-
OPINION
Specializing in
Alzheimer's Care
Finding Family
Through A Friend
SUSAN LIPTON-NEWMAN
`;:Special to the Jewish News
Scarsdale, NY
1
t might have been the move to
New York nearly 12 years ago
and leaving my family in .
Detroit. It might have been the
birth of my two children, Rachel and
Jonathan, and wanting to know more
about my ancestors and family history
Whatever the motivation, I began
to make telephone calls and charts of
my family's roots.
Family members
filled out forms at a
Thanksgiving
reunion to help
track the nine sisters
and brothers, the
> Meyerson family,
who arrived on Ellis
Island in the early
1900s from Odessa,
Russia.
Abraham
Morachnik and
Rose Mandell
Morachnik had two
children in Odessa,
a son Meyer
(Buddy) and a
daughter Belle, my
grandmother. A
twin sister died ar
birth. Seven other
siblings, Estelle,
Sarah, Faye, Jenny, Samuel, Harriet
and George, would be born in
/- Dubuque, Iowa, and Detroit. When
the family arrived on Ellis Island, their
surname was changed from Morach-
nik to Meyerson.
As things often happen, I became
busy with my life in New York, my
husband and children. My desire to
learn about my family resided tem-
porarily inside a f?.rnil-v room drawer
with all the information I had so care-
fully gathered. That was until I had a
fascinating dinner with neighbors who
have a son in my son Jonathan's
kindergarten class.
Our evening and conversation with
Tammi Morachnik and her husband
Marc Greenberg progressed. We dis-
cussed how lucky Tammi is to have
her grandparents and we mentioned
\-1 our growing families, Ellis Island ic d
finally, Odessa, Russia. I jokingly said
to Tammi, "You know, my grand-
mother vas born 2 Morachnik."
Tammi remembered talking with her
own family members about relatives
from Odessa.
There we were, sitting in a restau-
Bloomfield Healthcare
rant on the Upper East Side of Man-
hattan, asking each other how large
Odessa could have been and how
many Morachnik families could have
lived there.
The anticipation was too great.
Tammi called her Aunt Beverly
Rorwein in Boca Raton, Fla., directly
from our table and learned immedi-
ately that we shared more than a sur-
name; we were, indeed, related. Her
Aunt Bev remembered my grand-
mother's aunts, uncles and the entire
Meyerson clan. She
also recalled the
Scotch & Sirloin, a
Detroit landmark
owned by the Meyer-
son family.
The next tele-
phone call was to my
mother in 'Farming-
ton Hills. I told my
mother I was walking
down 74th Street
with our newfound
cousin, a woman
whose family came
from Odessa and
whose surname was
Morachnik. My
mom immmdiately
spoke to Tammi and
said she was staring
at a photo of her
very own Aunt Bev-
erly of Florida.
After the initial excitement, Tammi
and I needed to know exactly how we
were related. Tammi's Aunt Beverly
was a fountain of information.
Through her, we found that my
grandma Belle Morachnik-Meyerson
and Tammi's grandpa Charlie
Morachnik were first cousins. Their
fathers, Abraham Morachnik and
Samuel Morahcnik, were brothers.
Therefore, Tammi and I share the
same great-great-grandfather whose
name we still have not been able to
determine. We are still trying to put
the pieces together. We would like to
know any information about the
Morachnik family from Odessa, Rus-
sia, our great-great-grandfather and if
our great-grandfathers had any other
siblings. Please forward any informa-
tion to Susie Lipton-Newman, c/o the
Words cannot
describe the
excitement
and joy of
finding a
missing piece
of my family
history
in this way.
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Jewish News.
Words cannot describe the excite-
ment and joy of finding a missing
piece of my family history in this way.
We walked away from that Saturday-
night dinner feeling incredibly lucky
If only our great-great-grandfather
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Detroit Jewish News
6/18
1999
41