Last update of this page 2022.FEB.11
Jacob has no known relatives from Odessa. The children of Jacob and Kate only knew cousins on Kate’s side. Five cousins, children of Peter and Rosa Swiersky, are identified on MyHeritage.com. These are Abraham (1870-1931), Kate Swiersky Simon (1877-1929), Lena Swiersky Levine (1881-1939), Ida Swiersky Grodsky (1881-1947), Dora Swiersky Spector (1882-unknown).
Kate’s parents, Peretz (Peter) Swiersky and Rosa Lapidus Swiersky emigrated from Kobelnik, now in Belarus, and ended up in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, in the 1870s. The name Swiersky has many spelling variations. Rosa also used the name Annie.
This site is unable to give comprehensive information about the many descendants of Peter and Rosa. Perhaps a Swiersky family person can provide details; please send a note to GarySimonMonterey@gmail.com.
This portrait of Peter was kept in the Simon family house and business in Mocanaqua. He was born in 1849 and died in 1903.
Rosa’s portrait was displayed right next to Peter’s.
Rosa’s portrait was next to Peter’s. She was born in 1842 (and thus older than Peter). She died in 1923.
Below is a photograph of the family of Abe Swiersky, the oldest of Peter and Rosa’s children. Abe and his wife Sarah had nine children. Paul in this photo is sometimes called Peter. This suggests that he was named for his grandfather Peretz, who had died in 1903. The ‘P’ name is sometimes rendered in English as Peter or Paul or Philip.
This shows the first step in 1899 of Abe Swiersky’s citizenship process.
This is the later step of the citizenship process, exactly three years later.
The next image shows a gathering in Shamokin. The date is guessed to be just after Ruth Mittleman’s birth. This may be Rosa’s last picture; she died in 1923.
Peter’s death was reported in the Mount Carmel Item, 1903.JUL.13. He passed away on Sunday, July 12, and was buried later that day. The report mentions one daughter, suggesting that the youngest, Dora, was still living at home.
This is Rosa’s death certificate. She died at the Binghamton home of her daughter Dora and Dora’s husband Tobias Spector. The cause of death is listed as senility, with heart syncope as contributory. Her father is noted as Jacob Lapidos, but her mother’s maiden name is “cannot be learned.”
This is Peter’s grave marker. He died July 12, 1903, at age 54. The reverse side of the stone says “Presented by his son-in-law Jacob Simon.”
Rosa’s stone is in the same cemetery in Shamokin. She passed away December 12, 1923. She had been a widow for twenty years.
Abe Simon got to visit this cemetery in 1999.
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