Jacob JANKOVITCH / YANKOVITCH / JANCOVITCH / YANCOVITCH

[Jan19230]

Once again I have been asked to help a friend with their family tree and discover this unusual name (my previous forays into Polish/Ukranian were for Shemensky and Jaroschewsky).

Anyway - I have found Jacob and his family, Cimpera, Marks, Annie, Sadie and Barnett on the 1911 Census living in St George in the East, in London under the name Jancovitch.  Now from an old handwritten family tree I have been given, Jacob's name remains the same but Cimpera is written as Zipporah.  Marks is also known as Max or on Ancestry, Marco.  Annie remains the same and married Louis Cymberg.  Sadie is also known as Saran and Barnet isn't on the tree.  Also on the 1911 is a male child listed as Morris Srogile aged 20 and shown as Sister's Son.  That is probably Jacob's sister, but which one.  There was Anne HYMOVITCH, Sarah HYMOVITCH and Blooma HYMOVITCH who married a Morris HILLEL, so it could be Blooma's child and the son named after the father.  However, the surname is different and the family story goes that when Jacob arrived in the UK around new year 1901, when asked his name, he spoke quickly and if you say Jacob Hymovitch quickly it could be mistaken for Jankovitch or Yankovitch.  Very complicated.  Cimpera/Zipporah's maiden name was ZAMUSCH.

I have found a couple of entries for Marks/Max and his wife Annie (SHAPIRO), but I'm not having any luck with the others.  Anne Hymovitch became HAYMAN.  Sarah married Jack Kershberg, a brother Hyman Hymovitch became HARMAN and marrried Sarah Cinnamon and then there was Blooma and her husband Morris.  Unfortunately the handwritten tree I was given has only names and no dates and so I can only assume it was from someone's memory that this tree was put together.

Back to Jacob and Cimpera/Zipporah - both were born in Poland, Russia according the the 1911 census and were both Russian by parentage and it's here I am stuck and don't know where to go.  Can anyone help?

Other clues on the handwritten tree include Jacob's parents as Tsv(r)i Yankovitch and Bina. and it looks like Tsv(r)i' father was Yehuda ben Tov HYMOVITCH.

If there is anyone out there who can help me unravel this, I would be grateful.  I am a member on Ancestry so if you could point me in the right direction and I am also a member of Jewishgen, although a lot of their records also appear on Ancestry now.

I would love to find records for Jacob, Tsv(r)i and Yehuda ben Tov but recognise that I do need help.

Looking forward to your guidance and assistance.

Many thanks.
Jan xx

[Jan19230]

Not been doing too bad in tracking down branches of this family in the UK and the US but I am stuck on Zipporah ZAMUSCH.  Her husband Jacob JANCOVITCH came from Berdichev, then in Russia I believe.  As ZAMUSCH doesn't appear to be a recognised surname I started to look at different spellings and it is possible, but only possible that she came from a place called Zamosc (pronouned Zamoosht) and therefore I am unlikely to discover her real surname.  Reading about the area, it seems that many of the Jewish inhabitants were marched to Belzec and it is possible that those who survived dropped their surnames and used the name (of) Zamosc in memory of those who didn't.  This is just a theory. 

It is family belief that Jacob JANCOVITCH and Zipporah ZAMUSCH married on their long journey to England, possibly via the port of Rotterdam around 1901/2.  Is there anywhere, anyway, I can find this marriage which might lead me to trace them further back.

Look forward to any advice.

Many thanks.
Jan