# Esther Weisz Schon to Sandra Schon Kiferbaum — December 15, 1980 **The founding document of this archive.** A four-page handwritten letter from Esther (Etelka) Weisz Schon — age 75, in Chicago — to her daughter Sandra. It walks the Weisz family from "350 years ago from Poland" forward through Lebli & Pessil's seven children, the seventeen cousins of Uncle Herman, Esther's own siblings, and the cousin-marriages that joined the Weisz line to the Feldmans of Apagy. It is the primary source for the deepest layer of this archive. **Original**: `/letters/esther-1980-original.pdf` **Page scans**: `/images/esther-letter-1980-p[1-4].jpg` > *Editorial note: On Page 1 Esther writes that her grandparents "passed away when I was a child." Outside records show that only one of her four grandparents actually died in her childhood; this appears to be a minor misremembering. Apart from that one slip, the letter is treated throughout this archive as factually authoritative — Esther knew these people personally and wrote the names down while she still could.* --- ## Transcription (verified against handwritten original, preserving original spelling, punctuation, and inline parenthetical Hebrew names) ### Page 1 **12-15-1980** **My darling daughter Sandra, (Sore Rochel Gitl)** his is written by your mother, for you to know your roots, of witch you can be very very proud! as I am. I knew most of these people except my grandparents, they passed away when I was a child. My Father's forfathers came **350 years ago from Poland.** I don't have to tell you why? They went to Germany. Changed the name from **Cohn** to **Weisz.** From Germany they went to Hungary, where my grandparents were born. My Father's parents name were **Leib & Pessil Weisz.** they had 7, children, 2, girls 5, boys. Their names were **Rajze & Lore,** my aunts. The boys names **(Hershel) Herman,** **(Shaul) Samuel,** *he was my beloved Father.* **(Mandel) Menyus.** **(Lizer) Lajos.** **(Ezra) Izidor.** These were my uncles. Herman had been married twice. His first wife's name was **(Gitl) Giza,** the second wife's name was **(Mirl) Máli,** *whom I loved very dearly.* Uncle Herman had by his first wife 4, boys and 6, girls. **(Leib) Lipót, (Joines) Jenő, (Slije) Samuel, (Iseck) Ignatz** *continued on other side* --- ### Page 2 Girls names **(Henche) Hani, (Leige) Leona, (Rifke) Regina, (Bluma) Bertha, (Esther) Ethel, (Feige) Frieda.** By his 2nd. wife he had, 4, girls & 3, boys. Girls **(Beile) Boriska, (Háje Henche) Erzsébet, (Perl Beile) Boriska, Pessel.** Boys, **(Berl)** other name unknown. **(Avruham Naftole) Adolf, (Slayme Zalmen) Ernő.** These were cousins. Now comes my ~~~~ Father's Samuel's children that's us. His wife's, my beloved mother's name was **(Sore Rochel) Roza.** They had 9 children 6, girls & 3, boys. 1, girl 1, boy passed away before they were named. My oldest brother was **(Leib) Lipót.** My younger brother was **(Iseek) Ignátz.** Girls, **(Háne Tobe) Hanika, (Mishked) Malvina, (Rifke) Regina, (Sprince Rayze) Serena, (Esther) Etelka,** that's me. Mendel's wife's name was **Debora.** They had 2, boy & 6, girls. The boys names I don't remember. The girls names **Rözsi, Gizi, Paula, Serena,** ~~Zsa Zsa~~ **Zsa-Zsa,** the youngest I don't remember although I knew her. Lajoses wife's name was **Trimud.** They had 3, boys 1, girl, **(Gitl) Giza,** boys **(Leib) Lipot, (Avruham Abrish), (Moishe) Moric.** Izidor's wife's name was **Paula.** They had 4, boys & 3, girls, **(Gitl) Giza, (Hinde) Hermina,** *who lives now in N.J.* **(Pesele) Piroska, (Marthe)** *continued on page 3* --- ### Page 3 **Márton, (Iseek) Jenő, (Moishe) Moritz,** *who also lives in N.J.* **(Kálmen) Kálmán.** They are all my first cousins. Uncle Herman's daughter **Hani**'s husband's name was **Kalmen Leib,** they had 5, children 1, boy, 4, girls. The boy's name **Naftole Hyem.** The girls names **(Hinde) Helen, (Mariem) Margit, (Gitl) Giza, (Rayze) Iren,** *who lives in N.J. with her husband Moshke + 8, children.* The names I don't know. **Leona's** husband's name was **Itzig Hersh Weinberger.** They went to South America — Monte Video, with 6 children 4, boys, 2, girls. names unknown. **Regina** had 4, boys names unknown. they were all wiped out by the nazis. The rest of them were all killed by the nazis except **Frieda** — I don't know how many children she had. I met one of her grandsons **Hose** — his family live in Panama. Uncle **Menyus**' family all wiped out by the nazis. Uncle **Izidor**'s family — only cousin **Moise** & family + **Hermina** escaped, they are in N.J. Moise has 8, children, 5, boys 3, girls. Hermina has no children. *continued on other side.* --- ### Page 4 My own family, *dear S, my heart bleeds as I write this.* My sister **Hanika** was my oldest sister. I loved her the most of all my sisters. She raised me because by the time my mother had me she was not well any more. Hanika married a cousin of ours **Ignatz Feldman.** They had 2 boys & 1, girl. **(Haje) Erzsike,** boys, **(Hyem Solom) Géza, (Hershel) Feri.** Hanika died very young, her husband married another sister **Regina.** She had 2, girls **(Lije) Lilly,** *she was very beautiful,* **(Sore Rochel) Rozsi.** They were all killed by the nazis only Feri survived, that you know. **Lipot** was the oldest. He also married a cousin — **Ignatz Feldman**'s sister, **Regina,** whom I also loved very much. *She was very good to my parents.* They had 4, boys, 1, girl. **(Hije) Irene, (Iseek) Imre,** *you know them,* **(Elije) Ernő, (Hyem Solom) Endre, (Slome Jide) Jenő,** *he was my only krater zeen, that means he was my God son.* These are your cousins. Uncle **Liser**'s children were all killed by the nazis. --- ## Notes on this transcription - **Verified against the four-page handwritten original** by reading the scanned pages line by line. Esther's own spellings (`witch` for "which," `forfathers` for "forefathers," `nazis` lowercase, `wifes` for "wives") are preserved. Inline parenthetical Hebrew names — e.g. **(Hershel) Herman** — are exactly as she wrote them on the page. - **No closing salutation.** Page 4 ends mid-sentence with "Uncle Liser's children were all killed by the nazis." There is no "I love you, Mama" or other sign-off visible on the final page; she may have continued onto a fifth page that has not surfaced, or simply stopped there. - **One known factual slip from Esther:** she writes that her grandparents "passed away when I was a child." Outside records show only one of her grandparents actually died in her childhood — a minor misremembering at age 75. The rest of the letter is treated as authoritative. - **What this transcription does *not* contain:** external biographical context (Esther's 1939 arrival in America, her two marriages, her sister Sarah's move to Chicago, Lipot's 1892 birth date, Malvina's 1935 death, etc.). Those are real facts established elsewhere in this archive, but they are not on these four pages — so they don't belong inside Esther's voice. They are documented on the individual `/p/` profile pages instead. **Provenance:** Original letter held by Sandra Schon Kiferbaum. Scanned and transmitted to Eli Feig in 2025. PDF preserved at `/letters/esther-1980-original.pdf`; per-page JPGs at `/images/esther-letter-1980-p[1-4].jpg`.