# Chaim Ber Spitz (b.1852) <!-- AUTO:BEGIN — generated from GEDCOM; do not edit, overwritten on rebuild --> > 🔵 **Bernstein — Ozzy's side** · Relationship to Ozzy: **3x great-grandfather** ![[I500194_0.jpg|220]] **Born** ~1852 — [[Struża]] **Died** 1935 — [[Lublin]] **Parents** [[Azryl Josef Spitz (b.1805)]] · [[Chana Sura Susman (b.1816)]] **Spouse** [[Fajga Frajnd (b.1853)]] **Children** [[Chaja Spitz (b.1876)]] · [[Chana Spitz (b.1876)]] · [[Nusyn Spitz (b.1880)]] · [[Genendel Spitz (b.1888)]] · [[Hersz Spitz (b.1891)]] · [[Ruchla Spitz (b.1893)]] · [[Infant Spitz (b.1897)]] · [[Perla Spitz (d.1904)]] · [[Azryl Spitz (d.1899)]] · [[Ryfka Spitz (d.1896)]] **Siblings** [[Laja Spitz (b.1836)]] · [[Szmul Hersz Spitz (b.1840)]] · [[Rachmil Spitz (b.1843)]] · [[Fajga Dyna Spitz (b.1844)]] · [[Blima Spitz (b.1847)]] · [[Perla Pesla (b.1849)]] · [[Gnendla Spitz (b.1852)]] · [[Nusyn Spitz (b.1855)]] · [[Frajda Tema Spitz (b.1860)]] · [[Chana Sura Spitz (b.1876)]] **📸 Media — from MyHeritage** ![[I500194_1.jpg|180]] ![[I500194_2.jpg|180]] ![[I500194_3.jpg|180]] ![[I500194_4.jpg|180]] ![[I500194_5.jpg|180]] *GEDCOM I500194 · Bernstein tree · synced 2026-07-01* <!-- AUTO:END --> ## Narrative Chaim Ber Spitz — "Berko" — was born about 1852 in the village of **[[Struża|Stróżka]]**, in gmina Biskupice of the Lublin region, the son of **Izrael and Chana Szpic**.[^marriage1873] He came of a rural family, and his life traced a slow arc across the towns and villages east of Lublin. He married young. On **5 December 1873**, aged only twenty-one and still living with his parents in Stróżka, he married in **[[Rejowiec]]** — **[[Fajga Frajnd (b.1853)]]** ("Frajna"), a maiden of twenty from the village of Miszno, daughter of Gerszko and Chaja Frajnd, a labouring family.[^marriage1873] The banns had been read in the synagogues of Biskupice and Rejowiec, and the ceremony was performed by the rabbi of the Rejowiec district, Moszek Halbersztert; both bride and groom were illiterate.[^marriage1873] The couple went on to have a large family — ten children are recorded, though several died in childhood ([[Ryfka Spitz (d.1896)]], [[Azryl Spitz (d.1899)]], [[Perla Spitz (d.1904)]]) — the survivors including [[Nusyn Spitz (b.1880)]], [[Genendel Spitz (b.1888)]] and [[Hersz Spitz (b.1891)]]. By 1900 the family had moved to **[[Chełm]]**, where their marriage was registered a second time in the civil books — the same couple, now about forty-seven and forty-eight, recorded again before the Chełm rabbi Rachmil Lipszyc.[^marriage1900] Chaim Ber lived on into the interwar years and died in **[[Lublin]]** in **1935**, in his eighties. One tangle survives him: the name of his father. Both his marriage records — the 1873 Rejowiec act and the 1900 Chełm re-registration — call him "**son of Izrael and Chana**," yet his death record and tombstone give his father as **Ayzyk** and his mother as **Sura Chana**, and the family tree files the father as **Azryl Josef**.[^parents] The mother is consistent enough (Chana / Sura Chana) to anchor the identification; the father's true name remains unsettled. [^marriage1873]: Marriage act no. 9, civil register of **Rejowiec**, dated **5 December 1873**, read directly from the scan. **Chaim Ber Szpic**, bachelor, aged **21**, son of **Izrael and Chana**, spouses Szpic, born and living with his parents in the village of **Stróżka**, gmina Biskupice; married the Jewess **Frajna Frajnd**, maiden, aged **20**, daughter of Gerszko and Chaja Frajnd (labourers), born and living in the village of **Miszno**. Banns in the Biskupice and Rejowiec synagogues (18, 24 Nov, 1 Dec 1873); religious ceremony by the rabbi of the Rejowiec district, **Moszek Halbersztert**; witnesses Hersz Ber Laufer (52) and Nuta Zilberman (61), synagogue functionaries of Rejowiec; the newlyweds declared illiterate. Age 21 in 1873 → birth c. 1852. [^marriage1900]: Marriage act, civil register of **Chełm**, dated 13/25 June 1900 — a second (civil) registration of the marriage of **Chaim Ber Szpic** (bachelor, 48, born in the folwark of Stróże, gmina Biskupice, resident of Chełm, son of Izrael and Chana) and **Fajga Frajnd** (maiden, 47, born in Rejowiec, daughter of Gerszko and Chaja née Acz[?]); banns in the Chełm synagogue; officiated by the acting Chełm rabbi **Rachmil Lipszyc**; witnesses Moszko Lejb Szporer (69) and Majer Szmuel Rozenkopf (50), synagogue sextons; newlyweds illiterate. (Translation on the profile.) [^parents]: The father's name differs across sources: **Izrael** (both the 1873 and 1900 marriage records), **Ayzyk** (Chaim Ber's death record and tombstone-list extract), and **Azryl Josef** (the family tree, [[Azryl Josef Spitz (b.1805)]]). The mother is **Chana** (marriages) / **Sura Chana** (death, tombstone) / **Chana Sura Susman** (tree, [[Chana Sura Susman (b.1816)]]). The birth year (1852) is consistent between the marriage records and the death record, confirming these are one man. ## Research - **Marriage, 1873, Rejowiec (act no. 9).** Read directly. **Chaim Ber Szpic**, bachelor, **21** (→ b. ~1852), son of **Izrael and Chana**, of the village **Stróżka** (gmina Biskupice); married **Frajna (Fajga) Frajnd**, 20, of Miszno, daughter of Gerszko & Chaja Frajnd; rabbi Moszek Halbersztert; witnesses Hersz Ber Laufer (52) & Nuta Zilberman (61). (Image I500194_4.) - **Marriage, 1900, Chełm.** A second civil registration of the same couple (translation on profile); officiant rabbi Rachmil Lipszyc. Confirms birth ~1852, birthplace Stróże/Struża, parents Izrael & Chana. - **Parentage puzzle:** father = **Izrael** (both marriages) vs **Ayzyk** (death/tombstone) vs **Azryl Josef** (tree); mother = Chana / Sura Chana / Chana Sura. Same man (birth 1852 consistent). - **Places:** born Struża/Stróżka (Biskupice) → married Rejowiec (1873) → Chełm (by 1900) → died Lublin (1935). - **Family:** wife [[Fajga Frajnd (b.1853)]]; ten children, several died young. ## Evidence - **1873 marriage act (Rejowiec, no. 9)** — Chaim Ber Szpic (21, of Stróżka, son of Izrael & Chana) married Frajna Frajnd (20, of Miszno); rabbi Moszek Halbersztert. His (first) marriage record; fixes his birth year, birthplace, and parents' given names. ![[I500194_4.jpg]] *Marriage act no. 9, Rejowiec, 5 December 1873 — the marriage of Chaim Ber Szpic of Stróżka (son of Izrael and Chana) and Frajna Frajnd of Miszno; officiant rabbi Moszek Halbersztert.* - **Couple photographs** ("Chaim Ber and Faiga Spic," I500194_1/_2) — later portraits of Chaim Ber and Fajga. ## Open questions - **Father's name (Izrael / Ayzyk / Azryl Josef).** The two marriage records say Izrael; the death record and tombstone say Ayzyk; the tree says Azryl Josef ([[Azryl Josef Spitz (b.1805)]]). A birth record for Chaim Ber (Struża/Biskupice, c. 1852) would settle it. - **Two marriage records (1873 Rejowiec + 1900 Chełm).** Why the marriage was registered twice — a religious-only 1873 union later re-registered civilly at Chełm, or a relocation formality — is not established. - **Death record, 1935, Lublin** has not been read here; it would confirm the death date and the "Ayzyk / Sura Chana" parent forms.