David & Esther Brecher

Marriage and Children in Felsőbánya

1906–1915

David Brecher was born on 20 July 1881 in Siret (Sereth), in Bukovina, a son of Meir Brecher and Freide née Frohner. On 21 November 1906 he married Eszter Sára (Esther) Klein in Felsőbánya, the daughter of Jakab Hersch (Hermann) Klein, a merchant of the town. The civil marriage act, kept in the Maramureș archives, names David’s parents and gives his birthplace and date; its back carries the witnesses’ signatures.

The couple made their home in Felsőbánya, where David is described in the registers as a draper, a fashion merchant and a merchant. Four children were born there: Jenő (Eugene) in 1908, Shimshon (Alex) in 1910 (11 July 1912 in his American papers), Ilona (Lucy) in 1912 and Miklós (Nicholas) in 1915. Alex’s birth act is reproduced in Part I. The town’s synagogue was built from 1909, while the family lived there.

Esther’s family, the Kleins

Esther’s father appears in her marriage act as Jakab Hers Klein, a grocer of Felsőbánya, and her mother only as “Mrs Jakab Hers Klein”; on Esther’s gravestone she is Esther Sheindel bat Yaakov Tzvi. A margin note of 1907 on the death act of his daughter Berta gives his name as Herman Klein, and under that name he appears in the town’s papers: he rented the smaller town shop in the market for 1901–1903, sat among the highest-taxpaying members of the town assembly in 1904 and 1905 and as a substitute in 1906, owned a house on Kossuth Lajos utca at the west end of town, and was still giving to the war-relief collections in 1915 — the same civic path David Brecher followed a few years later. Likely

Esther’s mother was very probably Johanna (Háni) Ferencz. Herman Klein and Háni Ferencz are the parents named on Samuel’s marriage act of 1902 and on Berta’s death act of 1907, and on 5 March 1890, three years after Esther’s birth, they had a son, Shimon, entered in the Nagybánya Jewish birth register; Esther’s own entry leaves her mother unnamed, but every child of Herman’s known from those years was Háni’s. Berta and Samuel were then Esther’s full sister and brother. Berta, also called Erzsébet, was born in Nagysomkút about 1875 and married Mihály Fogel, an innkeeper and merchant of Felsőbánya; their sons Izrael Áron and Zoltán were born in 1904 and 1907, and Berta died in October 1907. Samuel (Pinkász) Klein, a general merchant on Hunyadi tér, married Jozefa (Pepi) Szalavitz in 1902; he and his father appear together on the town’s list of highest taxpayers for 1908, and on 16 August 1915 Samuel and David Brecher were called up for military service on the same day. Shimon Klein, Esther’s younger brother, became a merchant in Felsőbánya and served as an infantryman in the First World War; his portrait was printed in a 1941 book on the Transylvanian regiments. Mária Cziment, who died in 1915 aged 65 and is named as the wife of a Herman Klein, was probably Herman’s second wife, married after 1890 — Esther’s stepmother. Likely

Samuel Klein’s family

Samuel Klein and Józefa (Pepi) Szalavitz, born at Náprád, made their home on Nagybányai utca in Felsőbánya, where Samuel is entered in the birth registers as a merchant and later as a general merchant. His own birthplace is given as Nagysomkút in the acts of 1903 and 1906 and as Felsőbánya in that of 1904. Their first child, Szidónia, was born on 13 January 1903 and died on 12 March 1904; seven more children followed between 1904 and 1919: Róza, Margit, Mathild, Blanka, József, Sándor and Miklós.

Children of Samuel and Józefa Klein, all born in Felsőbánya

Szidónia	b. 13 Jan 1903, d. 12 Mar 1904 Likely
Róza	b. 29 Jun 1904 Confirmed
Margit	b. 30 May 1906 Confirmed
Mathild	b. 18 Apr 1908 Confirmed
Blanka	b. 15 Dec 1909 Confirmed
József	b. 15 Nov 1911 Confirmed
Sándor	b. 6 Sep 1913 Confirmed
Miklós	Confirmed

David Brecher in the Felsőbánya and Nagybánya press

The local papers record David Brecher as a man of standing in Felsőbánya: elected an alternate member of the town council in July 1910, leasing a town shop in Nagybánya in 1914, and called up for military service on 16 August 1915. Esther’s family, the Kleins, appear too: Herman Klein rented the town’s small shop no. 1 in 1901 and sat among the council’s highest taxpayers, and Shimon Klein served in the war in 1915.

In the Local Newspapers

Felsőbánya and Nagybánya, 1910–1915

The weekly papers of Felsőbánya and the neighbouring towns, now digitized by Hungaricana, show David and Esther Brecher as settled members of the town. In July 1910 David was elected a substitute member of the town assembly; that December he gave to the Christmas celebration of the state kindergarten; and in October 1912 the town assembly admitted him, as a merchant, into the municipal community. In February 1914 the town of Nagybánya leased its shop premises no. XII to a David Brecher, probably he.

When war came in 1914 both appear in the town’s lists of gifts: David pledging monthly war relief and giving to the families of men at the front and to the town’s soldiers, Esther (listed, as was the custom, as “Brecher Dávidné”, Mrs David Brecher) giving bedding to the war hospital and a pair of gold earrings to the gold collection. On 16 August 1915 David, then 34, was called up for military service on the same day as Esther’s brother Samuel Klein; their names are nos. 462 and 494 in the town’s published list.

The Crossing and the Bronx

1928–1950

In December 1928 David and Esther left Europe with their four children. Their last home there was Budapest. They sailed from Trieste on the SS Vulcania on 19 December 1928 and reached New York on 31 December 1928, the date on the ship’s list (2 January 1929 in the naturalization papers). It was the Vulcania’s maiden voyage: the new Cosulich liner left Trieste for the first time on 19 December 1928, calling at Patras and Naples, and the Brechers were among her first passengers to New York. The manifest gives David’s destination as Congregation Bikur Cholim, 1080 Tiffany Street, in the Bronx, and names his sister Rosa, who had been in New York since 1913.

By April 1930 the family lived at 972 Fox Street in the Bronx, where David made neckties. He declared his intention to become a citizen in 1932 — the declaration carries his photograph — and petitioned for citizenship in March 1934; he was sworn in as a citizen on 25 June 1934. His papers repeat his birth in Siret on 20 July 1881, give Esther’s birth as 25 December 1886, and list the children with dates that differ from the Felsőbánya registers.

The children married in New York: Lucy to Paul Friedman, a jeweller, at the Bronx Borough Hall on 27 June 1934, both giving 972 Fox Street as their address (Paul’s father, Joseph Friedman, was in Hebrew Yosef Ephraim son of Yeshayahu); Eugene to Elizabeth Zelig in 1938; Alex to Anne Wahrsager in the same year. Eugene, a men’s-neckwear manufacturer, petitioned for citizenship about 1941. In 1940 David and Esther lived in the Bronx with their youngest son, Nicholas, and in 1942 David, registering for the draft from 1640 Topping Avenue, was working for Joseph Feldstein & Son at 46 Walker Street in Manhattan. Nicholas served in the United States Army from 8 June 1942 to 24 January 1945. Around 1951 David and Esther moved to Monsey, in Rockland County.

Brecher Brothers

Alex and his brothers ran the family firm, Brecher Brothers (identification by the family). By family memory it began as a necktie factory and turned to leather goods and luggage. Brecher Brothers, Inc. was incorporated on 30 July 1942 in New York County, at 1220 Broadway, and was dissolved in 1992 (New York Department of State). In 1946 the firm advertised luggage from 708 Broadway; about 1947–48 it made the “Travel Crib”, a suitcase that opened into a baby’s bed, which the business press noticed; in 1961 it leased space at 27 West 23rd Street, and later kept a showroom at 180 Madison Avenue.

Eugene and Nicholas

Nicholas (Mickey) Brecher, a son of David and Esther, was born in November 1915 and died in 2014. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on 8 June 1942 and served in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. On 18 October 2010, in Surfside, Florida, he recorded a 59-minute interview about his war for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, which also keeps his wartime photo album (Nicholas Brecher Collection, AFC/2001/001/77021). In 1950 he was a sales manager in the wholesale luggage trade, beside his brother Eugene; in later business life he was known as Mickey Brecher. His wife Margaret (23 August 1920 – 12 January 2020), born in Czechoslovakia, outlived him and died in Florida at ninety-nine; she is remembered at Lakeside Memorial Park, Miami Likely.

Monsey and Spring Valley

Rockland County, 1951–1980

Around 1951 David and Esther Brecher settled on Lenore Avenue in Monsey, in Rockland County, where their sons Alex and Eugene and their daughter Lucy with her husband Paul Friedman also made their homes. The family was closely bound up with the young Torah institutions of the area. David was one of the first directors of the Yeshiva of Spring Valley and of Beth Medrosh Elyon in Monsey, and early in 1954 Beth Medrosh Elyon presented him with its award as outstanding citizen of the year. Eugene served as president of the Yeshiva of Spring Valley in 1953–54 and later as a vice-president; in 1956 Alex, Eugene and Paul Friedman sat together on its board of directors, and Alex was a sponsor and co-chairman of yeshiva dinners into the 1960s. By 1958 Alex and Anne Brecher’s home was at 8 Lenore Avenue, a few doors from the Friedmans at no. 4.

David died on 9 Adar 5715 (3 March 1955) in Suffern, New York, and is buried in Beth Moses Cemetery, Long Island, in the section of Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar; his stone reads “Dovid son of Meir HaKohen Brecher”. Eugene died on 15 Cheshvan 5722 (26 October 1961), aged 50, as the New York State death index also records, and was buried beside him. Esther remained in Monsey, where the Ladies Auxiliary of the yeshiva met at her home and, on about 23 September 1962 the Bais Yaakov High School of Spring Valley honoured her at its fifth annual dinner, held as a testimonial to her. She died on the Sabbath of Chayei Sarah, 22 Cheshvan 5741 (1 November 1980), in Florida, and is buried in Lakeside Memorial Park, near her daughter Lucy.

David Brecher’s grave

Cemetery	Beth Moses Cemetery, West Babylon, Long Island, New York
Plot	Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar, Section 2, Block 18, Row 6, Grave 18
Beside him	his sons Eugene (Grave 17) and Alex (Grave 16)
Died	9 Adar 5715 (3 March 1955), Suffern, New York; New York State certificate no. 19056
Source	Beth Moses Cemetery burial register (Confirmed)

In the local press: two photographs

Notices of mourning for David Brecher, March 1955

In the week after his death on 3 March 1955, eight institutions and his nephews placed notices of mourning for R’ Dovid bar R’ Meir HaKohen Brecher in the New York Yiddish daily Der Tog — among them the Spring Valley yeshiva and Beth Medrash Elyon, which he helped found, Torah Vodaath, Chasan Sofer, Arugas HaBosem, and the beis medrash of the Tshenskovitzer Rebbe, where he was gabbai. Two of them name his father as Meir HaKohen, and the yeshiva’s notice names his wife Sheindel, his sons R’ Yosef, R’ Shimshon and R’ Michel, his daughter Shifra Chana and her husband R’ Pinchas Shalom Friedman.

16 people across 6 generations. Tap a name for the family card. Dashed lines: the person is graded Likely. People graded Possible are not drawn. Open this chart full size · interactive tree

• Confirmed Morris Farkas’s 1942 registration card: born 20 Nov 1887 at Gödényháza, of 274 East 175th Street — naming David Brecher, 1640 Topping Avenue, as the person who would always know his address.WWII draft cards (4th Registration), Bronx (FamilySearch 1:1:F3NG-J2Z)
• Confirmed Solomon Farkas’s 1940 draft card: born 22 Sep 1915 at Szőlős, Hungary, living with his mother Gizella at 888 Fox Street, the Bronx (Confirmed; on the strength of this card he is now Confirmed as Margaret’s brother).NYC draft registration cards 1940–1947 (FamilySearch 1:1:WW4J-263Z)
• Likely Aaron Farkas’s First World War draft card, 1918: a tailor at 78 Stanton Street working for Popper Bros., born 18 May 1876 (a variant of 25 May).WWI draft registration cards, NARA M1509 (FamilySearch 1:1:WZNL-8DPZ)
• Likely Jakob Fogel, born at Nagybánya on 14 Sep 1894 to Mihály Fogel and Bella (Berta) Klein — the eldest Fogel child found so far. The same Nagybánya register has “Sara”, daughter of Jakob Klein, born 25 Dec 1886 — very probably Esther herself.JewishGen Máramaros Vital Records index, Nagybánya Register Book 39, p. 58 row 46 and p. 20 row 44
• Confirmed The birth acts of Samuel Klein’s four children at Felsőbánya — Mathild (18 Apr 1908), Blanka (15 Dec 1909), József (15 Nov 1911) and Sándor (6 Sep 1913) — read from the register: every date on the site agrees; Samuel is a grocer, then merchant; their mother’s name is written Szalavecz.Felsőbánya birth acts 60/1908, 178/1909, 146/1911, 119/1913, Romanian National Archives, Maramureș, MM-F-00743-2-00621
• Likely Morris Farkas, Margaret’s father, lies at Beth Moses Cemetery, Section 2, Block 26, Grave 2, in the Sinai Fraternal Order plot — the same society plot as Anne’s brother Kallmann (Charles) Wahrsager; Aaron Farkas lies at Mount Hebron, Flushing, Block 2, Section J.Find a Grave memorials 253407970 and 77532700
• Confirmed Three more children of Esther’s sister Berta and Mihály Fogel, read from the Felsőbánya civil birth acts: Izrael Áron, born 18 May 1904 (act 91); a son born on 20 January 1906 who died the same day (act 11); and Zoltán, born 21 February 1907 (act 46), who died in May 1907 (death act 76/1907, Likely). Berta’s known children are now Sándor, Móricz, Ferencz, Sámuel, Menyhért, Izrael Áron, the infant of 1906, and Zoltán.Felsőbánya births 1904–1906, acts 91 and 11 (unit MM-FD-00743-1-1-042, images 92 and 395); births 1907–1919, act 46 (unit MM-F-00743-2-00621, image 9); Romanian National Archives, Maramureș
• Confirmed Mária Klein née Cziment was the wife of Herman Klein: her death act at Felsőbánya (she died there on 29 January 1915, aged 65, at Nagybányai utca) names her husband as Herman Klein and her father as Salamon Cziment. That she was his second wife, and so Esther’s stepmother, stays Likely, resting on the dates. Herman Klein’s own death is not in the Felsőbánya deaths 1903–19, the Nagybánya deaths to 1906 or the Kapnik deaths to 1920.Felsőbánya deaths 1915 act 14, registered 30 January 1915 (Romanian National Archives, Maramureș, unit 13914903, image 180)
• Confirmed Two more sons of Esther’s sister Berta and Mihály Fogel, born in Felsőbánya before Izrael Áron and Zoltán: Sándor, 24 November 1896, and Móricz, 18 November 1897, who died in 1898. Mihály was born in Magyarkékes about 1868; Berta is entered as born in Nagysomkút, aged 21 in 1896.JewishGen Máramaros Vital Records, Births: Felsőbánya, Romanian National Archives, Baia Mare branch, Inventory 1371, Book 12, 1896 p. 50 and 1897 p. 211 (JewishGen index)
• Confirmed Margaret Brecher’s graveside service was held on Tuesday 14 January 2020 at 2:30 pm at Lakeside Memorial Park, Miami; the funeral-home pages give her dates as 23 Aug 1920 – 12 Jan 2020 (one listing says 13 Jan).Lakeside Memorial Park / Dignity Memorial obituary 9426010; Tribute Archive 10523943
• Likely Margaret Brecher, Mickey’s wife, was born Margit Farkas at Nagyszőllős (Sevlus) in 1920, daughter of Morris and Gizella Farkas; she came to New York with her mother and siblings on the Aquitania in 1929, and in 1940 the Farkases lived at 988 Fox Street, next door to the Brechers. Her brother Solomon died at Albany in 1955; her father’s brother was very probably Aaron Farkas of the Lower East Side, whose 1942 death certificate names his parents Solomon Farkas and Goldie Fuchs.Aquitania manifest, 6 Sep 1929; 1930 and 1940 census; New York State death indexes 1955 and 1970; NYC death certificate D-K-1942-0022839; New York County naturalization petition, vol. 130 (1913)
• Confirmed Margaret Brecher’s Hebrew name was Mindel bat Moshe (her daughter’s synagogue notice, 2026); her yahrzeit falls on 16 Tevet, which fits her death on 12 January 2020. Her daughter Susan is married to Jack Gluck.Young Israel Congregation (Surfside/Bal Harbour), Shmooze News, Parshas Vayechi, 3 Jan 2026, and 5 Jun 2021 issue
• Confirmed Jenő (Eugene) and Elizabeth Brecher’s four sons in the 1950 census, the Bronx: Gerald, Harvey, Melvin and Benjamin.1950 U.S. census, Bronx, New York, ED 3-144, sheet 10, lines 19–24 (National Archives)
• Likely David Brecher and his father-in-law Yaakov Tzvi Klein are both listed among the Felsőbánya subscribers to the sefer Mevaser Tov in 1915.Mevaser Tov (Kolozsvár 1915) p. 105, HebrewBooks.org no. 33126
• Likely R’ David HaKohen Brecher is named among the supporters of Shem Eliezer, the writings of the Biksader Rav, New York 1954, listed beside the Sigheter Rav — a year before his death.Shem Eliezer (New York 1954) p. 4, HebrewBooks.org no. 41557
• Likely Nicholas (Mickey) Brecher: president of Plus Marketing from 1952; founded Marketing Systems of America, West Palm Beach, in December 1983 and was its chairman and chief executive (annual report for 1990, “Nicholas M. Brecher, 75”).Marketing Systems of America, Inc., Form 10-K for 1990 (SEC file 0-13385)
• Likely Mickey held two U.S. patents for retail packaging (filed 1966 and 1972, granted 1967 and 1974) from 2 Manor Lane, Lawrence, N.Y., and in 1969 registered his “Brevoni” brand for wallets and pocketbooks; later brands from Miami Beach included Preventology and BreathAid (1998–2012).U.S. Patents 3,307,686 and 3,826,359; Official Gazette, BREVONI reg. 882,347; Companies and Their Brands (1998–2012)
• Confirmed A CBS Miami report of 11 Nov 2010: Mickey, 94, still kept the daily diary he wrote through the war; he served in five campaigns from French Morocco to Italy, carried a wounded soldier to safety in Sicily, and received the Purple Heart and, decades later, the Bronze Star.CBS Miami (CBS4 I-Team), 11 Nov 2010
• Confirmed Eugene (Jenő) Brecher and Elizabeth Zelig: Brooklyn marriage licence no. 3272, 1 March 1938. Eugene born March 1911 in “Baia Sprie” (= Felsőbánya); Elizabeth born 19 June 1918 in Romania, daughter of Israel Zelig.NYC Municipal Archives, Brooklyn 1938 marriage licence no. 3272
• Confirmed Samuel (Sámuel) Klein was born 22 July 1877 at Nagysomkút, son of Hermann Klein and the late Háni Ferencz (1902 act). Esther Klein was born at Felsőbánya and lived at Nagy Ilonda before her 1906 marriage; David Brecher was then at Huszt, and Meir Brecher an innkeeper at Kapnikbánya. Johanna (Háni) Ferencz stays Likely as Esther’s mother.Felsőbánya civil marriages, acts 8 (1902) and 38 (1906), Romanian National Archives, Maramureș
• Confirmed Nicholas (Mickey) and Margaret Brecher’s children in the Bronx in April 1950: Susan, Marylin and Kenneth.1950 U.S. census, the Bronx (FamilySearch 1:1:6XYS-VKS2, 1:1:6XYS-VKSV, 1:1:6XYS-VKSK)
• Likely Shuva Yisrael II (Monsey 1958), p. 157, re-read on the page: the Monsey list, under the synagogue Beit Yisrael, reads “ר׳ יוסף הכהן ברעכער, ר׳ שמשון הכהן ברעכער, … ר׳ פנחס שלום פרידמאן” — R’ Yosef HaKohen Brecher, R’ Shimshon HaKohen Brecher, … R’ Pinchas Shalom Friedman. Pinchas Shalom was the Hebrew name of Paul Friedman, husband of Shimshon’s sister Lucy; that this subscriber is Paul is Likely.Shuva Yisrael II (Monsey 1958) p. 157, HebrewBooks.org no. 2943
• Likely Esther had another brother: Jenő (Yehuda Yekutiel) Klein, a painter born at Felsőbánya in 1882 (c. 1884 by his ages in the civil acts), married to Szeréna Róth and later of Szatmár; 1944 (date only). His son David called Samuel and Shimon Klein his uncles. Their daughter Ilona was born at Felsőbánya on 18 April 1914 (birth act, Confirmed). Pages in the gallery.Holocaust memorial records, items 8124167, 8124170, 8124171; Baia Sprie births 1914 act 42 and 1918 act 55 (Romanian National Archives, Maramureș)
• Likely Samuel Klein’s son Miklós (Nicolas) survived; in a recorded interview (USC Shoah Foundation) he named his parents Samuel and Józefa, his grandfather Moses Szalavitz, and his sisters and brothers. From it: Róza (b. 1904) was married as Herschowitz, and Róza, Margit, József and Sándor, as well as Samuel and Józefa, are named among those who died in 1944. The earlier memorial-record listing of Miklós among the dead was wrong.USC Shoah Foundation interview index via JewishGen, record USCINTERV_0034291; Baia Sprie births 1919
• Confirmed Three more children of Esther’s sister Berta and Mihály Fogel, from their Felsőbánya birth acts: Ferencz (18 June 1899), Sámuel (1 May 1901) and Menyhért (13 February 1903; he survived the war and lived in Budapest, Likely). Mihály was admitted to the Felsőbánya town community in 1904; after Berta’s death he married Paula Davidovics and he died at Felsőbánya on 25 May 1915. Pages in the gallery.Felsőbánya births 1899 act 101, 1901 act 62, 1903 act 31; deaths 1915 act 51 (Romanian National Archives, Maramureș); Felsőbányai Hírlap, 22 Jun 1904, p. 49 (Hungaricana)
• Confirmed Mickey (Nicholas) Brecher married Margaret Farkas on 26 August 1941 in a civil ceremony at the Borough Hall, Bronx, licence no. 8896 (taken out 20 August). The licence confirms her maiden name Farkas and names her parents Morris Farkas and Gizella Weiss; she was 20, born 23 August 1920 in Czechoslovakia, a bookkeeper. Licence, certificate and the City Clerk’s index pages in the gallery.NYC Municipal Archives, Historical Vital Records, Marriage Licenses, Bronx 1941, no. 8896 (L-B-1941-0008896); City Clerk’s Index to Marriage Licenses, Bronx 1941 (Reclaim The Records / Internet Archive)
• Confirmed Eugene (Jenő) Brecher became an American citizen on 22 May 1944 (petition 379085, sworn 14 May 1941). His witnesses were his father-in-law Israel Zelig, a grocer, and his brother-in-law Paul Friedman, a jeweler. Page 2 of the petition is in the gallery.SDNY naturalization petition 379085, p. 2 (NARA M1972, roll 1321), via FamilySearch
• Confirmed The 1940 census: Eugene and Elizabeth Brecher at 305 East Mount Eden Avenue, Bronx, Eugene a wage-earning necktie operator; and Lucy and Paul Friedman on Monroe Avenue with Paul’s parents Joseph and Giza (Gizella née Berger) Friedman, Paul a watchmaker with his own jewelry store. Both pages in the gallery.1940 U.S. Census, Bronx, ED 3-114 sheet 4A and ED 3-115 sheet 7B (NARA T627, via FamilySearch)
• Confirmed Esther Brecher’s 1962 dinner was the Bais Yaakov High School of Spring Valley’s fifth annual dinner, held as a testimonial to her, on about Sunday 23 September 1962 (the date Likely; the notice says “Sunday evening”), not its first, and not in October. Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik was the guest speaker; the report calls her a Monsey resident of eleven years who, with her late husband David, helped build its Torah and welfare institutions.Orangetown Telegram, 9 Aug 1962, p. 10 and 20 Sep 1962, p. 14 (HRVH Historical Newspapers (news.hrvh.org))
• Confirmed The move to Monsey can now be dated: on 16 August 1951 the Rockland County Leader welcomed Eugene and Elizabeth Brecher and Lucy and Paul Friedman as newcomers settled in new homes on Lenore Avenue, after “several summers” in Monsey. David and Esther in 1951 too: Likely (Esther was “a resident of Monsey for the past eleven years” in 1962).Rockland County Leader, 16 Aug 1951, p. 8; Orangetown Telegram, 20 Sep 1962, p. 14 (HRVH Historical Newspapers (news.hrvh.org))
• Confirmed The Yeshiva of Spring Valley in the Rockland papers: Eugene elected its president in October 1953 and reporting in October 1954 a larger enrolment than at any time in its ten years; David Brecher and Eugene on its board of directors in 1954; Eugene vice-president again in 1957; Alex, Eugene and Paul Friedman on the 1953 banquet committee; Alex a dinner sponsor every year 1962–1967, with Paul Friedman from 1965; Esther (Mrs. D. Brecher) on an arrangements committee in 1956 (Likely).Rockland County Leader 28 May 1953, 30 Jul 1953, 22 Oct 1953, 14 Oct 1954, 7 Nov 1957; Orangetown Telegram 2 Feb 1956; Ramapo Valley / Rockland Independent 1962–1967 (HRVH Historical Newspapers (news.hrvh.org))
• Confirmed Eugene Brecher donated a piece of luggage from the family business as the door prize at a Temple Beth El Sisterhood dinner in Suffern, October 1952; the luggage prizes at the December 1957 Chanukah game night were “donated [by] Brecher Bros.” (the printing: Orangetown Telegram, 2 Jan 1958, p. 8).Rockland County Leader, 23 Oct 1952, p. 12; Orangetown Telegram, 2 Jan 1958, p. 8 (HRVH Historical Newspapers (news.hrvh.org))
• Confirmed The last years in Florida: Esther (d. 1 November 1980), Lucy (d. 21 December 1984) and Paul Friedman (d. 8 April 1983) all died in Dade County, all with a last residence in Miami Beach, which explains their burials at Lakeside Memorial Park.Florida Death Index 1877–1998, certs. 89719, 108803, 34349; Social Security Death Index (via FamilySearch)
• Confirmed Mickey (Nicholas) Brecher and Margaret Farkas married twice on one licence (no. 8896): the civil ceremony at the Borough Hall on 26 August 1941, and a religious ceremony on 1 April 1942 in the Bronx, performed by Rabbi Solomon Teitelbaum of 961 Simpson Street. The licence file also carries the affidavit of 20 August 1941 with both their signatures. Margaret’s grandmother Mary Weiss (Weisz) of Sevljuš is now on the tree, and her father Morris Farkas was already a U.S. citizen by 1929.NYC Municipal Archives, Bronx 1941 marriage licence no. 8896, pp. 3 and 6; S.S. Aquitania manifest, New York, 6 Sep 1929
• Confirmed The left-hand page of the Vulcania’s 1928 list, read for the first time: David’s calling “rabbi”, birthplace “Roumania, Sereth”, non-quota visa no. 344 issued at Budapest on 22 Nov 1928. The visa was possibly granted to him as a minister of religion (Possible; the list gives no reason). The same list gives Esther’s birthplace as Sereth too, against Felsőbánya in her marriage act and David’s petition (kept under “Dates the records disagree on”).S.S. Vulcania, arriving New York 31 Dec 1928, left-hand page, lines 13–14 (FamilySearch, “New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925–1958”)
• Likely Margaret’s sister Gabriella (Gabriela) Farkas, b. 11 Jul 1914, married Leonard A. Creizman in the Bronx on 28 Nov 1936; the marriage record names her parents as Morris and Gizella Weiss. She later married Rabbi Emanuel D. Rothenberg (Queens, 1987) and died at Monsey, New York, on 12 Aug 2013.New York City marriage records 1829–1938, Bronx 1936, cert. no. 10234 (FamilySearch 1:1:Q2CV-3HWR); NYC marriage licence index, Queens 1987; Death Master File
• Confirmed Hersch Ferencz’s family of Kováskápolnok, read on the original civil register images: his wife Ilona Novi, born about 1837 at Avasfelsőfalu, and their daughter Czili, born 18 January 1864 (late registration, 15 May 1897, act 47); his brother Gedálics Ferencz, died 16 February 1903 aged 68, son of the late Bernát Ferencz, smallholder and innkeeper, and Róza. These people are possible kin of Háni (Johanna) Ferencz; no record names her parents, so that link stays Possible. Pages in the gallery.Romanian National Archives, Maramureș County Branch, civil registers: MM-F-00743-1-1-00187, image 163 (https://descopera.arhivelenationale.ro/cota/?cid=13914467); MM-F-00743-1-1-00201, image 91 (https://descopera.arhivelenationale.ro/cota/?cid=13914481)

• Possible Háni (Johanna) Ferencz’s family may be the Ferenczes of Avasfelsőfalu: in Nagybánya, Herman Klein was sandak at the bris of Samuel Mózes Ferencz (15 November 1892), son of Mihály Ferencz and Leni Rosenfeld, and Mihály Fogel — Berta Klein’s husband — was sandak at the bris of Elek Grozinger (20 May 1894), son of Rezi née Ferencz of Avasfelsőfalu. Both names are common, so this is Possible (JewishGen Máramaros births, Nagybánya, Register Book 39, p. 47 row 41 and p. 56 row 26). The Rezi is Terézia (Rézi) Ferencz, wife of Izsák Grozinger, grocer and innkeeper of Giródtótfalu near Nagybánya: she is entered as “Grozinger Izsákné született Ferencz Terézia” on a 1901 Giródtótfalu death act of their infant son Sámuel. Record Confirmed; that she was a sister or niece of Háni is Possible only (Nagybánya-district deaths 1901, folio 19v, Romanian National Archives, Maramureș, unit 13914317).
• Possible Mevaser Tov (1915), p. 105 (printed page 47), re-read on the page: besides “דוד ברעכער” in the Felsőbánya list (with Yaakov Tzvi Klein), a second “דוד ברעכער” stands in the Kolozsvár list on the same page. Whether he is the same David Brecher is not known (Possible). The next name there, “ב״ג ירוחם במו״ה יהושע הירש” (Yerucham son of R’ Yehoshua Hirsch), is a separate subscriber with no Brecher surname. Source: Mevaser Tov (Kolozsvár 1915) p. 105 [printed page 47], HebrewBooks.org no. 33126.
• Possible In the same interview the sisters “Blima Szomgye” (b. 1904, d. Haifa 1992) and “Tuby” are possibly Blanka (b. 1909) and Mathild (b. 1908); Possible only.
• Possible Sándor Fogel (b. 1896), son of Mihály and Berta, is possibly the Sándor Fogel, clerk of Budapest, born 1898 at Felsőbánya, of a memorial record (item 959053); the year differs. Possible.
• Possible A Jewish Ferencz family at Illésfalva near Nagysomkút, where Háni (Johanna) Ferencz’s children Berta and Samuel were born: Izrael Dávid Ferencz, shoemaker, son of Noé Ferencz, grocer, and Eszter Markovics, married in 1904, and a Hani Ferencz was born there in 1898. Possibly Háni’s relatives; a lead only (Bicaz marriages 1904 act 23; Băsești births 1898, Romanian National Archives, Maramureș).
• Possible Possibly Háni (Johanna) Ferencz’s parents: Hersch Ferencz of Kováskápolnok, who died there on 23 April 1898 aged 76 (born there about 1822), son of the late Bernát Ferencz, smallholder, and Róza Weisz; his wife is entered as Lája. Noé Ferencz of Illésfalva (born about 1856) was born at Kováskápolnok, about 20 km from Nagysomkút, where Háni’s children Berta and Samuel were born, and named a daughter Háni in December 1898. The death record is Confirmed; that Hersch and Lája were Háni’s parents is Possible only — no record names her parents yet. Page in the gallery (Kováskápolnok deaths 1898 act 24, Romanian National Archives, Maramureș, unit 13914480, image 191). New (27 October 2026): Hersch’s wife was Ilona Novi (Lája), born about 1837 at Avasfelsőfalu, and they had a daughter Czili, born at Kováskápolnok on 18 January 1864 (late registration of 1897, act 47); Hersch’s brother Gedálics (c. 1835–1903) gives the same parents, Bernát Ferencz and Róza. A butcher Mihály Ferencz, born about 1863 at Avasfelsőfalu, was living at Felsőbánya in 1904 — possibly Hersch’s son. The records are Confirmed; the family’s tie to Háni stays Possible. Other Ferencz couples of Kováskápolnok (Náthán Ferencz and Lája née Lázár; Márk Ferencz and Bluma Róth) are of the same age and are not her parents by any record.

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