Zhvil in Early Twentieth Century
Zhvil in Early Twentieth Century
Naomi Moderick started off this page, generously sharing the translations made of her family's appearance in the Censuses and Vital Records of Novogrod-Volinsky. See her critical contribution linked to the section of this page which includes actual images of other Census and Vital Records from this important old town. Those were sent in by Marc L. Greenberg who has been creating valuable resources related to his family history. Interestingly, Reouven Frajerman of France and Jan Groshan in the United States, each have ties to the settlement from Novogrod-Volinsky and Korets that was formed in the Massachussets mill towns of Lynn and Brockton Massachussets. There, the leather-working skills that earned Novogrod-Volinsky a mention in the nineteenth century encyclopedias, was put to use in the many shoe manufacturing facilities in the area.
Alex Kopelberg, formerly of Zhitomir and so consequently familiar with the community, though he now lives in Israel, sends this helpful information: I noted that the name of the town "Novogrod-Volynskiy" is not written correctly. It consists of three roots combined into a complex word " Noviy" (new), "Grad" (town), "Volhynskiy" ( of Volhyn)" In Russian it sounds as "Novograd-Volhynskiy" , almost the same in the Ukrainian. I know it from my own experience as I often traveled there while living in Zhitomir. Also, its former name sounds in Russian as "Zvyagel". By the way, when in 1804 the Volhyn province was organized , this town (situated almost in the center of the province ) was to become its capital, but due to the lack of proper communication, the town of Zhitomir became the administrative center of the Province.
More philological (word studies) thoughts from a language professor with a particular interest in this town - Marc Greenberg sent this email "One thing you might change is the name of the shtetl from Zhvil (sic) to Zvil. I worked with a Yiddishist at the YIVO Institute and we established that the correct spelling and pronunciation for the Yiddish place-name is ZVIL. The "h" came about because it is written as a historical relic in the Hebraic rendering--and, properly speaking, it should be after the "i", but it is not relevant to the pronunciation."M A second email from Marc followed up with "Also, the spellings of the town in Russian are transliterated from Cyrillic as follows:
Novogradvolynsk (Russian, before the Revolution)
Novograd Volynskii (Russian, after the Revolution)
Novohrad Volyns'kyi (Ukrainian)
The town was also known in Russian as:
V"zviagel' (13th c.)
Zviagel' (15th c. on)
And in Ukrainian as:
Zviahel'
The latter form is the one that Yiddish borrowed, whence the name Zvil.
The Bilansky Family
provided by the generosity of Jan Groshan
Taken c.1910 in Novograd-Volinsky. The head of the family is Avrum BILANSKY and his wife Sofia/Sara sits to one side of him and it is thought that the elderly blind gentleman on his other side is his uncle Joseph Nuta BILANSKY. He is said to have lived until age 106. The photograph is marked in the handwriting of Jan Groshan's mother "grandma, grandpa, great-grandfather" and Abram Bilansky's father had been dead since 1853, hence the assumption that this is his uncle whose birth year would match the claims for this man's age. The other parties are the children still in Novogrod-Volinsky that year Rivka BILANSKY ZHURAVENKO/JORDAN (emigrated 1914); Bella BILANSKY SCHNEIDERMAN (emigrated 1922); Schleme/Samuel BILANSKY (emigrated 1920). Children that had already emigrated and were not in the picture were Naftali BILANSKY, Rachel BILANSKY BROWN (already in Boston 1903), Harry BILANSKY (in Detroit in 1908), and Nisl/Nathan BILANSKY (emigrated 1910). A site honoring this family has been created by Marc Greenberg at http://www.ancestors-genealogy.com/greenberg/
Don't forget to look at the records and depositories in nearby towns, Naomi Moderick sent info from Zhitomir's archives which a researcher from Novogrod-Volhynsky would absolutely need to use. They are a series of Census Extracts and translations related to a particular family but they can be of immense value to you, even if you do not have a single name in common. They tell you what records are available in the archives for this town and give a feel for the specific information available for this town and possibly for other communities in the vicinity. Click here to see these generously provided by Naomi Moderick Census Records Extracts of the ANNAPOLSKY family of Novogrod-Volinsky.
You may find it valuable to read a great article by a gentleman who was researching his family in Chudnov not far from Novograd-Volinsky. He used JewishGen's Shtetl Shleppers to arrange the trip of a lifetime and his emotional experiences, in the town and in the Zhitomir archives, are shared with us in January 2006 at Journey to Chudnov on our Ukraine SIG's Stories page.
A series of Vital Records and Census Records on another Novogrod-Volinsky family, not yet translated shows that the originals are very valuable. They show not just the family being researched, but other people posted on the same pages. Our benefactor, Marc L. Greenberg, a professor of Slavic languages, hopes to have time to translate the pages more fully for us in the next semester. In the meantime, use their images and the translations posted by Naomi Moderick to create a template you can follow if you are looking at a similar document on your ancestor. And don't forget to send us a copy!
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1834 Census Males 103-105 |
1834 Census Females Numbers 103-105 |
1858 Census Males 83-85 |
1858 Census Females 83-85 |
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 | 1869 Birth Register -Russian Side of Page |
1869 Birth Register -Hebrew Side of Page |
1874 Birth Register -Russian Side of Page |
1874 Birth Register -Hebrew Side of Page |
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 | 1876 Birth Register -Russian Side of Page |
1876 Birth Register -Hebrew Side of Page |
1879 Birth Register -Russian Side of Page |
1879 Birth Register -Hebrew Side of Page |
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 | 1882 Birth Register -Russian Side of Page |
1882 Birth Register -Hebrew Side of Page |
1886 Birth Register -Russian Side of Page |
1920 Death Register |
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We need volunteers to work on a Third Party List of people named in the records of emigrants from this town, material that has never been indexed previously! If you like reading English-language ship manifests from the turn of the century, write to me, Deborah Glassman and let me know!
We need people to research articles and personalities of this town on the web and in print sources in English, Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish, Ukrainian, Polish, and others.
We need your help on this site. This is what the open source encyclopedias call "a stub". We need pictures of your relatives, pictures of their things -samovars, quilts, Shabbas candlesticks, etc; and details on their lives. Send us your material and keep us moving!
Email material for this page to Deborah Glassman Click here to go back to the Collection Points for Ukrainian Towns Page created by Deborah Glassman
copyright September 2005, updated December 2005