https://www.geni.com/people/Sarah-Press/6000000023247135536

That's wonderful. It all fits the tree I had constructed from various sources. I am seeking an "Uncle" Press in Paarl that family story relates Rebecca Press being sent to from Canterbury, England in 1893. She travelled with her cousin Isaac Asherson who she married in Cape Town in 1895, where her parents (Nehemiah & Ulrica - my gg-grandparents) had emigrated to around then. Her brother Hyman had taken his family to CT by 1894.

When my mother and I visited Paarl we passed a building with "C PRESS" above the middle shop and wondered if that was a connection. Hence I researched Charles 1908-1946.

I found his father was Mordechai from discovering Charles was buried as Betzalel Emanuel b Mordechai. Do you know if his father was another Charles or Chaim perhaps? Or any other members of the family?

So glad to find you. Sally

Hi Sally
None of the names you mentioned are part of the Press branch we belong to. There is also no British connection [i.e. Canterbury] The building you mentioned is where my brother Charles still resides. Our father was also Charles [ Hebr. Betzalel - as you quote and as I mentioned in my previous reply] Charles bears our father's name as he was only 4 days old when our father passed away [and had thus not been named yet]
Should you find any other Presses please let me know as we're such a small branch with another twig in Israel though!
Regards
Esther

Well I am glad we guessed right about the building, though sad there is no family memory of the UK connection I described earlier.

However, its much more likely that the Uncle Press went to SA direct from Lithuania possibly as early as 1860 when that migration started.

What do you know of Mordechai Press and his origins?

Have you considered merging your profile with its duplicate in the Press tree?
Private

Is the twig in Israel on that tree? Does it have all the people and details you know?

I will keep digging, with your help.

Hi Sally

All I know about the other Press family is that there were 3 brothers - Sydney, Hubert and Basil Press of Edgar Stores South Africa. Linked to that family was a wife Annie Press and a daughter Rhoda [m. Getz] and Sydney married an Esther which confused people about me...She had a son Darrell or Darren Press. There was never a link discovered between that branch and my family

Please tell me about your parents and grandparents - perhaps I will find a link.
Mordechai was my paternal grandfather [father's father] who had 5 sons and a daughter - I met them in Israel in the 60's.We all looked similar!

My Mother Sue Townley's mother Ruth Coplans (first generation Lithuanian Jewish immigrant to UK) family is well recorded on Geni including Ruth's mother Rachel PRESS whose family I am exploring. Rachel came from Seredzius Lithuania in 1875 with her husband Michael Coplans and father Nehemiah Press who later went to Cape Town. So did his son Hyman Kopel Press and later several of the Coplans too. We have to go back a bit to join up with the "Uncle Press" who went instead to Paarl, but our Press tree goes quite far back in Lithuania. My branch stayed in the UK but we have been to visit family in the Cape.

Can you add the 5 sons and anyone else to their Geni tree?
Mordechai Press

Were Sydney, Hubert and Basil Press of Edgar Stores South Africa in Paarl or Cape Town?

https://www.discover-sedgefield-south-africa.com/sydney-press.html
looks like Jo'berg

I have found a tree of the family you describe at http://fisherfamily.za.net/1062.htm with the 3 brothers Sydney 1919, Hubert 1922 and Basil Press 1915 associated with Edgars Shops and their sister Rhoda 1917 who married Getz. All born in Cape Town. Their father Philip (Feiva) Press (b.1878 Lithuania) Phillip Press married Annie Hoffman (b.1892 Jo'berg) in Paarl in 1914. Any idea why only that event happened in Paarl? Not found the other Esther though. So do tell me more about her.

Link to me and to you not obvious except that they come from Kovno/Kaunas Lithuania. So its likely. I reckon we are all related.

Have any of your family done a DNA test? We have.

Hello Sally

Perhaps you could investigate whether Nehemiah and Mordechai were possibly brothers!! Their names sort of go well together...!!
Do you have a photo of Rachel - I would be interest to see whether I spot anything familial. Another clue is that the presses sitting on my branch were mostly artists. Any creative streaks revealed? Another trait - writers.
Good luck!

Other Esther not bloodline but married into the other Press family

My Dad immigrated to SA - Paarl, in 1920's and his brother Meyer preceded him a few years prior - Both settled in Paarl and were shopkeepers.

Sedgefeld is on the coast just before the Eastern Cape, known as "Garden Route"

Do you know where they migrated from exactly?

Yes my lot have a lot of artists. I didn't get that bit of DNA though. Will send some links and attach photos to the Geni tree.

Kursenai [Kurshan] Lithuania
Masculine version of name Presas

JewishGen says Presas is the Lithuanian version of Press. It gets translated as all sorts of names/spellings such as Preis and Pres but I think they are all the same name.

I have not come across anyone from Kursenai before but its not too far from Seredzius and Kaunas where I have found them.

Do you have any record sources for any events or is it all family story?