How we got our name

The Rakusins/Cussins came to the UK and practiced their art of Slipper making. They were Zapushniks. They also continued their trade of trading in fruit. In Zagare they were busy fruit farmers as well as cobblers. In those days jews worked at whatever trade they could (and were allowed to work in) in order to earn a living. The Coussins (though not at this point known by that name) thus kept fruit trees and traded in fruit and also worked as cobblers to the community.
Interestingly, one of the reasons that jews ended up in both banking and working in the clothing industry was because the jobs they were allowed by the state to work in were very limited. In the pale of settlement work that was not simply about subsisting (farming a family or community plot for example) was strictly limited. They could lend money at interest (the Catholics saw this as not allowed by Chrsitian tradition) and they could work in trading rags. Litterally. It was because of Feival Morrison remembering his visit to Morris Cussin’s workshop in the basement of his home in Leeds that brought us together with his family.
Craig in his workshop 1999 And a perfect example of history repeating itself is in Craig’s profession is as a Dance Shoe Maker, essentially a Zapuschnik, a shoemaker.
Just to explain the name differences. We had emigrated to the UK as Rakusin.   The partiarchs dhanged that to Cusin but that did not look good in the UK  so we changed this to Cussin and in Abrahams branch to Cussins – which eventually become Coussins. They had their own personal reasons. One reason was that because of some anti-semitic feelings from some areas of the population in Scotland we may have tried to anglicise our name to fit into what had become our home. In the case of Philip Morrison’s Dad, he changed from Cussin to Morrison. In the Leeds branch however, and because there was a large Jewish community there, in the case of some family members the name stayed Rakusin as well as Cussins. And in case you are wondering – yes we are related to the Rakussins that made matzo (they don’t any longer – that business was sold to Jacobs many years ago). However this relationship is distant in time and geography and would go back to the community in Zgarre.
Hyman (seated) and Abraham Coussins – A black and white photo that has been digitally re-coloured.

Shoemakers working in Leeds back at the beginning of the last century.