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The following history of the Chaplin family was written by my father, Mel Chaplin, when he was in college. In the few cases where sources contradict the story, I've added explanations between brackets.
The Chaplin family described below includes Miriam and Shalomo Chaplin, variously spelled Cheplivouza, Cheplivwouisza or Cheplivoursza. Their children were Sarah (Chaia), David, Simon (Shimon) and Herman (Chaim).
Just prior to the Bolshevic Revolution of Russia (1917), several years of rigorous service in the Army of the Czar was compulsory for all eligible men. Shalomo had just been married a short time when the conscription required him to serve. He was given leave to return home for the birth of his fourth child and to prepare his family for winter. Nine days after the birth of his son, Herman, Shalomo went out to the woods with a wagon and a team of horses to chop wood. There was a freak thunder storm. Not much later the remains of my grandfather were found. He had been trampled to death by the horses.
In her attempts to raise her family properly Miriam had to work. One of the few paths of work left open to women at that time was to work in the fields, these being plentiful in that locale. After the Russian Revolution she fled the country. To cross the border with all her children she had to hide them beneath the hay which she had filled a wagon with, and pretend she was taking the hay into Rumania to sell it. From Constantinople [There is some confusion over this point; the ship manifest as well as a New York Times article state that the Russian group left from Constanza, Romania, now called Constanta. There could have been a feeder ship that moved the passengers from Constanza to Constantinople...] she arrived at Ellis Island in August 1923 aboard the S.S. Constintine. [ship manifest says the ship was called the Madonna. The ship manifest documents can be viewed here, here and here.]
Her brother, Phillip Shafer, who had come to this country earlier brought her to Philadelphia. They lived at 1700 S. 17th Street. Miriam worked in a laundry and her daughter in a cigar factory. Her sons went to school and operated a newstand at Seventh Street and Snyder Avenue. In 1930 David left school and went to work as a cutter in a clothing factory, whre he still works. In the same year Sarah got married. Upon graduating from high school in 1932 Simon went to work in a butcher shop. A year later he worked as a ladies hair dresser. In 1935 he started working in Ben's Money Loan (a pawnshop). He later bought the business and re-named it Girard Avenue Money Loan Company. He was married in 1940.
My father, Herman, left school in 1931 after finishing his tenth year. For two years he worked in a butcher shop at 136 South Sixtieth Street. Then for two years after that he worked as a shipper at Freezman Hosiery Mills, after which he did the same thing at True Knit Hosier Mills. In 1936 he became extremely ill with a severe case of ileitis. He was operated on and returned to work. In March of 1937 he met my mother and not much later they were married.
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