My Cantor-Kaufman Family

 After many years of not giving up, I was contacted by a cousin from great-grandma Sarah Kaufman’s family. The only cousins I have connected with have all come from great-grandma Sarah’s brother Samuel’s line. Samuel and his family moved to Fall River, Massachusetts about 6 months after their third child, Moshe Kapil Kaufman, was born.

 

I was given a lot of information from Cousin Ruth (Gamson, z”l) many, many years ago via regular letters. She had told me that Beverly Gamson Melanson had the family recipes, but didn’t know where they ended up after her death. I still haven’t found out where the recipes ended up.

 

The cousin that contacted me is the granddaughter of Dora Kaufman Garonsky. She had asked me about her father’s side of the family, which I have tried to get her more information - I did already have information on his family, but I still haven’t been able to answer her question as to why they changed the family name from Shapiro to Superior.

 

Since we have been communicating, I have gotten some family photos of her family. Wedding photos are always great, a start of a new union and the year is known and when there are group wedding photos, you get to see the extended family. I got two photos of Estelle Garonsky Superior, one was take after their marriage, so it is both Estelle and Richard.

 

I also got a nice photo of Estelle’s brother, Jordan Garonsky, later known as JayGaron, who was the literary agent for John Grisham. I previously only had a photo from the newspaper.

 

I was given a bit more information on Estelle, Richard and Dora. The best thing for me was getting Dora’s cookie recipe. I did know she kept a kosher home and this recipe had interesting liquid in this recipe, which keeps these cookies parve – cherry juice! The recipe seems to be a nice twist on a sugar cookie with cinnamon and sugar, along with cut cherries on cookie tops. I hope I will be up to being in the kitchen and baking soon so I can try this recipe!

I am still hoping I can find descendants of Max Kaufman Cantor. I only know he had a daughter named Gertrude Cantor. Max changed his surname back to the family’s original surname of Cantor after he immigrated to New York. My mom told me that she remembered that Cantor cousins visited them in Florida, but she didn’t remember their names or how exactly they were cousins. I was able to tell her the relationship to the Cantor family, but still haven’t found out who visited her and her family. I also still looking for descendants of Rose Kaufman Forman. I do know their other sister, Fanny Kaufman Cooperman never had any children.

I am also hoping I can get more family recipes. Pesac is around the corner and I always think about family recipes. I have an Esterson matzah ball recipe and I also have my great-aunt Babs’ Passover Rolls recipe.

Ilona Frankel Family Breakthrough

 

When I first learned about Ilona, I only knew that she was a cousin of Eva Steuer Halas and her mother was Eva’s aunt Borishka. I of course jump right in to search Eva’s Steuer uncles and their families.

I did find a Borbala Steuer, daughter of Nathan Steuer and Bella Jozefovits. So for while I thought I found Ilona Frankel’s mother, and kept on searching to find out Ilona’s maiden name and hopefully, who her father was.

Just two days ago I hit the jackpot! I found the actual marriage record for Ilona and Artur Frenkel. Sometime between Ilona and Artur’s arrival to the USA, there was a name change. Artur became Arthur and changed the spelling of his last name to Frankel. The marriage record has Ilona’s maiden name, Fröhlinger.

 

Now that I found her maiden name I was able to find Ilona’s birth record. Her birth record of course gave both of her parents’ names. Now I know her father was Móric Fröhlinger. Ilona and her one brother I found, Lajos Fröhlinger, both were born in Satoraljaujhely, Satoraljaujhely Jaras, Zemplen Megye, Hungary. I also found out Lajos married Róza Gebei on 15 Oct 1939 in Budapest and that Lajos perished in the Holocaust.

 

I also have uncovered Ilona’s paternal aunts and uncles, as well as her paternal grandmother’s maiden name. Ilona’s paternal grandparents were Ignácz (Chajen Izsak) Frölhinger and Pepi/Peppi Kronovicz. Ignácz and Pepi’s children are Moses Wolf, Eszti, Hani and Móric. Moses Wolf was illegitimate and the youngest son of Ignácz is Bernat Berl and his mother is listed as Betti Kronovicz.

 

Arthur and Ilona emigrated on 10 Feb 1940. Their final destination was to go to Sam Gerik, 606 Muller, St. Clairton, Pennsylvania. Ilona and Arthur left Pittsburgh between 1942 and 1945 and settled in Cleveland. They had two daughters in Cleveland. Ilona and Arthur retired in Hollywood, Boward County, Florida, where Arthur died on 15 Dec 1986. Ilona died 14 Mar 1999 in Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida.