Chaim Kessler is my great grandfather.
He is the father of Samuel Friedman - my maternal grandfather.
Chaim was born in Lemberg part of the Austrian Empire.
Today Lemberg is called
Lviv
and is in the Ukraine.
This is the only photo I have of Chaim. In the photo are:
Back: Chaim Kessler, Rebecca and Sam Friedman, Bessie and Joe Kurtzman
Front: Frances Friedman, Toby Kurtzman
Passenger List
Here is the passenger list from the S.S. Rotterdam sailing from Rotterdam
on Sept. 15, 1920.
It shows that Chaim Kessler came to the US at age 61.
He was accompanied by his daughter Dora and her 3 children:
Drezel, 38 -> Dora Losch
Cecylia, 12 -> Celia Losch (Whitlow)
Fryderyk, 11 -> Fred Losch
Roze, 8 -> Rose Losch (Kamin)
Death Certificate
This is the Death Certificate that I ordered from the NYC Board of Health.
It has lots of interesting information.
Chaim died on Feb 15, 1944.
He was a retired Rabbi.
He was the son of Ephraim and Sarah Stein.
He was the husband of Fanny(?).
He died from a fall while walking up steps near Bedford
and Hooper(?) in Brooklyn.
Burial
Chaim is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery in Queens.
The translation of the Hebrew on Chaim's head stone is
as follows:
The peh nun at the top is shorthand for 'Here is Buried'
Our dear father
a simple and straightforward (or honest) man
Reb Chaim Ari (Reb is an honorific)
Son of Efraim
He passed away
22 Sh'vat 5704
and the five Hebrew letters at the bottom are shorthand
for 'May his soul be bound up in the bonds of everlasting life.'
