--- title: "Felix Smud" url: https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/people/felix-smud/ 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: "In Argentina everyone knew him as Felix Smud. In Russian Empire records he appears as Falik Zhmud, and in genealogical reconstructions as Yerakhmiel Falik. They are the same person." --- # Felix Smud **Evidence status: documented.** In Argentina everyone knew him as Felix Smud. In Russian Empire records he appears as Falik Zhmud, and in genealogical reconstructions as Yerakhmiel Falik. They are the same person. c. 1860/68 – c. 1909 · Butcher · Russian army soldier · deserter ## Other spellings Falik Zhmud, Yerakhmiel Falik, Folke, Folek, Félix ## Summary - Born: between 1860 and 1868, no birth record - Died: around 1909, Buenos Aires - Trade: Butcher, or slaughterer - Army: Russian · Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905 - Married: Berdyansk, around 1896 - Arrived: Buenos Aires, mid-1905 ## Family - Father: Koppel Zhmood — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/people/koppel-zhmood/ - Mother: Dvorka — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/people/dvorka-yovel/ - Married: Malke Noel — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/people/malke-noel/ - Children: Alejandro Smud — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/people/alejandro-smud/ - Children: Marcos Smud — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/people/marcos-smud/ - Children: Aida Smud — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/people/aida-smud/ ## What is known He was born roughly between 1860 and 1868, probably closer to 1860. We do not have his birth record, and it is the piece most missed: without it we cannot fix the exact date or place. Everything else about him is fairly well established. He was a butcher, or slaughterer. It is neither an isolated detail nor an anecdote: butchery was the Zhmood family's trade. Reconstructions of the Jewish colonies of southern Ukraine record that the Zhmood brothers worked together in that line, and that a brother-in-law who married one of Felix's sisters made his living with them in the same trade. When he reached Buenos Aires he went back to it: he found work as a butcher with the help of other immigrants from the same background who were already in the business. It was, quite literally, the trade he brought from home. He served in the Russian army. During the war between Russia and Japan, in 1904 and 1905, he was mobilised, which is why he could not travel with his wife and children when they emigrated. His time in the army may have been longer than the war: Chaim Freedman's reconstruction lists him as a soldier, not merely as mobilised. It is an open point, and worth keeping in mind when reading the dates attributed to him. When the war ended he was not discharged. He had promised Malke he would join her in Argentina, and to keep that promise he deserted. He reached Buenos Aires in mid-1905. He died around 1909, about four years after arriving. He was a little over forty. The cause was tuberculosis contracted at the front, worsened by the strain of the war and the journey. He lived only a short time in the country he had deserted to reach. His three children were young: Alejandro was twelve, Marcos ten and Aida five. ## Photographs ![Oval head-and-shoulders portrait of Felix Smud: a broad moustache twisted at the ends, a small goatee, dark jacket, waistcoat and white bow tie.](https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/fotos/felix-smud-retrato.jpg) **Portrait of Felix Smud.** Felix Smud, recorded in the papers of the Russian Empire as Falik Zhmud. Oval portrait, undated. (documented.) ![Studio portrait of the Smud family: Ester Malka seated, in a dark dress with a lace front; beside her Aida, in a light dress; Marcos and Alejandro in short suits and bows, one of them holding a cane; and Felix standing, his hand on one of his sons' shoulder.](https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/fotos/felix-smud-ester-malka-y-familia.jpg) **Felix Smud and Ester Malka with their children.** Felix Smud and Ester Malka with their three children: the girl is Aida; the two boys are Alejandro and Marcos (Meyer), though it is not known which is which. Undated. (documented.) ![Studio portrait of Felix Smud and Ester Malka: she stands in a long dark dress, holding a fan and light gloves; he sits beside her in a dark suit and white bow tie. On the left, a tulle veil over a small table.](https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/fotos/felix-smud-y-ester-malka-noel.jpg) **Felix Smud and Ester Malka.** Felix Smud and Ester Malka (Malke Noel). The card mount bears the printed name of the studio, José M. Silva, and the city, Paraná. Undated. (documented.) ## Parentage, version by version - What the documents show (https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/family-tree/documents/) — father: Koppel Zhmood — documented. His son's birth record calls him Falik, son of Kopel. - What the documents show (https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/family-tree/documents/) — mother: Dvorka — compatible with the documents. No document names his mother. That she is Dvorka, married to Kopel since before 1858, fits the dates. ## Surname variants - Zmud — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/name-variants/zmud/ - Zhmud — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/name-variants/zhmud/ - Smud — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/name-variants/smud/ ## In the timeline - c. 1860/68 — Felix is born - c. 1896 — Felix and Malke marry in Berdyansk - 1899 — The Mariupol birth record - 1904 — The war with Japan and Aida's birth - mid-1905 — Felix lands - c. 1909 — Felix dies ## Places - Berdyansk — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/places/berdyansk/ - Buenos Aires — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/places/buenos-aires/ - Mariupol — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/places/mariupol/ ## Where this comes from - Marcos's birth record (documented) — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/sources/#partida-1899 - Chaim Freedman's work (documented) — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/sources/#freedman - Rubén's document, October 1996 (family memory) — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/sources/ruben-1996/ ## In FamilySearch's collaborative tree (not a source) https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GLQK-JZ4 --- The Smud Family · genealogical research by Mateo Smud, published under CC0 1.0. Machine index: https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/llms.txt