Bercov Family
The Bercov family has been active and prominent in Alberta’s Jewish communities since 1906. If the Bercov name is unfamiliar to many it may be because six of the eight pioneering Bercov children were girls, they took their husbands’ names.
The parents, Leah and Harry (Hillel) Bercov, came to Calgary in 1906 from Odessa, in the wake of the anti-Semitic Russian repression that followed the failed 1905 revolution attempt. They brought all eight of their children, ranging in age from 5 to 19, with them.
Their families had been aristocratic Jews in the Ukraine, but Leah and Harry Bercov were reduced to running a small confectionery in the Riverside district.
The Bercovs busied themselves with local Jewish activities. Harry became one of Calgary’s first Hebrew teachers and remained a Talmud Torah stalwart. He also befriended and aided many Jewish immigrants, going with his friend Harris Groberman to meet railway colonization trains.
Both Leah (1866-1934) and Harry (1870-1936) are buried in the old Calgary Jewish cemetery.
Oldest son Abe Bercov returned to Russia but made his way back to the United States, finally settling in Los Angeles, where he worked as an engineer, married Rae, and raised two children.
Celia Bercov married Sam Shuler in Calgary. They had no children.
Freda was married to Jack Churgin, a men’s clothier. He later sold his “Shirt Shop” business to his brother-in-law Bill Bercov.
Freda and Jack Churgin had three children: Betty, who married Michael Katzin; Annette, married to Albert Calsman; and Arnold Churgin, married to Geta Gurevitch. Arnold owned a well-known local business, Arnold Churgin Shoes.
William (Bill Bercov (1890-1957) and his wife Riva Shapiro had three daughters: Miriam Dvorkin, Annette Goldstein and Sophie Sollway. Sophie’s husband Rio Solway continues the family’s haberdashery interests.
The next oldest daughter, Mary, married John David Dower, one of Edmonton’s earliest Jewish pioneers. He ran Dower Brothers Wholesale and later operated the large Sterling and Paramount shoe store chains. The Dowers had three children: Sylvia, Lola and Marvin.
Fanny Bercov married Albert Calman and moved to Lethbridge where Albert operated the New York and Canadian fur stores. They had three children: Morris, Hy and Sabine, the sons were furriers in Lethbridge until recently.
Hilda married into the huge Shumiatcher/Smith family, marrying Harry Smith, who owned the Boston Hat works and Harry’s News in Calgary. They had two children, Annette Rothstein and Julian Smith, and later moved to Vancouver.
The youngest Bercov, Rose (1901-1962), married Barnet Groberman, who was active in the Calgary furniture trade, running Sykes Imperial and later Nielsen’s Furniture stores. They had two children, Harold Groberman and Annabelle Gurevitch.
The Bercov descendants are looking forward to another ninety years of being part of Jewish life in the West.