The Stein Family

The Stein family in Maramaros is a family that I’ve been researching and and off for afew years now but I was never able to get a good grip on this family structure. Recently I made some new discoveries which enabled me to now write an initial overview¹.

I will begin by listing the Stein’s recorded in the 1822 census:

Borsa: Lazar Stein (2 sons, 1 daughter), Mojsza Stein (2 sons), Izrael Stein (4 sons, 1 daughter), Simon Stein (2 sons, 1 daughter), Aizek Hersl Stein (2 daughters).
Felsovisso: Hers Stein (3 sons).
Sziget: Josef Srul [Stein] (1 son).

So, we see that besides one family living in Felsovisso and one is Sziget, all the Stein’s were living in Borsa. Logic would dictate that I begin looking in Borsa but let me first focus on Hersh Stein living in Felsovisso. In 1826, a Mishnayos learning society was established in Felsovisso which maintained a Pinkas that has survived the ravages of time and is currently held in the Israel National Library in Jerusalem. The Pinkas begins with afew pages presenting its charter and is then signed by its twelve founding members. One of those members is “Tzvi Hersh ben Yehuda Stein”.

According to various records, I was able to establish that Hersh Stein was born c1780 and was the only Stein householder living in Felsovisso up until at least 1830. Hersh Stein died in Felsovisso 1855, and his tombstone survives in the Felsovisso cemetery².

Here is Hersh’s death record from October 1855.

I was able to locate three of Hersh’s sons. These children are the progenitors of the majority of all Stein’s coming out of Felsovisso.

1. Dov/Ber Stein. Born c1806, died 1871. One of his known children was Juda Stein (c1836-1892) who married Szilka Keszner.
2. Zev/Wolf Stein. Born c1811, died 1861. He married Devora Wider (c1817-1867). Three of their known children were Ber Stein (c1840-1894), Szime Stein-Steinmetz (c1846-1914), Juda Stein (c1848-1905), Zissel(?) Stein (died 1866).
3. Juda Stein. Born c1816, died 1898. He married Beile Pollak (c1819-1869). One of his known children was Hersh Stein born in 1857.

Ber Stein c1806-1871 in the Felsovisso cemetery map

Yortzeit listing and death record of Wolf Stein c1811-1861.

Now let’s return to Hersh’s father, Juda/Yehuda. Since Hersh was born c1780 we need to look for Juda Stein in the 1780’s. The best place to begin is a Maramaros 1788 tax list, since that’s the first tax list that records proper surnames³. The only Juda Stein recorded there is a Juda Stein living in Borsa, so Hersh Stein from Felsovisso must have been born in Borsa. In total, the following Stein’s are recorded in the 1788 tax list:

Borsa: David Stein, Juda Stein, Izrael Stein & Herz Stein.
Petrova: Lazar Stein.

Going back another 3 years to a 1785 tax list, we find in Borsa a family unit as follows:
–> David/Tovia.
–> his son Abraham
–> his son Izrael/Azriel

1785 tax list for Borsa.

David/Tovia and his son Izrael/Azriel are the same people who in the 1788 list are recorded with the Stein surname, but what happened to Abraham? The answer to that is in a 1779 tax list where Abraham is listed as “Abraham Davidovics Juda”. Another tax list from 1777 records him as “Juda Abraham David”. All this means that Juda was also known as Abraham meaning that the “Juda Stein” recorded in the 1788 tax list is the same person as “Abraham the son of David” listed in the 1785 tax list⁴.

1779 tax list for Borsa

1777 tax list for Borsa. Note how David is here referred to as “David Tevia” and Juda’s name is written as “Yehuda” in the Hebrew portion.

Now let’s turn our attention to David/Tovia Abramovitz who is the patriarch of the Stein family in Borsa. The first positive record of him in Borsa is in the 1768 census which records only two Jewish householders in Borsa. David Abraham (Stein)⁵ and Abraham Joseph (Adler)⁶. The next record for him is the 1771 census which says that David was living in Hungary since 1750 and that he had 5 unmarried children; four boys ages 19, 9, 7, 2 and one girl aged 12⁷. Tovia arrived to the region in 1750 which is around a decade before Abraham Adler arrived to the region, making Tovia’s family is the earliest Jewish family in Borsa which took root⁸.

1771 census for Borsa.

The 19-year-old son seems to have gotten married that same year because in a 1772 tax list we have a “Juda Tovi” (= Yehuda ben Tovia) which is his eldest son, Juda Stein.

A 1774 tax list also records the names of David/Tovia’s father-in-law which was Izrael (most likely Azriel) and Juda’s father-in-law which was Meir.

The 9-year-old son mentioned in the 1771 census was probably Izrael/Azriel who begins being recorded in the tax lists from 1782 onwards. Azriel was surely named after his maternal grandfather.

The 2 younger children mentioned in the 1771 census were most likely Lazar & Herz⁹. Both men first appear in the 1788 tax list. Herz living in Borsa while Lazar living in Petrova. Lazar was back in Borsa by 1793 so it seems that he likely married a girl from Petrova and lived there for afew years before returning to his family in Borsa.

Since Tovia Stein appears on a 1789 tax list but does not appear anymore from 1793 onwards, it seems that he died between 1790-1792. He was likely born c1730.

Now let me turn again to his 4 sons:

1) Juda Stein: He was born c1752 and died between 1814 and 1818. Besides his son Hersh from Felsovisso, he had at least one more son named Shlomo who raised a large family in Borsa. Shlomo Stein was born c1791 and died 1869. His wife Gitze (bat Mordechai) Lax¹⁰ was born c1799 and died 1874. Their known children were:

• Leib Ber Stein. Born c1815, died in Borsa 1887. Wives: Ruchel Lax & Sara Fruchter.
• Feige Stein. Born c1817, died in Borsa 1905. Husband: Chazkel Pollak.
• Gedalia Stein. Born c1820, died in Borsa 1907. Wives: Chaja/Chana Feige Lerner & Edel Pollak.
• Azriel Stein. Born c1830, died in Borsa 1870.
• Janos/Jakob Stein. Born c1832, died in Borsa 1898. Wife: Malka Davidovitz (c1836-1899).
• Lazer Stein. Born c1833, died in Borsa 1914. Wife: Sura Stein, son of Juda.
• Mendel Stein. Born c1834, died in Borsa 1907. Wife: Jente.
• Naftali Hercz Stein. Born c1841. Died in Borsa 1904. Wife: Rifka Neulander (c1841-1891).

Tombstone of Shlomo ben Yehuda Stein in Borsa.

Tombstone of his wife Gicze Lax/Stein in Borsa.

Tombstone of their son Leib Ber in Borsa.

Tombstone of their son Azriel in Borsa.

2) Azriel Stein: He was born c1762 and seems to have died c1829. In the 1793 and 1795 censuses he recorded 2 minor daughters. In 1818 he recorded 4 minor sons and no daughters, in 1822 he recorded 4 minor sons and one minor daughter.

3) Lazer Stein: He was born c1768 and died after 1828. In 1788 and 1789 he was living in Petrova but from 1793 onwards he was living in Borsa, leading me to believe that perhaps he married a woman from Petrova. In the 1793 and 1795 censuses he recorded 1 minor daughter and one minor son. In 1818 he recorded 3 minor sons and 2 minor daughters. In 1822 he recorded 2 minor sons and one minor daughter. In the 1795 census he recorded a widow living with him, likely his mother.

One of Lazer’s sons was Rabbi Hersh Leib Stein (c1815-1860), author of the Sefer Imrei Bina. He was a Dayan & Shochet in Sziget and had 5 daughters all living in Sziget. His daughter Shoshe’s second marriage was to Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda Tabak, author of the Sefer Erech Shai. Rabbi Hersh Leib’s wife was Miriam Lax (c1817-1855), daughter of David Lax from Sziget (c1780-1855).

Tombstone of Hersh Leib Stein in Sziget

Tombstone of Shoshe Stein-Tabak, wife of Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda Tabak in Sziget.

Marriage of Rabbi Shlomo Leib Tabak to Shoshe Stein/Sachter¹¹ in 1875.

4) Naftali Hertz Stein: He was born c1768. In 1793 & 1795 he recorded 3 minor daughters. He seems to have died before 1814.

Stein in Sziget

As I’ve shown, the Stein family originated in Borsa and then spread to Felsovisso. The third town that the Stein’s spread to was Sziget where we first see them recorded in the 1818 census as follows; Josef Stein (c1785-c1830?) with 1 minor son & Itzik Stein with 2 minor daughters. In 1822 Josef Stein is recorded as “Josef Srul” which leads me to believe that he might have been the son of Azriel from Borsa. One of Josef’s children was Efraim Stein (born c1805, died between 1859 & 1863). Efraim married Hinda (c1805-1869) and had the following known sons in Sziget: 1) Nachman (c1828-1887), husband of Feige Lax¹². 2) Hersh (c1840-1908), husband of Leah Kaufman. This couple lived in Szlatina for a while.

1828 Hebrew tax list for Sziget showing that Efraim Stein was Josef’s son

Tombstone of Nachman Stein in Sziget 1887

Another early Stein family in Sziget was headed by Wolf Stein. He was born c1815 in Borsa to unknown parents and died in Sziget 1887. His wife was Golde Kahan/Keszt (c1815-1897) and one of his children in Sziget was Meshulem Zushe (c1847-1904).

Death record of Wolf Stein showing that he was born in Borsa

Other Stein’s living in Sziget include 2 siblings from Borsa, children of Leib Ber Stein & Ruchel Lax mentioned above. 1) Mottel/Marton Stein born (c1845-1915). He married Kreindel Sreter (c1844-1917). 2) Szime Stein-Drimmer (c1840-1911), wife of Izrael Drimmer.

In summation, the vast majority of Stein’s living in Sziget at the turn of the 20’th century originated from Borsa with the possible exception of the descendants of Josef Stein (born c1785)¹³.

Y-DNA Lines Tested:

• Borsa: Eizek Hersh Stein c1820 / Haplogroup E-Y140002
• Felsovisso: Juda Stein c1847 / Haplogroup G-BY764
• Jood: Izrael Ber Stein c1835 / Haplogroup G-BY764

The line of Eizek Hersh Stein (c1820) from Borsa was the first line that we tested and my initial theory was that this line represents the “original” Stein line descending from David/Tovia Stein, but since this Y-DNA line doesn’t match the other two Y-DNA lines that we subsequently tested I had to re-analyze this. Let me now discuss these 3 lines and what’s currently known about their origins.

Jood – The line of Izrael Ber (c1835): The only Stein man that I found living in Jood around the time that Izrael Ber was born was a certain Nochum Stein¹⁴. Izrael Ber also named a child Nochum so I’m quite confident that Nochum was Izrael Ber’s father. I know almost nothing about Nochum Stein, so at this point the Jood line cannot help me in the Y-DNA analysis, aside for revealing that it’s the same line as Juda from Felsovisso.

Felsovisso – The line of Juda (c1847): Juda died in Budapest 1910 and his death record does not list any parents. Furthermore, his gravestone in the Budapest cemetery seems to be missing. Despite the fact that Juda’s father is currently unknown, I’m quite confident that he was a grandson of the early Hersh ben Juda who was born c1780 in Borsa and died 1855 in Felsovisso. I say this because Hersh had a son named Juda and at least two other grandsons named Juda. Furthermore, at the time that “Juda c1847” was born, it seems that all the Stein’s living in Felsovisso were descendants of Hersh. The only known exception was a certain Motya Stein (c1809-1874) but even if “Juda c1847” was a descendent of this Motya, the line would still be traced back to Borsa since Motya’s father was Ber Stein from Borsa.

Marriage record (second marriage) of Motyo ben Ber Stein in Felsovisso 1854.

Based on the above, I believe that this Y-DNA line (and by extension, also the Jood Y-DNA line) represents the original Stein line.

Borsa – The line of Eizek Hersh (c1820): Eizek Hersh’s death record in Borsa 1900 states that his parents were Izsak/Yitzchok Stein & Szime Adler (c1790-1876). I have not been able to find any primary records for Iszak nor have a found any other children of Iszak & Szime so something seems a little odd here¹⁵.

There was a certain Eizek Hersh Stein who is listed in a Borsa 1814 tax list and the 1822 censuses but then disappears from the records. In the 1814 list he’s listed simply as Eizek Hersh with no surname; only in the 1822 census does his surname Stein appear. My best guess is that “Eizek Hersh c1820” was maybe his grandson, but that “Eizek Hersh Senior” was maybe a son-in-law of a certain Stein in Borsa and assumed the Stein surname. Hopefully more evidence will emerge in the future to shed some more light on this line.

1. In this post I will primarily focus on people who were born before 1866 since the records of people born after 1866 is readily searchable on JewishGen.com ↩︎
2. I am indebt to Shlomo Katz for graciously assisting me with the Felsovisso cemetery records. ↩︎
3. Surnames where mandated in the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1787. Up until then, Jews were only using patronyms. ↩︎
4. Typically I would suggest that Juda’s full Hebrew name was Yehuda Avraham but based on the tombstones of his children and grandchildren, his name seems to have been only Yehuda so I don’t know why he was sometimes referred to as Abraham in the records. ↩︎
5. The census actually records his name in reverse, Abraham David. These types of errors are very common in the early censuses. ↩︎
6. Patriarch of the Adler family. I hope to write about him in the near future. ↩︎
7. I don’t know who this girl eventually married but in the Felsovisso cemetery there’s a gravestone for a certain Gittel bat Tovia in 1839. I have not found any other Tovia in Maramaros in this early period besides Tovia from Borsa, so maybe this is
   his daughter.
   ↩︎
8. A 1754 census lists only one Jew living in Borsa. His name was David and he was a servant (=employed?) by a Jew named Majer from Sziget who seemed to have owned the property that David was living on. David had one horse and three cows. Since David is not listed with any patronym I cannot confirm if this is Tovia although it does seem likely. A 1765 tax list for Borsa also lists “Tobias” with no surname. At that time he had one horse and 2 cows. ↩︎
9. His name was Naftali/Hertz, not to be confused with Tzvi/Hersh. ↩︎
10. The Stein family intermarried very often with the Lax family. ↩︎
11. Her surname is listed as Sachter because her father was a Shochet. ↩︎
12. Nachman’s son was Josef Stein (1849-1922) who married Libe (bat Avigdor) Rosenbaum (died 1913). ↩︎
13. Another early Stein in Sziget was Czivje Stein-Szmuk, wife of Josef Hersh Szmuk. Czivje seems to have been born c1790, maybe she was Josef’s brother? Efraim Stein was the Sandek of 3 of her grandchildren in the 1850’s. Czivje’s known children were Chaim Szrul (c1810-1902), Berl (c1822-1882) & Bazel Gitel Berkowitz (c1825-1910), husband of Josef Berkowitz. Another 2 unconfirmed children were Nuchem (c1828-1863) & David (c1832-1872). ↩︎
14. He is listed in a 1829 tax list for Jood. ↩︎
15. Above I mentioned an Itzik Stein who’s recorded in the Sziget census for 1818 with 2 minor daughters. Maybe he is the elusive Iszak Stein? I’ve found no other censuses who record this Itzik in Felsovisso. ↩︎