About this branch
The documented trail runs from Philadelphia back to Shumsk in Volhynia, with a Jerusalem chapter that is still an open question.
Safir / Saphir / Sofar
The documented trail runs from Philadelphia back to Shumsk in Volhynia, with a Jerusalem chapter that is still an open question.
Pinches Sofar becomes Philip Saphir
Philip Saphir was born in Shumsk, then in the Russian Empire and now in Ukraine. His American records use several spellings of the family name. His 1943 naturalization index records the legal change from Pinches Sofar to Philip Saphir. His 1942 draft card names Shumsk as his birthplace, and his 1950 death certificate names his parents as Allen and Zisel.
Philip married Sadie Bluma Bashman in Philadelphia in 1922. Their daughter Cecile became Boruch Ber Berman's paternal grandmother.
Sources
U.S. District Court, Philadelphia, naturalization index, petition 164882; 1942 draft registration; Pennsylvania death certificate file 108141; Philadelphia marriage-license index 458181. Copies and citations are preserved in the Safir research record kept privately by the family.
Hillel and the Jerusalem thread
Mount Sharon Cemetery preserves the Hebrew names that connect the generations. Philip's matzeivah names him פנחס בן הלל, Pinchas son of Hillel. The matzeivah of the man recorded in English as William Saphir identifies him as Hillel and names his father as Avraham Yitzchak Aizik.
Philip's and Hillel's stones use matching language connecting them with Yerushalayim. This agrees with the family's long-held account that Philip spent part of his youth there, including study connected with the Diskin orphanage and Eitz Chaim. The exact school and family records have not yet been found. That part of the story remains family tradition - supported by the stones, not yet proved by a document.
Sources
Mount Sharon Cemetery matzeivos for Philip Saphir and William Hillel Saphir; owner family tradition preserved in the Safir master research record.
The 1904 crossing
The S.S. Rhynland arrived in Philadelphia from Antwerp on 17 August 1904. Its passenger list includes Pinches Safier and Sarah Safier traveling together to their father in Philadelphia. The manifest gives Paris as their last residence and says their father had been in America for about three years.
Pinches is listed as age ten, while his later adult records point to a birth around 1889 or 1890. The age conflict remains open. A Shumsk birth record would settle it.
Sources
S.S. Rhynland passenger list, Philadelphia arrival 17 Aug 1904, volume 74, lines 19-20; Philadelphia passenger soundex; later draft, naturalization and death records.
What remains open
Zisel's family name, the identity of Sarah, the exact route through Yerushalayim and Paris, and Philip's correct birth year are not settled. All spelling variants - Safir, Saphir, Saffir, Safier, Sofar and related forms - remain active search keys.
Living relatives are not identified on this page. The full working record and source files are kept privately by the family.
Read the actual records
Thirteen verified source images now have reader pages: the 1904 crossing, 1922 marriage file, 1930/1940/1950 households, 1942 draft, 1943 naturalization, 1950 death certificate, and Cecile and Sarah’s marriage indexes.
Open the Safir records gallery
Identity warning: the Austrian Herman Safir/Garber household remains an unresolved identity conflict and is not presented as settled kin. The Samuel/Eva/Sarah Safier household is a documented non-match for the 1904 Rhynland family. The Paris Schafir records remain unlinked.
Bashman and Saphir gravestones
Sadie Saphir, Harry Bashman and Eva Bashman: photographs and highlighted inscriptions.