Thursday, February 26

Jewish settlers in Cupar


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.

  Cupar Herald ad 22 November 1907
 

Cupar Herald 22 September 1910

 
 Cupar Herald 3 November 1910


 Cupar Herald 8 June 1910
Sadly the Pechet and Baratz store would succumb to fire in 1911, and Pechet's store would be destroyed by fire in 1921.

 Cupar Herald 2 December 1915

1 comment:

G.Paulin said...

My grandfather Harry Friedman had a homestead in
Cupar from 1908 1911; he moved his family to Regina in 1912. Other family members had homesteads in Cupar and Lipton for a total of 21 in the area. By 1920, most had moved on to Regina; and my imm3ediate family emigrated to the United Sates in 1920.
Your copy of the newspaper article about the woman who froze to death was a cousin of my grandfather as was her husband Harry Minovitz. The Jews in Cupar used the Jewish Cemetery in Lipton, which is where my Raichman great grandparents are buried. Information about local Jews, the cemetery, and my Raichman family can be found in the book _Trails and Tales of Settlement and Progress, Lipton and district 1875-1985 about Lipton_ published by the Lipton &District Historical Society in 1987. ISBN 0-919781-27-6