Zadeck (Zedek) family - also spelled Zadek, Zedak, Zeedak, Zadak....

The Zedek family (Zadeck, Zadek, Zedak, Zeedak, Zadak)

I have decided to tackle each family individually and share what I have learned about them. If additional information becomes available, I’ll come back to this post and add to it.

Their name was spelled Zedek while they were in Cotopaxi, but it has evolved to Zadeck over time. Historically, names changed often until the draft for WWI which was about 1914. After that, it seems there were very few spelling changes - thank goodness!!!

Again, the first written record of the spelling we have is from Nov, 1882. Zedek.





Saltiel wrote this in a letter dated Dec 27, 1882:

Two other families, Nudelman and Zedek, will get along well, as the heads of each are fair carpenters and builders, and have industrious families.

Julius Schwartz wrote this on March 2, 1883:

The grounds must not have been so utterly worthless if it is considered, that despite of the circumstances, that potatoes were sown as late as the end of June, and despite of the heavy hailstorms and the devastations of the thousands of grazing cattle, Loeb Zedek, as he himself states in one of his letters, which I annex hereto, has taken up thirty sacks of potatoes. Zedek’s farm is located on Oak Grove Creek, on the very same mean, narrow strip of land, on which, as the two gentlemen remark, “no beast could subsist.”

In the 1925 Spivak interview it lists them as such:

Zedek, carpenter, wife and four boys. Came from Keiff, Russia.

But after 1925, it got a bit confusing. Flora Satt in her 1950 thesis on Cotopaxi, combined Zedek and Nudelman in to one person and listed them as

20. Morris ‘Zedek’ Neeleman, with his wife Rivka, four daughters. That has led to some confusion over the years for other researchers

When I started my research into each family, the first 2 places I searched were census records and immigration records. I got lucky because this family arrived on the same ship as the Shuteran, Schradsky and the Moskowitz families. This manifest lists the Zedek family as such:

Leib Zedek age 30 M born 1852

Riwke Zedek age 28 F born 1854

Baruch Zedek age 10 M born 1872

Chascha Zedek age 8 F born 1874

Jeschaja Zedek age 6 F born 1876

Isaak Zedek age 2 M born 1880

This family arrived in NYC on March 1, 1882, and had resided in Keiw, Russland, before that (Kiev, Poland, today.) They came through Hamburg and London and the ship’s name was “Gemma”.

Because families often traveled together, I have to wonder if the Shuterans, Schradskys and Moskowitz families were related. Were the wives all sisters? That’s going to be a question for future researchers to determine.

In searching the census records, I found this family residing in Chicago in the 1910 census:

Abraham L. Zadek age 60 M born 1850
Rebecca Zadek age 60 F born 1850
Benjaman Zadek age 38 M born 1872

They were living in an apartment at 2600 State Street. It tells us that she had 9 children, 4 are still living. Rebecca and Benjaman were born in Russia, Abraham L. was born in Germany. They all speak yiddish and immigrated in 1878 (a conflict with the ships manifest above). Both father and son are carpenters.

Living at 2626 State Street in Chicago, I found the Isaac Zadek family:

Isaac Zadeck age 30 M born 1880
Etta Zadeck age 27 F born 1883
Stella Zadeck age 8 F born 1902
Roseline Zadeck age 5 F born 1905

This record does not give a year of immigration. It shows that Isaac was born in Illinois, but that his father and mother were born in Russia and spoke Yiddish. Isaac started listing his first name as Edward and by the 1930 census, ha had dropped Isaac from his name.

There is a will dated 9/5/1918 showing Rebecca Zadeck’s son as Isaac. Further research of that will which is only indexed online might show her daughter’s names.

I found an Alouis Zadeck living on 2912 Calument Street in Chicago in the 1900 census. He was married to Rosa and they have a son, Benj, born 1870 in England. And a second son, James, born in 1876 in England, married to Annie Neiman. James could be Jeschaja from the ship’s manifest? And Annie Neiman could be related to the Neiman/Newman’s who lived in Cotopaxi?

The Zadeck family seems to be short lived.

Sons James and Benjamin had no children.

I can find nothing on Chascha who was a daughter.

Their son, Isaac, had 2 daughters.

Stella married Joseph Gottlieb and they had 1 child, Rochelle. I can find nothing else for her.

Rosaline may have married a Soloman. I can find nothing else for her. 

If I learn more about this family, I will update this post



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