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.

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.

Sarah Kaufman Kushner 

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.

 Dora Kaufman Garonsky

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.

 Jay Garon on the right 

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.

Obituaries and Detective Work

While trying to find the birth records of Shirley Levine Handelman’s children from her first marriage, I found her father’s obituary details. This didn’t give me his actual obituary, but it did list Shirley and her husband, along with 15 other people. The grandchildren were listed, but without last names. This made it difficult to know who the actual grandchild and who were their spouses.

This was helpful. It gave me the names of Shirley’s grandparents: Abraham Levine and Celia Pollack Levine. This also listed Shirley’s sister and brother-in-law. Shirley’s mother was listed as an unknown. I knew her name because of Shirley’s marriage certificate to Frederick J Lewis.

I was able to figure out that Brian and Corrin were married and so were Jules and Dana and Shayne and Annie. I also figured out that Aaron must have still been single at the time his maternal grandfather died. Now that I had first names of Samuel Levine’s grandchildren, I could start my search for birth records.

I know that Shirley and Frederick had two sons, so this was a big help. I did check both last names, since I don’t know which last name the boys grew up with. I actually started with Shayne, so I got lucky real fast. I found that Shayne lived in Virginia Beach in 1993. This also gave me his date of birth which led me to his birth record. I then went to see if I could find out where Aaron lived. I recognized one of the addresses – it was the same as Shayne! They must be related! I found Frederick and Shirley’s son’s! So glad I started at the bottom of the list of grandchildren.

Well, not so fast. I found out their names and were they were in 1993. I did find both of their birth records. I did find Shayne’s Nevada marriage record, so I got his wife Annie’s full name. I just found a listing for Shayne in St. Augustine, Florida. One of the people listed with this record has his mother, so I know I found the right Shayne! I just found him on Facebook and hope he will reply.

More family lines I still need to check for descendants. I still don't know if Hymie or Max Pollay ever married or had children. I know Mildred married Cookie Leibowitz, thank to my new found cousin. I know they had a son Jeffrey and a daughter - name unknown.

Unfortunately, the Forman's don't have a lot of descendants to try to track down. Only Tess and Henry married. I haven't been able to find out more on Henry. I do know that Tess and Sam Berson had one daughter, Marilyn. I also know that Marilyn Berson married Carl Steinberg, but don't know if they had any children.

Also the Krantz family - I have no information as to if Charles, Evelyn or Ruth married. This means I don't know if this branch of the family ended here or if it continued. The search continues…