RE: [Cz-L] Our Origins

This is an interesting topic that Ava Cohen any others are discussing now.

I have lost a lot of my keenness over the past few years and have not been
an assiduous researcher, but my late mother's father's line may well have
been Sephardic. The family name was KULA (which doesn't sound very Jewish).
My mother had the Sephardic skin, and facial features, as did her brother
and sister. There are many villages by that name in today's Turkey - the
main one has a storied reputation for fine oriental rugs. It is also a
common Turkish family name.

I found a list of landowners from 1808 on this website. TWO were Kulas -
this is some 65 odd years after the Ottoman Empire lost this territory to
Austro-Hungary. By the Edict of Toleration in 1761, as I understand, the
Emperor allowed two (sic.) Jews to own land in a province. It appeals to my
common sense to surmise that the Kulas were there before it became
Austro-Hungary in order for them to have TWO landholdings. Until the Jews
were dispossessed by the Romanians in the War, the family business was a
large agribusiness - cattle - leather - tanning - soap was made at the
factory of my mother's maternal grandfather, Noa Lehr, altho' his line
appears to trace back to Russia. It is also noteworthy for the puzzlement
factor, that I cannot find any Kula lineage between my grandfather and the
1808 lists.

Another factor, including the history of the takeover from the Ottomans, is
that this region is a kind of "east meets west" one. The region was close to
the Black Sea, and the Silk Road passed through it, i.e. its geographical
position lends itself to intermingling of east and west. There seems to be
little sense in excluding Sephardim from a large and prosperous and ALLURING
Jewish community that stretches back to antiquity and probably well into the
Ottoman Empire.

Robert Burton

Robert Burton
Cobob Holdings Limited
307 Sheppard Avenue East
TORONTO, Ontario M2N 3B3

Tel: 416 226 6895, Ext. 29
Fax: 416 223 0321

-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-48773130-3499409_at_list.cornell.edu
[mailto:bounce-48773130-3499409_at_list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Ava Cohn
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 12:47 PM
To: czernowitz-l_at_list.cornell.edu
Subject: Re: [Cz-L] Our Origins

Just to add a little more to the discussion, I have always wondered if my
paternal side of the family were Sephardim. Recently, I found a website that
traces the origins of Jewish-Sephardic surnames and was surprised to find
that my HAMMER family (from south of Storozynhets) had its origins in
Portugal. The site indicated that there was a migration from Portugal/Spain
to Germany and then into the Bukovina.

Likewise, my COHN side of the family, from Botosani, Romania (not far from
the Bukovina) has physical characteristics, such as olive skin and dark
eyes, that are more Sephardic than Ashkenazic. I'm still conducting a
personal study of family photos called "Faces of Botosani" to see if there
are any similar facial characteristics among Botosani Jews. Send me a photo
scan of your family if you're interested in participating. I'm not going to
do anything with the photos other than to look at them for similar facial
structure, eyes etc.

My family finder DNA test revealed small percentages of Spanish and Tuscan
origins. Not to say everyone who settled in the Bukovina was Sephardic and
only records can reveal the truth, but I do believe my origins were
Sephardic.

Best to all,
Ava Cohn

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Received on 2012-04-19 15:41:05