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Feb. 16, 2007
Find out more about family
Genealogical searches can turn up all kinds of intriguing tales.
KELLEY KORBIN
Cissie Eppel has a passion for genealogy. It's a passion she thinks
everyone should share. She advocates that every family should have
at least one historian to chronicle not only the names and birthdates
of extended family members, but their stories, too.
I have the fortunate distinction of being counted among Eppel's
numerous relatives and, as such, am included in her latest genealogical
effort, A Journey into Our History, Chronicles of the Hyman (Yukha)
and Goldman (Goldenberger) Families.
Eppel's interest in genealogy started in 1966, when she was visiting
a cousin's son who lived in Israel. He didn't know the rest of his
family, so Eppel drew a rough sketch of a family tree for him. Twenty
years later, one of her late husband's relatives in Britain's Channel
Islands offered to compensate her to compile a family tree. Eppel
reluctantly agreed to try to create a simple "pictorial history"
of her mother-in-law's family. She started with a chain letter of
sorts, requesting photos from all the family members she could contact.
But Eppel got more than she bargained for. "That's when the
stories started coming," she explained.
With the guidance of her great- nephew, Phillip Steiner, she soon
purchased her first computer and learned the basics from him. She
never looked back.
"What started as a family pictorial history for my in-laws
turned into a 350-page book with about 500 photographs and documents,"
she said.
She regrets that her husband, Charlie, never had the opportunity
see the fruits of her labor. "I know how much joy he would
have got from seeing this book," she said.
Not about to let another family member miss out on the benefits
of knowing their extended family, she began work on A Journey
into Our History, which focuses on her own family. She had her
son, Ralph, in mind. "My son is an only child now," she
said, explaining that his brother, Sydney, died at age four after
a tonsillectomy, "and he wants family." Eppel was determined
that Ralph would gain "a sense of belonging to something bigger"
that she said comes from knowing your family history. She added,
"For me, it's a commitment and it's a mitzvah because you're
bringing family together."
But Eppel wasn't satisfied just to bring her own family together.
While she was working on her first book, she said she came to the
conclusion that Vancouver needed its own Jewish genealogical society.
With a bit of encouragement, she became determined to make that
happen. Thirty people attended the first meeting of the Jewish Genealogical
Institute of British Columbia (JGIBC) at Temple Sholom Synagogue
in 1992. The organization has been going strong ever since.
Eppel explained that Jewish genealogy has certain distinct challenges.
"It's because our history is so different, you know, with moving
from one country to another and names changed, so it is a more specialized
subject."
In speaking with Eppel, I realized that the real satisfaction in
genealogy comes not from the names on the page, but from the thrill
of the chase. Eppel's excitement was infectious as she described
the small victories that are counted by adding more and more people
and their stories to the family tree.
My dad and I both felt the hair on the backs of our necks stand
up as she regaled us with a story about searching for the family
of her grandfather (my great-great grandfather) by registering with
JewishGen.org's family finder. This search ultimately led her to
a Friday night dinner in Israel with a family who shared the same
surname as our patriarch. According to Eppel, "As soon as I
saw the father, his face – it was just like one of my uncles.
I'm going cold now when I think about it. I couldn't believe it."
With some digging and after obtaining documentation from the archives
in Latvia, Eppel was subsequently able to prove that the man she
had dinner with was indeed her second cousin, and thus his family
became fodder for another chapter in her book.
"There comes a time in everybody's life when they'll wonder,
'Where did my grandparents come from? What did they do? What was
their lifestyle 200 years ago?'" she said. "[Researching
my history has] given a lot to me in these last 20 to 30 years.
It's given me the self-satisfaction of remembering my parent's families
and it's opened up the world to me."
For more information, contact [email protected].
Kelley Korbin is a freelance writer based in West Vancouver.
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