More sleuthing at the Albion College library turned up some interesting clues!

A couple days ago I had an opportunity to find and photograph the tombstones of Hymen Kramer and Kate Chabensky. I knew this would be helpful because the dates on the tombstones can be used to find obituaries in the Detroit Free Press microfilm.

When I returned home from the library this evening, I discovered I had already gathered enough information to find and contact one of the Kramers' children. And with one phone call, success.

I hope to welcome Kramer descendants to the website soon. :) We are excited about comparing family tree branches and seeing photos of my 4th-cousins.

Kate (Chabensky) Kramer (23) and Hymen J. Kramer (30)

Today's update is the accomplishment of several small efforts.

Many names were added to the Spindel branch of the tree thanks to a telephone interview with Mr. Fred Spindel.

A photo of Minyah Chabensky's family was discovered after it was mistaken for a post card from the Plischuk family. In the translation of her handwritten caption, I learned Minyah's married name was Kaminsky.

This weekend, I traveled to the Hebrew Memorial Park cemetery with my aunt and grandmother. We were able to locate and photograph more than 30 tombstones of our relatives there. These tombstone images are added to the family tree using a feature that MyHeritage calls the "virtual cemetery". I remain skeptical about the usefulness of this feature, but I do find it helps illustrate the source of Hebrew engravings and inset photographs.

The helpful people at JewishGen allow me to submit up to 5 images per week for translation requests. I uploaded the most important-looking tombstones (esp. close relatives or those with unknown parents). Now I wait eagerly to see what new clues might be revealed.

In the meantime, there were some discoveries I already added to the tree. For example, on the tombstone of aunt Rose's husband, Benjamin Schuraytz, there is an inset photo. My photo of the photo is the first one of him in this project.

Next to the tombstones of Phillip and Becky (Chabensky) Bernbaum, we found two more Bernbaums unexpectedly: Morris and Minnie. Using the article How to Read a Hebrew Tombstone as a guide, I was able to match the phrase that begins with "בר אבי" on the tombstones. So without expert help, I confirmed Morris and Phillip had the same father.

At this time, the website version of this project does not have a virtual cemetery feature in the menu, but registered family members may click this link to view it privately.

Evelyn Stevens, 82, of West Bloomfield, MI, died on 4 April 2008.

The funeral will be held at Ira Kaufman Chapel on Sunday, 6 April 2008 at 11:00 AM. 248-569-0020. Rabbi Harold Loss and Neil Michaels will officiate. INTERMENT BETH EL MEMORIAL PARK. www.irakaufman.com

The family of Evelyn Stevens will be gathering through the evening of Monday, April 7 at the residence of Ronna and Stuart Gold, 4726 Paisley Court, West Bloomfield MI 48322 for friends to call. The phone number is 248-737-4653.

Family members include:
Beloved wife of Irving Stevens. Dear mother of Cathey (David) Boyer, Ronna (Stuart) Gold and Dana Stevens. Loving grandmother of Melissa and Jessica Gold and Eli and Carli Boyer. Also survived by loving relatives and friends.

It is suggested that those who wish to further honor the memory of Evelyn Stevens may do so by making a contribution to:

American Lung Association of MI
25900 Greenfield Suite 401
Oak Park, MI 48237
248-784-2000

or

Multiple Sclerosis Society of MI
21311 Civic Center Dr.
Southfield, MI 48076
248-350-0020
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/mig

This evening's update includes the names of the four remaining great-great grandparents who were missing from the tree, and a partial list of descendants. It's a huge milestone. This completes the fifth generation in my tree, with the exception of Sonia Smusin's biological parents. I am also encouraging the MyHeritage staff to make it easier to view foster families so that the tree will not appear blank in those places.

I recently welcomed Mr. & Mrs. Alexander Plischuk, 3rd cousins of my father, and newest members to Rob`s Family Tree.

In the May 23, 2007 news article, I discussed several vital discoveries made while searching through a box of photos. Shortly after that, I also discovered that one of the more mysterious photos, self-captioned by a Leya Kanevskaya, seemed to match a Yad Vashem database entry showing the names KANEVSKI and PLISHCHUK. This photo had come to my attention because it was addressed to "uncle Elya", referring to my great-grandfather Eli who did not have a niece named Leya.

Feb 19, 2008, I received an e-mail from the Plischuk (Плищук) family who were wondering why I had added their ancestors to my family tree website. When their relatives recognized the name Chabensky, we decided to exchange photos.

The first photo I sent was the "Rosetta Stone" that was mailed from Ukraine to Detroit in 1926. Although I was uncertain of the photo's relevance, I did know that the Yiddish caption mentioned the name Plischuk, spelled a variety of different ways by the translators. I was in disbelief when I received in return, not only some new photos of the people in the "Rosetta Stone", but also an edited copy of the image with everyone in the photo labeled by name and an attached explanation of their relationships! Most amazingly of all, one of the girls in the photo was labeled Leya.

Over the past month, our correspondence has focussed on determining the relationships between our families, and exchanging names and photos for our two genealogy projects.

In addition to the countless names and 34 photos of relatives provided by the Plischuk family, I was able to add a large number of descendants to the Abramowitz family tree branch by phoning the family of Mr. & Mrs. Herman Ozrovitz.

To view the details of this massive update, try visiting the family of Gersch & Khaya Plisczuk. More info about marriages and distant cousins can be found at the Plischuk Family Tree website.

Many of Joe Spindel's ancestors and cousins have been updated, thanks to the efforts of Sarah Presenti.

After we worked out some technical glitches with MyHeritage.com, I became a member of the Spindel Web Site.

I have added photos for 40 of these relatives from that website to Rob`s Family Tree.

Of note are the photo and tombstone translation I obtained with the help of Yosef Kaner at JewishGen.

Here lies
The modest and upright woman
Blessed above women (Judges 5:24)
A woman of valor, a kosher woman
Mrs. Yuta Malia
Wife of Rav Shual Shpindel of blessed memory
Son of Shalom ______
Passed away on the first day of Rosh Chodesh MarCheshvan 5674 (or 5675)
May her soul be bundled in the bundle of the living

Another extensive update of Rob`s Family Tree is now online.

There are 27 new photos provided by Ida Chapin, which will help us identify 32 more faces in the family tree. My personal favorites include the photos of Mr. & Mrs. Sholom Smusin, my great-great-grandparents by adoption.

Our tree now includes 473 people and 340 photos and faces. Additions to the tree this week were primarily from research I conducted at Ancestry.com using a free 3-day membership. Besides historical records, I was able to use the Green Family Tree and OneWorldTree to find relatives of aunt Rose. I also saved copies of all of the Census images, draft registration cards, passenger manifests, and current public records used to support the relationships.

I now encourage corrections and additions to the family tree. Members ...