By Morris Malakoff, JTNews Correspondent
The Alhadeff family name is among the most recognized in the Jewish community in Washington State. But its prominence is easily matched by its proliferation.
What began with a single young man arriving in Seattle from the Isle of Rhodes in the Mediterranean, just over a century ago, has grown into a family tree that sprawls across nine family branches through seven generations that have generated since David Alhadeff first set foot in Seattle, just after the dawn of the 20th century.
That information was gathered and collated by Roly Alhadeff, whose grandfather was that teenager from Rhodes.
Though she’s not even a hobbyist genealogist, Alhadeff did the leg work on her family history as part of the Washington State Jewish Historical Society’s “Six Generation Family Celebration,” a fundraising event the society will hold on May 4.
Over the past six months, WSJHS sought out Jewish families who had a documentable history of six generations or more having lived in the state.
“That did not necessarily mean that one person came here at some point and then five more generations have [since]been born,” said Helen Stusser, chair of the event. “Sometimes, a person arrived here and later their parents came to the area, giving them six generations.”
That was the case with the Alhadeff family. David arrived in the early 1900s with Greek ship owners. He went home, married and returned. As his fortunes rose, he sent for his eight siblings and his parents. The family trees developed by Roly Alhadeff are the descendant lines of each of the nine siblings.
For Alhadeff, the project was a major undertaking, but she found the going was made easier by the closeness of the ever-growing clan.
“We are a close family; we hold an Alhadeff family picnic each year, and I know people in each part of the family,” she said. “That made it easier to get the information.”
That information, as well as similar data for 74 other families from communities across the state, has been compiled into data bases and collated into a family tree for each family that is being printed onto wall-sized posters. The posters will be displayed at a brunch celebration at Congregation Ezra Bessaroth.
According to Stusser, the trees will be printed in large-format and hung in a museum style, to allow attendees to stroll the floor of the display area and browse the information.
“This will not be a sitdown meal,” she said. “This is an event where one can explore the exhibit while nibbling on brunch foods.”
There is talk of perhaps one day doing a book or putting the information into a more readily available database for public consumption. But Alhadeff points out that even her family data is organic and ever-changing.
“There are babies due to be born as we are holding the gala,” she said. “But I would hope that over time younger generations will step forward and keep the information up to date.”
The final list of 74 families is not definitive, but is the capacity of the event.
“We know there are more families out there with a lengthy history in Washington,” said Stusser. “But time and space created limitations. The idea of this project was to give a historical basis to a fundraising event, not establish a complete historical archive.”
Lisa Kranseler, executive director of WSJHS, said that the gathering of the family information provides a critical link to the long history of the Jewish community in the state but also points out a nagging gap in being able to provide educational and research opportunities.
“One of our goals is the establishment of a Jewish Historical Museum,” she said. “This project shows again why that is a critical need. We will have these histories available for viewing at the celebration, but after that, it will be difficult to display them where the public can easily see them.”