Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission: Impossible music):
(1) Did you or your ancestor make a critical life decision that really changed their life in terms of place, work, family, relationships, etc.?
(2) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a comment on Facebook or Google+.
Ancestors on one entire side of my family made critical life decisions that really changed their lives in terms of place, work, family, relationships, and more. They totally picked up and left one continent to immigrate to another.
My mother was Jewish. All of my ancestors on that side immigrated in the early 20th century. They left everything behind and moved to a brand new world. Talk about critical! If even one of them had not done so, I probably wouldn't be here.
But I have no direct information to tell me what caused any of them to make that decision. No letters. No family stories. No family artifacts with coded messages. Not even a hint. Zip. Zilch. Zero. The big bagel.
For one family line, however, I can make a good guess, based on the information I do have.
My great-great-grandparents Avigdor and Esther Leah (Schneiderman) Gorodetsky were living in Kishinev, Russia (now Chișinău, Moldova). They had apparently moved there about 1892 with their two oldest children, who were said to have been born in Kamenets Podolskiy, Russia (now Kam'yanets-Podil's'kyy, Ukraine). Six more children were born to them in Kishinev, and Esther Leah also had at least one miscarriage. The last child, Moishe, was born November 15, 1908 (new style dating). About a month later, on December 10, Esther Leah died; I still don't have a complete translation of the cause of death, but blood appears in the description.
Less than a year later, on June 26, 1909, my great-grandfather Joyne Gorodetsky boarded a ship in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and began the chain migration of that part of my family. Eventually all eight siblings and my great-great-grandfather came to North America.
Maybe the family had already been thinking about going to the Goldene Medine before their matriarch died at the young age of about 34. But it appears that her death might have been the catalyst for everyone to actually move. And I'm sure it was a critical decision for all of them.
How sad about Esther Leah. Amazing that you have her death document. And I'm sure you're right about this being the catalyst for the family's move. Thanks for telling the story.
ReplyDeleteI have the death record because the archives in Kishinev permitted the LDS Church to microfilm their records. I found the record on microfilm.
DeleteI'm very lucky also to have one photo of Esther Leah.
Isn't it amazing, when we think about it, how different we might all be if our ancestors had made even a slightly different critical decision?
ReplyDeleteAll it would take is one little change, and life could have been very different . . . .
DeleteSounds like they wanted a fresh start. Their hearts must have been broken. Very interesting post.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the fresh start, but I'm willing to concede that the family may have been considering it prior to Esther Leah's death. There was a large pogrom in Kishinev in 1903, and I'm sure it also influenced the decision to emigrate.
DeleteWhat a sad post. Esther Leah was so very young. It is sad to think of the children growing up without their mama. Did this grandpa remarry?
ReplyDeleteYes, one little change and life could be much different - or even non-existent - for any one of us!
Have a blessed night.
It's interesting that you asked if he remarried. One of the few family stories I had relating to when they lived in Kishinev is that he remarried right away (logical, because he had a month-old child) but that the second wife did not come with the family to the U.S. I found an index entry for my great-great-grandfather's second marriage, and it was two years after Esther Leah died! When I went back to my cousins and asked about the discrepancy, I was told that the oldest daughter, who was about 18 when her mother died, became the "woman of the house" and took care of her younger siblings. When she married and moved out, that's when he remarried!
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