# Ryfka Brenman (b.1814) <!-- AUTO:BEGIN — generated from GEDCOM; do not edit, overwritten on rebuild --> > 🔵 **Bernstein — Ozzy's side** · Relationship to Ozzy: **4x great-grandmother** ![[I513146.jpg|220]] **Born** 1814–1818 — [[Witaniów]] **Died** 11/18/1884 — [[Łęczna]] **Parents** [[Fiszel Brenman (b.1785)]] · [[Zysla (b.1785)]] **Spouse** [[Zelik Ponczak (b.1811)]] **Children** [[Tema Paczek (b.1843)]] · [[Dwojra Paczek (b.1844)]] **Siblings** [[Ester Basza Brenman (b.1823)]] · [[Lejb Hersz Brenman (b.1827)]] **📸 Media — from MyHeritage** ![[I513146_1.jpg|180]] *GEDCOM I513146 · Bernstein tree · synced 2026-07-01* <!-- AUTO:END --> ## Narrative Ryfka was born about 1814 in **Witaniów**, a small village in gmina Ludwin of the Lubartów district, a short way north of the private town of [[Łęczna]] that would be her home for the rest of her life.[^death] Her parents are named in only one surviving document — her own death record — which gives their first names, **Fiszel** and **Zysla**, but no surname at all; the connection to the [[Fiszel Brenman (b.1785)]] household rests on those given names and on shared naming patterns rather than on any explicit statement, so it remains an inference (see Open questions).[^death] She married [[Zelik Ponczak (b.1811)]], and the couple had at least two daughters, [[Tema Paczek (b.1843)]] and [[Dwojra Paczek (b.1844)]] — the family name is written variously as Ponczak, Paczek and, in her death act, **Ponczek**.[^variant] By the time the record catches her again she had outlived her husband. The 1884 death act calls her a widow (*вдова*) and, tellingly, a **day-laborer** — *поденщица* — a woman still working for daily wages in her seventies rather than being kept by grown children.[^death] It is the single most human detail the archive preserves about her: an old widow earning her bread by the day in a town not her own. She died late on the night of **18 November 1884**, at eleven o'clock, in Łęczna.[^death] Her death was reported the next morning, at eleven, by two neighbours — Josef Lederman, a day-laborer of fifty-five, and Josef Papir, a merchant of twenty-one — both townsmen of Łęczna. Lederman could not write and only Papir signed, beside the acting mayor Wojciech Kowalski, who kept the civil register.[^death] The act records her age as seventy, which places her birth around 1814. [^death]: Death act no. 55, Łęczna (Leszno) civil register, dated 7/19 November 1884, read directly from the scan. It records the death of **Rywka Ponczek** (Рывка Пончекъ), widow, seventy years of age, a day-laborer (*поденщица*), on the previous day (18 November 1884) at 11 p.m. in Łęczna; daughter of **Fiszel and Zysla** (Фишля и Зысли), maiden name and surname unknown, "originating from the village of Witaniów, gmina Ludwin, Lubartów uezd." Declarants: Josef Lederman, day-laborer, 55, and Josef Papir, merchant, 21, both of Łęczna; Lederman declared he could not write. Registrar / acting mayor: Wojciech Kowalski. Scan: [Akta 55](https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/skan/-/skan/c738b793c53c20030efeaab3aef6fda544cf764b5253bbba9f29cd4ec5029111). [^variant]: The family surname appears as **Ponczak** (spouse and profile head-form), **Paczek** (daughters Tema and Dwojra), and **Ponczek** (Пончекъ) in Ryfka's 1884 death act — a single family name spread across Polish and Russian-cursive renderings. ## Research - **Death, 1884, Łęczna (death act no. 55).** Read directly from the scan. Rywka Ponczek, widow, aged 70, day-laborer, died 18 November 1884 at 11 p.m. in Łęczna; daughter of Fiszel and Zysla (no surname given), from the village of Witaniów, gmina Ludwin, Lubartów uezd. Declarants Josef Lederman (day-laborer, 55) and Josef Papir (merchant, 21). Age 70 → birth c. 1814. Source: [Akta 55](https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/skan/-/skan/c738b793c53c20030efeaab3aef6fda544cf764b5253bbba9f29cd4ec5029111). - **Recorded spellings** of the married family name: **Ponczak** / **Paczek** / **Ponczek** (Пончекъ, in the 1884 death act). ## Evidence - **1884 death act (Łęczna, no. 55)** — Rywka Ponczek, widow, day-laborer, aged 70, died 18 Nov 1884; daughter of Fiszel and Zysla, of Witaniów. This is her own death record and the sole primary document on her; it fixes her death, approximate birth year, widowhood, occupation, and parents' given names. ![[RyfkaPonczek_1884_death_Leczna_akt55.jpg]] *Death act no. 55, Łęczna civil register, 7/19 November 1884 — death of Rywka Ponczek, widow of Witaniów, daughter of Fiszel and Zysla ([szukajwarchiwach scan](https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/skan/-/skan/c738b793c53c20030efeaab3aef6fda544cf764b5253bbba9f29cd4ec5029111)).* ## Open questions - **Parentage unproven.** The 1884 death act names Ryfka's parents only as "Fiszel and Zysla," with no surname and no maiden name. The attribution to [[Fiszel Brenman (b.1785)]] and [[Zysla (b.1785)]] — and the sibling links to [[Lejb Hersz Brenman (b.1827)]] and [[Ester Basza Brenman (b.1823)]] — rests on matching given names and naming patterns (e.g. Ryfka's daughter Dwojra), not on a document that names the Brenman surname. Treat as a working hypothesis until a birth or marriage record for Ryfka is found. - No birth or marriage record for Ryfka has yet been located; a birth act (Witaniów / Ludwin parish, c. 1814) or her marriage to Zelik Ponczak would test the Brenman parentage directly.