# David Hers Simonovitz (b.1840) <!-- AUTO:BEGIN — generated from GEDCOM; do not edit, overwritten on rebuild --> > 🔵 **Bernstein — Ozzy's side** · Relationship to Ozzy: **4x great-grandfather** ![[I500058.jpg|220]] **Born** 1840 **Died** 02/02/1913 — [[Berezovo]] **Parents** [[Yehuda Simonovitz]] **Spouse** [[Malya Joszowicz Kahan (b.1842)]] **Children** [[Leah Simonovitz (b.1870)]] · [[Szasza Simonovitz (b.1876)]] · [[Yosef Chaim Simonovitz (b.1880)]] · [[Israel Wolf Simonovitz (b.1885)]] **📸 Media — from MyHeritage** ![[I500058_1.jpg|180]] ![[I500058_2.jpg|180]] *GEDCOM I500058 · Bernstein tree · synced 2026-07-01* <!-- AUTO:END --> ## Narrative David Hers (David Tzvi) Simonovitz was a **smallholder** of the Máramaros hills — a *kisbírtokos*, a man who owned his own small plot of land, which for a village Jew of Subcarpathia was a status worth noting.[^death] Born about 1840, he lived in **[[Berezovo|Berezove]]** (Berezna), in the Huszt district of Máramaros, and there married **[[Malya Joszowicz Kahan (b.1842)]]**.[^death] Their children were [[Leah Simonovitz (b.1870)]], [[Szasza Simonovitz (b.1876)]], [[Yosef Chaim Simonovitz (b.1880)]] and [[Israel Wolf Simonovitz (b.1885)]]. He died in Berezovo on **2 February 1913**, aged **seventy-three**; his death was registered in the Nyzhni Bystry–Berezovo district and notes that both his parents were by then dead.[^death] His weathered tombstone still stands in the local cemetery.[^grave] The name of his father is unresolved. His **tombstone** reads him as "**David Tzvi son of Yehuda**," and the family (through Uncle Eliezer Goldfischer) held the father to be **Yehuda Simonovitz** — yet no Yehuda Simonovics appears in any Máramaros or Transcarpathian record of the period.[^grave][^father] His **death record**, on the other hand, gives the father's name as **Jozsef** — but the only Jozsef Simonovics who might fit (the husband of Brana Aronovits) already had a son named Hers Uren, which rules David out as his child.[^father] So the two sources that should name his father instead contradict each other, and neither candidate can be confirmed. [^death]: Death record, **Berezovo (Berezna)**, Huszt district, Máramaros, dated **2 February 1913**, read directly from the record index. **David Simonovics**, *kisbírtokos* (smallholder/landowner), aged **73**; husband of **Malya Joszovics** ([[Malya Joszowicz Kahan (b.1842)]]); father recorded as **Jozsef Simonovics**; "parents are deceased." Source: Nyzhni Bystry–Berezovo area deaths 1907–1922 (Fund 1606, Opus 13, Delo 276), record 109-12. Age 73 → birth c. 1840. [^grave]: Tombstone (*matzevah*) of David Hers Simonovitz in the Berezovo-area Jewish cemetery, seen in the photograph on this profile — heavily weathered and lichen-covered, not independently legible here; the family reads it as "**David Tzvi bar Yehuda**" (David Tzvi son of Yehuda). [^father]: The father's name conflicts across the two sources: the **tombstone** (and family tradition via Eliezer Goldfischer) gives **Yehuda** — but no Yehuda Simonovics is found in the Máramaros/Transcarpathia records of the era; the **death record** gives **Jozsef** — but the only candidate Jozsef (husband of Brana Aronovits) had a son Hers Uren, making David unlikely to be his son. Unresolved. (Per the MyHeritage profile's own analysis.) ## Research - **Death, 1913, Berezovo (Huszt, Máramaros).** Read directly (record index). **David Simonovics**, *kisbírtokos* (smallholder), aged **73**, died **2 February 1913**; husband of **Malya Joszovics**; father recorded **Jozsef**; parents deceased. Source: Nyzhni Bystry–Berezovo deaths 1907–1922 (Fund 1606, Op. 13, Delo 276), rec. 109-12. Age 73 → b. c. 1840. (Image I500058_2.) - **Tombstone** (Berezovo cemetery): read by the family as "**David Tzvi bar Yehuda**" — heavily eroded, not independently legible. (Image I500058_1.) - **Occupation:** *kisbírtokos* (smallholder/small landowner) — notable for a Subcarpathian village Jew. - **Father-name conflict (unresolved):** **Yehuda** (tombstone + family) vs **Jozsef** (death record); neither candidate confirmable (no Yehuda Simonovics in the records; the candidate Jozsef already had a son Hers Uren). - **Family:** wife [[Malya Joszowicz Kahan (b.1842)]]; four children. ## Evidence - **1913 death record (Berezovo, Huszt, Máramaros)** — David Simonovics, smallholder, aged 73, husband of Malya Joszovics, father Jozsef; died 2 Feb 1913. His own death record; fixes his death, approximate birth year, occupation, and wife. ![[I500058_2.jpg]] *Death-record index, Berezovo (Huszt, Máramaros), 1913 — David Simonovics, kisbírtokos (smallholder), aged 73, husband of Malya Joszovics, father Jozsef; d. 2 February 1913 (Fund 1606, Op. 13, Delo 276, rec. 109-12).* - **Tombstone (Berezovo cemetery)** — David Hers Simonovitz's weathered matzevah, read by the family as "David Tzvi bar Yehuda." ![[I500058_1.jpg]] *Tombstone of David Hers (Tzvi) Simonovitz, Berezovo-area Jewish cemetery — heavily eroded; read by the family as "David Tzvi son of Yehuda" (conflicting with the death record's "Jozsef").* ## Open questions - **Father's name — Yehuda vs Jozsef.** The tombstone/family say Yehuda; the death record says Jozsef; neither is confirmable. A birth or marriage record for David (Máramaros, c. 1840/1860s) would be decisive. This is the profile's central open question. - **Birth record.** No birth record (c. 1840, Máramaros) has been located; it would fix his exact birth year, birthplace, and parents. - **Tombstone re-reading.** The eroded stone might yield more (a death date, patronymic detail) to a specialist or better photograph.