Weinborn Family
There is an unassuming headstone at Erlton cemetery for Brandlja Wagman who passed away in 1922. She was married in the shtetl of Strzyzowice (now Poland) to Berek Wejnbaum and, in 1882, they had a son (Jacob/Koppel). Sadly, Berek died in 1884, and Brandl remarried to a widower Avrum Wagman who had two children Rebecca and Oscar (Izzy), and he adopted young Jacob.
Jacob, however, felt abused by his step-father and ran away to work odd jobs on ships. Eventually he ended up in Mile End Old Town, London where he met Fanny Davis. Her widowed Romanian mother Brucha had fled to London with her 4 children.
Jacob came alone to Canada aboard the “Lake Manitoba” which sailed from Liverpool in May, 1901, and at some point the name Wejnbaum became “Weinborn”. He found work in Montreal and was able to save so that, in 1903, following her 16th birthday, Fanny and Jacob were married. Jacob returned to work in Montreal and in November, Fanny sailed to Saint John aboard the “Lake Champlain”. He brought over her mother and sister Sarah in 1904, and in 1907 he also sponsored his own mother and step-siblings. Their household was also increased with the birth of two children, the second being Beckie (later Levitt) (c.f. oral history in Discovery, Vol. 9, No. 2).
In 1908 Jacob, Fanny, and their two children moved to Alberta, homesteading on a farm about 1½ miles from Rumsey. By 1922 they had 10 children with Marjorie (later Silver) being the youngest. However Jacob was apparently not a successful farmer, and eventually tried running a second-hand store in Edmonton, and the Weinborns moved to Vancouver. Brandlja remained in Alberta.
In 1927 Beckie visited Calgary for health reasons. Meanwhile, her mother and her mother’s cousin Miriam hatched a plan to “fix up” Beckie with Miriam’s son Hymie Levitt. The match worked and in 1929 Beckie and Hymie married in Calgary. In 1937 they welcomed their son, Mel Levitt. Clearly matchmaking was in their genes, and Beckie beckoned her baby sister Margy (who was working in Ottawa during the war years) to visit Calgary to meet eligible Jewish bachelors. She married Frank Silver a year later in 1948 at the House of Israel on 18th Avenue SE. After their marriage in Calgary, Frank and Marjorie lived in Royalties, AB where they ran the “Royalties Friendly Store”, returning to Calgary in 1952. They had three children: Alan, Randi, and Glenna.
Erlton is the final resting place of Brandlja Wajnbaum/Wagman (1858 – 1922), her granddaughters Beckie Weinborn/Levitt (1907-1997) and Marjorie Weinborn/Silver (1922 – 1995), and her great-granddaughter Glenna Harriet Silver (1954 – 1956).
