THE FAMILY OF LAZARUS VISHNICK

Lazarus Vishnick was a tailor who was born in in Lomza, Poland in the 1820's. He married Esther Feldberg and had two or three children with her before she apparently passed away. He then married Esther's sister, Chana (aka Annie) Feldberg, and had another three or four children in Makow, Lomza, Poland.

NOTE: If you are looking for the Vishnick Weisman page with information about Morris and Annie Vishnick, that page has moved here. To view our family tree, then click here.

Lazarus Vishnick is said to have lived to the age of one hundred and three, and to have had four or five wives, but we believe that the six children we know about were all mothered by Esther and Chana Felberg. We believe he passed away in Poland between 1927 and 1931.

There was a cousin of Lazarus' children, who at some point lived in Dublin, Ireland, and visited the Vishnick family in England in the late 1940's. His name was Avram (Avraham) Wyshniak, according to interviews with family members who knew him at that time. Avram apparently had a daughter living in the British Isles, and another living in Israel. He passed away in Israel in the 1990's.

We are sure that Avram spelled his last name, starting with the letter "W", as it was a topic of discussion our interviewed family members recall quite vividly. So, we know that our family surname, was spelled starting with the letter "W", rather than only starting with the letters "Vi", by some of our family.

That means that, in addition to the obvious other spellings that we know about which appear in the records, including Vishnek, Vishneck, Vishnik, and Wishnek, other relatives of ours could certainly have used or been given other variations of the surname when they left Poland, such as Wishnick, Wisnik, Wishniak, Wiszniak, and Wisznik, to give just a few examples of the variants. For our discussion of the meaning of the name, click here.

Given the difficulties of tracing a line with a nearly infinite number of ways it can be spelled, we have chosen to have male DNA testing performed, in order to help us locate descendants of Lazarus Vishnick's paternal family. If you wish to view those results, then click here.

If you know or are a member of the Vishnick or other family written about here, please note that we are not mentioning, in this narrative, the names of people if they or their siblings are still living, in order to protect the privacy of the living. Our family tree, however, does include the names of deceased relatives, whether or not they are survived by any living siblings. If you are a member of our family, find any errors, or have more information you would like to see added to this narrative, please do contact us.

If you wish to view our Blumstein Vishnick family tree, which also includes most of the other families mentioned on this page, then click here.

MOLLY VISHNICK

Lazarus and Esther Vishnick's first child, Molly Vishnick, also known as Malka or Amelia Vishnick, was born in Makova, Poland somewhere between 1864 and 1870. She immigrated to the United States about 1885, but we do not know whether she was single or married at that time. Her first child, Bertha, was born in New York on September 20, somewhere between 1886 and 1888. The story goes that Bertha's father was a Rosenberg, and that Molly was not ready to raise a child. So, Bertha was adopted by Molly's relatives, Barnet and Sarah (nee Feldberg) Gilberg. For more information about the Feldbergs and Gilbergs, click here.

By 1891, Amalia had married Morris Barusch, a tailor who was born in Poland or Austria in March 1872. They had seven children, five of whom were still living at the time of the 1910 Census. Their son Harry Barusch was born in Missouri in 1891, their sons Walter Barusch, and Saul (Sollie) Barusch were born in Pennsylvania between 1892 and 1897, their son Isadore was born in California in 1899 and passed away in 1900, and their son Leo was born in California about 1903. We do not know who the seventh child was, but it is clear that two of the children had passed away by the time of the 1910 census. Morris passed away in Oakland, California, on September 27, 1920, and Mollie Barusch passed away on September 9, 1939, in San Francisco.

MORRIS VISHNICK

Lazarus' second child, Morris Vishnick, was born in 1871 in Russia or Poland, and married Annie Weisman, who was born about 1870, also in Russia or Poland. For more details about Morris and Annie Vishnick's family, click here.

ESTHER VISHNICK

Lazarus's third child was Esther Malka Vishnick, who was born on August 22, 1874 and passed away on July 12, 1965, in Oakland California. We do not know for sure whether her mother was Lazarus' first wife Esther, or second wife Annie. Esther Malka Vishnick married Nathan Blumstein in Poland, and they had their first child there before migrating to England, where they had the rest of their children before migrating to the United States in 1905. For more information about Nathan and Esther Blumstein and their descendants, click here.

LEAH VISHNICK

Lazarus' fourth child, Leah, was born in Makow (Makova) on December 15, 1884. Our records indicate that her mother was Annie Feldberg. Leah was married in England to Mendel (aka Michael and Mark) Pactor, who was a Drapery Dealer who was born in either Russia or England in the 1880's. By April 1911, they were living in Leeds, and had had not children as of that time.

Their plan was apparently for Mark to go to the United States, where Leah was to join him later. And, we have identified a "Mendel Pocter" who was listed as married, but arrived in the United States alone on September 12, 1914 on the S.S. St. Louis. Leah Pactor arrived in the United States from England on May 21, 1916, also travelling on the S.S. St. Louis, and indicated on the passenger list that she was going to see her brother-in-law Morris Barusch in Oakland, California.

The story goes that Leah was unable to locate her husband until after World War I, however, and although we have found what appears to be the census record for Mendel in 1920, Leah is not listed on it. They did find each other sometime in the 1920's, and were living together in Oakland, California by the time of the 1930 Census. At some point after Mendel's death in 1937, she married Abe Hershel. We do not know if she had any children by either husband. She passed away on June 16, 1964 in Oakland, California.

PHILIP VISHNICK

Lazarus' fifth child, Philip, was born about 1886 on September 15, and was a tailor. We believe his mother was Lazarus' second wife, Annie. Philip immigrated to the United States in November 1906, along with his brother Morris' wife and children. He changed his name to Fred Phillips and apparently married his wife Esther about 1908, and they had two daughters who married and had families. Fred Phillips passed away in Alameda County, California on November 17, 1950.

JOSEPH VISHNICK

Lazarus' sixth child, whose mother was Annie Feldberg Vishnick, was Joseph Vishnick. He was born about 1891 in Makow, Mazowiecki, Poland. His wife Annie Bressler (Breslau) was born in Grodno, Russia about 1888. They were married in Govrova, Poland in December 1910, and migrated to England in 1913. They had planned on joining the rest of the family in the United States, but World War I came along, and they ended up settling permanently in England. They had seven children, all of whom married and had children.

REFERENCES

1. Interviews with family members
2. British Census Records for 1901, available online for free at Public Libraries and via subscription to Ancestry.com
3. British Census Records for 1911, available online for a fee from http://1911census.co.uk
4. 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.
5. Ellis Island Passenger Lists, available at EllisIsland.org, at http://www.worldvitalrecords.com, and and on Ancestry.com's New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 (The Ancestry.com database is available by paid subscription or for free from public libraries).
6. World War I Draft Registration Cards, available online at http://landing.ancestry.com/military/titles.aspx?html=ww1draft by subscription and for free from public libraries, and occasionally for free from Ancestry.Com's special offers
7. California Birth Index 1905 to 1995, database at Ancestry.com available by subscription and for free at public libraries.
8. California Death Index 1940 to 1997, at http://vitals.rootsweb.com/ca/death/search.cgi?cj=1&o_xid=0000584
9. Social Security Death Index, available online at http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com
10. Death Certificates for Leah Hershel and Esther Blumstein
11. Records from Mt. View Cemetary, Home of Eternity, Oakland, California