Monthly Archives: November 2024

Happy Thanksgiving!

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I want to wish all my family, friends, and readers a happy Thanksgiving. Although it would be easy to focus on all our fears and worries, I am going to try and focus during this holiday on all the things for which I am so grateful—including my family, friends and readers! So thank you to all of you who are reading this blog and who follow along as I continue my genealogy adventures.

In particular, I am grateful that my children, grandchildren, and brother will be traveling to the Cape to be with us for this holiday. We know that traveling on Thanksgiving is a major hassle, and we are deeply appreciative of the efforts they are all making so that we can be together.

And I am so grateful that I get to live in this gorgeous part of the world with the person who is the love of my life.

Thank you to you all! See you next week when I return to regularly scheduled programming.

Moses Rothschild’s Three Oldest Children and Their Families in the 1930s: Samuel, Rudolph, and Albert

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The 1930s proved to be challenging years for some members of Moses Rothschild’s family. His widow Mathilde died on November 7, 1931, in the Bronx;1 she was 82 years old and had outlived her husband by more than thirty years. She had lived to see the births of all of her grandchildren and even three great-grandchildren.

Most of Moses and Mathilde’s children and grandchildren continued to live in New York in 1930. Their oldest son Samuel and his wife Sallye and their 24-year-old son Milton were living in the Bronx, and Samuel and Milton were salesman for a “private concern.”2 Milton married the following year on October 23, 1931, just two weeks before his grandmother Mathilde died.3 Milton married Blanche Zimmerman, the daughter of Bernard Zimmerman and Gertrude Landan. She was born in the Bronx, New York, on November 4, 1908 or November 4, 1907.4 Milton and Blanche would have two children.

The second old son Rudolph Rothschild and his wife Rebecca (listed as Rae here) were living in Manhattan in 1930, and Rudolph was a jewelry salesman.5 Their son Mortimer was living with his wife Amelia and her mother Selma Spiegel in Manhattan. Mortimer was a traveling salesman, and Amelia was a school teacher in 1930.6 They would later have two children.

Rudolph’s younger son Alvin does not appear on the 1930 US census, but according to his entries on the 1940 US census, Alvin was living in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1935.7 And on July 19, 1936, he married Marjorie Breuer in Wilmington, Delaware, where, according to their marriage record, they both were living and where Alvin was working as a store manager.

Alvin Rothschild marriage certificate, Ancestry.com. Delaware, U.S., Marriage Records, 1750-1954

According to their wedding announcement in the Wilmington News-Journal, Alvin was working for Neisner Brothers, Inc. Marjorie was the daughter of Charles Breuer and Mariann Gold and was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on April 29, 1914.8

“Breuer-Rothschild,” The News Journal, Wilmington, DE, July 18, 1936, p. 4

Alvin appears to have been one of the first of the descendants of Moses Rothschild to move out of New York City. Could the Depression have forced him to seek opportunities elsewhere? Alvin and Marjorie would later have three children.

As for the family of Albert, the third son of Moses and Mathilde Rothschild,  his widow Rose and their youngest daughter Dorothy (17) were living in the Bronx in 1930; Dorothy was working as a clerk in the film industry.9 Albert and Rose’s oldest daughter Rae, like her cousin Alvin, had left New York City by 1930 and was living with her husband Gerald Jordan and daughter Alberta (8) in Buffalo, New York, where Gerald was the manager of a clothing store.10 I again wonder whether economic conditions forced Gerald to move out of New York City.

Josephine, the second oldest daughter of Albert and Rose, was living with her husband Charles Hall in 1930 in Manhattan, and she was working as a secretary and Charles as an electrician.11 The third daughter Theresa was living in the Bronx with her husband Arnold Blumenfeld and their two young children; Arnold was an insurance agent.12  I could not locate Theresa’s sister Lillian and her husband Max Blumenfeld (Arnold’s brother) on the 1930 census.

On January 31, 1932, Albert and Rose’s youngest daughter Dorothy married Sidney Spiegel in the Bronx.13 When I saw the surname Spiegel, I wondered if Sidney was related to Amelia Spiegel, who had married Dorothy’s cousin, Mortimer Rothschild, son of Rudolph Rothschild. But Sidney’s parents, Benjamin and Frieda Spiegel, were born in Galicia whereas Amelia’s parents Adolph and Ida Spiegel were born in Germany. Sidney was born in New York on September 28, 1911.

The year after Dorothy’s wedding,  Rae, Josephine, Theresa, Lillian, and Dorothy lost their mother Rose when she died on March 7, 1933, in New York.14 Rose had had many challenges in her life; she’d lost her only son Milton when he was not yet two years old. She’d lost her husband Albert in 1915 when she was only 39, and she’d had to raise her five daughters alone, including Dorothy who was just a year old at the time. Rose was survived by those five daughters and by her grandchildren.

My next set of posts will cover the families of Moses and Mathilde’s younger three children Theresa, Gertrude, and Aron during the 1930s.

 

 

  1. Mathilda Rothschild, Gender Female, Race White, Marital Status Widowed, Age 82
    Birth Date 19 Feb 1849, Birth Place Germany, Years in US 63 Years, Death Date 7 Nov 1931, Death Street Address 2033 Morris Ave, Death Place New York City, Bronx, New York, USA, Cause of Death Chronic Myocarditis and Nephritis, Arterial Hypertension
    Burial Date 9 Nov 1931, Burial Place Mount Carmel Cemt, Occupation House Wife
    Father’s Birth Place Germany, Mother’s Birth Place Germany Father Louis Selizmann [sic] Mother Theresa Selizmann [sic], Executor Sam Rothschild, Executor Relationship Son, Certificate Number 9230, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Death Certificates; Borough: Bronx; Year: 1931, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948 ↩
  2. Samuel Rothschild and family, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Bronx, Bronx, New York; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 0200; FHL microfilm: 2341204, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
  3. Milton Rothschild, Gender Male, Marriage License Date 23 Oct 1931, Marriage License Place Bronx, New York City, New York, USA, Spouse Blanche Zimmerman
    License Number 8578, New York City Municipal Archives; New York, New York; Borough: Bronx, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018; Milton S Rothschild Gender Male Marriage Date 29 Oct 1931 Marriage Place Manhattan, New York, USA Certificate Number 25564, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937. ↩
  4. Blanche Zimmerman, Gender Female Race White Birth Date 4 Nov 1908
    Birth Place Bronx, New York City, Bronx, New York, USA Residence Address E 138th St Bronx 639 Certificate Number 194 Father Benjamin Zimmerman Mother Gertrude Zimmerman Mother Maiden Name Landan, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Bronx; Year: 1908, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909. But another record shows she was born November 4, 1907: “New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2W84-31S : 11 February 2018), Blanche Zimmerman, 04 Nov 1907; citing Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, reference cn 194 New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 2,023,224. I do not know which is correct. ↩
  5. Rudolph Rothschild, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Page: 18B; Enumeration District: 0485; FHL microfilm: 2341294, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
  6. Mortimer Rothschild, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Page: 18B; Enumeration District: 0485; FHL microfilm: 2341294, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
  7. Alvin Rothschild, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Kingston, Luzerne, Pennsylvania; Roll: m-t0627-03554; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 40-147, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  8. Marjorie Breuer Rothschild, Gender Female, Race White, Birth Date 29 Apr 1914
    Birth Place Wilmington, Delaware, Death Date 9 Jan 2006, Claim Date 5 Apr 1976
    Father Charles Breuer, Mother Maryann Gold. SSN 343368015, Citizenship or Alien Status U.S. citizen. Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007. ↩
  9. Rose Rothschild, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Bronx, Bronx, New York; Page: 11B; Enumeration District: 0327; FHL microfilm: 2341208, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
  10. Gerald Jordan and family, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Buffalo, Erie, New York; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 0294; FHL microfilm: 2341167, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
  11. Charles Hall and family, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 1167; FHL microfilm: 2341316,
    Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
  12. Arnold Blumenfeld and family, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 1167; FHL microfilm: 2341316, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
  13. Dorothy Rothschild, Gender Female, Marriage Date 31 Jan 1932, Marriage Place Bronx, New York, USA, Spouse Sidney Spiegel Certificate Number 936, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937 ↩
  14. Rose Rothschild, Age 56, Birth Year abt 1877, Death Date 7 Mar 1933, Death Place Manhattan, New York, USA, Certificate Number 6002, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948 ↩

Moses Rothschild’s Family 1920-1929: More Marriages, More Census Evasions

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For the family of Moses and Mathilde Rothschild, the Roaring Twenties began with the birth of their first great-grandchild, Alberta Jordan, daughter of Rae Rothschild and Gerald Jordan, on April 18, 1921, in the Bronx, New York. Alberta was the granddaughter of Albert Rothschild and Rose Katz and was presumably named for her grandfather, who had died in 1915.

The next major family event came on September 22, 1923, when Albert and Rose’s daughter Theresa, just seventeen years old, married Arnold Blumenfeld,1 a son of Elias Blumenfeld2 and Celia Finkelstein3 Arnold was born what is now Poland in the town of Czestchowa, on December 9, 1899,4 and immigrated to the US with his family on November 1, 1909.5 Arnold was working as a scaling clerk in a slaughterhouse when he registered for the World War I draft and was living in Manhattan with his family in 1920.6 Theresa and Arnold would have two children, Albert, born September 8, 1926, in the Bronx,7 and presumably named for Theresa’s father Albert Rothschild, and a daughter who may still be living.

Arnold Blumenfeld World War I draft registration, Registration State: New York; Registration County: New York, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

Following Theresa’s marriage in September, 1923, her older sister Josephine married Charles H. Hall on October 14, 1924.8 He was the son of Joseph Hall and Minnie Golden and was born in Glen Cove, New York, on December 7, 1899.9 On his World War I draft registration, Charles reported that he was an apprentice electrician and living in the Bronx with his family.

Charles Harding Hall World War I draft registration, Registration State: New York; Registration County: Bronx, Draft Card: H, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

That brings us up to 1925 and the 1925 New York State census records for this family. In 1925 Mathilde Rothschild was living in the same building (maybe the same apartment?) in the Bronx as her daughter Theresa and Theresa’s husband Max Alexander and their three children, Frances (19), Herbert (15), and Albert (9), as well as Max’s sister Estelle. Max continued to work in the real estate business.

Mathilde Rothschild, Max Alexander and family 1925 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1925; Election District: 16; Assembly District: 08; City: New York; County: Bronx; Page: 35, District: A·D· 08 E·D· 16, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1925

Samuel Rothschild was also living in the Bronx with his wife Sallye and son Milton; he was in the novelties business.10 His brother Rudolph Rothschild was living in Manhattan with his wife Rebecca and sons Mortimer (25) and Alvin (21). Rudolph and Mortimer were salesmen, and Alvin was working in advertising.11

Gertrude Rothschild Lancelot (the family now having shortened the surname from Lancelotti, it appears) and her husband Charles and their children Milton (16) and Estelle (14) were living in Manhattan, and Charles continued to work as an artist for an engraving company.12

As for Rose Katz Rothschild, widow of Albert Rothschild, as I wrote earlier, I could not find Rose on the 1925 NYS census nor could I find her two youngest daughters, Lillian and Dorothy, on that census. But I did find Rose and Albert’s three oldest daughters on that census. Two of them, Rae Rothschild Jordan and Theresa Rothschild Blumenfeld, were living next door to each other in the same apartment building in the Bronx with their respective husbands and Rae’s daughter Alberta. Rae’s husband Gerald Jordan was working as a “manager.”  Theresa’s husband Arnold Blumenfeld was in the insurance business. Their sister Josephine Rothschild Hall and her husband Charles Harding Hall were living in the Bronx also; Charles was an electrician, Josephine a stenographer.13

Gerald Jordan and family, Arnold Blumenfeld and family 1925 US census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1925; Election District: 54; Assembly District: 08; City: New York; County: Bronx; Page: 20, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1925

Aron Rothschild, the youngest child of Moses and Mathilde, posed more challenges for me when it came to the 1925 NYS census. I could not find him or his wife Martha or son Melville anywhere on that census. Like his sister-in-law Rose Katz Rothschild and her two youngest daughters Lillian and Dorothy, Aron and his family all seem to have somehow evaded the enumerator.

The following years saw another marriage in the family when Rudolph Rothschild’s son Mortimer Maxwell Rothschild married Amelia Spiegel on April 14, 1927, in New York City. Amelia was born in New York on August 13, 1905, to Adolph Spiegel and Ida Jaffa.14

Also, Lillian Rothschild, Albert and Rose’s daughter, married Max Blumenfeld on June 29, 1929, in the Bronx.15 Max was the younger brother of Arnold Blumenfeld, Lillian’s brother-in-law and the husband of her older sister Theresa. Max was born on February 18, 1904, in Poland.16

Thus, the family was expanding throughout the 1920s. Next time we will see how they fared through the Depression of the 1930s.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Theresa Rothschild, Gender Female, Marriage Date 22 Sep 1923, Marriage Place Manhattan, New York, USA, Spouse, Arnold Blumenfeld, Certificate Number 33859, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937 ↩
  2. Eliasz Dawid Blumenfeld, Birth Date 1862, Birth Place Czestochowa, Film 875329
    Line 123, JRI-Poland Shtetl CO-OP Volunteers, comp. Poland, Jewish Records Indexing-Poland, Births, 1550-1993. When I first saw “Blumenfeld,” I wondered if Arnold was a cousin, but once I realized his family was from Poland, not Germany, I knew there was no familial connection. ↩
  3. Celia Blumenfeld, [Celia Finkenstein], Gender Female, Race White, Marital Status Widowed, Age 75, Birth Date abt 1865, Birth Place Russia, Residence Street Address 1748 Washington Av, Residence Place New York, Years in US 30, Death Date 15 Aug 1940, Hospital Morrisania, Death Place New York City, Bronx, New York, USA, Cause of Death Arteriosclerotic Heart Disease Conestive Heart Failure, Burial Date 16 Aug 1940
    Burial Place Beth David Cemetery, Occupation Hwife, Father’s Birth Place Russia, Mother’s Birth Place Russia, Father, Aaron Finkenstein, Mother Sarah Finkenstein, Child, Aaron Blumenfeld, Informant Aaron Blumenfeld, Informant Gender Male, Informant Relationship Son, Executor Aaron Blumenfeld, Executor Relationship Son
    Certificate Number 7791, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Death Certificates; Borough: Bronx; Year: 1940, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948 ↩
  4. BLUMENFELD Aron Icyk Eliasz Dawid Cyrla FINKELSZTAJN 6 Dec 1899 Czestochowa 119 12 1089 With parents 1232, Czestochowa Book of Residents 1870-1914 CRARG, JRI-Poland, at https://legacy.jri-poland.org/databases/jridetail_2.php ↩
  5. Arnold Blumenfeld ship manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
  6. Arnold Blumenfeld, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Manhattan Assembly District 17, New York, New York; Roll: T625_1217; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 1205, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  7. Albert Blumenfeld, Gender Male, Race White, Birth Date 9 Sep 1926, Birth Place NY Bx, New York, Death Date 19 Oct 1989, Father Arnold Blumenfeld, Mother Theresa Rothschild, SSN 054200492, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  8. Charles H Hall, Gender Male, Marriage Date 14 Oct 1924, Marriage Place Manhattan, New York, USA, Certificate Number 27615, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937; Charles H Hall, Gender Male
    Marriage License Date 14 Oct 1924, Marriage License Place Bronx, New York City, New York, USA, Spouse Josephine F Rothschild, License Number 5830, New York City Municipal Archives; New York, New York; Borough: Bronx, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018 ↩
  9. Joseph Hall, 1900 US census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Oyster Bay, Nassau, New York; Roll: 1079; Page: 8; Enumeration District: 0726, Description
    Enumeration District: 0726; Description: Oyster Bay Town; Election District 8, Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census; Minnie I Golden, Gender Female
    Marriage Date 14 Sep 1896, Marriage Place Glen Cove, New York, USA, Spouse
    Joseph H Hall, Certificate Number 16959, New York State Department of Health; Albany, NY, USA; New York State Marriage Index, Ancestry.com. New York State, Marriage Index, 1881-1967. ↩
  10. Samuel Rothschild and family, 1925 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1925; Election District: 72; Assembly District: 02; City: New York; County: Bronx; Page: 17, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1925 ↩
  11. Rudolph Rothschild and family, 1925 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1925; Election District: 01; Assembly District: 11; City: New York; County: New York; Page: 11, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1925 ↩
  12. Charles Lancelot and family, 1925 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1925; Election District: 18; Assembly District: 23; City: New York; County: New York; Page: 3, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1925 ↩
  13. Charles Hall and family, 1925 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1925; Election District: 69; Assembly District: 08; City: New York; County: Bronx; Page: 5, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1925 ↩
  14. New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938″, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24WQ-H78 : Tue Feb 20 22:32:18 UTC 2024), Entry for Mortimer Rottschild and Amelie Spiegel, 14 Apr 1927. ↩
  15. Lillian Rothchild, Gender Female, Marriage Date 29 Jun 1929, Marriage Place Bronx, New York, USA, Spouse, Max Blumenfeld, Certificate Number 4938, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937 ↩
  16. Elias Blumenfeld and family, 1910 US census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Manhattan Ward 12, New York, New York; Roll: T624_1020; Page: 3a; Enumeration District: 0474; FHL microfilm: 1375033, Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census; Max Blumenfeld ship manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Serial or NAID: T715; RG Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; RG: 85, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957; Max Blumenfeld, Social Security Number 056-09-6623, Birth Date 18 Feb 1904, Issue year Before 1951, Issue State New York, Last Residence 11367, Flushing, Queens, New York, USA, Death Date Apr 1971, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014; “New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2CJ-G79S : Sat Mar 09 14:13:28 UTC 2024), Entry for Max Blumenfeld and Lillian Rothchild, 29 June 1929. ↩

Mourning A Loss

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I had a blog post ready for today, but right now that all seems irrelevant. Who cares about the past when the present and the future feel so dark? I know that my parents, my grandparents, and my great-grandparents would be horrified by what has happened to their country. The country I was taught to love, to honor, to respect.

So forgive me if right now I sound angry. I am angry. I guess I am in that stage of grief. I went through denial last night until I heard Pennsylvania had gone for Trump. Pennsylvania—where I wrote over a hundred letters to voters. Pennsylvania—where my father was born and raised, as was his father and his grandfather, and where my ancestors Jacob Cohen and John Nusbaum came in the 1840s to find new opportunities and freedom from oppression. How could Pennsylvania betray us all?

And yes, this is the grief speaking. I have lost a loved one—that loved one is my long-held belief that Americans are basically good, smart, caring people who believe in freedom, justice, and democracy. I am angry with my fellow Americans who betrayed those ideals by voting for Trump. Maybe I will eventually move on to the bargaining stage. But not right now.

Right now these feelings are too raw, too new. I need to sit shiva for this painful loss before I can move on. So please—don’t tell me to accept and move on. Would you say that to someone sitting shiva for a parent or spouse? Would you tell them to move on in those seven days after the funeral? No. You wouldn’t.

And don’t tell me that I need to mend fences and reach out to those who didn’t vote for Harris. Would you tell a mourner to forgive the person who murdered their loved one? Certainly not while they are sitting shiva. No. That would be cruel.

And I certainly do not want to hear from anyone, family or friend or stranger, who voted for Trump or who didn’t vote at all. I can’t forgive you right now, and hearing from you will only increase my pain. I will delete any comments that say anything in defense of your opinion, your vote.

Right now I am in pain. And I feel nothing but despair and anger and grief. I am in mourning. And like any mourner, I only want support, empathy, and understanding of my grief.