The Neumann Family
Neuman (also spelled Neumann) is one of the more common surnames for Hungarian Jews appearing in Ung and Zemplen county records dating from the early years of the 19th century. The earliest reference to my Neumann ancestors is the inscription on a headstone in the Jewish cemetery north of Sobrance. The stone marks the grave of Avigdor Avraham Neuman who died in 1865 and was the son of Natan Nata Segal. The name Segal and the image of the pitcher identify my great-great-grandfather Avigdor Avraham as a Levite, an identification that has been verified by my brother's DNA tests.
The inscription states that the deceased died leaving a wife and son. The son to whom the inscription refers is probably my great-grandfather Miksa (Meier Shlomo haLevi) Neumann, who was born in 1841. Although the record of Miksa’s marriage states that he was an only child that seems unlikely because his father Viktor was 50 when he died according to his death record. The record, which is in a register of Jewish deaths from the Szobrancz district found in the Ukraine State archives in Uzhorod, confirms that Viktor died in 1865 but doesn’t provide an exact date. Miksa’s mother was Johana/Hani Salamonovits. According to the 1869 Census of Hungary, at that time she was a widow living with Miksa and his family. Census and death records indicate that both Miksa and his mother were born in Szeretva, which could be either Kisszeretva or Nagyszeretva in the Kapos district of Ung county, several kilometers southeast of Szobrancz. These places were about 4 km apart and had a combined total of 63 Jewish residents in 1877. They are now Stretavka and Stretava, Slovakia. Copyright © Vivian Kahn, 2016. All rights reserved. |