Shortly after arriving in Philadelphia, my great-grandfather Chaim moved to Carmel New Jersey. Bebe Kagan said that Baron de Hirsch was the person who made the arrangements to send the newcomers to Carmel. Baron Maurice de Hirsch was a Jewish philanthropist through his Jewish Colonization Association (known as JCA) enable colonies of Jewish immigrants primarily from Russia and Romania in Argentina, Brazil, and the United States. This was called the Am Olam movement. Henry’s resettlement in Carmel was assisted by the Hebrew Aid Society. Carmel is located in Cumberland County in Southern New Jersey south of Philadelphia.  My grandmother told me that her father always regretted having a foreign accent and he worked hard at speaking English well. She also told me that her father spoke three or four languages. These were probably Romanian, Russian and Yiddish. He was known as an intellectual, educated man. 

    New immigrants like Chaim were sent to rural areas to assimilate American culture. They were considered too “green” to stay with more assimilated and sophisticated relatives in the city. Maybe there was a job waiting for Chaim in Carmel and that is why he moved there. Max lists his father’s profession as a “cloth salesman” which confirms that he and his family sold clothing in Europe. Uncle Max was also in the clothing business so perhaps he was influenced by his father. The Jewish Farming Colonies in Southern New Jersey were called YOVAL.

        Chaim sent money back to Kishinev for Brana and the children. Brana came over in either 1903 or 1904 with five of her children, Morris, Mary, Max, Rose (my grandmother) and baby Julia who died, probably of SID in this country. Her son Lazar, who was born between Mary and Max, died in Kishinev. According to my mother, my uncle, Lenny Androphy, is named after Lazar. In a letter to Ronald Androphy, Bebe wrote that Brana blamed the loss of her son, Lazar, on her husband’s family. Lazar was left with Chaim’s family when she went home to Balta to attend her father’s funeral. Brana told her that they didn’t watch him carefully and “he fell and died soon after.”

    The trip to America took my great grandmother about three weeks and she landed at Ellis Island. According to Aunt Rae Schoenberg, Henry’s sister Rayna came with her. Evidently, Brana had traded down to a lower class ticket so that her sister in law Rayna could also come over without spending any additional money. She joined Chaim who was already living in Carmel New Jersey. Four more children were born here: Francis Kelman Arthur was born in Carmel 1902; Rae Kelman Schoenberg was born in Philadelphia in 1904; Joseph in 1906, Lillian Kelman Levy in 1908, and Ida Kelman Cohen in 1910 all born in Carmel.

    Henry became a U.S. citizen on March 2, 1915 (Max’s writing is not very legible here!) in Cumberland County in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Brett Binns sent me a copy of Brana’s Naturalization papers. Brana became a U.S. citizen when she was 42 years old in 1915. She became a citizen automatically because she was Henry’s wife and he had already become a citizen. The documents lists her as being 5’ 5¾” tall (this is not her correct height, my mother says that Brana was less than five feet tall), fair complexion, brown eyes, and “mixed” hair color. Her name was surprisingly listed as “Blanche” Kelman. It appears that at the time some of the children lived with relatives in Camden while the majority lived with her in Carmel. Bebe said that Aunt Frances told her that this was because there was some problem with the schools in one of these communities.

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