David:Well, I looked over the links you sent and was very impressed.  I’m pretty certain that this is a real connection.   Here’s the story:

Meyer is one of 5 children from Czestochowa.  (Spellings vary with documents.)

1.    Harry Gershanowitz 2.    Meyer (Max) Gershenowitz 3.    David Gershanowitz 4.    Chaje  Gershanowitz 5.    [...]]]> Meyer Gershenowitz married Toba Besser, my grandmother’s sister.  Email from Howard Mirsky:

David:Well, I looked over the links you sent and was very impressed.  I’m pretty certain that this is a real connection.   Here’s the story:

Meyer is one of 5 children from Czestochowa.  (Spellings vary with documents.)

1.    Harry Gershanowitz
2.    Meyer (Max) Gershenowitz
3.    David Gershanowitz
4.    Chaje  Gershanowitz
5.    Ida Gershanowitz

Harrry is my grandfather.  He immigrated in 1907.  He and Perl Rand had 3 children, Helen, Irving, and Gertrude (Gigi). Gigi is named after her grandmother, Gittl.   I’m Helen’s son.  (Harry also had 2 prior children by his first wife, Esther Rothman.  She died and left him with the 2 children to raise.)

Meyer as you already know had 4 children.  He arrived with his sister, Chaje, also in 1907, and they went to his brother, David Gershanowitz, already here at Metropolitan Ave.  You also know that on the ship manifest he gives his mother’s name as Gittl, back home.

David is the mystery brother.  Just tonight (12/11) I called Gigi in Fla.  She said David had a candy store in Brownsville, and that he had 2 children, Irene and Lou.  Irene lived in N.Y. and went into the hat business.  The family saw her.  David moved to the Washington area sometime after the war.  I can find no trace of him.

Chaje Gershanowitz.  She married Louis Pearlman.  They had several children.

Ida Gershanowitz married Max Friedman.  He was in the umbrella business.  They had 3 children, Gilbert, Irving, and Sam.

Below are the graves at Mt. Judah  You can see that the dates may vary a little from the ones you have.  On Toby’s stone the translation of the first line is:  “Here lies Tova, daughter of Yitchok.”  Similarly on the other it says: “Israel Meyer, son of Yitchok Moshe”

Would it be O.K. if I showed the wedding picture of Meyer to my  aunt, since she remembers them?  By the way, she could remember no one from Toby’s (Toba’s) side.

He also looks very much like my grandfather.  Take a look below:

Harry Gershanowitz sometime between 1907 and 1914

Attached to this in my mother’s handwriting is: “Max Gershanowitz, papa’s brother”

FYI: My mother Helen married Bernard Mirsky.  Two children, Jay and Howard.  Each have 2 girls.

RE: Family story, found here.  Yes, I saw that.  I know that story, too.  Meyer took custody of the children, a boy and a girl, my aunt remembered.  He already had 4 children and couldn’t keep them.  They went to David Gershanowitz’s son, Lou (my aunt isn’t 100% sure of the name).  There, as your aunt remembered, too, they couldn’t fit in and were lost to the family.  This probably occurred in the Washington / VA area, since that’s where David’s son, Lou had lived since the war.

Best regards,  Howard

Thanks to “Cousin” Moshe in Israel, we now know cousins Hannah and Ava’s G-G-G-G-Grandparents !

Leibus Werber (b 1770) + Faiga ..Abram Werber + Gitla Rybak ….Chaim-Wolf Werber + Perele Lehrer ……Goitel Werber + Herszek Blusztajn ……..Murry Blustein + Evelyn Semmel ……….Daniel Blustein + Melanie Chan …………Hannah & Ava

Based on addresses from old family post cards, this is where Marcus Metzger and Chana Laufer lived with their family c. 1910-20.

The building is located near the corner of Rokitnianska Street, directly [...]]]> My friend in Poland, Lukasz Biedka, was kind enough to send me a photo of 25 Czarniekiego Street in Przemysl.

Based on addresses from old family post cards, this is where Marcus Metzger and Chana Laufer lived with their family c. 1910-20.

The building is located near the corner of Rokitnianska Street, directly across from the main train station, was owned by a Mozes Teitelbaum.  It was in the center of what would become the Przemysl Nazi ghetto, just a few steps away from the notorious prison where 1,200 Jewish men, women and children were shot dead on September 9, 1943.

By then, only Izac (Edward) Metzger, wife Laia, and their four children remained in Przemysl. While Izac went to war, fighting with the Red Arm, his family was murdered, perhaps only steps from their front door.

After the war, Izac returned to Przemysl and re-married Aniela Binczak who was a neighbor. Aneila’s story is here.

They were my great-grandparents great grand parents!

Krakowiec or Krakovets (Ukrainian: Краковець)  is a new town for the SFF.  It is NE of Przemysl, just across the current-day Ukraine border.  Map here.

The JewishGen town site.