving to Montreal. Zipora (Pisetky) went to Israel. The other siblings may also have been murdered during the war.
Gedalia's mother's maiden name was Gershfield. This Gershfield family supposedly lived across the street from my grandfather Joseph Herman in Mezhirichi. There was one Gershfield son and three Gershfield daughters who married Zew (later Zeff), Sitner, and Zimberg. Almost all the children of these four siblings came to Winnipeg in the early 1900's and married into the Zaidman, Ginpil, Mindess, Shapiro, and Gurevitch families.
In fact, a large number of the Jewish community of Mezhirichi came to Winnipeg in the early 1900's. They formed their own Mezhiricher Landsleit and Aid Society, and also built and congregated in their own synagogue known as the Tiferes Israel on Manitoba Avenue until it closed in 1973. I am researching any or all people who have a connection to these immigrants from Mezhirichi to Winnipeg. There is a JewishGen site for Mezhyrichi and a Tsal Kaplun Foundation page for Mezhyrichi. This article Prairie Palace, by Ben Waldman, Winnipeg Free Press, 2021 tells about David Cantor who was one of the first from the town to arrive in Winnipeg in 1903 to become Rabbi of the Tiferes Israel Synagogue. The article names the town as Miedzerich, Poland. In the article, it says David Cantor "had written glowingly about Winnipeg to townspeople in Poland, resulting in the estimated immigration of more than 600 families of Ashkenazi Jews to Canada".
Researcher Viktoria Chymshyt acquired records for me from Mezhirichi, but was unable to find my family among them. She later found records for German in the Revision Lists for Tuchin, a town about 15 km (10 miles) away from Mezhirichi.
The Russian Revision lists from 1816, 1851 and 1858 for Tuchin include information that may be Wolf German's family including his likely father Mikhel Girman, b. 1837; Mikhel's parents as Leyba/Leyzor German, b. 1802 and Sheyna Etya, b. 1803; Leyba's parents as Mikhel German (1763-1843) and Rukhlya, b. 1776; Mikhel's father as Volf, along with a few of their brothers and sisters. These records are now indexed and included in the Unified Search on JewishGen.
My research has identified about 150 kin-folk of the German family,
and about 250 kin-folk of the Gershfield family. And I've identified close to 2000 kin-folk of
others from Mezhirichi who came to Winnipeg.
Leyzer (Louis) Goretsky (? - 1895?) Chaya-Mindlya Zilberman (1857 - 1903)
In 2021, I acquired about 20 Russian records (census and special lists) from researcher Boris Makalsky that has has completely changed what I thought I knew about my Goretsky/Zilberman families. Unfortunately, Boris says there are no birth, marriage and death records available for this region of Russia. But the documents found tell much more of the story than most BMD records would.
Leyzer was born in Dzyunkov, Russia. Chaya Mindlya was born in Kozhanka, Russia which is now in the Ukraine. After Leyzer died, Chaya-Mindlya left with her children for Odessa. After she died, Benjamin, Esther-Bayla, and Abraham immigrated together to Canada, arriving in Winnipeg in 1907. Years ago, I had written down that Leyzer Goretsky was born in the town of "Jenkov". I never could determine where Jenkov was until I got records and found out that it was Dzyunkov. So that mystery was solved!
Benjamin married Sarah Rivka (maiden name unknown). Esther married Joseph German (see above). Abraham married Sonia Tabachnikov.
My research has identified about 150 kin-folk of Louis and Chaya Mindlya.
Esther-Beyla and Abraham Goretsky at their mother (Chaya Mindlya)'s gravestone in Odessa.
Ralph Harry Kushner (1883 - 1927), Yetta Zaslovsky (1884 - 1926)
Ralph's mother was Rachel Shapiro. Rachel married twice. Her first marriage was to a Lerman. They had at least 4 or 5 children who were Ralph's half-brothers and sisters. Some of them settled in Boston. Ralph's mother later married Mordechai Kushner. Ralph was the only surviving child of this marriage. Ralph was born in Lukashevka in the Ukraine. Yetta was born in Tetiyev, also in the Ukraine which is not very far from Lukashevka. They married about 1906 in the Ukraine, and left for Canada in 1907, arriving in Winnipeg to join Yetta's brothers and sisters who were already there.
Once in Canada, Ralph went by his middle name Harry and was known as Harry Kushner.
All of Harry and Yetta's nine children were born in Winnipeg. The four oldest children moved to Cleveland where some of their Zaslovsky cousins lived as there were jobs available. Yetta died in 1926. Harry couldn't handle his wife's death and tragically committed suicide in 1927. The five youngest children spent some of their early years at the Jewish Orphanage in Winnipeg afterwards.
My research has identified about 125 kin-folk of the Kushner family.
Harry and Yetta Kushner with their 5 oldest children in 1915.
Yudko "Yehudah Mani" Zaslovsky
had at least 6 children:
Yudko Zaslovsky lived in the Tetiev shtetl in what was the Russian Empire but now is the Ukraine. Rebecca went to New York. David died in the Ukraine but his children went to Cleveland. Jack, Yetta and Peter went to Winnipeg. Fannie went to Cleveland joining David's children.
Some of the family names in Cleveland that are related include: Kappelman, Chervin, Bogard, Selby, Goldstein, Molinsky, and Mills.
My wife's cousin, Terry Lasky, has done extensive research of the Zaslovsky family. He has allowed me to include his research in my family tree. Terry has been doing a DNA study, where he has got 60 descendants from the various Zaslovsky lines to DNA test at Ancestry or Family Tree DNA, and was trying to use it to provide information that will help determine how the Zaslavsky families from Tetiev are connected. That was augmented by a few records found by Boris Makalsky. The study was wrapped up in 2023 after doing as much as was possible with the data.
I have been able to acquire about 15 Russian birth, marriage, death and census records for my wife's Zaslovsky family from researcher Boris Makalsky.
My family tree includes about 1000 kin-folk of the Zaslovsky family.
Moshe Furman (1863 - ?) m. Charna Rushaylo (1864 - ?)
Moshe and Charna lived in Zhitomir in the Ukraine. They had six children, Nechama (married name unknown), Gitel Snider, Buzi (married name unknown), Frima Unikel, Motel, and Yakov (Jack). Most of the family remained in Zhitomir, but Jack and his wife Eda Muchnik left for Winnipeg in 1928 shortly after they married.
Moshe's parents were Motel and Chana. His grandfather was Michel. Charna's parents were Jankel Rushaylo and Sima Berova. Yankel's father was Ios and grandfather was Gershko.
I have been able to acquire about 70 Russian birth, marriage and death records for my wife's Furman and Rushaylo families from researcher Boris Makalsky that has greatly helped with my research.
Charna's family, Rushaylo, is easier to track down because of the uncommon surname. But still lots of pieces to put together. When interviewing my wife's grandmother 40 years ago, I had written down "Oshila" as her husband's mother Charna's family name. It was very much my surprise to when researching Ukraine records to find it was Rushaylo instead.
My research has identified about 120 kin-folk of Furman and Rushaylo.
Jankel-Meer and Tsipora had at least eight children: Sara-Zislay Schwartz, Sheyna-Rivka Bronstein, Feyga, Aron-Ios, Avrum-Arye, Ovsey-Geshel, Leah Chernis, and another son (name unknown).
Ovsey-Geshel married Maryasya Dubovy. They both were born and lived in Kodnia in the Ukraine. Mayasya's mother's mother was said to have been from the Rothschild family. Her parents supposedly owned hotels in the Ukraine, and entertained the Rothschild families when they came to visit. Ovsey-Geshel was also known as "Shiesal". He was a cattle dealer. They had six children. Two children came to Winnipeg in the 1920s, two escaped to Tashkent during WW II, and the other two were killed when the Nazis overtook Zhitomir. Maryasya died when she was only 42. After Maryasya died, Ovsey-Geshel married Chonka Bronstein. Maryasya and Chonka were said to have been 1st cousins of each other.
Maryasya had a brother, Srouel Elievitz Dubovy. One of his sons emigrated to New York and there are currently some Dubovy relatives there. Another son and his family stayed in the Ukraine and are now living in Berdichev. Families also known to be related to Dubovy include Kemach in Israel, Kris in Berdichev, and Carp in Winnipeg.
I have been able to acquire about 60 Russian birth, marriage and death records for my wife's Muchnik family from researcher Boris Makalsky.
My research has identified about 150 kin-folk of the Muchnik and Dubovy families.
My main Family Tree is available for you to view at MyHeritage.
In 2021, I started writing profiles for all my ancestors and their siblings on WikiTree.
I have smaller versions of my tree at Ancestry, FamilySearch, Geni, Geneanet, GenealogieOnline, Family Tree DNA, GEDmatch and JewishGen.
I have DNA tested at all the major companies: Ancestry, 23andMe, Family Tree DNA, MyHeritage, Living DNA, and my DNA has been uploaded to GEDmatch, Geni, Geneanet and Borland Genetics. On all sites, I am listed as Louis Kessler. If you match me and you think we can determine the connection, please .
I am very willing to share my family information with you if you are willing to share with me. Together we may both be able to help each other with our common family. I have had hundreds of people contact me as a result of this web page, which has resulted in scores of amazing revelations for myself and my many new-found and possible relatives.
You can reach me by e-mail at: - my Privacy Notice
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