The roaring 1920s​

A few families arrived prior to or during the 1920s:  Sarah (Cuddles) Lewis (born Sebba) and Abraham Abbie Lewis (Levisus), his brother Louis Lewis. Sarah is first mentioned in a 1924 court case. Tailor Nathan Levine and movie theater owner D.S. Cohen were also in town. Moses Cohen owned the Savoy (later the International) Hotel from 1919-1929. In 1922 Ephraim Gluckman and Samuel Solomon Kaplan were represented on the local Town Council. Ephraim Gluckman, a bachelor, was lawyer and born in Talsen, Latvia. By the time Ephraim passed away in 1948, he was living on Lindhurst Dairy Farm in Johannesburg. From his estate, we learn that his sister Nadia Gluckman was married to Joseph Berman. Joseph and Nadia were in Vryburg as well. Solomon Kaplan was married to Fannie Kaplan and his business partner was Harry Abrahamson and their business entity was a General Dealers, called Kaplan and Abramson. In 1921 Harry and his wife lost their baby, who is buried in Vryburg. They left in 1922 after filing for insolvency in July 1922. From the records of the local Free Mason Lodge - the Stella Lodge - we also learn of other Jews in town: Solomon Maurice Redhouse, who was initiated in 1902 and Samuel Bing was initiated in 1912 and listed as a clerk. He presumably worked at Solomons Stores. Samuel was the son of Benjamin and Ida Bing and related to Bertha Bing, who married Theo Sonnenberg. There was also a Pasech (?) Lavin was initiated in 1913 and was a farmer. Jacob Trass (or Frass) was initiated in 1914 and resigned in 1918. In 1922 Shmaryahu Levin was the chief guest of the eight South African Zionist Conference. The Zionist Record reported that the Vryburg Zionist Society (earlier led by Harry Abrahamson and founded by Woolf Goldwater) was represented by Joseph Reeb. We presume he was living in Vryburg at the time. From his estate we see that he was a farmer and a merchant from Rysmierbult and of Latvian origin. 

 

The earliest reference to Jack Silbert was also in 1922. Simon Maurice Suchet (nephew of Elias Helfer of Geluk) married Fannie Katzin in 1927. Percy Friedman (son of Jacob Freidman from Shavel) and Morris Bayer, both from Taungs, were also active in business around 1918. Lazarus Falowitz passed away in February 1928. His death certificate lists him as owning a store in Pudimoe and his will (signed in Yiddish) was written up in Vryburg. The business he operated was L. Falowitz and Son and as reported, in his estate distribution. Lazarus Falowitz applied for citizenship in November 1904, then aged 36 and a shopkeeper based in Kimberley. By then, he had been in the Colony for eight years. Lazarus and his wife Leah (nee Horwitz) had five children; Molly (married Jack Freedman), Abraham (married Gertrude Wax), Jack (married Zena Rudolph), Betty (married Solomon Lipschitz in 1920 and is listed as living in Pudimoe at the time) and Cecilia (married Harry Michelow) Though the Bet Hatfutsot list includes an Ezekowitz family, there is nothing I have seen that places this Uniondale-Aliwal North family in Vryburg. This list also includes a Greenberg. He was Morris Greenberg (son of Zalman and Chana) form Lithuania and married to  Bertha Linde from Uniondale. He died in 1929 at the residence of Louis and Chai Chesne Linde residence in Uniondale, leaving behind two daughters, Felicia Daphne (born 1924) and Eleana (born 1928). He is listed as a storekeeper and speculator on his death certificate. 

 

Elias Traub, who was born in 1906 in Beaufort West came to Vryburg in 1924, at the age of 18 years, to do his articles with Wessels. de Kock and Van Rooyen. According to an interview he conducted with Eve Horwitz in 1986, he noted that he came to Vryburg “on the recommendation of a relative.” From the estate of Nechama Horwitz (Bayer) we glean that Elias’s father was her brother in law. Later, Elias’s brother Izzy also did his articles in Vryburg.

 

David Salmonson from Libau reached Vryburg in 1921. Abe Lax, whose original surname was Lubavitch or Leibowitz arrived before 1920 and was initiated to the local Free Masons Lodge in 1920. It can be assumed that Sam Friedman (brother of Woolf) and his cousin Louis Sher also arrived around then. Abe Lax was joined by his his brother in law, Chanan Poliak in 1925. In 1927 Tzirre (Celia) Poliak joined her husband. Also in town were Esther and Jack Perel and Jacob (Jack) Cohen and Fay Cohen, who arrived in 1927. Fay and Esther were sisters from the Manoim family. Fay and Esther were to found the Vryburg Jewish Ladies Society. Jacob Cohen was from Bloemhof and the son of Moses Michael Cohen and Sarah Rebecca Abe. Jacob's brother Maximillian Isaac (Max) Cohen was engaged to Ida Goldinger of Zeerust in 1931 and was also listed as living in Vryburg by the Zionist Record. Ida's father, Isaac Goldinger, was from Hasenpoth or Aizpute in Latvia. Both Cohen brothers later moved to Wepenaar. Other arrivals included, Avraham Mordechai (Morris) and Pessa (Pauline) Wald and hotelier Kevi Levin, who reached Vryburg in 1929. I have seen reference to Charlie Osrin - a veterinarian as early as 1928.

 

The community buried three members in the 1920's: Maude Levine died in 1922, aged 24. She was the first wife of the tailor Nathan Levine. Her death would explain Nathan's absence from the town around then. He remarried Raie, Rachael Diamondstone in Kimberley in 1926. The second burial was a 33 year old lawyer, Jacob Hoffland practicing law in Taung. The third, Ludwig Hammerschlag, aged 41 passed away in October 1928. Ludwig was a Barman. His tombstone mentions a mother, brothers, sisters and an uncle. We know that his brother, Herman Hammerschlag, was a Kuruman resident. His other brother Max was in Lichtenburg, his sister Adele in Cape Town and a fourth sibling, Bertha, was in Wolmeranstad. Paul Cheifitz’s study of Potchefstroom  (page 14) refers to a Siegmund Hammerschlag who succeeded in pioneering import gold crushing equipment and making a tidy fortune in the Transvaal as a result. Other Vryburg names who possibly had a Potchefstroom connection are Kalman Folb – perhaps distantly related to Mickey Folb, who worked at the Central Hotel and the Monk family (Cheifetz, pages 35-36, 59 and 69). Gita Franco recalls that the Monk family, who are listed by Beit Hatfutsot, were not involved in the community and lived in a fancy home.

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From a Zionist Record article we lean that  in 1922 a J. (Joseph) Reeb represented the Vryburg Zionist Society at a National Conference. Shmaryahu Levin was the chief guest of the eight South African Zionist Conference. From his naturalization papers in 1902, we know he was in Mafikeng at the time. He is listed as being born in Weksne (Courland). On his death certificate we see his Mom was living in Riga. As we may recall, the Lax/Lubavitch family (Abe and sisters Pessa and Tzirre and Friedmans - Woolf, Sam and Michael) were from those parts. Weksna/ Mazaik is close to the modern day border with Latvia. He was a trader and farmer at Rhysmierbuilt - where the Sussman (and Brasch) family congregated. Coincidence or a pattern?

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