Mother of: Esther Mezeritsky Levinson Levin
Grandmother of: Jennie Levin Spiegel
Great Grandmother of: Harry Spiegel
Great Great Grandmother of: Sanders "Sandy" Spiegel
Great Great Great Grandmother of: Shelly Spiegel, Terry Spiegel Thal, Jamie Spiegel Levick, Brad Spiegel
Great Great Great Great Grandmother of: Ben Spiegel, Will Spiegel, Olivia Levick, Harrison Levick
Leah Rosen was born in March 1832 in Kiev, Russia.
Leah Rosen Mezeritsky Levinson was married twice.
Her first marriage was to a man whose last name was Mezeritsky. The marriage took place around 1850. In August 1951, Leah gave birth to her daughter, Esther Mezeritsky. Leah's marriage ended in 1853 for some unknown reason.
Leah married for a second time in 1853. Her second marriage was to Leib "Beryl" Levinson. After they married, Leah's daughter, Esther, took her step-father's last name and became Esther Levinson.
Leah and Beryl had three children: Louis, Rose, and Bessie.
Leah owned a bar (shenk) and a candy store in Kiev.*
*I am unsure of Beryl Levinson's profession.
In the spring of 1881, the was a second pogrom** in Russia, a year after Czar Alexander II was assassinated. His successor, Czar Alexander III cracked down on revolutionaries and Jews. Kiev and other Russian Jewish cities were targeted.
During the second pogrom, Leah's bar was completely destroyed. Leah and Beryl also lost most of their personal possessions.
**A pogrom is a violent riot aimed at the massacre or expulsion of an ethnic or religious group, particularly one aimed at Jews. The first pogrom in Russia took place in 1821.
During the second pogrom, Leah and Leib "Beryl" Levinson and their children, joined their daughter, Esther Levin and her family, and headed for Hamburg, Germany.
Upon their arrival in Hamburg, the Levinson's and the Levin's quickly found that the German Jewish community was unwilling to help their fellow Jews who were fleeing Russian persecution.
While in Germany, the Levinson's and the Levin's heard about a new Jewish farming community that was forming in Norma, New Jersey called the Alliance Colony. Norma is an unincorporated community located within Pittsgrove Township in Salem County, New Jersey.
So they set sail once more – this time for America** and Norma, New Jersey aided by money from the financiers of the Alliance Colony:
The Alliance Israélite Universelle of Paris, a Jewish philanthropic organization headquartered in Paris
The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society of New York and Philadelphia
The German railroad builder and philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch.
The Levinson's and the Levins arrived at Ellis Island in early 1882 and several months later, on May 10, 1882, they along with 41 other families, founded the first of several all-Jewish farm communities in South Jersey – the Alliance Colony.
On May 10, 1882, Leah, Beryl and their children moved to the Alliance Colony in Norma, New Jersey.
Leah Rosen Levinson passed away in 1922 at the age of 90.