КЛОЗМАН, КЛАУЗМАН (г.Кременец, г.Харьков, г.Атланта)

[Простакович]

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Это очень длинная и трагическая история рода Клозман\Клаузман, берущая свое начало в г.Кременец Волынской губернии. Оттуда в г.Харьков приезжает семья Мошки Мордкова Клозмана. В справочнике "Жители Харькова" за 1868 году значится, что его семья насчитывает 7 человек, сам он работает кровельщиком. Его сын Нахман Моисеевич Клаузман был женат на моей двоюродной прапрабабушке Фрейде Герш-Лейбовой Адлицкиной. История Адлицкиных есть в моей фамильной теме: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=7321&hilit=%D0%B0% ... 0%B8%D0%BD

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На фотографии предположительно 1894 года изображена беременная Фрейда, Нахман и трое их детей - Марк, Любовь и Малка. В дальнейшем дети переедут в США. Более подробно об этой истории написал муж внучки Марка - Крис Аппель. Далее без изменений привожу его оригинальный рассказ на английском.

[Простакович]

Our Ukrainian Story

Marcus Klausman never liked to talk about his past. His family knew very little about their origins--Marcus was Russian, but he also had some connection to Germany, where he had gone to school (he is even listed as German in the funeral notice in the Atlanta paper.) He had come to America to live with his Aunt Lubin, who had lived in Chicago. Whether she was an aunt to Marcus on the Klausman side or his maternal side was unclear. She was the mother of Leo Lubin, the artist. Marcus had sisters named Lillian and Mania (pronounced MAHN-ya). Mania’s son, Nathan Emerson, was named in honor of his grandfather Nachman, and Nathan was under the impression that Nachman’s wife was Fannie or Francis--an idea which was reinforced by Marcus’ choice of a name for his oldest son, Nat Frances. There was a photo of the Klausman family with this recollection added on the back.As for Marcus, he was remembered as a great scholar, who had studied in Europe before coming to America to learn medicine.

Hank Klausman had searched for documents of the family with mixed results. At the point the story was first told to me, no one yet knew of Kharkiv in Ukraine, or that census records proved Aunt Lubin’s mother was an Adlutsky, or that Mania legally went by the name Mary or Mariam in the United States.

We have learned a great deal in the last decade. Now, thanks to the amazing information which has been supplied to us by Gleb Adlutsky of Ukraine (third cousin, once removed, to Hank and MarKay’s generation) we now know so much more. Since Gleb first contacted me, I have read his notes and have put forth a few theories. Some lead nowhere. We found one to be true. The other I cannot prove yet, but I think you will all agree it must be true--and that it changes our understanding of Klausman family history. Let me take the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle apart, strip them of previous assumptions, and lay them out for you with a fresh understanding. I believe you will come away with a fresh perspective on Marcus Klausman, a new empathy for the struggle which brought this family to America, and an appreciation for why he kept his family’s past to himself. Make yourself comfortable. With the help of our cousin Gleb, we are about to travel back two and a half centuries.

A long time ago, in the far-off town of Bila Tserkva (which means “White Church”) we begin our story with a man named Itsko, who was born in 1774. His full name is Itkso Gershov Udolitskin, which means “son of Gersh, from Udolitskoye” (or Dulitskoye, a tiny village 20 miles west of Bila Tserkva, and about 60 miles south and a little west of Kiev.) Gradually this name changes to Adlitskin, then--in some branches--Adlutsky. Itsko has two sons. The first, Yos, died before adulthood. The second, Gersh-Lieb, marries a woman named Etya Yankel-Shmaev. They have five children, but then,sometime after 1851, it seems Etya dies. Gersh-Lieb finds a young bride named Feiga-Michlya Yankeleva. Another five children are born. We know Gersh-Lieb died sometime late in the century, because in 1891 his wife Feiga-Michlya, who by then lived in Poltavia (not far from Kharkiv), made a bold decision.

Feiga-Michlya took her three youngest daughters and traveled to America. Her oldest children, the twins Meer (Meyer) and Freyda, were old enough to be on their own by now. Ente, Chana, and Leibe sailed with their mother aboard the Polaria for New York. Ente (Bertha?) and Chana (Helene) quickly faded from available records and our story, but we know that Leibe took the American name Lilly and married a man named Moses Lubin, better known to us as Frederick Moshe Lubin. What they do for the Klausman family is well known, but how it likely unfolded is something we can now see more clearly.

When Gleb first contacted me and shared his research, my first priority was to discover how Lillian Lubin and her mother Fannie Adlutsky connected to Nachman Klausman. Nathan’s recollection of a Fannie or Frances does not fit into the Adlutsky tree--these are not even Ukrainian names--but I still held out hope for an F name. The family photo, which we had dated at around 1895 based on the children’s ages, showed a mother in her thirties. Of the nine Adlutsky siblings of Lillian Lubin, her half-sisters were ten to twenty years too old, with only the eldest having an F name. But Lillian’s full sister Freyda Gersh-Leibov, who remained in the Ukraine, seemed to be a close fit. I asked Gleb to look for records of Nachman and Freyda in Kharkiv. Soon the story appeared.

The Klauzman (or Klozman) family originates in Kremenets, far to the west of Kharkiv. The oldest name in our story is Moshka Mordkovich Klozman, a roofer, living on Voznesenskaya Street in 1879. (Don’t bother to look on a current map, but it was probably near Feijerbakha Square, which was once called Voznesenskaya Square.) His son was Isaac Moshkov Klauzman, a student at the Imperial University in Kharkiv. Isaac is the first doctor we know of in the family. He married Natalia Pavlovna Rovenskaya and had a daughter named Pavla.

In some records, Isaac’s middle name will be rendered as Moseev or Moseevich, or Moshkovich, which are middle names associated with Nachman as well. There are also records linking Nachman to Kremenets. Given the distance between Kharkiv and Kremenets, together with the similarity of names, we can infer that Moshka and Isaac are the father and brother of Nachman.

The next record is much clearer. On December 23, 1885, Mark Klauzman was born to a retired soldier, Nachman Moseev, and his wife, Freyda Klauzman. There is no doubt that Lillian’s sister Freyda is the mother of the Klauzman children. Ironically, we had this information all along. Marcus’ Russian birth certificate was among his papers; This Certificate attests that on 23 December 1885 from townspeople Nachman Moshkovich Klauzman and his legal wife Freyda was born in Kharkiv a son, who according to the custom of the Jews is named Mark. Record of these things listed in the register of births of Jews under No. 144 in male column. Sealed and signed Kharkov day May 25, 1887. Acting Kharkiv Rabbi M. Chainowsky."

This confirms Mark was born to Freyda and Nachman, likely the son of Moshka Klauzman. But there are more surprises. Lillian’s record has yet to be found, but we do have the birth record of a daughter, Malka Klozman, whose birthdate matches Mania’s. Mania’s given Russian name is now known to us. But there is still one more name we discovered, for in the family photo Freyda was pregnant. In May of 1894, the family welcomed this baby, who was named Joseph. Based on the photo record, the family now seems complete. However, as 1898 headed into autumn the family was expecting yet another addition. But then the story takes a tragic turn.

Two days before the birth of the expected child, four-year-old Joseph Klauzman, whose face we will never know, died of scarlet fever. The new baby, little Frederich Klauzman, was born on October 24, 1888 to a family in mourning. It seems the mother was in poor health, or the birth had been difficult, for on December 4, 1898 Freyda Klauzman died of “an inflammation of the lungs and peritoneum.” Now Nachman, with an infant and three older children, was forced to soldier on alone.

Fate had at least one more arrow to hurl at the family. On February 06,1899, baby Frederich died of dysentery. Five months earlier the world was full of promise, but now the family was broken. We have yet to find records of what became of Nachman after this, or why the decision was made, but we know that within a month, this family which had already lost so much, soon lost each other. Travel documents, signed by Mark Klauzman, were among his papers. They are dated March 2, 1899. They tell us that young Mark left his grieving family almost immediately after the tragedy. They also contain a secret we did not even suspect.

The adult Marcus Klausman was reputed to speak seven languages. He was a doctor. The travel papers and school report he kept were interpreted as a sign of his scholarship. It was assumed that he traveled abroad to some boarding school in Germany, then went to America to live with Aunt Lubin. Parts of this story are true. But why in this time of crisis was Mark cruelly separated from his family? Kharkiv is a college town, so there was ample opportunity for education there. Why go to the expense of having him study abroad?

Gleb translated the travel papers and discovered something surprising:



Passport # 94 with handwritten signature “Mark Klauzman.”

Card issued by Kharkiv Governor March 2, 1899 to “son of Kremenets tradesman. Mark Klozman and sister Lyubov.”

It is stamped for travel abroad.

“The Son of Kremenets tradesman, Mark Nahmanov Klozman, 13 years, goes abroad with his sister Lyubov. Fees paid 10 rubles. March 2, 1899.



Mark Klauzman did not go off on his own to pursue scholarship. Mark was sent away with his sister Lyubov, who we know as Lillian Klausman. The two older children traveled together, so Mark was not going to a boy’s boarding school in Germany. From April 23, 1889 - June 26, 1900 Mark attended the Commercial Training School in Munich. He was the son of a tradesman, receiving a tradesman’s education--the core curriculum we would expect at any high school. He was handicapped by studying in a foreign language. Aside from drawing and religion, his marks were very poor. How did he and Lyubov survive in this strange land? Mark was 13 when they arrived. Lyubov had just turned 10. Both must have been grieving and homesick. Why were they here?

To find the answer, we must jump ahead six years to another mystery on the family tree. I discovered a New York local census for 1905 showing that Lilly Klausman, who came to America around 1900, was living with Frederick Lubin, his wife Lillian, their mother Fannie, and seven-year-old Leo Lubin. At first, the only surprise was that they were living in the Bronx--by the 1910 census, the family had moved to Chicago. But there was also a mystery. We know that Leo actually was born in Germany. He was born in 1898, while his parents were traveling there. However, the 1905 record showed that Leo had only lived in the United States for four years. How was that possible? Frederick had been in America for 16 years and was a citizen within a few years of his arrival. Lillian had been in the country for 10 years. I spent a lot of time mulling over this mystery. I finally found the answer when I tracked down the family travel papers.

Frederick had applied for a passport for himself and his bride-to-be shortly before they were married in 1896. They planned a honeymoon of about five months; however, they stayed nearly four years. Frederick had to apply for a second passport in Bremen to update his travel documents. I don’t know if Frederick had relatives in Germany whom they visited during this period, but they settled in and had a baby. Frederick states on the 1898 revised passport application that they wanted to stay for another year because he was studying chemistry. They would also be bringing home their new son, Jacob Leo Lubin who, of course, was born in the city where they have been living--Munich, Germany.

We knew Marcus had studied abroad. We knew he went to live with his Aunt Lubin. We assumed that meant he went to live with her in America, after his studies. Also, in all the American family records, Lillian Lubin was living with her mother Fannie, who is also Marcus Klausman’s grandmother. In all the times I was told the story, it was always, “Marcus went to live with his Aunt Lubin.” No mention was made of a grandmother. I discovered Fannie Adlutsky when I found the 1910 census records and brought it to everyone’s attention. How was Fannie not mentioned in the family lore from Marcus? I suspect Marcus didn’t mention his grandmother simply because she was not there. She wasn’t on the honeymoon in Munich, so Marcus didn’t live with her.

At the point Freyda died, the Lubins had been in Europe for two years. Whether Nachman reached out to them directly, or word travelled to Fannie in America and back to Germany, I can’t say. I have no records to document them all under one roof, but it is far too great a coincidence for these events to be unrelated. Mark and Lyubov Klauzman were sent to Munich because Nachman was somehow unable to care for them. They took the two older children in. Mark struggled with a new language. He studied the western alphabet under German tutelage. He learned to write his name in the German form, and “Marcus Klauſsmann” entered the vital records for the first time. Lyubov bonded with the Lubins during her stay in Munich. Of all the Klauzman children, she is the only one who lived with the Lubins for an extended period of time.

Given that Marcus does not finish school until halfway through1900--the same year he and Lillian both claimed on vital records that they arrived in America--I suspect neither he, nor his sister ever saw their father or Kharkiv again. Family lore suggests Marcus was the first to go to America and that he travelled alone. Hank and I can find no records as yet of either the older Klausman children or the Lubins traveling to America in 1899-1900, although it clearly happened. The census of 1905 claims that Leo Lubin was in America one year before Lilly Klausman. Perhaps the Klausmans waited until Marcus finished school to immigrate, but this raises the question, “Who did they stay with if the Lubins had already left?” I suspect that the Lubins themselves were visiting with someone when they overstayed their paperwork. We might focus future research on Munich, to find records to test this theory.

By 1905, Lyubov became part of the Lubin family, known in America as Lillian or Lilly Klausman, perhaps to honor her Aunt Lillian. She married Maurice Goldberger in the summer of1913. Lillian died in 1932.

Fannie Adlutsky probably lived with one or both of her other daughters in the US until after the Lubins returned with her grandson Leo. By the 1905 census, 20-year-old Marcus had already moved on to Atlanta. It is possible he and his grandmother Fannie Adlutsky never lived together or had much of a relationship. She died in late1913.

But what of the sister who remained behind in Ukraine? Malka arrived in America December 26, 1906 on the ship Cassel. She traveled alone under the name Mariam Klausman, age 18 (she was only 16.) She was coming from a place written as Gluchausk, a location I cannot find. Had she left Kharkiv? Did something happen to Nachman at this time? We do not know. She was headed to her aunt’s home in Chicago. Sometime between 1906 and 1909, she traveled west to Colorado, where she met and married Romanian Jacob Emeson in 1909. Their son Nathan was born in 1910. The couple divorced by 1924. Mary/Mania, as Malka is now called, took Nathan back to Illinois. As for Jacob, he has a number of descendants from three wives, most of whom kept the Emeson spelling, derived from the Romanian “Eneson.” Mania and Nathan used the more American spelling “Emerson.” Mania died in the 1960s, after Marcus, but I do not have her burial record. Nathan married Gertrude Spivak. Both are deceased. Their children were Arnold, Lois, and Francine (who passed away just this year.) There are numerous grandchildren in this line.

The Lubins began traveling extensively around the time Fannie died. Frederick had risen from a clerk, to a metal worker, to an executive--perhaps, in part, because of his additional education in Munich. By 1914 they had a residence in Tel Aviv. Records suggest Frederick died in Chicago in 1932, a few months before Lillian Klausman died, but he is buried in Tel Aviv. Lillian and Leo were ultimately buried nearby. Samuel, their second son, also lived out his life in Israel. His children returned to America. I am currently talking with Tim Lubin to make contact with these Adlutsky descendants. Hopefully this story will engage their interest.

Gleb Adlutsky, our Ukranian cousin, is a concert pianist. His line is from the youngest half-brother of Freyda and Lillian, Itsko Gersh-Leibov Adlutsky, grandson of the original Itsko. It is astounding how quickly Gleb has been able to find records of the family, although he tells me research is difficult because much information was lost in WW II. We owe him a great deal for seeking us out and sharing his knowledge. Thank you, again, Gleb.

While I am speaking of the war, it did touch the family who remained in Europe. Freyda’s twin brother Meer had a son named Fayvel who was drafted into the conflict. We have no more information on his fate. Pavla Klauzman, niece to Nachman, was forced to flee to Omsk during the German advance. We have no record of her after this event.

As for Marcus, most of us know his story, but I will briefly recap it for our cousins. He came to Atlanta and studied at the Atlanta School of Medicine, which is now Emory University. (Gleb suggests he was inspired by his uncle Isaac. I wonder if the sight of so much illness in his family was also an inspiration for him to study medicine.) As a graduate student, Marcus taught Microscopy and Bacteriology. He joined the Georgia National Guard as a cavalry officer in 1908. He became a physician in 1910. In 1913 he married Mamie Berger. They ran a small hospital, the Southern Health Institute, in downtown Atlanta until 1947, when it was destroyed by fire.

Marcus passed away in 1963. Mamie died in 1979. They had three children, Nat Francis, Jerome Arnold and Georgenne. All have passed away; Jerome in an aircraft accident in 1948, Nat in 2012 and Georgenne in 2019, both of natural causes. All had families. Many of you reading this story now are the descendants of these families. I hope the story has been informative. There is more detailed information about dates and records--and possible sources of even more information yet to be discovered-- for those who have an interest. Perhaps this narrative provides insight on the troubles suffered by young Mark Klauzman, and why the older Marcus Klausman thought it best not to express those troubles to his children. More will be revealed to those who go searching and asking questions, but at least now we know enough to put the story in proper order. Now it is a story we can pass on.



Christopher E. Appel

7/20/2020