Paris, 1904 & 2019: The Last Resting Place of Beryl Grabois

My father's father's father's father was named Beryl Grabois (Bernard, in French and English; last name in Cyrillic was ГРАБОИС, which would have been pronounced GRAH-BOYCE). He came from a town about 50 miles northwest of what is now Kishinev, Moldova, called Faleshti (in various languages or transliterations Фэлешть/Făleşti [Romanian], פֿאַלעשט/Faleshti [Yiddish], Фолешты/Foleshty [Russian], Falesht', Feleshti, Faleshty [English]) but back then was part of greater Bessarabia, and he and his family decided that with the pogroms in Kishinev and in greater Russia against the Jews, it was time to leave. This would have been circa 1900 but maybe even as late as 1903, which was the first Kishinev pogrom. So he left with his two brothers, Morris and Abraham (aka Avram or Avroum) - but not a sister, whose name we don't know - and made their way west. They stopped in Paris for a few years.

Beryl was born around 1854-55, his wife Perla (English name Pearl, French name Pauline) in 1856, in a town that I always heard was named something like "Skilem" but which is more likely Sculeni just 18 miles from Faleshti. So he would have been in his late 40s when he left. (I don't know how old his brothers were.) They had 7 children, all of whom were born in Faleshti: Benjamin (1880), Paul (1882), Emil (1885), Anna (1887), Bertha (1888), Irving (1897), and Solomon (1899). All of them went to Paris with their parents. In Paris, the last name ГРАБОИС was westernized to GRABOIS, which still could have been pronounced GRA-BOYCE or GRAY-BOYS, but since it coincidentally looked French, they took the French pronunciation of GRAB-WAH. (I've since found that only those descended from this branch of Beryl and his brothers pronounce it GRAB-WAH, everyone else in the western-speaking world says GRAY-BOYS.)

Beryl died June 3, 1904, not too long after arriving in Paris, before he could leave with his family to America. Whether as a result of his passing or just a coincidence, the family emigrated to the US over the next couple years.

• Paul was the first to come to the US, on business. He eventually convinced the rest of the family to go shortly thereafter. He went through Ellis Island aboard "La Savoie", departing from Le Havre, France on August 18, 1905.
• Emil left on February 25, 1906 via Ellis Island aboard "The New York", departing from Cherbourg, France.
• Pearl took the girls Anna and Bertha and the two youngest boys Irving and Solomon, to Ellis Island aboard "La Touraine", departing from Le Havre, France on May 13, 1906.
• Eldest brother Benjamin came over last, through Ellis Island with his wife Sophie aboard "La Provence", departing from Le Havre, France on November 24, 1906.

Anna later married into the Tirkeltaub family, not sure who Bertha married. Meanwhile, Beryl's brother Morris and his family came to the US and settled in Philadelphia, but their other brother Abraham stayed in Paris with his family (and was buried at Parisian Cemetery in Bagneaux, on 31 Aug 1928). Both brothers have descendants in those cities today.

Paul is my great-grandfather, and Beryl is my great-great-grandfather.

My cousin Brad has been successful in researching Beryl's life and family in Paris, and found his death notice from the Paris Archives. After arriving in Paris, Beryl westernized his name to Bernard.

The translation:

“The year nineteen-hundred four, the third of June at eleven o'clock in the morning. Has died Mr. Bernard Grabois, aged 50 years, without profession, born in Felecth (Russia) died at home at 28 Rue Pastourelle yesterday morning at ten thirty, son of [without information]. Spouse of Perla Fischmann aged forty eight years, furrier. Prepared by Hector Honig adjunct of the mayor's office, officer of the civil state of the third arrondissement of Paris after the legal recognition of the deceased and on the declaration of Meyer Rossmann, aged forty years, rubber dealer, residing 38 Rue Charlot, and by Abraham Grabois aged forty nine years, merchant, brother of the deceased, who have signed with us after reading. (Signed), M. Rossmann, A. Grabois.”

Brad was able to find information where Beryl was buried, in Pantin Cemetery outside of Paris. Pantin is the largest cemetery in France, and is not a Jewish cemetery per se, but it has a large Jewish section. A couple of friends of mine, Richard and Joe, live in Paris and took a trip out there for me. Here is Joe’s report and photos.

Richard and I made it out to the Pantin Cemetery yesterday.  It was a warm and sunny day, and we took the metro to Pantin.  To put it mildly, the cemetery is in a ghetto. There were lots of apartment projects and ethnic stores and the population seemed to be comprised mostly of immigrants. Today, the neighborhood was part Chinese (near the metro station) but then it became mostly Muslim/North African closer to the cemetery. I suspect many were Algerian. There were lots of cafés with swarthy looking men drinking tea and smoking cigarettes. Back in 1904, I suspect that there was probably nothing there at all. The sprawling Paris suburbs didn't exist then. I did a Google Image search of maps of Paris from the turn of the 20th century, and there was almost nothing outside the Paris city limits, so I suspect that Pantin was nothing but fields back in 1904.

 

Approaching the cemetery

Paris Cemetery of Pantin

The cemetery itself is quite large. We had written down that your great grandfather’s tomb location was Division 8, Line 9, tomb 8.  We had no trouble finding Division 8, as it is very close to the main entrance.[Click here for a map. To find Division 8, start at the main entrance at the bottom and then go up one block to the next intersection, then 8 is ahead on your left.] Division 8 is roughly half the size of a football field, and the tombs are crammed together very closely. The cemetery is not well-maintained and there were weeds and trees growing between the tombs. Other than the Divisions and road signs, there are no other signs.

Rows of Tombs

So, we set out to find Line 9, but this proved problematic. First, the tombs were arranged in lines of two, and we didn’t know if each row of two counted as one line or if each individual line counted as one line. And we didn’t know if we should start counting from the side closest to the entrance or the side furthest from the entrance. Adding to our confusion was the fact that on each edge of Division 8 there were two rows of more modern tombs that were angled slightly differently from the rest. We didn’t know if they were counted as line one or not. So, we basically tried of every possible permutation of lines of tombs to come up with what might have been Line 9. We quickly discovered that on more than half of the tombs, the names chiseled into the stones were completely illegible. Time and moss have eroded these tombs and you could not make out any names or dates whatsoever. Eventually, we tried counting in to find what we thought to be tomb 8 and walked down every line, and still no luck. (We did find that there sure were a lot of Levy’s!). We took a few photos of what “might” be his tomb to send you.

Many look alike, with names worn off

On some, the names are totally illegible

Richard had to pee so we decided to give up and go home. Next to the restroom at the entrance to the cemetery was an administrative office. Richard suggested that we see if someone there could help us. So, we went in and Richard told the clerk (in French) what we were looking for. The clerk opened several file drawers and pulled out a detailed map of Division 8. (Attached is a scan of the map of Division 8. The clerk mistakenly circled Tomb 9 on Line 8, but we knew we were really looking for Tomb 8 on Line 9. [circled in red])

With the map we learned that we were way off on our guess of which row is which. The newer tombs on the peripheries do not count as numbered lines, so that had thrown us off. The numbering of tombs goes from left to right, BUT the first tomb is called Tomb B and the second tomb is called Tomb A and the third tomb was Tomb 1, etc. Who would have guessed?

Using the map, we found what we were certain to be Tomb 8 in Line 9. There were several names that barely could be read, but we didn’t see Grabois. The tomb was in very bad condition and several of the stone nameplates were completely illegible. I pulled up a stone grave marker that had fallen over, but the sun was such that I couldn’t make out anything on it. We decided to throw in the towel and give up and go home. Just as I turned to leave, Richard said, “Look! There’s a name with a G!” We looked closer at the grave marker I had turned over, and there it was: Grabois. Photos are attached. You really have to look hard to see the name Grabois, but it’s there. Honestly, we were literally giving up and leaving when we found it.

Beryl Grabois' gravestone (back left, propped up against the fence)

If you squint, you can just make out a "B" and "GRABOIS" but that's about it

Closeup of the name "GRABOIS"

If this is your family history, drop me a line or leave a comment!