Adding a significant leaf on the tree: Tsiril Liebross

Oh, I know it's not "Tombstone Tuesday," but this is one of those genealogy happy dance moments - and I want to share. I have recently received, via email, photos of my great great grandmother Tsiril Liebross' tombstone in the Radauti (aka Radautz) Jewish Cemetery in Romania (what had been the Bukovina province of the Austrian Empire).

An index of this record has been online for some time (the inventory of the cemetery was completed in 2005) associated with the Radauti kehilalinks page on JewishGen. But, it has taken me some time to find additional evidence that my great great grandmother was this Tsiril who died in Radauti.

Based upon some recent contacts, I have also been able to add another sister for my great grandfather Louis Liebross (more about that another time) and confirm that "Zirl Libruss" was my Tsiril Liebross.

Here lies an important woman

modest and proper

Mrs. Tsiril daughter of

the late Mr. Asher

Zelig Died second

intermediate day of Sukkot

5652 May her soul be bound in the bonds of the living

Devout Jewish people may not work during the first two days of Sukkot. The first two days of Sukkot are followed by intermediate days on which people may go about most of their usual work routines. So the second intermediate day is the fourth day of Sukkot (18 Tishri). In the year 5652, the Gregorian calendar date of Tsiril's death was 20 October 1891.

Her father was Asher Zelig. My great uncle, Sidney Libross (son of Louis and Bertha), was named for Asher Zelig and shared that Hebrew name. Sidney was born on 2 February 1890. Since Ashkenazi Jewish people do not name after the living, we know that Tsiril's father died before 2 February 1890. We do not know Tsiril's father's surname or the name of her mother.

My great aunt Celia Liebross' Hebrew name was Tsiril, like her grandmother. While I am not sure of Celia's exact date of birth (she had a tendency to get younger as the years went by), I know she was born after her brother Harry (14 November 1893) and before her brother Joseph Jerome, also known as Jerry (15 July 1897). So, she certainly could have been named after Tsiril who died in October 1891.

Tsiril was the wife of Mane. She and Mane had at least four children: my great grandfather Eliezer (Leizer or Louis) Liebross, Simon Liebross, Ruchel Liebross Gottfried and Rivka Liebross Schaffer.

I do not know when and where Mane died or was buried - his grave does not appear in this inventoried Radauti cemetery. However, Louis's eldest son, Max, born on 8 December 1889 in Radauti, was given the Hebrew name Mane. 

Recently discovery of Louis' elder sister Rivka Liebross Schaffer has added to information that may provide some indications regarding Mane's death. Rivka's first son (second child), born 26 September 1870 was also named Manie.[1]  So, we may assume that Louis' and Rivka's father (Tsiril's husband) died before that.*

My research leads me to believe that the family lived (or at least was registered in) Zaleszczyki before moving to Radauti. It is possible that Mane might have been buried there. Unfortunately, there are today neither records nor remnants of the Zaleszczyki Jewish cemetery.

The Radauti Jewish Cemetery Project, online via JewishGen, was kind enough to respond to my request for these photos of my great grandmother's gravestone and to allow me to use the images on my blog. 
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* I am indebted to researcher Eli Schaffer who is related to Rivka Liebross Schaffer's husband Avraham Dov Ber Schaffer. He pointed me in the correct direction in recognizing Rivka as a relative and noting Manie Schaffer's birth date. 

Notes:
1. "Registrupentiu actlele Starii Civile, Radauti, Nascuti 1857-1876-N1," birth register, page 50, record 67, Manie Schaffer, born 26 September 1870; Arhivele Nationale ale Romaniei (The National Archives of Romania), Suceava.