The Smud FamilyAsk

Tree version · Oral tradition

Oral tradition

What the families told from generation to generation and no document confirms: that Felix had a brother, Leon Moises Zmud; that the Zmoods, Komisaruks and Grinblats came from a common ancestor; that Moshe Zmood and Rochel Yovel were cousins; that the family descended from a rabbi, or from the Gaon.

Oral tradition is not a tree: it is scattered statements, from different branches, that almost never say who is whose child. So this version is this research’s tree with the only thing tradition does say in those terms: that Felix had a brother, Leon Moises Zmud, father of an Ana Zmud who was Alejandro’s first cousin. He must not be confused with Moshe, Koppel’s son.

The rest are relationships that cannot be drawn as filiations. In Melbourne, Maurice Zmood told Chaim Freedman that the Zmoods, the Grinblats and the Komisaruks came from a common ancestor in Lithuania, and that his grandparents, Moshe Zmood and Rochel Yovel, were cousins. A Grinblat had been told they descended from “a Gaon”. In Argentina it was said that the Smuds descended from a rabbi. Freedman searched for decades for the documents behind those stories: some were confirmed by later marriages between the families; the common ancestor and the Gaon still have no paper that shows them.

  • Documented
  • Proposed, unverified
  • Contradicted by a document
  • Direct line to Entre Ríos
  • = Marriage

The colour bar on each box shows which stage of the journey that person lived in. Selecting a box opens a short summary without leaving this page. Boxes with a striped pattern are in this version only because of a filiation a document contradicts.

LEIZER ZHMUYDYAc. 1725YEHUDA ZHMUYDYA1748 – 1806ALEXANDERZHMUYDYA1778 – 1834FALK ZHMOODc. 1797 – 1840DAVID ZMUDc. 1818 – 1880Khana Reizelc. 1820 – 1885KOPPEL ZHMOODc. 1838 – c. 1900Dvorkac. 1838FELIX SMUDc. 1860/68 – c. 1909Malke Noelc. 1874 – c. 1915ALEJANDRO SMUD1897 – 1959Isabel LoyberMARCOS SMUD1899 – 1951Esther KlaiserburdAIDA SMUD1904 – 1992Pablo FreibergMoshe ZhmoodPesach ZhmoodHinda Ana ZhmoodManyik ZhmoodTybel ZhmoodLeon Moises ZmudFalk Zhmoodc. 1840 – 1904Leyzer Zhmoods. XIXAba SenderovZmudyac. 1802Chanac. 1815Meyer

Filiation by filiation

What this version says about each person's parents, and how that stands against the documents.

PersonFather and mother, in this versionAgainst the documents
Leon Moises Zmudfather: Koppel Zhmood
mother: Dvorka		Unverified

The Argentine family said that Felix and Leon Moises Zmud were brothers. No document confirms or refutes it.

The same tree, as a list

Each indent is one more generation. Names in capitals are the direct line from Ludza to Entre Ríos, those preceded by = are marriages, and the colour bar shows which stage of the journey each person lived in. Under each woman who brings her own ancestry there is a panel that opens it. What a document contradicts is shown with a striped pattern.

  1. Leizer Zhmuydyac. 1725The oldest name in the published tree
    • Yehuda Zhmuydya1748 – 1806Second proposed generation
      • Alexander Zhmuydya1778 – 1834Third proposed generation
        • Falk Zhmoodc. 1797 – 1840The oldest documented ancestor
          • David Zmudc. 1818 – 1880The one who moved from the Baltic to the south
            • Khana Reizelc. 1820 – 1885David's wife · Koppel's mother
            • Falk Zhmood, the Nogaysk merchantc. 1840 – 1904Koppel's brother · Felix's uncle
            • Leyzer Zhmoods. XIXHermano de Koppel
            • Koppel Zhmoodc. 1838 – c. 1900Felix's father
              • Dvorkac. 1838Koppel's wife · Felix's mother
                Her ancestry
                • Aba Senderov Zmudyac. 1802Dvorka's father, according to the 1858 census
                • Chanac. 1815Aba's wife · Dvorka's mother, probably
              • Moshe ZhmoodHermano de Felix
              • Pesach ZhmoodHermano de Felix
              • Hinda Ana ZhmoodHermana de Felix
              • Manyik ZhmoodHermano de Felix
              • Tybel ZhmoodHermana de Felix
              • Leon Moises ZmudFelix's brother, according to family tradition
              • Felix Smudc. 1860/68 – c. 1909Butcher · Russian army soldier · deserter
                • Malke Noelc. 1874 – c. 1915Crossed the Atlantic alone with three children
                  Her ancestry
                • Alejandro Smud1897 – 1959Bookkeeper · general store in Maciá
                  • Isabel LoyberEsposa de Alejandro
                • Marcos Smud1899 – 1951The boy in the Mariupol birth record
                  • Esther KlaiserburdEsposa de Marcos
                • Aida Smud1904 – 1992Crossed the Atlantic at six months old
                  • Pablo FreibergEsposo de Aida

All people