Israel (Sroul) Rossman

On his Declaration of Intention and Petition for Naturalization papers (attached), Israel states that he was born in "Shebetefky" Russia, which is one of several pronunciations of Shepetovka, Ukraine, 270 km from Kiev. See http://jewua.org/shepetovka/ for a detailed history of this Jewish settlement. He emigrated from Hamburg, Germany on the vessel Pretoria, arriving in New York on July 17th 1893. Israel's Declaration of Intention date was March 18, 1908. His Petition for Naturalization date was February 28th, 1911. His wife Esther was 30 years old as of that date. The birthdates of his two children are given as July 29th 1900 (Freda) and November 25, 1902 (Benjamin). The affidavit was witnessed by two other "Fruit Dealers" named Samuel Segal and Isaac Abraham. Israel renounced - with gusto, I am certain - "absolutely and forever all allegiances and fidelity to...Nicholas II, Emperor of all the Russians..."