The founders of Sherbrooke Congregation

 

The founders of Sherbrooke Congregation

Copyright by Deborah Glassman 2012

 

This is not yet a list of the Ostropolers, it is a first step in sorting them. It begins with the records created by the legal petitions for there to be a recognized authority to record Jewish births, deaths, and marriages in the town of Sherbrooke, District of St Francis, in Quebec.

 

I have added a final column for people on whom I have evidence of Ostropoler ties, but in some cases only indications, not yet evidence. The mistakes are mine – Deborah Glassman, and if you copy this to your page, please check back to see if I have made corrections or annotations, or simply continue your own research. Please let me know what you find in support or contradiction to this listing.

 

Founders of Sherbrooke Congregation

January – April 1907 signatures

 

There are a series of pages in the 1907 registry of the Jewish Congregation of Sherbrookewhich is the first book in the series that continues through the 1940s.

 

The first section documents their petition to form a congregation. There is a petition in English with 20 names, their occupations, and their ages.

 

There is a similar document in French with the majority of those same names repeated, the name of Louis Feldman is missing from the French document, and the name of Samson Echenberg is in the French document but not in the English. This listing also lists names, ages, and occupations, but this time each includes a signature. All of the signatures are in English with the exception of one for Samson Echenberg. Samson’s is followed by a parenthesis with his English name enclosed, the legal way of designating a “mark” rather than a signature.

 

There is a third notarized document sworn by Moses Echenberg, one of the petitioners that he personally knows these men and can say that they are each resident in Sherbrooke, that each is a British subject professing the Jewish religion, and  that each is a male over the age of 21.

 

Then Moses leads off a series of depositions where he swears those same facts for himself personally. Each signatory to the petitions provides a separate deposition for his ability to petition as a resident of Sherbrooke; as a British subject professing the Jewish religion; as a man over the age of 21.

 

There appears to be no deposition only for the missing Louis Feldman of the first petition and Samson Echenberg, his replacement in the French petition. We would expect Samson to appear there and there is a deposition by someone who does not otherwise appear in either petition – he is called here Samuel Echenberg and no age info is included for him. Though there are other people in Samson Echenberg’s family who do use the name Samuel, that was not previously known for him. However it does seem likely that in this case the Samuel Echenberg of the deposition matches Samson Echenberg of the signed petition.

Alphabetical list of named people

Cohen Benjamin
Echenberg Moses
Echenberg Manassa B
Echenberg Samson
Echenberg Samuel
Edgar Louis
Feldman Louis
Goldberg Himan
Greenberg Frank
Kushner Louis
Laxer Charles H “Chaim”
Laxer Louis
Laxer, Joseph G,
Lebowitz Himan
Mosel Samuel
Rappaport Samuel
Sack Salomon “Sam”
Simack Samuel
Smith Isaac
Vineberg Thomas
Weinstein Max
Wine Jack

 

Surname First Name Occupation

 

Age Sig Page in Reg Motions Ostropoler?
Laxer, Joseph G, Reverend/ rabbin

 

28 Eng 3, 5 No
Laxer Charles H

“Chaim”

trader 40 Eng 3, 5 4th Trustee in founding board No
Laxer Louis trader 39 Eng 3, 5 No
Rappaport Samuel Trader /commercant 29 Eng 3, 5 ?
Goldberg Himan tailor 29 none 3 Yes
Echenberg Moses trader 43 Eng 3, 5, 6, 7

 

3rd Trustee in founding board Yes
Weinstein Max Trader, charretier 27 Eng 3, 5 5th Trustee in founding board Yes
Greenberg Frank Trader / commercant 26 Eng 3, 5 Yes
Cohen Benjamin Trader / commercant 37 Eng 3, 6 ?
Echenberg Manassa B trader 35 Eng 3, 5 Yes
Vineberg Thomas trader 36 Eng 3, 5 2nd Trustee in founding board1st Secretary Treasurer ?
Kushner Louis Trader /marchand 31 Eng 3, 5 No
Wine Jack Tailor / tailleur 42 Eng 3, 5 ?
Lebowitz Himan Tailor / tailleur 36 Eng 3, 5 ?
Simack Samuel Clerk /[French word begin with c] 22 Eng 3, 5 ?
Mosel Samuel Clerk / [French word begin with c] 25 Eng 3, 5 ?
Sack Salomon “Sam” Trader /commercant 37 Eng 4, 5 Yes
Edgar Louis clerk 27 Eng 4, 5 ?
Smith Isaac Trader / marchand 42 Eng 4, 5 1st Trustee in founding board

1st Chairman

Yes
Feldman Louis tailor 23 none 4 Yes
Echenberg Samson gentilhomme No age provided Heb sig with notation of mark 5 Yes
Echenberg Samuel Not found outside of deposition page  

 

Yes