Strimling Family
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Introduction
Version – September, 2010
The following is the story of the Strimling family. It grew by itself after attempting to discover who the original family immigrants to the United States of America were, where they came from, and why.
This is the third version of this particular family history. The first version was completed in 1979 and produced on a typewriter. The second version was updated in 1994 and by then I had become computer literate.
Although I didn’t know how lucky I was when I started this project and other family histories as well, there were many family members still alive to interview and to record their memories and stories. Even at that, there were many discrepancies among family members as to the what, where and how of particular events or relationships. It is always that way as memory is subjective. However, I was and still am, always especially interested in people’s stories and so I hope you, the reader, will be interested as well. I believe that if we don’t record the stories, they will soon be lost forever.
I have collaborated with Dave Honig and Yoel Strimling where our interests have intersected. have tried to credit contributors wherever I could. I have used all of the material that had been sent to me over the last fifteen years and hopefully it is all included in either the narrative or the tree. I thank all of you who have contributed to this document and I am happy to share any and all information.
Dianne Ziskin Siegel
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My mother-in-law, Rose Ostrin Siegel Bernstein, provided much of the original information about the Strimling family. Without her help, this project would never have been undertaken. Other people that were helpful in the original version included: Adeline Ostrin Cohn, Louis Strimling, Rose Gorsen, Estelle Gale, Donna Cohn Stone, Harold Strimling, Freyda Myers Cooper, Peter Simonstein Cullman, and Jane Winer, Jan Gratch, John Drayman, Gene Strimling and Andrea Strimling. All were particularly helpful in gathering information for the update and of course, thank you to everyone who responded to my letter asking for information.
Harry Strimling gave me most of the information about Mose, Sam and Fanny. With us at that interview on October 24, 1978 was his daughter, Nancy Skadron. In addition to Harry Strimling, Bert and Rosalyn Strimling and Minnie Bearman Strimling shared many of their memories for that section of the history.
Before the Beginning – A Bit of History
Russia banned Jews until 1772. In 1772 Russia acquired a large area of Poland containing many Jewish people. By the laws of 1795 and 1835 the Russian Government limited its new Jews to the newly annexed areas, since known as the “Pale of Settlement.” This large area included Kovno, Vilna, Vitebsk, Milnsk, and numerous other states extending from the Baltic to the Black Sea. In 1882 more than 1.5 million Jews who had managed to live outside the “Pale” were forced into it, so that by 1897 there were more than 5 million Jews living in this area.
In the Beginning —
About 1880, Russia, for a brief period, encouraged the emigration of Jewish families. Many, including the Strimlings, left Russia in order to give their children a chance at finding a better life in the new world.
There are not very many of us who had ancestors so thoughtful and concerned about family that they themselves recorded the family history. The Strimling family is one of the fortunate few. In 1903, Labe Levitas Strimling wrote on the fly leaf of a Book of Job the following, translated from the Yiddish by Rabbi Noah Golinkin: 
Description of my life:
My name is Labe Levitas..
1842 I was born ..
1843 My wife was born, .. Roshdisht (?) …, the mother of the children.
1847 We started going to the cheder (Hebrew School) 1858 I finished cheder
1858 I was traveling with merchandise
1860 My mother died
1864 I got married in Shavel
1866 Manne was born
1868 Chanke was born
1870 Shamke was born
1872 Avramke was born
1874 Moishe was born
1879 My father died
1879 Velvke was born in Konotop
1880 Ganeshke was born in Konotop
1886 Chaike was born
1883 I traveled from Konotop to …
1887 Elke was born
1883/84/85 (?) Avramke left for …
1888 Chanke (got married ?) in Konotop
1890 Moishe left for America
1890 …left for America
1892 Chanke with Shenken (Joshua) moved to … 1882 I had “zadiska” – Russian word meaning some difficulty in breathing, asthma
1887 My wife .. also had rheumatism
1898 Mishke (Moishe) went to
1899 Velvke went to (Shavel?)
1874 I acquired the … (concession of some kind)
1894 I sold the …
Added by Louis Strimling in 1946: 1948 Moishe died (possibly 1946)
Labe continues “I have written this down in the Book so people can refer to it. The “concession” was good for twenty years, nothing special, nothing to brag about. So I left it out of the beginning of my writing. I took the trouble to inscribe this so it should be a remembrance for all the children about the years, how old they are, and for me personally; it is necessary to know sometimes. It will undoubtedly come in handy when they will sometimes take the Book in their hands and they will read this. They will surely be pleased.” Labe Levitas (written 20 February 1903, 10th of Adar) A last line is illegible; perhaps “This is a remembrance from Father.”
The above, along with a fairly complete list of important dates is written in Hebrew and Yiddish and is in the flyleaf of a Bible that was in the possession of Freda Strimling (wife of the late Louis Strimling) in Israel. I am not sure who has it now, perhaps their daughter.
The older relatives, those who are no longer with us, seemed to feel that wherever there was a Strimling family, they are related. Indeed, Strimlings are found all over the world and the family lore is that they are all related, even if we are not sure just how. Occasionally, some do turn up where the connection is not obvious and I have grouped them together and hope that someone else can fill in the blanks. Perhaps they descended from other brothers of Nossan and Schmuel as it is likely there were more siblings or perhaps there were other children of Schmuel of whom we are unaware, or perhaps their were earlier generations that would tie everyone together.
The family name in the Ukraine was Levitas. The name was changed in order to keep the sons out of the Russian Army. The family took Strimling as its official name and never went back to the original Levitas. The word Strimling means fisherman of the sea and it is the name of a favorite fish in Lithuania. It has been said that in a small lake in Bavaria, Germany there were to be found tiny little fish something like an anchovy. A relative of the family owned the property that the lake was on. The relative and the fish were both named Strimling. The word itself, “Strimling”, is of Germanic origin. It is interesting to note as can be seen on the page about Albert, that he came to the United States using the name Levitas. However, he had been separated from his family at an early age and was probably not aware of the Strimling name. (information about Albert came from research done by Yoel Sandler.)
Two Brothers – Schmuel and Nossan are the earliest relatives that we know about
It is believed that in the beginning as far back as I can trace the history, there were two brothers in Shavol, province of Kovna, Lithuania. One brother was Nossan, and the second brother was Schmuel. These are the brothers that I write about in this document.
Our Minnesota family of Strimlings is descended from Nossan. Nossan’s family moved from Shavol to the Ukraine and later moved to Konotop, in Northern Ukraine. The family of Schmuel moved from Lithuania to Sweden.
The Family of Nossan
Nossan m. First wife d. 1860
Labe Livitas Strimling Nossan m. 1860 Merrill
Mose Strimling Samuel Strimling Fanny Strimling
Nossan is the relative that is common to the greatest number of the Strimling descendants in this country. He had two wives and thus two branches of his family. Each will be discussed separately. His first wife died in 1860 and her name is unknown. Nossan and his first wife were the parents of Labe Strimling. Labe died in Brod, Russia. More about Labe follows. Nossan’s second wife was named Merrill. They were married in 1860. The English versions of their names were Nathan and Mary. They were the parents of Mose Strimling, Sam Strimling and Fanny Strimling. Mose, a son of Merrill and Nossan, was the first to immigrate to the United States.
Nossan, was a senior bureaucrat in the Tzar of Russia’s government. As a result, the Strimling family was privileged and could travel freely, and the children could attend choice schools. After Nossan died, the Tzar cancelled all of the family privileges.
Nossan did not leave Russia. In 1879, after Nossan had died, Merrill immigrated to the United States with her two younger children, Sam and Fanny. Moses had immigrated earlier. Merrill remarried Julius Bernstein and had a daughter, Ethel, from that marriage. Ethel married Arnold Karon. Merrill was also known as Mary. She died in 1905. Ethel and Arnold Karon had two children: Ira and Lorene, both of whom are deceased. Ira had four or five children. His wife’s maiden name was Goodman. Lorene married Jacob Greenberg from Texas and they had two children. Jacob Greenberg was reported to manufacture jeans.
The Family of Labe Strimling
Labe is the son of Nossan and his first wife. According to the dates that he himself listed in the family bible, he was born in 1842, started cheder in 1847, finished cheder in 1858 and in that same year began traveling with merchandise. His wife, Ada Sher, the mother of his children, was born in 1843. They were married in Shavol, Lithuania in 1864 and moved to Konotop in 1874. Shavol was in Kovna, Gaberna. (A Gaberna is equivalent to a State.) Labe’s and Ada’s relationship was a love affair – very unusual in those days. They had nine children. All of the children came to America, but not all stayed in the Minneapolis community. Each of the children will be discussed separately. Ada died in the United States in September, 1914. Some of her relatives whose families also live or did live in the Twin Cities were Mrs. Jennie Friedson, Mrs. Cheminow and Mr. Morris Ressen.
It seems that Labe and Ada lived in Shavol, Lithuania until 1874 when they moved to Konotop. Later in 1883, they moved to Brod, Russia. The move to Russia from Lithuania was very difficult and was accomplished in a covered wagon according to the stories that have been told. Labe said in his family history that from 1874 to 1894 he had a “concession.” His “concession” was that he provided water for the village. In 1894 he said he “made a living that he couldn’t brag about for 20 years and sold the business.”
The following information on Konotop comes from the Museum of the Diaspora in Tel Aviv, in November 1980. The information is as follows:
In 1883 Labe and Ada heard that Baron D’Hirsh of Germany was arranging for Jewish families to go to America and he would supply the passage. Baron D’Hirsh’s plan was to help settle the Jewish families on farms in the United States, Canada and South America, thus the Jews would be able to escape the pogroms then taking place in Europe. Baron D’Hirsh believed that if Jews could be resettled on farms, they would be better accepted by their neighbors. The family took their children and made their way to a designated port city in Russia. When they arrived, there were many rumors. They heard that life wasn’t so good in the United States; that instead of farms, the Jews were made to work in the sweatshops in New York. Labe was worried. He had very bad asthma and he felt that he would not live if he were to be made to work in such sweatshops. So, he and Ada changed their minds about emigrating. According to the information left by Labe, the family moved to Brod in 1883 and it was probably after this decision had been made that they then went to Brod. Apparently Ada had an Aunt living in Brod and that likely influenced their decision to join a family member.
Meanwhile, during the time they spent in the port city of Russia, there were socialists who went around to the various families and tried to convince some of them to send a son to Germany to be educated. They promised that the son would be educated and that he would be in touch with his family and that they would send him home if he were lonesome. Albert, then 10 years old, begged to be allowed to go with these men and boys and in a weak moment, the family relented. Labe and Ada went on to Brod. Labe never saw Albert again. Twenty-five years later, Albert and his mother, Ada, were reunited in Minneapolis. Two more children were born after this period of decision – Chaim (Chaike) in 1886 and Ella (Elke) in 1887. Labe, at this time, had a feed store presumably in Brod.
Labe died at age 45 in the year 1904. He died reportedly because of his asthma. He wrote in his notes that Ada had contracted rheumatism in the year 1887. Eventually, only Ada and her youngest daughter, Ella, remained in Russia. At this time they were living with some of Ada’s relatives in Konotop. Ella had a fiancé in Russia who was not interested in emigrating. She considered staying in Russia and marrying her sweetheart, but her mother really wanted to see the other children again. There was some question about whether her mother could get a visa because of her age or health. So, a decision was made. If Ada could get a visa, mother and daughter would immigrate to the United States. If Ada could not get a visa, they would stay in Russia and Ella would marry her sweetheart. Ada received the visa and they went to America. Along with them were Mrs. Friedson and her mother – a cousin and aunt to Ella. Mrs. Friedson’s daughter is Alice Gillman and her son is Al Friedson, both lived in Minneapolis. The voyage for the family was steerage and very difficult, but they made it successfully, entering the United States through a port in Canada and then coming directly to Minneapolis. It is an interesting sideline that on the Ship’s roster, the registrar indicates that Ada is possibly senile, which we know wasn’t true. One wonders, was it just language and communication?