WOLDINAND SITZ FAMILIES
RUSSIA, AMERICA, ISRAEL

By THOMAS S. RUE
Little is known of the lives of either Barnett Woldin or Anne Sitz in their mother-land of Russia. An faded old portrait of Barnett, his brother Abraham and their mother Sarah bears a Cryllic inscription on the back, transliteration of which indicates it was taken at a studio in Ptomsk, Siberia. A young man, Barnett is pictured sporting the same style moustache he wore all his life. Aged Sarah is shown in a pleated peasant skirt, with a button-down blouse. A naturalization petition at the Somerset County court house, Somerville, NJ, confirms Barnett: "...was born at Tomske, Russia and arrived in the United States on the 25th day of September A.D. 1891 at the Port of New York."

Barnett's mother, Sarah, and father both died in Russia. According to some sources, Barnett may have changed his name from Woldrin upon arrive in the U.S., while his brother Abraham retained the original spelling. But a national telephone database search for Woldrin, in April 1996, produced no listings. A similar search for Woldin turned up 27 listings, most of whom could be identified as people named in this file. A large number of persons Sitz appear, seemingly with a majority of them living in western states.

Witnessed by Charles Spector, occupation is described as "manufacturing cigars," of 200 East 107th St., New York City, Barnett Woldin's naturalization petition was sworn August 19, 1902 before Somerset County clerk Franklin Somers. Two weeks later, on September 5, 1902, stood before Judge L.H. Schenck, Barnett to "renounce and abjure all allegience and fidelity to [the] Czar of Russia of whom he was a subject; it is, therefore, ordered that the said Barnett Woldin be, and he hereby is, admitted a citizen of the United States."

Though no official marriage record has been located, children of the couple report on February 20, 1893, in Manhattan, Barnett Woldin married Anne Sitz (Hebrew name, Pia), who was born October 12, 1877 in Bialystok, Russia (now part of Poland) the second of seven known children born to Sander Gershon Sitz and Hadassah.

Little is also known of the childhood or ancestry of Sander Gerson Sitz, except that he was born around 1857, and married Hadassah when he was about 19 years old. In those years, the population of Bialystok was just under 13,000, well over half of which was Jewish. He is reported to have owned a textile mill in Bialystok and to have died about 1903 or `04 in that city. At that time, there reported to have been almost 400 textile mills in Bialystok, over 80% of them Jewish-owned. Sander Sitz is recalled by descendants as a devoutly religious and educated Jew. He reportedly attended yeshiva at Bialystok, though this can not be confirmed. Upon becoming gravely ill, Sander Sitz is said to have been given an honorary title or new name, said in part to have been traditionally intended to help urge him back to rebirth and health, of "Reb Alter" by the Jewish community of Bialystok. Family sources report that when Hadassah and her children attempted to immigrate to the U.S., after the death of her husband, son Nahum (who was permanently blinded and paralyzed from the waist down when he was dropped on his head by a nurse as an infant) was turned away at Ellis Island because of this deformity. Sander and Hadassah Sitz, and three of their children -- Nahum, Shmuel and Pesha -- to Palestine, where in later years they and their descendants pioneered the State of Israel.

The partial family settled in Palestine and began to make new lives for themselves. It was difficult for the parents to adjust to new and rough living conditions, and they missed their friends back in Russia. Sander had felt needed and important there, with his "seat on the western wall." But now he was just another immigrant laborer with fond memories of better times. In 1902, when he received a letter from Bialystok telling him that conditions had improved there, Sander was quick to believe. He decided to go back, take his textile machinery out of storage, and send forhis wife and children. When he went, he took with him 18-year-old daughter Bashe, with the intention of finding her a husband. Once they were resettled, Sander brought several would-be suitors home from the yeshiva. It wasn't until the fourth such gentleman, however, that Bashe finally yielded to one of their proposals. That year, she was married to Jacob Shia Bender, with her father's full approval.

By this time, Sander had his mill up and running again, and was doing as well economically as had been before the move, but his health was beginning to fail again. In 1903, before he could send for Hadassah and the others, Sander died at age 46, leaving his wife a widow, a stranger in a strange land. Fortunate for the others, in a way, this was, since shortly thereafter the revolution came.

Back in Palestine, Hadassah's children and grandchildren gave her joy, and she spent much of her time with them. She had the comforting knowledge that Bashe, Jacob Bender, and their three children escaped Russia for America before the revolution. Around that time, in 1907, Pesha Married Joseph Kirshner, who together had a son named Gershon (meaning "stranger in a strange land," according to Exodus 2:22), and a girl named Nehema.

The family's quiet life, however, was interrupted by the first World War. In 1917, Hadassah found herself in the town of Hadera (outside Tel Aviv) when she was hit by a British bomb, totally severing both legs. While political alignments may have changed in Eratz Israel, the violence has not. She was struck with such force that an anklet of gold coins which she wore around one leg was cut in pieces. Her grandson, Gershon A. Kirshner of Tel Aviv, when he was interviewed at his home in August 1977, said he remembered holding these shattered coins in his hand as a child, after they were saved by family members. In her crippled and weak condition, the old woman was discovered by Turkish soldiers, who took her to Damascus where she could receive medical attention on friendly ground. She did not survive and was buried in an unknown Syrian grave.

- D E S C E N D A N T S -
OF SANDER AND HADASSAH SITZ

Corrections, updates, questions, additional info, or suggestions may be sent to:

THOMAS S. RUE
Monticello NY 12701-0706
U.S.A.

© 1996.
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