Hinda Popover was the wife of Jacob Joseph Popover. According to her death certificate, she was the daughter of Mayer Kunchaker (Kunshaker?) and Pearl ___. The Hebrew inscription on her marker seems to show her father's middle name as Zev. She was known by several different given names: Hinda (meaning "doe"), Hilda, Hattie, Helen, Esther Hinda (on daughter Bessie Burg's death certificate), and probably Adah; see below.

This nuclear family migrated gradually from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to America. It appears that Hinda bore all her children in Podkamien. This could refer to two different places in present-day Ukraine. The Podkamien southeast of Brody was associated with Galizianer migration to Pittsburgh. The other Podkamien is southeast of Lvov (Lviv); some Podkamien migrants to Pittsburgh resided or were educated in Lvov. More research is needed (see Kehilalinks pages on the JewishGen website).

Hinda remained in Podkamien with her younger children, while her husband, listed as "Jacob Josef Popowczer," boarded the steamship Rotterdam, at the port of Rotterdam, on 9 June 1900. Jacob traveled with their daughters Sara, 20 (later Sarah Caplan), and Basche, 18 (later Bessie Burg). The passenger manifest shows them with two other young Podkamien residents, Reisl (sp?) and Taube Neustadter. The four young women are listed as seamstresses, suggesting the possibility that work had been arranged for them. Jacob is shown as married, 45, and a butcher (an occupation later practiced by his son Morris). All five travelers were bound for New York, to Mordechai/Mordsele Neustadter, the brother of Reisl and Taube, and the cousin of Jacob. The address is 91 Ridge Street, on the Lower East Side. The Rotterdam docked at New York on 18 June 1900. (The exact relationship to the Neustadter family is not certain, but records suggest that a Mordechai Neustadter married a Jennie Popover/Popowcer.)

On 25 July 1902, Hinda's son Samuel "Popowcer," 16, student, of Podkamien, boarded the steamship Pennsylvania at Hamburg. The ship docked in New York on 6 August (passenger manifest). Samuel was to meet his father Jacob, whose address is shown as 91 Ridge Street. This suggests that Jacob, Sarah, and Bessie had remained in New York for two years.

On 15 July 1905, Hinda's son Morris, "Moses Popowcer," 16, a laborer, boarded the steamship Potsdam at Rotterdam, and docked in New York City on 1 August (passenger manifest). He did not remain in New York, but had a ticket to travel on to Pittsburgh to meet his sister "Bassie Popowczer," listed as having paid his passage. This could indicate that the unmarried Bessie was the first to leave New York and settle farther inland. Bessie's address was "c/o Sol Roth, 1909 Tustinstr, PittsburgPa." Tustin Street is in the Uptown neighborhood, a bit south of the Hill District, which was at the time a center of Jewish life and of the cigar-making industry. (See notes at bottom regarding Sol Roth.)

At some point, Jacob returned temporarily to Podkamien. On 9 June 1906, Jacob, Hinda, Mechle, 18, "maid serv" (later Mary Abraham), and Taube, 10 (later Tillie Klein), boarded the steamship Rhein at Bremen. The ship docked at Baltimore, Maryland, on 22 June. The four were bound for "Pittsburg," specifically to "son in law Sam Gallmann [sp?]" at 1832 Centre Avenue, in the Hill District. A search of that address in Pittsburgh city directories via Fold3 yielded records in 1906 for "Gellman Samuel paper," presumably meaning that he sold paper. Research is needed to determine the exact relationship between the Popover or Kunchaker family and Sam Gellman. (See notes at bottom regarding Sam Gellman.)

Hinda, Jacob, and six of their seven children were found on passenger manifests. According to naturalization papers for Hinda's son-in-law Sam/Solomon Karwan, he migrated aboard the Rhein at the same time as Jacob, Hinda, Mary, and Tillie---presumably with his wife Sophie Popover Karwan and their tiny son Meyer aka Max. However, these names were not found in searches of that passenger manifest, or in online name searches. They were clearly in Pittsburgh in 1908, when a birth certificate shows that daughter "Annie Karavan" was born at 2518 Fifth Avenue, the Popover family address. Naturalization documents for Sam Karwan also show him at the same addresses in Pittsburgh as Jacob and Hinda.

The 1910 US Census lists Hinda as Hilda, age 55, and married 30 years, probably since 1880. Hinda was the mother of seven children, all still living as of 1910---and all in America. Five of the adult children were enumerated in the household: Sarah, Mary, Samuel, Morris, and Tillie. Daughter Bessie had married Samuel Burg in 1909 and moved to Canonsburg, Washington County. As mentioned above, Sophie was in Pennsylvania, but a 1910 census record was not found for her family.

While no occupation was recorded for Hinda in 1910, it is safe to say that she had many responsibilities in a household of eight adults (including nephew Joseph). Her husband and four of her children were employed in a tobacco works; one child worked in a grocery store. The family was living at 2518 Fifth Avenue. Based on small ads, that property might have been both a grocery store and a residence (ads by J J Popover, Pittsburgh Press, 23 Apr 1910, p 14 col 2; and 1 Sep 1910, p 15 col 1). As of early 2022, that block is part of an uninhabited stretch of road, with few traces of the earlier community.

Hinda's husband Jacob died in 1911. A 1912 Pittsburgh city directory shows her as "Hattie, wid Jacob," living at 1935 Webster Avenue. Sons Morris and Samuel are also listed at this address.

In the several years after Jacob's death, more members of the family followed Bessie and settled in Canonsburg. Hinda is recorded as Helen Popover, maiden name Kanchek, a housekeeper and widow of Jake Popover, deceased merchant, on daughter Mary's marriage license application. That application of 30 December 1913 was completed in Washington County. Mary already lived and worked in Canonsburg; possibly Hinda did as well.

Hinda was certainly living in Canonsburg by 1915 (marriage license application for son Samuel).

No obvious listing for Hinda Popover was found in the 1920 census. Almost certainly she is recorded as Adah Popover, the 65-year-old widowed mother-in-law of Samuel Burg and his wife Bessie in Canonsburg.

A 1930 census record was not found for Hinda Popover. She was not listed in the home of Samuel and Bessie Burg in Canonsburg, or among the residents of the Jewish Home for the Aged in Pittsburgh.

Hinda Popover died at the Jewish Home for the Aged, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. This document shows her as widow of Jacob Joseph, and lists her parents as Mayer Kunchaker and Pearl ___. The death informant was Sam Popover of Canonsburg, identified as her son on her death certificate. By the time of her death, all seven of Hinda's children had married. All had children of their own.

Notes

Research was conducted online in early 2022. Most sources were found on Ancestry and on Newspapers.com.

Records of birth and marriage were not found for Hinda. This information might be found in naturalization documents for Jacob Joseph Popover, but these were also not found; possibly he died before he was eligible for citizenship, or perhaps his records were not indexed online in an obvious fashion as of early 2022. Hinda's parents were not conclusively identified, nor were any of her siblings who might have migrated to the United States.

Sol Roth's relationship to the Popover family is unknown. The Tustin Street address appears on a naturalization document for Sol Roth as of 1905, when he was a cigar maker. He was probably the Solomon Roth who served as treasurer for a humanitarian group called the Podkamien Fraternal Association, which was active during and after World War I, according to notices in Pittsburgh newspapers. See, e.g., Pgh Press 14 Nov 1916 via Newspapers.com. Sol Roth later became a prosperous tobacco wholesaler. It seems likely that Sol Roth initially helped the Popover family find tobacco factory jobs, and possible that he knew them from Podkamien. See Find A Grave memorial 151645028.

A Samuel Gellman is remembered at Find A Grave memorial 168577576. He is also listed as Gillman in some directory entries. The death certificate for this Samuel Gellman indicates that he was a retired paper merchant.

Thanks to Mel, Sarah, and David F, as well as the Blood & Frogs website.