Pshedetsky family
The photo above is of Nancy and Michael Pshedetsky on their wedding day in 1909.
The Polish spelling of this name is Przedecki. The feminine form of the Polish surname is Przedecka. The name is pronounced Pshedetski. The town of origin Przedecz is pronounced Pshedetch. (Stress on the 1st syllable - Initial 'P' is sounded lightly.) Przedecz, small though it is, has an impressive castle, and there is a large lake nearby. The Yiddish name for the town was Pshaytsh. During WW2 the Germans called it Moosburg. |
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The Przedecki family probably arrived in the UK in 1892. Records from the Przedecz Book of Residents imply that the family intended to emigrate to the USA, but that evidently did not happen. **Szulim Jakob Przedecki became Jacob Pshedetsky in London. He married Rachel Zielinska while still in Poland.
*** Not to be confused with petty thief Alje Przedecki who had an international criminal record and who also stated that he was born in Przedecz (1893). (He also stated that he was born in Klodawa and in another, illegible, town.) This person served 3 months with hard labour in 1932 for entering England illegally and was then deported.
**** Evy Pshedetsky was born on 6 Nov 1891, though in 1911 the census deducts two years from her age. Towards the end of 1897, aged 6, she started at Chicksand Street School, attending there for a year. The family were then living at 13 Spelman Street, Spitalfields, Whitechapel.
*****Abram Pshedetsky was born in 1897 with the registered surname Chelatsky.
The family appears on the 1901 Census under the name Scholosky living at 52 Buross Street, Stepney, and they were still there in December 1909. By 1911 they had moved to 21 West Arbour Street, Stepney. Eva (Evy) is listed on the 1901 census as 10 years old and born in London. The family do not appear on the 1891 census which was taken on the night of April 5/6. Therefore they must have arrived in England after that date but before Evy was born later in 1891. The 1911 Census places her birth in 1892 (or possibly 1893). One of the censuses is obviously incorrect in this matter. If the 1911 Census is correct then they may have arrived in 1892.
The 1911 census shows that Jacob and Rachel Pshedetsky had one deceased child. The closest match to this seen so far is a Samuel Sholosky (1893-1901) - see below for details of Sholosky name. However, though the father of this Samuel Sholosky was indeed called Jacob, there is some doubt as to whether he is really part of the family. The name appears on his death certificate as Shacosky, and a matching birth certificate (if it is the same person) indicates his mother was called Frieda.
Travels of Michael Pshedetsky
=Michal Ryben Przedecki became Michael Pshedetsky in London. He attended at one time Lower Chapman Street School. It seems that before his Barmitzvah at 13, he was sent to study briefly in Poland as his parents were not satisfied with his Jewish studies in England. He married Nancy Cohen (née Necha Nicinski) in London in 1909. They were introduced to each other by a shadchan — a matchmaker. When Nancy and Michael met she noticed how shiny his shoes were; always fussy when introduced to prospective husbands, his shiny shoes were the deciding factor. They had ten children (five boys and five girls) between 1910 and 1930. In 1911 he went to New York to see if he and his family should emigrate to the USA. Leaving Nancy at home in London with their two infant children, he left Southampton on November 8th arrived at Ellis Island on November 16th aboard the SS St Paul travelling 3rd Class. The Ellis Island records (which incorrectly give his suname as 'Ishedelsky') state that he had $25 with him, and that his passage had been paid for by his brother-in-law, presumably the brother-in-law (M.Cohen) he stayed with at 109 Varet Street, Brooklyn. The records describe him thus: Height - 5'6, Complexion - Fair, Hair - Brown, Eyes - Dark Brown, City of origin - Warsaw. His wife laughed when he told her this last detail, as he was from a village not a big city. In the event, he decided that he did not like New York - either because of the extremely cold winter conditions and the extremely hot summers or because he did not take kindly to being strictly watched by the foreman when he was at work, since he was used to being trusted by his employers in England. And so, instead of sending for his wife to join him there, he returned to London where they had eight more children.
Records show a Harris Cohen (Butcher) living at 109 Varet Street who had a brother Joseph living in London. Harris Cohen had arrived in New York in June 1911. Later records show that a Julius Cohen resident at the same address was called up to serve in the US army in 1917. Was Harris Cohen the named brother-in-law of Michael and not Mr M.Cohen? - The letters M and H can be mistaken for each other if they are not clearly written. Or was it Max Cohen (tailor) who lived at 104 Varet Street. The M is correct, but in this case it would be the number 4 misread and replaced on the form by a 9. The form seems to show an M.Cohen living at 109. But the form spells Pshedetsky as Ishedelsky. The clerk writing may have been in a hurry or trying to copy difficult handwriting. Was the brother-in-law mentioned another brother of Michael's wife Nancy (another Nicinski-Cohen), or was he her sister's husband?
Once in England or the USA several Przedecki families (not all related to each other) experimented with various Anglicised versions of their surname. Pshedetsky, Perry and Pizer are some of the names used. Several descendants of the above family changed their name to Burdett. Why Burdett? Was it because Burdett Road was not far away? No. It turns out that it was an attempt to anglicise Pshedetsky by pronouncing the silent P. (Though, as mentioned above, the P would originally have been lightly sounded.)
Pshedetsky ➤ Pshedet ➤ Pedett ➤ Burdett
A False Trail
National Archive records show that a Solomon Jacob Przedecki became a naturalised British citizen in 1920. However further analysis of this record shows it to refer to Solomon Przedecki, a tailor living in Canterbury, born Konin, Poland in 1869, son of Jacob and Ester Blume Przedecki. He took his father's first name as a surname when he arrived in England in 1885 - becoming Solomon Jacob - and married Bessie Fux.
*** Not to be confused with petty thief Alje Przedecki who had an international criminal record and who also stated that he was born in Przedecz (1893). (He also stated that he was born in Klodawa and in another, illegible, town.) This person served 3 months with hard labour in 1932 for entering England illegally and was then deported.
**** Evy Pshedetsky was born on 6 Nov 1891, though in 1911 the census deducts two years from her age. Towards the end of 1897, aged 6, she started at Chicksand Street School, attending there for a year. The family were then living at 13 Spelman Street, Spitalfields, Whitechapel.
*****Abram Pshedetsky was born in 1897 with the registered surname Chelatsky.
The family appears on the 1901 Census under the name Scholosky living at 52 Buross Street, Stepney, and they were still there in December 1909. By 1911 they had moved to 21 West Arbour Street, Stepney. Eva (Evy) is listed on the 1901 census as 10 years old and born in London. The family do not appear on the 1891 census which was taken on the night of April 5/6. Therefore they must have arrived in England after that date but before Evy was born later in 1891. The 1911 Census places her birth in 1892 (or possibly 1893). One of the censuses is obviously incorrect in this matter. If the 1911 Census is correct then they may have arrived in 1892.
The 1911 census shows that Jacob and Rachel Pshedetsky had one deceased child. The closest match to this seen so far is a Samuel Sholosky (1893-1901) - see below for details of Sholosky name. However, though the father of this Samuel Sholosky was indeed called Jacob, there is some doubt as to whether he is really part of the family. The name appears on his death certificate as Shacosky, and a matching birth certificate (if it is the same person) indicates his mother was called Frieda.
Travels of Michael Pshedetsky
=Michal Ryben Przedecki became Michael Pshedetsky in London. He attended at one time Lower Chapman Street School. It seems that before his Barmitzvah at 13, he was sent to study briefly in Poland as his parents were not satisfied with his Jewish studies in England. He married Nancy Cohen (née Necha Nicinski) in London in 1909. They were introduced to each other by a shadchan — a matchmaker. When Nancy and Michael met she noticed how shiny his shoes were; always fussy when introduced to prospective husbands, his shiny shoes were the deciding factor. They had ten children (five boys and five girls) between 1910 and 1930. In 1911 he went to New York to see if he and his family should emigrate to the USA. Leaving Nancy at home in London with their two infant children, he left Southampton on November 8th arrived at Ellis Island on November 16th aboard the SS St Paul travelling 3rd Class. The Ellis Island records (which incorrectly give his suname as 'Ishedelsky') state that he had $25 with him, and that his passage had been paid for by his brother-in-law, presumably the brother-in-law (M.Cohen) he stayed with at 109 Varet Street, Brooklyn. The records describe him thus: Height - 5'6, Complexion - Fair, Hair - Brown, Eyes - Dark Brown, City of origin - Warsaw. His wife laughed when he told her this last detail, as he was from a village not a big city. In the event, he decided that he did not like New York - either because of the extremely cold winter conditions and the extremely hot summers or because he did not take kindly to being strictly watched by the foreman when he was at work, since he was used to being trusted by his employers in England. And so, instead of sending for his wife to join him there, he returned to London where they had eight more children.
Records show a Harris Cohen (Butcher) living at 109 Varet Street who had a brother Joseph living in London. Harris Cohen had arrived in New York in June 1911. Later records show that a Julius Cohen resident at the same address was called up to serve in the US army in 1917. Was Harris Cohen the named brother-in-law of Michael and not Mr M.Cohen? - The letters M and H can be mistaken for each other if they are not clearly written. Or was it Max Cohen (tailor) who lived at 104 Varet Street. The M is correct, but in this case it would be the number 4 misread and replaced on the form by a 9. The form seems to show an M.Cohen living at 109. But the form spells Pshedetsky as Ishedelsky. The clerk writing may have been in a hurry or trying to copy difficult handwriting. Was the brother-in-law mentioned another brother of Michael's wife Nancy (another Nicinski-Cohen), or was he her sister's husband?
Once in England or the USA several Przedecki families (not all related to each other) experimented with various Anglicised versions of their surname. Pshedetsky, Perry and Pizer are some of the names used. Several descendants of the above family changed their name to Burdett. Why Burdett? Was it because Burdett Road was not far away? No. It turns out that it was an attempt to anglicise Pshedetsky by pronouncing the silent P. (Though, as mentioned above, the P would originally have been lightly sounded.)
Pshedetsky ➤ Pshedet ➤ Pedett ➤ Burdett
A False Trail
National Archive records show that a Solomon Jacob Przedecki became a naturalised British citizen in 1920. However further analysis of this record shows it to refer to Solomon Przedecki, a tailor living in Canterbury, born Konin, Poland in 1869, son of Jacob and Ester Blume Przedecki. He took his father's first name as a surname when he arrived in England in 1885 - becoming Solomon Jacob - and married Bessie Fux.