Mokobodzki/Garwolin/Parysow

My grandfather Joe Goodman was born in Garwolin, Poland in 1882 or 1883. He took his wife’s name at some point between when he married her in Warsaw and when they emigrated to London a year or so later. His original surname was Mokobodzki (also spelled Mokobodzki, Mokobocki). The name probably derives from the town of Mokobody about 40 miles away from Garwolin.

Starting from Holocaust records I made contact with Mokobotzki descendants who live near Tel Aviv. The scion of the family was named Josef Mokobotzki, just like my grandfather. They told me this story:

Josef came from Odessa. He was a commander in the army. In a battle he saved the life of a Polish officer, who rewarded him with property, including a mill, 7 km from Parysow (a village within the town of Garwolin). The mill was in the family until the Nazis came. Josef had 2 sons and 3 daughters. The daughters married and moved to their husbands' towns. Son Efraim got the farm, the other son moved to Warsaw. Josef became a rabbi and lived at least to 1863. Efraim died in the Holocaust.

At least one detail of that story is not true. There is a mill in Parysow which was owned by a Jewish family but a different family. The mill was sold to a Gentile family around the turn of the century and several generations later is still owned by that family. A university student from that family is a historian of the local area. She knew the names of the Jewish family that her family bought the mill from.

The records from after World War II show that in 1939 the extended Mokobotzki family included farmers, mechanics, dairymen, and grocers.

Efraim's grandson Meir Mokobotzki survived the Holocaust. He moved to Israel in 1948 with year-old daughter Chaya, whom I spoke with today. He is the grandson on the form at this link http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=1527901&language=en

Chaya's grandson Lior Bar gave 1770 as the year that Josef arrived in Parysow. 1870 makes more sense than 1770. He told me the mill was owned by the family for 150 years, until WW2 but the family never owned the mill, which was bought by the Gentile family in the 1890’s.

How my grandfather was related to any of these others is a mystery since there are no civil records from or before my grandfather’s time.

Chaim http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=7134817&language=en

Isaac http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=7134825&language=en

Moshe http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=7134823&language=en

Joseph http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=1897264&language=en

Esther http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=1387236&language=en

Ephraim http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=1527901&language=en

Tzipora: http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=765334&language=en

Asher http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=780898&language=en

Brakha http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=8889174&language=en

Joseph http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=8889173&language=en

Dov http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=1506974&language=en

Lea http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=1016772&language=en

Yaakov http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=1105241&language=en

Rizel http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=780899&language=en

Mordechai http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=8199328&language=en

Wolf (12) http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=8199326&language=en

Judet (?) http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=3907674&language=en

Simcha (11) http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=7134825&language=en

Moshe (1) http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=8199330&language=en