Mystery Monday: Aida Glicker Narovisky

In a previous post, Family Friday: Jose Shabetai Glicker, I discussed my great-uncle “Jose” Shabetai Glicker who lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This is a photo of Shabetai’s daughter, Aida Glicker Narovisky (also spelled Narosky, Naroviscky, and Narovischky).

I have written previously about Shabetai, the brother of my grandfather Sam Glicker, and about the last letter received from him about 1950. In the letter, Shabetai mentioned his daughter and the heartache he suffered because his daughter’s husband was a revolutionary.

I thought little more about Shabetai’s family until I started compiling a family tree a few years ago. My grandfather had died in 1969, having outlived his other siblings, but now I wondered what had become of Shabetai’s daughter after the 1950 letter? In 2012, I managed to contact Paulo Valadares, a historian in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Mr. Valaderes sent me  information about Shabetai that I mentioned in my previous post, and the following message about Shabetai’s daughter:

His daughter was AIDA GLIKER (1911)  married  to CHAIM RUBIM  NAROSKY (1904), “Polish nationality“. The couple were expelled from Brazil [for] “communist activities” on 12/01/1937. I [have] not found Gliker and Narosky currently living in Brazil.

Family Friday: Jose Shabetai Glicker

After leaving his home in Yedinitz, Bessarabia, my grandfather Sam Glicker’s older brother Shabetai started his trans-Atlantic voyage in Rotterdam, Holland on July 26, 1913, on the steamship Rotterdam. Two days after sailing from port, the journey was interrupted by an event Shabetai was sure to remember. A crew member, Jan Dunke, jumped overboard. Luckily it was a clear day and the waters were calm. A life buoy and life boat were launched and for two hours Captain Stenger doggedly steered the ship in a circular route searching for Dunke.

When the life boat was first launched with the chief officer on board, Shabetai may have been one of the 2,192 steerage passengers who made their own leap–to the conclusion that the worst had happened and the ship was sinking. The panic had passengers screaming and crying until they could be reassured by the crew. If Shabetai was on deck at the time, he may have been one of the passengers searching for a glimpse of the man in the sea. Remarkably, a small dot was spotted and Dunke was sighted swimming toward the ship. He was plucked out of the sea, and returned on board. Two hours after Dunke jumped into the sea, he was in the ship’s hospital, the S.S. Rotterdam was back on course, and Shabetai was headed for America.

Here’s the ship manifest that recorded Shabetai’s departure from Rotterdam on July 26, 1913 and his arrival in New York City on Monday, August 4:

Family Friday: Sam Glicker

Sam Glicker was born on February 8, 1889, in Yedinitz, Bessarabia, Russia (now known as Edinet, Moldova). Sam was known by his Yiddish name Schaje. His parents were Israel Glicker and Bindel Rosenblatt Glicker (See Glicker Family Outline and Flo’s Family).

Sam most likely had at least five siblings:

Meyer Chaim
Joseph (Yossel)
Joseph (Shabetai)
Jack (Yankel)
A sibling whose name is unknown

Sam left Yedinitz and on December 18, 1909, he boarded Holland-America Line’s steamship Ryndam in Rotterdam, Holland. The ship’s manifest spelled Sam’s name as Schaje Glucker.