The River Running
"Immigrants: we get the job done" -- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
The Gittelman Family of David-Gorodok
Most of my information about my grandfather's family comes to me from my aunt, who in turn got most of her information from her father and from other older relatives. Inevitably, a certain amount of family mythology got mixed in with the family history. I've done the best I can to weed the two out from each other.
According to my aunt, the family came from David-Gorodok, in what's now southern Belarus near the border with Ukraine. Until 1929, David-Gorodok lay within the Minsk gubernia. The town lies 208 km south of Minsk on the Horyn River, near where the Horyn flows into the Pripyat. The land around the rivers is low and marshy. The Horyn meanders northward to join the Pripyat. The Pripyat meanders eastward to join the Dniepr. Thus, it's possible to ship goods by boat from David-Gorodok to Kiev and Ekaterinoslav. The Memorial Book of Davidgrodek, edited by Y Idan et al and published in 1957, may be of interest. (Davidgrodek is the Polish name for the town.)
According to my aunt, the Gittelmans controlled the windmills on the Pripyat River. I'm not sure when this was, however.
Mikhail Gittelman married Sarah. They had six sons. In order of birth, these were:
Nathan is the only son for whom I have an estimated year of birth. Lazar's oldest child that I know about was born in 1900-1901.
The fourth son, Solomon, had three children, Isak, Esther and Rose. Isak also had three children. My aunt was able to make contact with them and to assist two of them in immigrating to the States. Rose may have had a daughter.