Elman Family, Part 2

The Ellman / Elman Family - Part 2

 

Hyman Ellman (1902-1973), Isadore Ellman (1903-1983), and Maurice Elman (1904-1980), and an adopted daughter Naomi Elman Freedman (1912-1990), were the children of Israel and Celia (Rozovsky) Ellman.

Hyman Ellman and Dorothy Baig




Hyman Ellman (1902-1973) worked in the family shoe store and learned to play the violin. He received training from a conservatory and left school at age 15 to join a professional orchestra. He played in several Saint John groups from 1917 to 1931. He enlisted in the Canadian Army on September 3, 1939 and was based in Saint John and Nanaimo and New Westminster, British Columbia. He worked as a canteen steward and was deemed to be too old for overseas service. He was discharged in 1943. After his military service, he settled in Hamilton, Ontario and worked as an insurance agent. He married Dorothy Baig in 1940 and they had two children.



Isadore Ellman (1903-1983) married Anna Lipshetz and moved to Fredericton.


Maurice Elman



Maurice Elman (1904-1980) grew up in Saint John and trained as a dental technician at Bodee University in New York. He was working in Saint John as a film distributor for Warner Brothers and as a partner in the family shoe repair business at the outbreak of the Second World War. He enlisted in October 1939 and was a member of the Canadian Dental Corps. Captain Elman was posted to the Canadian Dental Corps in Saint John, Brockville, Winnipeg and Halifax before being sent overseas where he was attached to the RCAF from 1944 to 1945. While in Winnipeg he trained at the Canadian School of Army Administration. He returned to Saint John in November 1945 to be reunited with his wife and children. He remained in the Reserves until the 1960s.

After the war, he worked as a film distributor with Alliance Films and then founded and ran, Maritime Film Transport in partnership with his son Dan.


Wedding Photograph - Maurice Elman and Bertha Boyaner

Bertie Boyaner Elman (1900-1995) was born in 1900 to Don and Kate (Poyas) Boyaner, the youngest of the family which included four brothers and a sister. She was was a member of the Congregation Shaarei Zedek Sisterhood, and of the Henrietta Szold Chapter Hadassah WIZO.  She was an active bridge player as well as being involved in theatricals.  In her earlier years she was a leader for the Jewish Girl Guides and the Young Judean gymnastics team.  She married Maurice Elman in 1929 and they had two children.


Dan Elman

Daniel Elman studied at the University New Brunswick; Fredericton, Dalhousie University, Halifax; the University of Fribourg, Switzerland; the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium (where he studied medicine and completed his studies in 1962) and the Jungian Institute, Zurich, Switzerland. He has enjoyed a diverse career including a year at N29 Saglek Bay, Labrador working with the American Corps of Engineers, as the owner of Maritime Film Transport and as an IT instructor and consultant for Advanced Training and Services and JD Irving Ltd.

in the Jewish community, he was an active member of Judaean Scouts, Young Judaea, the YMHA and the congregation.  He served as congregation President in 1983-1984. In 1983 and 1984 he was one of the organizers of the Koom Ahaim (“Come Home”) Reunion and was an early supporter of the creation of the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum. In the absence of a rabbi, he was the community’s Lay Reader for nearly two decades.

Dan Elman made a name for himself as a champion chess player and six- time winner of the J.M. Franklin Trophy. Chess activity in Saint John was at its peak during the World Chess Festival in 1988. Organized by a small group led by Dan Elman, it brought hundreds of world class chess players from all over the world to Saint John. With the renewed popularity of chess, Dan Elman opened the Chess Centre in Brunswick Square where players could drop in for a game or participate in tournaments.

Eleanor Elman Givner



Eleanor Elman trained in nursing at the Saint John General Hospital, married Dr. Morris Givner in November 1962 and relocated to Montreal and then Halifax. In Montreal she was a head surgical nurse at the Jewish General Hospital. In 1986 she was put in charge of a patient representative program at the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax.




Naomi Ellman Freedman (1912-1990) came from Ukraine as a war orphan in 1921 as part of a group of 120 Ukrainian Jewish orphans brought to Canada by Mrs. Lillian Frieman of Ottawa. She was adopted by Israel and Celia Ellman and was welcomed warmly into the family. Her sister and brother were taken to Montreal. She was the second wife of Benjamin Freedman and stepmother to a son, Melvin and a daughter, Ellen (Hochberger). Naomi was employed as a stenographer for A.I. Garson and as a real estate agent. She was a member of the Westfield Golf and Country Club, the Congregation Shaarei Zedek, Hadassah-Wizo and the Sisterhood.

 

References: 

  • Louis I. Michelson Archives and Research and Exhibition Files, Saint John Jewish Historical Museum 
  • Marcia Koven, Weaving the Past Into the Present (Saint John: 1989 and 2008) 
  • The Evening Times Globe / The Telegraph Journal (Saint John newspapers)
 
See also: Ellman Family, Part 1 and Boyaner family 


To comment on this story please send an email to sjjhm@nbnet.nb.ca 


 


This project is made possible with funding from the Archaeology and Heritage Branch, Province of New Brunswick through their Exhibit Renewal Digital Component program and the unwavering support of the Jewish families who made Saint John their home.

 

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