Sherlock's Unsolved Mystery - The Esterson Mystery

by Michal Esterson

There is still a mystery on my paternal side of the family. One Pesach I was with my grandfather’s cousin, Jerry, in Jerusalem and he told a true story just before his youngest grandson was to go and open the door for Eliahu. This story was about one Pesach Seder at his paternal grandfather’s house (Baltimore, Maryland), Joseph Esterson (27 Nov 1864-26 Apr 1942). Joseph’s fourth born son (b. 1895) was sent to open the door to the home during the family Pesach Seder, in order to allow the prophet Elijah to enter. When called upon to return to the Seder table, he did not respond, and when someone went to the door to investigate, he was found to have disappeared. He was never heard from again. It is thought that he was about 3-4 years old at the time. No one remembers his name or whatever happened to him. It was possible he was kidnapped, or possibly wondered away.

Family photo taken after their son went missing. Rebecca and Joseph are sitting.


I sure would like to find out what really happened and what his name was.  I'm still looking for Joseph's 1900 census report - maybe there I can find this son's name.  Joseph emigrated to Baltimore on 01 Feb 1891.  By 1892 he had earned enough money to bring over his wife Rebecca, and their first two children Jacob and Albert.  He enjoyed studying talmud and tanach in the Shaarei Zion Synagogue, in which he was a member for many years. He was a tailor and retailer.


Joseph's younger brother Shlomo (Simon) emgirated alone too and went directly to live with him in 1896.  Shlomo operated his pants shop on the first floor of their three story row house (as subcontractor to a clothing manufacturer). His workers were people brought over from Europe, taught the work for a living (housing, food, & clothing) until ready to go out on their own.  His shop on Hanover Street was a slightly larger shop.


Shlomo and his family lived through the Baltimore Fire of 1904.  Raged over a large part of the city, within blocks of where they lived.  People were moved through the night by horse-drawn vehicles, by the Davidson Transfer Company.  His wife, Elke, departed Bremen, German on 14 Jul 1898.  She and her children also went directly to her brother-in-law Joseph's house to join her husband there.  She made the button-holes of the pants at their pant shop.  She was ill from February-May 1920.  She died around November 1932.


More on Shlomo and Elke's family later.

Sherlock Continues...Yankl Cantor Family

by Michal Esterson

Yankl (Yaakov) Cantor was a chazan (cantor), as one of his grandsons, Yaakov Zalman Godrov (known as Jakob Gordon in Helsingborg, Skane, Sweden) and namesake. He gave one of his son's (my great-great-grandfather Nakhman) the last name of Kaufman. The name Kaufman emerges when Yakovman, then Yakofman was shortened to Kofman. Kaufman is derived from Yaakov!  I have been able to find out who Nakhman’s children married, with the exception of his one son who changed his name back to Cantor - Max Kaufman Cantor.

 

Sara Kaufman Kushner

I know that Rose Kaufman married Mr. Forman (still don’t know if she had children), Max Kaufman Cantor had two children- I do know he had a daughter named Gertrude, Samuel married Etta Feinberg and they had 8 children and they lived (from 1891) in Fall River, Massachusetts, Sara (my great-grandma) married Jacob Kushner and they had 8 children – 2 died before 1910 and Lillian died at age 2, she fell off a horse and was kicked in the head and Fanny married Abraham Cooperman and they lived in New Jersey and had no children (although their poodle ate in a high-chair at the table).  Nakhman was a rabbi and possibly a chazan.

I’m the Sherlock Holmes of the Family

by Michal Esterson

I’m a modern day Sherlock Holmes digging up information on my extended family. I’m still trying to find the missing pieces of my large family jigsaw puzzle.

My quest for information started 37 years ago with a high school science project about genes. We needed to do a chart of our ancestors with their height, complexion, eye and hair colors. For some unknown reason I was drawn to Sephardic foods, music and customs, never knowing why. It so happens that one branch of my maternal grandfather's family named their children after living relatives, as a lot of the Sephardim - definitely not like the Ashkenazim. I know his family was from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but where did they come from before the 1800's? I'm still adding branches and new leaves.

About 11 years ago, here in Israel, I did find out from a distant cousin living in Jerusalem that my maternal great-great-grandfather's family was originally from Spain. They left Spain and went to Lithuania via Germany. I'm still searching for more information. Yankl and Risha Cantor and their family lived in Meretz (Meretch) and Sirai Lithuania. Yankl gave his sons different last names (KAUFMAN, GODROV and STRAZH) to keep them from being conscripted into the Red Army. It’s known that they had 3 sons; no one seems to know if Yankl and Risha had any daughters. Yankl and his son Nissan owned a lot of land in the north of Lithuania and were farmers until the end of WWII.  Under the Czar, no Jews were allowed to own land (Lithuania Poland Russia).