Markel/Merkel Family Synopsis
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Markel/Merkel Family Synopsis Emanuel Markel was born Shmerel MERKEL in Keidan, Russia (now Kedainiai, Lithuania) in 1858. Emanuel’s father was Moysha Geshel (Moishe Heschel), a wealthy merchant, and chief contractor to the Polish Count Totleben. (See attached article about Keidan.) Moishe was born in 1835, the only child of Shmerel and Reize. (Emanuel was named after his grandfather.) The family goes back to at least the early 1700’s in Keidan. (The Merkels may have emigrated from Germany to Keidan in the 1600’s.) Emanuel’s mother, Nechama Gittel , (Gitel) was born in 1830 and died in 1894 of Lymph Sarcoma. Her grave is still standing in Kedainiai. 10/9/1894 Kedainiai Kedainiai 21 Elul 2290295 Kovno [Kaunas] 3 MERKEL, Gitel Kaunas 1894 60 926 Wife of merchant LVIA/1226/1/1826 Movsha MERKEL Kaunas F25 Lymph sarcoma Gitel had numerous children, (possibly 13). Many of which died young. Emanuel was the 2nd oldest child, behind Rocha (Rachel Marshall), mother to David A. Marshall. (More information to follow.) Census records are from 1874, but there were at least three more after that year. Page Town Age Publication Reason This Type Given Left Registration Uyezd Surname Father Relationship Comments Date Name Age Archive / Year Former Guberniya Last Fond etc Registration Kedainiai 2 599 Family List Movsha Kaunas MERKEL Chana Daughter KRA/I- Geshel Kaunas 1874 61/1/1626a 12 Movsha MERKEL Chaya Daughter Geshel 7 David Movsha MERKEL Son Abram Geshel 5 Geshel Movsha MERKEL Son Mikhel Geshel 40 MERKEL Gitel Wife 9 Movsha MERKEL Leah Daughter Geshel 39 Movsha Shmerel Head of MERKEL Geshel Aron Household 24 3 Movsha MERKEL Reyza Daughter Geshel 16 Movsha MERKEL Rocha Daughter Geshel 15 Movsha MERKEL Shmerel Son Geshel In November 1886, Emanuel married Khaia Varshavchik (Chaia Warsaw) daughter of Fajvush (Phillip) and Etta Varshavchik, from nearby Kaunas. (Phillip and Ethel Markel were named for their grandparents; and Helaine was named for Chaia.) Place Recorde Groom d Marriage Place Father Town/ /Uyezd / Guberniy Mother Groo Rabbi Year Microfilm # / Item a Groom Name Place m Age Comment Recorde # Witness 1 s d Image # Marriage Date Bride Name Bride Bride Archive / Fond (DD/MM/CCYY) Father Age Witness 2 Record Hebrew Date Mother Type Place Record # Movsha Kaunas Kaunas Kaunas Kedainiai MERKEL, Shmerel 30 1886 2290545 / 1 Kaunas Girsh BERKLEIN 124 VARSHAVCHIK, Khaia 26 marriage LVIA/1226/1/1869 18/11/1886 Faivush Khaim Akiva RYZNIK 3 Kislev 5647 72 Kaunas Shortly after their marriage, Emanuel and Chaia moved to Lodz, where they began to raise a family. Birth records in Lodz suggest that Ethel (Jenta Kraia- silent J) was born in 1889, followed by David, who died as an infant. In 1890, Fiona (Florence) was born. Last updated May 2008 Surname Givenname Year Type Akt Father Fathersurn Mother Mothersurn Town Comments MERKEL Jenta Krajna 1889 B 15 MERKEL Dawid 1890 B 16 MERKEL Dawid 1891 D 170 Chaia’s older sister Sophia Varshavchik also came to Lodz with her husband, Oscar Smolian. (Emanuel and Oscar may have tried to start a business in Lodz, together.) Oscar and Sophia also raised children in Lodz. Surname Givenname Year Type Akt Father Fathersurn Mother Mothersurn Town Comments SZMULIIAN Enta 1881 B 232 SZMULIIAN Chana 1881 B 233 SZMULIIAN Jechezkel ? 1889 B 568 SZMULAN Pinkus 1890 B 334 SZMULAN Berta 1890 B 335 SZMULAN Isaj 1899 B 46 In the early 1890’s, both families immigrated to America. In July, 1891, Emanuel came to New York on the SS.Saale, from Bremen.. Chaia followed with Ethel and Florence, in 1894. The Smolian’s also came to the U.S., at the turn of the century; first to New York City and then moved to Mount Vernon, NY. Once Chaia and her daughters, arrived in America, the family settled in Somerville, MA. Emanuel worked as dry goods peddler. They had two additional children in Somerville; Frances in 1899 and Philip in 1902. Tragedy struck the family in 1908, when Chaia died. Shortly, thereafter, Emanuel moved the family to Mount Vernon where they could be near the Smolians. Emanuel became a “flour merchant.” Ethel taught music and helped raise the family. Around the same time, other Merkel siblingss came to America. For sure, Emanuel’s older sister Roche Merkel (Rachel Marshall) also settled in Boston. In 1880, Roche had married a divorced man, Eliash Sulamis from Libau, on the Baltic Sea.. (Information that is important in later research.) Kedainiai Kedainiai Faivush Tsemakh VOLPE Kaunas SHULAMIS, Eliash 28 1880 2289448 / 5 Kaunas Libava? / Liubavas? / Libau? Groom is divorced Leizer TAUB 879 MERKEL, Rokhe 22 Marriage LVIA/1226/1/1608 30/5/1880 Movsha Movsha FELMAN 2 Tammuz 24 The following year, they had a son, Abraham David Shulamit (David A. Marshall.) in Keidan. Shortly, thereafter, they moved to Libau where they had other children, Samuel and Harry. Two more children, William, and Alice, were born in Boston at the end of the century. Eliash, Faivush Kedainiai Family from Liubavas, Kedainiai 2289447 / 2 9/4/1881 Record entered SHULAMIT, Abram David Rokhe, Movsha Kaunas chronologically 1881 482 22 Nisan according to bris date MERKEL Kaunas (16 Apr.) M27 LVIA\1226\1\1526 It is unclear when the family took on the Marshall name, but early census records in America show that the family immigrated to America around the same time that Chaia came over, (93 or 94), possibly on the same ship; and shortly thereafter, Elash died and the family used the Marshall name. They also ran a creamery called Marshall’s Creamery. David A. Marshall’s naturalization records were a big clue to finding where the family was originated because it mentioned his birth in Keidan, which led to other discoveries about the Merkel’s and Markels. (See Attached.). Emanuel Markel’s will was also enlightening. In addition to his children, he left $50 to Rachel Marshall and Chane Frank in Warsaw. Chana was a younger sister who married Samuel Frank and lived in Warsaw. They did not have children; and she died early in the Nazi occupation. David A. Marshall’s citizenship papers. "The Old Bridge" - a memoir of Keidan Page 1 of 5 Home | Contents | History | Images | Links "A Hole in the Heart" Childhood Years in Keidan, by B. Cassel THE OLD BRIDGE From 1935 until his death in 1941, Boruch Chaim Cassel served as editor of The Keidaner, the monthly bulletin of the Keidaner Association of New York. Besides announcing The bridge across the Neviaszhe River at Keidan meetings and recording the happy and sad events in the lives of the "Dedicated to the friends of my youth, Menashe and Sheyne Brauer " association's members, the small publication often carried memoirs and news about the immigrants' old Under any circumstances, youth is the happiest time in people's home town in Lithuania, lives. Even in poverty and hardship, in an oppressed country without usually in Yiddish. freedom, under a government of persecution, where civil rights are In his last years, B. Cassel subject to the whims of the lowest government official -- even under used this space for several such conditions, youth is the brightest time in life, beaming out from short pieces about his the past and illuminating the present. youth in Keidan. This one was published in three Relatively speaking, the period of my youth wasn't part of Tsarist parts in the bulletins of Russia's darkest days. On the contrary, the Jews in Keidan, as in all of August, September and October, 1940. It was Russia, lived more or less calmly, routinely -- one day so like the next translated in 1994 by that it was a major event when a new governor was chosen in Kovno, A.Cassel. and he would come to visit Keidan. The town would go into a tizzy, preparing for his visit several weeks in advance, and for weeks More about Boruch Chaim thereafter people would talk about how he received the town's leaders Cassel and what he said to them. Or when the commander of the Fifth Battery, Colonel Lentz, shot himself, the town was filled with speculation about why he did it. Everyone was quite certain he knew the cause, even how much money, to the kopeck, was missing from the battery's strong box. Or else they found somebody drowned in the Neviaszhe, and they'd have to perform an autopsy with a whole crowd, mainly us young people, standing on the opposite riverbank making sure everything was done properly. http://home.comcast.net/~acassel/keidan/oldbridge.html 8/31/2009 "The Old Bridge" - a memoir of Keidan Page 2 of 5 These kinds of things were the big events that would from time to time -- although very seldom -- shake up the calm pace of life for the population of Keidan. And as I compare the awful conditions that the Jews live under now in Keidan with the period of my childhood; as my mind drifts back to those times and I try mentally to relive those years, my past becomes so bright for me and my recollection so sweet that I am happy while again reliving my dear childhood years. * A Saturday night in Tamuz [June-July]. After a hot day the evening has cooled things off a little, and with the new moon in a clear sky, the whole city is outdoors. The bridge is packed with strollers, mostly young people. Girls go with girls, and boys with boys. They walk in More Memoirs and pairs, in groups of three, four or more in a row, usually of the same Stories age. The line of boys follows after a line of girls, making jokes at their "The Old Bridge" expense, but the girls give as good as they get, laughing and throwing "Summer Swimming" wisecracks of their own back in the boys' direction.