Sarah Tsivi Cantor Savetman

A 1955 Social Security application by Sam Savetman indicated his birth date as April 12, 1873 and birthplace Bialystok, and his parents' names: ISAAC DAVID SAVETMAN and SARAH CANTOR.. Bialystok, Poland was then part of the Russian Empire. This was where I started.

The November 1865 marriage record, in Polish, of ITSKO DAWID SAWETMAN and SURA CYWIA SZOELOWNA (daughter of SZOEL), had her surname as HAZDA . "Chazda" is very close to chazan, or cantor. It also said that she was age 18, had been born in Zareby Koscielne (in Lomza Province) and was living there with her parents at that time. On that record, she was the daughter of Orthodox Jew SZOEL and RUEKLE LEYBOWICZ CHAZDA.

Russian-language birth records found online indicate that In July, 1895, "David Itsko" Savetman, age 48, took his two surviving sons Shlomo (later Sam) and Meier Henoch (later Harry) to the civil authorities in the village of Czyzew (Czyzew-Osada, Chizhevo/Chizheva), Poland and had their births officially registered--very belatedly. Shlomo would have been around 21 and Meier Henoch around 15 or 17. They were probably registered for military conscription purposes.

The boys' mother and David's "lawful wife" was "SURA TZIVA SHOELOVNA", that is, she was the daughter of Shoel (Saul), "maiden name CHAZDA " and age 49 at that point. This and her 1865 marriage record would give her a birth year of around 1847. She and her husband were both alive in 1895.

In 1895, the family is "residing" in Czyzew--but this was probably their legal registration, their "permanent place of residence," not their physical location at that time. Marriage and death records indicate that in the 1890's, they were actually living in the city of Bialystok, about 42 miles away.

Yitzchak David died on March 9, 1911 and Sara Tsvia "Svitman" on May 16, 1932. They are buried together on the Mount of Olives: Block: New 1, Subdivision D, Row 17, numbers 21 and 22. Sarah's inscription reads: "Here lies the modest (humble) woman SARAH TZVIA daughter of the esteemed Shaul Zev, [her last name=} SVITMAN, Died 10 Iyar 5692." Many thanks to Orna Themans and Eitan Vittelson for helping us locate both graves after years of searching.

A link to her grave on the website of the Mount of Olives: https://mountofolives.co.il/he/%d7%90%d7%99%d7%aa%d7%95%d7%a8-%d7%a...

Ed Friedel, July 2021