The Klausner Family
Our branch of the Klausner family can trace its roots back to Leyba who was born in the mid-18th century. Leyba’s son Movsha (1772 – 1833) leased an inn in Lyubeshov, a village in Polish Lithuania. Movsha, his wife Sora Rifka (1774 - ?) and their seven children lived in Dolsk, a nearby shtetl. At the end of the 18th century Lyubeshov was acquired by the Russian Empire and now is in Ukraine.
By 1858 Lyubeshov had grown to about 830 people but David, one of Movsha and Sora Rifka's grandsons, decided to try his luck in the shtetl of Lahishyn, 60 miles to the north in what is now Belarus. In 1870 David's father Leyba died and it may have been after that event that his brother Chaim Wolf moved to Lahishyn where David Movsha was living with his wife, two sons and a daughter. Perhaps he moved because David Movsha had arranged for his younger brother to marry a local girl, Leya Enta Greenberg. Or maybe the marriage was arranged after his move there.
Chaim Wolf (Heyman) Klausner moved from Lyubeshov to Lahishyn which were in Russia at the time.
A Logishyn house in 2016.
Chaim Wolf and Leya Enta and their son Meer Leyb lived with her parents in an iron-roofed wooden house with a stone barn on Pinskaya Street. Meer Greenberg ran a flour and grocery shop in one room of the house with a separate entrance. There were no paid employees but his family helped out as needed. We don't know anything else about Chaim Wolf and Leya Enta and their six children until Meer Leyb decided at 17 to emigrate to New York City. The ship's manifest said that he was a tailor. Within a year he had earned enough money to send for his father and then two years later in 1892 his mother and five siblings, Joseph, Benjamin, Anna, Rose and Reba, arrived, just weeks after his marriage to Sarah Berman.
Meer Leyb/Mayer was Chaim Wolf and Leya Enta Greenberg Klausner’s eldest child.
Mayer Klausner and descendants
Mayer (Meer Leyb) Klausner, Heyman (Chaim Velvel/Wolf’)’s eldest child.
Sarah Berman Klausner
Five of Mayer and Sarah Klausner’s six children, their spouses, grandchild and spouse and great-granddaughter.
L. to R. Ben Chodash, Ethel Klausner Chodash, Beatrice Klausner Fishman, Nat Fishman, David Klausner, Betty Klausner, Mimi (Kim) Klausner, Mickey Miller Klausner, Bob Klausner, Ida Klausner Mills, Ethel and Herman Klausner, Missiong: Cecilia Klausner Kantrowitz, who was deceased. Photo taken in 1966 at the Hebrew Home for the Aged to celebrate David’s 70th birthday.
Mayer and Sarah’s youngest son Herman, about 1911 in Jersey City.
David Klausner, about 1930
Mayer and Sarah’s eldest son David, upon his matriculation at Columbia University, 1912.
David’s wife Mildred (Mickey) Miller Klausner and sons William (Bill) (l.) and Robert (Bob), about 1938.
Joseph Klausner and descendants
Milton was Joseph and Sarah’s fourth child.
Mayer’s brother Joseph and Sarah Dumey Klausner.
Milton, Joseph, Florence, Monroe and Herman Klausner, missing Rhoda, 1947.
Milton Klausner with his three sons, Stu, Ed and Peter.
Top row, l. to r. - Peter Klausner, Florence Shaff's son Roger.
Middle row, l. to r. - Herman Klausner, Carol Hoffman Klausner (Peter's first wife), Frank Siegel (Rhoda Klausner's husband), Florence Klausner Shaff.
Bottom row, l. to r. - Ed Klausner, Herman's wife Gladys, Rhoda Klausner Siegel.
Joseph and Sarah Dumey Klausner, 1934
Top to bottom: Florence, unknown, Rhoda, Herman William, Milton and Monroe Klausner.
Herman Klausner with wife Gladys, 1961.
Download an oral history interview with Mildred (Mickey) and David Klausner, Meyer's son, conducted by their sons Robert (Bob) and William (Bill).
Download Klausner Family Tree Branch 40 compiled by Yehuda Klausner.
View photographs and read the story of my trip to Pinsk and Lahishyn, Belarus, home of the Klausners in 2016 and the restoration of the Lahishyn cemetery.
Photographs & documents about the Klausners - click on the image to see a larger version.
Report on genealogical research of Klauzner (Klozner) family from shtetls Lyubeshov-Logishin of Pinsk uyezd, Minsk guberniya.
1818. Supplemental revision list of Jews from town Pinsk and Pinsk uyezd who weren’t listed in 1816 revision list. Shtetl Lyubeshov.
№ 4. Movsha son of Leyba Klozner, was missed in 1816; 46 years old currently, leases the inn.
His wife: Sora-Rivka – 44 years old
Movsha’s sons: Itsko – 15 years old, Leyba – 8 years old, Yankel-Elya – 2 years old
Movsha’s daughters: Meryam-Brokha – 10 years old, Asna-Chaya – 5 years old
It was added: the whole family live in village Dolsk of Lyubeshov volost.
1834. Revision list of petty bourgeois Jews from shtetl Lyubeshov of Pinsk uyezd.
№ 15/4 in Suppl. Revision list. Movsha son of Leyba Klozner, in 1818 - 46 years old; died in 1833.
His wife: Sora-Rivka – 59 years old
Movsha’s sons: Itsko, in 1818 – 15 years old; gone missing,
Leyba – 24 years old
Leyba’s wife: Chana - 25 years old
Leyba’s son: Mordukh – 4 years old
Leyba’s daughters: Feyga – 7 years old
Tsivya – 2 years old
3. Yankel-Elya – 18 years old
Yankel-Elya’s wife: Dveyra – 17 years old
1850. Revision list of petty bourgeois Jews from shtetl Lyubeshov of Pinsk uyezd.
№ 12/15. Leyba son of Movsha Klyazner – 40 years old
His wife: Chana – 40 years old
Leyba’s sons: Mordukh, in 1834 – 4 years old; does not live in shtetl Lyubeshov, David-Movsha – 12 years old, Afroim – 5 years old, Khaim-Volf – 1 years old
Leyba’s daughters: Tsivya – 18 years old, Nekha – 9 years old, Roshka – 3 years old
1858. Revision list of petty bourgeois Jews from shtetl Lyubeshov of Pinsk uyezd.
№ 17/12. Leyba son of Movsha Klouzner – 48 years old
His wife: Chana – 48 years old
Leyba’s sons: David-Movsha, in 1850 – 12 years old; moved to shtetl Logishin of Pinsk uyezd in 1858, Afroim – 12 years old, Khaim-Volf – 9 years old
Leyba’s daughters: Tsivya – married, Nekha – married, Roshka – 10 years old, Sara-Zlata – 6 years old
1874. Supplemental revision list of Jews from shtetl Lyubeshov of Pinsk uyezd.
№ 19/17. Leyba son of Movsha Klouzner; in 1858 – 48 years old; died in 1870
His wife: Chana – died
Leyba’s sons: Afroim – 29 years old
Afroim’s wife: Simka – 28 years old
Afroim’s sons: Shmuyel – 7 years old
Noson-Leyba – 1 year old
Afroim’s daughters: Rivka – 10 years old
Leya – 8 years old
Matlya – 5 years old
Chana – 3 years old
Khaim-Volf; in 1858 – 9 years old; moved to shtetl Logishin of Pinsk uyezd
Leyba’s daughter: Sora-Zlata – 22 years old
Leyba’s son-in-law: Menakhem, son of Ayzik Sher, 24 years old
Leyba’s grandson: Simkha-Movsha – 6 months old
1874. Supplemental revision list of Jews from shtetl Logishin of Pinsk uyezd.
№ 3. David-Movsha son of Leyba Kluzner, was missed in 1858 revision; 37 years old now.
His wife: Ester – 32 years old
David-Movsha’s sons: Yankel – 7, Shimon-Leib, 2
David-Movsha’s daughter: Brayna – 11 years old
1882. List of homeowners and taxpayers, Pinsk uyezd. Shtetl Logishin: Telekhanskaya Street.
№ 5. David-Movsha son of Leyba Klauzner – 45 years old, petty bourgeois Jew from shtetl Logishin, owns a 1-story wooden house with a shed and a shingled roof. Cost of the property is 70 roubles.
1887. Draft list certificates for draftees of Pinsk uyezd.
№ 331. Yankel son of David-Movsha Klauzner, 20 years old, petty bourgeois Jew from shtetl Logishin, single, illiterate.
His father: David-Movsha son of Leyba – 49 years old
Yankel’s brothers: Shimon-Leyb – 15 years old, Abram – 9 years old
It was added: he drew a lot №6 and was enlisted into the reserve on November 1, 1887.
1892. List of homeowners and taxpayers, Pinsk uyezd. Shtetl Logishin: Telekhanskaya Street.
№ 9/5. David-Movsha son of Leyba Klauzner – 55 years old, petty bourgeois Jew from shtetl Logishin, owns a 1-story wooden house with a shed and a shingled roof. Cost of the property is 75 roubles.
1892. List of shop owners in Pinsk uyezd who prolonged their trading licenses. Shtetl Logishin:
№7. David-Movsha son of Leyba Klauzner, 55 years old, petty bourgeois Jew from shtetl Logishin, owns a shop, which sells miscellaneous items and candles. The shop is located in his own house in Telekhanskaya Street, there is no a separate entrance. He works in the shop himself and has no hired workers.
The business license was renewed for 2 years till February 21, 1894. License renewal fee in the amount of 1 rouble 50 kopecks was paid.