Sara Dudock Polinski / Perlman Pearlman

Sara Polinski / Polansky was the daughter of Benjamin Julius Dudock and Yetta Dudock (~1825 Russia [Ukraine]-1922 NYC). Yetta is buried in Mt. Hebron Cemetery, Queens County, New York (FindAGrave). See more on Silverstein-Fried Family Tree, Ancestry.com (Ross Fried, descendant).

Sara Polinski, a widow listed as age 45, arrived New York on July 7, 1903 (see ship's manifest in MEDIA). Her name is mis-transcribed as Lore because capital S and L are similar in the script used at the time. Her last place of residence is listed as Bilsik; this may be Bilska Wola-Kolonia, "a village in the administrative district of Gmina Sulejów, within Piotrków County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland ... 63 km south-east of the regional capital Łódź". The 1917 WW I draft registration of Sara's son Max Silverstein says born Colone, Russia -- perhaps Kolonia in northern Poland?

Or Sara's "Bilsik" might refer to Bilsko, in modern-day southern Poland; it could well have been on Sara's route between Romania and Bremen / Hamburg in Germany, port cities. It could also be Bielsko. Sara was heading for son B. Polinsky at 54 Jefferson St., NY (same address where her daughter Anna Polinski married to Samuel Dudock [a cousin] arrived not long after).

Also read about Bielsk, where some of her Dudock relatives came from (Pauline's family).

A key source on the general background of this family is the Julius Dudock Autobiography (JDA). Also see the thorough Silverstein-Fried Family Tree (Ross Fried on Ancestry.com).

JDA states "Sara [wanted to go to] the promised land, where all people were treated with respect and had equal rights, even Jews. So she left her home and family, never to return, in the summer of 1902, beginning her journey first by horse and wagon, then by train to Bremen, Germany. It took her about thirty days to reach Bremen as Jews were not permitted to leave Romania, and she had to get a passport. They finally allowed her to leave and issued a passport with a small bribe for the official in charge. She arrived in Bremen, and worked as a cook for a Jewish butcher for thirty days while waiting for the ship to come in that would take her to America.

"After waiting a little over a month in Bremen, she finally was permitted to buy a ticket to New York Harbor, and boarded the ship about to pull up its anchor and leave for America. She certainly had a lot of courage for a woman to travel all alone in those days with very little money and no trade except her ability to cook delicious meals. Her husband and children planned to follow just as quickly as they could manage to do so.

"She knew some people, that were friends that lived in the same town, but had moved to New York. They had migrated a few years earlier and had written to her. They told of how great it was to live in America and especially New York. They advised her to come and they would try to help her as much as they could."

Sara's immigration record (ship's manifest, 1903; see in MEDIA) gave her destination as "son B. Polinsky c/o M. B. [Berl] Gimpel, 54 Jefferson St NY" (Berl Gimpel was Sara's brother-in-law). She appears at this address (as Ida Tabak, age 50) in the 1905 New York State Census, on the same page as her younger brother Sam Dudak, 27, and his wife (and niece) Anna, who was Sara Dudock Polinski's daughter. Also on the same page is Baronet Gimpel, age 40 and his family.

The Julius Dudock (1907-1991; a grandson of Sara Dudock Polinski) Autobiography is online within the Halbstein/Parrish Genealogy Pages. JDA's general overview is revealing; some details and dates are slightly inaccurate as is customary with such memoirs.

In the 1915 New York State census, Sarah Silverstein, age 52, appears with sons Sam, 23 & Max, 20, at 313 Sheffield, living in the same household with her daughter Anna m. Dudack / Dudock, Anna's husband, Sam Dudack / Dudock(who was in cigars) and their children. (Sam Dudock and Anna are the parents of Julius who wrote the Autobiography.) Marital status (Widowed, Div., etc.) is not stated in that census, but Sara was a widow once again, having married Morris Rosenthal in April 1913. See in MEDIA.

JDA states "{Sara} died suddenly of a heart attack [in 1926]. Every one of us were in shock for weeks afterwards. Her children and their families all came to the funeral, as did her husband and his family too. Friends and neighbors all paid their respects to her and she deserved everyone’s gratitude because she was a remarkable woman. In a way, it was really she who influenced the members of the family to flee to America, where they were free to live their own lives and prosper. She was buried at Beth Moses cemetery on Long Island. " But see death information obtained from New York Death Certificates (Ancestry.com database, Feb. 2020, by R. Fried.)

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Sarah Perlman in New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948. See record transcription on Ancestry.com.

• Name: Sarah Perlman [Sarah Dudack]
• Marital status: Married
• Age: 65 Birth Date: 20 Feb 1861
• Birth Place: Russia
• Years in US: 23 Years correct per her passenger manifest record
• Death Date: 30 Nov 1926
• Death Street Address: 1841 Sterling Pl
• Death Place: New York City, Brooklyn, New York, USA
• Cause of Death: Carcinoma of Liver
• Burial Date: 1 Dec 1926
• Burial Place: Beth Dang Cemetery
• Occupation: Housewife
• Father's Birth Place: Russia
• Mother's Birth Place: Russia
• Father: Julius Dudack
• Mother: Yetta Dudack
• Mother's Maiden Name: Brojansky
• Executor: Morris Perlman
• Executor Relationship: Husband
• Certificate Number: 23528

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A list of Sara's Polinski (Silverstein) children, by Judith Truly, appears at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=REG&db=byfield1&...

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The dates 11/12/1925 and 8/14/1928 are the birthdates of two of Sarah's granddaughters, Beatrice and Charlotte. Since Charlotte was named after Sarah and Beatrice was not, it figured her death probably happened during that time frame. This fits, as does her being buried in Beth David Cemetery.

I don't know if I ever mentioned this story, but my grandfather (Simon Silverstein) had to lend his pants to one of Sarah's husbands so that she could get married. He apparently didn't have any (nice?) pants. I don't know if this is the pants-less husband or not, but that story is true. I heard it from one of my mother's other sisters.
-- R.F.

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Sarah Dudock was one of the 6 Dudock sisters. She first married Louis Polinski (who was apparently named Loeb in Russia). She later remarried 3 times in Brooklyn, after being repeatedly widowed. Greenslen may be the name of the 3rd husband, whose name has not yet been found. The 4th husband's last name (at the time of Sarah's death) was Morris Perlman...-- R.F. 11/17/2021

Another was Morris Rosenthal (married Apr 1913).