I posted in February 2015 information
about Jewish settlers in Cupar. I had very little information at the
time. This fall (2016) I received a comment from a G. Paulin which I
am including here. I am repeating also the post not including the
newspaper ads. Since then a relative of G. Paulin visited our museum
in Cupar spending a couple of hours photographing maps etc. Mr.
Drabinsky also visited the Jewish cemetery outside of Lipton. I
contacted him and he didn't think he would be able to get back this
way. Then I gave him contact numbers for the Dysart museum. Now he
decided he might make another trip after all. We are all very excited
that Mr. Drabinsky is researching Jewish settlers in the Cupar,
Dysart and Lipton area and hope he will share what he finds with our
museums. I unfortunately have only what I can find in the old Cupar
Heralds, sometimes an ad or a reference to an event.
The Cupar Historical Committee made a
valiant effort when accumulating information for the Cupar History
book to contact Jewish settlers in the Cupar area. Unfortunately the
results are minimal, but what they could find was included on page
509.
Since then the internet has come into
being and there is information on Jewish settlers around Cupar,
Dysart and especially Lipton, but in the future much more needs to be
done. Today we are also able to access for free census records of
this time.
Small town newspapers can be a
wonderful resource, but too often they are overlooked. It requires
time. They may contain only a kernel of information, a possible hint,
that can lead to something bigger elsewhere. I was not looking for
Jewish settlers in Cupar when I found some. They need to be included
as part of our 110 years of history.
Sadly there is reference to a news
article from 2 March 1910 which attests to the harsh conditions of an
isolated farm life, especially for a woman.
I found in the 1911 and 1916 Cupar
census a number of Jewish settlers in Cupar who were businessmen. I
have included only 4 because I have ads or other information for
their businesses. I do not know when they left. Also the census
records are rather hard to read. According to the Cupar History book
Mr. Nadler was a councillor 1913, and W. Pechet mayor 1921.
From the 1911 and 1916 census records
I found the following:
Max Baratz: Roumanian, immigrated to
Canada 1902, Hebrew, watchmaker.
William Pechet: Roumanian, immigrated
to Canada 1902, Hebrew, merchant.
(for a time Max and William would be
in business together)
Leon Nadler: Roumanian, immigrated to
Canada 1902, Hebrew, taylor.
(I wondered did these 3 men know
each other in the old country)
Samuel Freedman: Russia, immigrated to
Canada 1906, Hebrew, liveryman.
Sadly the Pechet and Baratz store
would succumb to fire in 1911, and Pechet's store would be destroyed
by fire in 1921
