Michael Grant's Family Tree: The Kruss Family

The Kruss family name derives from the Hebrew word for a herald (כרוז in Classical Hebrew, הזכרה in modern Hebrew), as described in the Mishna (Shekalim Ch. 5 Mishna 1):

These are the officers which served in the Temple. [...] Gabini was the herald [kruz]; ben-Gever was over the shutting of the gates.

אלו הן הממונים שהיו במקדש׃ [...] גביני כרוז בן גבר על נעילת שערים׃

This family is a Priestly one.

Tidbit: Shmuel Kruss, the patriarch of the family, studied with the Chafetz Chayim (R. Israel Meir Kagan 1843-1933).

Family tradition holds that Shmuel possessed a scroll giving the family genealogy back to Temple times. This was lost when, on a visit (from Newcastle) to his youngest daughter Beila, living in St Petersburg, Shmuel was caught in the outbreak of the First World War. Unable to obtain kosher food, he refused to eat treif and thus perished.

Family Tree

The Kruss family tree currently consists of two disjoint parts; I don't have enough information to stitch them together. They are connected as follows: Aaron Kruss, the son of Meir Lazar at the head of the second tree, is a cousin (presumably not first cousin, or the mystery would be trivial to solve) of Rose Kruss, daughter of Berel Kruss son of Shmuel Kruss at the head of the first tree.

Shmuel's son Berel, after recovering from a serious illness, was given the second name Chaim ("life"). He went from Abel to Newcastle then on to South Africa. He returned to NEwcastle to marry off his sisters then went to Israel in 1924.

Berel's wife Hinda and her brother Nathan's wife Nechama were also related by blood -- they were second cousins. Ben and Evelyn Grant were also second cousins, and Avraham and Feige Kruss were probably also related. Michael and Aura Kruss were also second cousins; their descendants also appear twice on the tree.

Shmuel's daughter Chaya went to live with her brother Nathan after they were both widowed.

Dalya Tamir was named after Berel Kruss (?), Betty Grant after Betty Kruss, and both Ada and Adele Kruss after Ada Kruss née Pogrund.

Place names are birth places if no other places are given; all dates are in British format (DD/MM/YYYY). All living people have been removed from this tree before placing online; if you recognise anyone here as being related to you, please don't hesitate to , especially if you have material to contribute, in return for which I will happily share the full version, with photographs, PDF trees and other materials!

Tree 1


Shmuel Hanoch KRUSS -d. (WW1) Abel
Schoolteacher
= (1) Ada POGRUND -1888 Abel
|  
|- Chaya KRUSS -> America
|  
|  = ? ?
|  
|- Nathan KRUSS 1867-
|  = Nechama VINITSKI
|  |  
|  |- Ada KRUSS
|  |  |  
|  |  +- <twin children> ? South Africa
|  |  
|  |- Joseph KRUSS America
|  |  
|  |  
|  +- Shmuel (Sam) KRUSS America
|     = ? ?
|  
|- Berel, Barnett Chaim KRUSS 1875-1961 Abel
|  = Hinda ABROMOV 5.5.1879-17.4.1954
|  |  
|  |- Abraham Isaac KRUSS 1901-1974 Russia -> N/cle age 10 months
|  |  = Flora COHEN
|  |  |  
|  |  +---  
|  |  
|  |- Rose KRUSS -11.9.1971
|  |  = Dov STEIN
|  |  |  
|  |  +----
|  |  
|  |- Betty KRUSS 1909-fl. 1996 N/cle -> Rehovot
|  |  = Nahum SHECHTER
|  |  |  
|  |  +---  
|  |  
|  |- Edith KRUSS 1907?-1995
|  |  
|  |  
|  |- Yehudel (Edel) KRUSS 1903-12.1919 (meningitis)
|  |  
|  |- Zalman (Sam) KRUSS 1907-d.aged 10 months
|  |  
|  +- Sammy KRUSS South Africa
|     Architect
|     = Anne SHIRK
|  
|- Frankisca, Fege KRUSS 1886-3.1956 Abel
|  
|  Tailoress
|  = Aaron B. KRANTZ (GRANT) 1877?-14.6.1931 Kherson -> Newcastle
|  
|  Barber
|  |  
|  +---  
|  
|- Rosie KRUSS Abel -> USA
|  
|- Hannah KRUSS Abel -> USA
|  
|  
|- Mushka KRUSS
|  
|- Rachel Leah KRUSS
|  
|- Ethel KRUSS
|  
+- Beila KRUSS -died young (embolism) -> St. Petersburg

= (2) ? POGRUND Abel
|  
|- <son> KRUSS
|  
+- <son> KRUSS

Tree 2


Meir Lazar ?
|  
|- Aaron KRUSS cousin of Rose Kruss
|  |  
|  +---
|  
|- Chaya KRUSS
|  = Moshe READING
|  |  
|  |- Regina READING -d. Cape Town
|  |  
|  |- Joseph READING Cape Town
|  |  
|  +- Freda READING Cape Town
|  
|- Hanoch KRUSS
|  = Dora ?
|  |  
|  |- Cyril KRUSS
|  |  = ? ?
|  |  
|  +- Marcia KRUSS
|     = ? SHAFFER
|     |  
|     +- <son> SHAFFER
|  
|- Zisel KRUSS -d. young
|  
+- Harry KRUSS
  |  
  |- <daughter> KRUSS
  |  
  +- <daughter> KRUSS

Research Required:

The 1915 Vsia Vilna database lists:

The tax and voter lists further have the following entry in the Box taxpayers records for April 1877:

Who were these people? Almost certainly relatives of mine, but I'm not able to place them on my family tree.

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