My Family in the Cholera Pandemic of 1848

As COVID-19 has spread across the world, instantly changing how we go about our day-to-day lives, our lives have changed.  It's the first time in most of our lifetimes that we've experienced something like this impacting ourselves and our families personally.  But pandemics have happened before, and at least once before, they specifically impacted my family.

Tzipra Brandman Death; Krasnoye, Podolia, Russian Empire; July 26, 1848

Tkatch-ing Up to the Sanshucks

Through my Shpikov/Krasnoye project, I've obtained lots of vital records for both towns over the past few years.  After a first large batch of records helped me to unravel my Sanshuck and Brandman families, the few years' worth of records I got since then weren't too helpful--or so I thought.

Ukraine SIG obtained a large batch of records recently (an entire list of what they got can be seen here), and I got very excited to see some Krasnoye records listed which were new to our project.  My initial scan through the documents was disappointing, as I didn't see any Sanshucks or Brandmans.  But then I looked more closely.  There were vital events for some Tkatch brothers--and the names of those brothers, their wives, and their father exactly matched those of Krasnoye's Sanshuck brothers.  I looked back at records I'd transcribed previously and there they were again.

Marriage of Yitzchok son of Yisrael Tkatch (my 5th great uncle) and Reiza daughter of Dovid Grupenman, 1842
(This isn't from the latest batch of records since I can't share those images--but I've had this for a few years without knowing they were really Sanshucks!)

Ukraine Trip Post #3--Days 3-4 (September 3-4, 2016)

(To see everything from my Ukraine trip, see here.)

Once Shabbos was over, we headed to the Lviv train station for an overnight train from Lviv to Vinnitsa.

My train ticket

The Brandman Connection

Just a few years ago, I only knew my great-great-great grandmother's first name.  I knew that Rochel was married to Aryeh Leib Sanshuck, and that their daughter Zlata Tzipra was my great-great grandmother.

Leib & Rochel Sanshuck's Marriage Record; Krasnoye, Russian Empire; 1849

But then I found their marriage record.

I'm Going Sanshuck Tracking....

Many researchers have to take family names and figure out from an Americanized version, what the name had been in Europe.  However, this is an example of having to go the other way--and how changing up traditional search techniques can help solve a problem.

Sanshuck is a very uncommon name.  It is also the maiden name of my great-great grandmother, Zlata Tzipra Sanshuck Supkoff.  Based on the metrical records I have from her hometown of Krasnoye, Ukraine (near Vinnitsa), it appears that all of Krasnoye's Sanshucks are descended from one person, Yisrael Sanshuck.

I found ship manifests for two Sanshuck brothers from Krasnoye:

Itzko Schinzuk Ship Manifest; Liverpool->Maine; March 1911

Ancestor Deep Dive: Rochel Brandman Sanshuck

My great-great-great grandmother, Rochel Brandman Sanshuck, was born about 1832 in what is now Krasnoye, Vinnitsa, Ukraine (then Podolia Guberniya).  Her parents were Yaakov and Tzipra Brandman.

Rochel had at least 3 siblings:

1. Dov Ber Brandman, born about 1828, died April 9, 1844 in Krasnoye
2. Golda Brandman, born about 1830, died November 15, 1852 in Krasnoye
3. Pinchas Leib Brandman

On November 9, 1849, Rochel married Aryeh Leib Sanshuck in Krasnoye.

Leib Sanshuck & Rochel Brandman Marriage Record in Hebrew; Krasnoye; 1849

Ancestor Deep Dive: Zlata Tzipra Sanshuck Supkoff

Zlata Tzipra Sanshuck Supkoff

My great-great grandmother, Zlata Tzipra Sanshuck Supkoff was likely born in Krasnoye, Podolia (now Vinnitsa), Ukraine (then Russian Empire).  The Tzipra was in memory of her grandmother Tzipra Brandman who had died in the cholera epidemic of 1849.

Deciphering History

I'd already determined that the Tolchinsky family which I thought was from Shpikov was not.  But I knew that the Supkoffs were.  My great grandmother was Malka (Mollie) Supkoff who married Isadore Tolchin after they both had immigrated to Pittsburgh.  Mollie's and her sister's Elka's boat record confirmed they were from "Spikow."  So Isadore's involvement in Pittsburgh's Shpikov Society must have been through his wife.

Mollie & Elka Supkoff's boat record (lines 8-9), 1906

Mollie's parents, Yeshaya and Zlata Tzipra (nee Sanshuck) Supkoff also came to America along with their younger children (besides Mollie and Elka, son Leib/Louis had come earlier).  Yeshaya and the children were listed as having been born in "Spikoff" and "Schpikoff," but Zlata Tzipra was from "Krosny."  With the help of JewishGen (which will list other towns with Jewish populations near a given one), I discovered that Krasnoye was only 11 miles from Shpikov.

Nice!  I then started investigating if any documentation existed of these towns' past.  Perhaps I could find documents on microfilm like I had used to learn about the Tolchinsky and Lefand/Marienhoff families in Nezhin.  I looked on familysearch, but unfortunately they had not microfilmed either of these towns' records.  I then looked at Miriam Weiner's excellent Routes to Roots, which catalogs many of the existing Jewish records in eastern European archives.  My heart sunk.  Both towns had listed documents, but they were followed by the following disclaimer:

I contacted Ms. Weiner to see if many of the remaining records were available, but at that time they were being preserved and protected and were not available to the public.  Drat.