A Satanov Family in Chicago

by Kim Savage

Samuel Vicker was born Samuel Weiner (Wiener, Viner, Winer...take your pick, it was not spelled in English) on August 26, 1881 in Satanov, Russia (which is now located in the Ukraine). He emigrated to the United States from the port of Bremen, Germany on November 17, 1903 and arrived in Portland, Maine on November 29, 1903 on the ship, Canada. (info from U.S. Naturalization petition, dated February 6, 1916).

Family legend says that he left his homeland to avoid conscription and traveled to Germany by night, sleeping during the day. He anglicized his name and arrived in the U.S. as Samuel Vicker. The passenger list for the ship Canada indicates that he was joining a brother-in-law, in Boston, MA.

Samuel was the son of Leib (Louis) Weiner and Bryna (Bertha). His brother Joseph Vicker arrived in Chicago about 1922. Information about other siblings is unknown, but it is thought that Leib and Bryna had five children, and that Sam may have had a red-haired twin who went to Argentina.

By trade, Sam was a furrier. Family legend says that the family plied this trade in the old-country. In America, Sam first worked for someone else, and then went into business for himself. It is said that he trained other cousins in the fur business when they arrived in America.

Ette Hambroch was born in Kupen (pronounced Kippen or Kipping), Russia, now located in the Ukraine, near Satanov in October 1884. Ette was the daughter of William Hambroch and Jenny (Sheindel) Rubman. Ette was born prematurely and was kept warm inside a feather pillow. Her parents were divorced (this was a big deal!!) when she was young. Her mother remarried and an arranged marriage (the custom) was to occur with her step-brother.

Sam Vicker saved up money and sent for her. So, at age 19, she left her home in Russia and travelled to Germany, where she embarked from Hamburg on the vessel, Rotterdam. She arrived at a port in Nova Scotia and travelled by railroad to Detroit, where she entered the U.S. in 1904 or 1905 (her mother's sister lived in Detroit).

Sam and Ette were married in Chicago on April 3, 1905. Samuel Vicker died in 1923 at the age of 39, leaving a widow with 6 children. Ette sold the fur business to her son-in-law Edward Tobler (born Isidore Tabachnick, in Satanov, 1902). Ed was the son of Sam Tabachnick and Ida.