Welcome to the GUTTMAN-ZAHARIA Home Page

Family Tree and Newsletter by Arlene B. Edwards
Guttman ~ Maiman Publications

The Guttmans / Zaharias of Romania

Searching: ZAHARIA, Budestii Ghicai, Romania; Frumusica (Storesti) Botosani, and Birgaoani, Romania; GUTMAN (Ghitman), Budeshtii Ghicai, Ruginoasa, Romania; ZAHARIA/ZAROVICI/ZAROVITZ ZAROWTZ, ZARWIT), Galati, St. Louis,MO. Florida; GRINBERG (GREENBERG) Galati, Romania; (ILIESCU, ELIESCU), now known as ELIESEN, Bozieni de Sus, Romania and Bara, Roman, Romania, Montreal; HERSCOVICI ,(Herschkovitz, Hersch) Bozieni de Sus, Romania, Montreal and Boston; FISER, Flaminzi, Botosani, Romania; BEVENTER, Bozieni, Ruginoasa, Romania; CHERPEL, Falticeni, Suceava, Romania. BLANARIU (BLANAR) Bargaoani, Falticeni, Romania, CATZ/CATI Bozieni, MARIEAN, Serbesti, Bistrita De Sus, Bacau.



Research, Research and more Research!!!

When I started to work on the GUTTMAN Family Tree in 1992, I had no idea where this research would take me. Originally I wanted to write a short newsletter for my branch of the GUTTMAN Family, the MAIMANS.


My 'Bobie,' Lizzie (Henta Leba) (ZAHARIA) GUTMAN was born in Romania! At the time, where and when I did not know. She did not know her own birthday, so she adopted my mother, her eldest daughter Bessie's (Bea) birthday. The year supposedly, 1887. That is the extent of my knowledge of the GUTTMANS. (Since receiving documents from Romania,I discovered, Henta Leba GUTMAN was born in Jaunuary, 1882 and was actually five years older than anyone knew.)

I began writing a short MAIMAN FAMILY NEWSLETTER in the fall of 1993. I sent copies to all my MAIMAN aunts, uncles and cousins. I had a few left over so I sent copies to some Canadian GUTTMAN cousins in Montreal. From that time on, nothing remained the same

The letters and the phone calls began! Photos were exchanged and letter writing began between myself and all those previously unknown cousins. It was exciting, to say the least!

At that same time, I began putting together the Family Tree. Before I knew it, I had eight branches: Solomon, Rose, Sophie, Pauline, Samuel and Lizzie, plus two siblings supposedly living in New York, Jacob and Leon, of whom I knew nothing about. And here the story began!

After sending out the first newsletter, the response was fantastic. One cousin would call or write another and others would give addresses of more cousins to contact. Eventually, I printed up a questionniare, simple enough, but not too invasive or intrusive!

And so began the many hours, that lead into days, months and finally
years of research, looking for my GUTTMAN FAMILY ANCESTORS of Romania.

The Branches!

The search continues today, with two men. One, Dr. Ladislau Gyemant, a Jewish History Professor at the University in Cluj Napoca in Romania, digging through archives, tax documents, census records, birth marriage and death records, and anything he can legally get his hands on. Two, Gheorghe Mirueta, an engineer in Galati, who has done additional searching and he presented me with the documents of Solomon ZAROVICI'S children, Mihail (Michael) and Reisa (Rose.) To date, I have been presented with 92 documents, birth marriage, death, tax and cemetery records. In addition, the dates of each Guttman sibling's birth record is documented and additional Zaharia children's names were found in the records: Abraham Froim,Ita and Enta.

Twelve Branches so far!

With the new information of the records sent from Romania, I am now positive of 'TWELVE' GUTMAN children, born to Shimon Meyer (sin Zaharia), ca. 1836-1923 and Hana Sura GUTMAN, ca. 1842-1902, daughter of Herscu and Sosa GUTMAN, from Budeshtii Ghicai, Romania in the district of Neamt. Shimon Meyer's father was Zachariah Gershon (aka sin Herscu).At this time, no surname was attached to this family. Legal papers referred to the children of Zacharia Gerson as "sin Zaharia", meaning son of Zachariah!

Shimon Meyer, after marrying Hana Sura, adopted the surname GUTMAN as his own. Eventually the name became GUTTMAN with two 't's'

Nine of the children, Leizer, 1866-1890; Sosa Freida, 1868; Iancu (Jacob), 1869; Froim, 1871; Etta, 1972; Enta, with records of only a death certificate at the age of two years, October, 1874; Ita, 1876; Pesa (Pauline), 1877; Haim (Samuel), 1879 and Henta Leba (Lizzie), 1882, were born in the Piatra Neamt District, in the town of Budestii Ghicai, the village of Tatomiresti. All were born at home!

The search continues for the birthplaces of the eldest ZAHARIA? ZAROVICI/GUTMAN children, Abraham Mordechai and Solomon.

Hana Sura GUTMAN, wife of Shimon Meyer sin ZAHARIA (son of Zecharia) and daughter of Sosa and Herscu GUTMAN had a brother, Josef (Iosub) GUTMAN (GHITMAN), born in 1846 in the Village of Ruginaosa, Bozieni. He married Feiga (sin Aizic) BEVENTER on January 18, 1868 in Bozieni. They had 10 children: David, Leiba (m) Szara, Haia, Leba (f.) Strul, Herscu, Reiza, Iancu, and Malca.

Iosub (Josef), Hana Sura's brother, was a merchant and died at the age of 59 on November 13, 1905 on Socola Str. 12, Iasi, Romania and is buried in the Jewish Cemetery,Copou.

David Gutman, b.1870 in Bozieni, married Baba (?) and had two children, (1) Rahla, b. May 18, 1902 in Bozieni. (2) Naftulea (m.) b. September 23, 1904, Bozieni.

Leiba GUTMAN, b. 3 November 1870 in Bozieni, died 14 February 1871, Bozieni.

Szara GUTMAN, b. 8 December, 1871 in Bozieni, died at age 70 on 24 February, 1940 in Bozieni.

Haia GUTMAN, b. 27 January 1874 married Avram Leiba (sin Haim) LUPU a widower, b. 1866. Married 22 July, 1899 in Bozieni.

Leba GUTMAN, b.21 June 1876, Starda Mare 21, Bozieni, d. 16 December, 1878, Bozieni.

Strul GUTMAN, b. 30 May, 1879, Bozieni, d. 16 September 1879, Bozieni.

Herscu GUTMAN, b. 27 October 1880 in Bozieni, married Deborah (?) They had three children: Anuta GUTMAN, b. 1916; Unknown, born in 1925; Fany GUTMAN, born 1937.

Reiza GUTMAN, b. 29 August 1883, Bozieni, d. 12 May 1935, Bozieni.

Iancu GUTMAN, b. 25 December 1885, Bozieni, d. 5 February 1893, Bozieni.

Malca GUTMAN, b. 21 April 1888, Bozieni


In additional research to date, (June 1998) it was also discovered that Shimon Meyer ZAHARIA had two brothers, MARCU ZAHARIA and HERSCU ZAHARIA the youngest.

Marcu married Maria CATZ/CATI and had four children:

Herscu ZAHARIA b. July 11, 1867 in Bargaoani, Neamt, Romania
Leizer ZAHARIA b. February 15, 1871 Bozieni de Sus, Neamt, Romania
Zaharia ZAHARIA b. August 13, 1873 ", d. May 6, 1874
Iosub ZAHARIA b. Decmber 8, 1879 stillborn, Bozieni de Sus, Romania

Herscu son of Marcu married Ega Idal BLANARIU on February 4, 1892, born in Falticeni, daughter of Idal BLANARIU and Tauba ANCEL BLANARIU.

Herscu and Ega had two sons:

Josef ZAHARIA b. 10 March 1893 in Falticeni, Suceava, Romania
Zaharia ZAHARIA b. May 22, 1894 in Falticeni, Suceava, Romania

(Zaharia, known as Marcu M. Zaharia, upon resolution No. 31903, on July 13, 1950, changed his name to HABERMAN and was recorded on October 24, 1950. On April 11, 1955 he was issued a new birth certificate, NI 557395. In April 18, 1960, No. 192, he renounced his Romanian Citizenship, communicated on December 9,1960, N0. 11875. Registered in January 7, 1961)


Herscu ZAHARIA, Shimon Meyer's youngest brother, was born circa 1843. He married a woman named Malca ? and they had one son (as of this time) Itic ZAHARIA, b. March 16, 1884.

Montreal, Canada becomes the home of many of the Guttman Siblings!

With the pogroms and mass murderings of the Jews in Eastern Europe, particularly in Flaminzi, the area where the horrible anti-Jewish peasant uprisal from 1907 originated against the lease holders.

Many of my Guttman Family chose to emigrate to Montreal, Canada. First to arrive was Etta (Rose) Guttman, her husband, Jacob Mayer Herscovici (Herschkovitz) and their two daughters, Lea (Lillian) and Fania (Frances). The date was November of 1889, the ship, 'The Dominion!'

Samuel (Haim) Guttman arrived in Montreal in 1900. After fleeing the Romanian army, he landed in England before his journey west, to what was to become his home for the next seventy years! He stayed at the home of his sister, Rose and brother in law Jacob at 469 Henri Julien, Montreal, until he was able to be out on his own.

Solomon did not take the name Guttman, but used a variation of the name Zaharia, Zarovici He took this name to avoid conscription. Solomon arrived at the port of Montreal, in 1904 on the 'SS Lucania,' registered to the British Cunard line. He did not remain in Montreal for any length of time, but made his way to the United States and to St. Louis, Missouri, where he settled and brought his family over from Romania; wife Touba, son Michael and daughter Rose. His surname became Zarovitz in the United States.


Sometime between the years 1902, after the death of her mother, Hana Sura GUTMAN, and 1907, Lizzie (Henta Leba) GUTTMAN, my 'Bobie', arrived in Montreal. It is not determined at this time whether her father, Shimon Meyer traveled with her. The search for those arrival records have yet to be found!

Lizzie married Barnet(Beryl)MAIMAN,born in Ovruch and formerly of Berdichev in the Ukraine, on March 22, 1908 at Beth Jehuda Congregation in Montreal.

In 1911, Sophie (Sosa Freida) Guttman arrived at the port of Montreal with her husband Edel (Idal Sloim) Eliescu (Iliescu), sons Israel Solomon, Joseph, Charles Gerson and daughter Anne. They arrived on the ship, "SS Atlantic."
Idel Sloim Ileisecu was born in Bara, Roman, Romania. All of the Iliescu (Eliesen)children were born in Bozieni de Sus, Romania. There were 11 children in all,4 survived. They were Solomon, Hana, Joseph and Gerson.


Not much is known about the life of Abraham Mordechai GUTTMAN in Romania, but what has been uncovered is .... in the early part of the 20th century, he made his way to the United States with his family, wife Rose, daughter Blima (Florence) and son Zachariah Gershon, later known as Gerson Marcus Guttman. There is some indication that they may have stayed in Philadelphia, PA for a while. The years remain a blank, until Abraham is located in the Montreal phone directory in 1913 as: A.M. Guttman, grocer, at 84 St. Elizabeth Street and in 1916 listed as: A.M. Guttman, grocer at 786 Dominique. On the same street is listed son Gerson M. Guttman, 876 Dominique, a bookeeper!

Gerson M. Guttman, bookeeper, married Lillian Freedman in Montreal, ca 1923. They had a daughter, Eileen Shirley Guttman, 1924. Gerson and Lillian were divorced and Gerson moved to Ottawa, where in 1934 he married Bella Bessin. Currently, all but Bella are deceased.

Blima (Florence) married Harry Abrams and had two daughters, Gertrude and Ettie.
Gertrude, (Trudie) married Marshall Moses Rosenthal in Montreal and had two children, Barbar and Douglas. Ettie married Sam Grossman in Montreal and had two daughters, Debbie and Pamela.

In the 1980's Ettie and Sam moved to Toronto. Debbie married Michael Rosenzweig and had two daughters, Trina and Alyssa, and Pam married Sylvain Ritch and live in Vancouver, BC. I am now in touch with most of them.




December 8, 1998

In a Romanian marriage document dated October 18, 1866 for Marcu sin Zaharia (circa 1828) and Maria sin Haim Ita, it is noted that Marcu's father was entered as Zaharia sin Herscu, (circa 1808), indicating that Zaharia's (Zachariah's) father's name was Herscu (Hersch) Also noted on the document is Zacharia's wife's name as Feiga Zaharia sin Herscu.

Not only have we gone back one more generation (the eighth)to Herscu (circa 1780-90), we have also gleaned the name of Zachariah's wife as Feiga.



April 15, 2001



Family of Zaharia's foung in Israel

I was checking through the Romanian documents that I had in my possession, regarding my Guttman ~ Zaharia Family, in hopes of learning what happened to the other branches of the family. On one of the pages Re: Zaharia M. Zaharia, son of Herscu Zaharia, son of Marcu Zaharia, my great grandfather Shimon's older brother, it mentioned that he changed his name to Haberman and renounced his citizenship. See notes in caption!

(Zaharia, known as Marcu M. Zaharia, upon resolution No. 31903, on July 13, 1950, changed his name to HABERMAN and was recorded on October 24, 1950. On April 11, 1955 he was issued a new birth certificate, NI 557395. In April 18, 1960, No. 192, he renounced his Romanian Citizenship, communicated on December 9,1960, N0. 11875. Registered in January 7, 1961)

In my own mind I pondered as to where he would go if he gave up his Romanian citizenship.

Call it a series of "basherts", but I sat down and wrote out a fax to Batya Untershatz, who headed the Bureau of Missing Relatives in Jerusalem.

Within two days I received a fax from her with the name of Marcel Haberman. (son of Zaharia and Sabina) Also included was an address.

I immediately sat down and wrote to Marcel at that address and patiently waited.

Within ten days, I received a phone call from Lydia Haberman Gal of Haifa. She was so happy and excited that I had located their branch of the family. We have spoken numerous times and she informed me that Marcel was her brother and that he had passed.

Before long, her brother Jules, who only speaks Romanian, Hebrew and Yiddish sent a small family tree.(His son translated it into English)

Since then we have exchanged many letters and phone calls and I have added a host of names to the family tree.

I also discovered that Robert Haberman, son of Marcel is living in the Los Angeles area.

My feeling of connection to these people, who I have yet to meet, is overwhelming. It looks as though a trip to Israel is in the not too distant future. In the meanwhile, I am brushing up on the Romanian language and have begun to write to my new found cousins in their langueage.

Just fill-out our form to enter our guestbook and let us know you were here. Thanks!