Travel to the US
Our great-grandfather Yochanan (Joseph) Spigel/Spiegel was born in Koretz ca. 1874 – died in 1936 in Boston. His parents were Yosef Yehuda (b. 1842) and Esther Rachel. Our Aunt Ruth Spigel wrote a two-page family history in which she shared that Joseph had at least two siblings: Zorach (b.1882 – d. 1926, Boston) and Yetta. Nothing further is known about Yetta.
Yochanan traveled to Tuchin, a city nearby Koretz, and married Raysel Derazhinsky (parents names were Leib and Tsvia as obtained from records). They had one son, Shmoel (Samuel), (b. ca 1893 and died in Boston area) before Raysel passed away. As was the way in those times, Raysel asked her younger sister, Buncie (Bessie) who was about 15 at the time, to look after her son Samuel and marry Joseph when she was a little older. At 18, Bessie (b. ca 1877 or 1878 and passing in 1951) married Joseph. They had two more sons (Hirshel/Harry (b ca 1898 in Tuchin and died in Boston area) and Moishe (b. 1900 in Tuchin – d. 1910 in Boston) before Joseph set out for North America.
From his naturalization forms, it appears that Joseph immigrated to Boston in December, 1901. Although I have not found his passenger list for the ship he took, his naturalization form told us the story. He landed in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, and was processed for immigration at Vanceboro, Maine. This is a route that many immigrants took to come into the US. He took a train to Boston. A family story is that he was headed to Chicago where there were relatives, but ran out of money and ended up in Boston, instead.
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After he had been working for some time, he sent for his wife and the boys. They traveled from Liverpool in December of 1906.
Boston
The family lived in several places in Boston, one of them being the famed Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester. Bessie and the three boys arrived in the port of Boston. Within a year of arrival, a fourth son was born, Louis. Subsequently, Joseph and Bessie had three more children: Esther (Esta) Rachel (named after her grandmother); Rose (named after her great-aunt Raysel, Bessie’s sister) and George (Yosef, probably after his grandfather). Note: Samuel, the eldest son had two sons. George (Yosel) and Robert (Reuven). George was older than Samuel’s youngest brother George, by two years and so my father George called this youngest son of Yochanan and Bessie “my kid uncle George”. Most of the descendants of Joseph and Bessie, live in Massachusetts, with Rose’s descendants living in the South and others living in the Midwest and in California.
The family lived in several places in Boston, one of them being the famed Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester. Bessie and the three boys arrived in the port of Boston. Within a year of arrival, a fourth son was born, Louis. Subsequently, Joseph and Bessie had three more children: Esther (Esta) Rachel (named after her grandmother); Rose (named after her great-aunt Raysel, Bessie’s sister) and George (Yosef, probably after his grandfather). Note: Samuel, the eldest son had two sons. George (Yosel) and Robert (Reuven). George was older than Samuel’s youngest brother George, by two years and so my father George called this youngest son of Yochanan and Bessie “my kid uncle George”. Most of the descendants of Joseph and Bessie, live in Massachusetts, with Rose’s descendants living in the South and others living in the Midwest and in California.
1910 Family Picture.
Here is a picture of Joseph’s family in 1910 in Boston. Clockwise from front left: Bessie, Samuel at about age 16, the mystery man in the middle, Harry at about age 13, Joseph, and between Joseph and Bessie, was their fourth son, the three-year old Louis. (Moishe had met with an accident earlier that year). |
About the “Mystery Man” in the 1910 Group Picture.
Louis and Ruth’s son Joel remembers visiting Israel with his wife in 1971. He was told by his father that the man he visited there was a relative, possibly a first cousin to Louis, and likely the son of one of Yochanan’s brothers or first cousins in the Ukraine.
Furthermore, this man may have come to Boston before emigrating to Israel. Joel remembers that the man’s name may have been “George Spiegel” and that he lived in the Haifa area. Recently I have attempted to find this man. I was told that he may have had two sons working on the Dead Sea Scrolls. His wife was Chana or Annie. It appears that he was already around 19 or 20 in the 1910 photo (if that was the same man.
Looking at information in the Israeli phone directory of 1965 (from the Genealogy Indexer), I discovered a Yehuda and a Yochanan Spiegel at that time. The directory was for Haifa, page. 559 (surnames Solomon-Spira). It is also possible that our relative was living in Tel Aviv. Information on George, might be found as Yochanan Spiegel in the Palestine Gazette Change of Names section per Israel Genealogical Society website. There are also mentions of a Yochanan Spiegel in an “Americans in Palestine” list 1917 and 1929. However, we would like to learn more about him and his sons if anyone has connections in Israel. |
Esta
All of Yochanan’s children were interesting and unique as adults. There was a mix of the hard work ethic with the arts and philosophy.
A picture of some of the siblings with Bessie:
A picture of some of the siblings with Bessie:
Clockwise from lower left: George Spigel (son of Yochanan), Sam, Mother Bessie, Bernice (George’s wife) and Esta in the middle. Most of the siblings have descendants to speak of them, and continue their memories. One, Esta (Esther Rachel) did not have children, and yet led a life worth remembering. As a young woman she showed her creative and adventurous nature with both travel and the arts as her focus. I was told that she traveled to the Amazon, and her home reflected her travels with her display of various artifacts from abroad. Yet, she also contracted tuberculosis as a young woman, and had to contend with the after-effects throughout her life.
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Esta chose to live on Block Island, an island of 7 miles, off the coast of Rhode Island. The island has a small population during the winter and has a tremendous number of tourists during the summer. Thus the island is a mix of private homes across the island, and hotels along the beach-front. With the help of her brothers, Esta renovated a house on the cliffs of Block Island, and bought a gift-shop in the town.
She pursued her artistic nature, particularly with copper engraving. We still have some of her engravings in our family. She commissioned another artist to sketch the best views of the island, and she reproduced these on postcards and plates, among the fine gifts she sold in her store. Later, she married a Coast Guard officer, (who became the mayor of Block Island for many years). All the Spigel family would visit her on the Island and the children would stay awake in the attic bedroom, watching the flash of the lighthouse coming in the East window. After her passing, a small park was dedicated to her, outside the building where she had her gift shop. They called it “Esta’s Park”.
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Esta and Jack were seated near the back wall with one of Esta’s nieces. The table includes Esta’s brothers and sister, and spouses, and a nephew. (I remember that day as I and my sister were sitting at a table with my parents in the back right of the picture).
Zorach Spiegel
Meanwhile, Yochanan’s younger brother Zorach went to Mezhirichi, a town not too far from Koretz and met and married Feige (Fanny) Rothenberg. They had one son, also called George (Yosef ) in 1910.
Zorach came to Boston in 1914 where he worked until he could afford to send for Fanny and George who arrived in 1923. Zorach and Fanny had one more child, a daughter, Rose before Zorach passed away in 1926. Fanny remarried and her second husband brought up Rose. George married Eva and after living in the Boston area, moved to California to be with their daughter. |
The Four George Spigel/Spiegels
There are up to four people in our family named “George Spigel/Spiegel.
Records of Our Family from Koretz and Tuchin since ca. 1780
We found a researcher in Rovno, Ukraine (a large city near both Koretz and Tuchin), who was willing to search for our Spigel and Derazhinsky families. We were fortunate that both the Rovno and Zhitomir archives had records for both families going back to about 1810 (and we also found out that the original Yehuda was born around 1780, the first Spigel whose given name we know).
Brothers and sisters of our direct Spigel and Derazhinsky lines are also listed through 1858 (what is available in the archives). Thus we have been able to fill in the missing names of our Spigel and Derazhinsky families, and actually find the connections between us and two other families. Below you will see that one of our projects is to obtain and translate all the applicable records for our Koretz families from a researcher, who has an access to the archives.
Brothers and sisters of our direct Spigel and Derazhinsky lines are also listed through 1858 (what is available in the archives). Thus we have been able to fill in the missing names of our Spigel and Derazhinsky families, and actually find the connections between us and two other families. Below you will see that one of our projects is to obtain and translate all the applicable records for our Koretz families from a researcher, who has an access to the archives.
Here is a basic tree primarily of the information from the archives (on the Geni.com World Family Tree website). Yochanan and Zorach’s line is through Shmuel Spiegel (1820 to 1850), but there are families extending from Froim Avrum and from Moshe as well, (in drop-down branches from this tree) if anyone may be connected to the Spiegel’s through them.
Finding the Koretz Family Descendants Through DNA
In 2016, I, my sister, my first cousin once removed (Lou and Ruth’s son), and my husband did DNA analysis through Family Tree DNA. This was very helpful, as we discovered a possible cousin (high up in the matches) whose family came from nearby Koretz in Antonivka and Ludwipol. We conjecture that she has a great-grandmother who may be the sister of Raysel and Bessie Derazhinsky Spigel . We have found that doing this simple autosomal testing may bring other relatives to our tree. It will be very useful as we find more Koretz descendants and search for how we are all connected.
Through records and chats on Facebook, we have also discovered another cousin, whose family settled in Boston from Koretz. Mike knew that a second great-grandmother on his tree was a “Spigel” from Koretz, and we think we have found that ancestor as a result of obtaining the records from the Ukraine archives.
In 2016, I, my sister, my first cousin once removed (Lou and Ruth’s son), and my husband did DNA analysis through Family Tree DNA. This was very helpful, as we discovered a possible cousin (high up in the matches) whose family came from nearby Koretz in Antonivka and Ludwipol. We conjecture that she has a great-grandmother who may be the sister of Raysel and Bessie Derazhinsky Spigel . We have found that doing this simple autosomal testing may bring other relatives to our tree. It will be very useful as we find more Koretz descendants and search for how we are all connected.
Through records and chats on Facebook, we have also discovered another cousin, whose family settled in Boston from Koretz. Mike knew that a second great-grandmother on his tree was a “Spigel” from Koretz, and we think we have found that ancestor as a result of obtaining the records from the Ukraine archives.
The Berezdov Connection
Moreover, there is a family of Spigel’s who lived in Berezdov, brought to our attention by Michael Levin, the owner and originator of the Tsal Kaplun Foundation and website. These Spigel’s are listed on Michael’s tree on MyHeritage.com. Berezdov is very near Koretz, to the point that Michael says that the Berezdov people went to the post office in Koretz. We are searching for the connection between the Berezdov and the Koretz Spigels. There are at least three other Spigel’s from Berezdov who emigrated to Boston in the early 1900’s (Mendel, Joseph, and Max), but at least one, Mendel, of them returned to Berezdov. Joseph and Max Spigel’s parents were Chaim and Jenny (probably Chana). There is also another researcher looking for his grandmother, Sara Spiegel from Berezdov. Either we will discover other Spigel’s with a tree that connects the two families, or we will keep looking in the records and checking the DNA.
Moreover, there is a family of Spigel’s who lived in Berezdov, brought to our attention by Michael Levin, the owner and originator of the Tsal Kaplun Foundation and website. These Spigel’s are listed on Michael’s tree on MyHeritage.com. Berezdov is very near Koretz, to the point that Michael says that the Berezdov people went to the post office in Koretz. We are searching for the connection between the Berezdov and the Koretz Spigels. There are at least three other Spigel’s from Berezdov who emigrated to Boston in the early 1900’s (Mendel, Joseph, and Max), but at least one, Mendel, of them returned to Berezdov. Joseph and Max Spigel’s parents were Chaim and Jenny (probably Chana). There is also another researcher looking for his grandmother, Sara Spiegel from Berezdov. Either we will discover other Spigel’s with a tree that connects the two families, or we will keep looking in the records and checking the DNA.