The Telles and Birnberg Families

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History of the Telles and Birnberg Families
Facts about the Telles and Birnberg Families
Mysteries that Remained to be Solved
Surnames related to the Telles and Birnberg Families
Links

History

Itzak, the son of Chiam Telefus was born around 1891 in Khotin, Ukraine, located on the banks of the river Dnister. The family was very poor - family lore is that Chiam sold water to make tea in a samovar. Following his sister Sheava Fisherman and her family, who immigrated around 1908 Itzak traveled on the S.S. Kroonland to the Ellis Island in 1909. Itzak had a brother Pesah who immigrated to Israel, and another sister Anna who came to the US. The name Telefus was changed to Telles soon after he immigrated.

In 1913, Itzak married Sarah Birnberg, the daughter of Meyer Birnberg and Ruchel Schneider. Although Sarah was born in Khotin as well, it was in America that they met. Sarah, the daughter of Meyer Birnberg and Rachel Schneider, was the only daughter in a family with five brothers/half-brothers. Joseph Birenberg remained in England, where they had stopped on their way to America. Jacob Birnberg left for Argentina, where he worked with livestock. Louis Berenberg and his wife Bessie were involved with the garment union in New York, but eventually moved to Cleveland, OH where their sons had a drugstore. Nathan Birnberg and Ettel Birnberg lived in New York, which is where Sarah immigrated to in 1910 on the S.S. Noordam.

Itzak and Sarah lived in Brooklyn, where Itzak made a living as a furrier - a family business taken over by his three sons: Jack, Sam, and Harry. Itzak passed away in 1951, and Sarah in 1965.

Today, the Telles and Birenberg families are truly international. There is still family in England, and probably in Israel and Argentina as well. In the US, there is family in New York, Texas, California, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

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Facts about the Telles and Birnberg Families

• "Big Bellied" - According to A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire (Beider, 1993), Telefus means "big bellied." When he came to immigrated, Itzak Americanized his name to Isador Telles. No wonder...

• One family story is that Sarah Birnberg's grandfather fled from Hungary to avoid army service where he would have "had to eat pork." He fled by jumping into the Dneister river. Forced army service was common at the time, which unfortunatly was often coupled with forced conversion or horrible circumstances for Jews. Since the river Dneister begins near the Polish/Ukranian border - which was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire - this story may be true.

• Spelling "B" - When they immigrated, Nathan, Louis, Edel, and Sarah spelled their surnames in a variety of ways, including:

  • Birnberg
  • Berenberg
  • Birenberg
  • Baronburg
  • Berunberg

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Mysteries to be Solved

• Telefus - A look in the US or Israeli telephone directories leads to few "Telefus" entries. Every person I've been in contact with who has a Telefus connection is from Khotin as well. There is no doubt in my mind that all of the people named Telefus are related to each other. What is this relationship?

• Pesach Telefus immigrated to Israel from Khotin. What happened to his family?

• Jacob Birnberg immigrated to Argentina from Khotin. What happened to his family?

• Sarah Telles nee Birnberg was a half sister to several of her brothers. Who were their parents - did they share the same mother, or the same father?

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Surnames

Below is a list of many of the surnames associated with the Telles family

Below is a list of many of the surnames associated with the Birnberg family

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Links

To find out about the Telles and Birnberg families, I used a variety of sources - both on-line and real world.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) - New York Branch held the citizenship papers for Louis Berenberg

The Brooklyn County Clerk has an index of petitioners for American Citizenship. This list is online at the Jewish Genealogical Society, and includes Itzak (Isador) Telles.

Passenger records can be found at the Ellis Island Database.

JewishGen.org - an invaluable resource for Jewish Genealogy. Please support them.

Ancestry.com is a pay service that provides actually census images.

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