Facts

Atlas Family 1915 New York Census

The 1915 New York State Census show the Atlas family residing at 1562 Madison Avenue in New York City.  This is the same address that Feige Kolik gave for “Yossel Atlas“, her American host, to the Ellis Island immigration official.  On Feige Kolik’s passenger manifest, the last digit in the 1562 street number was obscured and “Madison” was hard to decipher.  This address became known only when I searched census records for “Feige Atlas” and made the connection.  At first, I thought that Feige Kolik was mistakenly identified as a daughter of Yossel Atlas, but then I found the Atlas family in Ellis Island passenger manifests.

Arriving in New York on 10 February 1907, Bessie Atlas (listed as “Bassie”) traveled with her daughters Feige 9, Sure 4, Chane 10 months, and son Elie 6.  The passenger record shows Elie as “In Hospital” with an adjacent stamp, “Died in Hospital”.  The place of birth for Bessie and her children is Kalenkewitz.  This is modern-day Kalinkavichy in Belarus. (Belarusian: Калінкавічы. Russian: Калинковичи. Yiddish: קאַלענקעוויטש / קאַלינקאָוויטש).

1904 Ship Manifest for Josef Atlas

Bessie and her children were joining her husband “Josef Atlas” who is shown arriving alone on 14 May 1904 from Liverpool in the Ellis Island passenger manifest.  Josef Atlas listed his cousin M Selenko of 119 East 103rd Street, New York, as his host.

Hy Suchman remembers visiting “Uncle Atlas” when he was a boy, walking under a tunnel of the NY Central Railroad. He remembers Feige (later Fannie) Atlas marrying Fineberg, moving to Philadelphia and having three children. One of those children moved to New Rochelle, New York.

Three of Bessie’s daughters share names with with Hasia Schwartz‘s daughters: Feige, Sura and Chana. A son, born in New York, shares a name too: Nathan (Нохим Кулик).

1907 Ship Manifest for Bessie Atlas and Family

Hypothesis

How is the Atlas family related to Feige Kolik?  I cannot find definitive records, but I can make a guess: Bessie and Hasia are sisters.  The common girl names Feige and Chana suggest that the mothers (Bessie and Hasia) named their daughters after the same women on the mother’s side of their family.  This decreases the probability that Bessie was sister to Abram Kolik, but is insufficient proof by itself.

Further research may provide the necessary evidence to prove or disprove this supposition.  Until then, I believe:

• Bessie Atlas‘ maiden name was Schwartz and she was sister to Hasia Schwartz
• Feige Kolik and Feige Atlas, Hana Kolik and Chana Atlas, Sura Kolik and Sura Atlas, and Nuchem Kolik and Nathan Atlas were named after the same ancestor of Fagle Schwartz (maiden name unknown)

Further Research

The 1915 Census show Esther and Nathan Atlas being born in New York.  Find their birth records to see Bessie’s maiden name.  Get naturalization records for Joseph, Bessie and their three foreign born children.

Update: Bessie Atlas’s tombstone gave the necessary proof.

Feige’s timing was good: World War I started on 28 July 1914. Feige arrived a few months before transatlantic commercial services from Germany stopped. Her ship, the SS George Washington, was at its Hoboken NJ terminal when war started and remained there until seized by the United States upon its entry into World War I in April 1917.

Continue reading…

Immigration Record

Did 18 year old Feige Kolik make the journey from Yurevichi alone?

Yurevichi was a very small town in Imperial Russia, but on line 7 of the same manifest we see 17 year old Yurevichian Frume Kaufmann.  Frume’s father was Mottel Kaufmann and her host was cousin Mase Landerboun of 31 Morgan Ave Hartford, Connecticut.  Very likely, they were friends who made the journey together.

Feige Kolik is listed on line 29 of the SS George Washington’s manifest.

S.S. George Washington

Feige departed Bremen, Germany, on 30th of May 1914. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Bremen was the busiest port for embarkation for emigrants from Central Europe traveling to America.

The SS George Washington was build in 1907-1908 for North German Lloyd and launched under the German flag on 10 November 1908. Half of its 2,700 passengers sailed in steerage class.

Historic Ship Photos