Kresch Placeline

If you thought the previous one too short, this one is even shorter, at least in number of generations. Though there are more places in it. If only because my great grandmother moved around a lot once she left her home in Galicia. 

There are two major groups in the US who have problems tracking their ancestors. The first is African Americans, who for some reason can't track their ancestry easily before the mid 1800s. </sarcasm> The other is those of Jewish ancestry. Our reasons are different, and yet in some ways, far too similar to African American issues. People would rather hate and destroy us than acknowledge what has been done to us. Because of this, I don't know any generations before my great-great grandparents on either side of my grandfather's line. And I have little hope I will find more. But I keep looking. Just in case.

As always, bold is places with major events (Birth, Marriage, and Death), and italics is other locations where they lived for at least a year.

1. Dobra aka Dora Kresch Hillinger

A. Chicago, Illinois. This is where the Hillinger clan finally settled in the US, after nearly a decade of moving around the South. While her husband was not in Chicago when he passed, Dora lived here with most of her children until her death in 1969.

B. Little Rock, Arkansas. After a few years in Memphis, the Hillingers moved to Little Rock, where Dora worked at either a hospital or a school, or possibly both, as a cook in their kitchens. I'm not sure what prompted the move, but I do know they stayed here through my grandfather's time in high school before moving once more.

C. Memphis, Tennessee. After the Hillingers arrived in the US, they settled in Memphis, near where Dora's sister in law and her husband lived. They lived there for at least four years before moving on to another location in the American South.

D. Paris, France. The Hillinger family settled in Paris while Alex worked to get the money together to get the whole family to the US. They traveled from Le Havre to Ellis Island, where they landed, and the family remained in the US to this day.

E. Frankfurt, Germany. After World War I, Dora and at least one of her sisters moved to Frankfurt together. I have record of another of her sisters and also one of her brothers moving there as well, and that their mother moved there and was living there when she died. I don't know much about her pre-marriage life here, but I do know that at this time, there was a rising community of Jews in Frankfurt, and one of the last Mayors of Frankfurt before the rise of the Nazi party was also Jewish. It was a good place to be Jewish in Germany between the wars. 

So it was here she met my great grandfather, and here that they married. All six of their children were born in Frankfurt, and the older ones went to school here. Dora and Alex ran several businesses here, and her focus was on a cafe they owned. But with the rise of Nazi power, things became difficult for the Jews in Germany, and after the last of their businesses failed, her husband decided it would be safer if their family left the country. They had two options for family to go be near at the time. Since he had been kicked out of England, he went for the other option--the US, where three of his four siblings lived. So the family moved to Paris to be safe until such time as they could get a visa to the US, and could afford passage across the sea.

F. Czudek, Galicia (now Poland). This is where my great-grandmother was born. A small village in a country that no longer exists. Galicia was a country that was part of the Austrio Hungarian empire, and by the mid nineteenth century, it was a very poor country. Many Jewish communities had been settled there, and it was an area rife with pograms, as was true of most Jewish areas of Eastern Europe. It is a short way away from Rzeszow, which was a center of Jewish learning in the 19th and early 20th centuries. After the first World War, it was absorbed into Poland and the Ukrane, depending on the part of Galicia. Cuzdek itself is now part of southern Poland.

I know very little about Dora's family's life there, but I can imagine what it was like, having grown up watching Fiddler on the Roof, because that's pretty much what it was like in most of Eastern Europe. What I know for certain is this. Shortly after the end of the first world war, there was a pogram here. I don't know for certain how Dora's family was affected, though I have a guess. And it was shortly after that, in 1919, that Dora and her sister left for Frankfurt.

2. Benzion Kresch

I really know very little about my great great grandfather. Just that he lived in and probably died in the village his children were born in. I'm not even sure he (or his wife) were born there.

A. Czudek, Galicia. This is the only location I am certain of for Benzion. I believe that all his children were born here, and my speculation is that the pogram I mentioned above either affected him so that he died, or that he was literally killed in the pogram. I have no proof. Just the mention that several Jews died in the attack, and that he was gone by the time my great-grandmother left Czudek. The only other thing I want to note here is that the cemetery he was likely laid to rest in was later plowed over by the gentiles in the area and used as pastureland. Upon reading that, never had I better understood African American anger. I could say a lot of angry things here, but I won't. I'll just let you imagine them.

*

That's it. That's all I have. Six locations. In fact, until a couple years ago, I didn't even know my great-grandmother's siblings' names. Now I have names, and even a couple of photos. I still know very little about this branch of my family, but I hope someday to know more.

Brick Wall People Redux – Part 3 – Benzion Kresch

No Known Photo

Name: Benzion Kresch
Birth: unknown
Death: before 1919
Marriage: Before 1890
Location(s): Czudek, Galicia (Poland); Czendei, Galicia (Poland) (location not found)
Relation to me: Benzion Kresch is my paternal grandfather's maternal grandfather, which makes him 5th generation before me.
Alias(es): none known
Parents: unknown
Spouse(s): Feige Golda Reich
Children: Naftali Mendel, Dora, Minna, Hiam (uncertain of the spelling at this time), Esther/Erna, Aaron
Other Family: No other direct family known.

Details:

I know very little about Benzion. He lived and died in Galicia, and made a living as a teacher of some sort, but I do not know what sort of teacher. He and his wife likely lived in Czudek most of their married lives, as I know at least two of their children were born there. They had five children, and I now know all their names, if not the full details of their lives.. As for his death, I found a report on Jewish Gen about an attack on the town shortly before his daughter left for Frankfurt, so it is possible he may have died in that attack, or because of it.

Other than that, I know nothing about the man, other than my great grandmother named her eldest child for him.

Proof:
1) Like the other branch of my Jewish heritage, I got all my information originally from my grandfather, who never met his grandparents except for his grandmother Feige. Up until recently, that information was all I had on Benzion.
2) Benzion is also in the Hillinger Family book. It mentions Benzion was a teacher, and at least two place names: Czudek and Czendei in Galicia. Unfortunately, I don't know where Czendei might be, but I have at least found Czudek on a map.
3) The last bit of information I have on Benzion is one of the most recent records I have found: his son's immigration record to Brazil. He is only mentioned on it, but it gives Mendel's birth as Czudek, so that is confirmed, at least.

New Proofs I have found of Benzion:
4) I found a record for his son's marriage in 1919 that lists him and his wife. I don't believe this proves he was alive at the time. I think it is just listing them as his parents. I can't be certain, as it is in German, but it seems the most likely.
5) He is also listed in his daughter Dora's Social Security record.
6) And there is another listing of her on Dora's death record.
7) And one final record listing him is Mendel's immigration record to Brazil.
8) The final proof I have of him is actually the strongest. I was contacted by a woman who said she was his granddaughter, and therefore my grandfather's first cousin. She told me a little about what he was life, and gave me the names of all of his children, so I finally have all their names, though Haim vanished right after the First World War, so her father, who was the youngest, left her very little information about him.

Needed:
Like Alex's parents, I have no BMD information on Benzion, so I can only speculate at those dates. Unlike them, I don't even have speculations on dates. I have no clue where to even start looking for information on him, given he lived in Galicia around the time when Jews were under attack by the gentiles around them. Likely few records existed even before the Nazis came to power, and the ones that did likely didn't after their regime.

I would also love better records about his children. I was lucky enough to find Mendel, and I know a great deal about Dora's life, but Minna I have only a couple of photos and a story of how the two sisters came to Frankfurt together from Czudek. I have more information on his other children now, though still very little in comparison to Mendel and Dora. I do need to say that I discovered I was right to fear what I might find here, between Haim's disappearance after WWI, and the fact that we lost Esther. However, I am glad to say that out of my whole Jewish Branch of my family tree, the only person in my immediate ancestral family we lost to the Nazis was Esther, who did not manage to escape with her husband and children, though we do not know exactly what happened to her. She is listed on Yad Vaschem, in a record written up by her son.

I would love to know about his parents, siblings, and the people he came from. Was he an only child? Was his father a teacher too? What kind of life did they lead? I tend to speculate that he was from the vague Rzeszów area, just north of where Czudek is located in Poland, but as of yet, I have no real proof he was from Galicia at all, and he could have just settled there because Rzeszów was a center for Jewish learning at the time.


And really, for now, that's it. Despite almost tripling the number of records for Benzion, I still have so little about Benzion. Any help here finding more on him would be greatly appreciated.

Original Post
Other Posts About Benzion Kresch:

• KRESCH (German/Prussian)
• Brick Walls -- A Different Listing
• Advent Calendar: Benzion Kresch
• Brick Wall Update 2012
• Surname Saturday 2.0: The Kresches
• Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Best Genea-Prize in August 2014

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Best Genea-Prize in August 2014

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music):

1)  Did you do some genealogy research during August 2014?  Did you find a great record or story pertaining to an ancestor or family member?

2)  Tell us about the BEST genea-prize ("record") you found during August 2014.  What was it, where did you find it, and how does it help advance your research?

3)  Share your genea-prize in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post.  

3)  NOTE:  If you didn't find one in August, tell us about a recent genea-prize from another month.

Here's mine:

Well, I did find a bunch of my family in the 1921 Canadian Census finally this past month, so that would have worked for this post...until last weekend. Last Sunday I went into my email to pull up a bill to pay when I discovered a new email with the header "Information on Benzion Kresch." As anyone who follows this blog knows, my Jewish line is one that I have very little information on. The Kresch family in particular. Because of this, I have tried to find things in a number of ways. Including posting on the Roots Web message boards. 

A few years ago, I posted there about my great-great grandparents hoping to find more specific information that might get me further back. I messed up the post, and accidentally kept posting it (it turned out the send page was open in another browser, and every time I opened that browser, it posted again), so I tended to avoid the boards thereafter. I got some responses in my email, but nothing that really helped much.

Sunday, I had so long ago forgotten about that post that I figured it was just another spam email from some genealogy site promising me information that would turn out to be about a Benjamin Krouch or something like that. However, when I opened the email, I discovered it was not only information I didn't have, it was from my great-great grandfather's granddaughter by his youngest son. She'd come across the post, and so she had decided to email to see if we were truly connected. I was thrilled. Where before I had three of the Kresch children, now I know the names of all six (though one is a bit murky), and have so much more information about the family than I ever did before. 

The line as it developed for me:
Benzion Kresch married Feige Golda Reich, likely in Galicia. I knew that they had at least five children, one of which was my great-grandmother, Dora. At a family gathering, I then saw a picture of Dora with her sister Minna, so my family tree gained one more name. While researching our family tree for family books my sister and I created, we learned that some of the Kresch family escaped to South America. Upon finding a record set about immigration into Brazil, I decided to check and see if I could find any Kresches that might match. In doing so, I found Naftali Mendel Kresch, Dora's elder brother, and also his wife, their daughter, her husband, and their young daughter. Also from our research, I knew that Benzion had died sometime in the early 1900s, and that Feige had died shortly before 1930 in Frankfurt, where she'd gone to live to be near her daughters.

My new cousin filled in the rest of the blanks for the names in this line. Mendel was the eldest, and given his birth date and Dora's, I believe she was the second-eldest. Minna was either next or fourth, and there was another son either before or after her whom my cousin believes was called Haim. He disappeared after the First World War, and no one knows what happened to him. After Haim came Erna or Esther, and finally my cousin's father, Aharon. All of them managed to escape the country (except for my great-great grandparents, who were already gone by this time) except for Esther, who sent her family ahead to Israel, but was caught by the Nazis. I have always known that I might find stories like that in my family tree, but I have to say how relieved I am that there is only one of them in this line. It's not easy to hear, but far better than more.

My new cousin is a very lovely person, and I look forward to talking to her more in the future. (*waves at her if she's reading*) And who knows? Maybe now that I have a few more names, I might have a bit more luck in finding more records on my family.

Brick Wall People – Part 3 – Benzion Kresch

No Known Photo

Name: Benzion Kresch

Birth: unknown

Death: before 1919

Marriage: Before 1890

Location(s): Czudek, Galicia (Poland); Czendei, Galicia (Poland) (location not found)

Relation to me: Benzion Kresch is my paternal grandfather's maternal grandfather, which makes him 5^th generation before me.

Alias(es): none known

Parents: unknown

Spouse(s): FeigeGolda Reich

Children: Naftali Mendel, Dora, Minna, ?, ?

Other Family: No other direct family known.

Details:

I know very little about Benzion. He lived and died in Galicia, and made a living as a teacher of some sort, but I do not know what sort of teacher. He and his wife likely lived in Czudek most of their married lives, as I know at least two of their children were born there. I have heard from a family relation that they may have had as many as five children, but I am still uncertain of the names of their other two children at this time. As for his death, I found a report on Jewish Gen about an attack on the town shortly before his daughter left for Frankfurt, so it is possible he may have died in that attack, or because of it.

Other than that, I know nothing about the man, other than my great grandmother named her eldest child for him.

Proof:

1)      Like the other branch of my Jewish heritage, I got all my information originally from my grandfather, who never met his grandparents except for his grandmother Feige. Up until recently, that information was all I had on Benzion.

2)      Benzion is also in the Hillinger Family book. It mentions Benzion was a teacher, and at least two place names: Czudek and Czendei in Galicia. Unfortunately, I don't know where Czendei might be, but I have at least found Czudek on a map.

3)      The last bit of information I have on Benzion is one of the most recent records I have found: his son's immigration record to Brazil. He is only mentioned on it, but it gives Mendel's birth as Czudek, so that is confirmed, at least.

Needed:

Like Alex's parents, I have no BMD information on Benzion, so I can only speculate at those dates. I have no clue where to even start looking for information on him, given he lived in Galicia around the time when Jews were under attack by the gentiles around them. Likely few records existed even before the Nazis came to power, and the ones that did likely didn't after their regime.

I would also love better records about his children. I was lucky enough to find Mendel, and I know a great deal about Dora's life, but Minna I have only a couple of photos and a story of how the two sisters came to Frankfurt together from Czudek. Of the other children, I have nothing at all, though I fear that they likely went the way of so many Jews in their area—Trablinka, or similar. To be honest, it scares me to find out, so it stops me from looking. Until the next time I try, of course.

Even more, I would love to know about his parents, siblings, and the people he came from. Was he an only child? Was his father a teacher too? What kind of life did they lead? I tend to speculate that he was from the vague Rzeszów area, just north of where Czudek is located in Poland, but as of yet, I have no real proof he was from Galicia at all, and he could have just settled there because Rzeszów was a center for Jewish learning at the time.

And really, for now, that's it. I just have so little about Benzion, I have no clue even where to start. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Surname Saturday 2.0: The Kresches

The Kresch Family

While both sides of my family tree on my paternal grandfather's side are sparse, the Kresch/Reich side is even less well-known to me than the Seneft/Hillinger side. In fact, until my grandmother died in 2010, I had no information about them at all aside from names. Not even dates. And then, only my great-grandmother and her parents, not any of her other family. I blame myself. My grandfather was difficult to talk to, and while he knew more than I about her family, it was hard to ask the questions most of the time. I do still have three of his sisters on that side, and should try to write them before it's too late to ask them, too. If it isn't already.

What I do know is that my great-grandmother, Dora Kresch, was born in Czudek, Galicia (now a part of southern Poland) in 1892. Her parents were Benzion and Feige Golda (not sure if she went by one or the other or both) Kresch. I know she had at least a few siblings, but I only have a name for one, Minna, whom I know was still alive and in the US in the late 1940s. I know little else about her aside from the fact that she traveled with Dora to Frankfurt in the late 19-teens after the Great War ended.

I know that Benzion was a teacher according to the record-book of the Hillingers, and I believe he settled in Czudek with his wife and they raised their family there until his death. I have no date for it, but I assume it happened around the same time the girls left the town. Feige Golda eventually came to Frankfurt as well to live near her daughters, and died there in the late 1920s.

Dora met Alex Hillinger there, and the two settled in Frankfurt and raised six children there until they left in the early 1930s.

After arriving in America, Alex suffered a stroke, and Dora became the primary breadwinner of the family, working in schools and hospitals as a cook. She lost Alex in 1948, but lived until 1969, and died surrounded by her daughters' families. Alex and Dora's descendants live in the Chicago and Seattle areas today.

My Kresch line, for those interested:

●        Benzion Kresch married Fiege Golda Reich sometime before 1892. The couple had at least three children, though I have names of only two, Dora and Minna. (update: And apparently a brother named Naftali Mendel, who likely went by Mendel) According to one of my father's cousins, there were at least four, possibly five siblings, and at least one was a brother, who left the area around World War II and settled in Lima, Peru, where he had at least one child, a daughter.

●        Dora and Minna settled in Frankfurt after World War I, where Dora met and married Alex Hillinger. The couple had six children there: Ben (named for Dora's father), Mina (named for Dora's sister), Sammi (later Sam), Helena, Hilda (commonly known as Peppi), and Selma. In 1933, things became too difficult for the Hillingers in Frankfurt, so they left, seeking asylum in Paris for about a year before coming to the US. They moved first to Tennessee, then to Arkansas, and finally to Chicago, Illinois, where the family still lives today.

o       Ben served in the army during the war (I believe—correct me if I'm wrong here, folks), then moved from place to place before finally settling in California. To date, I have at least three marriages for him: one in Chicago, one in Nevada, and the final in California to the woman he was married to when he died.

o       Mina married and the couple had two daughters, who had five children between them, and there are even two in the next generation.

o       Sam served in the army as well before he met and married my grandmother in 1948, and the two had four children and six grandchildren, and the next generation is about to give them their fourth great-grandchild. We all live in the greater Seattle area today.

o       Helena married and had one son before her death in 1953. Her line ended with her son.

o       Peppi married and had three sons, and between those three, she has six grandchildren.

o       Selma married and had four girls, who have a total of ten children between them. After the death of her first husband, she remarried, and the couple now make their home in Israel.

What I don't know:

* Where Benzion was born or died. I have no records on him at all aside from his daughter's family book with her husband. I do know that he was dead by the time she married, as he was not listed on the invitation as presenting the couple.

* How many siblings Dora had, or what their names were (update: shortly before posting this, I found one more sibling for Dora—Naftali Mendel, who ended up in South America with at least part of his family as the war started in Europe, see the brother mentioned immediately after this), or where they ended up. Obviously Minna and one of their brothers survived, but I know little else beyond that. I'd love to know when she came to the US, and when he left, and even where he left from. I'd also love to hear any other stories, though I have a horrible sinking feeling that I know how the rest of them will go, given that they were Jewish.

* Also, I'd love to learn more about Czudek in general. I know it was located fairly near Rzeszow, which is just to the north and east of the town. I have a speculation that Benzion might have gone there for schooling, but that's only based on the fact that he was a teacher, so it's not based on anything solid, unfortunately.

Other information about this branch of the family:

Brick Wall Posts -

●        Brick Walls: a Different Listing

●        Brick Wall Update

●        Brick Wall Update 2012

Old Surname Posts –

●        Kresch

Where We're From Posts –

●        Where We're From – Germany

●        Where We're From – Galicia

Other -

●        Womens History Month -- Week 1

●        Womens History Month -- Week 3

●        Womens History Month -- Week 4

●        Womens History Month -- Week 5

●        On Jewish Names and Naming Traditions

Advent Calendar: Benzion Kresch

Benzion Kresch

I have no dates on when Benzion was born, but he appears to have died before 1919
Lived in: Galicia, Eastern Europe
Married: Fiege Golda Riech
Children:
Dora Kresch
Minna Kresch
Possibly a son
May be more children

Benzion Kresch was born in Eastern Europe, likely Galicia like his daughter Dora. From what little information I have, was a teacher and Rabbi there. It seemed he may have taught in a number of towns as a young man before and possibly after marrying Fiege. He and Feige had at least two daughters, both of whom were born in Galicia, and later moved to Frankfurt as young women to make a better life for themselves. I believe Benzion lived and died in Galicia, as there seem to be no records of him elsewhere.

(Note: I am not entirely certain this picture is Benzion as opposed to Leon Seneft, but after looking at their children, I'm inclined to believe this man looks more like Dora than her husband.)