An Amazing Journey

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Wednesday, December 17
An Amazing Journey (Part 3 of 3)
By Donna Erickson
I phoned cousin Nora in Vancouver, British Columbia, surprised there was someone still alive who was my mother’s first cousin. I said, “I’m Philip Koven’s granddaughter, and she remarked, “Isn’t that amazing!!” Nora was 90 years old and not feeling very well. She put me in touch with her children and her nieces, and we began corresponding.
My cousin, Penelope, was thrilled to hear the news, as was my brother, Rob. We all began calling and e-mailing each other. After a few months, Nora was on the mend, and we began speaking regularly. Penelope spoke of taking a ferry from her hometown of Seattle to Vancouver Island for a visit. It was then that I realized I wanted to go, too! For me, it would mean flying across the country first. So, I began planning my trip and saving my money. We decided we would arrange a Labor Day weekend reunion.
The plan was to fly to Seattle and stay overnight with Penelope. Then we would take the ferry together to cross the border. Nora’s sister, Olive, had passed away in 1984. She had 3 children and 2 were living in Canada- Trudy and Andrea. Their brother, Michael, lives in Germany. Trudy offered to have me stay a few days with her and her husband, Doug.
I kept busy during the coming months planning all of the arrangements—flights, hotels, ferries, getting a passport, etc. When the time came, I was more than excited. That morning, a sedan from a limousine service picked me up to bring me to the airport. As we rode along the busy highway, heading to Logan Airport, the unthinkable happened. I remember screaming, “Oh, no!” as the sedan crashed into the vehicle in front of us. Two other cars had collided ahead of them, and there were four cars involved all together. A state policeman appeared at my window, asking if I were okay. I was banged up but felt all right. I found myself standing on the shoulder of the highway with the others involved. I felt crushed. As they continued to fill out reports and check licenses, etc., it all hit me. I realized I wasn’t going to make the trip I had planned all year. I made sure they realized I was supposed to catch a plane. First, they were going to try and send another vehicle to transport me. After getting the front hood to close on the sedan, the police officer said it would be okay for the driver to take me. It was only 10 minutes away.
Luckily, I had shipped out my luggage by UPS and didn’t have to check baggage at the airport. If I hadn’t taken that step, I never would have made it. When I arrived, the line was forming to board the plane. I couldn’t believe I made it.
The rest was a dream, come true. We had a magnificent reunion. I was running on pure adrenaline the entire time. Bruises appeared and I was sore, but I was having such a great time with my new family that I wasn’t focused on the pain. When I returned, I realized I did have some injuries—a sprained neck, back, ribs, and knee. But it was all worth it. I am about 90% healed now, after months of physical therapy and chiropractic treatment.
Nora celebrated her 91st birthday and continues to amaze me. I have been blessed with many new cousins who are all wonderful, warm, kind, and caring people. I have learned a lot about my family. With my new family members, I look forward to many happy years ahead.

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Posted by Guest Contributor at 12:21 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Donna Erickson, Success Story
An Amazing Journey (Part 2 of 3)
By Donna Erickson

One evening, something led me to the computer. I thought I would have one last try at www.jewishgen.org. I found a message board in the Discussion Group Archives I hadn’t seen before. After searching for Kowensky, a strange letter popped up. It had been posted a year earlier. I read with disbelief. The letter was written to my family. Nora was searching for us!

A copy of the letter appears below:

Date: Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:57:56 -0700
From: Nora Jenkin
Subject: Re: Family of Philip KOWENSKY or Philip Kowen


I am researching the family of my father, Louis KOWENSKY, b. 8 May 1888, in Stalkliskes, Russia (now Lithuania). Louis and his brother Philip immigrated to North America, via Leeds, UK, some time in 1904. Louis came to Montreal but Philip went to Boston, MA, USA.


I do not know whether Philip went to Ellis Island or not. I do know that Philip married and I believe that her name was Sarah Levitt. I have a copy of her Application for Social Security which tells me that she was born 15 October 1893. According to Ancestry,com she died in 1971.


I have recently found some snapshots of her four children, Lillian Doris, possibly b. 1917-20; Alan Summer who was younger; Estelle Rita, also younger and Bobby who was the infant in the family.


Philip was, I believe, killed in a car accident when Bobby was a baby, or possibly just before his birth. Nothing much was ever told to me about my Father's parents, because he was afraid for their lives as he and his brother escaped from Russia when my father was only 15 or 16. I do not know if he was the eldest. My father lost contact with the American family after the death of Philip.


I would like any of Philip's children or grandchildren to contact me if they are interested in researching their family roots. They may know some things that I do not. I do have some information regarding the brothers and would be happy to share it with any family member who is interested.


Thank you for allowing me to use your services to post this notice.
Nora (Kowensky) Jenkin

As soon as I saw my mother’s name, Lillian Doris, I screamed. Then I cried. It was so emotional. It was a miracle...


To Be Continued
Posted by Guest Contributor at 12:16 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Donna Erickson, Success Story
An Amazing Journey (Part 1 of 3)
By Donna Erickson

About a year ago, I decided to act on an idea I had for quite awhile. I knew I had cousins living in Canada, but I didn’t have much information. All of the family elders were gone, so I was on my own—other than what my cousin Penelope could offer. I was on the east coast, and she was on the west coast with a three-hour time difference, so we were limited to e-mails and planned, long-distance phone calls. I informed her that I was about to begin searching for our family.

I began browsing around ancestry.com and took advantage of their free trial offer. As I set up my family tree on their site, I was fueled by a sense of excitement. Who knows where it would lead? I began posting requests in the forums, stating that I was searching for Koven relatives in Canada. My mother’s father, Philip, had emigrated from Lithuania. Tragically, he had drowned in a river, following a freak car accident. He had been a traveling salesman during the 1920’s. One icy day in November, while driving through New Hampshire, he skidded over a bridge and plunged into a river. My mother, the oldest of the children, was only four at the time, and my grandmother was expecting her fourth child. The news hit hard, and after that, nothing was quite the same for the Koven family.

A few people responded to my inquiries, and it was fun communicating with other Kovens, but none of them were my relatives. I kept coming upon listings for another deceased Philip Koven who had a living relative named Roger Fleishman. Roger had been at this for quite some time and was an expert at genealogical searching. He was a tremendous help. He located a listing in an old Boston directory that had my grandfather listed as Philip Kowen. This didn’t seem right to me, but I was open to exploring any possibilities. Roger asked if I had my mother’s birth certificate. He gave me the address for Philip Kowen in the directory. I rummaged through old papers and located the birth certificates of my mother and her sister, my Aunt Esther. Sure enough, the handwriting spelled out their last name as Kowen and the home address matched the one in the directory!

This was my first breakthrough, and I was ecstatic. There had been a name change I was unaware of my entire life. Apparently, after Philip died, my grandmother, Sadie, changed the spelling from Kowen to Koven. I wondered if my mother ever knew. She never mentioned it.

Roger Fleishman had “cracked the code,” and I now knew the correct spelling. The only information I had about my Canadian cousins was their names, Olive and Nora. They were Philip’s brother’s daughters. I didn’t know the name of my mother’s uncle, Philip’s brother. I realized if Nora or Olive had married—which was likely—that could be the end of the trail.

In the past, I would find myself Googling Olive Koven and Nora Koven in Canada, just to see what came up. Now I realized I had been using the wrong name. Once I began searching for Kowen (and Kowensky since I knew the family name had been shortened) I discovered something interesting. I located a record of the border passing of Louis Kowensky during the 1930’s. His wife was listed as Lillian, and there, in plain English, it read: daughters Olive and Nora. I couldn’t believe it. I now had validation that these were real people and not just names.

Roger suggested I also look on www.jewishgen.org, which was new to me. I spent hours weeding through the forums and postings but was slowly getting discouraged. I continued to respond to those who e-mailed me from ancestry, as well as those fromwww.jewishgen.org. This went on for months. I was ready to give up. I really believed it was a lost cause...

To Be Continued
Posted by Guest Contributor at 12:12 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Donna Erickson, Success Story