The Holzmans

The Holzman family surname comes into my family through my sister in law. The Holzman family origins go back to the city that is now Sokal, Ukraine. An article on the website http://www.JewishGen.org states that:

” Sokal was the city of the Holy Jewish Rabbi Shmuel Rokeach and son Shulem.”

Before the Holocaust, it was a city of 6000 Jewish residents. of whom only 30 survived.  Because it is so painful to see the decimation of the Jewish communities in Poland and throughout Europe that occurred during WWII, many have little interest in exploring their roots in this region.  I spoke to a man who runs a Judaica store in my area, and he said that for him, he views Israel as his ancestral home, not Poland where his relatives are more recently from.  So, depending on one’s views on this and one’s capacity to cope with the utter destruction and devastation of the Holocaust or Shoah, for Jewish people and their families, searching for their ancestral roots in Europe or the Pale of Settlement in Russian lands may not be of interest.
However, for those who are interested in this pursuit, it can be rewarding, and many have traveled to sites of former Jewish Communities in Poland and throughout Europe and been touched by the experience.  Some have posted stories about their travels — and there is even one story, which became the book entitled Three Minutes in Poland, about a man who found an old 3 minute film, which led to a whole discovery about his family’s Jewish community in Nasielsk, Poland, just before the war.

I found much information on the ancestors of my Holzman family members here:
http://www.jri-poland.org/jriplweb.htm

The Holzman family lived most recently in Simi Valley CA. Grandfather Jules or Julius Holzman was born in New York City in 1914.  A 1930 Census shows him as the son of Abraham and Sophie Holzman , and having two siblings, Minnie and William .  In the same household are living Leon Holzman and his daughter Celia.  Initially I read the record wrong and assumed Leon was the father of Julius, but it’s actually Abraham who is Julius’ father. A personal conversation on Aug 28 2017, with Stanley Kolber, son of Ceil Holzman and Harry Kolber, grandson of  Leon Holzman, helped clarify — Stanley said that Abraham and Israel Holzman were the brothers of Leon Holzman and that all of them and their wives and children lived in one big extended family household in Brooklyn in the 1940’s and 1950’s.  Stanley recalled this time fondly and said it was a special time in his life — and recalled the exact address — 299 Saratoga Avenue, “above a meat store.”  This is the address shown on Sophie Holzman’s naturalization document (she was born Sophie Edelowitz or Idolovice, —I only found her surname through a death record for her daughter Minnie Holzman Hellman)

So what can be found about Abraham Holzman and Sophie Edelowitz?

Since I first mistakenly assumed that Leon was the father of Julius Holzman, I looked back for information on Leon’s origins, so that research follows here.

First a note about a search for Abraham Holzman records.   Stanley said that Abraham was Leon’s brother, along with Israel, but though I do find a brother Israel born to the same parents of Leon (born with the Yiddish name Lieser) in Sokal, Poland (now Ukraine) , I do not find a birth record for Abraham as Lieser/Leon’s brother.   Is it possible Abraham was a cousin of Leon’s rather than a brother?   And lived in another town?   The only Abraham Holzmans I find born in that region of Poland in that time frame (the Lviv township or Lwów Wojewodztwo as it is termed, were born quite far away from Leon’s family.  Leon and his parents and siblings lived in Sokal.  But the other Abraham Holzman birth records I find, are of one Abraham Holzman born to Fischel Holzman and Neche Holzman in Sambor, Poland on October 12 1887, and one Moses Abraham Holzman born to Salomon Hersch Holzman and Feige Spinner on March 9 1883 in Boryslaw, Poland.  Both those cities are somewhat far….Sambor is about 160km from Sokal, and Borylaw about 190km.
Leon was a machinist, and a talented one, recalls Stanley — he believes Leon went to special training for this career.  A 1910 census shows Leon Holzman living in Rzeszow, Poland — also about 122km from Sokal, so it seems he might have had his apprenticeship there. Other than this, would he have traveled and known a cousin Abraham? I don’t know, but the birth/marriage and death records for Poland are not complete, so it’s possible a birth record for Abraham is missing.  Thus for the time being I will assume that Stanley is correct (he lived with and grew up with these family members after all) and that Abraham is Leon’s brother.

A 1915 NY state Census shows these people living together:

 

Name	Age
Abraham Holzman	29
Sophie Holzman	26
Minnie Holzman	3
Juluis Holzman	1
Abraham Folomon	33

The 1930 Census shows these family members living at 2110 Atlantic AVenue:

 

Abraham Halzman	47
Sophia Halzman	40
Minnie Halzman	18
Juluis Holzman	16
William Holzman	10
Leon Holzman	42
Celia Holzman	17

A 1940 Federal census for New York shows these people living at 90 Atlantic Ave NYC:

Name	Age
Abraham Holzman	53
Sophie Holzman	49
William Holzman	19
Minnie Hellman	27
Benjamin Hellman	29
Lawrence Hellman	2
Leon Holzman	50

A census record indicates that Celia was born in Austria — which would have been Poland.  , which suggests that the father Leon Holzman immigrated from Austria after Celia’s birth in 1913.  The census states that Julius’ father was born in Austria, and his mother in Romania.

A 1940 Census shows Jules Holzman married, living with his wife Pearl Holzman in Queens NY.

Leon had submitted a petition for naturalization:

Leon was born in May 1887 in Galicia, Austria…which was actually Galicia, Poland.  This article  describes the region.  Indeed his arrival date, 27 November 1913, does fit with his daughter Celia being born in Europe and Julius being born in the USA.  It’s stated on his petition that he is a widower, his wife Sarah having died.
A 1940 Census shows another Leon Holzman, age 52, living in a rooming house at East 205th Street with many others — he’s working as a musician and is recorded as being married.  So there is at least one other Leon Holzman in NYC at this time, born around the same year.  

However, we can tell that isn’t the correct Leon HOlzman by his work– the grandfather of Stanley was not a musician but a machinist.  The record below shows the correct one, as he’s stated as having been born in Poland (instead of Russia) and he is living with the others in the family.    He is working as a machinist. 

I found another family tree online, on Ancestry, where someone has Leon Holzman in their tree, but they have the wrong birth year.  I think they are confusing these two Leon Holzmans in New York City.  Theirs they show born in 1890 (ours is definitely born May 18 1887  — stated in his documents and fits the census reports) and theirs they show married to Helen Gerber from Germany.  Our Leon could possibly have married again, but his daughter Celia was the daughter of Sarah in Poland.  This is the profile they have for him which confuses the two Leon Holzmans: 

In 1924 Leon Holzman applied for a passport application and this document has his photo: (Leon’s is the photo in the 2nd document below)

On the passport application, dated Nov 29 1924, Leon’s father is stated as being Jonas Holzman.  Leon states his birth place as Sokal, Austria — this would be Sokal, Poland — until it was annexed by the Habsburg Empire and thus became part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire.
Leon’s co-signer on the application was friend Moses Bard, a tailor living at  97 East 3rd Street, New York NY.
 Photo of Leon Holzman.

this is an obituary listed in a NY paper:

Ceil Kolber would have been his daughter Celia. She must have married a man with surname Kolber.  This 1940 Census indicates she married Harry Kolber and had two children at the time, Stanley Kolber 4 yo and Benjamin Kolber just 1 month old.

Celia Holzman was born in Galicia Poland.  Father Leon’s petition for naturalization states her birth date is jan 10 1911. But US 1940 Census records suggest her birth year around 1914.  She remained in Galicia with mother Sarah while her father Leon went to the US in 1913.  While he was in the US, Sarah died in 1918 in Galicia.  Leon went back to fetch Celia and brought her to the US after he received naturalization in 1924.  She arrived with him in the US aboard the ship Berengia sailing from Cherbourg France, arriving in the US on Feb 24 1925.

The Alien Passenger manifest from the ship Berengia shows Celia arriving in the US at age 12. She is noted as being a “scholar” on the ship document.  It’s stated that the person she lived with in her home town of Sokol was Nathan Brule.  

I find a Nathan Bruh married to Cirel Han also in Sokol area.  Could Cirel Han have been related to Leon’s mother Pesche Han? She is also born in Uhnow like Pesche.  This is a birth record of a child Ronie Rikel born to Nathan Bruh and Cirel Han in December 22 1898.  

but then, of even greater interest — there is a birth record showing they had a child Sara in 1890>

I believe this Sara is the same Sara who was the wife of Leon Holzman.  There are several clues pointing to this.

First the year of birth 1890 is one digit off from the 1899 shown in Leon’s passport application.  Secondly there is a notation beside her birth record, faint and in the margin, with the date 24/1 1917, or January 1 1917.  I believe this is the date of her death, as  I have previously seen death dates noted in the birth record.  Finally it makes sense that after Celia’s mother Sara died, she would live with her grandfather Nathan.
In 1940, Celia lived at 2110 Atlantic Avenue in Brownsville Kings NY with husband Harry and 2 sons.  

Can any info be found about Leon’s father, Jonas, born in Poland and still living there?

There are some websites which may provide information.  One is this site, Gesher Galicia, which has information about Jewish families in this region.  Another is this site, which is cataloguing information about Jewish families in Poland.  As stated on the Gesher Galicia site:

Gesher Galicia is a non-profit organization carrying out Jewish genealogical and historical research on Galicia, formerly a province of Austria-Hungary and today divided between southeastern Poland and western Ukraine.

This is the area where Leon Holzman was born.
Going to the JewishGen.org site, I look under Holzman and region Lwow province Galicia, and city Sokal, and I find one birth record for a male child Lieser not Leon Holzman, born May 18 1887, to father Jonas Holzman and mother Pesche Han.  This is Leon’s exact birthdate.!!  Was Lieser a version of the name Leon, …maybe Lieser chose to “Americanize” his name as he turned his thoughts to immigrating to the US?
I contacted one of those who organizes the JewishGen site, and he gave me information, stating that in fact, Lieser is a version of the name Leon! So there it is…the birth record for Leon Holzman in Sokal, Poland/Austria, now Ukraine.

There is another record for Israel Holzman born to the same parents in 1889

Leon’s brother Israel immigrated to the US in 1913, records show, and Stanley recalls him living with Leon and Abraham in the apartment they shared in Brooklyn.

Stanley also says that Israel’s wife’s name was Ethel, and they had a daughter Hannah.  This info matches with US Census and other records.  Israel changed his name to Isidore.

US Census records of 1930 and 1940 show Isidore’s family:

Isidore’s wife Ethel petitioned for naturalization and in that document is a lot of info about her and Isidore: 

Ethel entered the US in September 1920,   as Etka Gurman, aboard the Leopoldina, sailing from Le Havre France, with her sister Dora Pick (later spelled Peck) and Dora’s daughter Anna.  At first I thought Ethel’s maiden name ws Pick or Peck, but rather I think this was Dora’s maiden name and Dora was born Gurman also.

Isidore and Leon had a sister Etel Beile Holzman born to the same parents in 1892:

Records show that Etel moved to Krakow Poland and married Solomon Goldstein, and worked as a hairdresser.  A record of Shoah or Holocaust victims in that area indicates she was a Holocaust victim in Krakow.

Also an Osias Moses Holzman born to  the same parents as Leon in 1883:

However, Osias Moses died 3 years later in 1886.      

There is also a record for a birth of Josef Hersch Holzman to Pesche Han (oddly the father’s name does not appear in the record, leading me to wonder if the father was a different man) but he also died a few years later as a young child.

A recent record addition shows a Leon Holzmann, born in 1887,  in a 1910 Census of the city Rzeszow,  living at 2 Lwowska Street, unit 400, born in Sokolow, and this suggests he was single at the time.  He may have been in Rzeszow to receive training as a machinist. 

Now one thing I notice here is that the name of his birthplace is given as Sokolow, which seems similar to Sokal, but actually it seems it’s not the same town.  But, I think Sokal is meant here.
Rzeszow is the largest city in southern Poland….

I find no records for a Leon Holzman birth on this website in any other region of Poland during this time.

This is an account and history of the Jewish Community in Sokal, provided by http://www.JewishGen.org.

A list of those Jews from Sokal who died in the Holocaust is here   but I do not see any members of the Moses Jonas Holzman and Pesche Han family.