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Note: Alternate last name spellings: Demikhovskij; Demakhovsky; Demyakhovskij; Domokhovskij; Dymakhovskij; Demokhovsky, Demiakhovsky.
Alternate first names Evshe; Evshie; Yevsey; a dirivative of Yoshue.
"Evsiei" (which translates as Yehoshua in Hebrew--Morris Friedman's middle name is "Yehoshua" in memory of his grandfather Evsiei--or Joshua in English).
Evsey Diamond (Demiahovsky) born 1876 in Rechitsa, Russia. He had several brothers, and probably some sisters too. The brother we know the most about is Yakov Demiakhovskii. We don’t know his birth date, but we think he was older than Evsey
Yakov’s son, Nafsal Demachowsky was born 1894 in Rechitsa. He immigrated to the United States in 1911 when he was 17 years old. He settled in New Hampshire.
In 1917 the families were living together in a sort of commune. Each of the brothers had their own house for themselves and their families, but they shared a farm with some outbuildings and we know they had a few head of cattle. So your Evsey and your Yakov had families who lived next door to each other and the families were very close knit.
In 1917, Nafsal’s parents Yakov and Sora (Sarah) were out in the family barn. Civil war was happening all around them, and a bomb hit the barn and exploded. Yakov was killed and Sarah was wounded in the leg by the shrapnel that came from inside the bomb. We can only imagine the distress felt by the rest of the family over this sad event.
Because of the war, armies were passing through the area and they needed provisions. Evsey always had extra food for neighbors and the family was known to be very charitable. One of the outbuildings on the farm was an ice house where they kept meat and food for family use, to sell, and to give to those in need. Scouts from the soldiers came through the area and put a padlock on the storehouse so that when the army came through; they could open the locks and take the food. The locals would then have to fend for them selves to find something to eat. To protect themselves, the family dug a tunnel at the back of the storehouse, and the older children would crawl through the tunnel, bring out the meat and vegetables, and the family would hide them in the woods. They left some scraps for the Army and told them that they had already been cleaned out by someone else. Other neighbors were doing similar things to protect themselves. It would have worked, but there was an informer who turned them all in to the authorities. Evsey was arrested, but eventually he was sent back home because the informer didn’t know about the tunnel, and he couldn’t prove his accusation. We know these events because Cousin Marvin’s Mother (Aunt Bessie) told the stories on a tape that Marvin made with his tape recorder. She also told stories about soldiers coming and staying in the house (not by invitation) and humiliating Evsey and Sarah even while they took over their home. She reported that they took over the living room and played cards and smoked there.
By 1923, the family had endured enough oppression in Russia and decided to leave. Sora (Yakov’s widow) left first and immigrated to New Hampshire July 1, 1923 with two of her children Enta (Evette Ray Daimont Rothstein) and Bora (Beryl Demiachovsky). Several of her sons were eligible for the draft and unable to leave with her. They stayed in Russia, and in 1924 two of the (Yasha and Grisha) sent a picture of themselves with their cousin Abrasha who had also stayed behind.
A month later, on August 6th, Evsey brought his family to the United States. His oldest son Abrasha (Abraham), stayed behind. He might have tried to sneak out of the country, but Aunt Bessie reports he was afraid to try. The family who immigrated settled in Lincoln, Nebraska where Evsey’s Brother-In-Law Dan Hill had settled.
There is one notable thing about this family’s immigration. On the embarkation manifest the record shows Evsey, his wife Sarah Leah, and 6 children, but the disembarkation manifest record shows 7 children when they got off the ship. Sarah wasn’t pregnant, and she didn’t bear a child while they were at sea. Their son Hirsch (Harry) was 18 years old at the time and he was eligible for the Russian draft. He would not have been able to leave the country, so they snuck him on the ship and didn’t declare him until they were well on their way to the US.
"Through the 1960s-1980s, the remaining synagogue
buildings in Rechitsa were demolished. The synagogue
building which had housed the skin and venereal outpatient
clinic was burned down in 1985. For some time religious life
was smouldering in the minyanim on Proletarskaya, Kalinin,
Michurin, Lunacharsky, Karl Marx and Frunze streets until
only one was left. Gathered for the minyanim were
Vasilevsky, Vinnitsky, Chechik, Ovetsky, Bykhovsky,
Demekhovsky, Rumanovsky, Rogachevsky, Latukh,
Malikin, Mnuskyn and some others. The last minyan
gathered at the home of Genya Shmuilovna Levina (Krigel)
on 49, Karl Marx Street."
1. Jews from Ukraine and southern Russia would usually cross the Austro-Hungarian
border illegally, travel by train to Berlin or Vienna, then regroup for the
journey to one of the major ports.
We can positively identify three Demiahovsky siblings from available records: Yakov, Evsey, and Dora.
Dora Immigrated in 1914 and married Jake Habin and they settled in Massachusetts.
Nathan immigrated in 1911 married Libbie Esersky and they took the surname of Daimont and settled in New Hampshire. His ship manifest lists his Father as Yankel, his nearest relative in Russia.
Abram who was a Butcher from Rechitsa referenced his nearest relative in Russia as Yankel Demjachovsky on his ship manifest sailing from Libau Russia 3/1911. Yankel was not one of his Brother’s and may have been an Uncle who was an unknown brother of Yakov, Evsey and Dora.
In the 1930 Census of Claremont, New Hampshire we find Abraham Diamond age 40 (first married at age 23), his wife Annie age 37 (first married at age 20), daughter Rosaline (age 15) and Sons Bernard (age 9) and Jack (age 5).
Abe and Anne were married by a Rabbi 5/25/1913 in Claremont, N.H.
Marvin Friedman Reports:
I can supplement the info on your grandpa Harry Diamond who came with the family to America from Rechytsa in 1923. They first went from Rechytsa to Riga, Latvia (presumably by train). The family at that point included seven children. Izzy (the youngest) had not been born yet and the eldest, Abraham, was of military age, and was unable to get a visa to leave. The family sent my mother Bessie (the next eldest) to Moscow (whether from Riga or Retchysa I can't recall but could check) with half the family's gold coins sewed into her overcoat to give to Abraham to help him find a way of getting out (my father's family hired smugglers to get them out in 1922). However, Abraham never made it out until 1966 and, in later conversations with me, blamed the family for leaving him behind.
From Riga they went to Copenhagen where I believe they changed ships (to the "Frederick the Eighth") for the ocean voyage to America. In Copenhagen they bought some bananas from a street vendor but, because they had never seen such fruit before in their entire lives, had no idea how you eat them. So they stood around and surreptitiously watched as someone else purchased and peeled one and thereby divulged the secret.
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