My name is Robert Chapin and I am the author of this website.
Our family tree is posted online on this site! There are 1186 names in our family tree. The earliest event is the birth of Avraham Itzhak Chabensky
(1828). The most recent event is the birth of <Private> Chiaro
(June 13 2009). Newest research added on July 2 2009.
There is a wealth of information available to you in the menu above. I suggest starting in the Family Tree, or the Summary section under Family Tree. I have provided a few links to get you started there. I have also created a Website Map with quick links to the major areas of this project.
This website also acts as a central contact point for all family members, including 40 registered users. News, announcements, and private messaging are possible. To contact me directly, click here. If you wish to become a member too, please click here. You may find more about me at my personal website: Miqrogroove
My current goal for this project is to create a genealogy in book form by the end of 2009. In my spare time, I am researching all of my ancestors and their descendants. I am collecting biographical information and requesting family photos of all relatives so that I can include as many names and faces as possible. Public information about living persons is limited to surnames on the website, and to full names and photos in the book. This book will be available at-cost through a retailer and at select libraries.
This mother's day, the Chapin family visited the resting place of my great-great grandmother. Her name appears in the Michigan Jewish Cemetery Index as Rose Chabensky. This transliteration was also found at the Hebrew Memorial Society, but is apparently incorrect. The tombstone reads:
CHABENSKY Beloved Mother, grandmother & great-grandmother RUCHEL July 4, 1953 - Age 84
Mysteriously, her husband did not appear in the online index, nor in the new database of Michigan death certificates. We knew he was buried near Ruchel in the Detroit cemetery, now open only a few hours each year. The trip to see this place was rewarding both personally and for the sake of research. We found Shlomo's tombstone two rows directly behind Ruchel's.
Here lies My husband and our dear father Shlomo Ya'akov, son of Avraham Chabensky, who passed away the first day of Shavuot 5677 At the age of 50. May his soul be bound in the bundle of the living.
Photos and family tree updates will be posted this weekend. Special thanks to the volunteers at JewishGen for the Hebrew translations.
Jack Stone, 87, of West Bloomfield, died March 27, 2009. He immigrated from Lublin, Poland, in 1928.
He graduated from Cass Tech in Detroit and with a bachelor of electrical engineering degree from Lawrence Technological University in 1943. He served in World War II as engineer on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos.
Mr. Stone was an electrical engineer at Ford Motor Company for 36 years in research and development of manufacturing processes. He received an award from the Roon Paint Society for an invention. He was actively involved in the American Technion Society as a founder and board member and was also a member of many Jewish and community charities and organizations. He was a member of Temple Kol Ami and the Torah Study Group.
Beloved husband of Edith Stone. Loving brother of Marcia (the late Howard) Parven, Dr. Sidney (Betty) Stone. Dear brother-in-law of Marvin (Donna) Berman and Gerald (Vered) Berman. Also survived by loving nieces and nephews an...
The Library of Michigan has entered into an agreement with The Generations Network (Ancestry.com) to digitize the Michigan death records microfilm set, 1897 to 1920. Funding from the Talbert and Leota Abrams Foundation is making this digitization project possible. The death records will be loaded into a database that will be indexed and easily searchable. All scanned images will be provided for FREE on the Library of Michigan's Web site. Users from across the country will be able to access the database and download death records from the comfort of their home computer.
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.
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.
After two weeks of down time, the public features of Rob`s Family Tree have returned. :) You will find many little changes here: New names and citations in the family tree, new website members, a new Site Map, and of course the controversial news feed on the front page. Many more updates are planned. Enjoy!
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.
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.
