A Tulchin Boy, Who Befriended Presidents, Governors and More!

I've been trying to track Samuel Soupcoff and his family for years.  My grandfather had told me that the Pittsburgh Soupcoffs were related to his Pittsburgh Supkoffs, but he didn't know how.  The Soupcoffs had come to America earlier than my Supkoffs, and I was trying to find the Soupcoff town of origin.  But in most cases, they simply stated "Russia," although one of Samuel's brothers, in his name change application, said that he had been born in Bessarabia--and in other places he stated Germany.  And Samuel's father went back to visit family and said he had been in "Podolian," which would be the Podolia Guberniya where my Supkoff (then Zubkis) family was living.  But I wanted to narrow it down to a specific town to see its proximity to my family.

Because Samuel was famous, I thought that perhaps there would be more recorded about his origins.  But he either claimed he was born in Russia or Pennsylvania.  I looked in many (many) places.  Since he lived in Salt Lake City for much of his adult life, I spoke to local experts at the Family History Library, but they couldn't think of resources beyond those I'd already checked.

• Back in 2015, I wrote this post which shows that Samuel was a world-renowned mining engineer.
• In March 2016, I wrote about how Samuel's passport application had a letter of reference from the governor of Utah and and that his obituary mentioned his being a personal friend of President Hoover.  Samuel's passport application had a scrawled place of birth, and I had thought that perhaps I had identified his place of birth.

Nothing in the US gave his place of birth except for that one passport application, which was pretty much illegible.  It seemed like the Soupcoffs, despite being covered in news stories across America, didn't want their Russian Empire origins to be found.

Well, I found him.  And whatever was scrawled on that passport application was a lie.

Samuel Soupcoff Birth, 1884

The Soupcoff Town of Origin--Kind of--and Major Political Connections

(If you're in the Baltimore area, I'm giving a talk on Sunday at JGSMD.)

Earlier, I wrote about Samuel Soupcoff, a world-renowned mining engineer.  I looked in multiple sources to try to find where this branch of the family lived, only to find either "Russia" or him lying and saying he was born in Pittsburgh.

Recently, FamilySearch added some new passport applications.  So I searched the collection for different families I'm researching and found some very interesting information.

Samuel Soupcoff Passport Application, 1919, Page 1

Samuel Soupcoff, Engineer and World Traveler

I posted earlier about two of Morris and Mollie Soupcoff's children who made national headlines--Anna "Beautiful Jewess" Soupcoff and Jacob "Insurance Fraud, So Change My Name" Soupcoff Lorenz.  Another of their children regularly appeared in newspaper articles--but for much better reasons.  He was a mining engineer who worked on some of the largest projects in the Western United States.

Samuel Soupcoff (from his obituary)

Samuel Magee Soupcoff was born on April 6, 1884 in the Russian Empire.  He came with his family to Pittsburgh when he was about two years old.

In 1903, he was listed as entering the Preparatory School of Allegheny College.  I contacted Allegheny College to see if they had information on him (mostly hoping for a place of birth) and was informed that:

At the time Samuel Soupcoff came to Allegheny's Preparatory School it was September 15, 1903, his address at the time was 1612 Center Ave, Pittsburg, PA, he was 18, and had no church affiliation.  His listed Parent/Guardian was Morris Soupcoff.  He is listed as being here through the Spring Term of 1905, with his fees being mostly $24.50 / term (an extra $2.50 included for Chemistry lab fees).  We have no record of him attending the college proper

He studied in the Colorado School of Mines, graduating with a degree in Mining Engineering in 1910, and then began a career that took him all across the Western US (and into Canada) running various projects.

After graduating, he went to work for a company in Wyoming:

Colorado Mines Magazine, March 1911

Zobati/Zubata to Zoupcoff? A New Trail....

Last month, I wrote a post about the Zoupcoff family, in which the patriarch (Max) had been named as an uncle to my great grandmother's first cousins, the Supcoff brothers.  I mentioned how I hadn't been able to find this branch's ship manifests.  I challenged readers to find them--and took the challenge up myself to look again.  So I guess I win the genealogy points I advertised, since I found them.

Instead of searching under various spellings of Supkoff and Zubkis, I decided to try searching by first names.  From her gravestone, I know that daughter Sophia's Hebrew name was Shifra (the least common of the 3 Zoupcoff children born in Europe).  Looking for matches to the first name S*hifr* which arrived in 1906 (based on the 1910 census) and who were born between 1902 & 1904 (given her 1903 birth year) gave only 23 results.  I looked through each and found one which precisely matched the Zoupcoff family:

Zubata Family Ship Manifest; 1906

Canadian Soupcoffs, Eh? (After a Stop in Pittsburgh)

Yet another branch of the Supkoff-but-spelled-differently family that I'm sure is connected but I don't know how--the Canadian Soupcoffs.

Frank Soupcoff (sometimes Soupkoff and Supkoff) was born about 1882 in "Russia;" his Hebrew name was Efrayim.  His father's name was Moshe based on the inscription on his tombstone; his mother may have been Rebekah (according to an unsourced website).

In 1903, Frank married Rachel Lebovitz; both were then living in Pittsburgh. Here it notes that Frank was born in Austria, although all other sources have him having born in Russia.

Frank & Rachel Soupcoff Marriage License; Pittsburgh, PA; 1903

Dr. Jacob Soupcoff/Lorenz, Insurance Fraud Organizer, Gambling House Proprietor--and Physician

Jacob Soupcoff (later Lorenz), born around 1869, was a son of Morris and Mollie Soupcoff and a sister of "beautiful Jewess" Anna.  He came to America in approximately 1886.  He became a physician--but seems to have a record of getting into legal problems.

Jacob Soupcoff Petition for Naturalization; Pittsburgh, PA; 1894

In 1894, Jacob petitioned to become a US citizen.  But the very next year he made nationwide news for insurance fraud.  Jacob and his co-conspirators would find accidents reported in the local newspaper and then claim that they had been injured in those accidents.

New York Post, May 10, 1895

Anna Soupcoff Lewis King Kehr, the "Beautiful Jewess"

Anna Soupcoff, one of the daughters of Morris and Mollie Soupcoff, made national headlines after she eloped with the son of a millionaire.

In 1900, Anna was an 18-year-old girl living with her family in Pittsburgh.  She had been born in February 1882 in "Russia," arrived in the United States in 1887, and was a "box maker," likely in her father's Keystone Box Company.

1900 United States Census; Pittsburgh, PA; Annie "Soupcof" (line 85)

But 8 years later, Anna left her family and headed west--and made the front page of the New York Press:

The Original Pittsburgh Soupcoffs

The original Supkoffs in Pittsburgh were actually Soupcoffs.  I've found allusions to them being connected to my Supkoff family but no solid connection as of yet; I haven't found anything relating to their specific town of origin.  But this family still left quite the paper trail--and I'll be posting about several of their children separately since several of them merit their own writeup.  The other versions of Supkoffs/Supcoffs/Zypkoffs, etc. can be seen here:

Morris (Moshe Aharon) Soupcoff was born in 1852 in Russia; his father was Nachman (according to Morris' tombstone).  Morris and Mollie Soupcoff arrived in the United States in 1887 (according to his naturalization papers, he arrived June 15, 1887--but I haven't found his manifest).  In 1892, Morris declared his intention to become a citizen.

Morris Soupcoff Declaration of Intention; Pittsburgh, PA; 1892

An Unusual Name, Many Spellings - Zoupcoff/Zypkoff Branch

Earlier, I'd tracked my cousins (1st cousins, 3 times removed) Ben Supkoff and Irving/Isidore and Max Supcoff.  On their manifests, they all had mentioned that they were joining their uncle, Max Zupkoff/Zypkoff who lived on Webster Avenue in Pittsburgh.  So who was Max and how is he related?  This is the second in the Supkoff Spellings series.

Max Zoupcoff (sometimes Zypkoff) was born in 1872.  On his naturalization papers, he said that he was born in Buke, Russia.  This is possibly Buki, Ukraine to the northeast of Uman.  This town is about as equidistant to Kuna as Kuna is to Shpikov where my Supkoff family lived before emigrating.  Max also states that he came to Canada first, passing through Montreal before taking a train to Buffalo.  I have not been able to find either a manifest taking him or his family to Canada or a train manifest to Buffalo.  Bonus genealogy points and a mention in a future post if you can find one of those!  (Update:  Found them here--but under an unexpected surname!)

Max Zoupcoff Naturalization Documents; 1908 & 1912

An Unusual Name, Many Spellings - Supcoff Branch

My great grandmother Mollie Supkoff Tolchin's family name was Zubkis in Europe but her siblings and their descendents were consistent in the Supkoff spelling of their name once they came to Pittsburgh.  There were other families with a similar name but different spellings in the Pittsburgh area.  They seem to be all connected.  For some I've found the connection; for others, I've done some comprehensive research on their family to try to find their relationship to my Supkoffs--and that is still a work in progress.  These posts can all be found here.

The first family I'll be discussing spells the name "Supcoff."  Three brothers came to America:  Benjamin (born 1896), Irving/Isadore (Born 1901) and Max (born 1903).  Benjamin actually took on the Supkoff spelling (and married my great grandmother's sister Fannie--so she didn't have to change her name when she was married).

Irving/Isadore arrived first, in 1922, under the name Isidore Zupkoff.

Ship Manifest; Isidore Zupkoff; 1922 (line 11); page 1

 But what is interesting is on the second page: