Leah Ornstein...Coming to America

This ships transcript shows the log of Leah's journey to the New World in September 1924. Note her mothers address is listed as 11, Weston House, Goldsmith Row, Hackney, in the East End of London. Leah's occupation is recorded as been a domestic worker.

Also included here is a poor quality copy of Leah's school report, from 1916. Seems she did very well! She was remaked upon as been "a nice well mannered girl,very neat and careful". The comment then goes onto state, "industrious and willing". I guess those were the sort of qualities which would help her achieve her "American Dream"!

The Ornsteins arrive in Boston?

Are these three Ornsteins part of the clan? Their names are Efraim, Feige and Lelig. They are shown arriving there in the Summer of 1891, on the ship "Kansas" via the port of Liverpool. They had come originally from Austria. Efraim was 24, his wife Feige, 20 and what must be Efraim's younger sister Lelig, a 17 year old cigarette maker. So were they relatives of Benjamin Ornstein, brother of Mordechai, or Benjamin's son Harry, who married Leah, the eldest daughter of Mordechai?

Ornstein Rabbinical Line as drawn by Steven Charter

Does this family tree relate to us at all? The question here is are we in anyway connected to this Rabbinical Dynasty of Ornstein's? All I am told (by my mother) is that Mordechai's father or perhaps his grandfather was a Rabbi. His father was called Ephraim...so is there any documentation of there of a Rebbe Ephraim Ornstein?

Yidel and Hannah Moser, Galacia, Austrian Ukraine sometime in the late 19th century.

I believe this picture to be of Yidel Moser and his wife Hannah, who were the parents of Dvorah (Dobbie) Ornstein, (nee Moser), who was of course the wife of Mordechai (Max/Mark)Ornstein. A big Thank-You to Shirley Korner (nee Austin) of Lewes, East Sussex, England for providing me with the photograph. Shirley is one of the two daughters of the late Frank Austin O.B.E., who was the oldest son of Mordechai and Dvorah Ornstein.

The older map, dating to 1895, shows the area of Lvov (Lemburg) where the Ornstein's came from.

Mordechai and Dvorah Ornstein are thought to have come from the village of Yagelinca, which I cannot locate on any modern or old maps. It was probably in the Lvov area, in the region of Galicia גאליציע(Galitsie). I can only see two towns on google maps, which bear any similiarity in name or suggestion, Jagielnica, Strzeliński in Lower Silesia in Poland and Yahil'nytsia in Chortkivs'kyi in the Ukraine.



The second, modern map is a just there for comparison and to put the area into a modern perspective.

The Ornstein Oracle...a blog about the Ornstein Family History

This is the 1911 Census, which shows the Ornstein Family as living at 25 Vauxhall Street in Plymouth. This area was right on the Quayside, as the ships come in. The street is now a more affluent area, with some flush apartments. Back then it was where immigrants and travelling types would lodge.