Semmel Family History

By Evelyn (Semmel) Blustein

The Semmel family lived in Neustadt, Poland (Nowy Korczyn) before coming to America.  Before that, they may have lived in Rakov (Rakow), a tiny shtetl of 200 people. Nothing is known of the family prior to the marriage of Rose Feiner Friedenberg and Israel David Semmel.  Since their first child was born in 1892, this marriage probably took place in 1890 or 1891.

Israel David Semmel, a dairyman and mayor of the town, died in 1900 in Poland. His date of birth is unknown.  He married Rose after his wife died leaving him with several children.  The names and sexes of these offspring are not known, but, according to Morris Semmel, they left for America long before their father died.  They were said to have come from Lodz. They settled in Texas where they were known as Samuels and the family lost touch with them.

Rose Feiner had been married to Saul Friedenberg.  At least two offspring resulted from this union and Saul apparently died when they were still young.  Joseph and his sister   Hannah came to the United States.  Joseph married his first cousin, Annie Feiner, a niece of his mother, Rose.  Joe, as he was known, was always very close to his step-brothers and sisters and, along with Annie, took on the role of the head of the family.

After the death of her first husband, Rose Feiner Friedenberg married Israel David Semmel.  They had six children together: Max, Helen, Morris, Milton, Miriam and Bertha. When their youngest child was one year old, Israel David died, leaving Rose with a large family of young children and little means of support.  The children were apprenticed at early ages and were unable to attend school in Poland.   Rose emigrated to the United States and lived with Joseph and Annie Friedenberg in Port Chester, N.Y. for most of her life except for a brief period when she lived in Chicago, IL with her eldest daughter, Helen Semmel Rubenstein (Ruby), her husband, Arthur and their son David.  When the Rubensteins moved to Los Angeles, Cal., Rose returned to Port Chester where she remained until her death in 1934.  She was killed by an automobile while crossing the street on her way to a lecture.

All the Semmel children came to the United States.  Records from the Ellis Island Passenger Lists show that Morris, listed as Mordche Zemel, came from Neustadt, Russia (now Nowy Korczyn, Poland) on 25 July 1910 at age 17 years. *  The record also shows that Josef (Joseph) Friedenberg arrived from Neustadt, Russia on 29 May 1906 at the age of 22 (with Anne Feiner).  The ship’s manifest shows that Joseph, whose address was 14 Marathon Place**, Port Chester, New York met Morris and was the person responsible for him in the U.S.A.  Morris was in possession of $10 upon arrival.  Attempts to obtain records of the other Semmel arrivals at Ellis Island have proven futile.

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* The discrepancy in Morris’ year of birth is explained by the fact that he came alone. At that time, one had to be 17 years old to do so.  Therefore, his true age was not given when he boarded the ship, the Finland, in Antwerp, Belgium. He possessed no birth certificate as was common for Jews in Poland then.

** The actual manifest has him going to 180 North Main St. in P.C.The North Main Street address was a tailor shop, the residence prior to Marathon Place