---
title: "Dvorka"
url: https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/people/dvorka-yovel/
lang: en
work: "The Smud Family: A Jewish Family History from Ludza, Latvia to Entre Ríos, Argentina"
author: "Mateo Smud"
licence: CC0-1.0
summary: "She appears in the 1858 census, aged twenty, already married to Koppel: “Дворка Абова”, Dvorka daughter of Aba. She is the mother of Felix and his siblings. Published trees and Chaim Freedman, until 2020, made her a daughter of Mordechai Yovel; the census contradicts it."
---
# Dvorka

**Evidence status: documented.** She appears in the 1858 census, aged twenty, already married to Koppel: “Дворка Абова”, Dvorka daughter of Aba. She is the mother of Felix and his siblings. Published trees and Chaim Freedman, until 2020, made her a daughter of Mordechai Yovel; the census contradicts it.

c. 1838 · Koppel's wife · Felix's mother

## Other spellings

Dvorka Abova, Дворка Абова, Dvorka Yovel, Deverah Yovel, Devorah, Dworka

## Summary

- Born: around 1838
- Documented in: 1858 census

## Family

- Father: Aba Senderov Zmudya — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/people/aba-senderov-zmudya/
- Mother: Chana
- Married: Koppel Zhmood — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/people/koppel-zhmood/
- Children: Moshe Zhmood
- Children: Pesach Zhmood
- Children: Hinda Ana Zhmood
- Children: Manyik Zhmood
- Children: Tybel Zhmood
- Children: Felix Smud — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/people/felix-smud/

## What is known

In the census she appears in the household of David, her father-in-law, which calls her a daughter of Aba. The 1852 list records a Dvorka aged 14 in the household of Aba Senderov Zmudya, of the same family as her husband: it is her. Freedman proposes that her mother, Chana, was a Yovel, which is why the family remembered itself as related to the Yovels; no document says so yet.

For years, published trees, FamilySearch among them, and Freedman himself called her Dvorka (Deverah) Yovel, daughter of Mordechai (Marek) Yovel and Ita. The 1858 census contradicts it, and those trees also have Mordechai dying in 1831, seven years before the birth her ages give. That version can be seen in the versions of the tree.

When the census-taker came through the colony, Felix's grandfather, his father and his mother were all there, counted one by one.

With Koppel she had several children: Moshe, Pesach, Hinda Ana, Manyik, Tybel and Yerakhmiel Falik, who is Felix.

## Parentage, version by version

- What the documents show (https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/family-tree/documents/) — father: Aba Senderov Zmudya — documented. “Дворка Абова”: Dvorka, daughter of Aba. The 1852 list records her aged 14 in Aba's household.
- What the documents show (https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/family-tree/documents/) — mother: Chana — compatible with the documents. Chana is Aba's wife in the 1852 list. That she is Dvorka's mother and not her stepmother no paper says.
- FamilySearch's collaborative tree (https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/family-tree/familysearch/) — father: Mordechai Yovel; mother: Ita — CONTRADICTED by a document. The 1858 census calls her “Дворка Абова”, daughter of Aba. Besides, Mordechai would have died in 1831, seven years before the birth her ages give.
- The JewishGen trees (https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/family-tree/jewishgen/) — father: Aba Senderov Zmudya — documented. “Dofka Zhmuydya, 1838, daughter of Aba (Abel ?) Zhmuydya and Khana”. It matches the 1858 census, which calls her Aba's daughter and gives her age as 20.
- Chaim Freedman, February 2020 (https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/family-tree/freedman-february-2020/) — father: Mordechai Yovel; mother: Ita — CONTRADICTED by a document. “Deverah Yovel, born c.1830 in Plunge, daughter of Mordekhai (Marek) Yovel [1788–1831] and Ita”. The 1858 census calls her daughter of Aba, and gives her age as 20.

## Surname variants

- Zmud — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/name-variants/zmud/

## In the timeline

- 1858 — The colony census

## Places

- Novy Zlatopol — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/places/novy-zlatopol/
- Aleksandrovsk

## Where this comes from

- The 1858 census (documented) — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/sources/#censo-1858

## In FamilySearch's collaborative tree (not a source)

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/PX8V-JYR

---

The Smud Family · genealogical research by Mateo Smud, published under CC0 1.0. Machine index: https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/llms.txt