Hazel was born in Salim, Kars, Russia. She is the daughter of Nicholas Daniel Seminoff and Doonya Vasilivna Pahomova. She is one of nine children, John, Hazel, Pauline, James, Jack, Alex, Anastasia, Michael. She first immigrated in 1911 from Russia to New York via Ellis Island.

Notes written by my father, George John Poppin:
My mother, Hanya Nikolaivna Seminishev, was born on April 15, 1887. This date is obtained from New York Port of Entry from Russia document, which is in Brother Jim's possession. She was born in Kars, Salim, then part of Russia, but now in Eastern Turkey.
Mom's Dad was Nikolai Danilovich Seminishev (Seminoff) and came from Sardahan or Virdahan near or at Salim. He came to America with his family in 1913. He returned to Russia somewhere around 1914 and had supposedly been killed by robbers in Persia after returning from America. However, it was found out after Brother Jim visited Russia in 1979 that Grandfather Seminoff died of natural causes. The last account that I have of him is when Brother Jim went to Russia in 1979.
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Hazel Seminoff Poppin Alien Registration No. A2 761 431.
Hazel Seminoff Poppin Letter of Intention Citizenship March 14, 1960.
John Fred and Hanya entered USA New York, Port of Entry, April 2, 1911, ex Hamburg Ger "Kaiserin Victoria Czarina"
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FUNERAL NOTICE
POPPIN, Hazel Seminoff --Oct. 16, 1968, Hazel Seminoff Poppin, loving wife of the late John Fred Poppin, loving mother of Ann Seminoff, Mary Andrews, Alice Pettibone, Nell Payne, Hazel Thompson, Dorothy Hollandsworth, James, George, Fred and Bill Poppin, Alex Papin and the late Nick and John Poppin; survived by many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A native of Russia.
Services Saturday, 11 A.M. Russian Molokan Church 849 Carolina
DAPHNE
[San Francisco Examiner, Thursday, October 17, 1968, Page 61]
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Death Certificate Transcription
Transcribed from the original document to the best of my ability - Nancy Poppin Posey

Hazel Seminoff Poppin
Date of death: October 16, 1968 12:40PM 81 years
Female,white,
Date of birth: April 15, 1887 in Russia
U.S. citizen; SSN 548-34-3188
Widowed
Last occupation: housewife
Place of death: French Hospital, 4131 Geary, San Francisco, CA
Length of stay in San Francisco: 36 years
Usual residence: 878 Rhode Island, San Francisco
Informant: Mary Andrews, 878 Rhode Island Street, San Francisco
Burial 10/19/1968 Russian Sectarian
Funeral Director: Daphne SFFS, 1 Church San Francisco
Cause of death: Acute myocardial infarction - yes
Due to coronary artery disease
Autopsy was performed
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MEMORIES OF GRANDMOTHER POPPIN
by her two grand daughters,
Myrna Thompson Schoen and
Nancy Poppin Posey

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy Posey"
To: "Myrna J. Thompson CPS"
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 9:30 PM
Subject: Re: Info on GM

I remember visiting GM and GF on the hill and she would walk down the street and buy a jar of jam and give it to us. They also had these hard candies (rectangular in shape) that had some sort of soft fruit inside. The house was stark, but comfortable. My mother layed down some linoleum in the kitchen and she was trying hard to get the one piece to fit. She would measure and GF thought it was taking too long. He told her essential to put the big piece in the middle and cut pieces to fit in the holes. The
backyard was bare and I remember the steep steps going down. We'd sit around the big round table and drink chai tea in a saucer with lemon and sugar. Dad would talk Russian. The visits seemed to take so very long.
Grandmother would stay at our house when my mother gave birth to my sisters. She couldn't talk much English, but would say "nice-a goil' for nice girl. She did fix mashed potatoes when she was there and showed me how to mix
ketchup with them. That tasted pretty good.

She came to visit once for dinner. I don't remember sitting in her lap or anything like that. I would kiss her good by. She was very nice and I really liked her. I just wish I could have talked to her. But I did like to hear her talk Russian.

I wish I could remember more. I only recall visiting them no more than a half dozen times. GF I don't think ever came to our home.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Myrna J. Thompson CPS"
To: "Nancy"
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 8:07 PM
Subject: Info on GM

Hi cousin: I was thinking some more today so here goes:

GM Poppin visited our home after her husband passed away. Uncle Jim and his wife traveled with GM to our home in Saratoga.
Mother, Uncle Jim and Aunt Estelle were in the outside patio smoking (because GM did not believe in that stuff for women). My sister Paula and I visited with GM and she remarked (after being made comfortable in a chair with a beach towel over it because I made the chair messy looking--brat that I was), "This is like heaven." She did not say much and neither did we. We sisters sat waiting for our mother to return to the living room & we waited until our GM requested something--in other words, on stand-by for our elder.

Their stay Jim, Estelle, GM) was brief but it was fun to remember this and I do hope it helps in the history of Poppins!

Another time: I got the chance to sit on my GM's lap. My mother allowed this. My GM stroked my hair (braids I believe). I worried some and commented to my mother and she said, "it is all right." (I worried some because I was having my hair stroked and the fact that I sat on my GM.) Mother mentioned to me later that HER mother did not have any "play time--always work, work, work."

Another time or same time frame: I got the chance to play my violin in front of GF & GM. My violin was, of course, out of tune, because of the cold and damp in their SF, CA residence. I was told by mother that: they can not hear as well and just do your best...they will not criticize.
Sincerely,
Cyber-Clan Cousin/Niece, Myrna
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Mom's childhood home in Kars-Salim
The home was made of mud, horse dung and straw. It had four rooms for sixteen children. A petch served as the central heating system. The petch was similar to a large Dutch oven and was made of mud bricks. Some of the family slept atop it during the winter. They ate and slept in the same room. The meals were cooked in the petch. Their meals usually consisted of a lot of potatoes and tea. Sometimes they might have vegetable borsht without meat stock or lapsha (noodles), but usually it was potatoes and tea for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The home was whitewashed inside and out.
Hanging thinly rolled-out dough over long poles over heated coals made the lapsha noodles. When dried the dough would then be rolled up and thinly sliced into noodles.
Water was obtained from a well. It was brought into the home in buckets slung over the shoulders on poles and then poured into large buckets inside the house.
The beds were wooden. They slept on a "Tyoofyakh" (feather mattress) and covered selves with a blanket. Sixteen children slept in four beds or "Kravatee". Boys slept together as did the girls. The petch was slept on also. Their toilet was an outhouse. They bathed in their own Banya (sauna bath) usually every Saturday afternoon and evening. Their childhood clothing was usually consisted of a "Roobaha" (big shirt) and went "Bishtanoff or bez shtanoff" (literally without under pants) and no shoes.
Mom's mother would, when ingredients were available, make "Kvas" (a mild home brew made from "Sooharee" (toasted bread), yeast and sugar. Mom said it was a rare treat and enjoyed by all in the family.
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More on Food
Bread was made of wheat and/or rye flour and was dark. Breakfast usually consisted of potatoes (peels on, peeled, fried, boiled or mashed) when they were available. A spud and a glass of tea. Occasionally there would be rice, kasha (porridge) with milk!! A treat!! Lunch might consist of potatoes and tea or milk and brown rice. Supper: spuds and chai (tea) and vegetable when they were in season.
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Barn livestock
Mom's family had two cows and nine horses. The livestock was watered by hauling water with buckets on poles slung over the shoulders. Mom said this was her main chore and she enjoyed it very much.
Most of Mom's brothers and sisters worked for other families for their board and room
"My oldest brother was named John. He died when I was fifteen years of age. I remember him well. He worked for the Shyookin family on road construction. He brought home flour and meal. Winters were difficult. It would be very cold. "Kapoosta" (cabbage) would be brought from the cellar. It would be fried or boiled for food. Food conditions were better after the cows had their calves for then we would be able to have milk. We used "Keezeekee" (dried cow dung), which was actually hand processed into chunks of fuel, to heat the petch (Dutch oven). They were the main source of fuel."
[Note: I read in a Russian history book that during the cold long winters, the men would repair plows, harness and household tools. The women would spin all winter. On a good day they would pile into a sledge and go for a ride. It was also a time to visit friends and relatives. During the good weather, time was spent bending their backs from dawn until dusk in the fields and especially at the harvest. Some of the men also were employed to deliver freight in the winter. They carried goods from town to village with a team and a sledge (flatbed sleigh).]
"There were no doctors in Salim. "Babooshkee" (old women) whispered "Shoptalee" over the ill person. They may have been saying prayers. The old women would wash the face, neck, hands or effected area while they whispered. Some old timers ("Stareekee") believed that the Babooshka's whispering was a form of witchcraft. Some patients were taken to a hospital in Kars for major surgery or severe illness.
Mom died October 16, 1968. The funeral service was held at the Russian Molokan Church on Carolina Street. She is buried in the Russian Molokan Cemetery in Colma, California.