The Dinovitzer & Schwartz Family

The People

Morris's direct ancestors, his siblings, and his children

Romania

Generations who never left

no portrait
available

Aron Dinovitzer

b. ca. 1780s

Earliest documented Dinovitzer ancestor

The earliest documented Dinovitzer ancestor. He is named only on his son Iacob's 1875 death certificate as a deceased father. He lived and died somewhere in northern Moldavia, likely Botoșani, in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century.

no portrait
available

Iacob (Iancu) Dinovitzer

ca. 1810 – 27 Jan 1875, Botoșani

Morris's gtgt-grandfather

A merchant in Botoșani. His death certificate (Botoșani, 27 January 1875, Act No. 88) records that he died at his home at age about sixty-five, of religion israelit, sub protecția Romana — under Romanian protection, the legal name for Jewish statelessness. Married Maria (Miriem). Father of Naftali Abraham (Morris's grandfather).

no portrait
available

Naftali Abraham Dinovitzer

1841 – 1911, Botoșani

Morris's great-grandfather

Morris's great-grandfather. Lived his life in Botoșani as a merchant; never crossed the Atlantic. Married Anna Schleifer; six children including Jacob (Morris's father). Died in Botoșani in 1911, the year after Anna emigrated to Montreal.

Anna (Chana) Schleifer

1847 – 25 Jan 1922, Montreal

Morris's great-grandmother

Morris's great-grandmother. Daughter of Israel Isaac Schleifer and Sarah Rivka of Romania. Around 1910, in her early sixties, she crossed the Atlantic to join her four emigrated sons in Quebec. Died in Montreal on 25 January 1922, age 75.

no portrait
available

Mihal Schwartz

(dates unknown)

Morris's gtgt-grandfather (Schwartz line)

The earliest documented Schwartz ancestor. Known only through his son Moshe Zelig's civil records, which always identify him as sin Mihal ("son of Mihal").

no portrait
available

Moshe Zelig Schwartz

ca. 1853 – ?

Morris's great-grandfather

A merchant — comerciant — in Dorohoi. The Dorohoi civil registers from 1881 to 1897 track him through children's births at the family home on Strada Mare, the town's main commercial street. Born ca. 1853. Married Tauba and later Freida.

no portrait
available

Itic Iancu Leibovici

Dorohoi merchant

Morris's gt-grandfather (maternal)

A comerciant of Dorohoi, named on multiple Dorohoi civil records as the father of children born in the 1890s and 1900s on Strada Basota. His own birth and death records have not been retrieved.

no portrait
available

Freida Balanu

1855 – 26 Sep 1907, Dorohoi

Morris's gt-grandmother (maternal)

Born 1855. Died in Dorohoi on 26 September 1907, age 52. Wife of Itic Iancu Leibovici, mother of Eke Devora. Her own parents were Leiba Balanu and Leia (b. 1812, d. 1907).

Shlomo Yidel Schwartz

ca. 1850 – 3 Sep 1943, Iași

Morris's grandfather (maternal)

Rebecca's father. Family file records his birth as 4 April 1850 and death in Iași on 3 September 1943 — two years after the Iași pogrom of June 1941 — though the date and circumstances need primary verification.

no portrait
available

Eke Devora Leibovici

20 Jul 1875, Dorohoi – 20 Oct 1920

Morris's grandmother (maternal)

Rebecca's mother. Born in Dorohoi, daughter of Itic Iancu Leibovici and Freida Balanu. Married Shlomo Yidel Schwartz; bore Rebecca in 1900. Died on 20 October 1920, age 45 — five years before Rebecca emigrated to Canada.

The Emigrating Generation

Naftali Abraham and Anna's six children

Rosel (Rachel) Dinovitzer

1865, Botoșani – 5 Jun 1947

Morris's aunt (Fichman line)

The eldest of Naftali Abraham and Anna's six children. Married Solomon Itic Fichman; at least seven children, all born in Romania. The Fichman line is a substantial branch of the wider family.

Josef Dinovitzer

1868 – 17 Jan 1941, Montreal

Morris's uncle (Chicoutimi)

Morris's uncle, eldest of the emigrating Dinovitzer brothers. By 1900 in Montreal; by 1901 in Chicoutimi, where he became President of the Magasin du Peuple. Married Bertha (Bracha) Fickler; five children. Died Montreal, 17 January 1941.

Aharon Hersh Dinovitzer

1871, Botoșani – 7 Nov 1954, Israel

Morris's uncle (Israel branch)

The Dinovitzer who chose Palestine instead of Quebec. Born in Botoșani; settled in Ottoman, then British Mandate, Palestine, in the early twentieth century. Married Clara Haia Silberman; four children: Feige, Mina, Bruria, and Naphtali ("Dini-Dean"). Died 7 November 1954. The Israeli branch of the family descends from him.

Pinhas (Paul) Dinovitzer

1874 – 25 Dec 1939

Morris's uncle (Chicoutimi)

The Dinovitzer brother who broke off from Josef's Chicoutimi partnership in May 1906 to open his own store on Rue Racine, Chicoutimi. Married Bella Samuels; three children: Naftuli, Nathan, Coonie. Died 25 December 1939.

no portrait
available

Ester Brane Dinovitzer

8 Aug 1877 – 22 Dec 1908, Iași

Morris's aunt; died young

The only daughter of Naftali Abraham who never left Romania. Died in Iași at age twenty-four — recorded as "without occupation, a needlewoman" — and was buried in the Copou Jewish cemetery. Left no spouse and no children.

Jacob Dinovitzer

1 Nov 1881 – 12 Apr 1963, Montreal

Morris's father

Morris's father. Born in Romania, almost certainly Botoșani, on 1 November 1881 — youngest of Naftali Abraham and Anna Schleifer's six children. Came to Quebec by 1906 and opened a dry goods store at 132 rue Notre-Dame, Trois-Rivières. Married Rebecca Schwartz at the Beth Yehuda Synagogue, Montreal, on 19 September 1926. Four children: Anna, Alec, Morris, Nathan. Died in Montreal on 12 April 1963, age 81.

Morris's Parents

The marriage that joined two lines

Jacob Dinovitzer

1 Nov 1881 – 12 Apr 1963, Montreal

Morris's father

Rebecca Schwartz

25 May 1900, Dorohoi – 23 Oct 1991, Montreal

Morris's mother

Morris's mother. Born in Dorohoi, daughter of Shlomo Yidel Schwartz and Eke Devora Leibovici. Emigrated to Canada in the early 1920s, after her mother's 1920 death and before her September 1926 marriage. Died in Montreal on 23 October 1991, age 91. Many of her grandchildren — the cousins this site is for — knew her.

Bertha Fickler's Family

The Brooklyn branch — Josef's wife and her descendants

Bertha (Bracha) Fickler

24 Dec 1878 – 1965

Morris's aunt by marriage

Daughter of Solomon Fickler — the Romanian-Jewish peddler who arrived in Montreal in 1888–89. Married Josef Dinovitzer around 1900; bore five children. Died 1965.

Victoria (Malka) Dinovitzer Freedman

27 Jan 1901, Quebec City – ?

Morris's first cousin; Brooklyn

Morris's first cousin; founder of the Brooklyn branch. Born in Quebec City while her father Josef ran the Magasin du Peuple in Chicoutimi. Married Morris Freedman in 1923; one son, Nordau Freedman. Crossed into the US at Rouses Point, NY, in April 1935 and naturalized in Brooklyn in November 1940.

Morris and his Siblings

Jacob and Rebecca's four children

Anna Dinovitzer

1928, Acton Vale – 30 Nov 1978, Montreal

Morris's older sister

Morris's older sister. Eldest of Jacob and Rebecca's four children. Born in Acton Vale in 1928; lived her life in Quebec. Died in Montreal, 30 November 1978, age 50.

Alec Dinovitzer

b. 27 Jan 1931, Montreal

Morris's older brother

Morris's older brother. Born in Montreal, 27 January 1931. Married Helen Wainberg; three children: Joy, Ian Yitzchok (1959), Bonnie (1962). The only sibling of Morris's generation still living at the time of writing.

Morris Dinovitzer

19 Apr 1932 – 29 May 2012, Montreal

This site's anchor

The anchor of this site and the book. Born in Montreal on 19 April 1932; lived his working life largely in Acton Vale, where he ran "The Store" — the family dry goods business that supplied uniforms and clothing to the local police, fire department, and townspeople for decades. Married Sima Mizrachi on 8 December 1968. Four children: Sharon, Ronit, Liat, and Doron. Died Montreal, 29 May 2012.

Nathan Dinovitzer

1934, Montreal – 8 Oct 2007, Ottawa

Morris's younger brother

Morris's younger brother. A Montreal lawyer first, later based in Ottawa. Married Elizabeth ("Betty") Stein around 1960. Four children: Jay (Rousseau), Cori, Marlen, Aaron. Died Ottawa, 8 October 2007.

Sima Mizrachi

b. 12 Jan 1940

Morris's wife

Morris's wife. Brings into the Dinovitzer story a Sephardic and Mizrachi lineage with roots in Iraq and Israel — a separate branch of family history not deeply profiled in this Dinovitzer-Schwartz book.