Turn, Turn, Turn: A New Brotman-Goldschlager-Rosenzweig Has Arrived!

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Amy

Michael Paul Lammlin

Life does in fact turn, turn, turn. One day you are sad about someone who passed away, and the next you are rejoicing in the birth of a new baby. I am delighted to announce the birth of Michael Paul Lammlin, brother of Joshua Lammlin, son of David and Marissa Lammlin. Michael is the grandson of Beth and Steven Robin. Beth is my first cousin.

Michael was born on March 13, 2014, at 5:34 pm, weighing 8 lbs., 1 oz., 19 1/2 inches long. And he carries on the Brotman tradition of red hair! (His father David also has red hair, so we cannot take all the credit.)

Michael was named for his great-grandfather, Maurice Goldschlager, my uncle, my mother’s brother. He joins a number of other cousins named for my uncle, who was adored by us all.

On his maternal side, Michael is the great-grandson of Maurice and Lynn Goldschlager and the great-great-grandson of Isadore Goldschlager and Gussie Brotman. Going even further back, Michael is the great-great-great grandson of Moritz Goldschlager and Ghitla Rosenzweig Goldschlager and the great- great-great-grandson of Joseph and Bessie Brotman. He is thus related to all my cousins who are the descendants of David and Esther Rosenzweig, Ira and Beila Goldschlager, Abraham and Yetta Brotman, or Joseph and Gittel Broat Brotman, his great- great-great-great grandparents.

Mazel tov to Marissa, David and Josh, to Beth and Steven, and to all of us! The family continues to grow.

Brotmans, Resslers, Rosenzweigs, and Goldschlagers: All Roads Meet on Pacific Street in Brooklyn

Women are Difficult, Part Two: Rebecca Rosenzweig

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Amy

I am continuing to search for my grandfather’s first cousins, and I am struggling to find the daughters of Gustave Rosenzweig. I have tracked Lillian up to 1910 and Sarah up through 1940. My next target was Rebecca, the second oldest daughter. This is what I have found so far, although I need documentation to confirm some of my conclusions.

Rebecca was born May 27, 1893, in New York (birth certificate on order, but I am quite certain I have found the correct one based on the report on FamilySearch, which includes her parents’ names), and she was living with her family until at least 1910, according to the 1900, 1905,and 1910 census reports. That is all that I can be certain about at this point. She is not living with her family in 1915 or thereafter.

Gustave Rosenzweig and family 1900 census

Gustave Rosenzweig family on the 1905 NYS census

Gustave Rosenzweig and family 1910 census

When I did a search for a Rebecca Rosenzweig on the NYC marriage index for the years between 1910 and 1915, there was only one potential person, a woman who married a man named Frank R. Elkin on March 22, 1914. I have not yet received the certificate for this marriage, but I am fairly certain that this is the correct Rebecca. She and Frank appear on the 1915 census, living at 1985 Pacific Street in Brooklyn.

Frank and Rebecca Elkin 1915 at 1985 Pacific Street

On the same census one page earlier are the Rosenzweig family, living 1918 Pacific Street.

Rosenzweigs 1915

In 1915, Frank was employed as a tinsmith.

(Also listed on the same page as Rebecca and Frank Elkin is my grandmother Gussie Brotman, living at 1991 Pacific Street with her sister Tillie Ressler and her family; perhaps Rebecca was the cousin who introduced my grandfather, her cousin, to my grandmother, her neighbor?)

Gussie living with TIllie 1915

In 1917 Frank Robert Elkin was employed doing sheet metal and had a wife and child, according to his World War I draft registration form.

Frank Elkin World War I draft registration

(Interestingly, the registrar of his draft board was someone named J. Rosenzweig.) They were living at 1875 Bergen Street. Frank gave his birth date as May 4, 1891 and his birth place as New York, New York. I could not search for a child born after 1914 since the NYC birth index to which I have access only goes up to 1902.

When I searched for Frank and Rebecca Elkin on the 1920 census, a number of things confused me.

Elkin Family 1920 census

First, the birth place for Rebecca’s parents is given as Minsk, Russia, not Romania. I would not be troubled by this since there are often errors on the census, but this one is so specific in identifying not just the country, but the city, which I had not seen on a census report before. Could I have the wrong Rebecca? Only the marriage certificate will tell me for sure, but I still think that I have the right one. Rebecca and Frank were now living at 1892 Bergen Street, and the Rosenzweig family was also now living on Bergen Street at Number 1918. Could it just be coincidence that both the Elkins and the Rosenzweigs had moved from Pacific Street to Bergen Street?

Rosenzweigs 1920 census

Frank was now working as a steam fitter in a shipyard, according to this report. Perhaps this was his war time employment, working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

The second puzzling thing about the 1920 census report is that although it does list a child living with Frank and Rebecca, a boy named Irving, he was only 8 months old at the time of the census, or born in May, 1919. (The census was dated January 7, 1920.) Obviously, Irving was not alive when Frank filled out his draft registration in 1917, so who was the child he referred to on his registration back then?

I searched the death index (which runs to 1948, unlike the birth index) and found an entry for a one year old child named Daniel Elkin who died on December 16, 1917. I will have to obtain that record to be sure, but I fear that the child Frank referred to on his draft registration in 1917 died later that same year.

After the 1920 census I could not find any record for Rebecca Elkin. There were two Frank Elkins on the 1930 census—one living in Brooklyn and one in the Bronx. After some confusion based on the fact that both Franks seemed to have sons named Irving, I was finally able to sort through the facts for both, looking backward to see where each had come from before 1930, and concluded that the Brooklyn Frank Elkin was the same one who had been married to Rebecca.

Frank Elkin with his parents 1930 census

That Frank was living with his parents and siblings on Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn that year, working as a salesman at an electrical supply company. His father Louis was listed as the head of household, and living with Louis in addition to Frank was Louis’ wife Ida, his two other sons Matthew and Edward and a daughter Celia and a daughter-in-law Fannie as well as two grandsons, Irwin, age 11, and Stanley, age 4. I cannot tell from the census who was Fannie’s husband—Frank, Matthew or Edward—or who were the parents of Irwin and Stanley. They could be cousins or brothers; they are only identified as Louis’ grandsons.

My hunch is that Irwin is the same child as Irving, Rebecca and Frank’s son born in 1919. He would have been eleven in 1920 when the census was taken. My other hunch is that Rebecca had either died or was institutionalized; I cannot find her on the 1930 census at all, nor can I find a death record for her. I don’t know whether Stanley was her son or her nephew. Unfortunately, I also could not find either Frank or Rebecca on the 1925 census, nor can I find Frank or Irving/Irwin on the 1940 census. There are a number of Irving Elkins born around the right time, but I have not yet had a chance to narrow down those possibilities.

So pending receipt of the marriage certificate for Rebecca and Frank Elkin and the death certificate for Daniel Elkin, I am putting on hold further research about Frank and Irving. I want to be certain that I have the right Rebecca before I go further into the lives of the men I assume to have been her husband and son.

And on that note, let me leave you all in suspense. I will be out of town for the next week and unable to do much research. I will, however, try to post some tidbits and photos I’ve been saving up.

A Celebrity Connection: Louis Gossett, Junior

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Amy

Actor Louis Gossett, Jr. at the 16th Annual MovieGuide Faith and Values Awards Gala (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes when doing genealogy research, the world seems very small. Six degrees of separation becomes more than a Kevin Bacon game, but a reality. Little did I know that I was six degrees of separation from living with Oscar Award winner Louis Gossett, Junior.

The story is really about Sarah Rosenzweig, Gustave and Gussie’s second daughter. Sarah was born in New York City around 1888, according to several census reports. (I’ve yet to locate her actual birth record.) She appears on the 1900, 1905, and 1910 census reports living with her parents and siblings. In 1900, she was in school; in 1905 she was doing housework; and in 1910 she was a “saleslady” in a department store.

Gustave Rosenzweig and family 1900 census

Gustave Rosenzweig family on the 1905 NYS census

Gustave Rosenzweig and family 1910 census

On March 26, 1911, Sarah married Samuel Kurtz, born in Brooklyn to Lena and Solomon Kurtz.

Sarah Rosenzweig and Samuel Kurtz marriage certificate

Sarah and Sam settled in Brooklyn, and in 1915 Sam was working as a clerk in a department store while Sarah was home. Their first child, Solomon, named for Sam’s father, was born in 1918, and in 1920 Sam and Sarah were living on Howard Avenue in Brooklyn. Sam was employed as a driver for a laundry business. Their second child, Benjamin, was born later that year. In 1924, Sam and Sarah’s daughter Rebecca was born.

Kurtz family 1920

Although I have not found the Kurtz family on the 1925 census, I did find them on the 1930 census, living on Neptune Avenue with the three children and two lodgers, Victor Oleson, a 64 year old Swedish-born house painter (like Sarah’s father) and Louis Gossett, an eighteen year old born in South Carolina, working as a newsboy. As soon as I saw the name, I thought, “Could this be Louis Gossett, Junior’s father?” I checked the box for race on the census, where it was reported that Louis Gossett was “neg” or Negro. I began to think this could be more than coincidental.

kurtz family 1930

So I googled Louis Gossett, Jr., and I saw that he was born in Brooklyn in 1936, making it quite possible that his father had been living in Brooklyn six years before.

I then found a blog describing an episode of Who Do You Think You Are, the television show that was a part of what had inspired me to start researching my family history. One of the episodes had traced the family history of Louis Gossett, Jr. I had seen this episode, but forgotten the specific details. The blog post retraces Gossett’s family history all the way back to the mid-1800s including his father’s birth in South Carolina and includes a snip from the 1930 census when Louis Gossett, Sr. was living with my grandfather’s cousin, Sarah Rosenzweig Kurtz.

So I think that’s within six degrees, right? Louis Gossett, Jr—Louis Gossett, Sr—Sarah Rosenzweig—Gustave Rosenzweig—Ghitla Rosenzweig—Isadore Goldschlager—Florence Cohen—me. Okay, seven degrees. But really, who’s counting?

As for Sam and Sarah Kurtz, by 1940 their two sons and their lodgers were no longer living with them, but their daughter Rebecca was still living with them on Dean Street in Brooklyn, where they also resided in 1942 when Sam registered for the draft. That is the last record I have of either of them so far. I have not found any death records yet. I am also still in the process of researching the lives of their three children, Solomon, Benjamin, and Rebecca.

Sam and Sarah Kurtz 1940 census

Sam Kurtz World War II draft registration

But what I learned from researching Sarah’s life up through 1942 is that you never know what surprises you may uncover while doing family research. You never know who crossed paths with your ancestors or what stories may lie beneath the cold hard data you can find on the records. It is endlessly fascinating.

Louis Gossett Jr to play Halle Berry’s dad

Women are Difficult…to Find and Track, Part I: Lillian Rosenzweig

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Amy

One thing that has been clear to me for a long time is that women are much harder to track in vital records than men, largely because they traditionally changed their names when they married. The Rosenzweig daughters are a case in point.

I have now located and tracked from birth to death the five sons of Gustave and Gussie: Abraham, David, Jacob, Harry and Joe. For those who survived to adulthood, I know who they married, where they lived, and what they did for a living and their military service. I still need to trace the children of Abraham and Jack, but I wanted to see what I could find about the five daughters of Gustave and Gussie first. I’ve been looking all along, but kept hitting walls and so decided to focus on one daughter at a time. Here’s what I know about Lillian.

The oldest child and the only one born in Romania was Lillie or Lillian. According to the 1900 census, she was born in July, 1884, in Romania, but since that was only a month after Gustave and Gussie’s marriage, it seems likely that this was an error and that Lilly was probably born during 1885. The census also says that Lillie arrived in 1884, but her father’s naturalization papers say that he arrived in 1887. In 1900 when she was only fifteen years old, Lillie was working as a typist while her younger siblings were all in school.

Gustave Rosenzweig and family 1900 census

In 1905 the family had moved to Fulton Street in Brooklyn, and Lillian, now 21 according to the census, was doing housework as her employment. In addition to the siblings listed on the 1900 census, there were now two additions, Rachel, who was four, and William, who was three. William is described as a son of the head of the household, which led me to believe that he was another child of Gustave and Gussie. I was unable, however, to locate William on the birth index as William Rosenzweig, nor did he reappear on the 1905 or 1910 census with the family.

Gustave Rosenzweig family on the 1905 NYS census

Once again I searched the death index for a child of Gustave and Gussie, but could not find a death record for William Rosenzweig either. If he was not living with his “parents” and siblings in 1905, where could he be? I searched on ancestry.com for William Rosenzweig and found him living at the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphanage in 1906. I knew it was the right boy by his age (four years old), the address from where he was taken (1021 Fulton Street, Brooklyn), and his mother’s name—Lillian nee Rosenzweig.

William Rosenzweig at the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphanage in 1906

Brooklyn Hebrew Orphanage

William was not Gustave and Gussie’s son, but Lillian’s son. His father is only identified as “Frank (dead),” with no surname. For the other children listed, their father’s first name is also all that is supplied, but that’s because the child presumably has that surname. For William, his surname is the same as his mother’s—Rosenzweig, and no surname is given for his father. I could not find any marriage record for a Lillie or Lillian Rosenzweig between 1900 and 1902 to a Frank, so had Lillian had William out of wedlock? Who was Frank? Was he really dead?

I did find a Frank Cramer who died between 1902 and 1906 and a William Cramer born on March 2, 1902, the birth date provided for William on the orphanage records. I sent for the birth certificate for William Cramer, but unfortunately that William’s parents were not named Frank and Lillian.

Then last night I went back once again to the marriage index and looked again for a marriage record for Lillian Rosenzweig, but this time I did not limit my search to grooms named Frank. I restricted the dates to 1900 to 1902, based on the fact that Lillie was single in the 1900 census and that William was born in March, 1902. I found one marriage of a Lillie Rosenzweig in July, 1901, to a Toscano Bartolini. Could Frank have been his more American nickname? I turned to the death index and searched for a death record, and there it was—Toscano Bartolini had died on April 27, 1904, at 27 years old. Finally I looked for a birth record for a William Bartolini and found one—born March 9, 1902, a mere eight months after Lillie’s wedding to Toscano in July, 1901. It was all starting to come together. I obviously have to send away for all these records to be sure that Lillie is Gustave’s daughter and that William is Lillie’s son, but it certainly seems likely that the records will back up my hunches here. In fact, I checked today on FamilySearch for Toscano Bartolini and found a more thorough description of the marriage record, including a reference to the bride’s parents’ names, Gustav and Gussie. I will still order a copy of the certificate, but I am now certain that Lillie married Toscano, who died just a few years later, leaving her with a two year old son named William.

UPDATE: All these facts were confirmed by the documents. See my more recent post with images of the documents.

After finding all this, I remembered something that Joe’s grandson Ron had told me—that one of Gustave’s daughters had married someone who wasn’t Jewish, and Ariela had said she thought one of the sisters had married someone with an Italian name. Ron had told me that the family was not happy about this, and that for a long time there was some estrangement. Despite whatever they felt, however, in 1905 after Frank/Toscano died, Gustave and Gussie took both Lillian and her son into their home.

It also occurred to me that perhaps the reason Lillie used the name Rosenzweig for William and not Bartolini was based on the fact that he was being taken to a Jewish institution. Obviously Rosenzweig would seem more clearly Jewish than Bartolini.

But why he was taken from the home in 1906 is not explained by the records. The orphanage record indicates that William was discharged to his mother on September 3, 1906, and reports that her address was then 307 East 120th Street in Manhattan, so perhaps there was a falling out with the family. But in 1910, Lillian was living again with her parents and siblings in Brooklyn, and William was not living with her. Lillian’s occupation was listed as a trained nurse at a hospital, and she was listed as single, not widowed. But where was William?

Gustave Rosenzweig and family 1910 census

I had not been able to find him as William Rosenzweig in the 1910 census, but now I searched for William Bartolini and found him, living at a residential facility, St. John’s Home in Brooklyn.

William Bartolini 1910 at St John’s Home, Brooklyn

Maybe Lillie placed him there so that she could get training to be a nurse. Perhaps she just could not take care of him. Perhaps I can find some records from St John’s Home.

I also was able to find where William was in 1915: another home for children, this one the New York Catholic Protectory, in the Bronx. (Interestingly, this facility was located where Parkchester is today; Parkchester is an apartment building complex developed by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in the Bronx and is where my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, and my parents once lived; I lived there also until I was four and half years old.)

William Bartolini 1915 Catholic Protection Bronx

William Bartolini 1915 Catholic Protecory Bronx

It seems that in both 1910 and 1915 William had been placed in Catholic institutions after being at a Jewish orphanage briefly in 1906. Had Lillie given up her parental rights? Was neither set of grandparents interested or able to take care of the boy? Was William troubled or disabled in some way that made caring for him at home a problem for everyone? I don’t know the answers, but will try to find out what happened to William after 1915. Apparently you can order microfilm from the Family History Library and see the actual records for the children who resided there, which I plan to do.

And I cannot find Lillie in 1910 or thereafter. She was not living with her mother and siblings in 1915 or in 1920. I cannot find her as Lillie Rosenzweig or as Lillie Bartolini. Perhaps she remarried and changed her name, but I have not yet found a marriage record. But now I know that I just have to keep looking. I almost gave up after Frank Cramer did not pan out. And then last night I looked a different way and found Toscano Bartolini. I hope I can eventually uncover what happened to Lillie and to William.

Document Updates on David and Jack Rosenzweig

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Amy

Last week I wrote about Gustave and Gussie’s one year old son David, who died on December 25, 1892. Today I received David’s death certificate, and it confirmed that this was their son. It also revealed his cause of death: meningitis. Having known a young child who had meningitis when he was just a few months old, reading this caused me to stop and once again be thankful that we live in an era of modern medicine where most children survive what were once deadly illnesses, although meningitis remains a danger to children and adults.

David Rosenzweig death certificate

I also am not sure what to make of the notation here that a contributing cause to his death was teething. Really? Teething? I will have to ask my brother whether there is or was anything that linked teething to meningitis and/or death.

The certificate also indicates that the doctor had cared for David from December 6 until December 18, but had not seen the baby in his last week. He wrote, “Child lingered hopelessly for the last week therefore no MD was called in during last days.” How awful that must have been—to watch a one year old child just literally pass away and not be able to do anything about it.

I also received the marriage certificate for Jacob/Jack/John Rosenzweig and Ethel Bloom, confirming that this was the correct Jacob, as indicated by the names of his parents provided on the certificate.

Jacob Rosenzweig and Ethel Bloom marriage certificate

Interestingly, Jack and Ethel each gave the same residence: 327 Howard Avenue. I doubt they were living together before they were married (it was 1923), so either they were providing their expected address for after the wedding or they had been living in the same building on Howard Avenue. Jack was 28 years old, and although he had been living with his family on Bergen Street in 1920, perhaps he had moved out on his own to Howard Avenue and met Ethel there.

The Rosenzweig Brothers: A Family Portrait

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Amy

Abraham Joseph and John (Jack) Rosenzweig

I have now been able to trace the outline of the lives of the three Rosenzweig brothers who survived to adulthood: Abraham, Jack, and Joe. I posted elsewhere about Abraham and Joe, so let me fill in the details of Jack’s life. His name shifted throughout the records from Jacob to Jack back to Jacob and then to John Jacob and finally to John Edward, but based on both clues in the records and confirmation from Joe’s granddaughter Ariela, I am certain that all the records refer to the same person, born Jacob Rosenzweig on August 19, 1895, in New York City to Gustave and Gussie Rosenzweig.

Like his older brother Abraham and his younger brother Joseph, Jacob served in the US Navy. Like Abraham, he already was a sailor in 1915 before the US entered World War I.

Rosenzweigs 1915

On his draft registration Jack claimed that both his mother and his father were dependent on him.

John Jacob Rosenzweig World War I draft registration

I found this interesting for two reasons: first, why would his father be depending on him? Wasn’t he still working as a painter? Also, Joseph had claimed on his draft registration that he was his mother’s sole source of support. According to his 1917 draft registration, Jack, like Joseph, was then employed by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. The brothers must have been quite close, living together and working together. In 1920, Jack was still living with his mother and siblings in Brooklyn and working as a clerk in the shipyard.

Rosenzweigs 1920 census

On November 26, 1923, he married Ethel Bloom and was now identifying as John Rosenzweig. In 1925, he and Ethel were living with her parents Fanny and Hyman Bloom in Brooklyn, and Jack was working as a postal clerk.

John E Rosenzweig 1925 NYS census

In 1930 Jack is listed as John E. on the census, still working as postal clerk, but now listed as the head of household with his in-laws living with him.

John E Rosenzweig 1930 census

In 1935 Jack and Ethel’s daughter Mona was born, as indicated on the 1940 census. On that census Jack was still working as a postal clerk.

John Rosenzweig 1940 census

According to his World War II draft registration in 1942, he and his family were still living in Brooklyn, and Jack was still working for the post office.

John Rosenzweig World War II draft registration

Sometime after his 1942 draft registration, Jack and his family moved out to Patchogue, Long Island. Jack died in June 1981, when he was 86 years old.

Jack may have changed his name a few times, but otherwise he seems like an incredibly constant and consistent man. He remained close to his family, he had a long marriage to one woman, and he worked for the US Postal Service his whole career.

Putting together what I have learned about Abraham, Jack, and Joe from these records and, more importantly from Joe’s grandchildren, I believe that I have a good sense of what these siblings were like. Despite having endured some terrible family tragedies growing up—the deaths of several siblings in infancy, including David, and of one as teen, Harry, and the apparent divorce of their parents around the time that Harry died, the brothers grew up to be warm, fun-loving and close to each other and to at least two of their sisters, Lizzie and Ray. They were all salt-of-the-earth men—a bakery driver, a postal worker, and a hat maker. Joe quit school after 3rd grade. He was very active in the union as well as an active Mason. He not only supported his own wife Sadie and his daughters Irene and Mildred; he also brought Sadie’s family over from Russia. Her family lived in his home until they were able to move out on their own. These three brothers, first generation Americans, worked hard, played hard and loved their children and grandchildren.

I was very touched by the fact that all the grandchildren with whom I have spoken or emailed have such strong feelings of love and affection for their grandfather Joe and grandmother Sadie. All mentioned how much they still missed them after all these years.

Joe and Sadie

In a comment on the blog, Hava shared that she named her first-born son for Joe and that she sees him as a gift from her grandfather. She wrote, “My older son is named for him, and I believe the first thing Joe did when he got to heaven was send my Joe’s soul to be born to me! I’d been trying to get pregnant 5 years and we conceived the night Joe passed away.”

Ariela described her grandfather Joe as very fun-loving and outgoing. She said that he “loved children – and children loved him. He would walk around with pistachio nuts and Hershey’s Kisses and M&M’s in his pockets and distribute them to any child he would meet. He was warm, loving and nurturing and generous. He would sometimes stop the car in the middle of the road and start dancing to the music on the radio.”

Joe at Ariela and Uri’s wedding in 1974

Ariela also remembered how Joe would bring his grandchildren rolls of ribbons and beautiful hats. He always had a cigar in his mouth and loved a drink of scotch.

Joe

Ron told me that his grandparents Joe and Sadie were incredibly devoted and committed to having a relationship with him after their daughter Mildred, Ron’s mother, passed away when Ron was only 15 months old. They worked hard to stay in touch with him, and Ron remembers visiting them not only when he was a child, but also as an adult when Sadie and Joe lived in Brighton Beach near Ron’s in-laws. It was very clear to me that Joe and Sadie were exceptional people and exceptional grandparents to have developed such strong, close and lasting bonds with their grandchildren.

Although I have yet to find the grandchildren or children of Abraham, Jack, Lizzie or Ray, from the recollections of Ariela and Ron, it seems that the siblings were all warm, fun-loving and close. Ariela remembers that Abraham was quite a practical joker; she commented that he “used to hide behind a curtain and put his set of false teeth around and click the top and bottom together and scare me half to death. He was as fun loving as Joe was.” Ron remembers his grandfather Joe talking about going out to Patchogue to visit Jack, even when they were both relatively old men. Ariela also said that Ray and Lizzie were outgoing and warm and fun-loving.

To me, it is remarkable how happy and well-adjusted these siblings appear to have been. They endured so much loss and heartache. How did they grow up to be so seemingly functional and joyful? My impression from the historical data about their father Gustave has always been that he was a devoted and caring person who did whatever he could do to help his entire extended family. I don’t have as clear a picture of Gussie, but she also must have loved her children very much. It is therefore perhaps not that surprising that these children grew up to be so close and so devoted to their families.

Another Sad Story: Harry Rosenzweig

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Amy

I have already told the story of Gustave and Gussie’s son David who died shortly after his first birthday. I’ve also talked about the records that indicate that Gustave and Gussie suffered the loss of many infants—perhaps as many as nine babies who did not survive. But I have not yet told the story of their son Harry Rosenzweig.

Harry was born in July 1897, two years after Jacob and a year before Joseph. He appeared on the census reports with the family in 1900, 1905, and 1910, but then he disappeared from the records. He is not on the 1915 census or any later census report. Since he would have been eighteen in 1915, I thought perhaps he was serving in the military like his brothers Abraham and Jack, but I could not find any military record or draft registration with his name. Where could he have been?

Fearing the worst, I checked the death index for NYC and sadly saw that indeed a Harry Rosenzweig had died on July 9, 1913. He would only have been sixteen years old—could this be the same Harry? If so, why did he die so young? I sent for the death certificate, which I received the other day.

Harry Rosenzweig death certificate

As you can see, it is in fact the death certificate for Harry, the son of Gustave Rosenzweig and Gussie Sachs. His cause of death is given as drowning.

I then searched for and found this brief news article from the Brooklyn Standard Union of July 8, 1913, p. 6, which explains some of the circumstances surrounding Harry’s death.

Brooklyn Standard Union July 8, 1913 page 6

Can you imagine what his father must have felt, going to the police station and seeing his son’s clothing? Why was Harry off by himself, swimming alone and away from the others in his gray flannel bathing suit? The article almost seems to imply that there was something suspicious about his behavior. Was his drowning other than accidental? The police obviously did locate his body the next day, as indicated on the death certificate, but the rest of the story remains a mystery.

The other question that lingers for me is whether or not Harry’s death occurred before or after Gustave and Gussie had separated. By the time of the 1915 census, Gussie and Gustave were apparently separated, as Gustave is not listed as living at 1914 Pacific Street with Gussie, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Lizzie and Ray. I have yet to find Gustave anywhere on the 1915 census. I searched the address given in the news report on Harry’s drowning in 1913, 1166 Nostrand Avenue, and Gustave is not listed as living at that address in 1915. In 1910 the family was living at 677 Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn and in 1905 they were living on Fulton Street in Brooklyn. Had they moved to Nostrand Avenue between 1910 and 1913 and then moved again between 1913 and 1915 to Pacific Street? Or had Gustave already left the home by 1913 and thus was living by himself on Nostrand Avenue? Where was he then in 1915? I will have to keep searching. By 1920 he seemed to be living in upper Manhattan as a boarder, and by 1920 he was remarried.

If Harry died before Gustave and Gussie separated, one has to wonder whether his death precipitated the end of their marriage. And if he died after they separated, one has to wonder whether the end of their marriage was in any way a factor in his swimming alone, away from everyone else on the beach.

Of course, his death could have been an accident, or he might have been swimming alone for any number of possible reasons. Whichever version of the story is true, the death of Harry Rosenzweig as a young teenager must have been a terrible tragedy for his family, a family which had already suffered the deaths of so many of their children.

Which makes it even more remarkable that at least some of his surviving siblings grew up to be such loving, warm and fun-loving adults, as my post tomorrow will discuss.

Blog Update

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Amy

Just a quick note to let you know that I have updated the page for David and Esther Rosenzweig’s Descendants to include the newly found children and other descendants of Gustave and Gussie Rosenzweig. There is also an updated family tree (see the link) and some new photos, so check it out when you get a chance. The page is found by clicking on the appropriate title at the top of the blog page under the main title.

Enjoy!

Abraham Rosenzweig: Update

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Amy

A week ago I wrote about my search for Gustave Rosenzweig’s son Abraham and the process I used to narrow it down from the thirteen possible Abraham Rosenzweigs who were born in New York between 1885 and 1895 to the one who seemed to be the most likely possibility. That one was the Abraham who married a woman named Rebecca, had two sons named Max and Irving, and who worked for a bakery company. But I needed some specific evidence proving that that Abraham was the son of Gustave Rosenzweig.

I searched the New York marriage record index over and over and finally decided that Abraham and Rebecca had not been married in New York City, but in Pennsylvania where Rebecca was born. Abraham, Gustave’s son, had been stationed in Pennsylvania while in the Navy, and I assume that that was when they met. I looked for a Pennsylvania marriage record, but have not found it.

I was, however, able to find a death notice for that Abraham in the New York Times dated May 14, 1961. It named his wife Rebecca, his two sons Max and Irving, and his four grandchildren.

Abraham Rosenzweig death certificate May 14, 1961 NYTimes

From this death notice and the date of death I was able to find where he was buried, Mt Lebanon Cemetery in Queens. I called the cemetery and asked whether there was any record of his father’s name. The woman there said that they did not keep that kind of record; however, they would take a photograph of the headstone for a fee and email it. I gave her my credit card number and ordered the photograph.

While waiting for that photograph, I hoped that it would in fact have his full Hebrew name with his father’s name. If it only had his English name, I’d be back to square one. It would be hard to obtain a death certificate since he had only died in 1961, barely 50 years ago. It would mean waiting a few months to get the answer.

But fortunately the headstone does have his full Hebrew name as you can see below:

Abraham Rosenzweig headstone Mt Lebanon Cemetery

Avraham ben Gedalia ha Levi. Abraham son of Gedalia the Levite. Remember that Gustave’s birth name was Ghitale. Ghitale is the Romanian equivalent of Gedalia, Hebrew for God is great. Abraham Rosenzweig, the son of Gustave Rosenzweig, married Rebecca from Pennsylvania, worked for a bakery, and had two sons and four grandchildren. Now I will try to find them.

Leah Strolowitz Adler: An American Immigrant Success Story

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Amy

As I have written before, one of the fascinating aspects of doing this research is what I’ve learned about the experience of Jewish immigrants in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. It is remarkable to me how children who arrived without speaking English and living in poverty were able to assimilate successfully into American society and make a good life for themselves and their children in this country.

Leah Strolowitz Adler is a good example of this remarkable transformation from a poor Romanian immigrant to an American success story. Thanks to her granddaughter Jean, I’ve been able to learn a fair amount about Leah and to obtain several pictures of her. Leah was born on May 25, 1900, in Iasi, Romania, the seventh and youngest child of Jankel Srulovici and Tillie Rosenzweig. She was only seven years old when she immigrated with her parents and siblings to New York City, where soon afterwards her father either died or disappeared. She lived with her mother and siblings and her two cousins, Isadore and Betty Goldschlager, in a tenement in East Harlem. While her older siblings went to work in sweatshops to support the family, Leah went to Public School 101 in Harlem on 109^th Street, where she completed eighth grade in 1915. Jean recalled that Leah told her that although she was happy to leave Romania, she found the transition to America difficult. Leah remembered standing on line at the public school in NYC and being teased for speaking Yiddish. Obviously, however, Leah soon learned English and even went on to Julia Richmond High School.

After she finished school, Leah lived with her mother and sisters, working in a millinery shop, until she married Ben Schwartz on June 26, 1921. Jean shared with me the story of how Leah met Ben. Leah had been friendly with or briefly dated Ben’s brother Emmanuel. While Emmanuel was overseas during World War I, Leah dropped by his optometry office for an eye exam and met Ben. Ben asked Leah out for a cup of coffee. The family story is that when Leah finished her piece of cake, Ben offered to buy her a second piece, and she knew right then that “he was a keeper.” Ben was American born and also an optometrist, according to his draft registration and various census reports.

Here are some photos of Leah, taken by Ben, during their courtship around 1920. She looks like a genuine American woman of the 1920s. She certainly seems to have left her poor immigrant beginnings behind her.

Leah c. 1920

leah

This is Leah and Ben around 1920:

1920 Leah with Ben Schwartz

Here is a photograph of Leah around 1921, reading a Yiddish newspaper, the Jewish Morning Journal.

Leah c. 1921

Leah and Ben moved to the Bronx and had a son Ira (named for Isidor, Leah’s oldest brother), born in 1923, and a daughter Theodora (“Teddy”)(named for Tillie, Leah’s mother) born in 1927. Here is a photograph of Leah, wearing a fur coat and holding Teddy in February, 1929, when Teddy was two years old. Notice the price of the baby clothes in the window of the shop behind them: 79 cents.

Leah and Teddy February 1929

Sometime in the 1930s, Leah’s divorced sister Bertha came to live with the Schwartz family for a number of years (at least until 1940, according to the US census of that year). Teddy still remembers her mother Leah commenting that it was a good thing that her father Jankel could not see them all working on Shabbos, suggesting that Jankel must have been an observant Jew.

According to Jean, Bertha taught Teddy to sew, but Leah was upset because she wanted her daughter to do more with her life than the sewing work that Leah and her sisters had done. I found this remarkable, given that women had so few choices back in the 1930s, but Leah clearly had a progressive vision and did not want her daughter to limit herself in anyway.

Teddy and Leah and Ben
1944 after her high school graduation

Teddy did grow up to be independent. After graduating from Taft high school in 1944, she attended NYU and became an occupational therapist, a professional woman long before that was common. Because she hated the cold, she moved by herself to Atlanta, Georgia, after seeing an advertisement for a job there. She soon met the man who would become her husband, Abner Cohen, whose family had deep roots in Atlanta. Teddy and Abner stayed in Atlanta where they raised their three children.

Jean recalled that Leah was scared to death to fly and so she and Ben would take the seventeen hour trip by train from NYC to Atlanta once or twice a year. Jean remembered, “At the station, while we waited for the train to arrive, we placed copper pennies on the track and after she disembarked and her train left, we would collect the flattened Abe. Grandma baked wonderful rugelach and some round brown sugar cookies. We made such a to do about her cookies that she would arrive toting the dough already mixed and formed ready to bake.”

Leah and Ben

Leah in 1968 with a cousin Margie

Leah and Ben’s 50th anniversary 1971

Eventually Teddy’s parents Leah and Ben moved to Atlanta, where they lived the rest of their lives.

So Leah Strolowitz Adler, who was born in Iasi and moved to America at age 7, not speaking English and living in a Harlem tenement, grew up and lived a comfortable life in New York, raised a daughter who became a health care professional, and retired with Ben to Atlanta, where she was able to get to know her grandchildren, including Jean, my fellow family historian. To me, it is a remarkable story, another example of the amazing resilience and persistence of the immigrant generation who made life possible for all of us today.

Brotmanblog: A Family Journey

Adventures in Genealogy

Category Archives: Rosenzweigs

Turn, Turn, Turn: A New Brotman-Goldschlager-Rosenzweig Has Arrived!

Women are Difficult, Part Two: Rebecca Rosenzweig

A Celebrity Connection: Louis Gossett, Junior

Women are Difficult…to Find and Track, Part I: Lillian Rosenzweig

Document Updates on David and Jack Rosenzweig

The Rosenzweig Brothers: A Family Portrait

Another Sad Story: Harry Rosenzweig

Blog Update

Abraham Rosenzweig: Update

Leah Strolowitz Adler: An American Immigrant Success Story

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