Gontovnik Family Tree:Information about Wolf (Vulf) GONTOVNIK
Wolf (Vulf) GONTOVNIK (b. Abt. 1841, d. 1939)
Notes for Wolf (Vulf) GONTOVNIK:
Velvul, also called Wolf, was born around 1832 and was the oldest (or one of the oldest) children of "Louis" Gontovnik. His ancestral village was called Shtayatsishok, or it may have been one of the neighboring villages, such as Rogov, Panevezys or Siaulenai.In his town, Velvul became a "Starista", which was sort of a town scribe, mayor, teacher and elder statesman.As "Starista", Velvul was responsible for recording births, deaths and marriages, and arranging for the issuance of passports.One of Velvul's eight children, Benjamin, was drafted to serve in the Russo-Japanese War, during which he was killed.After Benjamin's death, Velvul, and his wife Miriam, dedicated themselves to preventing the Czar (Czar Nicholas II ) from drafting young men in their village to fight in the Czar's conflicts.Many young men who avoided the draft and were pursued by the authorities were hidden by Velvul and Miriam in the crawl space under the front entrance to their house.When the authorities left the village, the elders in the village paired off the young men with women in the village and Velvul arranged to issue marriage licenses and passports to get them out of Lithuania.On July 10, 1938, Velvul and Miriam's picture appeared in The Jewish Forward, a U.S. publication, along with an article declaring them "Lithuania'a Oldest Jewish Couple", at ages 107 and 101, respectively.They both died a year later.
Children of Wolf (Vulf) GONTOVNIK and Merka (Miriam) SHARFMAN are:
- Movsha GONTOVNIK, b. Abt. 1870, Shtayatsishok, Lithuania, d. date unknown.
- Iankel GONTOVNIK, b. Abt. 1873, Shtayatsishok, Lithuania.
- +Baruch GONTOVNIK, b. Abt. 1874, Shtayatsishok, Lithuania, d. date unknown.
- Avbremel GONTOVNIK, b. Abt. 1876, Shtayatsishok, Lithuania, d. date unknown.
- +Chiam GONTOVNIK, b. Abt. 1878, Shtayatsishok, Lithuania, d. date unknown.
- Smael GONTOVNIK, b. Abt. 1880, Shtayatsishok, Lithuania, d. date unknown.
- +Elke GONTOVNIK, b. Abt. 1884, Shtayatsishok, Lithuania, d. Abt. 1944, Europe.
- Benjamin GONTOVNIK, b. Abt. 1885, Shtayatsishok, Lithuania, d. 1906, Europe.
- +Etka GONTOVNIK, b. Abt. 1886, Shtayatsishok, Lithuania, d. 1970, New York.