JAROSCHEWSKY

[Jan19230]

I am trying to help a friend trace her family history.  It is a bit tricky.  Family story is that my friends grandfather was born in Odessa in 1891 with the name Joseph JAROSCHEWSKY but changed his name to Joseph ELKIN after moving to England to escape the Bolshevek uprisings. 

Can anyone help me with this as it seems the family are of Jewish origin, and I have no idea how to go about the research.

Jan

[jorose]

There was no legal requirement for name changes, so he could have easily just picked up the name 'Elkin' when he got to England and not have left any particular trace.

Do you have a marriage certificate for him, or any info on his wife?

freebmd does show an Isaac Jaroschewski who married in Kensington in 1927. He appears to have naturalised, and is referred to on the NA catalogue as aka Yaroshevski aka Yaro. There are quite a few people on the NA catalogue with various Jaro* and Yaro* spellings.

[Jan19230]

Hi Jorose

Thank you for replying.  Details from his marriage certificate are:

1st August 1922 at the Registry Office in the district of Hackney in the County of London.

Joseph ELKIN, 31, batchelor, Occupation, Butcher, 90 Brighton Road, Stoke Newington.  Father, John ELKIN (deceased) Coal Merchant
married
Ada Elizabeth Cutriss CLARK, 22, Spinster of 90 Brighton Road, Stoke Newington.  Father Edmund Cutriss CLARK (deceased) Commercial Clerk.

Witnesses:  Matilda Ballard, M Isaacs, H Rhondam Loney (Superintendent Registrar)

I have written to the NA to ask if I can review the document referring to the naturalisation, but their receipt notice tells me it could take between 10 - 20 days.

I think I may have to wait for the 1911 Census.

I am not sure that his father came with him to England and details are quite sparse, although my friend's Aunt has a letter from Berlin written by Joseph's brother Isidor, but they cannot tell whether it is written in Russian or German.  The letter has a printed heading

"Europa" (could this be a ship)
J Jaroschewsky & Co
Berlin W. 50
Marburgerstr. Sa
(Ecke Augsburgerstr.)

The letter is dated 30 May 1928.

There is also a photo of a chap wearing what looks like a Naval or merchant marine cap with some indecipherable lettering above the peak.  Apparently this is another brother, Ivan.

Any help on this I would be grateful.  My research difficulties include my friend living in Central Africa, I live in France and my friends Uncle who has the information, although lives in England, is 82.  He does however, have a clear memory and has already collected some information about the CLARK side of the family.

Best wishes.

Jan

[JustinL]

Hello Jan,

Your friend should join JewishGen - the Jewish genealogy forum. I am a member and have just checked some of the databases.

JAROSCHEWSKY and its phonetic variants was common enough in what is now the Ukraine. There are seven other people reseaching ancestors with that surname from Odessa!

The All Russia Business Directory for Odessa lists:

1895 Yankel Yaroshevskii, cotton/wadding wool plant, Uspenskaya 12,
1899 Yankel Leiba Yaroshevskii, cotton wol manufacturer, ditto
1899 ?? Yaroshevskii, tobacco factory
1903 David Yosef Yaroshevskii, iron-hardware, Prokhorovskaya Sq.
1911 G. M. Yaroshevskii, metal articles, Kniazheskaya 37
1911 M.-Ya. Sh.-B. Yaroshevskii, bread & grain for bread, Tiraspol'skaya zastava, liniia 5

Elkin sounds to me like a Yiddish derivative of the Hebrew name Elchanan; possibly the name of his father.

I'll see what else I can dig up.

Justin

[Jan19230]

Hi Justin

Many thanks for your help.  It's fascinating.  A whole new area of research for me.

It set me to thinking just how a 16 year old, apparently on his own (no other family at least), made it to England from his home town.  How long it took him, what hardships he found on the way.  Did he already have family in England?  Had that family also changed their surname to ELKIN which is the name he took.

I will check out JewishGen and pass on the information to her.

If you can dig anything out for me - I would be truly grateful.

Best wishes.

Jan

[JustinL]

Jan,

You are most welcome.

I suspect that the family had already moved to Berlin. The spelling you have is clearly German.

How do you know he was only 16 when he arrived in London?

Can you post an image of the letter to this forum? We can at least identify the language.

I have sent a message to a chap who is researching Yaroshevsky from Odessa. Fingers crossed!

Rgds, Justin

[Jan19230]

Hi Justin

I have joined JewishGen but as yet have not had a look, as I had to nip out for a French lesson.

Back now though.  Thank you for the PM you send from Richard.  Very useful information as the address ties in with the letter my friends Aunt has.  I will try and get a copy of the letter and post it as a PM, but I don't know how long that will take.

In the meantime though, I have looked back through the notes my friend has e-mailed and she says:
"my own mother told me that Joseph, her dad, came from Odesa in Russia and left there at a very young age (16 years) to go to the UK because other members of his family were being persecuted due to their wealth, intellect"

This statements makes more sense now that we know from Richard that Isidor was a bookstore keeper.

I will write and let her know of the name spelling variations and that Jaroschewsky is clearly the German spelling.

I will let you know if I can find out any other details.

Regards.

Jan

[JustinL]

Bonjour, comment ca va?

That's the limit of my French.

I looked up the Jaroschewski address in the online Berlin Address Book, not Richard. There was only that single netry in 1929. Odd?

The letter would be most interesting to see.

All the best, Justin

[Jan19230]

Bonjour

Je suis pas mal.  Not too bad, only a slight hangover this morning as we had friends staying last night.  Good friends, good food and good wine.

My apologies.  Thank you for looking up that entry it was very useful. 

Had an e-mail from my friend last night, who also says a huge thank you.  She is going to ask her uncle if he will be able to send her a copy of the letter.  I will post it when it arrives.

Speak soon.

Jan