Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter No 19 January 2004 page 1 (of 5)
Harry Doberman
Recently about thirty people came to the home of Bea Doberman in Jerusalem, to mark five years since the passing of her husband, Dr. Harry Doberman.
Some of the speakers spoke about his Middlesbrough connection. He grew up in his family home at 1 Ayresome Street and later on when his work was in the Teesside area, he lived with his parents, his brother and sisters at 67 Oxford Road, but most of the speakers spoke of his work as one of the outstanding obstetricians in the whole of the North-East as well as his sterling efforts for the J.I.A. in Sunderland.
But there was the one story which seemed to touch everyone who heard it. David Saville was trying to collect stories for the Middlesbrough Memorabilia. “Tell me, Harry”, asked David, “What was your earliest Middlesbrough memory?”
“I was ten years old and I was standing outside our home and suddenly I see the Rav, coming out of No 3 - they were our next door neighbours, shouting hysterically –“My wife”, he screams, “She is dead.” Apparently, Mrs. Epstein died whilst giving birth to a baby son. There and then, says Harry, he decided to become a doctor and teach people about to abhor ignorance and learn about basic hygiene, especially the expectant mothers, so that they and their babies should live.
Perhaps it was ironic that a man who brought so many children into this world did not have any of his own. David Saville Jerusalem, Israel
Letters
I am Adam Miller, son of Rabbi Alan W. Miller, grandson of Rabbi Louis Miller. There are pictures here of my family that I have never seen before. I particularly enjoyed the photos of my dad (Alan) and his dad (Louis) and first grandson (I'm not sure who it is). Thank you very much for doing this. Adam Miller
The following item appeared in Aug 2003 on the University of Sheffield webpage about university alumnae: "Alumnus Dr Melvyn Brooks (MB ChB 1969) helped the university acquire a special medal which was struck in 1905 to commemorate the official opening of the University. Dr Brooks spotted the medal on an online auction, and alerted the university to its existence". The university's report says "Melvyn and his wife Roma (nee Bharier) have lived in Israel for the last 30 years. By contacting the University, he has helped to save an interesting piece of University memorabilia". Sue Halpern University of Sheffield, England
My name is Matias Turteltaub. I am a descendant of Herz Turkeltaub, born in Plock in 1785. I have been building the tree of all descendants of Herz.
I discovered that some descendants of Herz live or lived in Middlesbrough, notably Solomon Turtledove. His daughters Gertie & Dina Turtledove appear in your site as missing. Also, it seems you have data on Solomon, although I was unable to find it on your website.
Any information you can provide will be extremely helpful. Matias Turteltaub
In 1909, the 24 year old Aby (Abraham) Brechner, brother of Louis Brechner left Middlesbrough and emigrated to the United States aboard the Caronia (Cunard Line.
He married Helen Gustinsky of Lodz, Poland who emigrated to the US in 1904. We don't know if they knew each other prior to the US. The newlyweds took up residence in Brooklyn, New York and started a series of businesses related to hardware, housewares, and radio.
Aby or Abraham as he was known here, died in 1948, Helen in 1973. They are buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery, Flushing New York.
They had four children, Herman, Philip, Lillian and David. Herman married Ruth (?) and have one child Jane Brechner living in Vermont, USA
Philip married Celia and had two children, Rene Friedman of New York and Paul Brechner living in Florida.
David Brechner married Roslyn Berkoff and had three children, Abbey (deceased), Donald living in California and Rabbi Harold (Harry), Congregation Emanu-El, Victoria, B.C.
Lillian married Sidney Goldstein and had three children, William (deceased), Abbey (deceased) and Samuel of Old Bethpage, NY USA.
I don't know if Aby (Abraham was a congregation member of Kehilat-Middlesbrough or not, but I hope this is of some interest to someone.
A little more. The birth records in Lodz, Poland indicate the following information:
LAJB Brechner (my guess is this is Louis) born 1879.
Abram Brechner (Again, coincides with Abraham) born 1885 which is the date on the grave.
Now, in 1897 we have another birth record for a JOSIF LEJB Brechner. ( Perhaps Joseph Lewis (Louis).
Further, ICCHOK Brechner (Isaac) born Lodz 1900 and CHAIM Brechner born 1901.
I am sending for the photostats of the records to see if I can establish a connection. Samuel Goldstein [email protected]
Louis Brechner was my father's uncle by marriage, his wife Ellen being my grandmother's twin sister. He was also the uncle of Joseph (Joe) Brechner who was married to my father's sister Pauline. Joe's father (another brother of Louis Brechner - I don't know his name) stayed in Poland where my father visited him in 1937 (I have a picture of him with 3 daughters and my father). They died in the holocaust.. Joe had a brother who moved to Paris and was killed by the Nazis. Arnold told me he went to Paris in 1946 to enquire about him and was told by the neighbours that they remembered when he had been taken away. I think there was a surviving niece in France named Solange. I knew of the relatives in the USA slightly because Louis' son Hymie Brechner (of Sunderland) visited some of them somewhere in the late 1950's or early 1960's. I know he met the daughter Lillian because he was struck by the resemblance to his own sister Lillian Brechner (later Lily Solomon, Sam Solomon's wife) and actually remarked "It's Lily Brechner" when he first met her, to which she replied "How did you know my maiden name?" (he told me). I don't know whether contacts were maintained after that.
Other people who might be interested might be Joe Breckner of California (grandson of the aforementioned Joseph) or his aunt Ruth (nee Brechner) Mushin of London. David Breckner (Joe senior's oldest son) lives in Vancouver BC and might be curious to find out that he has a cousin living close by in Victoria. Michael Bharier