Bernstein Family Genealogy
Minsk?, Russia >> Antwerp, Belgium >> New York, NY >> Newport, KY, Cincinatti, OH, New Orleans, LA

Grandma Rose Bernstein was born 26 May 1880 in Russia, where she was raised on a farm. She died 2 Feb 1973 in Middletown, Delaware Co, Pennsylvania. Birth and death dates are according to her death certificate, informant was our aunt Lillian . She married our grandpa, Moische Slobodkin (Morris Bodkin), ca 1902 in Russia, probably in Minsk.

Grandma's death certificate also stated that her parents were "Abr. and Freda Bernstein" and we assume that Abr. stood for Abraham, but it could be Abram. We are still looking for further information about them.

Rose arrived in New York 25 Sept 1905 aboard the S.S. Finland of the Red Star Lines, which sailed from Antwerp, Belgium on 16 Sept. 1905. She made the journey with her brother-in-law, Yudol? Slobodkin and two oldest children Raphael and Liebe, our uncle Phil and aunt Lillian, who were infants. Rose's name was recorded as Rosa Slobodsky. Spelling of brother-in-law's first name is difficult to decipher on the microfilm of the passenger list, but we have heard from relatives that Yudol is probably the right spelling. Passage for all was paid by our grandfather.

Grandma and Grandpa lived for a few years in New York, where third child, uncle Bernard was born in 1906 in Brooklyn. By 1909, when fourth child aunt Isabelle was born, they had settled in Newport, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinatti, Ohio. Our father Wesley, youngest of the five children, was born in 1916 in Cincinatti, but the family was residing in Newport where they lived until the late 1930's. By that time, Grandma and Grandpa had bought a 100 acre farm in Ross Co, Ohio, between Bainbridge and Chillicothe, according to relatives.

We have been told that some of Grandma's relatives lived in Cincinatti or nearby. We believe she also had relatives who lived in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dad told me of relatives who were in the wholesale fur business there and spoke of an uncle or cousin Jack or Jake. Our parents visited this relative during WW 2, probably in late 1942 or early 1943, while in trasit from Los Angeles to Cincinatti. Dad had been stationed in California and was being transferred overseas and mom was pregnant with my older sister. They were headed back home to Ohio where she was born and stopped in New Orleans to visit this favorite relative before going to the war.