By way of information on the above image, I recently wrote the following to family members:
"Hello, All!
I
have attached a note that Uncle Harry had written down for me some
years ago. According to Harry, our true family name was "Bronfamacher",
and, if I am not mistaken, this is the preferred English spelling. I
had previously heard that the name was "Bronfman", and as I recall,
Harry referred to that as some kind of shortened version, also valid.
The family name means "Whiskey Maker", and I am thinking that perhaps
that is how the family fortune was made, because by all accounts they
were wealthy and educated, a rarity for Jews in Czarist Russia.
As
I recall, Harry indicated that his father, Benjamin, was from Zinkov.
This name may be a shortened version of some longer
Russian name. Harry had tried to locate family members in recent
years. I think that the town may have been destroyed in WWII. There
were no records to search, which I think is common in Russia. I believe
that Benjamin was one of four sons. A younger brother, Max, had
emigrated to the USA, and the other two brothers stayed in Russia.
Their mother moved to the USA, and my Dad recalled going to her
apartment after school. My father always referred to her as a "real
tootsie", and lit up at the thought of her. Benjamin was a big fan of
classical music and Enrico Caruso in particular.
Harry
indicated that Fanny was from Poltava, perhaps from a village called
Primachug, near the Dnieper River. He mentioned once that she was a
cigarette girl there, and ate a halvah sandwich at work every day. The
thought of this made him
weep.
Well, they are all gone. All we can do is hold on to the memories, and perhaps pass along some information and stories.
I hope all is well.
Love to all.
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