Samuel David Levine

Notes:

In 1920, the family was living on High Street, Baltimore, and Solomon and Samuel were both working as bookkeepers, Solomon in a clothing house and Samuel in an underwear manufacturer.

In 1930 he was living on Whitdock Street in Baltimore, with his wife Kitty and one year old daughter, Bernice. He was a manager in a clothing factory.

In 1940 was living with his parents on Cottage Avenue in Baltimore, and listed as a salesman of Ladies Coats. His wife and daughter were not listed in the home.

Whe he registered for the draft in 1942, as Samuel David Levine, his birthplace was shown as Ponevez, Russia, and his employer was Abraham Marcush. He was 5'11" tall, weighing 190, and had blue eyes and black hair, His next of kin was listed as Kitty Levine.

His FindAGrave memorial page shows him as Father of Mrs. Bernice Goverman.
Brother of Mrs. Tillie Solomon, Solomon J. Levine, Mrs. Edith Moss and Ruth Levine.

Samuel married Kitty Helen Morris about 1941 in Dade County, Florisa. Kitty was born on 25 Oct 1905 in Virginia; died on 12 Nov 1958; was buried in Arlington Cemetery, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Bernice Levine was born on 8 Sep 1928 in Maryland; died on 17 Apr 1965; was buried in Arlington Cemetery, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland.

Notes:

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Naturalization Petitions of the US District Court for the District of Maryland, 1906-1930; Microfilm Roll: 2; Microfilm Serial: M1640 show that on 10 Nov 1910 Reuben Levin, male, petitioned for naturalization in Maryland. He was shown as born in Ponives, Russia on 15 Feb 187o, and his spouse was shown as Roche, and children, Solomon, Ruth, Edith and Tillie. He was a shoemaker, and emigrated from Liverpool, England on 30 September 1903. His residence was 1044 Granby in Baltimore. Witnesses were Louis P. Salganik and Louis Spillman.

Ponives a/k/a Paneve?ys, Poniewesch, Poniewiesh, Panevezhi, Poniewiez, Panevezhis, Paneve?io, and is now in Lithuania, 81.9 miles NNW of Vilnuis.


In 1910, the family were living at 1044 Granby in Baltimore. Reuben and Minnie were both shown of Russian/Polish nativity, with their language shown as Hebrew. He was working as a shoemaker.

In 1920, the family was living on High Street, Baltimore, and Reuben was working as a laborer on a ship yard.

In 1930, the family lived on Cottage Avenue in Baltimore, and Rubin was listed as a Proprietor/Shoemaker. His mother-in-law, 80 year old Yetta SCHMIDT, born in Russia of Russian parents was living with the family.

In 1940, the family was still on Cottage Avenue, and Rueben was working as a shoemaker at home.

His tombstone was inscribed
FATHER
LEVINE
Reuven ben r. Meir Dov
d. 1 Tamuz 5709
Age 80

Reuven married Rachel Mina "Minnie" Smith before 1896 in Russia. Rachel (daughter of Shlomo "Solomon Smith" Savilevics and Etta "Yetta" Devorah Romm) was born about 1872 in Kovno Gubernia, Russian Empire; died on 25 Jan 1955 in Baltimore County, Maryland; was buried in Bnai Israel Congregation Cemetery, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In 1930, the family lived on Cottage Avenue in Baltimore. Rachel's mother, 80 year old Yetta SCHMIDT, born in Russia of Russian parents was living with the family.


Obituary

Baltimore Sun, January 26, 1955

LEVINE-On January 25, 1955, RACHAEL MINNIE, beloved wife of the late Reuben Levine of 3700 Cottage avenue; beloved mother of Mrs. Tillie Solomon and Mrs. Edith Moss, Solomon J., Samuel and Miss Ruth Levine; sister of Hyman Smith, or Tyler, Texas; Mrs. Celia Shapiro, of Baltimore. Also survived by ten grandchildren and then great-grandchildre. [Washington (D.C.) papers please copy.] Funeral form Sol Levinson & Bros. Home, 1124-26 West North avenue, on Wednesday, January 26, at 2 P.M. Interment in B'nai Israel Congregation Cemetery, Southern avenue. [Please omit flowers.] In mourning at 3700 Cottage avenue.
LEVINE-Ahavas Sholom Congregation and Ladies Auxiliary, 126 South Poppleton street, deeply regrets the passing of Mrs. RACHEL MINNIE LEVINE, beloved mother of our treasurer, Solomon J. Levine. All officers and members please attehd funeral services at Sol Levinson & Bros. Home, 1124-26 West North avenue, on Wednesday at 2 P.M. Solomon Silverstein, President, Samuel H. Wachter, Secretary.
LEVINE-B'nai Abraham Yehuda Laib Family Societ deeply regrets to announce the deaht of our beloved member, RACHEL MINNIE LEVEIN. All officers and members please attehd funeral services at Sol Levinson & Bros. Home, 1124-26 West North avenue, on Wednesday at 2 P.M
LEVINE-Sarah, Minnie and Meyer Baer Levine Family Circle deeply regrets to announce the deaht of our beloved member, RACHEL MINNIE LEVEIN. All officers and members please attehd funeral services at Sol Levinson & Bros. Home, 1124-26 West North avenue, on Wednesday at 2 P.M

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong, August 2018)

Her tombstone was inscribed

MOTHER
LEVINE
Rachel Mina bat r. Shlomo
d. 2 Shevat 5715
Age 84

(Research):The B'nai Abraham and Yehuda Laib Family Society website, founded in Baltimore in 1901 by relatives of Yehuda Laib Romm and Rabbi Abraham Abramson, and believed to be the oldest Jewish Family society in the world. They held their 115th anniversary reunion on Labor Day weekend 2016. Tillie Levine, Mamie Yatovitz, Rachel Silver Snovsky and Henna Ginsburg became members in 1912.

B'nai Abraham and Yehuda Laib Family Society membership and its associated family tree revolves around a woman named Rella Krok, who was born about 1833. Her father, Laibe Krok, was born in 1800. Laibe and his wife Rachel Krok lived in the tiny hamlet of Tselkay / Celkiai, just south of Rokisik / Roki?kis, a town in an area which today is in the northeastern part of the Republic of Lithuania. In the 1800s, the area was first in the Vilna Gubernya (province) and then in the Kovno Gubernya of the Russian Empire. Prior to 1795, the area was part of the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania. There is evidence that Laibe Krok's ancestors lived in this area at least as early as 1760.

The family tradition states that Laibe and Rachel "were good citizens, religious in their observance of Mosaic Law, and liberal in their outlook on life. Laibe Krok was a wine merchant and the owner of a distillery. He was a philanthropist of no mean repute."

Rella was one of Laibe and Rachel's six children. In 1847 Rella married Yehuda Laib Romm of Ponidel / Pandelys. Yehuda Laib was a widower with one child, Mari Leah Romm. Yehuda Laib and Rella had seven children together. After the death of Yehuda Laib, Rella married Rabbi Abraham Abramson, who was a sofer in Rakisik and a nephew of Yehuda Laib's first wife. Abraham was a widower who had had seven children with his first wife, Chana Brina. Upon marrying Abraham, Rella was the mother or step-mother of a total of fifteen children.

Rella and Abraham Abramovitz were recorded in the 1897 All-Russia Census as living on Kamai street (today, Respublikos gatve) in Rakisik. Fourteen years after they married, Rella died and Abraham came to America . According to family tradition, Abraham had served Roki?kis as Chief Rabbi for 25 years before coming to America.

As of the BAYL's 100th Anniversary, in 2001, the family tree, tracing the descendants of Rella and her siblings and the descendants of her two husbands from their first marriages, spanned nine generations over more than 200 years, contained more than 3200 names. Today, descendants live in many of the United States, as well as in Australia, Canada, England, Israel, and South Africa.

Notes:

AKA Shlomo Zavilevitz (Savilevics) http://bayl.org/family-story/where-did-our-ancestors-live/

Shlomo married Etta "Yetta" Devorah Romm. Etta (daughter of Yehuda Laib Romm and Rella Krok) was born about 1849 in Kovno Gubernia, Russian Empire; died after 1930 in Baltimore, Baltimore County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In 1930, Etta/Yetta was living with her son-in-law and daughter Rueben and Rachel LEVINE of Baltimore. She was shown as age 80, born in Russia.

Shown on Geni as Etta Devorah ROMM, born 1848 died May 7, 1930 at the age of 82, a daughter of Yehuda Laib ROMM and Rella KROK, wife of Shlomo SAVILEVICS, mother of Myer SAVILEVICS, Celia SHAPIRO, Hyman SMITH, Simon SMITH, and Ruchel Minna LEVINE, sister of Rucha Nessa SHAPIRO, Chiva Rivka (Ida) (Chiva Reva) ROMM, Rochel ROMM, Pessa Leba ROMM, Max ROMM, Joh Romm and Toba Gittel Romm half sister of Mari-Leah Romm NACHAMSON

Notes:

Married:
Daugher Rachel was a member of the B'nai Abraham and Yehuda Laib Family Society membership and its associated family tree revolves around a woman named Rella Krok, who was born about 1833. Her father, Laibe Krok, was born in 1800. Laibe and his wife Rachel Krok lived in the tiny hamlet of Tselkay / Celkiai, just south of Rokisik / Roki?kis, a town in an area which today is in the northeastern part of the Republic of Lithuania. In the 1800s, the area was first in the Vilna Gubernya (province) and then in the Kovno Gubernya of the Russian Empire As U.S. census records and vital records related to this family shown places of birth as both Russia, Latvia, or Lithuania, it is assumed Savilevics/Smith family also originated in the Kovno Gubernia area of the Russian empire before their emigration to the United States, likely in Kupiskis, known in Yiddish as Kupishok, was home to 1,444 Jews before World War II. Today no Jews live in Kupiskis.

Phil Shapiro wrote, in reference to the 1897 Rokiskis All-Russian Census that the census list, on page 4, shows a three-person household of Abram and Rella Abramovicz and Zavel Zavelevicz residing on Komaiskaya Street (Kamai Street). The Bnai Abraham and Yehuda Laib Family Society (BAYL), which was founded in Baltimore in 1901, consists of the descendants of the first and second husbands of Rella Krok, the daughter of Laibe Krok. The 1897 census identifies Rella as the daughter of "Leiba," age 64 and married to Abram Abramovicz, whose age is given as 63. According to the BAYL family tradition, Rella's second husband, who was known in the United States as Abraham Abramson, was said to have been a rabbi in Rokiskis for 25 years before coming to America. This appears to be consistent with the translation of the occupation given for Abram in the census of one who "makes Jewish symbolics." The third member of the household, "Zavel Zavelevicz," age 22, appears to be a grandson of Rella. The census states that Zavel was a capmaker who was born in Kupiskis and was the son of "Shloma." Rella's oldest daughter from her first marriage (to Yehuda Laib Romm) was Etta-Devara Romm. Etta-Devara married Shlomo Savilevics and lived in Kupiskis. At least one of Etta's children -- my grandmother Zlata Savilevics (Celia Smith Shapiro) -- often told the family that as a child she frequently stayed with her grandmother Rella.

https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Rokiskis/census.htm

Yehuda married Rella Krok. Rella was born about 1833 in Tzelkay, Kovno Gubernia, Russian Empire; died about 1897 in Rakisik, Kovno Gubernia, Russian Empire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Laib Krok and his family lived in the hamlet of Tzelkay (Celkiai pronounced "tshel-KAY"). It is located about 2 miles southeast of Rakisik (Roki?kis pronounced "RAW-kish-kis"). Laib Krok's daughter, Rella Krok, lived in adulthood in Rakisik. Her first husband, Yehuda Laib Romm, was from Ponedel (Pandelys ronounced "pahn-dey-LEES"), which is about 16 miles west of Rakisik. After he died, Rella married Rabbi Abraham Abramovitz and continued to live in Rakisik. The name of the family society remembers the given names of the second and first husbands of Rella Krok, namely, Abraham and Yehuda Laib.

One of Rella's children with Yehuda Laib Romm was Etta Devayra Romm, who married Shlomo Zavilevitz (Savilevics) and lived in Kupisik (Kupi?kis '96 "koo-PISH-kis"). Their son Zanvil Zavilevitz (Savilevics) was born in Kupisik and was sent at a young age, probably around 12, to Riga (today, the capital of Latvia) to learn be a capmaker. When Zanvil's apprenticeship ended, he went to live with his grandmother Rella and her second husband in Rakisik. Zanvil's sister, Zlata Zavilevitz (Savilevics), who was also born in Kupisik, also went to live with Rella and Abraham Abramovitz.

http://bayl.org/family-story/where-did-our-ancestors-live/

Notes:

Married:
Baltimore Lithuanian Jewry Stays Connected.

Within Baltimore's flourishing Jewish community, there are organizations that are working to keep alive connections to ancestors. The B'nai Abraham and Yehuda Laib Family Society (BAYL) is one such organization that is committed to maintaining relationships among descendants of the society's progenitors. According to Phil Shapiro, a member of the society, nearly three-quarters of Baltimore's Jewish population have roots from Lithuania.

BAYL hosted its 115th anniversary picnic on Sept. 4 in Baltimore. The society normally hosts reunions every five years. It was attended by approximately 170 individuals from all over the nation and was recognized with letters from the president of Lithuania as well as both the Israeli and American ambassadors in the country.

Originally founded in Baltimore in 1901, BAYL is believed to be oldest Jewish family society in the world. The idea was that the first relatives who came to the United States from Europe would save their money to help other members of their families immigrate. While family societies were common in the 1930s, very few are left today.

The two families that formed BAYL are linked by Rella Krok, whose first husband was Yehuda Laib Romm, and she later remarried Abraham Abramson. The members of the families used to get together every Saturday night to pool pennies, bringing over another family member when they had accumulated $20. All of the members in attendance at the Baltimore reunion are descendants of the original family society.

Another organization dedicated to Lithuanian Jewry, Remembering Litvaks, Inc., "undertakes projects dedicated to remembering the Jewish communities that existed in Lithuania, including educational programs dedicated to researching and teaching the history of Jewish life in Lithuania and improving the physical condition of Jewish gravesites and other locations of historical significance to Lithuanian Jewry," according to its website. Shapiro is involved with that organization as well.

The organization recently introduced the Ruvin Bun Award, which "will be given for research and education regarding the original vision of the Lithuanian state as a tolerant, multicultural society with a Western-style constitution that established a democratic government." More information on the award can be found at bit.ly/2cJmUYh.

Baltimore Jewish Times
September 15, 2016 By Daniel Nozick