THE COHEN'S GENEALOGY PAGE AT ROOTSWEB
 
THE KAMINSKY FAMILY

According to genealogist Kimberly Powell, the Kaminsky surname is derived from the root "kamien", which means stone or rocky place, and probably referred to someone who worked with stone, or who was from a village named for being rocky or stony.

There are many pages on the web about Kaminsky family trees and genealogy. However, we do not yet know how our particular family fits into this bigger picture.

Our family name was pronounced Kamienetzky, before becoming Americanized. Our Russian ancestors include Shaindle and Simon, with Cherup and Kaminsky as their surnames. The records are yet not at all clear as to what their precise relationships are to each other. However, we are fairly certain that Simon Kaminsky was the father of the four siblings Tevye, Feige, Rachel and Dina Kaminsky, since that is what Tevye's daughter Bluma wrote on the family tree she made. And, according to various records, their mother's name in English could have been either Esther or Dora.

Tevye Kaminsky, who was also known as Theodore, as well as his sisters Feige and Rachel, married and had families. We do not know what happened to the fourth child, their daughter Dina.

If you know or are a member of the Kaminsky family, please note that we are not listing the names of people if they or their siblings are still living, in order to protect the privacy of the living. If you find any errors, or have more information you would like to see added to this page, please do contact us.

Theodore Kaminsky and Pearl Newman

Tevye Kaminsky, who was born in Osova, Russia, married Pearl Newman and had six children. They had three sons, Itzkhak, Lebel and Solomon, and three daughters, Bluma, Miriam and Leah, in the area of Sarny, Rovno, Russia which is now apparently located in the Ukraine.

Their son Itzkhak Kaminsky, who was also known as Isaac, was born in Russia in the late 1880's. He married Sarah Silverstein in Oil City, Pennsylvania in 1908, and they had two sons. Sarah became very ill after the birth of their second son, and finally passed away in 1931 in Detroit. At some point later, Isaac married Sarah's sister Clara, who had been caring for the children when Sarah was ill. Isaac Kaminsky passed away in 1974.

Isaac and Sarah Kaminsky's first son, Theodore, was born on October 6, 1913 in Monroe, Michigan, and married and had children. He passed away in Oak Park, Michigan in June 1987. Their second son, Louis Kaminsky, was born on April 16, 1915 in Monroe, Michigan, married and had three children. He passed away on May 10, 1993 in Chelsea, Michigan.

Tevye and Pearl Kaminsky's daughter Bluma, who became known as Florence Kaminsky, was born on June 30, 1893. Then, on March 26, 1913, in Monroe, Michigan, she married Joseph Gordon, who was born on August 10, 1879, and they had five children, all of whom married and had children. Florence Gordon passed away in October 1969 in Oil City, Pennsylvania, and Joseph Gordon passed away on August 2, 1977 in Monroe, Michigan.

Tevye and Pearl's other son, Solomon Kamieniecki married his wife Cherna (Cecilia) in the area of Bereznica, Poland and had a family there before they moved to Argentina. Family memories also make mention that one of Isaac's brothers or ancestors was called Moshe, but we do not know which one. We do not know what happened to their other children Miriam, Lebel and Leah Kaminsky.

In searching for information about our family, I have transcribed information from Kaminsky marriage announcements in the New York Times. I am still studying the list and am not yet sure whether there are any members of our family in this data set. Many names are similar, but are different people who just happen to have the same names as members of our family. You can click here if you wish to peruse these listings.

Faiga Kaminsky and Efraim Kasle

Faiga Gittel Kaminsky, who was born in 1861 in Osova, married Efraim Kasle (also spelled Kozoil), and had six children. Efraim and their four oldest children came, one or two at a time, to the United States starting just before 1900, and on through the first decade of the 20th century. Faiga Kasle, accompanied by the two youngest children, came to the US in 1920 or 1921. See our Kasle Genealogy page with more about the history and genealogy of this family, founders of the Kasle Steel Companies.

Rachel Kaminsky and Israel Tennebaum

Rachel Kaminsky was born about 1850-1855 in Odessa, and married Israel Tennebaum, who was born in 1852 in Rovney. See our Tennebaum Genealogy page for more information about Rachel and Israel Tennebaum, the paternal grandparents of the famous biographical novelist Irving Stone.

REFERENCES

1. Interviews with family members
2. United States Federal Census Records for 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930, available online (by subscription and at Public Libraries) at Ancestry.com and at Public Libraries through the Heritage Quest Census database.
3. World War I Draft Registration Cards, available online at http://landing.ancestry.com/military/titles.aspx?html=ww1draft by subscription, and occasionally for free from Ancestry.Com's special offers
4. Pedigree Chart created by Steven and Daniel Oppenheimer
5. Pedigree Chart created by Florence Gordon (nee Bluma Kaminsky).
6. Social Security Death Index, available online at http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com

NOTE: The links below will take you off of our personal family site, to various articles at the Learning Center at http://www.ancestry.com