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History
The Bogage family originated in Eastern Europe as a Jewish family named Boguslavsky. 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.
The Pale of Jewish Settlement
The family can be traced to the Pale of Jewish Settlement [1] in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine) in the early 18th 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. Our first clue is the family name: Boguslavsky.
Before the 1800’s most Jews did not have family names — no Bogage, no Boguslavsky. Nada. People were known only by their father’s given name. So you would have Nachmann ben Beryl, which meant Nachmann son of Beryl. Then came the Pale of Settlement with all of its rules and regulations and, bingo, Jews were required to 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 [3] is (and was) a town in the Pale of Settlement (now in the country of Ukraine) about 63 miles SSE of Kiev. Knowing that there was/is a town called Boguslav and that a Boguslavsky was someone from Boguslav, we can deduce that at some time before 1800 ancestors of the Bogage/Boguslavsky family likely lived in Boguslav.
Beryl and Bossia
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.
Beryl_and_Bossie_Boguslavsky.jpg Beryl, a rabbi, and Bossia, a midwife, were the grandparents of my zayde -- my zayde’s zayde and bubby. We don’t know much about them, but we can learn a little from these early photographs, which our grandparents brought with them when they came to the U.S. What do you think? Not rich, but working class; religious/traditional, but not Hassidic; definitely young and attractive.
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![[4]](http://bogage.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=File:Scan_2020-3-27_16.03.27.jpg){kind=link}
Genealogy
Brother 1
{to do}
Brother 2
Brother 3
Brother 4
Brother 5
Brother 6
Sister 1
Sister 2
Sister 3
References
A person in the Bogage family is Estelle Sassaman.
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