Isaac (Breznik) Bresnick (1877 - 1951)

Born 10 Jun 1877 in линкува, Литва, Российская империя

Ancestors

Son of Schmul (Brezniker) Bresnick and Ida (Grek) Bresnick

Husband of Baila (Sykes) Bresnick — married 16 Sep 1901 in Clinton, Pennsylvania, United States

Descendants

Died 10 Jan 1951 at age 73 in Williamsport, Lycoming, Pennsylvania, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Gaile Connolly [send private message] and Iris Sherman [send private message]

Ira (Breznik) Bresnick migrated from Russian Empire to United States.

Biography

Isaac was born June 10, 1877^[1] (see Notes) in Linkuva, Lithuania,^[2] then part of the Russian Empire. His parents were Sam Bresnick and Ida (Greek) Bresnik.^[3]

The family struggled to save enough money to emigrate to the United States, making the trip one at a time, as they could afford it.^[2] Isaac arrived in the United States in 1892 (see Notes) and from that time on, his name was spelled Bresnick.

Isaac married Belle Sykes September 16, 1901 in Clinton, Pennsylvania, United States^[3] and they had seven children, Max, Sadye, Sylvia, Ruth/Rosie, Simmie/Sunnie, Samuel, and Donald.^[4]

By 1910, he had begun to Americanize his name, calling himself Ike. He and Belle were living in Jay, Elk, Pennsylvania, United States with their first four children and Belle's nephew, David B Sykes, identified as a boarder.^[5]

He registered for the World War I draft in 1917 or 1918 in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, United States using the name Ira and listing his nationality as Russian.^[1]

Ira, Belle, and their seven children lived in Huston, Clearfield, Pennsylvania, United States in 1920. David Sykes was no longer with them, but Ira's 81 year old mother-in-law, Rebecka Sykes had joined their household.^[4]

In 1930, Max and Sadye were no longer living with their parents. Ira and Belle had moved to Williamsport, Lycoming, Pennsylvania, United States, where they lived with their five youngest children. Belle's mother was no longer with them.^[6]

In 1940, only three children remained with Ira and Belle in their Williamsport home.^[7]

Ira died January 19, 1951 and is buried in the Ohev Sholom Cemetery in Williamsport, Lycoming, Pennsylvania, United States,^[8]

Family Stories

Isaac's Grandson, Dick Orkin, has compiled some fond memories of his grandfather.

Isaac's Immigration and Marriage

My grandfather Ira’s legendary story begins when the substantially built young farm worker is at the reins of his family horse and wagon on a road less than half a mile from Linkuva in Lithuania in the late 1890’s; and he is heading home with bags of grain. He is suddenly assailed by two Cossacks (Czar’s soldiers) on horseback. That’s bad news. At the time, the Czar’s Cossacks had standing orders to find subjects for military conscription, especially young men of Ira’s age, height and substantial build.

The soldiers had been constantly abusing the well-built thirteen year old in the past, but on this day, when the Cossacks encountered him working the horse and wagon , he turns away their abuse with the skillful use of his horsewhip. After he unseats the Cossacks from their mounts, Ira flees home and reports the incident to his family.

They knew immediately that more Cossacks would immediately come looking for the young man, with conscription in the army their likely reprisal, And so with the assistance of a network of family and friends, they instantly make arrangements to get the 12 year old to Hamburg and on a ship to New York city. The nature of that rough and tough trip –partly by train and on-foot-- is described in the book “B’Chor Ben B’Chor” (“Eldest Son of the Eldest Son”) written by a relative, Ben Hirsh, whose family—related through marriage to my Grandmother, Baila Sykes—lived across the street from the Bresnick home at 609 Park Avenue in Williamsport, PA.

After arriving in Ellis Island, the report was that Ira met his older brother, Morris, who had set up a job for him as a Kosher butcher’s assistant in New York City. Further reports are that brother Morris had made contact with a prosperous relatives in central Pennsylvania—the large Harris and Morris Claster family in the small lumbering and farming community of Lock Haven where they had a large supply house of consumer goods. The Clasters outfitted the immigrants with canvas back- packs, providing work for Ira and other immigrant Jews as back-pack peddlars of various consumer goods. They carried the heavy back-breaking packs to the lumber camps and homes near these lumber yards of the lumber rich Lock Haven area of Pennsylvania. By the way, I recall Ira telling me at my Bar-Mitzvah how he celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in a New York city Shul (synagogue) before travelling west to the lumber yards around central Pennsylvania.

Ira still longed for his sweetheart, Belle. And it was in western PA. that he accidentally and joyously learns the whereabouts of Belle (or Baila as she was called), the young woman with whom he previously had a romantic relationship some 7 years earlier.

They were both about 20 or 22 years of age when Ira learns from another Jewish backpacker that Belle is an indentured servant /housekeeper with a wealthy Jewish family in South Carolina. Ira quickly travels to the southern state, proposes marriage to his childhood sweetheart and pays off her indentured obligation. The young Ira then returns with her to a small rural farm in Elks county in western Pennsylvania, one on which, after a small bank loan, he had put a small down payment on near the steel city of Pittsburgh.

Schnaps and Sponge Cake

Grandparents and kids are often seen as best pals. Kids often reveal secrets (I don’t mean inappropriate secrets not intended for Grandparent’s ears) and problems about their life to their grandparents rather than parents; and Bubbie and Zaydie (my mother’s parents) are inclined to offer me valuable advice on how to deal with any seeming crisis situation.

I am seven years old and my Zaydie, Ira Bresnick, is seventy-eight in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on this day in the lumber-port city on the Susquehanna River—a peaceful and quiet American town. This is in sharp contrast to what is beginning in Europe, Germany in particular. Jews were being beaten up, Jewish shop windows smashed and the violent Pogrom Known as Kristallnacht was signaling the start of the era of World War II.

It is early on a fall Shabbos morning in Williamsport, as my grandfather and his contemporaries call the weekly day-of-rest (Shabbos is the pre-Israeli spelling, which after the birth of the modern Israeli language, became pronounced Shabbat). The year is 1941 and my Zaydie (grandpa) is a fragile and elderly man, walking with a slight limp and the aid of a cane.

As would be expected on this day, he is neatly dressed in his best Shabbos attire, a dark pin-striped suit, a vest, white shirt and tie and a much used fedora on his head, under which is his yarmulke (skull cap). He has just slowly walked the seven blocks from his house at 609 Park Avenue to my house on Hepburn Street, at the eastern dead-end of Park Avenue. It is 8:AM. Shabbos services at Ohev Shalom begin at 9:00AM.

“You ready for Shul, Dickie?” he shouts through our front door. (Shul is Yiddish for synagogue).

And, oh yes, eight year old Dickie (that’s me!) is definitely ready—in fact, beyond ready, since I have been dressed by my mother like a mini- Jewish man with a mini-sport coat, shirt and tie and, if the weather is on the brisk side, I may also have an oversized scarf and heavy wool cap.

“Don’t let him forget his scarf, pop,” my mother Sylvia shouts out to her father, Ira, as he walks away from the house, tightly holding the hand of his eight year grandson, Dickie. “MAMA MADE IT FOR HIM,” she yells.

And then my seventy eight year old grandfather and I walk another 10 blocks to the Ohev Shalom Shul, formerly a chinese temple, now appropriately converted into a small-town American Jewish Orthodox house of worship. The walk is slow one because of Zaydie’s limp and also because he has a series of Shamus (synagogue caretaking) duties to perform before services.

As in any Orthodox congregation, men and women are sitting separately. In Ohev Shalom, ladies upstairs in a balcony and men downstairs, which is where Dickie sits along side his smartly dressed Zaydie, both with yarmulke covered heads. Grandpa also has an extra-large prayer shawl (Tallit) draped over his shoulders. After the usual morning prayers, including the appropriate Torah portion reading, there is the Haftorah and the Rabbi’s sermon, and closing prayers and songs.

I was still too young to read the Hebrew words in the Siddur (Prayer book)—and not yet Bar Mitzvah--the rite of passage that comes at age thirteen and the reading from the Torah (the scrolls that contain the Old Testament in Hebrew).

Zaydie occasionally puts his finger on the Hebrew words or paragraph which is being recited at the moment so I feel involved in the worship activity.

After the two and a half hour morning service, after the last Hebrew prayer words are uttered, the males on the first floor shuffle off to the community room for an Oneg Shabbos (a celebration of the special day) just behind the sanctuary, all while the women head home.

Seated at several long tables, set with sponge cake, schnaps and other delicious edibles, they recite the kiddush (blessings) over challa and wine. And thus begins the Oneg Shabbos, a celebration of the pleasures of Shabbos with singing, drumming a rhythm on the table, laughing, debating and general schmoozing and perhaps even listening to a small Midrash (a homily based on a scriptural passage) given by a member of the Oneg gathering

Dickie is seated beside Zaydie who has prepared a special place for him with a large piece of sponge cake, and a small shot glass half-filled with Canadian Club whiskey. This was the moment I eagerly looked forward to all week: dipping pieces of the sponge cake into the whiskey. How delicious it was! The shot glass was replenished at least once for repeated sponge cake soakings until the Oneg came to an end and Dickie wobbled out of shul with his Zaydie and headed home. The wobble was still evident when Zaydie and I walked into my parent’s house.

“Poppa, I told you not to give schnaps to the eltere kind (older child),” scolded my mother.

“Err hobn nayert a kleyn zupn!” (“He had only a small sip!”) Zaydie replied. “Nisht a groys shmir. Em noyeg shatn im!” (“Not a big deal…it won’t hurt him!”)

Notes

Isaac's immigration year is shown as 1892 in 1910^[5] and 1920^[4] census records, however his 1930 census record shows it as 1902.^[6] This date is incorrect, since Isaac was married in Clinton, Pennsylvania, United States in 1901^[3]

Sources

^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]}

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, Database with images, FamilySearch (accessed 16 June 2015), Ira Bresnick, 1917-1918; citing Clearfield County no 2, Pennsylvania, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,877,878, see image, includes:

   Event Type: Draft Registration

   Name: Ira Bresnick

   Address: Pennfield Clear, Pa

   Sex: Male

   Citizen: US Naturalized

   Date: September 12, 1918

   Place: Clearfield, Pennsylvania, United States

   Place (Original): United States, Pennsylvania, Clearfield County no 2

   Citizenship Place: Russia

   Birth Date: 10 Jun 1877

   Birthplace: , , Russia

   Occupation: Farmer

   Nearest Relative: Mrs Bell Bresnick

   Description: short, stout, black hair, brown eyes

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} First hand remembrances of Ira's nephew, Harry Gordon, as told to his daughter, Gaile Connolly.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1885-1950, Database with images, FamilySearch (accessed 16 June 2015), Samuel Bresnick in entry for Isaac Bresnick and Bell Sykes, 16 Sep 1901; citing Marriage, Pennsylvania, county courthouses, Pennsylvania; FHL microfilm 963,873.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} United States Census, 1920, Database with images, FamilySearch (accessed 16 June 2015), Ira Bresnick, Huston, Clearfield, Pennsylvania, United States; citing sheet 2A, family 21, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,821,553.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} United States Census, 1910, Database with images, FamilySearch (accessed 16 June 2015), Ike Bresnick, Jay, Elk, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 40, sheet 1B, family 21, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,375,354.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} United States Census, 1930, Database with images, FamilySearch (accessed 16 June 2015), Ira Bresnick, Williamsport, Lycoming, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 0059, sheet 15A, family 342, line 23, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2075; FHL microfilm 2,341,809.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} United States Census, 1940, Database with images, FamilySearch (accessed 16 June 2015), Ira Bresnick, Ward 12, Williamsport, Williamsport City, Lycoming, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 41-95, sheet 8B, family 220, NARA digital publication T627 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012), roll 3567.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Find A Grave, memorial for Ira Bresnick, (accessed June 16, 2015).

See also:

• Jewish Gen, Family Tree of the Jewish People, Interactive Tree of Max Sykes, (accessed December 11, 2016).

DNA Confirmation

1. Parental relationships are confirmed with a gedmatch test match between Dick Orkin (GEDmatch ID A182839) and Brian Bresnick (GEDmatch ID A857797), first cousins once removed. Predicted relationship by gedmatch: 2.4 generations to MRCA based on 518.1 cM DNA shared across 14 segments.
2. Parental relationships are confirmed with a gedmatch test match between Gaile Connolly (GEDmatch ID T543839) and Dick Orkin (GEDmatch ID A182839), second cousins. Predicted relationship by gedmatch: 3.0 generations to MRCA based on 189.9 cM DNA shared across 8 segments.
3. Parental relationships are confirmed with a gedmatch test match between Gaile Connolly (GEDmatch ID T543839) and Brian Bresnick (GEDmatch ID A857797), second cousins once removed. Predicted relationship by gedmatch: 3.2 generations to MRCA based on 165.1 cM DNA shared across 8 segments.
4. Paternal relationship is confirmed with a gedmatch test between Brian Bresnick (GEDmatch ID A857797) and Kenny Selcer (GEDmatch ID A636940), third cousins (half). Predicted relationship by GEDmatch: 4.6 generations to MRCA based on 22.8 cM DNA shared across 2 segments.
5. Paternal relationsip is confirmed with a gedmatch test between Dick Orkin (GEDmatch ID A182839) and Kenny Selcer (GEDmatch ID A636940), third cousins (half). Predicted relationship by GEDmatch: 3.6 generations to MRCA based on 94.4 cM DNA shared across 8 segments.