Tuesday 5 May 2020

Moshe Chaim, Czar of Pinsk: #12 Dora and the Rabbi

Where did Sarah come from?
At this point, we have found that my great-grandmother's sister, Dora Zaturensky b 1870 in Pinsk, Russia, seems to have had 4 or possibly 5 children, by three different husbands:

1 unidentified Gitelman: Benjamin b 1886 (and possibly Hirsz), both born in Pinsk, Russia
2 Joseph Kawin: Abraham b 1888 and Samuel b 1890, both in Peoria, Illinois; Joseph died in 1897
3 unknown: Sarah b 1901/4, Iowa

We have encountered Benjamin, Abraham and Sam in previous posts. The earliest reference I had to Sarah was when she appeared out of the blue in the 1920 Census, living with Dora in Los Angeles as a fully-fledged 18 year-old daughter. Where had she come from? I couldn't find them anywhere in the 1910 Census. I knew that Abraham and Sam were in LA by 1913, but didn't know when they had got there.

Cardinal sin
And then it struck me that I had committed the genealogist's cardinal sin - I had been looking in the 1910 Census for Dora and Sarah Kawin, as I knew them, and couldn't find them. But I had neglected to do a search on the other members of the family, Abraham and Sam. So I did, and they turned up immediately, in Chicago:



There they were, with their mother and sister. Who are now both Goldbergs.

Goldbergs? Where had that come from? Dora is listed as being in her second marriage (M2). She has been in this marriage for 6 years, and has had 3 children, all living; we presume she is referring to the 3 currently living with her. All this doesn't quite tally with what we think we know (see above), but nothing ever does, and it's not crucial here, so we won't lose any sleep over it for the moment.

However, if Dora has been in this Goldberg marriage for 6 years, and Sarah is a Goldberg and is 8 years old, how does that add up? And if she is married, who is her husband, and where is he?

"I had to go for the doctor"
I soon found out who he was. The State of Iowa has a collection of 'Delayed Birth Records', and this is from 1942:


Sam Kawin attests to the birth of Sarah Goldberg in Oskaloosa, Iowa, on 3 June 1901. The affidavit asks for details of the parents:


The mother is Dora Teranski, as Sam was later to identify her on her death certificate (Toranski). The father is Ephraim Goldberg, a "Jewish Rabbi", some 15 years older than Dora.

Sam also had to attest to the "basis of my knowledge for the answers given above":


"I was 11 years of age at the time of her birth. She is my half-sister, and I resided in Oskaloosa at that time, and remember the incident quite well, as I had to go for the doctor."

The birth is "legitimate" (see above), so there should be a marriage, somewhere, between Dora and Ephraim some time between the Census of June 1900, where she was Dora Kawin, and this birth in June 1901.

And it shouldn't be too hard to pin down a rabbi, should it?

Pinning down the Rabbi
Well, let's get this out of the way first:


Married in Chicago, 14 August 1900. The Census on 2 June had her in Peoria, where she had been living for 12 years or so since immigrating to the USA; now, 2 months later, she's marrying in Chicago, 170 miles away. Maybe Ephraim was from Chicago, so they got married there. At least it shows everything was kosher.

There are still a few questions I'd like answering, though. Why was he not with them in 1910? Where was he? Why have Dora and Sarah reverted from Goldberg to Kawin in 1920? And how did he connect with Dora in the first place?

There's still a bit of work to do to pin down this particular Rabbi.

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