The Smud FamilyAsk

28 events · 1725 – 2026

Timeline

Three hundred years on a single line. The space between two entries grows with the years between them, so long silences are visible before they are read: between the 1858 census and Felix's marriage there are thirty-eight years that left almost no record.

  1. The BalticŽemaitija · Ludza · Vitebsk governorate
  2. c. 1725

    The oldest name in the published tree

    Family trees published online start the lineage with Leizer Zhmuydya, in Lithuania. None of the three generations before Falk has a supporting document yet.

  3. c. 1797

    Falk Zhmood is born

    Falk Zhmood is born, the oldest documented ancestor of the direct line. His name reaches us through a single word in the 1858 census: “Falikov”, son of Falik.

  4. c. 1818

    David Zmud is born in Ludza

    David Zmud is born in Ludza. He is the one who will make the journey south.

  5. The coloniesNovy Zlatopol · Ekaterinoslav · Andreyevka
  6. 1846

    David leaves Ludza

    David leaves Ludza (Lutzin). With other Jewish families from the same area he moves to the agricultural colonies the Russian government had opened in what is now Ukraine.

  7. c. 1850

    The family settles in the colony

    The family is now settled in Novy Zlatopol, a Jewish agricultural colony in Ekaterinoslav province.

  8. 1858

    The colony census

    On 26 May the colony census is taken. It records David, aged 40, and his whole household: his sons —among them Koppel, aged 20— and Koppel's wife, Dvorka. It is the oldest document we have.

  9. c. 1860/68

    Felix is born

    Felix is born, son of Koppel and Dvorka. We do not have his birth record: it is the largest gap in the research.

  10. 1880

    David dies

    David dies in Andreyevka.

  11. The Sea of AzovBerdyansk · Mariupol · Nogaysk
  12. c. 1896

    Felix and Malke marry in Berdyansk

    Felix marries Malke Noel in Berdyansk, a port on the Sea of Azov.

  13. 1897

    Alejandro is born

    On 11 March Alejandro is born in Berdyansk.

  14. 1899

    The Mariupol birth record

    On 25 January Meyer —later Marcos— is born, and his birth is recorded at the Mariupol synagogue. The record names three generations: the child, his father Falik and his grandfather Kopel.

  15. c. 1900

    Koppel dies

    Koppel dies in Andreyevka.

  16. 1904

    The war with Japan and Aida's birth

    War breaks out between Russia and Japan and Felix is mobilised. In the last week of July, Eide —Aida— is born in Berdyansk.

  17. The crossingBremen · Lisbon · Canary Islands · Bahia · Rio · Montevideo
  18. August 1904

    Malke leaves Berdyansk with the three children

    Malke leaves Berdyansk with the three children. They cross southern Russia and central Europe to the port of Bremen, by cart and probably by train for some stretch.

  19. October 1904

    Sailing from Bremen on the Borkum

    They sail from Bremen in third class. The ship crosses the Atlantic, calling at Lisbon, the Canary Islands, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo.

  20. Buenos AiresImmigrants' Hotel · tenement house on Azcuénaga
  21. 23 December 1904

    The ship docks in Buenos Aires

    The ship docks in the port of Buenos Aires before dawn. In the immigration register the surname is written “Smud or Smod”.

  22. mid-1905

    Felix lands

    Felix lands in Buenos Aires. To keep his promise to join his family he had had to desert the army.

  23. c. 1908

    Malke returns to Russia with Aida

    Four years after crossing the Atlantic, Malke went back to Russia with Aida, presumably to visit relatives. The only trace of that trip is a photograph from 1908, taken on their return, in which she sits with the three children.

  24. c. 1909

    Felix dies

    Felix dies of tuberculosis contracted at the front. He was a little over forty and had been in the country for four years.

  25. Entre RíosMaciá · Aranguren · Ramírez · Paraná
  26. c. 1915

    Malke dies and the siblings move to Entre Ríos

    Malke dies. The three siblings —Alejandro, Marcos and Aida— move to the province of Entre Ríos.

  27. 1920

    Alejandro marries Isabel Loyber

    Alejandro marries Isabel Loyber, niece of the owner of the Maciá general store where he worked.

  28. c. 1922

    Marcos marries Esther Klaiserburd

    Marcos marries Esther Klaiserburd. He lives in Aranguren and in Ramírez.

  29. 1926

    The store opposite the station

    Alejandro sets up on his own opposite the railway station. In October, Aida marries Pablo Freiberg.

  30. 1951

    Marcos dies

    Marcos dies. His gravestone, in Paraná, preserves his Hebrew name and his father's.

  31. 1959

    Alejandro dies

    Alejandro dies, aged sixty-two.

  32. 1992

    Aida dies, the last of the three

    Aida dies, aged eighty-eight. She was the last of the three siblings.

  33. 1996

    Rubén types three pages

    In October, Rubén —Alejandro's son— types three pages with what Alejandro, Aida and a cousin had told him. Almost everything he wrote down from memory was later confirmed by documents no one could consult at the time.

  34. 2026

    The circle closes

    Thirty years after Rubén's text, the original documents come to light. The Mariupol record closes the circle: the Meyer in the synagogue register and the Marcos on the Paraná gravestone are the same boy. In August this research is published.