Zusi Rosenzweig: Some answers, more questions

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Amy

About ten days ago I wrote about the documentation that confirmed that Zusi Rosenzweig—also known as Sonsa, Ceci, Cecile, Celie, Susie and Susan Mintz—was my great-grandmother’s sister and the aunt who met my grandfather Isadore at Ellis Island in 1904. I also knew that she had married a man named Harry Mintz in December 1896, but it appeared that Harry had died by the time of 1900 census since Zusi, as Sonsa Mintz, was listed as a widow on the 1900 census, living with Jake and Rachel Reitman.

I also believed that I had found evidence that Zusi had had a son Nathan, born in December, 1897, but had not further evidence of him until he was living with Zusi at the time of the 1915 census. I believed Nathan had married a woman named Gertrude in 1930 and had had a daughter named Susanne in 1932, one year after his mother Zusi/Susie had died.

Although I was able to research fairly deeply into Jake and Rachel Reitman from the public records, I could not find any familial link between Zusi and either Jake and Rachel. On Jake and Rachel’s marriage certificate, their parents’ names are all revealed, and no one has a surname that I can link to the Rosenzweig/Goldschlager/Strolowitz family. I still don’t know if Sonsa Mintz is in fact Zusi, and if it was, I have no idea why she was living with the Reitmans.

Jake and Rachel Reitman marriage certificate

I had ordered three more documents: a birth certificate for Nathan Mintz, a marriage certificate for Nathan and Gertrude Mintz, and a death certificate for a Harry Mintz who died in 1924, thinking that perhaps Harry had just “disappeared” and had not died between 1897 and 1900. Today I received those documents, plus one more. For the most part, these documents did in fact confirm my hunches. The Nathan Mintz born in December, 1897, was the child of “Zussie” Rosenzweig, born in Romania, and her husband “Herman” Mintz.

Nathan Mintz birth certificate

The Nathan Mintz who married Gertrude in 1930 was the same: son of Susan “Rosenberg” and Harry Mintz.

Nathan and Gertrude marriage certificate

Thus, Susanne is Zusi’s granddaughter and her namesake. The death certificate for Harry Mintz dated 1924 neither confirmed nor contradicted what information I had because it is not the same Harry; this one had only been in the US for four years, was older, from Poland, and married to a woman named Ida.

Harry Mintz death

But there were some surprises in the documents; first, I received a second birth certificate for a baby Mintz born in December, 1897, Nathan’s twin, Hyman: same parents, same birth date, same doctor.

Hyman Mintz birth certificate

I immediately wondered why I had not seen any future references to Hyman and suspected the worst. I checked the death index, and Hyman Mintz died in January, 1898, a month old infant.

Moreover, the New York City birth certificate form asked how many children were born to this mother before this delivery and how many of those children were still living. On both Nathan and Hyman’s birth certificates, it says that Zusi had had one prior child and that three were still living. So who was this first child, and where was she or he living? Zusi and Harry had only been married twelve months when the twins were born, so they could not have had a prior child (well, at least one conceived since they had married). Zusi had been a 24 year old widow when she married Harry; she must have had a child with her first husband, perhaps in Romania before immigrating to the US. She was only a teenager when she emigrated. I have what I think could be the ship manifest listing Zusi as a passenger on the Ethopia, arriving in New York City on September 30, 1890; there is no child with her.

Ship Manifest as Susel Rosenzweig

Did she leave her child behind in Iasi for her family to raise? Why did she return to her maiden name if she’d been married? Perhaps there never was a marriage? I can guess, speculate, but not know for certain.

So what do we know and what don’t we know about this woman who met my grandfather at Ellis Island? We know she married Harry Mintz, had twin sons Nathan and Hyman, but only Nathan survived. Nathan grew up, married Gertrude, and had a daughter in 1932 named Susanne. Zusi died in 1931. What we don’t know is what happened to Harry or what happened to her first child. We don’t know where Zusi and Nathan were between 1898 and 1915. And we don’t know whether Nathan and Gertrude had additional children, whether Susanne had children, whether there are any living descendants of the elusive Zusi Rosenzweig.

Brotman Ancestral Home: Tarnobrzeg (probably)

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Amy

While researching my Goldschlager/Rosenzweig relatives, I have also been continuing to work towards an answer to the question

Photograph of Tarnobrzeg Main Square. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

of where in Galicia my ancestors Joseph and Bessie Brotman lived. The discovery of David Brotman, Joseph’s son from his first marriage, provided a new jumpstart to that research because David had listed two different home towns on his documentation: Tarnof on the ship manifest and Grambow on his naturalization papers. Unfortunately, that information seemed to conflict with what I had from Hyman’s papers—Jeekief and Giga.

After consulting with a few people in the field, my best guess is that the family came from Tarnobrzeg, then called Dzikow. A town called Grebow or Grybow is close by, and I am wondering whether David was born in Grebow, near Tarnobrzeg, when Joseph was married to Chaye Fortgang, and that Joseph moved to Dzikow/Tarnobrzeg when he married Bessie and when Chaim/Hyman was born. It’s a guess, but it’s the best I think I will be able to do, given the unreliability of the US records and our ancestors’ memories.

Having decided to make the assumption that Tarnobrzeg was the Brotman ancestral home, I then again researched the available resources online such as JRI–Poland, Gesher Galicia, and JewishGen, to see if there were any records that might be relevant, adding the surname Fortgang to my search since that is what David’s death certificate said had been his mother Chaye’s maiden name. I could not find any, and then I checked to see what records were even available in general for Tarnobrzeg.

I wrote to Stanley Diamond, the creator of JRI-Poland, and this is what he informed me: “Among all the towns listed [on JRI-Poland], Tarnobrzeg is the one with the fewest surviving records. They are the 1889-1911 births that are in the Polish State Archive branch in Sandomierz (for which we now have digital images) and the 1912-1937 birth records in the town hall in Tarnobrzeg.” Obviously, all of those records are too late for our family as the last child born in Galicia was Tillie in 1884. Just our luck—our relatives had to come from the place with the fewest surviving records.

Stanley told me not to give up all hope—that new records are sometimes discovered over time. And I will certainly keep renewing my search periodically, hoping that something does turn up. But for now, I think I have to accept the limitations of our ability to learn everything about our past.

So am I content with this? No, of course not. It’s particularly frustrating because it means I cannot go back any earlier than Joseph, Bessie and Chaye to find our earlier ancestors. I think that I can learn to be comfortable saying that my great-grandparents Joseph and Bessie Brotman probably came from the Tarnobrzeg region of Galicia. That’s much better than what I could say last summer when I really started digging for answers. But being even 99% sure is not the same as knowing for certain, and I am not even close to 99% sure.

For those who are interested, here are two websites about Tarnobrzeg, the town where my great-grandparents Joseph and Bessie Brotman probably lived.

Poland, Tarnobrzeg – Museum of City History, placed in old granary (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ShtetlLinks page

Gesher Galicia page

Another Addition to the Brotman Family Tree: David Brotman and his wife Annie

Another new relative: Gustave Rosenzweig

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Amy

As I wrote yesterday, I was excited in reading the case file of Jankel Srulovici to see that the principal witness who came forward to vouch for him at the hearing to determine his admission into the US was a brother-in-law named Gustave Rosenzweig. Gustave is the fourth child of my great-grandparents David Rosenzweig and Esther Gelberman whom I have been able to locate. He was my great-grandmother Ghitla’s older brother and also Tillie and Zusi’s brother. I had already noted his name on Bertha Strolowitz’s marriage certificate in 1915, but now I have some verification that he was in fact a member of the same family. Not simply because he testified for Jankel and helped post the bond for his admission, but because he described Jankel and Tillie in his testimony as his brother-in-law and sister.

I have now done research to learn more about this man, my great-great uncle, who had $6000 in assets in 1908 and a painting supply business in Brooklyn and who had already impressed me with his character for helping out his family. From various records, I have learned that Gustave was born in Romania in September, 1861. He married his first wife, Gussie, in 1882, according to the 1900 census.

Gustave Rosenzweig and family 1900 census

It is not at all clear exactly when Gustave and Gussie arrived in NYC, and I have not yet found a ship manifest for either of them. On his naturalization papers in January of 1892, Gustave wrote that he had arrived on April 12, 1887.

naturalization petition gustave rosenzweig

Some of the census reports indicate that Gussie and Gustave emigrated in 1881, others say 1888. According to the 1900 census, their first child Lilly was born in Romania in 1884, and if Lilly was born in Romania, the later date seems to be more accurate. On the other hand, the 1905 and 1910 census reports say that Lilly was born in the United States, and, according to the 1905 census, that Gussie and Gustave had been in the US for 22 years, i.e., since 1883. At any rate, Gustave and Gussie were certainly in the United States by 1888, and thus he was the earliest of the Rosenzweig children to come to America, at least a few years before Zusi, 13 years before his nephew Isidor Strolowitz, 15 years before my grandfather Isadore Goldschlager, and almost 20 years before Tillie, over 20 years before Ghitla.

Gustave Rosenzweig family on the 1905 NYS census

The earliest record I have of Gustave in NYC is an 1892 New York City directory listing him as a painter, living on Eldridge Street in the Lower East Side. His naturalization papers also indicated that he was a painter, as was Jankel Srulovici and his two sons Isidor and David. It makes me wonder whether Jankel and Gustave had been in business together as painters back in Iasi. Jankel would have been about ten years older, so perhaps he trained Gustave and brought him into his business. Gustave might have felt some sense of gratitude to him as well as brotherly love for his sister Tillie, motivating him even more so to help bring Jankel into the country.

1894 NYC directory

Gussie and Gustave moved several times after 1892—uptown on East 74^th Street in 1894, downtown to E. 6^th Street in 1900, and to Brooklyn by 1905, where they first lived in Fulton Street and then on Franklin Avenue, where they were living in 1908 at the time of Jankel’s hearing. Throughout this period of time, Gustav was a painter, eventually owning his own paint supply business, and he and Gussie were having many children: after Lilly came Sarah (1888), Abraham (1890), Rebecca (1894), Jacob (1895), Harry (1897), Joseph (1898), Lizzie (1900) and Rachel (1903). Apparently there were five others who died, as the 1900 census reports that Gussie had had thirteen children, eight of whom were then living.

It’s mind-boggling on many levels. First, how did the support and feed all those children and where did they fit them? And secondly, how did they endure the deaths of five children? I’ve seen this many times. In fact, on the 1900 census for Bessie Brotman, my great-grandmother, it reports that she had had nine children, only four of whom where then living. I cannot imagine how these mothers coped with losing these babies. Did it make them less able to bond with each newborn, fearing they would not survive, or did it make them cherish each new child even more, knowing how fragile life was and how difficult it was for a child to survive?

In addition, it appears that one of the children who survived infancy, Harry, died as a teenager in 1913. Perhaps all this did take its toll on the family. By 1915 it appears that Gustave and Gussie had separated or divorced. Gussie is living alone with the children in 1915; I cannot find Gustav at all on the 1915 census. The census reports for 1920 also had me somewhat confused. I found Gustave on two reports, one in Brooklyn on Bergen Street, living with the four youngest children, and another in Manhattan on East 110^th Street, living as a boarder with another family. In the Brooklyn census report, Gustave is listed as having no profession; on the Manhattan one it says he was a painter. And I could not find Gussie anywhere, though the Brooklyn census said that Gustave was divorced. What I finally concluded was that the Gustave in Brooklyn was really Gussie, despite the fact that it said Gustave and listed him as male. My guess is that, as was often the case, the census taker was given or heard confusing information and misinterpreted it. It makes more sense, given the times, that the children would be with their mother and that a woman would not be employed outside the home. The Manhattan Gustave, the painter, is obviously the actual Gustave Rosenzweig.

Rosenzweigs in Brooklyn 1920

Gustave Rosenzweig in Manhattan 1920

By 1925 Gustave was remarried to a woman named Selma Nadler. I was able to find a family tree containing Gustave and Selma which included this photograph, apparently of Selma and Gustave. Selma had also been previously married and had ten children of her own.

Gustave and Selma Rosenzweig

Between them, Selma and Gustave had nineteen living children in 1925. Imagine what that family reunion would look like. The last record I have for Gustave is the 1930 census. I have not found him yet on the 1940 census. I have found two death records for men named Gustave Rosenzweig, one in 1942, the other in 1944. I have ordered them both to determine whether either one is our Gustave.

Meanwhile, Gussie continued to live with one or more of her children in 1925, 1930 and 1940. I do not yet have a death record for her either. I have been able to trace the nine children with varying degrees of success. Lilly appears to have had a child out of wedlock in 1902 named William who was living with Gustave and Gussie for some time in 1905, but who was placed in an orphanage (father listed as Frank with no surname and deceased) for a short time in 1906. Then Lilly reappears on the 1910 census living with her parents and without William. I’ve not yet learned what happened to either Lilly or William.

Similarly, the other four daughters Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Lizzie, all became untraceable after they left home since I have no idea what their married names were. As for the sons, Abraham married and had two daughters, who for similar reasons I cannot find after 1940. Jacob/Jack also had two daughters, and Joseph I’ve not yet found past 1920. So at the moment I have not located any current descendants, but I will continue to look to see if I can somehow find out the married names of some of Gustave’s granddaughters. The NYC marriage index only contains records up to 1937, and these grandchildren would not yet have been married by then; thus, I have no readily available public source to find their married names. It may take a trip to NYC to see if those records are available in person. Or perhaps I can find a wedding announcement.

UPDATE: Much of the information in the preceding paragraph has been updated here, here, here, here, here, here, and other posts on the blog on Joseph, Jack, Rebecca and Sarah.

So that is the story of Gustave Rosenzweig as I know it to date: a Romanian born painter who married twice, had nine children, real estate and a painting business, and who came to the rescue of his sister and her family. It would be wonderful to know what happened once they all settled in America. Gustave obviously stayed in touch with Tillie and her children, as he was present at Bertha’s wedding. Did he help out Zusi, his little sister, when her husband died? I had hoped to find her living with him on one of those census reports, but did not. Did he help out my grandfather when he arrived as a 16 year old boy in NYC in 1904? Did he help out my great-grandmother when she arrived in 1910, a widow without any means of support aside from her children? I certainly wish there was some way of knowing the answers to these questions. From his conduct at the hearing for Jankel in 1908, I’d like to think that Gustave was there for them all, but we will never know.

Itic Jankel Srulovici

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Amy

As you may recall, one of the mysteries I was having trouble solving was the fate of Itic Jankel Srulovic, aka Jacob Strolowitz or Adler, aka a number of other possible spellings of both his first and last name. He was the husband of Tillie Rosenzweig Strolowitz, my great-grandmother Ghitla Rosenzweig Goldschlager’s sister. He had arrived with his wife and his three youngest children on December 29, 1907, aboard the SS Saratov and had been detained because of problems with his eyes—scars on his corneas and coloboma on both irises. Family lore suggested that he had never left Ellis Island, either having been deported or dying there, but the passenger manifest was stamped “Admitted,” indicating that a bond had been posted.

I had requested the case file for Jankel Srulovici from NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC, a few weeks ago, and it arrived yesterday. I have been studying it ever since. The papers are fascinating not only because of what they reveal about Jankel and his family, but also because they provide some insight into the times and the experiences of immigrants. I will post scans of the documents in their entirety for those who are interested in the general history as well as those who are interested in the particulars of the family history.

The first document, dated December 31, 1907, is a recommendation from the Acting Commissioner of the Immigration Service, Joseph Murray, that Jankel Srulovic [sic] be admitted to the United States based on a bond of $1000 that was being posted. Commissioner Murray then described Jankel’s eye problems as causing “very defective vision (1/10), corrected by glasses,” but also said that Jankel was suffering from senility which affected his ability to earn a living. He was only 55 years old; why was he suffering from senility? What was this diagnosis based upon? There is later testimony that Jankel could not read or write; perhaps the diagnoses was based on his illiteracy, or maybe his illiteracy and his apparent senility was really more a misdiagnosis based on the fact that he did not speak English. Or, of course, perhaps he was really senile.

Enclosed with the recommendation were the report of the doctor’s exam of Jankel, as described in the Acting Commissiner’s letter, and a transcript of the hearing held on December 30, 1907. The transcript names the parties detained and subject to the inquiry as Itie Jankel Srulovic, 55, Roumanian Hebrew, and his wife Tille, 48, and children Riwke [Beckie, then Ray], 15, Pinkus, 9, and Lea, 7. There is then what I assume to be a translation of some of the testimony given by Jankel. He named his four older children already residing in the United States, Srul [Isidore], 26, Judel [David?], 21, Brucha [Bertha], 23, and Bluma [Bella], 18. He testified that he could not read or write, that he was a painter, that he paid his own passage on the Saratov, and that he had $100, which he showed to the hearing officers. He then was asked whether he had worked before coming to the US or been supported by his children, and he responded, “I supported myself without assistance from my children.”

transcript

A few things struck me by this testimony. First, I had an immediate reaction of surprise and anger that Jankel was identified by his religion. Why was the fact that he was “Hebrew” at all relevant, especially in the context of a legal hearing to determine his right to enter the country, a country supposedly founded in large part on the principle of freedom of religious exercise? Second, I could almost feel Jankel’s humiliation; he was asked whether he needed his children to support him. He had to admit that he could not read and write. On the other hand, he had $100—was that a lot or a little for an immigrant to have with them back then? And he had a trade—he was a painter.

The next paragraph made me smile because the next witness was Gustave Rosenzweig. You may recall that I had noticed on Bertha Strulowitz’s marriage certificate that one of the witnesses was named Gustave Rosenzweig, and I had wondered whether this could be Tillie’s brother and thus also my great-grandmother’s brother. Well, here he was, testifying at the hearing where the future of Tillie and her husband and children were at stake. Gustave testified that he wanted [to help?] his sister, brother-in-law and their children. He said, “I am worth $6000, all told; have a business of Painter Supplies,” and further said, “I will do the best I can for them.” When asked whether Jankel could work, Gustav responded,”He has no business to work at all. I will keep him in my house.” He further testified that Jankel had “four grown children here to take care of them and able to take care of them.”

I was impressed both by the fact that Gustav had $6000 in assets and that he was so generous in coming forward to help his sister and her family. He could not have been in the US that long himself, and he had to have some concern and fears about facing an official governmental agency, but he stood up for Jankel and his family. Based on this testimony, the board of inquiry recommended that Jankel be “given this opportunity” to apply for admission on bond.

The remaining pages included with the Acting Commissioner’s recommendation are the bond, the application for the bond, and the oaths made by those providing the bond, Gustave Rosenzweig and Joe Langman. Although I have only done some preliminary research on Joe Langman, it appears that he was also from Iasi and had been in the US for some time before this hearing. I do not know whether there is any family connection, or whether he was just a landsman helping out another Romanian from Iasi. Langman signed an oath claiming to have real property in Manhattan worth over $60,000, which must have been quite a substantial sum back then. Gustave also signed a similar oath, asserting that he had $3000 worth of interest in real estate located in Brooklyn as well as personal property consisting of furniture and his painters’ supply business (presumably worth the other $3000). Based on these oaths, a bond was issued for $1000 and presented in order that Jankel “shall not become a public charge” and be allowed to enter the country.

bond application p.1

page 2

Oath of Joe Langman

Oath of Gustave Rosenzweig

One other interesting thing I noticed about these documents: at the bottom of the page containing the oath is a footnote that reads, “In case signer of bond is a woman, insert here [on a line on the oath] “that deponent is an unmarried woman.” “ I had to stop and think about that for a minute, and then I realized what it meant. Only an unmarried woman could post a bond because a married woman had no independent claim to property. Boy, between being Jewish and a married woman, I would have had no rights back in 1908.

The final document in the file is the recommendation of the Commissioner of Immigration Services to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, agreeing with the Acting Commissioner’s recommendation and recommending that Jankel Srulovici be granted admission on bond. Although there is no response from the Secretary, I would assume that in general the Secretary deferred to the Commissioner and his hearing officers, and that Jankel and his family were in fact admitted into the United States and that he was not left on Ellis Island or deported.

And yet, despite spending hours again last night searching for some record of his death or a gravesite, I still cannot find anything that reveals what happened to Jankel after January, 1908, when he was admitted, and April 29, 1910, when, according to the 1910 US census, Tillie was already a widow.

I’ve also been tracking down records for Gustav Rosenzweig and Joe Langer, but more on that in the next post.

And A New Branch for the Goldschlager Tree: The Third Rosenzweig Sister

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Amy

These last few days have been very exciting ones for me. Not only did I find persuasive evidence of another member of the Brotman family, I also have persuasive evidence of a new member of the Goldschlager family, a third Rosenzweig sister, Zusia, also called Sonsa, Celie, Susie and Susan. I am still piecing together her life and need to obtain more documentation to do that, but this is what I know so far.

Ghitla Rosenzweig Goldschlager

First, some background: Moritz Goldschlager, my great-grandfather, married Ghitla Rosenzweig, daughter of David and Esther Rosenzweig, according to the records found by my researcher in Iasi, Romania. Ghitla, who was also called Gittel, Gussie and Gisella, emigrated to the United States in 1910 with her son David, following my grandfather Isadore in 1904, her husband Moritz in 1909, and her daughter Betty in 1910. As described before, her husband died in April, 1910, and her two children, Isadore and Betty, moved in with Tillie Strolowitz, herself a widow, and her seven children. According to Tillie’s death certificate, her birth name was Tillie Rosenzweig, and her parents were also David and Esther Rosensweig. Tillie had emigrated with her husband and her three youngest children in 1907, following her older children who had emigrated over the years 1901 through 1907. I was quite excited when I figured out that Tillie was my grandfather’s aunt and had taken him and Betty in after their father had died.

Then a few weeks ago, I reviewed my grandfather’s ship manifest from 1904 (under his brother David’s name) and noticed again that he was supposed to meet an uncle, Morsche or Moische Mintz, in New York City. I had not been able to find this uncle before, and I was stymied again when I searched for him. Then I located a document indicating that my grandfather had been shortly detained at Ellis Island, apparently because his uncle had not been able to meet him. Instead he was met by an aunt Zusie Mintz, who lived at 110 East 117^th Street. But who was she?

Record of Detained Aliens
Isadore listed as David Goldschlager meeting Zusie Mintz

By searching the NYC marriage index, I was able to locate a Zusie Rosenzweig married to a Harry Mintz and wondered whether this could be the aunt who met Isadore and whether she was another sister of Ghitla and Tillie. I ordered a copy of the marriage certificate and also looked for further documentation of Zusie Mintz. I found one census reference for a Sonsa Mintz, living with cousins Jacob and Rachel Reitman in 1900 as a widow. If this was the same person as Zusie Mintz, it explained why the uncle had not been available in 1904; he had died. But was Sonsa also Zusie, and who were the Reitmans?

I looked for Zusie or Sonsa or Susie on the later census reports, but could not find her on any of them. Had she remarried and changed her name? Had she died?

I then looked for and found a death certificate for a Susie Mintz dated March 11, 1931, and I ordered that as well. At that point I decided to wait for these two documents to arrive before going on what might be a wild goose chase. I received those documents two days ago, the same day I received the documents evidencing that David Brotman was my great-uncle. Could I have struck gold twice in one day?

Yes, I could, and I did. The marriage certificate, dated December 6, 1896, confirmed that the Zusi Rosenzweig who married Harry Mintz was the daughter of David Rosenzweig and Esther Gilberman, revealing for the first time Esther’s birth name. The certificate confirmed also that Zusi was from Romania. Zusi had been living at 136 Allen Street, and Harry was living at 191 Allen Street, so presumably they had met in the neighborhood. Harry was 31 years old, born in Austria, and was marrying for the first time. Zusi was 24 years old, but already a widow.

Zusi Rosenzweig and Harry Mintz marriage certificate

Had she married before she left Romania, or since arriving in NYC? Why had she gone back to her birth name, Rosenzweig? These are questions for which I still do not have answers.

The second document I received, the death certificate for Susie Mintz who died on March 11, 1931, also confirmed that Zusi, now Susie, was the daughter of David and Esther Rosenzweig, born in Romania. Susie was 54 years old at the time of her death, meaning that she was born in 1877, whereas if she had been 24 in 1896, her birth year would have been 1872. The death certificate also indicated that she was a widow, and it provided her current address: 523 East 108^th Street in the Bronx.

Susie Mintz death certificate

The reverse side of her death certificate contained some surprising information. It revealed that the undertaker had been employed by “Mr. Mintz,” Susie’s son. Susie had a son? If so, where was he in 1900 when Sonsa was living with Jacob Reitman? Or was that really Susie/Zusi? If Susie had a son, perhaps she had other descendants as well. But what was her son’s name? When was he born?

reverse of death certificate

Using the address on the death certificate, I worked backwards to see if I could find Susie on the 1930 census, since I assumed she had not moved between the 1930 census and the time of her death in March, 1931. This took some doing, as you have to scan through all the pages within a specific enumeration district to find the address; there is no index by address. I finally found her address, and then I found her listing: she was living at the same address, listing herself as Susan Mintz, 42 years old, a dressmaker, and as married. Married? She was living with a boarder named Hannah Kassel, an older woman who was a widow. When I looked at the form more closely, I realized that the M for married also could be a W for widowed. I think the indexers read it incorrectly, and that Susie was in fact still a widow in 1930, as she was in 1900 and at her death.

Susan Mintz 1930 census

From the 1930 census, I then went to see if she had been at that address ten years earlier for the 1920 census. After more scanning and searching, I found her once again at the same address, but now using the name Celie, or at least that is how the census taker recorded it. She was listed as a widow, a dressmaker, and 42 years old (I guess she did not want to admit being any older ten years later in 1930). Zusi/Susie/Celie was living alone at that time.

Celie Mintz 1920 census

Next came the 1915 New York State census—could I find her again at that address? I searched for Celie Mintz this time, and without having to scan the census, I found her on the next block at 522 East 139^th Street in the Bronx, working at a cloak and suit factory, and living with her son, Nathan. Her son! I had found a record for her son.

Celie and Nathan Mintz 1915 NYS census

I could not find either of them on the 1910 census or the 1905 New York State census, at least not yet, but now I had her son’s name and could search for him.

I checked the New York City birth index for a birth certificate for a baby named Nathan Mintz and found one dated December 6, 1897, exactly a year after Harry Mintz had married Zusi Rosenzweig. This certainly could be the right Nathan, but I now need to obtain that certificate to be sure.

I did find Nathan’s 1917 draft registration for World War I, listing his mother as Cecile Mintz living at 523 East 138th Street in the Bronx, the same address where she was living from 1920 until her death. Cecile is closer to Zusi and Susie than Celie, and looking at the 1915 census it does look more like Ceci than Celie. The fact that Nathan’s address in 1917 was the same as that on Susie Mintz’s death certificate confirms that Susie and Cecile and Celie and Susan were all the same woman.

Nathan Mintz draft registration 1917

I then found a Nathan Mintz who married Gertrude Friedman in 1930. I need to order that certificate as well, but I suspect that this is the correct Nathan because on the 1940 census, Nathan and Gertrude have an eight year old daughter, born then in 1932, named Susanne. If this is the right Nathan, it makes perfect sense that he would name his first born child after his mother Susie one year after her death.

Nathan, Gertrude and Susanne Mintz 1940 census

But there are obviously many unanswered questions. I can’t find a death certificate for Harry—did he really die, or did he just disappear? Who are Jacob and Rachel Reitman? How, if it all, were they related to Zusi? And where was Nathan living if that was Zusi living with the Reitmans in 1900? Zusi was the one who met my grandfather at Ellis Island in 1904, but he was living alone in 1905. Where was Zusi living in 1905? 1910? She was not living with either of her sisters in 1910, so where did she go? And where was Nathan in those years and between 1917 when he registered for the draft and 1930 when he married Gertrude?

Yes, there are a lot of holes and a lot of questions, but I remain fairly certain that Zusi Rosenzweig Mintz was my great-grandmother’s sister and thus my great-great aunt and that Nathan Mintz was therefore a first cousin to Isadore, David and Betty Goldschlager and to all the Strolowitz children. Did they know him? And, of course, if Susanne Mintz was Nathan’s daughter, then she would have been my mother’s second cousin. And if Susanne had children, then they would be my third cousins.

So stay tuned—more to come once I receive more information.

Another Addition to the Brotman Family Tree: David Brotman and his wife Annie

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Amy

Family Tree drawn by Elaine Goldschlager Lehbraum

As you may recall, a couple of weeks ago my cousin Jody made a big discovery: handwritten notes that her mother had made of Joseph Brotman’s children. It included all the children we already knew about: Bessie’s children Hyman, Tillie, Gussie, Frieda (Florence in her notes) and Sam, as well as the two sons we knew of from Joseph’s first marriage, Abraham and Max. My brother had recalled that our aunt had said Joseph had had four children from his first marriage, but we did not know the names of the two remaining children, and I had traced every possible Brotman I could find to see if there was a link. I had hit many dead ends and found nothing that linked these other Brotmans to our family.

My aunt’s notes were a huge discovery because for the first time we had evidence of the names of those two missing children: David and Sophie. As I wrote when Jody first sent me the tree, I was able to locate a David Brotman from Austria who was a possible match for Joseph’s missing son, but I needed to check further and obtain some documentation in order to be sure.

Well, those documents arrived the other day, and I was so excited to see that on David’s marriage certificate in 1897, he listed his father’s name as Joseph Brotman and his mother’s as Chaye Fortgang.

David Brotman and Annie Salpeter marriage certificate

You may recall that Max had also listed his mother’s name as Chaye on his marriage certificate, so this confirmed that Joseph’s first wife was named Chaye, but now we know her surname as well.

Max Brotman marriage certificate

In addition, the marriage certificate gave David’s current address as 85 Ridge Street—the same address where Joseph and Bessie were living in 1895 when Gussie was born, according to her birth certificate.

Gussie birth certificate

This confirmed for me that David was Joseph’s son, Max and Abraham’s full brother, half-brother to Hyman, Tillie, Gussie, Frieda and Sam, and our great-uncle. I am still in a state of amazement that I was able to find him. Thank you, Aunt Elaine, for leaving behind this great clue to our family.

Once I had this information confirming the relationship, I located whatever census reports and other records I could find for David and his wife, Annie Salpeter. I found them on census reports for 1900, 1905, 1910, and 1920. David was a tailor according to the first three census reports, and he and Annie were living on the Lower East Side until at least 1910. At times Annie’s brother Morris lived with them as well as a cousin Meier, but there were no children listed on any of these census reports.

At the time of his World War I draft registration in 1917, David and Annie had left the Lower East Side and were living at 143 Manhattan Avenue in Brooklyn, which was also their address on the 1920 census report, when David’s occupation was given as a cloak dealer in a “cloak house.” Annie and David were now 44 years old and still had no children living with them, so I assume that they never had children. So there are no more second cousins to find and probably no pictures of David and Annie. (But I’ve learned never to say never.)

I’ve yet to find David and Annie on the 1930 or 1940 censuses, but I am still looking. It seems unlikely that they had left Brooklyn. I was able to locate a 1946 death certificate for a David Brotman married to Anna living at 10 Sumner Avenue in Brooklyn, and I believe this is the same David, despite the fact that the death certificate has his father’s name as Isaac. I’ve learned enough to know that death certificates are notoriously unreliable. I will continue to see if I can find anything about David and Annie after 1920.

I do have David’s petition for naturalization in 1920, and it indicates that he had arrived in NYC on October 14, 1889, on the “Updam” from Tarnof, Austria.

David Brotman petition for naturalization 1920

Tarnof could be Tarnow, a city about fifty miles north of Tarnobrzeg/Dzikow and even further from Czchow, the two areas that I have been focusing on as the Brotman hometown based on Hyman’s listing of “Jeekief” and “Giga” on his documents. But Tarnof could also be Tarnobrzeg, the larger town that is near Dzikow. So did this new information help our search for our hometown in Galicia or did it just make it more confusing?

That led me to search for the ship manifest for David, now that I knew when he arrived and on what ship. With some help from Renee, I located a September 4, 1889, German ship manifest for the Portia, sailing to Rotterdam, listing Dawid Brodmann as a passenger. I was excited to see that David was traveling with his older brother, Abe Brodmann. I had not previously been able to find Abraham on a ship manifest, so this was another exciting discovery.

David and Abe Brodmann on the Portia 1889

On the Portia ship manifest, Abe and David are listed as coming from “Grambow, Russland,” not Austria at all, let alone Tarnow, Tarnobrzeg, Dzikow or Czchow. I would have found this an indication that these were not the right boys, but there is a town right near Tarnobrzeg called Grebow, and according to a 1914 map, Tarnobrzeg was very close to the Russian border. So perhaps our family lived in Grebow? Or maybe that is where Joseph lived with Chaye and then moved to Dzikow when he married Bessie?

On the manifest for the Obdam, sailing from Rotterdam to New York arriving on September 19, 1889, David and Abe are listed as coming from Austria, not Russia, which appears to be correct.

David and Abe Brodman on the Obdam to New York 1889

There is obviously some confusion and conflict here, but it’s another clue and another place to look for the Brotman home in Galicia. I already have contacted several people researching this area to see if I can uncover more clues.

I have a few more leads to follow to fill in the gaps in David’s life story, and maybe they will even lead me to Sophie, the only remaining child of Joseph to locate. There is also some potential evidence that will link our family to the Brotmanville Brotmans, but again, I need to do more research before it is worth speculating about that connection.

The Illusion of Accuracy: Hyman Brotman’s Story

Betty Goldschlager and Her Daughters Frieda and Estelle: FOUND!

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Amy

Betty Goldschlager

I have written about my grandfather’s younger sister, my great-aunt Betty, and her experiences arriving in New York City the day after her father had died of tuberculosis. But until now I knew very little about her life after those early days. I knew that she had married Isidor Feuerstein, had two daughters Frieda and Estelle, and had moved to Long Island, where Isidor had a dry goods business near Levittown. Most of that I knew from my mother, who has clear memories of her aunt, uncle and cousins visiting her in Brooklyn when she was growing up. My mother commented on what an astute businessman Isidor must have been to have opened a business near Levittown when it was a new community. She also remembered that her two cousins were beautiful young women, described by my grandfather as Romanian princesses.

But that was all I knew. My mother thought that Betty and her daughters had all moved out west at some point, and she had lost touch with them long ago. My search for them turned up a few details—a death certificate for Betty from Phoenix, AZ, census reports from 1930 and 1940, but little else. Then several months ago, I thought I had a hot lead. I located a great-nephew of Isidor Feuerstein on ancestry.com, and he knew that Frieda had married a man named Abe Albert and even had a wedding picture of her as well as one taken several years after the wedding. He believed that Frieda had a daughter named Gail, but was not sure. He knew that Estelle had married a man named Kenner with a first name that started with I, but did not know whether she had had any children. He did not know whether either Frieda or Estelle was alive or where they might be living.

Feuerstein Family (Betty at far left)

With that new information, I started searching again, and although I was able to locate an Estelle Kenner living in Pembroke Pines, FL, I had no way to be sure that this was the same Estelle. I could find no real evidence of Frieda. I searched as many different ways and as many different places as I could, but kept hitting that proverbial brick wall. So I moved on, focused on David, Isadore, the Strolowitz family, the Schwartz family, etc.

Then the other night I mentioned to Renee (my friend and mentor) in an email that I was still searching for my mother’s two first cousins, Frieda and Estelle. I woke up the next morning, and there in my Inbox was an email from Renee providing me with Estelle’s wedding announcement, her husband’s obituary, and the names of their three children. So after months and months of finding nothing on my own, Renee in one evening had solved one of my most frustrating searches. How did she do it? She had access to yet another database that I was not aware of—something called ProQuest available at certain libraries.

So I was off and running, finding the three Kenner children on Facebook and sending each a message about my research. Within five minutes, Barry Kenner sent me back a message, and we then spent over an hour on the phone, exchanging information and getting to know each other. He also gave me contact information for Frieda’s daughter Gayle, and I have now had several email exchanges with her as well. There is still a lot to learn and more photos and documents to share, but I have answers to many of my unanswered questions. I have also had an email from Barry’s sister Robyn and hope to hear from his other sister Karyn. I have lots of new names to add to the Goldschlager family tree and am awaiting more photographs and information about my family.

Betty Goldschlager 1969

First, Frieda and Estelle are both still alive. Frieda lives in Arizona, and Estelle in Florida. Both of their husbands ended up in the same fabric importing business as Isidor Feuerstein. Irving Kenner had taken over the Long Island business, and Abe Albert started his own business in Arizona. Frieda and Estelle each had three children—two sons and a daughter for Frieda, two daughters and a son for Estelle. There are also many grandchildren and great-grandchildren descended from Betty and Isidor.

Frieda and Abe Albert at their wedding in 1943

I have already learned a few interesting facts that I did not know before. Gayle told me that her grandmother was very proud of her father Moritz, who she said was very dapper and a lamplighter for the theater. She said that there was even a story that before he married, he had run away to the circus! That gave me an entirely new perspective on Moritz and his life. Remember he is my great-grandfather who was an orphan by age six. I had wondered whether he had experienced any happiness in his life. I thought he lit street lamps This little snippet—a daughter’s memory of him as dapper and of being proud of his occupation, of a man who loved the circus and the theater—gave me a whole new insight into who my great-grandfather was. Even better, she later sent me a photograph of Moritz. Just the other day I wrote that I would never see a picture of him or know what he looked like. Never say never! Here he is:

Moritz Goldschlager

I assume this was taken in Iasi, not New York. I can see why Betty described her father as dapper. His clothing, his watch chain, the stance, the mustache, the furniture behind him—all this gives me a far different impression of the man who was my great-grandfather than I had imagined. Somehow I saw him as a peddler, a poor immigrant, because that was what he was in New York, but perhaps their life in Iasi was far more comfortable than I had assumed.

Gayle also said that her grandmother talked about having a tall brother whom she referred to as Uncle Gadalia. I told her that that must have been David, since Isadore was not tall at all. She also remembered that she had met David’s son Murray and his wife when they came to Phoenix from Tucson for her brother’s bar mitzvah, but that they lost touch after that.

Barry recalled visiting his grandmother on Long Island and her house with the grand entry staircase that they would slide down as children, using her silk pillows as seats. He described Betty as a sweet and petite woman whom he recalls making them mashed potatoes with chicken fat instead of butter. It’s amazing how little stories, little memories can bring alive someone whom I never knew. Barry shared this picture of the Feuerstein family at his parents’ wedding in 1951.

Betty, Irving’s mother, Irving’s sister-in law, Frieda, Estelle, Irving, Irving’s brother, Abe Albert, and Isidor Feuerstein at Estelle and Irving’s wedding

Estelle Feuerstein, Betty’s daughter

Estelle and Irving Kenner 1951

The photos on this page are a combination of the few photos I had of

Frieda and Abe Albert at their wedding in 1943

Betty, Isidor and their daughters and some pictures that Barry shared with me through his Facebook page and some that Gayle sent me. I am excited to see others and to learn more about these newly discovered cousins.

Frieda and Abe

Estelle

Estelle’s children Barry Robyn and Karyn 1963

Frieda and her children Robert, Gayle and Richard

Barry Kenner’s family

Crowd Sourced Genealogy

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Amy

In yesterday’s New York Times, A.J. Jacobs wrote a mostly facetious article about the phenomenon of crowd sourced genealogy, “Are You My Cousin?” Crowd sourced genealogy refers to the practice used by some people doing family research where on websites like Geni a researcher can link his or her tree with other trees once a

Image by None via CrunchBase

common relative is found. As Jacobs points out, many experienced genealogists have expressed concern about this practice because the trees that are being connected may not be well-researched or accurate. As a result, people end up incorporating those mistakes into their own trees, and then those mistakes can be repeated over and over again as new people begin linking to these inaccurate trees.

Although ancestry.com is not set up like Geni to promote the idea of one World Family Tree, their site also allows researchers to view other family trees which list people with the same names and dates as those on their own tree. When I first started using ancestry.com, I relied on this tool to add names to my family tree on my father’s side. I soon, however, realized that it was a dangerous practice. I thought I had found some English cousins because we shared a relative named Boomer Cohen. I contacted them and was very excited—only to be very disappointed and embarrassed when I learned that their Boomer Cohen was not the same as my Boomer Cohen. Who would have thought there were two women with that name?

I’ve run into other problems with relying on the family trees I find on ancestry.com. Often trees were created without any documentation, so I can’t double-check to be sure they are accurate. When I was researching Harry Coopersmith, my great-aunt Frieda’s husband, I found Harry on a tree with parents who did not match the parents I had found after research and with documentation. It had Harry’s children correctly and his birth and death dates, but the wrong parents. I contacted the tree owner, Harry’s grandson, and asked him about it because I assumed he was right and I was wrong. But it turned out he had linked to someone else’s tree with a different Harry Coopersmith and assumed it was his grandfather. He was very happy (and probably embarrassed) when I was able to provide him with the correct information and the documents to back it up.

As a result, I am very skeptical of sites like Geni and the whole notion of crowd sourced genealogy. Not that I have stopped looking at those other trees on ancestry—I always do, and I have found many helpful people by doing so. For example, I found Becky Schwartz Goldschlager’s nephew Jon by finding his family tree on ancestry. But I have learned to use these trees very carefully. In fact, when I return to researching my father’s family lines, I will need to go back and pare some limbs from those trees unless and until I can find documentation to back them up.

Jacobs also expressed skepticism, but seems to be overall in favor of crowd sourced genealogy. As I said, his article is mostly facetious, pointing out the ridiculously long and convoluted paths that connected him to Albert Einstein and Gwynneth Paltrow, among others. Although the idea of finding hundreds of celebrities and famous people to whom I have some very attenuated connection is somewhat intriguing, it’s not what I am after by engaging in genealogy research. I want to know more about my real ancestors — who they were, where they lived, and how they lived. I don’t need to know my great-great-uncle’s wife’s brother’s daughter’s husband’s cousin’s mother’s stepfather was Abraham Lincoln. What good would that do me?

English: Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States. Latviešu: Abrahams Linkolns, sešpadsmitais ASV prezidents. Српски / Srpski: Абрахам Линколн, шеснаести председник Сједињених Америчких Држава. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My Great-Grandfather Moritz (Moses ben Ira) Goldschlager

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Amy

It’s remarkable to me that before I started doing any of this research, I did not even know my grandfather’s father’s name (or his mother’s name). I still know very little about his life and nothing about his personality, but I know enough to make me sad that I don’t, and likely never will, know more.

From records that my researcher in Iasi was able to find last summer, I know that my great-grandfather was born Moses Lieb in Iasi, Romania in 1855. His parents were Ira and Beila Goldschlager. From the birth record created for his marriage, I know that witnesses testified to his birth and to the fact that his father Ira died in 1859 and that his mother Beila died in 1861.

Moses Leib Goldschlager birth record

Moses birth record transcribed and translated page 1

page 2

In other words, my great-grandfather was an orphan by age six. I have no idea who took care of him after that. Perhaps it was one of the several witnesses on this record, men who were old enough to have been a guardian to him. I have no idea what his childhood was like or how or why his parents both died when he was so young.

The next event for which I have any record is Moses’ marriage record dated September 2, 1887, when he was 32 years old. Was this his first marriage? Thirty-two seems old for that generation to be married for the first time, but so far no earlier record has shown up. Perhaps he was married before; perhaps he even had children in that first marriage. I don’t know. I don’t know what he was doing between 1855 and 1887, how he survived, where he lived, how he made a living. But in 1887 he married my great-grandmother, Ghitla Rosentzweig, eighteen years old according to the marriage record, daughter of David and Esther Rosentzweig. Her father also had died by the time she was married, but her mother was still alive and living in Iasi. On the marriage record Moses’ occupation is reported as “freely profession,” as translated by my researcher. I asked him what this means, and he said he believed it meant self-employed. Since my great-grandmother is listed as “without occupation,” I assume that Moses had some occupation, but it is not identified.

Moses Leib Goldschlager and Ghitla Rosentzvaig marriage record

Transcription and translation of marraige record

Their first child, my grandfather Isadore, was born in August, 1888, almost a year after Moses and Ghitla were married. On his birth record, it says that Moses, now 33, was a lamplighter. I assume this meant that he lit the gas lamps on the public streets.

UPDATE February 2, 2014: I just learned today that he lit the lamps in the theater!! And that he was a very dapper dresser. Thank you, Gayle, Betty’s granddaughter, who reported this information to me.

Interestingly, Ghitla is now reported to be 22, not 19. (I guess Romanian record keepers faced the same inconsistent age reports as American census takers.) My grandfather’s name is spelled Ire here, obviously named for Moses’ father Ira Goldschlager.

Ira aka Isidor Goldschlager birth record

transcription and translation

Moses and Ghitla’s second child David was born the following year on November 4, 1889. David was presumably named for Ghitla’s father, David. Moses’ occupation is once again described as “freely profession,” and he is now 34, Ghitla 23. The Goldschlager family was residing at the same house as the year before at 26 St. Andrew Street in Iasi, depicted below.

David Goldschlager birth record

transcription and translation

The Goldschlager home at 26 St Andrew Street, Iasi

The next record I have for Moses is the ship manifest for when he left Romania and came to the United States. He sailed from Le Havre on July 31, 1909, to New York. On the manifest his name is given as Moritz Goldschlager with his occupation listed as a tailor. It says he was 46 years old, which is about eight years younger than it should be. It gives his nationality as Roumanian and his “race or people” as Roumanian, but then written over it is “Hebrew.” Moses/Moritz named his wife Gisella Goldschlager of Jassy as the nearest relative from the country he was leaving and named his son Isidor, my grandfather, of 440 East 147^th Street, New York, as the person he was joining at his destination. The manifest also reveals that Moses was only 5’3” tall and had auburn hair and blue eyes. That is probably the closest I will ever get to a picture of him.

Ship Manifest of Moritz Goldschlager

page 2

UPDATE: I just realized that the 440 East 147th Street must be 110 East 117th Street, as that was the address that my grandfather have given for his aunt Zusia Mintz as the person meeting him when he came to NYC. Plus 440 East 147th Street is in the Bronx, not Manhattan.

I wonder when he became Moritz, just as I wonder when my grandfather became Isidor (or Isadore; it seemed to change back and forth). Were these names they used in Romania, or were they adopted to come to America? I assume the former—that Moses and Ira were Hebrew names, Moritz and Isidor secular names, but I don’t know for sure.

Moritz arrived in the United States in August, 1909, and then sadly, the next and last record I have for him is his death certificate, which I just received the other day. As I’ve written earlier, Moritz died on April 3, 1910, just eight months after he arrived in New York, a day before his daughter Betty arrived, and seven months before his wife and his son David arrived from Romania. They all arrived apparently without knowing Moritz had died, as they all listed him as the person meeting them at arrival.

I had wondered about his cause of death, and although I know that there is some question about the reliability of death certificates before the professionalization of the medical examiner’s office in the late 1920s, my great-grandfather died in a hospital according to his death certificate, and his death certificate is signed by a medical doctor, not a coroner. According to the certificate, my great-grandfather died from tuberculosis after being admitted to Harlem Hospital on April 2, 1910. I wonder how long he had been sick before coming to the hospital.

Moritz Goldschlager death certificate

The certificate also provides some other information and, as often is the case, some misinformation. It says that Moritz was a peddler, that he was married, and that he was 53 years old, which is closer to the truth than the age listed on the ship manifest. It says his father’s name was Isidor Goldschlager, which, if true, means that my great-great-grandfather also used Isidor as his secular name and his Hebrew name was Ira. But the certificate also says that Moritz’s mother’s name was Ghisela and then something that is not legible. I assume that my grandfather was the informant and that he was confused and gave his mother’s name instead of his father’s mother’s name.

Finally, the death certificate indicates where Moritz and Isadore had been living—173-175 East 109^th Street. According to the 1910 census, this is the same street where Tillie Strolovitz and her seven children were living in 1910, just a few blocks away. That census is dated April 24, 1910, just 21 days after Moritz had died, 20 days after Betty had arrived. Isadore and Betty had moved in and were living with their aunt and cousins by that time, obviously taken in by their aunt Tillie shortly after their father’s death.

And that is all I know about Moses ben Ira, Moritz Goldschlager. He lost his both his parents by the time he was six years old; he married at age 32, had three children, and worked for at least a while as a lamplighter and perhaps as a tailor in Iasi before emigrating in 1909. He lived for less than a year in New York as a peddler before succumbing to tuberculosis at Harlem Hospital before he ever saw his wife, his younger son, or his daughter again.

Sometimes when I put together these missing links to people I never knew and who no one alive today ever knew, it makes me feel incredibly rewarded and happy. Sometimes, as with Moritz, it leaves me feeling sad. What kind of life did he have with so much misery at the beginning and then at the end? I can only hope that in between he found happiness and some comfort with his wife and three children.

Moritz Goldschlager headstone

These lost ancestors are part of what motivates me to do this research. Someone should know that they lived, they suffered, they loved and were loved, and they died. Moritz had at least two namesakes: Isadore’s son, my uncle Maurice, also named Moses Lieb, and David’s son Murray, also Moses Lieb. If we count the children who were then named for my uncle Maurice as namesakes of Moritz’s namesake, then there are several more, including my daughter Madeline. I’d like to think that that adds more meaning to his life—knowing that his name does live on and that his life is now remembered and documented.

Big Brotman Family Update!

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Amy

I’ve been focused on the Goldschlagers these last few weeks, but I have not at all forgotten my Brotman cousins. I have just not had anything new to report as I am still awaiting a few documents and also hoping to break the brick wall that prevents me from finding out about our Galician home and our earlier ancestors.

But today I actually have some news about the Brotman family. My first cousin Jody sent me the document depicted below:

Family Tree drawn by Elaine Goldschlager Lehbraum

It’s a family tree written by her mother, my aunt Elaine Goldschlager Lehrbaum, my mother’s sister. At first I didn’t realize there was anything new about it until I read it over a second, third and now fourth time. My aunt provided the names of all the other children of Joseph Brotman, including Max and Abraham, confirming what we already knew, that is, that they were Joseph’s sons from his first marriage. But now we have the names of the other two children from that first marriage: David and Sophie! This is huge news for me and gives me a new start to researching the other Brotman cousins.

Also, note that my aunt said that Joseph and Bessie were first cousins. (No wonder our gene pool carries so many repeating traits—like those distinctive cheekbones.) That may help me locate them in Europe since we now know that they had the same grandparents.

Finally, I never knew that my aunt’s Hebrew name was Esther. That was Gisella’s mother’s name—Esther, married to David Rosensweig. So my aunt was named for her great-grandmother. I wonder if she knew that.

Another one of those days when a small document can just bring tears and smiles to my eyes.

Jody also sent some wonderful pictures which I will post later. Thanks, Jo!

Brotmanblog: A Family Journey

Adventures in Genealogy

Category Archives: Genealogy

Zusi Rosenzweig: Some answers, more questions

Brotman Ancestral Home: Tarnobrzeg (probably)

Another new relative: Gustave Rosenzweig

Itic Jankel Srulovici

And A New Branch for the Goldschlager Tree: The Third Rosenzweig Sister

Another Addition to the Brotman Family Tree: David Brotman and his wife Annie

Betty Goldschlager and Her Daughters Frieda and Estelle: FOUND!

Crowd Sourced Genealogy

My Great-Grandfather Moritz (Moses ben Ira) Goldschlager

Big Brotman Family Update!

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