Isaac Epstein (1884 - 1941)

Isaac Epstein is the husband of Tilly Morris, born Tilly Dik, the sister-in-law of Rachel Levin, my 2x great aunt. Morris family HERE

Parents: Eliyahu

Born: February 1884 in Włocławek, Poland

Hebrew name: Yitzchak son of Eliyahu Yaakov

Migration: It is unknown when he first arrived in England but as I cannot find him in the 1901 census it was probably sometime after that, but before his marriage in 1910. The family moved to Palestine in the mid 1920s and lived there till the mid 1930s but struggled financially and so returned to Liverpool, England

Naturalization

NOTICE is hereby Given, that ISAAC EPSTEIN. of 99 Granby Street, Liverpool 8. is applying to the Home Secretary for NATURALISATION, and that any person who knows any reason why Naturalisation should not be granted should send a written and signed statement of the facts to the Under-Secretary of State, Home Office. S.W. 1. (Liverpool Daily Post, Wednesday, March 30, 1938)

Isaac applied for naturalization and it was granted on 20 February 1939 (London Gazette 7 March 1939, p. 1541). His previous location is given as Palestine. His youngest child, Zahava, was born in Tel Aviv in 1927 so it is probable that the family emigrated to Palestine sometime after 1920 (when his 2nd youngest child, Sarah, was born in Liverpool, England. I don't know when they returned to England

Occupation: Draper and clothier, then a master butcher. According to his great nephew, David Morris, he was very religious. 

Married: Tilly Morris in (January - March) 1910 in Liverpool, England

Children

Their first child was born in 1911 when Isaac was 27 and Tilly 24 years old and their last child was born in 1927 when Isaac was 43 and Tilly 40 years old 

• Baruch Epstein 1911 - 1982
• Leah Epstein 1913 - 1985
• Naphtali Epstein 1914 - 2000
• Esther Epstein 1915 - 2013
• Sarah Epstein 1920 - 2003
• Zahava Epstein 1927 - 2024

Census

1911

In the 1911 census taken on 2 April that year, Tilly and Isaac have been married for one year and are living in a 6 room dwelling at 15 Vine Street, Liverpool, England. Isaac is age 26 and a travelling draper and clothier on his own account and Tilly is a housewife age 24. Living with them is their infant son Baruch who was born on 12 March 1911. Also living there is a boarder, Milly Morris age 21 who is a dressmaker, and a domestic servant, Maggie Graley, age 15

1921

In the 1921 census taken on 19 June 1921, Tilly and Isaac are living in a 6 room dwelling at 48 Erskine Street, Liverpool, England. Isaac is age 37 years and four months and a travelling draper and clothier working from home. His place of birth is given as Wloclawek, Poland.Tilly is a housewife age 35 years and six months and born in Poneviezys, Lithuania. Their children are Boruch age 10 years and four months, Leah age 8 years and 10 months, Naphtali age 7 years and one month, Esther age 6 years and one month, Sarah age 1 year and one month

1939 Register

In 1939 the family are living at 99 Granby Street, Liverpool, England. Isaac is now a master butcher with his own business. Living with Isaac and Tilly are their children Leah and Esther who both work in the family butchery, and Sara. The family had moved to Palestine in the mid-1920s but had returned to Liverpool in the early to mid 1930s due to their poor financial situation. However Naftali remained in Palestine

Directory

1911

In the 1911 directory Isaac is listed as a draper at 15 Vine Street, Liverpool, England

1938

In the 1938 directory Isaac is listed as a butcher at 99 Granby Street, Liverpool, England

Death

1 April 1941 (4 Nissan 5701) in Liverpool, England, age 58. He is buried in the Rice Lane Cemetery there, plot B35:02

Tombstone for Isaac. The Hebrew translation is: "Here is buried / R' Yitzchak son of R' Eliyahu Yaakov / Epstein / Departed 4 Nissan 5701 / May his soul be bound in the bind of the living"

Liverpool Jewish burial record for Isaac

Probate

RE ISAAC EPSTEIN, Deceased.-Will any Persons having Claims against the Estate of ISAAC EPSTEIN deceased late of 99 Granby Street in the City of Liverpool, Butcher, who died on the First day of April 1941 please send particulars thereof to me the undersigned the Solicitor for the proposed Administratrix. Dated this Twenty-seventh day of May 1941.

S. B. LEVIN, Bank Chambers, 3 Cook Street, Liverpool (Liverpool Echo, Wednesday, May 28, 1941). Simon Bernard Levin was the nephew, by marriage, of Isaac's wife Tilly)

EPSTEIN Isaac of 99 Granby-street Liverpool died 1 April 1941 Administration Liverpool 3 July [1941] to Tillie Epstein widow. Effects £772 7s. ld.

ISAAC EPSTEIN. Deceased. Pursuant to the Trustee Act 1925. All persons having Claims against the Estate of ISAAC EPSTEIN deceased late of 99 Granby Street in the City of Liverpool who died on the First day of April 1941 and to whose estate Letters of Administration were granted out of the District Probate Registry at Liverpool on the Third day of July 1941 to Tillie Epstein are required to send particulars thereof in writing to the undersigned on or before the Sixteenth day of October next after which date the Administratrix will proceed to distribute the assets having regard only to the claims of which she shall then have had notice. 

S. B. LEVIN, 3 Cook Street, Liverpool 2. Solicitor for the said Administratrix. (Liverpool Echo, Friday, August 22, 1941). 

Residence

In 1911 Tilly and Isaac and family are living at 15 Vine Street, Liverpool, England. The building no longer exists

In the 1921 census Tilly and Isaac are living at 48 Erskine Street, Liverpool, England. The building no longer exists

From around 1936 until his death the family lived at 99 Granby Street, Liverpool, England

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

Text supplied by George Kroloff

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

Leah Baum (1884 - 1884)

Leah Baum is my maternal great great aunt. Baum family tree Here. Rosenberg family Here.

Parents: Asher Baum and Minnie Rosenberg

Born: (April to June) 1884 in Manchester, England

Death: (July to September) 1884 in Manchester, England as a young infant. No tombstone exists for her