Day 20: Fearless Females: Maternal Lineage Brick Wall

March 20 Prompt— Is there a female ancestor who is your brick wall? Why? List possible sources for finding more information.

Oh! Is there a female ancestor who is my brick wall? Where do I begin?

All of my ancestors past second grandmothers are from Russia/Poland and together compose of a very solid wall. With few exceptions, and tiny clues, I know little about them. I'm lucky if I know a name! For the purpose of this post, I thought I would pick one with a higher number of clues and hope that expert genealogist readers who often amaze me with their resourceful might be able to chip away at her wall.

The woman in question is believed to be named: Chaya Minucha Yarmovsky. She is a the edge of my Yarmovsky branch. I learned of her name from the family tree I inherited from my grandmother Ethel.  If you are a regular on my blog, and have been following this month's series of prompts about my female ancestors, than you've heard quite a bit about my female ancestors from this branch precede Chaya Minucha. Being a maternal line, the name Yarmovsky, might not ring a bell so I thought I would explain the relationship and link to earlier post about each of the remarkable female descendants of Chaya Minucha Yarmovsky, I've already written about:

Chaya Minucha Yarmovsky is my third great-grandmother. Here is the family connection:

Me→  my mother→  Ethel Girlie Bogdanow (Bloomfield) her mother →  Minnie Bloomfield (Crane) 
her mother → Feige Kranowitz (Yarmovsky) her mother →  Chaya Minucha Yarmovsky (maiden name?) her mother

As you can see, this is a daughter to daughter connection. A pure maternal lineage.

What I know about Chaya Minucha Yarmovsky and the [source] of this information:

• Wife of Vevel Yarmovsky (Son of Yankel Yarmovsky) [Family Tree]
• Died relatively young, leaving behind a husband and small children. Her husband eventually remarried and had children with a second wife (name unknown). Chaya Minucha's younger children spend much time away from their step mother at Feige Kranowitz's home (their older sister) [Minnie's memoir, Stored Treasures].
• Mother of at least six children: Harry Yarmovsky, Hillel Yarmovsky, Feige Kranowitz (Yarmovsky), Sara Kreigel (Yarmovsky), Rivke, Minnie Zacepitzky (Yarmovsky) [Family Tree]
• Lived in a near Belitsa, Russia (now in Belarus) where her daughter Feige Kranowitz lived. Feige was not from Belitsa originally but from a near by village [Minnie's memoir, Stored Treasures]
• Potential places the Yarmovsky family could be from:
• Zhetel- where Minnie Zacepitzky lived with her husband [Zacepitsky family records]
• Pinsk-where Hillel Yarmovsky worked at a Yeshiva [Minnie's memoir, Stored Treasures]
• Minnie Bloomfield (Crane)'s hebrew name was Minucha [my mother, Ellis Island Ship Manifest], probably named after her grandmother. Minnie Zacepitzky's hebrew name was also Minucha [her grandson], most likely named after her mother.
• Probably died before 1896 when Minni Bloomfield Crane was born. May have died at childbirth while birthing her daughter Minnie Zacepitzky [In Jewish Ashkenazi tradition, one is only named after someone who has passed away, not a living relative]
• Belonging to the N1b mtDNA haplogroup which is the [results of my mtDNA test] and since I am a daughter of daughter, I've inherited my mtDNA from Chaya Minucha Yarmovsky. 

What I do not know about Chaya Minucha Yarmovsky and would love to find out:

• Her maiden name
• Parent's names
• Information about possible siblings 
• Place of origin
• Date of birth
• Date of death
• Place of death
• Place of burial

Help and suggestions are most welcome!

To learn more about +Lisa Alzo's 31 inspirational writing prompts in celebration of Women's History Month visit her blog:  The Accidental Genealogist. It's not too late to join!

Don't forget to check out my new blog Ethel's Scrapbook!