The Bogage Family
The Bogage family originated in Eastern Europe as a Jewish family named Boguslavsky. Talk: History As Jews, their options were limited: governmental regulations dictated where they could live, what occupations they could pursue, and even what names they could use. While these regulations were restrictive for the early Boguslavsky/Bogage family, they can be beneficial to present day researchers who have no verifiable data but who wish to understand the family's origins.
This photo was taken at Joe and Shirley's wedding, on March 6, 1949. (FRONT L-R: Becky, Caroline, Estelle, Pauline, Bessie, Richard, Betty, Manya, Feige, Chaike, Esther, Liza. BACK L-R: Becky's niece Dorothy, Lazar, Becky's nephew Sol, Sol's wife Stella, Harry, Herman, Frances, Bernie, Morris, Mickey, Eugene, Harriet, Ralph, Yoine, BH, Marian, Carol, Ronnie, Helen, Yisruel, Ben.) Talk: The Bogage Family
Geography and Politics
Family origins can be traced to the Pale of Jewish Settlement [1] in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine) in the early 19th century. This map [2] shows the extent of the Pale of Settlement where Jews were required to live. The Boguslavsky family origins are in the area south of Kiev in the towns of Boguslav, Imi, Talne and Bobrinets. [3] Sixty-three miles south of Kiev is the town Boguslav. Bobrinets is 181 miles SSE of Kiev. Talne is 107 miles S of Kiev. The other town that figures in our history is Imi, likely somewhere between Boguslav and Bobrinets. Later, in the 20th century, family members (namely, Khana and Myra and their families) settled in the city of Dnepropetrovsk, a large city 243 miles SE of Kiev.
For Jews, life in the Pale was very much influenced by the unpredictability and violence of pogroms. [4]
Boguslav
Before the 1800’s most Jews did not have family names — no Bogage, no Boguslavsky. People were known only by their father’s given name. Nachmann ben Beryl, for example, would be Nachmann son of Beryl. With the establishment of the Pale of Settlement, came a plethora of rules and regulations for resident Jews including a requirement that Jews take a surname (aka family name). Some Jews took names based on their parent’s given name (Abramowitz = son of Abram), some based on personal description (klein = small), and some based on a geographic place (Warshawski = from Warsaw).
Boguslav is (and was) a town in the Pale of Settlement (now in the country of Ukraine) about 63 miles SSE of Kiev [5]. Knowing that there was/is a town called Boguslav and that a person whose name was Boguslavsky was someone from Boguslav, we can deduce that at some time before 1800 ancestors of the Bogage/Boguslavsky family likely lived in Boguslav.
Imi
The first information we have of our ancestors is through oral history told to us by our grandparents. Our Uncle Yoine told his daughter Pauline what he knew: His zayde Beryl Boguslavsky was born in a “big city” in Russia called Imi (probably around 1830) and his marriage to Bossia (aka Bessie) Meisel was arranged (and said to be a “very good” match) by the couple’s fathers who were both rabbis. Try to find Imi on any map, past or present, and you will come up empty. Yet, according to Uncle Yoine, it was a “big city.” It is likely that Imi was somewhere south of Boguslav.
Talne
Before they settled in Bobrinets, Nachmann Josef and his family lived in Talne where he studied. Uman is probably the most prominent town closest to Talne. [6]
Bobrinets
It was in Bobrinets where the children of Nachmann Josef and Croyne grew up before they migrated south to Dnepropetrosk, and to far-flung cities in the U.S., Uzbekistan, and Israel.
Genealogy, Part 1 -- The First Two Generations
Beryl and Bossia
Beryl, a rabbi, and Bossia, a midwife, are the first Bogage/Boguslavsky ancestors that we can name. Both the children of rabbis, the arranged marriage of Beryl Boguslavsky and Bossia Meisel was considered a very good match. We know them as the grandparents of the five Bogage siblings to immigrate to the U.S. during the early decades of the 20th century. We don’t know much about them, but we can surmise that as the offspring of rabbis, they were traditional Jews of Eastern Europe in the 19th century.
They lived in the town of Imi and had five children: Nachmann Josef, Label, Cuche, Khana, and Pinya Raisel. Known in the family as Yussel, Nachmann Josef was born around 1850. Of his siblings, we know only that his sister Pinya Raisel married Moishe Skolnick, a rabbi and a maggid. They had two children, a daughter Feige and a son. Following Pinya Raisel's death, Feige was raised by Khana, sister of Pinya Raisel and Nachmann Josef.
The children of Beryl and Bossia
Nachmann Josef
Nachmann Josef’s marriage to Kraina (also spelled Croyne), daughter of Yonah and Rosa Hussan from the town of Talna, was arranged by their parents. Her father Yonah was a chazan or cantor, hence the name Yonah Hussan. It is likely that he was not the first chazan in his family.
The couple moved to Talna while Nachmann Josef, who was studying to become a malamed (teacher), chazan (cantor), and magid (preacher), attended Yeshiva Itzchak El Huna in that town. While they lived in Talna, the couple had three children: Khana, Ralph, and Myra. After Nachmann Josef completed his studies, the family moved to Bobrinets, where he worked as a melamed and a magid and was often paid with bartered chickens and the like.
Life in Bobrinets
In Bobrinets the family lived in a simply furnished, stucco-type home with earthen floors, a straw roof, and a fireplace that was used for both cooking and heating. Kerosene lamps lit the home at night; a well behind the home provided water; and an outhouse provided the necessary toilet.
Kept in a small barn next to the house, six goats provided the family with milk and cheese. The goats were taken to the field every morning and brought back to the barn every evening to be milked. (When the weather was bad, the goats were brought into the house.) The family also kept chickens and had a small vegetable garden.
This was a time before automobiles, before paved roads, a time when vehicles were horses, carriages, and carts; and a time when muddy trails could halt all travel.
The boys attended school for Jewish children to learn Russian as well as a Talmud Torah for religious training. "The young girls were trained to be good Jewish wives by their mother." Talk:Life in Bobrinets
Jews in Bobrinets lived in the Jewish quarter (ghetto) and had a shul, a Talmud Torah, a mikvah, a cemetery, and retail establishments such as a kosher butcher, a tailor, and a hat maker.
Although life in Bobrinets was difficult, it was thought to be easier than living in the big cities. Yoine often spoke of how beautiful it was in the spring.
Bobrinets was not far from Odessa, a city on the Black Sea. The family "would go to Odessa for the Mud Baths. . . and to hear the Great Hazans (great cantors) who came to the beautiful synagogue there to sing."
Pinya Raisel
Of Nachmann Josef's siblings, we know only that his sister Pinya Raisel married Moishe Skolnick, a rabbi and a maggid. They had two children, a daughter Feige (who later married Yoine Boguslavsky) and a son. Following Pinya Raisel's death, Feige was raised by Khana, sister of Pinya Raisel and Nachmann Josef.
The Family Business
Beryl Boguslavsky was a rabbi. We are told that Moishe Skolnick was a rabbi and a maggid, and Nachman Josef worked as a melamed and a maggid. His father-in-law, Yonah Hussan was a cantor. In 19th century Eastern Europe, these four occupations (rabbi, melamed, maggid, and cantor) were related, and may have even overlapped, but they were separate. It is interesting to note, as well, that they all carried with them a kind of respect not affiliated with other occupations. (When Nachmann Josef’s name was mentioned formally, it was accompanied by his title: ha-levi ha-maggid.)
According to Yaffa Eliach, “The Eastern European rabbi in general and the shtetl rabbi in particular was a guiding and unifying force. . .He was perceived as the highest moral authority in the community; the embodiment of Judaism itself, and honored accordingly. . . In time of trouble. . . he was expected to guide the community to safety. He opened all public and private events with a speech or benediction.” (There Once Was a World, p. 94)
The melamed (the Hebrew word for teacher) was a teacher of children. It was a position of respect, but carried a very low salary. The chazan, or cantor, was responsible for leading services in the synagogue and providing the musical accompaniment to prayer. The maggid was an occupation more like the modern equivalent of rabbi. The name literally means “to preach” or “to say,” and the maggid was, often, the voice of the people. His major function was to preach and lift up his audience in contrast to the rabbis, who would offer advice on halakhic issues. His concern was moral rather than legal.
Eliach states that “Some historians view the maggidim. . .as a kind of non-establishment intelligentsia, having much of the learning and influence of the traditional scholar but without being in any way beholden to the upper strata of Jewish society. The maggidim were thus a great moral force within the community, free to speak their minds and, from their unique vantage point outside the establishment, to criticize both the leaders and the people.” (p. 120)
The Boguslavsky family business, so to speak, was based on learning, teaching, ideas, and communicating that to the people of the community.
Genealogy, Part 2, The Third Generation
Nachmann Josef and Croyne Boguslavsky had nine children, five of whom emigrated to the U.S. in the early years of the 20th century:
- Khana: 1872? - 1941
- Rafuel: 1884 - 1957
- Myra: 1885 - 1977
- Israel (Harry): 1887 - 1952
- Chaika: 1890 - 1980
- Yonah (Yoine/Jonah/Joe): 1891 - 1985
- Lazer (Louis): 1894 - 1984
- Label -- b. 1898 - 1958 Russia
- Rose -- b. 1901 - 1989
Khana/Chana
1872? - 1941
Khana Boguslavsky, eldest child of Nachmann Josef and Croyne Boguslavsky, was born in Talne, sometime in the 1870's. She married a man named Boris who divorced her, it has been said, because she was unable to conceive a child. Talk:Khana We do know, however, that she later married Yudel Gershovich, lived in Dnepropetrovsk and had five children (Yoine, Pinya, Yisrul, Vladimir, and Beryl). According to a post by her grandson, Yaakov Gershovich, on the Yad Vashem website,[[8]] she was murdered by the Nazis in Dnepropetrovsk in 1941. On the eve of World War II, Dnepropetrovsk had a Jewish population of 80,000 out of a total population of 500,662. . . When Dnepropetrovsk was liberated by the Red Army on October 25, 1943, only 15 Jews were left alive in the city. [9]
Rafuel/Raphael/Ralph
1884 - 1957
Ralph, the eldest son, was born in Talna in 1884. With his younger brother Israel (later called Harry), he was sent to Kiev to learn the watchmaking trade. Since very few Jews were permitted to live in Kiev and even fewer were permitted to attend this school, it was considered a great honor to be admitted to the school. Despite the fact that it posed a financial burden on the family, the brothers went to Kiev to learn the trade.
Ralph and Minnie (known as Manya in the family) Goldovsky (August 6, 1883 - July 15, 1969) married in Bobrinets before they left Russia. They went to Switzerland and then London, where Ralph studied watchmaking before sailing for the U.S. in 1906. Some stories indicate that they lived in France for a time before moving to London, but that has not been confirmed.
Ralph and Manya had two sons: Jonah Edward Bogage (known as Eddie/Edward), October 1906-December 1949; and Bernard (known as Bernie), October 1908 - April 2000.
Myra/Maria/Manya
1885-1977
Myra was born in Talna in 1885 and died in 1977 in Dnepropetrovsk. She married a man whose surname was Urkovsky and had four children: Boris, Fena, Rosa, and Estelle (known as Ettel).
Yisruel/Israel/Harry
1887? - 1952
Israel (in Yiddish, Yisruel) was born in Bobrinets probably around 1887. (Various documents list his age differently: WWI Draft Registration card lists his birth as 1882; 1940 census as 1888; 1912 ship manifest as 1885; and 1922 ship manifest as 1887.) He married Liza Kleinman (1893-1975) (Talk: Yisruel/Israel/Harry) in Russia, and they had three children: Lucy (born in Russia in 1910-2001), Helen (1916-1963), and Eugene (1926-2016 ).
Because he was outspoken and was critical about the czar, Yisruel was sent to Siberia to serve time as a political prisoner. He escaped when Liza visited with baby Lucy. It is said that when Liza and Lucy were leaving, Israel asked the guard if he could walk them to the train because his little girl was sick. The guard agreed, but when his wife and child boarded the train, Israel kept walking until he crossed the border and, with the help of an underground network, was able to get a visa and go to the US.
Israel Bogage (not Boguslavsky) traveled on The Olympic from Cherbourg, France to New York, arriving on March 20, 1912. (At the time, The Olympic was the largest liner in the world and was a sister ship to the Titanic.) He listed his occupation as watchmaker on the ship's manifest and indicated that he was going to his brother Ralph Bogage in Worcester.
Liza and Lucy left Cherbourg on August 31, 1912 and arrived in New York 10 days later. They were traveling to Lucy's husband Israel in Worcester, MA.
Once in the US, Israel changed his name to Harry and worked as a jeweler in New York City and, later, in Queens.
Harry returned to Russia in February 1922 on the SS Patruciae. He traveled back to NY, arriving on April 29, 1922 on the George Washington from Bremen, Germany.
Chaika/Clara
1890 - 1979
Chaika was born in Bobrinets in 1890 and seems to have been the darling of her protective brothers. According to one story, Chaika's brothers were very particular about the boys she associated with. They would hide her one special dress so that she couldn't go out if the brothers disapproved of her choice. However, when Beryl Cutler, a young roofer from Kiev, came to Bobrinets in search of work, he attracted the attention of the Boguslavsky men as "someone who was full of life and would be a good father and make a good living." Apparently, all of that was true because once they were engaged, Beryl kept putting off the wedding because he had to wait until it rained -- he couldn't afford to miss a day of work.
Chaika did marry Beryl Hyman Cutler (known later as B.H.) and they had three children. In 1911, their first child, Bessie (Betty) was born, and Beryl left Bobrinets for America. When they were able to gather enough money together, Chaika followed with Betty and her sister-in-law and cousin, Feige. They arrived at Ellis Island in 1913.
Yoine/Jonah/Joe
1891 - 1985
Yoine was born in Bobrinets in 1891, the third son and sixth child of Nachmann Josef and Croyna. With his strong tenor voice, his life plan was to go to Odessa to study to become a hazan (cantor). Instead, because finances were limited, Yoine and his younger brother Lazer were apprenticed to be grocery clerks.
Yoine married Feige Skolnick (daughter of his father's sister, Pinya Raisel) in Bobrinets in December 1912.
By the time he was 20, Yoine's two older brothers had left Russia for America, and he was slated to go into the Russian army in place of his cousin who was an only son. (Russian Jewish communities were required to furnish a specific number of young males to be conscripted into the army and serve for 25 years. An only son was exempt, but the community had to provide someone to make up for the exempted recruit.) Believing that if he injured Yoine in some way his brother-in-law would be rejected from the army, Beryl hammered Yoine's toes. The ploy did not work, however, and Yoine was instructed to report for duty the next day. Croyna contacted the Underground network, a group of Jews and Anti-czarists who helped Jews flee the country, and Yoine was carried out of Russia hidden in the back of a hay wagon. Yoine often mentioned that he could still hear his mother crying for him.
Records indicate that "Jojne Boguslawski" of Bobrynice, ethnicity Hebrew, departed from Hamburg on the ship Pretoria of the Hamburg-American line and arrived in New York on February 28, 1913.
After working with his brothers for a time as a watchmaker in Worcester, Yoine moved his family to Trenton, NJ, where he worked at the Trenton Watch Factory [10] and later opened a small grocery store at 195 Locust Street. Their first surviving child, Bessie, was born in 1916.
Lazer/Louis
1894 - 1984
Lazer Boguslavsky, the seventh of nine children and the last to immigrate to America, was born in Bobrinets in 1894. He was just a teenager when his mother presented him with his two options as she saw it: stay and be recruited into the Russian army where he would surely die (talk of war and revolution had reached them), or leave and seek refuge with his brothers in America. One dark night in the spring of 1914, she led him to a field and told him to go. Like his brother Yoine, he met the man with the hay wagon and began his journey to Hamburg where he would board the SS Cleveland and spend the next two weeks in steerage along with over 1800 other immigrants, celebrating his 20th birthday at sea and arriving in Boston on June 7, 1914.
Once in the U.S. he joined his brothers in Massachusetts and worked at the Waltham watch factory. He was now Louis Bogage.
He had three children -- Benjamin, Caroline, and Joseph -- and spent most of his working years as a salesman and living in Trenton, New Jersey and Bristol, Pennsylvania. During the 1950's, he owned and operated Bogage and Sons, a clothing and jewelry store on Mill Street, Bristol. (Talk:Remembering Lazer)
Label/Lev
1898 - 1958
The youngest son of Nachmann Josef and Croyna, Lev (also known as Label), was born in Bobrinets in 1898 and married Berta (known as Betty). By the time he came of age, the politics and hostilities of the first world war had cut off travel and immigration to the U.S., and the path to America was closed. He remained in Russia (soon to become the Soviet Union) and cared for his mother. Lev had two daughters -- Maria (1920-1976) and Croyna/Kraina (1924-). He died in 1958. Talk:Lev
Rosa
1901 - 1989
Rosa was the youngest child of Nachmann Josef and Croyna, born in 1901 in Bobrinets. She married Kunia Brodsky and had three children: Rita Brodsky (b. 1920), Klavdiya (Claudia) Elkunovna Brodsky (b. May 1929), and Mayor Elkunovich Brodsky (b. June 1939). The family remained in the Soviet Union, settling in Tashkent. Talk:Rose