I am in NYC for the weekend and looking forward to meeting my Brotman cousins. Pictures and stories to follow.
But first, a little Romanian surprise. I received a few more documents from my Romanian researcher, Marius Chelcu. One in particular surprised me. It is a birth record for Sura Rosentvaig, born June 7, 1888, daughter of Ghidale and Ghitla Rosentvaig, of Iasi, Romania.
Sura Rosentvaig birth record
The first surprise was that Gustave and Gussie were still living in Iasi as of June, 1888. According to his naturalization papers, Gustave arrived in the US on April 12, 1887.
naturalization petition gustave rosenzweig
Before 1906, the government did not require strict proof of arrival, and obviously Gustave fudged it a bit. But when did he actually arrive? I still have not found a ship manifest for him or Gussie or the children, but this will narrow down the dates of my search by assuming they left Romania after June 7, 1888, and arrived before February 12, 1889, when I believe Abraham was born.
One inconsistency here is that according to earlier Romanian records, Gustave was born in 1856 and Gussie in 1864.
translation of marriage record
On Sura’s birth record dated 1888, it says Gustave was 25, making his birth year 1863, and Gussie was 22, making her birth year 1866. I guess it just goes to show that Romanian records are no more reliable than American records. Gustave and Gussie’s birth records, however, were created at the time of their marriage, not at their birth, whereas Sura’s was created at the time of her birth so presumably is more reliable in terms of her birthdate.
The second surprise is that Sarah, their second daughter, was born in Iasi, not in New York City. Every census indicates that she was in fact born in New York. This explains why I could not find a NYC birth record for Sarah, but why is she listed on the census as US-born? Lillie is listed (with one exception) as born in Romania. Why not Sarah?
Rosenzweig children 1900 census
Gustave Rosenzweig family on the 1905 NYS census
Rosenzweig family 1910
Kurtz family 1920
kurtz family 1930
Sam and Sarah Kurtz 1940 census
I am still searching for Sarah’s descendants and know their names, but have not yet been able to contact them. I wonder if they know she was born in Romania, not in the US.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
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Hi Amy
My son in law is VERY interested in the “whole story” and came from a grandmother
Who was one of 13
He asks if he could be added to your thread?
He loved the pictures of the Rosenzweig’s
Let me know
Best
Gerry Ross
>
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Sure!!! Happy to do so.
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Hi:
I am a Rosenzweig. My great grandfather was Abraham Rosenzweig also spelled Rosenschweig married to Gussie (LNU). They arrived as newlyweds in NY in 1887. Although the manifest says Brest, I have found pockets of family from Roumania. MY father said that after Gussie died, he married her sister, Gittel. Has anyone out there in the web world heard a similar story?
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Hi, thanks for reading and commenting. I wonder whether Abraham was related to my Rosenzweigs. Do you know when he was born? What his Hebrew name was? What his parents’ names were? My great-great-grandfather was David Rosenzweig.
I think it was quite common for men to marry a second time to another family member. My great-grandfather married my great-grandmother after his first wife died; my great-grandmother was his first cousin, and apparently the parents decided that my great-grandfather needed someone to care for his children and so had my great-grandmother marry him.
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