Goldfoot Genealogy

 Nadene Goldfoot   

below: Zlata Jermulowski/e 

Under 5' tall                                                         Almost 6'tall

After the 1917  Russian Revolution when my ancestors, Nathan Abraham Goldfus/foot and his wife, Zlata Jermulowski/y,  were already here, the Communists took a new census and destroyed the 1897 census that was so complete and loaded with information.  Many copies stored in local or regional archives have been lost because of war, fire, flood and other disasters.  

Portions of the original returns still exist in the archives in Vilnius, Lithuania, Riga, Latvia, Grodno, Belarus, and archives in the Ukraine, some places and Russia and possibly elsewhere, at least since 2002.

Nathan Goldfus/foot came from the Telsiai (Telz) District as far as I know, most likely born there.  On this 1897 Ccnsus of the Russian Empire for selected districts in Lithuania, I see that the total population was 183,351.  Out of that, 22,695 were Jews, which was 12% of the population.  More Jews came from the Kovna (a city in the Kovno District) with a total population of 227,431 and in which 45,353 were Jews.  That made up 20% of their population.  In 1870 Telez had 6,481 residents, including 4,399 Jews which was 68% of the population.  Grandfather Nathan A. Goldfus was born January 1, 1871.  His father, Movshe, died in 1878 when he was only 7 years old.  

The Jewish numbers in Telsiai had gone up.   In 1797, only 2,500 people lived in there.  Out of that number, 1,650 were Jews which was 66% of the population. The % of Jews remained pretty much the same, the majority being Jewish.  At this time it was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom, when the 3rd division of Poland by the 3 superpowers of those times, Russia, Prussia and Austria, caused Lithuania to become partly Russian and partly Prussian.  Telz was in the Czarist Russian ruled area, 1st from 1802 as part of the Vilna Province (Gubernia) as a district administrative center and from 1843 as part of the Kovno Province.  Kovno Governorate or Governorate of Kaunas was a governorate (guberniya) of the Russian ... and Northwestern Krai. The governorate included almost the entire Lithuanian region of Samogitia and the northern part of Aukštaitija.     

Jews there suffered from the " BLOOD LIBALS" one in 1758 and the 2nd in 1827.  In both cases, the so called "accused" were released by the court, but as a result, the Jewish population suffered through a period of fear.

There were also plots by estate owners who saw the Jews as competitors in producing and selling alcohol.  I believe that my grandfather, Nathan Goldfus's father was Movsha ben Josel Goldfus (b: 1836-d: 1878 in Telsiai).  That's because my father was Moshe Goldfoot, probably named for him. Movsha died at age 42.  Strangely, Nathan died at 41. Our Morrie died at 59, a great improvement.   

 Great grandfather, Movsha was a DISTILLER.  The distiller mixes yeast, water, and sugar (or a sugar-containing grain) in a fermenter, aka a mash tun. After three to seven days of voracious fermenting, the yeast has consumed most of the sugar, turning the mash into a wash (10 or 12 percent alcohol by volume). A pump moves the wash into the pot of the still.  Craft distillers have a great job.  And sure, they do oversee the production of a beautiful liquid that makes many people very happy. But there’s a daunting degree of unceremonious routine required to fill every bottle. So if you’re thinking of cashing it all in pursuit of your life goal as whiskey maker, consider what goes into each day on the job. Think this is some magical, carefree existence? Dream on.  Jews, of all the people on earth, have a very low % of alcoholics, or rather, have had, since we use wine in our religious beliefs, and not for fun, except on Purim, when we are allowed to get drunk if need be.  Today, people are changing.  I hope we're not in this case.  

In 1825, the nobles asked the Tsar to expel the Jews because they.....spread diseases....and threaten to rob and to steal...  Duh, Jews usually in every case of epidemics or contagious diseases were least likely to catch it because of their law of Kashrut which includes cleanliness.  That made them the targets of spreading the disease, because they didn't catch it.  

In 1879, Jewish women established a vocational school for girls and nearby a boarding school for girls from oor homes.  Feige Lurie was head who donated money for maintenance.  Poor children studied at the "Talmud-Torah" schools and others at institutions of the "Kheder" type, where they learned reading and writing. and bible with "Rashi" commentaries and "Gemaera" (Talmuid).  Grandfather Nathan, at age 8 but whose father was dead, would have started maybe at the age of 5 and was learning reading and writing and a little Bible.  My father remembered sitting on his lap and he had a beard then.                                      

Charlie on left, Moshe (Morris) on right

   Nathan, dying in 1912 in an accident, left my father at age 4 without a father.  His brother, Charlie, was only 6.  It's good that Zlata had a brother living nearby for emotional support.  She had many half-siblings.  Bessie and Jenny were still living in Council, Idaho with their husbands.  Louis and wife Dinah and Lilly and husband Frank might have also been in Portland or Council.  Charles could have been in LaGrande along with sister Alice.

Reference:

Avotaynu, Volume XVIII, #3.Fall 2002

https://www.jewish-heritage-lithuania.org/

Preserving Our Litvak Heritage-a history of 31 Jewish Communities in Lithuania

Distiller's tools: https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk02JoupGrnNgP0-ErszV8c0InxgTVg:1611096127266&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=distiller&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwip-_TiiKnuAhUyHzQIHY-pD4EQ7Al6BAgmEF4&biw=1863&bih=901 pictures

Labels: census, distiller, Goldfus, Jewish, Lithuania, Nathan, Telsiai, Telz

# posted by Nadene Goldfoot @ 4:12 PM 0 comments

Nadene Goldfoot                                                             

Nathan Abraham Goldfus (Goldfoot)

Nathan was born in Telsiai, Lithuania on January 1, 1871 and emigrated to England, then Dublin,  Ireland and finally landed in Council, Idaho after taking a ship from Ireland to Quebec, Canada.  In Council he met Zlata "Hattie" Jermulowske born January 11, 1886 in Lazdijai, Suwalki, Lithuania, which became part of Poland,  and they married on November 20, 1905.  Then they moved to Portland, Oregon with baby Charlie in 1906.  He died July 19, 1912 .  Nathan had a horse and wagon given to him by a helpful Jewish society.  He delivered goods in this wagon from the Willamette River to SE Portland.  One day the horse was spooked and ran, tipping over and Nathan hit his head and was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital.  It was the old one, not the new one that his great grandson, Steve Henwood has worked in as a nurse.  He died, not waking up, on a Friday, July 19, 1912.  In the meantime, his wife Zlata, 5 months pregnant, was most upset as she didn't know what had happened.  He hadn't come home for Shabbas and she was besides herself.  Finally, after he had passed away, his friend came and told her, and she was so upset, of course!  She cursed the man for not coming to her on Friday to tell her, and he died 2 years later.  Baby Ann was then born on November 11, 1912.  Nathan hadn't trusted banks, but hid his money, he told Zlata, in the horse shed.  She searched and searched but never did find it.
                                                                                           

Outgoing, full of heck, great dresser Uncle Charlie

Charlie on left, Moshe (Morris) on right

Their first son, Charles, was born there September 22, 1906.  He and his brother, Maurice, attended Failing Grade School in South Portland, which was near the Neighborhood House and the Gulch where Zlata raised goats for a while.  Then she worked plucking chickens.  Uncle Charles married Helen Hochfeld on July 11, 1929 in Portland, Oregon. Her folks had a big department store.    They moved to Grand Coulee, Washington in 1939  where Charlie had a clothing store and was a volunteer with their fire department.  Charlie died on December 17, 1949.  My dad, Maurice, drove up there to attend the funeral and brought back my cousin, Nate Goldfoot who lived with us for a while.  I remember my dad got us a 40 Plymouth and Nate drove us to school where he dropped me off at Washington High and he continued on to Benson High just beyond it.                     

                                                                                                                               

Aunt Elsie Eichman holding me

Nate, myself and Uncle Charlie

       

Morris Goldfoot AKA Billy Meshke

                                     

Charlie Goldfoot with son Nathan

Maurice, Mildred, Nada and David (b:1942) if David's 3, I'm 11; possible-or David 5 and I'm 13.

Maurice at the coast.

           

Me and my Dad, Maurice

                                                                             

Me and my Dad Morrie

Moses (Morris--Maurice Goldfoot was born in Portland on July 1, 1908.  He remembered sitting on his dad's lap who had a beard.  He loved playing on the baseball team at Commerce High but wasn't able to finish and graduate as he felt he needed to go to work to help support his mom and his 3 other siblings.  His parents had had a 3rd son born, Abraham,  in August of 1909,   who died when an infant in his parents' feather bed.  Since then 2 daughters were born; Elsie and Ann, the baby Anne born after their father's death 4 months later.  .Morrie met my mother, Mildred Elizabeth Robinson in South Portland where he worked in a butcher shop.  She was living with a Jewish family, the Gurions,  as their nanny.  She would walk by the butcher shop with her charges and he noticed her, talked and they dated.  They married on April 29, 1932.  I was born in 1934, 6 months after Charles and Helen's son, Nathan Bernard.
Eight years later, my brother, David  Goldfoot was born.                                

Nada, Don at Zoo

                                                                         

Zlata (Bobbie) with Moshe and me.

Aunt Elsie with her black hair took after her mother's coloring.

Elsie was born on March 10, 1911.  I remember that she worked in Mosler's Bakery, and so did Anne, her little sister.  The girls were able to finish high school.  Elsie worked with Al (Albert) Eichman at the bakery, and they married on February 3, 1934.  Don was born in November of 1937.
                                                   

Anne, Zlata and Harriett, her first child

                         

Married in South Portland in Neveh Zedek Synagogue by Rabbi Kleinman.

Anne Naomi Goldfoot was born November 11, 1912, after her father had died in the horse and wagon accident.  She met Werner Oster through my dad, Meshke since their uncle Max  had sponsored him, a German Jewish refugee, and got him a job with my father's new business of Lincoln Wholesale Meats across the street from the Lincoln Theater in South Portland.  Werner's parents had had a sausage market in Germany.  Werner got out of Germany in May of 1939 and went to New York first.  I have in my records that they married September 1, 1939.  I remember being the flower girl in their wedding.  We have the movie reel of the wedding.                           

David, Charlotte, Dianne, 2 neighbors, Joan Padrow, Pat Schumacher, Pat Gustin, Donald Hart, Nadene for David's birthday?

                 

Maurice holding David, Uncle Kennie Robinson holding Charlotte, and Werner holding Darlene in our back yard.  I'm about 10, sitting on the grass. Standing is Dianne Robinson, Harriet Oster and Donnie Eichman, all my cousins and brother.  Taken before 1946 when Kenneth Robinson was born.  Charlotte was born in 1942, so it must have been in 1944. Gee, it was cool that we all got together with our fathers like this. Cousins galore from Mom's side and Dad's side.   On the left is Rabbi Abraham Goldberg born in England who lived in Israel.  He was the man who helped to steer me to Telsiai, Lithuania to find our Goldfus/Goldfoot line.  He was slaughtered in a synagogue in Israel by terrorists.  It was after that when I was notified of his death that I had found out he was a rabbi.  He's connected to Stanley Goldfoot's line.

Labels: Abraham, Anne, Charles, Elsie, Goldfoot Family, Maurice, Nathan, Zlata

# posted by Nadene Goldfoot @ 10:24 PM 0 comments