Surname Saturday: Mojsabovsky or Mezhibovsky

Back in 2012 for a Surname Saturday I wrote about the Surname Mojsabovsky

I wrote I didn’t know the etymology of the name, or exactly how to spell it. With a lot of ancestral surnames I’ve learned spelling is often phonetic, and this is especially true with names of Hebrew or Yiddish origin. Since these languages use a different alphabet than English, names go through a ‘transliteration’ that doesn’t have set rules.

I’ve recently come across a surname that may be what I was searching for: Mezhibovsky. There are a handful of hits with the surname on Google, as well as in the JewishGen databases. It’s about as common as my ancestral surname, Cruvant, but it does exist. And, like ‘Cruvant,’ it seems to be a location-based surname, referencing the town Mezhybozhe/Medzhybizh in the Western Ukraine. (Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire, Alexander Beider). The town is considered the birthplace of the Hasidic movement, as the movement’s founder, the Baal Shem Tov, lived there from 1742-1760. The Hasidic movement definitely spread to Lithuania where my second great grandmother Minnie married Moshe Leyb Cruvant. Whether Minnie’s family was originally from Mezhybozhe, is uncertain, but an intriguing possibility.

Amanuensis Monday: The Obituary I Was Sure Wouldn't Contain Any Surprises

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them.

---

Obituaries are a wonderful resource, but when one's library research time is restricted one focuses on documents where one expects to find new information. That new information can sometimes lurk in unexpected places.

I had some time to visit the library last week, and I looked up several obituaries that had been on my to do list for quite awhile. One was the obituary for my second great grandmother, Minnie Mojsabovski Cruvant. [Like many of the surnames in my database, the exact spelling of her maiden name is a bit uncertain.]

I have a cousin who has researched the Cruvant lines for several decades, and I have a rather extensive database covering the Cruvant/Kruvant/Cruvand/Kruvand descendants and cousins of my second great grandparents. But being completist, I knew I should look up her obituary, even though I knew there wouldn't be any surprises.

---

St. Louis Post Dispatch - Feb 14, 1924, p.30

CRUVANT - On Wednesday, Feb 13, 1924, Minnie Cruvant, widow of Morris Cruvant, fond mother of Mrs. Bertha Newmark, Mrs. Stella Stern, Mrs. Flora Altman, Benjamin, David and Sol Cruvant. Dear sister of Mrs. Blanche Rubin, and our dear grandmother. 

Funeral from Berger Chapel, 4715 Mcpherson avenue on Friday Feb 15 at 10 a.m.

---

Reading the obituary, I was stunned. Minnie had a sister?

Siblings of immigrant ancestors  have been the source of several surprises during my years of research. When one can trace their lines back several generations on American soil, the US Census will usually record most siblings. There is the 20 year gap between 1880 and 1900, due to the destruction of the 1890 census, but otherwise it is difficult for someone to be born, grow up, and leave the household in the usual 10-year census gaps.

However, since I don't have access to pre-immigration records, siblings or adult children of immigrants can escape notice.

When an obituary doesn't indicate where a relative lives, that often means they live in town. So I looked up Blanche Rubin in the Online Missouri Death Certificates. Her death certificate lists her parents as Mendel Majabovsky and Sarah Greenberg. Minnie's parents are thought to be Mendel and Sarah Goldstein. It's possibly the same mother, with at least one improperly recorded maiden name. However, the dates of birth for the two sisters are twenty years apart, Minnie being the elder, suggesting they are actually half-sisters.

In 1920, Blanche and her husband, Ben Rubin were living next door to Philip and Leah Rubin. Philip and Leah's daughter, Anna, would marry David Cruvant, the son of Morris and Minnie. Were Ben and Philip related? It seems a strong possibility. However, complete strangers live next door to one another all the time, and it is possible for them to share a surname.  Ben and Blanche's nephew marrying Philip and Leah's daughter isn't proof of anything. I've now looked up the death certificates and obituaries for Ben and Phil without confirmation one way or another.

I've managed to trace two children of Ben and Blanche who each had one child, and these two grandchildren are still living. I will likely write to them to see if they can provide further information. However, I'm glad I finally found the time to look up the obituary for my second great grandmother.

Surname Saturday: Mojsabovsky

Discuss a surname and mention its origins, its geographical location(s) and how it fits into your genealogy research.

Mojsabovsky is a surname for which I am uncertain of both origin, and spelling. I believe it to be the maiden name of my great-great grandmother, Minnie or Michalia.  She married Moshe Leyb Cruvant in in the late 19th century. The Cruvant family was from Cekiske, Lithuania; however, family lore says Minnie was from the area of Kiev. Either the city or the region. The region was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania between 1362-1569, but was then transferred to Poland, and in 1793 became part of Russia. Her death certificate says Bolrusk, for which JewishGen suggests Belarus. Modern day Belarus borders Lithuania in the North and the southern part isn't too far from Kiev.

The spelling is how it appears on family records; her death certificate says Moshinbovsky. The informant was a son-in-law. The names of her parents below also come from the death certificate.

The numbering below follows the d'Aboville system. The first digit represents the order surnames make their first appearance on my ahnentafel.

I've emboldened my direct ancestors.

10. Mandel Mojsabovsky married Sarah Goldstein

10.1 Michalia (Minnie) Mojsabovsky  (1863-1924) married Moshe Leyb Cruvant (1857-1911)

Follow the descent of Minnie and Moshe at 5.1.3

My number is 10.1.3.1.1.3

Women's History Month: Give Their Face A Place

The word prompt for the 21st Edition of Smile For The Camera is "Give Their Face A Place." March is Women's History month and you are asked to picture women back into history. The unknown, known and unsung women who are often the foundation of our family history. Give their face a place.

(click to enlarge)

From left to right:
Myrtle (Van Every) Deutsch - 1900-1951 (my mother's mother)
Margaret (Denyer) Van Every - 1868-1923 (my mother's mother's mother)
Helen (Lichtman) Deutsch - 1881-1958 (my mother's father's mother)
Bertha (Cruvant) Newmark - 1886-1978 (my father's father's mother)
Minnie (Mojsabovski) Cruvant - 1863-1924 (my father's father's mother's mother)
Rose (Cantkert) Newmark - 1865-1943 (my father's father's father's mother)
Annie (Blatt) Feinstein - 1889-1965 (my father's mother's mother)
Sissie (Feinstein) Newmark - 1914-2002 (my father's mother)

These are the eight female ancestors for whom I currently have photographs.