Category Archives: Blumenfeld

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. ↩

Albert Rothschild’s Family 1915-1920: Loss and Survival

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The third son of Moses and Matilda Rothschild, Albert, was the first to die, and he died far too young.

On August 25, 1915, Albert, while a patient at Lloyd’s Sanitarium in New York City, drew up his last will and testament. According to this website, Lloyd’s Sanitarium was created by Dr. Henry William Lloyd in 1909 as a private hospital for the well-to-do.

Dr Lloyds Sanitarium from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Albert’s will1 provides evidence that Albert was at least financially comfortable although perhaps not wealthy. In it he provided for a $500 trust to be created for his mother, Mathilde. In 1915 $500 would be worth over $15,000 in today’s money—not a fortune, but still a generous bequest. The will also provided that his wife Rose would receive “a third of her dower rights” or alternatively $50 to $60 a month, or about $1500 a month or $18,000 a year in today’s money. Again, hardly a fortune. Albert named Rose as well as his brothers Samuel and Rudolph to be the executors of his estate. The will documents reveal that Rose and the children were living at 964 Simpson Street in the Bronx in 1915 (although they are not listed there on the 1915 New York State census).

Albert Rothschild Last Will and Testament

Albert Rothschild notice of probate

Albert Rothschild probate order

Albert died a month later on September 29, 1915, in Amityville, New York, out on Long Island, presumably at a hospital there.2 I do not know what the cause of death was (and ordering a copy of the certificate from Vital Records is prohibitively expensive), but it would certainly appear that Albert knew he was gravely ill a month earlier when he wrote his will. He was only 38 years old and left behind not only his widow Rose, but their five daughters, Rachael, then 19, Josephine (13), Theresa (9), Lillian (6), and Dorothy, only one year old.

In this way Albert was following in the footsteps of his father Moses, who also died in his thirties and left behind six children who were all quite young. Was it the same cause of death? Was Moses’ cause of death really general paresis or was there a genetic cause of death for both Albert and Moses? I don’t know.

As for Albert’s widow Rose and their five daughters, their lives continued. Rose remarried in 1917, in New York;3 her second husband was Craig Powis, born in New York on October 27, 1874, to Charles Powis and Jennie Armstrong.4 On his 1918 World War I draft registration, Craig’s occupation was reported as an engineer at the army base in Brooklyn, and he and Rose were living in Brooklyn.

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

But two years later in 1920, Rose was living with four of her daughters in the Bronx. Although she was using the last name Powis and reported her marital status as married, Craig was not listed as living with her. Rose was working as a salesperson in a dry goods store.  Perhaps Craig was living on the army base in Brooklyn. Perhaps the marriage had failed.

Rose Powis and family 1920 US census, ear: 1920; Census Place: Bronx Assembly District 1, Bronx, New York; Roll: T625_1130; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 42,  Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census

It’s hard to know because I cannot find Craig on the 1920 census nor can I find either Rose or Craig on the 1925 NYS census. However, it does appear that Craig may have married again because on the index of his death record on FamilySearch, it says that he died on July 14, 1926, in the Bronx and that his surviving spouse was named Anna. Of course, the index could be an incorrect transcription of the death certificate or it could just be a mistake. But in any event it does not appear that Craig was living with Rose in 1920.5

Living with their mother Rose in the Bronx in 1920 were her four younger daughters: Josephine (17), Theresa (14), Lillian (10), and Dorothy (5). Josephine was working as a billing clerk for a lumber company. The other three were still in school.6

Albert and Rose’s oldest daughter Rachael (now using Rae) was not living with her mother and sisters because she had married Gerald L. Jordan on July 17, 1919, in Brooklyn, New York. Gerald was born in Charleston, West Virginia, on June 9, 1892, to Louis Jordan and Bertha Schmitz.7 On his June 1917 World War I draft registration, Gerald was living in New York City and was the secretary and salesman for the David Cohen Sales Company. He claimed an exemption from military service because of “heart trouble.” I could not find Rae and Gerald on the 1920 census. They had a daughter born on April 18, 1921, in the Bronx, named Alberta.8 She was Moses and Mathilde Rothschild’s first great-grandchild, and I assume she was named for Rae’s father Albert Rothschild.

Gerald Jordan 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

The rest of the story of Albert Rothschild’s family will follow in subsequent posts.

  1. Albert Rothschild, Probate Date 25 Aug 1915, Probate Place Bronx, New York, USA, Inferred Death Date 1915, Item Description Probate Administration Records, #0335-0343, Mary Vander Roest-Charles V Schüll, 1915-1916, New York, Bronx Probate Administration Records; Author: New York. Surrogate’s Court (Bronx County); Probate Place: Bronx, New York, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1659-1999 ↩
  2. Albert Rotohschild [sic], Event Type Death, Event Date 29 September 1915, Event Place Amityville, Babylon, Suffolk, New York, United States. Event Place (Original) Amityville, New York, Entry Number 55476, “New York, State Death Index, 1880-1956”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG2W-Y243 : Fri Mar 08 01:04:50 UTC 2024), Entry for Albert Rotohschild, 29 Sep 1915. ↩
  3. Rose Rothschild, Gender Female, Marriage License Date 1 Mar 1917, Marriage License Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, Spouse Craig Powis
    License Number 6232, New York City Municipal Archives; New York, New York; Borough: Manhattan; Volume Number: 3, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018 ↩
  4. Craig A. Powis., Sex Male, Age 52, Birth Year (Estimated) 1874, Marital Status Unknown, Father’s Name Charles, Father’s Sex Male, Mother’s Name Armstrong
    Mother’s Sex Female, Spouse’s Name Anna Powis, Event Type Death, Event Date 14 Jul 1926, Event Place The Bronx, New York City, New York, United States, Event Place (Original) Bronx, New York, New York, United States, Record Type death, Certificate Number cn 5497, “New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WG3-NVM : 13 May 2022), Craig A. Powis, 1926. ↩
  5. See Note 4, supra. ↩
  6. See image above. ↩
  7. Gerald Lewis Jordan, Sex Male, Age 25 years, Birth Year (Estimated) 1892, Father’s Name Louis, Father’s Sex Male, Mother’s Name Bertha Schmitz
    Mother’s Sex Female, Spouse’s Name Rae Rotschild, Spouse’s Sex Female
    Spouse’s Age 21 years, Spouse’s Birth Year (Estimated) 1896, Spouse’s Father’s Name Albert, Spouse’s Father’s Sex Male, Spouse’s Mother’s Name Rose Katz, Event Type Marriage, Event Date 10 July 1917, Event Place Kings, New York, United States
    Source Details 10399, “New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2CK-YV93 : Sat Mar 09 05:09:54 UTC 2024), Entry for Gerald Lewis Jordan and Rae Rotschild, 10 July 1917. Gerald L. Jordan Sex Male Father’s Name Louis Jordan Mother’s Name Bertha Schmitz Event Type Birth Event Date 9 Jun 1892 Event Place Charleston, Kanawha, West Virginia, United States, “West Virginia Births and Christenings, 1853-1928”, , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X556-8BP : 12 December 2019), Gerald L. Jordan, 1892. ↩
  8. Alberta L Jordan, Birth Date 15 Apr 1921, Birth Place Bronx, New York City, New York, USA, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Birth Index, 1910-1965 ↩

Moses Rothschild’s Family: Where Was His Widow in 1920?

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In my last post before the holiday last week, we saw that all six of Moses Rothschild’s children, his widow Matilda, and their nine grandchildren were all living in the Bronx. But by 1915, there were some changes.

Matilda and her youngest child Aaron, now 32, had moved back to Manhattan, and Aaron was working as a bead salesman.1 Samuel, Moses and Matilda’s oldest child, and his family were still in the Bronx, and he was working as a factory superintendent.2 But Rudolph, the second child, had, like his mother and brother Aaron, moved back to Manhattan with his wife and children; Rudolph was still working as a traveling salesman.

As for Albert, the third son, it took some doing to find him and his family on the 1915 NYS census because his surname was transcribed as “Nathschild” instead of Rothschild. At the time the census was enumerated in June, 1915, Albert and his family were living on St. Nicholas Avenue in Manhattan, and Albert was working as an importer. Sadly, within a few months Albert would pass away. That will be the story of my next post.

Albert Rothschild and family 1915 NYS census,New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1915; Election District: 53; Assembly District: 23; City: New York; County: New York; Page: 39, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1915

Moses and Matilda’s two daughters were both still living in the Bronx in 1915. Theresa Rothschild Alexander,3 the older daughter of Moses and Mathilde, was living with her husband Max, their nine year old daughter Frances, and their four year old son Herbert Mortimer Alexander, who was born on September 1, 1910, in New York.4 A third child, Albert Alexander, was born on July 6, 1915, in New York, not long after the 1915 New York State census was taken.5 Theresa’s husband Max was in the real estate business.

Gertrude, the younger daughter, was living with her husband Charles Lancelotti (spelled Lancelot here),6 who was working as an artist, their seven year old son Milton, and their daughter Estelle, who was born on February 18, 1911, in New York City.7

With the outbreak of World War I in Europe and America’s subsequent entry into that war, three of the sons of Moses and Mathilde Rothschild as well as their two sons-in-law registered for the draft. Samuel’s registration shows that he was living in the Bronx and working as a superintendent in a celluloid factory owned by Rice & Hochster. From what I could find on the internet, it appears that Rice & Hochster was a leading manufacturer of women’s hair accessories.

Samuel Rothschild World War I draft registration, Registration State: New York; Registration County: Bronx, Draft Card: R, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

Rudolph’s registration reveals that he also was employed by Rice & Hochster, but as a traveling salesman. He was living in Manhattan.

Rudolph Rothschild World War I draft registration, Registration State: New York; Registration County: New York, Draft Card: R, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

Meanwhile, the youngest brother Aaron had married Martha Schoenholz on July 3, 1918, in New York.8 Martha was born in New York on November 3, 1890, to Max Schoenholz and Clothilde Herman.9 Aaron registered for the World War I draft on September 12, 1918, two months after his marriage to Martha. They were living in New York, apparently with Aaron’s sister Gertrude and her husband Charles Lancelotti, given the “c/o Lancellotti” on the registration. Aaron was self-employed as a wholesale merchant. Aaron and Martha’s son Melville Albert Rothschild was born a year later on July 22, 1919, in New York.10 I assume his middle name was for Aaron’s brother Albert.

Aaron Rothschild World War I draft registration, Registration State: New York; Registration County: New York, Draft Card: R, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

As for Charles Lancelotti, his draft registration shows he was working as the art director at Standard Engraving Company and living in New York City.

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

And Max Alexander, Theresa’s husband, reported on his draft registration that he was a self-employed real estate broker. They were living in the Bronx.

Max Alexander World War I draft registration, Registration State: New York
Draft Card: A, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

The 1920 census for the family of Moses and Matilda Rothschild does not show many changes. Samuel and his family were living in the Bronx and Samuel was the manager of a novelty house.11 Rudolph and his family were living in Manhattan, and Rudolph as well as his 20-year-old son Milton were working as ladies’ wear salesmen while Alvin, the younger son now 17, was working as an office boy in a wholesale business.12 Aaron, the youngest brother, was living with his wife and son in Manhattan, and he owned a wholesale bead and novelty business.13 Theresa and her husband Max Alexander and their two children were living in the Bronx, and Max was a real estate broker.14 And Gertrude and her husband Charles Lancelot(ti) were living in Manhattan with their two children, and Charles was still an artist for an engraving company.15

The only family member who has been difficult to locate on the 1920 census is Matilda Rothschild, Moses’ widow and the mother of their children. The only entry I can find for a Matilda or Mathilde Rothschild is this one for a widow with that name, but this record reports that she was born in Pennsylvania, whereas my Matilda was born in Germany. It also says she was 77 whereas my Matilda would have been 71 in 1920. This Mathilde Rothschild was living at 550 Park Avenue in Manhattan, which is at 62nd Street near Central Park. My Matilda’s children who lived in Manhattan (Rudolph, Aaron and Gertrude) were all living much further uptown.

Mathilde Rothschild 1920 US census, “United States Census, 1920”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MV35-QX2 : Fri Mar 08 16:41:16 UTC 2024), Entry for Mathilde Rothchild, 1920.

What do you think? Is the Mathilde Rothschild living on Park Avenue in 1920 the widow of my cousin Moses Rothschild? I am not sure.

UPDATE: Thank you to my cousin Richard Bloomfield, who figured out that the Mathilde Rothschild on that census record was NOT my cousin’s widow. See his comment below. I guess Mathilde just somehow eluded the census enumerator.

Wishing all who celebrate Yom Kippur an easy but meaningful fast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Matilda Rothschild, 1915 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1915; Election District: 52; Assembly District: 23; City: New York; County: New York; Page: 06, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1915 ↩
  2. Rudolph Rothschild, 1915 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1915; Election District: 51; Assembly District: 23; City: New York; County: New York; Page: 36, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1915 ↩
  3. Max Alexander and family, 1915 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1915; Election District: 33; Assembly District: 35; City: New York; County: Bronx; Page: 43, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1915 ↩
  4. Herbert M Alexander, Birth Date 1 Sep 1910, Birth Place Bronx, New York City, New York, USA, Certificate Number 9831, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Birth Index, 1910-1965 ↩
  5. Albert Edward Alexander, [Albert E Alexander], Gender Male, Race White
    Birth Date 6 Jul 1915, Birth Place New York Bx, New York, Death Date 15 Sep 1994
    Father Max Alexander, Mother Theresa Rothschild, SSN 114122501, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  6. Charles Lancelot and family, 1915 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1915; Election District: 29; Assembly District: 34; City: New York; County: Bronx; Page: 20, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1915 ↩
  7. [illegible] E Lancellotti, Birth Date 18 Feb 1911, Birth Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, Certificate Number 11462, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Birth Index, 1910-1965. ↩
  8. Martha Schoenholz, Gender Female, Marriage Date 3 Jul 1918, Marriage Place Manhattan, New York, USA, Spouse Aaron Rothschild, Certificate Number 19662, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937. ↩
  9. Martha Schonholz Sex Female Race White Father’s Name Max Schonholz Father’s Age 31 Father’s Birthplace Germany Mother’s Name Clothilde Herman Mother’s Age 23 Mother’s Birthplace Germany Event Type Birth Event Date 03 Nov 1890 Event Place Manhattan, New York, New York, United States “New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WMB-JL2 : 11 February 2018), Martha Schonholz, 03 Nov 1890; citing Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, reference cn 34007 New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,322,237. ↩
  10. Melville Albert Rothschild, [Melville Rothschild], Gender Male. Race White
    Birth Date 22 Jul 1919, Birth Place New York City, New York, [New York Cit], Death Date Jun 1978, Father Aron Rothschild Mother Martha Schoenholz, SSN 084037768, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  11. Samuel Rothschild and family, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Bronx Assembly District 2, Bronx, New York; Roll: T625_1133; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 161, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  12. Rudolph Rothschild and family, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Manhattan Assembly District 22, New York, New York; Roll: T625_1226; Page: 23B; Enumeration District: 1486, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  13. Aaron Rothschild and family, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Manhattan Assembly District 23, New York, New York; Roll: T625_1227; Page: 19B; Enumeration District: 1504, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  14. Max Alexander and family, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Bronx Assembly District 8, Bronx, New York; Roll: T625_1141; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 416, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  15. Charles Lancelot and family, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Manhattan Assembly District 23, New York, New York; Roll: T625_1227; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 1503, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩

Moses Rothschild’s Family: The Move to the Bronx 1900 to 1910

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The 1905 New York State census helped me locate the family of Moses and Mathilde Rothschild’s second-born son Rudolph; he was living with his wife Rebecca and their two children in New York City and working as a salesman. It looks like he was a “hail” salesman, but given how badly the enumerator spelled their names, I assume Rudolph was not selling frozen precipitation.

Rudolph Rothschild 1905 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1905; Election District: A.D. 23 E.D. 41 2; City: Manhattan; County: New York; Page: 13, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1905

But what about Rudolph’s mother and siblings? What does the New York State census show for them in 1905? His mother Mathilde and the three youngest children—Theresa (26), Gertrude (24), and Aaron (22)—were living together in New York City, and Gertrude was working as a stenographer and Aaron as a bookkeeper. Theresa and her mother listed their occupations as housework.

Matilda Rothschild 1905 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1905; Election District: A.D. 31 E.D. 13; City: Manhattan; County: New York; Page: 14, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1905

Samuel Rothschild and his wife Sallie also were living in New York City in 1905, and Samuel was working as a “superintendent,” specifics not given.1 His brother Albert was working as a traveling salesman and living in the Bronx with his wife Rose and daughters Rachael (or Rae, age 9) and Josephine,2 who was born on November 19, 1902.3

By 1910, there had been quite a few changes, including marriages, babies, and many relocations from Manhattan to the Bronx. Mathilde had moved from Manhattan to the Bronx and was living only with Aaron, her youngest child. Aaron was working as a traveling salesman in the trimmings business.4

Moses and Mathilde’s two daughters married between the 1905 NYS census and the 1910 US census. Theresa married Max Alexander on June 15, 1905, not long after that NYS census was enumerated.5 Max was born in New York on September 18, 1874, to Henry Alexander and Fannie Meyer.6 Theresa and Max had their first child on May 13, 1906, a daughter Frances.7 In 1910, Theresa, Max, and Frances were living in the Bronx, and Max had his own real estate office.8

Theresa’s sister Gertrude married Charles Lancelotti on November 27, 1907, in New York City. Charles was born in Italy on October 1, 1882, to Raphael Lancelotti  and Maria De Rosa.9 He had immigrated with his parents to the US as a young child. In 1900 he had been living with his parents and siblings in New York, working as a carpenter. In 1905, he was working as a bookkeeper. Gertrude and Charles’ first child, Milton, was born on November 23, 1908, in New York, and in 1910, they were all living in the Bronx, and Charles was working as an artist for an engraving company.10

Meanwhile, the three older sons of Moses and Mathilde Rothschild were also all living in the Bronx in 1910. Samuel and his wife and son were living in the Bronx and Samuel was a superintendent of a comb factory.11 Rudolph and his family were also in the Bronx, and Rudolph continued to work as a traveling salesman.12

And Albert and his family also were in the Bronx, and Albert was working as a traveling furniture salesman. Albert’s family, however, had expanded since the 1905 NYS census. He and his wife Rose now had two more daughters: Theresa, born January 5, 1906,12 and Lillian, born December 9, 1909.13 Since Rose reported on the 1910 census that she had had six children of whom only four were living, I assume that there may have been another child who died before 1910 in addition to their son Milton, but I cannot find a birth or death record for that child.

Albert Rothschild and family 1910 US census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Bronx Assembly District 33, New York, New York; Roll: T624_1000; Page: 10a; Enumeration District: 1528; FHL microfilm: 1375013, Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census

Thus, in 1910 Moses Rothschild’s widow Mathilde and their six children and nine grandchildren were all living in the Bronx. Here’s a map showing where they were located as of that date.

 

But the next decade saw many changes, including departures from the Bronx.

 

 

  1. Samuel Rothschild, 1905 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1905; Election District: A.D. 31 E.D. 16; City: Manhattan; County: New York; Page: 50, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1905. ↩
  2.   Albert Rothschild, 1905 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1905; Election District: A.D. 34 E.D. 37; City: Bronx; County: New York; Page: 22, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1905 ↩
  3. Josephine Isabel Rothschild, Gender Female, Race White, Birth Date 19 Nov 1902
    Birth Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, USA, Residence Address E 127th Street 120, Certificate Number 48555, Father Albert Rothschild, Mother Rosie Rothschild, Mother Maiden Name Katz, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1902, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩
  4. Matilda Rothschild, 1910 US census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Bronx Assembly District 33, New York, New York; Roll: T624_1000; Page: 15a; Enumeration District: 1527; FHL microfilm: 1375013, Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census ↩
  5. Theresa Rothschild, Gender Female, Marriage Date 15 Jun 1905, Marriage Place Manhattan, New York, USA, Spouse Max Alexander, Certificate Number 12562, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937 ↩
  6. “New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24MB-LP1 : Tue Feb 20 22:32:07 UTC 2024), Entry for Max Alexander and Theresa Rothschild, 15 Jun 1905. Max Alexander
    Birth Date 18 Sep 1874, Residence Date 1917-1918, Street Address 2385 Grand Concourse, Residence Place Bronx, New York, USA, Draft Board 21, Relative Theresa Alexander, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 ↩
  7. Frances Alexander, Birth Date 13 May 1906, Birth Place Manhattan, New York, USA, Certificate Number 4332 S, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Birth Index, 1878-1909.  ↩
  8. Max Alexander and family, 1910 US census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Bronx Assembly District 35, New York, New York; Roll: T624_1003; Page: 1a; Enumeration District: 1613; FHL microfilm: 1375016, Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census ↩
  9. “New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24HY-Y61 : Tue Feb 20 19:16:26 UTC 2024), Entry for Charles Lancellotti and Gertrude Rothschild, 27 Nov 1907. Charles Lancellotti, Social Security Number 063-07-0924, Birth Date 1 Oct 1882, Issue year Before 1951, Issue State New York, Last Residence 10453, Bronx, Bronx, New York, USA, Death Date Aug 1967, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  10. Charles Lancellotti and family, 1910 US census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Bronx Assembly District 33, New York, New York; Roll: T624_1000; Page: 3b; Enumeration District: 1523; FHL microfilm: 1375013, Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census ↩
  11. Samuel Rothschild and family, 1910 US census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Bronx Assembly District 32, New York, New York; Roll: T624_996; Page: 5b; Enumeration District: 1422; FHL microfilm: 1375009, Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census ↩
  12. Theresa Rothschild, Gender Female, Race White, Birth Date 15 Jan 1906, Birth Place Bronx, New York City, Bronx, New York, USA, Residence Address E. 144th Street 673, Certificate Number 506, Father Albert Rothschild, Mother Rose Rothschild
    Mother Maiden Name Katz, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Bronx; Year: 1906, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩ ↩
  13. Lillian Rothschild, Gender Female, Race White, Birth Date 9 Dec 1909, Birth Place Bronx, New York City, Bronx, New York, USA, Residence Address Cauldwell Av. 955, Certificate Number 8964, Father Albert Rothschild, Mother Rose Rothschild
    Mother Maiden Name Katz, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Bronx; Year: 1909, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩

Moses Rothschild, Part IV: Rudolph Rothschild, Where Were You? And Where Was Your Infant Son?

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Now that I have concluded that Moses Rothschild, the third child of Gelle Blumenfeld and Simon Rothschild, died on April 11, 1885, I can move on to discuss the lives of his surviving family. He was survived by his wife Mathilde and their six children, Samuel, Rudolph, Albert, Theresa, Gertrude, and Aaron, all born between 1873 and 1881. Aaron, the youngest, was only three when his father died, and Samuel, the oldest, was only eleven. Mathilde certainly had her hands full.

In 1900, Mathilde was living in New York City with her three younger children, Theresa (21), Gertrude (20), and Aaron (18). Theresa was working as a stenographer, Gertrude as a dressmaker, and Aaron as a clerk.

Matilda Rothschild 1900 US census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1154; Page: 9; Enumeration District: 0841, Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census

The three oldest children of Moses and Mathilde had all married by 1900, as we saw in this post. Samuel had married Sallye Livingston in 1898, and they were also living in New York in 1900, where Samuel was working as a clothing salesman.1

Albert, the third son, was also in New York City in 1900, working in a hardware store and living with his wife Rose, whom he’d married in 1895, and their daughter Rachel, who was four years old.2 But their son Milton, born on September 26,1898, was not listed on the 1900 census. I found a death record for him under the name Moses Rothschild, his grandfather’s name and his namesake; little Milton/Moses died on July 20, 1899, two months before his first birthday.3

And then I hit another brick wall with this family. The second son, Rudolph Rothschild, married Rebecca Schlossberg on April 17, 1898, in New York City, as we saw. There is an extracted marriage record on FamilySearch and on Ancestry for this couple, so although I have not seen the actual marriage certificate, I am very certain that this information is reliable.

But I was not able to locate Rudolph Rothschild on the 1900 census with or without Rebecca. I searched high and low, using different spellings, wild cards, different data bases. Nothing. I recruited the help of the experts on Tracing the Tribe, and they couldn’t find Rudolph anywhere on the 1900 census either.

However, I did find his wife Rebecca: she was living with her mother and sister in New York. The census record lists her under her birth surname Schlossberg (misspelled here) and her marital status as single. Since Rudolph was a traveling salesman according to later records, I wondered whether they were living with Rebecca’s mother and Rudolph was not home but on the road when the enumerator came. The enumerator may have assumed that Rebecca was single since no husband was there at that moment. But that’s all speculation.

Rebecca Schlossberg Rothschild 1900 US census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1119; Page: 16; Enumeration District: 0846, Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census

But what is even more perplexing is the fact that according to several records, Rudolph and Rebecca had a son named Mortimer Max Rothschild born on October 28, 1899, just a few months before the census enumerator took the family’s information for the 1900 census. Yet there is no listing for any infant living with Rebecca on that 1900 census. Where could that baby have disappeared? Was the census enumerator that incompetent that he not only listed Rebecca as single with the wrong last name but also entirely missed not only her husband but also her child?

Something just seemed off to me. And I became even more troubled when I decided to confirm that Mortimer Max Rothschild was in fact born on October 28, 1899, in New York, as reported on his two draft registrations4 and to Social Security.5 I could not find any birth record for him on that date in New York. I expanded the search to other states. No luck. I searched for any Rothschild baby born anywhere on that date. No luck. I searched on October 28 in other years—1898, 1900—no luck. I used wild cards. No luck. There were many babies born in the five boroughs of New York City on October 28, 1899, but only one of them was born to a woman named Rebecca, and that was a different Rebecca.

So I am at a loss.

My theories? One long shot guess: Rebecca and Rudolph adopted a baby sometime after the 1900 census was taken, and that baby was born on October 28, 1899, to unidentifiable birth parents and is thus not listed on the birth registry with the name Mortimer Max Rothschild.

Or, more likely, Rebecca and Rudolph never registered Mortimer’s birth. That certainly happened back in that era. Since I also cannot find a birth record for Rudolph and Rebecca’s second child Alvin, born September 2, 1903, according to several later records (draft registration,6 Social Security7), it seems quite likely that Rudolph and Rebecca just weren’t good at filing birth certificates. But that doesn’t explain why Mortimer is not listed with Rebecca on the 1900 census or where Rudolph was at that time.

What I do know is that according to the 1905 New York State census, Rudolph, Rebecca, Mortimer and their second child Alvin were then living together in New York City. Not that they were easy to find there either. I am grateful to Giannis of Tracing the Tribe for locating the family on the 1905 New York State census. As you can see from the image below, the last name and Alvin’s first name were misspelled and the indexer on Ancestry added some transcription errors, so that’s why I’d had no luck finding them. But Rudolph, Rebecca, Mortimer, and Alvin were all living together in 1905, and as we will see, they lived as an intact family for at least another twenty years.

Albert Rothschild 1905 NYS census, New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1905; Election District: A.D. 23 E.D. 41 2; City: Manhattan; County: New York; Page: 13, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State Census, 1905

In the next series of posts I will tell the stories of the children of Moses Rothschild and Mathilde Seligmann from 1900 forward.

 

 

  1. Samuel Rothschild 1900 census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1119; Page: 4; Enumeration District: 0846, Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census ↩
  2. Albert Rothschild, 1900 census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1123; Page: 5; Enumeration District: 0930, Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census ↩
  3. Moses Rothschild, Sex Male, Age 0, Birth Year (Estimated) 1899, Birthplace N Y C, Address 2068 Third Ave, Burial Date 21 Jul 1899, Race White, Father’s Name Albert Rothschild, Father’s Sex Male, Father’s Birthplace N.Y.C., Mother’s Name Rosie Rothschild, Mother’s Sex Female, Mother’s Birthplace Germany, Event Type Death
    Event Date 20 Jul 1899, Event Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States, Certificate Number cn 21063, Cemetery Mt. Neboh Cem,  “New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WX3-D79 : 3 June 2020), Moses Rothschild, 20 Jul 1899; citing Death, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,322,962. ↩
  4. Mortimer Maxwell Rothschild, World War I Draft registration, Birth Date 28 Oct 1899, Residence Date 1917-1918 Street Address 645 W 160st St, Residence Place Manhattan, New York, USA, Draft Board 147, Relative Rudolph Rothschild, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918; Mortimer M Rothschild, World War II draft registration, Age 42, Birth Date 28 Oct 1899, Birth Place New York, New York, Registration Date 15 Feb 1942, Registration Place New York City, New York, New York, Employer Mode Kiddie Coats Inc, Next of Kin Mrs M M Rothschild, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For New York City, 10/16/1940 – 03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 ↩
  5. Mortimer Rothschild, Social Security Number 068-07-0481, Birth Date 28 Oct 1899
    Issue year Before 1951, Issue State New York, Last Residence 10530, Hartsdale, Westchester, New York, USA, Death Date Oct 1974, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  6. Alvin Raymond Rothschild, World War II Draft Registration, Race White, Age 38
    Birth Date 2 Sep 1903, Birth Place New York City, NY, Residence Place Buffalo, Erie, New York, Registration Date 14 Feb 1942, Registration Place Buffalo, New York, USA
    Employer Neissener Bros. Rochester, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For New York State, 10/16/1940 – 03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 ↩
  7. Alvin Rothschild, Social Security Number 221-07-6663, Birth Date 2 Sep 1903
    Issue year Before 1951, Issue State Delaware, Last Residence 60062, Northbrook, Cook, Illinois, USA, Last Benefit 60062, Northbrook, Cook, Illinois, USA, Death Date Feb 1987, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩

Moses Rothschild, Part III: Is this his headstone?

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Once again the genealogy village came through to help me try and find out when my second cousin, three times removed, Moses Rothschild, died. This time I was helped by Lara Diamond, who is an amazing genealogist and the author of Lara’s Jewnealogy. Lara emailed me to tell me that there was a photograph at the JewishData.com website of a headstone at Union Field cemetery for a man named Moses Rothschild . She hadn’t been able to access the image since she does not subscribe to that site, but she suggested that I check it out. Thank you so much, Lara! I am very grateful.

I had to pay $18 to access the site, but I was so determined to find out whether my Moses is the one on the death certificate I obtained and on the FindAGrave entry that I paid it just to see that image. And here it is:

All I can read is the name, Moses Rothschild, and the words Waltersbruck, Hessia. The line underneath is partially legible, and it seems to end with 1885, so I think that must be the date of death. I tried manipulating the image—turning it into its negative, sharpening the focus, making it black and white, but even so I can’t decipher any more of the words.

I posted the image on Tracing the Tribe, but no one else could read any more of what was there. It looks like at some point I will need to go to Union Field Cemetery to see if it is more legible in person.

But I can read enough to surmise that this is likely the man on that April 1885 death certificate since the man buried here died in 1885 and is also quite likely my cousin Moses. Although the gravestone mentions Waltersbruck and I have Moses’ birthplace as Zimmersrode, I now realize that he may have actually been born in Waltersbruck. The first page of the birth register lists Waltersbruck as one of the towns included in the register.

Also, Moses’ father Simon was born in Waltersbruck as were some of Moses’ siblings. I am willing to assume that Moses also was born or from Waltersbruck. Thus, I am pretty persuaded that this headstone is for my cousin Moses and that he was in fact the man who died on April 11, 1885, and who is the decedent on the death certificate I obtained from Susan Glenn.

UPDATE: Thank you to my cousin Richard Bloomfield who showed me that on Moses’ birth record it says Waltersbruck. I had that record, but never could have deciphered the handwriting! Here it is. 

If I am able to get to see the gravestone in person at some point, perhaps I’ll be able to decipher whatever was inscribed on the stone that I cannot decipher from the photograph. But for now, I am comfortable believing that Moses Rothschild, my second cousin, three times removed, died on April 11, 1885, at an asylum on Ward Island in New York City and is buried at Union Field Cemetery. He was only 37 years old and left behind his widow Mathilde and six children ranging in age from three year old Aaron to eleven year old Samuel.

With that issue now more or less resolved, I can move on to tell the stories of Mathilde and their children.

Moses Rothschild, Part II: Is this his death certificate?

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I am still searching for some evidence of when my cousin Moses Rothschild died. As seen in my last blog post, he was alive in 1880 when the 1880 census was enumerated, but by 1900 his wife Mathilde/Matilda was listed as a widow on the 1900 census. By 1888 a Matilda Rothschild is listed as a widow in the New York City directories. But I couldn’t find any death records or FindAGrave listings that I could identify as referring to my relative Moses Rothschild.

After posting that last blog post, I was determined to keep looking after I received some suggestions from readers. I contacted Union Field Cemetery, the cemetery where one Moses Rothschild was buried according to FindAGrave, but that FindAGrave listing provided no birth or death dates so it was not useful. Unfortunately, the cemetery wasn’t able to help unless I had a date of death, which was, of course, what I was searching for.

I also posted on Tracing the Tribe, asking for help and suggestions. One commenter located a listing on FamilySearch.org for the death of a man named Moses Rothschild who died on April 11, 1885, in New York City. But it was only an index listing, and it only reported that that Moses Rothschild was 48 when he died in Manhattan, meaning he was born in about 1837, eleven years before my Moses Rothschild was born in 1848. The index listing also included the certificate number, so I decided to get a copy of the actual certificate to see if there were more details to be revealed.

I wrote to Susan Glenn, whose wonderful research services I’ve used before and who has always been prompt and helpful, and she located this death certificate based on the information on FamilySearch:

What information can I learn from the image of the actual death certificate that might help me learn if this is my relative? Not much. The father’s name is “unknown.” The birthplace is Germany, but nothing more specific. It says that he was 48 when he died so born in 1837 and that he had been in the United States for 20 years—so since about 1865.  He died in the NYC asylum on Ward Island from general paresis, meaning probably syphilis. He was married and a salesman and had resided at 205 East 107th Street before being admitted to the asylum. And he was buried in Union Field Cemetery. I assume that this is the Moses Rothschild who is listed in that FindAGrave listing mentioned above.

Unfortunately, none of this is very helpful. My Moses was born in 1848 so he would have been 37 in 1885, not 48. None of the NYC directories between 1880 and 1890 have a Moses Rothschild living at 205 East 107th Street, so the address doesn’t help nor does the occupation.

But my Moses may have come to the US in about 1865, so would have been in the US twenty years in 1885. That is the only fact that lines up with what I know about my cousin Moses Rothschild.

Because of the discrepancy in the age, I am not comfortable assuming that this is my Moses Rothschild. But maybe it is. If it is, why would the age be so far off? Who would have provided that information?

If the family of the my Moses Rothschild provided the information about his age and his time in the US, they presumably would have known he wasn’t 48 in 1885. Maybe the family didn’t provide the information and the hospital estimated his age? Could the person filling out the certificate have thought 48 was the age instead of the year of birth? Maybe??

How would the hospital have known he’d been in the US for 20 years and was born in Germany unless he or his family told them? If the deceased himself gave that information, wouldn’t he have known his parents’ names? Something just doesn’t add up.

I contacted Union Field Cemetery again now that I had a date of death, and they do have a Moses Rothschild buried there who died on April 11, 1885, but all they told me is the location of his grave. Unfortunately, that tells me nothing about the identity of the man buried there. I then asked if they had any paperwork or whether it was possible to get a photo of the headstone, but was told, “Unfortunately, we do not provide that particular service at the cemetery and I have provided you with all the information I have for Moses Rothschild.”

I’ve now submitted a request for a photograph of the headstone on FindAGrave. Unless there is a Hebrew name on the stone with his father’s name, I don’t think there is any way to determine whether the Moses Rothschild buried there and on the death certificate is my relative. And even that may not be determinative.

 

Moses Rothschild, Part I: When Did He Die?

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This summer’s posts up to now have all been devoted to the John Nusbaum photo album, but now it’s time to return to the Blumenfelds and my more traditional genealogy work. When last I wrote about the Blumenfelds back on May 29, 2024, I wrote about Levi Rothschild, the third child of Gelle Blumenfeld Rothschild. To refresh everyone’s recollection (including my own), Gelle was the third child and only daughter of Moses Blumenfeld. And Moses was the older brother of my three-times great-grandmother Breine Blumenfeld Katzenstein. Here’s a chart showing where I am in my research of the Blumenfeld family

But now it’s time to turn to Gelle Blumenfeld Rothschild’s next child, Moses Rothschild, and he has a far different story from those of his other siblings. Unlike his two older brothers Seligmann and Levi, he left Germany as a teenager and came to the United States.

Moses was born on August 30, 1848, in Zimmersrode, Germany. He immigrated to the United States as a young man, but I cannot be certain exactly when because there are two ship manifests for men named Moses Rothschild and both could be the one I am looking for. One manifest has a Moses Rothschild arriving in New York at age fifteen in 1865, meaning he was born in 1850.1  Another Moses Rothschild arrived on July 31, 1868, at twenty-five, meaning he was born in 1843.2 Neither of those two Moses Rothschilds was born in 1848, assuming their ages were accurately reported, but both are pretty close.

I could only find one man named Moses Rothschild living in New York on the 1870 census, and he was 22, so born in 1848 in Germany like “my” Moses Rothschild. He was living on the Lower East Side; unfortunately the census does not provide any occupational information.3 But it seems likely that this was the right Moses Rothschild.

On December 8, 1872, in New York City, Moses Rothschild married Mathilde Seligmann, the daughter of Ludwig Seligmann and Therese Rosenthal.4  Her death record says that she was born on February 19, 1849, in Germany,5, but I have no birth record to back that up. Based on various records including census records and records for her siblings, I believe she was born in Darmstadt, Germany, but I am not certain because some trees claim she was born in Mainz, Germany, and emigrated from there. I have yet to resolve that conflicting information. 

Moses and Mathilde had six children. Their first was Samuel Seligmann Rothschild, born July 21, 1873, in New York, New York.6 Second born was Rudolph Rothschild, born in New York on March 17, 1875.7 The third son was Albert Rothschild, born January 2, 1876, in New York.8 Finally, a daughter was born on August 22, 1878, in New York.9 She is identified as Theresa (presumably for Mathilde’s mother) on almost all records, but on the 1880 census, she is listed as Betsy. I assume that was a mistake on the part of the census enumerator. On February 10, 1880, Moses and Mathilde’s fifth child was born; her name was Grethe, but she was later known as Gertrude.10

In 1880, the family was living at 322 East Third Street on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. In addition to Moses and Mathilde and their five children, two of Mathilde’s brothers, August and Carl were living with the family as well as a servant. Moses was working as a butter dealer, and his brother-in-law August was working as a grocer.

Moses Rothschild 1880 US census, Year: 1880; Census Place: New York City, New York, New York; Roll: 881; Page: 20c; Enumeration District: 307, Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census

One more child was born to Moses and Mathilde after the 1880 census—their son Aron. He was born on August 17, 1881, in New York.11 If the transcribed birth information on Ancestry is correct, it appears that the family had moved from lower Manhattan to 344 East 78th Street uptown when Aron was born.

Trying to find Moses in the New York City directories during the 1880s was tricky because there were multiple men with that same name. For example, in 1880, the year Moses is listed as living at 322 East Third Street in Manhattan in the 1880 census record, there were three men named Moses Rothschild in the NYC directory, none of whom were living at that address: one was an agent living at 340 East 77th Street, closest to where Aron would be born in 1881, one was a milliner living at 622 Fifth Avenue, and one was a “pedlar” living at 284 Third Avenue, almost two miles from 322 East Third Street where the family was in 1880.

There is no 1881 NYC directory, but in 1882 there were now only two men named Moses Rothschild, both “pedlars,” and one was still living at 284 Third Avenue uptown, the other at 25 Rutgers Street all the way downtown.12 The 1883 directory has two men named Moses Rothschild, one an agent, the other a meat dealer at 281 Second Avenue.13 I don’t know if one of those is my Moses.

The 1884 NYC directory is even more confusing. Now there are FOUR men named Moses Rothschild: two meat dealers, one grocer, and one insurance agent.14 I have no way of knowing if any of them were my Moses. And this continues. In 1886 there are three Moses Rothschilds, a driver, an insurance agent, and a meat dealer at 284 Second Avenue.15

I would have thought that my Moses was most likely the meat dealer, who was at 284 Second Avenue. But in the 1888 directory, there is a Matilda Rothschild, listed as the widow of Moses, living at 163 East 104th Street, and there are still three other listings for Moses Rothschilds: the insurance agent, a clerk, and the meat dealer at 284 Second Avenue.16 So either 1) the directory listed my Moses after he was dead or 2) Moses the meat dealer was not my Moses or 3) there were two men named Moses Rothschild married to women named Matilda/Mathilde. Later directories include listings for Matilda, widow of Moses, at various addresses.

The 1900 census does show Mathilde is listed as a widow and Moses is missing from the family, but the children are there, meaning this is the right Rothschild family. They were now living at 49 West 114th Street.

Matilda Rothschild 1900 US census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1154; Page: 9; Enumeration District: 0841, Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census

So Moses does seem to have died sometime between 1886 and 1900. But I have not located a death record for Moses. I have searched The New York City Municipal Archives as well as Ancestry and FamilySearch, but with no luck. There is a FindAGrave listing for a Moses Rothschild at Union Field Cemetery in Queens,17 but it has no gravestone photograph nor any dates for birth or death, so I do not know whether that is for my Moses Rothschild, and even if I did, it provides no useful information. It does appear that Mathilde’s brother August was buried at the same cemetery in 1916, however, so perhaps that is a useful bit of circumstantial evidence.18

Because I couldn’t find a death record for Moses, I began to wonder whether Mathilde was not really a widow, but a woman whose husband had abandoned or divorced her. There is, however, other circumstantial evidence suggesting that Moses had died by 1898 and had not divorced or abandoned Mathilde: the names of his grandchildren.

Moses’ third son Albert was the first to marry. On May 4, 1895, he married Rosie Katz, for whom I have little background information except that she was born in Germany in 1875.19Their first daughter, Rachel, was born in New York in March 1896, but more to the point of this post, Albert and Rose named their second child and first son Milton, born on September 26, 1898.20

Moses’ next child to marry was his second oldest child Rudolph. He married Rebecca Schlossberg on April 17, 1898, in New York. Rebecca was born in North Carolina in about 1877 to Max Schlossberg and Fanny Otterbourg.21 Rudolph and Rebecca’s first child was named Mortimer Maxwell Rothschild; he was born on October 28, 1899, in New York.22

Samuel, Moses’ first-born, married Sallye Livingston on September 4, 1898, in Chicago, Illinois.23 Sallye was the daughter of Aaron and Magdalena Livingston, and she was born in Missouri on October 14, 1868.24 Sallye and Samuel’s first son was named Milton Samuel Rothschild. He was born on March 5, 1906.25

Do you see a pattern here? The oldest son of all three of Moses’ oldest three children had names that began with an M. In fact, as we will see, the three younger children of Moses and Mathilde also named their oldest sons with names that start with M. So I am inferring from this that Moses had died before that first M grandson was born on September 26, 1898, and probably died before 1888 when Mathilde is listed as a widow in the NYC directory.

But why is there no death record for Moses? If anyone has any suggestions for where to find it, please let me know.

I will be back with more on the family of Moses Rothschild in September. My children are all arriving today and so I will be focusing on them until Labor Day!

  1. Moses Rothschild, ship manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; Microfilm Serial or NAID: M237; RG Title: Records of the U.S. Customs Service; RG: 36, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
  2. Moses Rothschild, ship manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; Microfilm Serial or NAID: M237; RG Title: Records of the U.S. Customs Service; RG: 36, Description Ship or Roll Number: Ariel, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
  3. Moses Rothschild, 1870 US census, Year: 1870; Census Place: New York Ward 11 District 23 (2nd Enum), New York, New York; Roll: M593_1028; Page:  787B, Description Township: New York Ward 11 District 23 (2nd Enum), Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census ↩
  4. “New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2CN-VN8G : Fri Mar 08 21:51:45 UTC 2024), Entry for Moses Rothschild and Matilda Seligmann, 8 December 1872. ↩
  5. Mathilda Rothschild, [Mathilda Selizmann], 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 Cemetery, Occupation House Wife, Father’s Birth Place Germany, Mother’s Birth Place Germany, Father Louis Selizmann, Mother Theresa Selizmann, 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 ↩
  6. Samuel Rothschild birth record, “New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:27BV-JW5 : 11 February 2018), Samuel Rothschild, 21 Jul 1873; citing Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, reference cn 114503 New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,322,065. ↩
  7. Rudolph Rothschild birth record, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1875, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909; Rudolph Rothschild, Birth Date 17 Mar 1875, Birth Place New York, Claim Date 3 Apr 1940, SSN 111071339, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  8. Albert Rothschild birth record, Gender Male, Race White, Birth Date 2 Jan 1876
    Birth Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, USA, Residence Address 7th Street 256, Certificate Number 198376, Father Moses Rothchild, Mother Mathilda Rathchild, Mother Maiden Name Seligman, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1876, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩
  9. Theresa Rothschild birth record, Teresa Rothschild, Gender Female, Race White
    Birth Date 22 Aug 1878, Birth Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, USA, Residence Address 7 Street 244, Certificate Number 239687, Father Moses Rothschild, Mother Matilda Deligman Rothschild, Mother Maiden Name Seligman, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1878, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩
  10. Grethe Rothschild birth record, Grethe Rothschild, Gender Female, Race White
    Birth Date 10 Feb 1880, Birth Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, USA, Residence Address E. 5 Street 622, Certificate Number 277695, Father Moses Rothschild, Mother Matilda Seligman Rothschild, Mother Maiden Name Seligman, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1880, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩
  11. Aron Rothchild, Gender Male, Race White, Birth Date 17 Aug 1881, Birth Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, USA, Residence Address E. 78th St. New York 344, Certificate Number 318749, Father Moses Rothchild, Mother Matilda Rothchild, Mother Maiden Name Seligmann, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1881, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩
  12.  New York, New York, City Directory, 1882, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, p. 1385. ↩
  13.  New York, New York, City Directory, 1883, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 ↩
  14.  New York, New York, City Directory, 1884, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, p. 1523. ↩
  15.  New York, New York, City Directory, 1886, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, p. 868. ↩
  16.  New York, New York, City Directory, 1888, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, p. 1706. ↩
  17. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/131249188/moses-rothschild: accessed August 17, 2024), memorial page for Moses Rothschild (unknown–unknown), Find a Grave Memorial ID 131249188, citing Union Field Cemetery, Ridgewood, Queens County, New York, USA; Maintained by Athanatos (contributor 46907585). ↩
  18. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/127067956/august-seligmann: accessed August 17, 2024), memorial page for August Seligmann (unknown–1916), Find a Grave Memorial ID 127067956, citing Union Field Cemetery, Ridgewood, Queens County, New York, USA; Maintained by Athanatos (contributor 46907585). As we will see in later posts, Mathilde and several of their children are buried elsewhere. ↩
  19. Albert Rothschild and Rosie Katz marriage record, “New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2CN-Q2R3 : Sun Mar 10 19:42:31 UTC 2024), Entry for Albert Rothschild and Rosie Katz, 4 May 1895. ↩
  20. Milton Rothschild birth record, Milton Rothschild, Gender Male, Race White
    Birth Date 26 Sep 1898, Birth Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, USA, Residence Address Third Avenue 2068, Certificate Number 40264, Father
    Albert Rothschild, Mother Rosie Rothschild Mother Maiden Name Katz, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1898, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩
  21. Rudolph Rothschild and Rebecca Schlossberg marriage record, “New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24ZZ-QWH : Tue Feb 20 21:40:11 UTC 2024), Entry for Rudolph Rothschild and Rebecca Schlossberg, 17 Apr 1898. ↩
  22. Mortimer Rothschild, World War I draft registration, Mortimer Maxwell Rothschild
    Birth Date 28 Oct 1899, Residence Date 1917-1918, Street Address 645 W 160st St
    Residence Place Manhattan, New York, USA, Draft Board 147, Relative Rudolph Rothschild, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 ↩
  23. Samuel Rothschild and Sallye Livingston marriage record, Samuel S. Rothschild
    Age 25, Gender Male, Birth Year abt 1873, Marriage Type Marriage, Marriage Date 4 Sep 1898, Marriage Place Chicago, Cook, Illinois, Spouse Name Sallie Livingston
    Spouse Age 24, Spouse Gender Female, FHL Film Number 1030288, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Marriages Index, 1871-1920 ↩
  24. Sallye Rothschild death record, Sallye Rothschild, [Sallye Livingston], Gender Female, Race White, Marital Status Married, Age 77, Birth Date 14 Oct 1868, Birth Place Missouri, Clarkville, Residence Street Address 1900 Grand Concourse
    Residence Place New, Death Date 14 Nov 1945, Death Street Address 1900 Grand Concourse, Death Place New York City, Bronx, New York, USA, Cause of Death Adenocarcinoma of Ascending Colon, With Metastasis, Burial Date 16 Nov 1945
    Burial Place MT Carmel Cemetery, Occupation Housewife, Father’s Birth Place Germany, Mother’s Birth Place Germany, Father Aaron Livingston, Mother Magdeline Livingston, Spouse Samuel Informant Thomas Rothschild, Informant Gender Male
    Informant Relationship Husband Executor Samuel Rothschild Executor Relationship Husband, Certificate Number 10938, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Death Certificates; Borough: Bronx; Year: 1945, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948 ↩
  25. Milton Rothschild birth record, Milton Rothschild, Birth Date 5 Mar 1906
    Birth Place Manhattan, New York, USA, Certificate Number 28041, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Birth Index, 1878-1909 ↩

Cousin Meetings: Richard and Max Meet in Merano, Max and I Meet on Cape Cod

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One of the greatest gifts I’ve received through my genealogy research is connecting with and getting to know new cousins. Some are as close as second cousins, some as distant as fifth or even sixth cousins. But none of that seems to matter once we have connected.

Sometimes these connections are only through email. Sometimes they are by phone. And sometimes I have been able to connect with cousins and get to see their faces and get to know them through Zoom. There are cousins from all over the US and the world with whom I have emailed, phoned, and/or zoomed—some as far away as Israel, Germany, France, Switzerland, England, and Australia, some as close as right here in Massachusetts.

I’ve been especially blessed when I’ve gotten to meet and spend time with a cousin in person. And that has happened far more times than I’d ever, ever have predicted. I have had meals with cousins in all kinds of places—in western Massachusetts where I once lived and on Cape Cod where I now live, in Florida and in New York City, in Boston and in Philadelphia, and even overseas—in Germany and in London. Each time it has been a truly joyful experience. Even though we had never met before and even though our connection may go back several generations to an ancestor we never knew, there was still something magical about meeting a cousin.

So I was somewhat envious but also thrilled when I learned that two cousins I’d found through my research and then connected to each other—Richard Bloomfield and Max Bermann—were able to meet in Merano, Italy, this past spring. Richard is my fifth cousin through his 3x-great-grandfather Jakob Blumenfeld, a younger brother of my 3x-great-grandmother Breine Blumenfeld; Max is also my fifth cousin, but through his 3x-great-grandfather Moses Blumenfeld, an older brother of Breine Blumenfeld, my 3x-great-grandmother. And Richard and Max are fifth cousins to each other; we are all the 4x-great-grandchildren of Abraham and Geitel (Katz) Blumenfeld.

Although I had zoomed and emailed with Max and Richard many times, I had never met either of them—until last Thursday, that is, when my husband and I had dinner with Max and his wife Glenna here on Cape Cod. Again, it was a magical and joyful experience. The warmth and connection were authentic and immediate, and we found so much to talk about in the three hours we sat at Fin, an amazing restaurant in Dennis. When we looked around at 10 pm, we realized we were the only ones left in the restaurant; the staff were all sitting around the bar politely not disturbing us, but obviously waiting for us to leave. After repeated promises to get together again, we all hugged goodbye, leaving as not just cousins but four new friends.

At dinner Max and Glenna told us about their trip in May, 2024, to Merano and meeting Richard and his wife Irma there. Why, you might ask, did they meet in Merano, Italy, a town not far from the Austrian border when Richard lives in Switzerland and Max in Massachusetts?

Well, that requires some background about Max’s life. I’ve shared Max’s story before on the blog, and I hope you will go back to the earlier blog posts for more details and photographs as well as for my sources for the information below. Also, Richard wrote a comprehensive biography of Max’s family.

But here is a very brief overview of why Max was visiting Merano:

Max’s mother was Edith Blumenfeld, daughter of Max Blumenfeld and Anna Grunwald. She married Joseph Bermann, Max’s father, in 1935.1 Joseph was born in Merano, Italy, where his father Max Bermann was a doctor and the director of the Waldpark Sanitarium. Joseph also became a doctor and worked there as well. After marrying, Edith and Joseph settled in Merano.

My cousin Max, grandson of both Max Blumenfeld and Max Bermann and named for both, was born in Merano a few years after his parents’ marriage. His father Joseph left Merano for the US in 1939 to escape from the Nazi and Fascist persecution and the impending war, intending to send for Edith, Max, and Max’s older sister Margherita once he was settled. But World Was II intervened, and Edith and the children could not get out of Europe.

They soon left Merano for Milan and then for the countryside of Italy where they hid their Jewish identity while Edith worked for the resistance as a courier. Once the war ended, Edith brought the children to the US, and they were reunited with Joseph. The story of how Edith kept herself, her mother, and her children safe during the war is a remarkable one and is described here on my blog and in Richard’s biography of Max’s family.

Max had never been back to Merano, his birthplace, after immigrating to the US in 1946, and he and his wife Glenna decided to visit there this year. The visit was motivated in part to see a painting of Max’s paternal grandfather, Max Bermann, a painting that Joseph Bermann had brought with him to the US in 1939 and that had been in Max’s parents’ home in New York City. It had then hung in Max and Glenna’s home for many years. Because he wanted to be sure that the painting was preserved in a safe and appropriate place in perpetuity, Max decided to donate the painting to the Jewish Museum in Merano, his birthplace and his father’s family home for many years. After shipping the painting there last year, Max and Glenna wanted to see it in its new home in Merano.

Meanwhile, Richard, born and raised in the United States, lives near St. Gallen, Switzerland, and thus about five hours from Merano. Richard had helped to connect Max with the Merano Jewish Museum, and when Richard learned that Max and Glenna were coming to Merano, he asked whether he and his wife Irma could meet them there. Max and Glenna were delighted.

Richard has generously shared with me some of the photographs of their meeting and an essay he wrote about the experience. I will quote parts of what he wrote rather than trying to paraphrase it.2 I am also going to include some of his photographs.

“Last Sunday we [Richard and Irma, his wife] stood on the balcony of our hotel room in Meran and looked across the Passer River at the Hotel Meraner Hof where Max and Glenna were going to be staying. It had been just two and a half weeks since Max had written me that he and Glenna were going to travel to Meran. Max had donated a painting of his grandfather [Max Bermann] to the Jewish Museum in Meran and wanted to have the experience of seeing it on display. When I asked Max if he would mind if Irma and I came to meet them there, Max wrote that he found that touching. Although we are 5th cousins, i.e. relatives, and had had email and Zoom contact, we didn’t want to intrude on Max’s first trip back to his place of birth since leaving it at age 2.

Our first live encounter took place when we waved to each other from our balcony to their terrasse. Shortly thereafter, we greeted each other with big hugs, sat down for a drink and exchanged the special, personal gifts we had brought for each other. We were joined by Sabine Mayr, researcher and co-worker at the Jewish Museum, and the museum’s director Joachim Innerhofer. Joachim and Sabine welcomed us like VIPs: Max, the long-lost son; I, the person who had connected Max with the museum in Meran and provided them with lots of information from my family research; Glenna and Irma as though they were long lost members of the Jewish community in Meran.

Remembering the adage that the way to the heart is through the stomach, we headed off to a restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately, Joachim had an appointment and couldn’t join us. Maybe we should have had an empty chair at the table for Amy, the person who had done the matchmaking between Max and me (and lots of other cousins!).

Richard, Sabina Mayr, Irma, Glenna, and Max

Monday morning we visited the synagogue and museum just behind Max and Glenna’s hotel. The first synagogue in Tirol was dedicated on 27 March 1901 and the interior has survived in its original form. When the Nazis removed the pews to use the room as a horse stall, the people of Meran saved them and returned them after the war. The very attractive Jewish Museum of Meran is located in the same building.

The sanctuary pictured below is warm – comfy – and inviting. Even with just seven rows of pews on the main floor, there is more than enough room for the 50 members of the community. Here is where Max’s family had worshipped. Today services with a rabbi are only held on holidays.

Merano synagogue

Irma, Richard, Max, and Glenna standing in front of the ark in the Merano synagogue

The name Bermann is embroidered into the parochet or curtain that covers the ark

At long last we descended the steps to the museum under the sanctuary. Just around the corner to the right of the entrance Max found his grandfather Max [Bermann]! …

Richard and Max standing in front of the portrait of Max’s paternal grandfather, also named Max Bermann

 This picture of [Max’s relatives’] wedding in 1926 hangs on the other side of the room to the right of [his grandfather] Max’s portrait. When Max saw it, he ex-claimed: “Look, there’s my father!” (1) (1898-1966). Joachim pointed to the right edge of the photo where Max’s grandfather with a long white beard is pictured (2) (1865-1933). “And there’s my grandmother next to him” (3) (1870-1958)….

…

A rather long and wet walk took us to the Waldpark Sanatorium where Max was born and lived for two years: In 1907, [his grandfather] Doctor Max Bermann acquired the Villa Paulista from John Stoddard and founded the Waldpark Sanatorium, which he ran as a specialist in internal medicine. In the early 1930s, two buildings were added, and in the following years the main building was renovated and enlarged. Claiming that the owners were indebted, the buildings and the large park surrounding them were sold at auction in 1941. (Source: Jewish Meran Walking Tour, Jewish Museum of Meran)

Although Max was only two when he left Meran in 1940, he thinks he remembers a white fence surrounding the Waldpark. Indeed, the fence is still white!

Max’s birthplace in Merano

…

On Tuesday it did not rain, and the sun eventually came out. A chair lift carried us up to a place above Meran where we had a good view of the city and the surrounding countryside….

….

Before dinner we wanted to visit the New (1908!) Jewish Cemetery where members of the Bermann family are buried. After a stop at the memorial for the victims of the Shoah… we went to visit the graves of Max’s grandfathers, Max Bermann and Max Blumenfeld….

Max is standing next to Grandfather Bermann’s headstone, and both of us touched together the gravestone of our common relative Max Blumenfeld (1880-1936). The common roots that Max and I have that we have talked and written about became something living here in the cemetery.”

—————————–

I am so glad that Richard and Max were able to meet and share this moving experience together. It makes me appreciate how fortunate I have been to find so many cousins and to help them find each other.

And now I also have had the special opportunity to spend time with my cousin Max and his wife Glenna and to feel those common roots. His life and mine had such different beginnings—his as a small child hiding from persecution in Italy, mine as a middle class American child growing up in suburban New York after the war, never worrying about antisemitism.

But here we are so many decades later, both living in Massachusetts less than ninety miles apart. In so many ways our lives have taken similar paths despite those very different beginnings, and we have far more in common than those different beginnings would have predicted.

I am so lucky and so grateful for all the gifts that genealogy has brought to my life, especially all my amazing cousins like Richard and Max!

  1. I have seen records that spell his name Joseph, others that spell it Josef. For consistency purposes I have used the American spelling Joseph since he was born Giuseppe and kept that name until he immigrated to the US in 1939. ↩
  2. Merano was once under Austrian control, but after World War I it became part of Italy. The town uses both the German-Austrian spelling Meran, which Richard uses, and the Italian spelling Merano, which I use. Both are equally acceptable. ↩

Levi Rothschild’s Daughters Thekla Rothschild Weinberg and Frieda Rothschild Phillipsohn: One Survived, One Did Not

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This is the story of the last two children of Levi Rothschild and Clara Jacob who lived to adulthood, their daughters Thekla and Frieda. Both have heartbreaking stories though Thekla survived and Frieda did not.

The fifth child of Levi and Clara, their daughter Thekla, married Manuel Edward Weinberg on August 19, 1907, in Borken. Manuel was born in Lichenroth, Germany, to Lazarus Weinberg and Karoline Oppenheimer on October 11, 1880.

Thekla Rothschild and Manuel Weinberg marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 843, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Thekla and Manuel had a son Hans Herbert Weinberg born in Frankfurt, Germany, on November 2, 1908.1

After Kristallnacht in November 1938, Manuel Weinberg was imprisoned at Buchenwald for a short time,2 and that may have motivated the family to leave Germany. By 1940 if not before, the family had left Germany for France, and according to Yad Vashem, Thekla’s husband Manuel was deported in 1940 to the internment camp near Toulouse, France known as the Recebedou camp.3

According to one website, the camp of Recebedou was created in July 1940 to receive refugees and those who had been evacuated. It was turned into a hospital camp in February 1941. But conditions in the camp deteriorated over time due to the lack of adequate medical care and a shortage of food. By late 1941, there were 739 interns, many of whom were over 60 and ill; 118 of them died in the winter of 1941-1942. Manuel Weinberg was one of those who died; he died on March 4, 1942.4

I don’t know for certain whether Thekla or their son Herbert, as he came to be known, were also interned at Recebedou because there are no documents I can find that indicate that they were. However, I do know that they must have been in France because Herbert and his wife, Edith Seckbach, had a daughter Yvonne born in Toulouse, France sometime in 1943.5  I could not find a marriage record for Herbert and Edith, but according to other records, Edith was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, in about 1918. 6

Wherever they were in France, somehow Thekla, Herbert, Edith, and their baby daughter survived. A document on Ancestry’s collection of Munich, Vienna and Barcelona Jewish Displaced Persons and Refugee Cards, 1943-1959 (JDC) indicates that as of November 1942, Thekla, Herbert, Edith, and Yvonne were in Vigo, Spain, which is almost seven hundred miles from Toulouse, France. How they got there in the midst of the war is a story I do not know.

Ancestry.com. Munich, Vienna and Barcelona Jewish Displaced Persons and Refugee Cards, 1943-1959 (JDC)

From Vigo they went to Madrid as of December 26, 1943. The Refugee Card lists two people as the “parents,” which I assume really means sponsors in this situation. One was Walter Hirschmann, Thekla’s nephew, the son of her sister Betti Rothschild Hirschmann.7 The other, Jacob Bleibtreu, was a banker and later a governor of the New York Stock Exchange who had immigrated to the US from Germany as a young man in 1909. He also was on the Greater New York Army and Navy Committee of the Jewish Welfare Board. Perhaps he knew Walter from the banking and broker business and agreed to help rescue his aunt and other family members.8

On March 23, 1944, Thekla, Herbert, Edith, and Yvonne all arrived in Philadelphia after sailing from Lisbon, Portugal. The ship manifest shows that they all had last been residing in Madrid, Spain, and were heading to Montreal, Canada under the sponsorship of the Joint Distribution Committee. Herbert reported that he was a chemist by occupation.

Thekla Weinberg and family passenger manifest, The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; NAI Number: 4492386; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85; Series: T840; Roll: 177, Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1798-1962

Herbert’s wife Edith must not have lived very long after their voyage from Portugal to Philadelphia because on September 8, 1946, Herbert married his second wife, Anna or Anya Grodzky, in Hochelaga, Quebec, Canada. Anna was born in Russia on June 18, 1910, and was a beautician. Herbert is listed as a widower on their marriage record and as a chemist by trade.

Hans Herbert Weinberg marriage to Anna Grodsky, Marriage Sep 8 1946 Westmount, Québec, Canada, Groom Herbert Hans Weinberg, Groom’s birth 1908 Germany, Bride Anna Goodsky, Certificate number upd46-128967, Quebec Marriage Returns, 1926-1997, found at https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10723-1831907/herbert-hans-weinberg-and-anna-goodsky-in-quebec-marriage-returns

The family all settled in Montreal, where Thekla died on March 11, 1962, at the age of 76.9 Herbert lost his second wife Anna on July 9, 1976.10 He died February 12, 2001, at the age of 92, and was survived by his third wife Sally Lazoff Bailen.11

I have not found any further information about Herbert’s daughter Yvonne despite searching everywhere I could and receiving help from members of Tracing the Tribe. I don’t know whether she died, married, or moved from Canada and changed her name. There just is no trace of her after a mention in her stepmother Anna’s obituary in 1976. She is not mentioned in her father’s obituary in 2001.12

Although Thekla Rothschild Weinberg survived the Holocaust, she lost her husband, her homeland, and, as we will now see, her sister Frieda to the Holocaust.

Frieda was born May 31, 1993, in Borken, Germany.  As we saw, she first married Leonard Marxsohn and was widowed and then married Paul Phillipsohn, with whom she had a daughter Hannelore, born December 3, 1926.

Unfortunately, I have no happy ending for Frieda, Paul, or Hannelore. On June 11, 1942, they were all deported to Theriesenstadt. None of them survived. According to Yad Vashem, Paul died on December 20, 1942. I have no exact dates for Frieda or Hannelore, only that they also died in about 1942.13

Thus ends the story of Levi Rothschild’s family. Although most of them survived the Holocaust and made it to the US, Israel, or Canada, they were scattered across the globe, and their lives were all forever changed. The family members who were killed must have left holes in their hearts forever.

 

 

  1. Hans Herbert Kaufmann Weinberg, Gender männlich (Male), Record Type Inventory, Birth Date 02 Nov 1908 (2 Nov 1908), Birth Place Frankfurt am Main,
    Last Residence Frankfurt am Main, Residence Place Frankfurt am Main, Father
    Edmund Weinberg, Mother Thekla Weinberg, Spouse Edith Seckbach, Notes Inventories of personal estates of foreigners and especially German Jews
    Reference Number 02010101 oS, Document ID 70370883, Arolsen Archives, Digital Archive; Bad Arolsen, Germany; Lists of Persecutees 2.1.1.1, Ancestry.com. Free Access: Europe, Registration of Foreigners and German Persecutees, 1939-1947 ↩
  2. Arolsen Archives, 1 Incarceration Documents / 1.1 Camps and Ghettos / 1.1.5 Buchenwald Concentration Camp / 1.1.5.3 Individual Documents male Buchenwald / Individual Files (male) – Concentration Camp Buchenwald / Files with names from SYS and further sub-structure / Files with names from WECK /, Personal file of WEINBERG, EMANEL, born on 11-Oct-1880, Reference Code, 01010503 002.042.476, Number of documents, 1, found at https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/7388346 ↩
  3. Yad Vashem entries for Manuel Weinberg, found at  https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/names/13545516 and at https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/names/3229127 ↩
  4. See Note 3, supra. ↩
  5. Yvonne Miriam Weinberg, passenger manifest, The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; NAI Number: 4492386; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85; Series: T840; Roll: 177, Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1798-1962 ↩
  6. Edith Weinberg, passenger manifest, The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; NAI Number: 4492386; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85; Series: T840; Roll: 177, Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1798-1962. See also Edith Weinberg geb. Seckbach, Arolsen Archives, Digital Archive; Bad Arolsen, Germany; Lists of Persecutees 2.1.1.1, Description Reference Code: 02010101 oS,
    Ancestry.com. Free Access: Europe, Registration of Foreigners and German Persecutees, 1939-1947 ↩
  7. It was Walter’s name on this card that led me to discover that he was the child of Betti and Emanuel Hirschmann. ↩
  8. “Jacob Bleibtreu, Former Governor of New York Stock Exchange, 90,” The New York Times, December 6, 1976. ↩
  9. Thekla Weinberg death notice, The Montreal Star, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Mon, Mar 12, 1962, Page 16. ↩
  10. Anna (Anya) Weinberg death notice, The Montreal Star, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Sat, Jul 10, 1976, Page 10. ↩
  11. Marriage of Herbert Weinberg to Sally Lazoff, Nov 15 1980, Côte St Luc, Québec, Canada, Groom Herbert Weinberg, Groom’s birth Nov 5 1908, Germany, Groom’s age 72, Bride Sally Lazoff, Bride’s birth Aug 15 1917, Québec, Canada, Bride’s age 63, Groom’s father Manuel Weinberg, Groom’s father’s birth Germany, Groom’s mother Thekla Rothschild, Groom’s mother’s birth Germany, Bride’s father Gedaliah Lazoff
    Bride’s father’s birth Russia, Bride’s mother Telia Brasgold, Bride’s mother’s birth Russia
    Certificate number upd80-141452, Quebec Marriage Returns, 1926-1997, found at https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10723-2419633/herbert-weinberg-and-sally-lazoff-in-quebec-marriage-returns. Herbert Weinberg death notice, The Gazette
    Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Mon, Feb 12, 2001, Page 35. ↩
  12. Anna (Anya) Weinberg death notice, The Montreal Star, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Sat, Jul 10, 1976, Page 10. Herbert Weinberg death notice, The Gazette, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Mon, Feb 12, 2001, Page 35. ↩
  13. See Yad Vashem entries at https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/names/11607287 for Frieda, https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/names/14969310 for Paul, and https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/names/11607287 for Hannelore. ↩