Sunday, May 16, 2010
Pale of Russia-Map Goldfoot and Jermulowske Families
Our Goldfoot family came from "Russia" according to our 1910 Federal census, but "Russia" could have referred to many places. I'm betting the area our Nathan came from was Lithuania. His wife, Hattie Jermulowske said she was from Suwalki, which was a large area next to a once a part of Lithuania, though on the census she and her siblings wrote "Poland".
The map above is of the Pale of Russia in 1900. In 1880 80% of our Jewish ancestors lived in the Pale. The Russians didn't want Jews to be in old Russia. We were confined to the Pale, which was a territory as large as California, Oregon, Washington and New York. We made up only 11% of the population in the Pale. The rest were simply Russians, probably Catholic by religion or what they called Russian Orthodox.
In 1827 the Russians had a draft of Jewish boys and took 70,000 Jewish boys from the ages of 11 to 18 into this draft. At the age of 18 they then had to put in the next 40 years in the army and could not raise above private unless they converted. Then they could become a sergeant. Usually in a war they were also put out on the front lines.
Reference & Map: Hal Bookbinder from UCLA-lecturer at our JGSO brunch yearly meeting.
