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.

 

First STEUER DNA Match Confirmed Family Connection

 For the first time, I have been able to connect a Steuer DNA match with one of my Steuer branches!

My cousin Michael sent me information on his newest DNA match. His newest DNA match is a Steuer via his maternal side. His mother, Clara Steuer Kord, was the daughter of Desidero/Desider (David) Steuer and Lenke/Lanke Vamos (Ileana Weisz-Vamos).

 

Lenke’s family changed their name from Weisz to Vamos, as many other families. She was born about 1885, Fersig Syatmar Hungary. During WWII she was able to get to Paris. About 1949/1950 she went to Canada and lived with her sister Rose for a while. She crossed the Canadian border at the Buffalo, New York Border Crossing. Her arrival contact was her daughter Clara. Lenke then went to Ohio to live with her daughter Clara and family.

 

Desidero/Desider “David” Steuer was a Literature Professor at a gymnasium in Budapest, as far as we know. He is a mystery to their family because before the war, he and Lenke separated and officially divorced on her border crossing from Canada. I am 99.9% sure he is the second son of Rabbi Abraham Steuer and Sari (Sarlota) Mandelbaum. I have his name as Deszo from my telephone conversations with Eva Steuer Halas. She told me he perished in a concentration camp, but wasn’t sure which one.

 

It was when I learned that Clara “Klarika”, who was born in Budapest, but married in Satu Mare (Crisana-Maramures / Romania) came to light, a light bulb went off for me  . I immediately wrote her son and asked if he recognized the name Eva and George Halas. The reply I got back was "Wow! Eva was Clara's cousin."

I then asked if theyheard about Eva Steuer Halas' grandfather, Rabbi Abraham Steuer. I did have an idea who "David" was in relation to Eva's family, but wanted to know more before coming to a conclusion.

I was sent a copy of Clara Steuer and Joseph Katz's (later Kord) marriage record. A witness listed on their marriage record was Dr. Eugene Steuer. Dr. Eugene Steuer was born Izrael, his Hungarian name was Jeno. It so happens that he was a physician and during his military service, 1915-1918, he was the Head Field Doctor in Albania, Italy. He later perished in 1943 at Auschwitz, along with his wife Margit Friedmann Steuer and daughter Etelka Eszter Steuer.

Dr. Eugene Steuer was one of Eva Steuer Halas' paternal uncles. This makes me even more convinced that "David" was in fact Rabbi Abraham Steuer’s second oldest son, known to me from Eva as Dezso. Up until now I only knew that Dezso Steuer was born 30 Nov 1875, Szatmar, Okorito, Szatmar, Hungary and that he perished in a concentration camp. Eva didn’t remember at the time I spoke with her (on the phone), his profession and I didn’t think about asking about his wife or children.

I then got a couple of photos, one of Eva and George Halas and another of Eva, her daughter Monica, Clara’s daughter Mariana and another relative Fran. Since these photos came from Clara’s daughter, it is one more link between Clara and Eva.

Clara and Joseph first immigrated in 1939 with their son Victor to Canada. Her maternal uncle Ernest Vamos lived in San Francisco, California, who was their sponsor to the United States. Clara and Joseph settled in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Their daughter was born there and both Clara and Joseph were naturalized in Ohio.

 

It’s unfortunate that the cousins are no longer with us, especially since I have found many other cousins via birth records. There were other Steuer cousins living in Toronto that I wished I could have connected Eva with. There still is one living cousin in Calgary who is a descendant of Rabbi Abraham Steuer’s brother, Salamon Steuer.

Still looking for more information on David/Dezso Steuer and "Aunt Borishka."

Central European "Barches"

My interest in the 18th & 19th century bread recipes comes from trying to find as many family recipes handed down( if any of you cousins have any, I'd love a copy!) as I can while I've been researching my family history, as well as my own bread baking. A "teacup of yeast" in old bread recipes referred to sourdough starter (commercial yeast was not invented until the late 19th century and the only leavening available at the time was wild yeast; sourdough).

"Barches" was a European name for challah, an acronym of the phrase birkat HaShem hi teasher (the L-rd's blessing brings riches). Central Europe (where most of my family was from: Galicia and Hungary - both part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which today includes Hungary, Slovakia, Poland to name a few) rye flour was and still is used to bake traditional sourdough breads. Since rye flour doesn't have suffiecient gluten, it is mixed with some other wheat flour. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was usually spelt flour. Barches are usually a wetter dough because of the sourdough starter instead of dry (or cake) yeast breads.

Typically the barches were started on Thursday night, making the sponge with your existing sourdough starter (flour and water normally, but some places add some chopped onion to help it ferment). It was then added to the rest of the barches ingredients on Friday for making our Shabbat bread.

I did find a recipe for Rich Sourdough Barches recipe from Inside the Jewish Bakery, but they use bread flour and dry yeast. I decided to make my recipe with my rye sourdough starter I already have in the refrigerator and use ry and spelt flours - both I have in the house (I always have rye flour in the freezer and try to also keep some spelt flour in the freezer too) and raw brown sugar. [In the 16th century Rabbi Yosef Karo, the author of the Shulchan Aruch, the code of Jewish law, mentions the use of sugar mixed with the juice of lemons and water by Jews in Cairo, Egypt to make lemonade on Shabbat. (Orech Chayim Hilhot Shabbat)]

Of course I use my ceramic bowl when making bread dough. I don't need to find a warm place in the kitchen in this weather (every place in the kitchen is a "warm spot"), so I'll just cover it with a towel and put a packages of matches on the towel.

I decided to make a bunch of rolls since it's just me and no one to share a complete challah with. At one time my best friend used to enjoy my challahs not made from white flour. Since she was ill, she doesn't eat as healthy and I don't know if she'd enjoy this challah or not. I really was thinking of making a larger challah and putting it in the freezer to bring over on a Shabbat when we would be together. Oh well, I'll ask her the next time I decide to make rye challahs again. Oh well, I'll ask her the next time I decide to make rye challahs again.

Hopefully, I'll have someone to pass down my version of an 18th century barches (challah) recipe to, continuing the tradition.

Steuer Family Lore Proven

The Steuer Original Family Name

I’m still looking for missing pieces of this puzzle but I can now say that the Steuer Family Lore has been proven. Two different people from two different branches of my extended STEUER family tree mentioned a story about STEUER not being our family’s original name.

After virtually meeting a cousin (now several years ago), he told me that the family name was originally Yitkowitz and it was his ancestor (Bernhardt Steuer) who came to the states before Julius and changed the name. One of his sources says that Bernardt’s mother-in-law’s maiden name was Steuer, but it hasn’t been proven. He went on to tell me that his family settled in New York and Julius Steuer came over afterwards and settled in Cleveland. Later, Aaron Steuer (father of the famous Max D) came over and their two families kept in touch.

This information contradicts what I have with sources:

Julius Steuer emigrated in either 1877 (a letter from his granddaughter) or 1878, the 1910 Census.

Aaron Steuer emigrated in 1877, according to his son’s (Max D) passport application of July 1902. I also have a note that states that his emigration was preceeded by Julius Steuer and his family and that Aaron did not seek them out.

Max David Steuer, Bernhardt’s son, emigrated in Jan 1880, a letter from another cousin.

Bernhardt Steuer emigrated in 1881

William Steuer emigrated in 1884, 1920 Census

Rose Keller Steuer, William’s mother, emigrated in 1885, 1930 Census

Rachel Steuer Schiff, William’s sister, emigrated in 1886, 1900 Census

Sarah Steuer Schwartz, William’s sister, emigrated in 1889, 1930 Census

Rabbi Urlich Bernhard Steuer emigrated in Sep 1938, 1938 Passenger List from Bremen

Eva Steuer Halas emigrated from London to Canada (after her marriage). She emigrated to London after being liberated from Auschwitz.

When I heard this information about the name change, I immediately had an Instant Chat with a cousin in Cleveland. He told me “once, a long time ago my mother had the family aghast when she mentioned at a party that the family name had been Utkovitch. We assumed she was just making her usual confrontational remarks. Might it be true? I somehow, knowing my mother, had thought that she made up the story just to get a reaction.  Her mother denied it, but you have to remember that Beckie was a Steuer by marriage and might not have known too much.”

Later, he told me that he heard that there was a wealthy woman who was going to marry one of the brothers and he was asked by either her father if he would be willing to take on Steuer as his family name since he (the father) had no one to carry on his family name. This brother agreed. The other brothers took on Steuer so it would be known that they were all brothers.

The other branch of the family that told me about the original family name felt it was from their ancestor, Bernhardt (Bernat) Steuer. He married Fanny Klein and her father was Josef Jonas Klein and they felt his wife was possibly Minnie Steuer because this is what was written on Fanny’s death certificate, although her daughter Minnie Steuer was the informant.

I actually think this was a maternal grandfather that made the request, although I have not been able to prove it. Too many unknown maiden names. I did find the Hungarian marriage record for Julius (Juda) with his third wife (1876) and it already has his name and his father’s last name was also listed as STEUER.

The spelling of the name is in question, since all information was verbal. Both cousins did say the same thing, that it means son of a Jew. Is it Yitkowitz, Yitkowits, Yidkowitz, Yidkowits, Yitkovits, Yudkovits, or Utkovitch. What I do know is that the “Y” sound in Hungarian is spelled with a “J”. Where to start?

I did just recently found the marriage record and birth records for Bernhard and Fanny. Of course, it was Fanny’s Yiddish name – Feige and Bernhardt’s Hungarian name – Bernat. And here it was! Bernat’s last name was listed as Judkovics. His father was listed as Meier- no last name listed, but that is it is assumed to be the same if not shown. No mother was listed for him. The birth records for 3 of their children had their last name spelled Judkiewicz. The children were Hanny (b. 26 May 1872), Ignatz (b. 04 Feb 1875) and Gerzon (b. 27 Mar 1876).

According to the 1900 census she had given birth to 8 children and only 2 were still living (at the time she was living with her daughter Mary, her son-in-law Morris Reich and grandchildren). I assume they died in Hungary. As of now I haven’t found any death records for any of the other children and no passenger lists for any of their children.

Not sure of when there was the name change, but I feel someone other than Bernat (Bernhardt) married the girl from a wealthy family since their children’s birth records were NOT listed as Steuer.