Based on his wedding and death certificates, Woolf Friedman (son of Aaron Yehudd and Sara Dina) was born between 1884 and 1886. From his naturalization papers, submitted on 28 September 1907 in Uitenhage, we establish that he arrived in South Africa on 10 October 1899. After a year in Port Elizabeth, the then spent seven years in Uitenhage. According to his reference letter, he was a general dealer and had a property. In 1906 he took out a mortgage. Curiously, his name is spelt Wolf and not Woolf, but his birthplace is clearly listed as Vieksniai (spelt Woeksne on his application). It is not clear when he left Uitenhage and it whether it was for Vryburg or elsewhere. He arrived in Vryburg well before 1911, as the first reference to him is a court case in January of that year. In 1916 he published letters confronting a local anti-Semite. His brother Michael Friedman also travelled to South Africa and started out in Vryburg and then moved to Takoon (on the road to Kuruman where he was in business with a Meltzer till June 1916) and then back to Vryburg and then to to Mafikeng (where he was a hotelier) and finally, Stellenbosch. Michael owned the Grand Hotel in Stellenbosch and died in 1939. He was married to Gertie Gottschalk and they had three children, twins Joel and Lorna (born 1918) and Diana Sonia. Gertie was the daughter of Jacob Benjamin Gottschalk (non of Benjamin and Liebe) and Ida (nee Schatz) and they hailed from Goldigen in Latvia. The couple had four children; Gertie, Anne, Max and Harry (who died young). The Gottschalk's were based in Stellenbosch. 

 

Michael and Woolf were listed as being born in Vexna, which is the Yiddish name for Vieksniai. The town is close to Mažeikiai. They created an entity called Friedman Brothers and petitioned the Cape Supreme Court in January 1911. In a 1913 court case Woolf is listed as a produce dealer and speculator. In another legal case, Woolf is listed as a feather buyer, which implies he was in Oudtshoorn before Vryburg. Anney Garnet found a 1916 advert for an M. Friedman who bought hides. The Friedman brothers were joined in Vryburg by a brother Samuel (his Hebrew name according to the Vryburg Shul records was Shmuel ben Aaron Yehuda) and another cousin Louis Sher - probably a few years later. The Freidman brothers were related to the Poliak, Lax and Wald families from Mazaik (which is very close to Vieksniai), through marriage. The mother of Abe Lax (Lubavitch) and sisters Pessa and Tzira was a Friedman. She may havebeen a sister to the three brothers. Based on research with Raymond Ravinsky, we have established that the three brothers had a sister Rosa (Reisa) who was married to Nahum Stires and lived in Riga. They were murdered in the Riga Ghetto by the Nazis. 

 

Woolf was in the skin trade and a famer/speculator. Woolf later married Sonia Savell. It seems conceivable that Woolf was the reason the Mazaik families reached Vryburg and drew others. Woolf passed away in 1951 and is buried in Johannesburg. His listed residential address was 42 Vry Street. From a court proceeding in 1919 (involving Sam) we glean that he was at the time living in the Central Hotel. Sonia was a very cultured, well read and liked person. She stayed in Vryburg after losing Woolf and reportedly lost her capital to a family member (the son of her brother Arthur) who defrauded her and others. Samuel Friedman is buried in Vryburg. His cousin Louis Sher is also buried there. Sam and Louis farmed and lived on the farm Bankspoort and in the early 1950's moved to the Central Hotel. Sam Friedman had several children with Lena Titus and Louis Sher with Regina Abt. As a result of this project, contact has been established with their descendants.