Hinda Podgaitz Friedman (1840-?)
Hinda Podgaitz Friedman (1840-?). Wife of Ephraim Friedman.

Hinda Podgaitz Friedman

I don’t have much information about Hinda. I do have a family tree composed of information I got when I hired a woman to research the family for me in the Ukraine. The researchers name was Nadia Lipes. 

Hinda’s father was Abram Podgaets (born in 1816) and his wife was Chana Dina. Hinda was born around 1840 in Kruydon on the Dnuevtr River (so far I cannot find this town or the river).

Sam Friedman (son of Israel, brother of Sol), told me that her father was a rabbi. 

On her daughter’s death certificate her mother’s name is listed as Lena. 

She and her husband Ephraim were very poor and lived in a tiny house with many children. She ran a small store. 

You can see in this photo and in other photos of her that her left arm is paralyzed. She wears a white glove on her left hand, possibly to protect it. 

I invite you to send me any stories, memories, letters (even if untranslated), documents and photos concerning Hinda Podgaitz Friedman and I will add them to this website.

Historical Data

Ukrainian Record for Froim Podgaetz in Mogilev
Ukrainian Record for Froim Podgaetz (1786-1847)(Hinda's Grandfather) in Mogilev
Translation of Froim Podgaetz Record
Translation of the Froim Podgaetz Record above

To help interpret this record, open up the family tree above.  So this tells us that Hinda’s (Ginda’s) father was Abram Podgaets. That Abram was the son of Froim (Ephraim) and that Ephraim is the son of Josif (Iosiovich means the son of Joseph). We can also see that Hinda has an older sister Ita who is 16 1/2 eyars old at the time of this census (1850) and that Hinda is 10 years old. We can see also that Hinda and Ita have two aunts (Ruchlya and Sura), barely older than they are. There were uncles also (Yankel, Shlema, Itsko that for some reason don’t appear in this census). Also interesting is the fact that it appears from this information that Hinda had her first child, Avraham (perhaps named after his grandfather) when she was 13 years old. Then there is a gap of 18 years before the next child (Haika Sarah) is born in 1871, suggesting perhaps that they lost some children, or that Avraham was Hinda’s husband’s child from a previous wife. 

As I have mentioned before, my grandfather Ephraim was a very religious man, he could have been the Rabbi of the town, but chose to sell tea to all the towns around, and I mentioned my grandmother’s small store consisting of almost nothing at all. As I think back now, I cannot figure out how did we all exist and mange in my grandfather’s three rooms; ten people, grandfather, grandmother, their four daughters, my father, my mother, my little brother and I. The table was narrow and stood in the hallway. We could not sit and eat all together. My grandfather seemed always to collect money for a poor family who did not have enough money for the Sabbath, or a poor bride, or a sick man or woman.