Hyman Family Collection

Profiles, family history documents and images collected by the descendants of Sam Oscar & Mottel Heiman of Brody in Galicia (present day Ukraine). Their children emigrated to New Orleans, Louisiana in the early 1900's.

Emigrated to America

Sam Oscar Heiman & Mottel ‘Myrtle’ Heiman had the following children:

• i. Abraham Heiman. He married Clara Heiman
• ii. Joseph Heiman. He married MIMI SHANDEL.
• iii.Clara Shaufeld. She married Max Leopold Shaufeld. He was born on 26 Jul 1883. He died in Jun 1965 in New York.
• iv. Esther Rose Teles was born in Brody, Austria. She died in Atlanta, GA. She married Shabsi "Shopsy" Teles
• v. Solomon Heiman was born in 1863 in Austria. He died in 1926 in New Orleans, LA. He married Simma Heiman. She was born in 1866 in Russia. She died on 09 Aug 1956 in New Orleans, LA.
• vi. Pearl Hyman was born in 1868 in Brody, Austria. She died on 09 Aug 1938 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She married Isaac Hyman. He was born on 10 Aug 1866 in Pinsk, Russia. He died on 19 May 1937 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Objects attached

(See Photos and documents)

• “Descendants of Sam Oscar Heiman - extract” (PDF document) (2012)
• "1912, New Orleans, Louisiana" (photo). This is the earliest known photo of the Hyman family. We've identified the two teenagers as most likely Clara (Hyman) Gottesman (b 1896) and her next oldest brother, Earl. They were two of the six children of Isaac (Switosh) Hyman & his wife Perl (Heiman) Hyman.

Events Timeline

• 15 May 1906 - Isaac Switosh departed from Bremen, Germany
• 27 May 1906 - Isaac Switoch arrived in New York, New York, USA
• 6 June 1906 - Isaac Switoch arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana
• 4 June 1909 - Isaac Switoch declared intention to become a citizen of the United States in New Orleans, Louisiana. Requested name change to Isaac Hyman.

Memories

(please contribute)

• From DL, 2012: Mottel Heiman was known as Myrtle. When Solomon brought her to America she lived with him and Sima and their children. She did not want to go to her daughters.
• From SS, March 2016: My father [Morris Hyman] always told us that he was a Levite. They were descended from the tribe of Levi, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. A few years ago, I read that Moses was a Levite. I was thrilled to be able to trace our family back to Moses. Then I thought, "Wait a minute. Moses led his people out of Egypt and I have no sense of direction". Then  I realized, he wandered in the desert for 40 years. He didn't know where he was going either. That confirmed it for me. Yes, we are descended from Moses.
• From SS, March 2016: Aunt Dora [%28Hyman%29 Heiman] (the oldest child) stayed in Odessa for an additional year or so. She was at the Gymnasium in Odessa and wanted to finish her education. I have always thought that it was extraordinary that Perl's parents sent her from Galicia to Odessa to further her Jewish education. She was born in 1868 so it was probably 1886 ish when she went. Odessa was one third Jewish and was the center of Jewish culture in Russia at that time. A railroad was built from Galicia to Odessa and off she went. (Got all of this from Hadassah Magazine a few years ago). Women were not educated past a certain level so I am always blown away by the fact that they sent her to a Jewish School in Odessa. Daddy always said that she was very smart and had a terrific sense of humor. Thank you, Samuel Oscar Heiman. That's where she met Isaac and that's why we're all here today, trying to figure it all out.
• From DL, March 2016: My dad [Morris Hyman] spoke about the pogroms he lived through until the day he died and never had any desire to go back to Odessa. The day before he died he took my hand and said " Dolly, they killed my teacher. They  bashed his head in because he was Jewish". 
• From SS, March 2016: As my father [Morris] always said, they didn't leave with a passport in their hands. He and a cousin ( I think her name was Clara. Dorothy would know).   crawled across the border in the middle of the night to get out of Russia. He was 12. The pogroms in Odessa were in 1905, a year earlier. He always talked about the dogs barking at the border. My father never liked dogs and I never got the association until I was older. Obvious, they had guard dogs at the border. It must have been terrifying. Aunt Dora stayed with friends or family that last year or so. I don't anything about her leaving Russia. In later years, people used to ask Daddy if he wanted to go back to see where they had been children. Daddy used to always say, "I didn't leave anything there". He left illegally and was always afraid that if he went to Russia, they wouldn't let him leave. Tell that one to Donald Trump!
• From SS, March 2016: Josephine (Meyer) Hyman and Russell [her second husband] came to my house in Houston (1990ish) for Passover Seder. I don't think she had been to one before. Her family of origin (she grew up in New Orleans), presented themselves as Jewish but did not go to sevices, Sunday School, etc. According to Josephine, Isaac [Switoch Hyman, Earl's father] was not happy when Earl wanted to marry her. They brought someone over there to tell Isaac that her uncle or great uncle was the chief Rabbi at one of the biggest Synagogues in New York. Isaac was unimpressed. His comment was, "But look at them now".

Trivia

• Did Earl Hyman know he was married to a Cherokee Princess?

External links

• "Eyes to See" by Nechamie Margolis
• "Hyman Family Virtual Reunion" (closed Facebook group)