# Yudel Horowitz (b.1808) <!-- AUTO:BEGIN — generated from GEDCOM; do not edit, overwritten on rebuild --> > 🔵 **Bernstein — Ozzy's side** · Relationship to Ozzy: **5x great-grandfather** **Born** ~1808 **Parents** [[Movsha Horowitz (b.1785)]] · [[Leya (b.1789)]] **Spouse** [[Unknown (155)]] **Children** [[Shlomo Zalman Horowitz (Taker) (b.1825)]] **Siblings** [[Enta Horowitz (b.1814)]] *GEDCOM I508776 · Bernstein tree · synced 2026-07-01* <!-- AUTO:END --> ## Narrative *bio: full · updated 2026-07-06* Yudel Horowitz was born about **1808**, the son of [[Movsha Horowitz (b.1785)]] and [[Leya (b.1789)]] — in the Russian-Imperial revision lists his father stands under a patronymic as **Movsha (Mowsza) son of Efroim** and his mother as **Leya (Leia) daughter of David**.[^1813] The family's roots lay in **Shklow**, the old Jewish town on the Dnieper in the Mogilev region of present-day Belarus, and it was as newcomers from Shklow that they settled in **Vilna** (Wilno, Vilnius) — the great Lithuanian centre that drew Jewish families westward across the Pale of Settlement in the early nineteenth century.[^1813] Vilna would remain the family's town for the rest of Yudel's life, and it was in a Vilna register that his death was finally set down. The household is recorded in the **1813 revision list**, the poll-tax census that tallied each family for the treasury: the little family fresh from Shklow — **Mowsza son of Efroim**, aged 28; his wife **Leia daughter of David**, aged 24; and their only child at that point, a son **Judel, aged 5**, an age that places the boy's birth about 1808.[^1813] By the **1816 revision list** the same household had grown: **Movsha son of Efraim** now 31, **Leya daughter of David** now 27, and two children where there had been one — **Yudel, aged 8**, and a baby sister, **[[Enta Horowitz (b.1814)]], aged 2**.[^1816] Living with them was **Tsirka daughter of David**, a girl of 15 named as Movsha's sister-in-law; her shared "daughter of David" patronymic marks her as Leya's younger sister, taken into the household as unmarried kin — an ordinary shape for a family of the period.[^1816] Read together the two enumerations move in step: the same parents under the same patronymics, the same firstborn Yudel, the ages advancing three years between them.[^1816] Yudel married a wife whose name the surviving records do not preserve ([[Unknown (155)]]). Their son [[Shlomo Zalman Horowitz (Taker) (b.1825)]] was born in **1825**, when Yudel was about seventeen.[^1813] Shlomo Zalman in turn gave a son the name **Moshe (Movsha)** — the Ashkenazi custom of naming a child for a deceased grandfather, which quietly echoes Yudel's own father Movsha and fits the reconstruction of the line.[^1813] Yudel lived out his life in Vilna and died there in old age. His death is recorded in the Vilna Jewish death register — a bilingual book whose Russian and Hebrew columns tally each of the deceased, "Часть IV — Объ Умершихъ" (Part IV, Of the Deceased), the register's pages carrying households under names such as *Movsha son of Efraim* in the same Jewish community the family belonged to.[^death] The record enters **Yudel son of Movsha** as dying on **21 November 1873, aged 66, of typhus**[^death] — the epidemic fever that recurred through the crowded quarters of nineteenth-century Vilna. Less than a year later the same series of Vilna death registers records a **Movsha son of Yudel** who died on **20 August 1874, at about 40, by drowning**; the patronymic and place make him very likely a son of Yudel, carrying his grandfather's name.[^death2] [^1813]: 1813 Vilna (Vilnius) revision list, family recorded as originally from Shklow — Mowsza son of Efroim (28), wife Leia daughter of David (24), son Judel (5), consistent with Yudel's birth ~1808. FamilySearch film [102647988](https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/102647988). The household reading is that of the family's MyHeritage biography; a 2026-07-06 signed-in film pass found the contributor's cited image (579) to be a Christian revision-list page, so the exact image for this Jewish household remains to be relocated (see Research / Open questions). Son Shlomo Zalman b. 1825 and his naming of a son Moshe/Movsha are likewise from the family biography. [^1816]: 1816 Vilna revision list — Movsha son of Efraim (31), wife Leya daughter of David (27), children Yudel (8) and Enta (2), and sister-in-law Tsirka daughter of David (15); Leya and Tsirka share the "daughter of David" patronymic, marking them as sisters. FamilySearch film [103160918](https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/103160918). Reading from the family's MyHeritage biography; the contributor's cited image (901) proved to be a Christian revision-list page on the 2026-07-06 film pass, so the household's exact image remains to be relocated. [^death]: Vilna Jewish death register, "Часть IV — Объ Умершихъ" (Part IV, Of the Deceased), Russian- and Hebrew-columned; death of Yudel son of Movsha, 21 November 1873, aged 66, of typhus. FamilySearch film [004219514](https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/004219514), death record within images 544–567. The register was confirmed as this Vilna Jewish death book on a 2026-07-06 signed-in film pass (nearby entries include a "Movsha … Efraimovich"); the individual Yudel entry within that image range is still to be pinpointed by court-hand reading. Date/age/cause per the family's MyHeritage biography. [^death2]: Vilna Jewish death register (same bilingual Russian/Hebrew series); death of Movsha son of Yudel, 20 August 1874, aged ~40, by drowning. FamilySearch film [004219515](https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/004219515), within images 56–104, confirmed as a Vilna Jewish death book on the 2026-07-06 film pass; the individual entry is still to be pinpointed. Date/age/cause per the family's MyHeritage biography. ## Research *(your reasoning — preserved across every rebuild)* **Sources cited in the family's MyHeritage biography (all FamilySearch films — login-walled). The parenthetical numbers on the MyHeritage note are ranges the contributor supplied; they are NOT direct FamilySearch image indices (see the 2026-07-06 film pass below):** - 1813 Vilnius revision list, family recorded as originally from Shklow: Mowsza s. Efroim (28), Leia d. David (24), son Judel (5). Film 102647988, cited "579–580". → supports Yudel b. ~1808, parents Movsha & Leya. - 1816 Vilnius revision list: Movsha s. Efraim (31), Leya d. David (27), children Yudel (8) + Enta (2), sister-in-law Tsirka d. David (15). Film 103160918, cited "901–1000". → confirms sibling Enta; Leya & Tsirka are sisters (both "d. David"). - Death of Yudel s. Movsha, Vilnius 21 Nov 1873, age 66, typhus. Film 004219514, cited img "544–567". - Death of Movsha s. Yudel, 20 Aug 1874, age ~40, drowning — contributor's inferred son. Film 004219515, cited "56–104". - 1855 Stakliškės birth of Nota Gurvich, s. Zelman s. Iudel & Gena; mohel Iudel Gurvich. Film 004219443, item 2, cited img "313–318". → separate candidate thread, unresolved. **Direct film-image pass — FamilySearch, signed in (2026-07-06).** The five cited films were opened and read in the authenticated image viewer. Findings: - **Film 102647988, image 579 (the cited "579–580") is NOT the Horowitz family.** It is a **Polish-language Christian revision list** — column headers "Płeć Męzkiey / Płeć Żeńskiey" ("Lata" = ages), entries structured "Corka / Zona / Syn" (daughter/wife/son) with Roman-Catholic given names (Anna, Ewa, Rozalia, Marcin, Piotr, Antoni) and surnames *Chwaniewicz* and *Duninowicz*. The page carries a large archival stamp "28406". No Jewish household from Shklow appears at this image. The contributor's "579–580" therefore does not point at the Movsha/Judel entry; the true page was not located in the 858-image film (no full-text index covers it). - **Film 103160918, image 901 (the cited "901–1000") is likewise NOT the family.** It is a **Russian-language Christian revision list** (Cyrillic; "Мужеской полъ", entries with Russian patronymics "сынъ Ларіонъ / Антоновъ / Тимофей"). The 100-image span "901–1000" is itself evidence these are register-section / page references, not image indices. The Jewish 1816 page was not located in the 1,651-image film. - **Film 004219514 (images 544–550, the cited death of Yudel) IS a Vilna Jewish death register.** The section header reads "ЧАСТЬ IV — Объ Умершихъ" (Part IV — Of the Deceased), with parallel Russian and Hebrew columns ("чего умеръ" / "Кто умеръ" = cause / who died). Nearby entries carry Jewish names with patronymics — e.g. an entry read as **"Мовша Іоселъ Ефраимовичъ"** (Movsha Iosel son of Efraim). The record TYPE and community match the cited Yudel-son-of-Movsha death; the individual 21 Nov 1873 entry among images 544–567 was not isolated (dense Russian court-hand) and is left for a hand-reading pass. - **Film 004219515 (images ~31–56, the cited 1874 death) IS a Vilna Jewish death register** — same bilingual Russian/Hebrew "who died / cause of death" structure; visible entries include *Movsha*-named deceased. Correct record type for the cited drowning death; exact entry not isolated. - **Film 004219443, image 313 (the cited 1855 Gurvich birth) IS a Jewish birth register** — Russian + Hebrew columns including a **circumcision column** ("Кто совершилъ обрѣзаніе" = who performed the circumcision), matching the cited Nota Gurvich birth/mohel note. The ink on this page is faint; the specific Gurvich entry was not confidently read. Net: the two death registers and the birth register are the correct record types in the correct Jewish community of Vilna (supporting the death and Gurvich citations at the record-set level). The two **revision-list image numbers (579-580, 901-1000) are wrong / do not resolve** — those pages are Christian registers — so the 1813/1816 household transcription still rests only on the MyHeritage contributor's reading, now flagged as not reproduced from the cited images. ## Evidence ## Open questions - **Revision-list image citations are wrong and need re-locating.** A signed-in film pass (2026-07-06) found that: - Film [102647988](https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/102647988) **image 579** is a **Christian Polish revision list** (Chwaniewicz/Duninowicz families), not the Movsha/Judel-from-Shklow household. The correct 1813 page for the family has not been located in the 858-image film. - Film [103160918](https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/103160918) **image 901** is a **Christian Russian revision list**, not the family. The correct 1816 page has not been located in the 1,651-image film. - The 1813/1816 household reading (Mowsza s. Efroim; Leia/Leya d. David; Judel; Enta; sister-in-law Tsirka d. David) therefore still rests **only** on the MyHeritage contributor's transcription — it has not yet been reproduced from any image. Needs the correct images found (these films are un-indexed / not in FamilySearch full-text; paging by hand or a JewishGen Vilnius revision-list index would be the route). - **Death registers confirmed as record type, but the exact entries still need a court-hand pass.** Films [004219514](https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/004219514) (Yudel d. 1873) and [004219515](https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/004219515) (Movsha d. 1874) are both genuine bilingual (Russian + Hebrew) Vilna Jewish death registers, and 004219514 contains "Movsha … Efraimovich"–type Jewish entries. The individual Yudel-son-of-Movsha entry (21 Nov 1873, age 66, typhus) among images 544–567, and the Movsha-son-of-Yudel entry (20 Aug 1874, drowning) among images 56–104, were **not individually isolated** in this pass and are left for hand-reading. - **1855 Gurvich birth (film [004219443](https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/004219443), img 313)** is confirmed a Jewish birth register with a circumcision column, matching the cited Nota Gurvich / mohel-Iudel-Gurvich note; the page ink is faint and the specific entry was not read. Separate candidate thread — confirm or reject whether Zelman-son-of-Iudel here connects to Yudel's line (Shlomo Zalman was also known as Zalman). - Is the drowned "Movsha son of Yudel" (d. 1874) truly Yudel's son? Currently the contributor's inference only.