Monday, 23 December 2024

Sarah Helfet (1884 - 1939)

Sarah Helfet is the sister-in-law of Sarah Ann Levin, my 2x great aunt. Helfet family HERE

Parents
Jacob Helfet (1849 - 1899) and Leah Cohen (1852 - 1898)

Tombstones for her parents Jacob Helfet and Leah Cohen. They are both buried in the Rice Lane Cemetery, Liverpool, England

Born: 15 December 1884 in Chernuch, Russian Empire, nowadays Chornukhy (Ukrainian: Чорнýхи; Russian: Чернýхи), a rural settlement in Lubny Raion, Poltava Oblast, central Ukraine

Migration: The family came to Liverpool, England in 1892 when Sarah was 8 years old. Sarah then migrated to the USA arriving on 11 February 1903, age 18

Sarah sailing to the USA on the SS Ivernia departing Liverpool on 31 January 1903. She travelled with her sisters Esther and Minnie

Married: Samuel Kroloff in Chicago, USA on 29 January 1905 when Sam was 27 and Sarah 20

Sarah and Samuel on their wedding day, 29 January 1905 in Chicago, USA

Children
Their first child was born in 1905 when Sam was 28 and Sarah 20. Their last child was born in 1915 when Sam was 37 and Sarah 30
  • Archie Kroloff (1905 - 1964) married Florence Kauffman (1907 - 1992) on 13 March 1932
  • Maxwell Nathan Kroloff (1908 - 1959) married Mary Goldstein (1909 - 2004) on 24 December 1933
  • Ina Kroloff (1915 - 2003) married Irving Levich (1918 - 2006) on 3 November 1938

Census details
1901
The younger members of the Helfet family are, following the death of their parents, living at 23 Warren Street, Liverpool, England. Sarah is age 16 and she is living with her siblings; Harry age 20, Esther age 18 and Minnie age 14. Also at the house is her married sister Mary, her husband Nathan Dobrofsky and their infant child Jacob


1910
In 1910 Sarah and her husband Sam are living at 3a West 5th Street, Sioux City, Iowa, USA. Samuel is 29 and a merchant in a retail store, Sarah is 24 and the children are Archie age 9 and Maxwell age 2. Living with them is a servant, Lena Christensen, age 16



1920
In 1920 the family are living at 1826 West 3rd Street, Sioux City, Iowa, USA. Sam is 40 and a proprietor of a grocery store, Sarah is 34 and the children are Archie age 14, Maxwell age 11 and Ina age 4



1925
In 1925 the family are still living at 1826 West 3rd Street, Sioux City, Iowa, USA. Sam is 48, Sarah is 39 and the children are Archie age 19, Maxwell age 17 and Ina age 10. Living with them is a servant, Emma Paczosa, age 16


1930
In 1930 the family are still living at 1826 West 3rd Street, Sioux City, Iowa, USA. Sam is 52 and a manager of a grocery store, Sarah is 43 and the children are Archie age 24, Maxwell age 22 and Ina age 15. Living with them is a servant, Ruth Christenson, age 18


Biographical information
Sarah's brother-in law, Jacob Dobrofsky, wrote a detailed autobiography entitled "This is my Life", which includes information on Sarah and her family and which is available HERE

Death
30 September 1939 in Sioux City, Iowa, USA, age 54. Sarah was buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery in Sioux City, Iowa on 1 October 1939

Tombstone for Sarah Kroloff in the Mount Carmel cemetery, Sioux City, Iowa

Death certificate for Sarah Kroloff. At the time of her death they were living at 1405 West 6th Street, Sioux City, Iowa. The cause of death was pneumonia and hypertension

Obituary
MRS. SARAH KROLOFF

A native of England, Mrs. Sarah Kroloff, 54, 1405 W. Sixth street, died Saturday in a hospital here following a three-week sickness. Born in Liverpool in 1884, Mrs. Kroloff came to Sioux City 37 years ago. She and Sam Kroloff were married in Chicago in 1904. She was a member of the Shaare Zion synagogue.

Besides the widower, Mrs. Kroloff is survived by two sons, Max and Archie, and one daughter. Mrs. Irving Levich, all of Sioux City; five sisters, Mrs. Matt Dobrofsky of Sioux City, Mrs. Jake Dobrofsky of Upland, Cal, Mrs. S. Goldsmith of Venice, Cal, Mrs. H. Hulman of Liverpool and Mrs. J. Cohen of Chicago and two brothers, Harry Helfet of Chicago and Leon Helfet of South Africa.

Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p. m. today at the Shaare Zion synagogue. Rabbi H. R. Rabinowitz will officiate Interment will be in Floyd cemetery. The Rutledge funeral home has charge of arrangements. The Sioux City Journal, Sun, Oct 1, 1939, p. 27

Place of Birth

Sarah Helfet was born in Chernuch, Russian Empire, nowadays Chornukhy (Ukrainian: Чорнýхи; Russian: Чернýхи), Chernich (Yiddish) and Chernuchi (German), a rural settlement in Lubny Raion, Poltava Oblast, central Ukraine.

Chornukhy
The earliest known Jewish community was by the end of the 18th century. In 1900 the Jewish population was 275 and in 1926 it was 366. Chornukhy was occupied by the Germans on September 17, 1941. During that month 132 Jews were shot by local police in the Chornukhy County park. The village was liberated by the Red Army on September 17, 1943. The present town population is 1,000-5,000 with fewer than 10 Jews.

Poltava Region
Jews began to settle in the region during the early 17th century in the process of Jewish participation in the colonization of Ukraine. By 1610 there was a Jewish community in Berezan (to the north of Pereyaslav), and within a few decades about a dozen Jewish communities were established in the districts of *Pereyaslav and Mirgorod, of which the largest were in Pereyaslav and *Lubny. Jews engaged in commerce and the leasing of estates, flour mills, liquor distilleries, breweries, and inns. There was strong competition from Christian towns-men, and during the *Chmielnicki massacres of 1648 these communities were among the first to be destroyed. After the region came under Russian rule Jews were not permitted to live there until the first partition of Poland in 1772. Individual Jewish families, however, settled in various estates under the protection of their owners despite frequent expulsions by the authorities.

After the first partition of Poland in 1772, Jewish settlement on the eastern bank of the river Dnieper was renewed, and by 1792 there were over 700 Jews in the region, most of whom lived on estates or in villages. In 1794 this region, which then formed part of the province of Yekaterinoslav, was incorporated within the *Pale of Settlement. In 1803 there were 82 Jewish merchants and 2,030 Jews classed as townsmen living in the province of Poltava, which was formed in 1802. The community of *Kremenchug was the largest in the district, and developed in particular owing to its position on the Dnieper, the main waterway from Lithuania to the south. It accounted in 1897 for 30% of the Jews in the province. In 1847, 15,572 Jews were counted in the 18 communities of the province (which also included the Jews in the small settlements and their environs). Their numbers increased as a result of a large emigration from Lithuania and Belorussia, and were estimated at 84,000 in 1881. The census of 1897 recorded 111,417 Jews (4% of the total population) in Poltava province (the lowest percentage of Jews in all the provinces of the Pale). The Russian-Ukrainian majority had a strong assimilationist influence on the Jews in the province, who were a minority in all the towns; it was only in Kremenchug that their numbers approached half the population. On the other hand, *Chabad Ḥasidism, which penetrated from the north, was an important spiritual influence (the tomb of *Shneur Zalman of Lyady, the founder of Chabad Ḥasidism, is in *Gadyach in Poltava province).

About one half of the Jews of the province of Poltava earned their livelihood from commerce (in contrast to 38.5% in the whole of Russia), and about 30 percent were engaged in crafts and industry. Commerce was principally conducted in grain and other agricultural produce. Although some Jews owned sawmills, brick-kilns, flour mills, alcohol distilleries, and other enterprises, the overwhelming majority of the workers in them were non-Jews. During the spring of 1881 pogroms occurred in the north of the province of Poltava. In 1905 a wave of pogroms swept across 52 settlements of the province. The most severely affected were Gadyach, Kremenchug, Romny, and Zolotonosha.

During World War I thousands of refugees and Jews expelled from the battle zone arrived in the province of Poltava and found refuge in the Jewish communities. During the Civil War, the communities of the western section of the province suffered especially from pogroms by bands of Ukrainians and the "volunteer army" of A.I. *Denikin. In 1926 there were approximately 93,000 Jews in the five districts (Kremenchug, Lubny, Poltava, Priluki, Romny) of the former territory of the province of Poltava.

Residences

According to the 1920 and 1930 census the family lived at 1826 West 3rd Street, Sioux City, Iowa, USA


On her 1939  death certificate her address was given as 1405 West 6th Street, Sioux City, Iowa