Category Archives: Places My Family Has Lived

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So I am at a loss.

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

Moses Rothschild, Part III: Is this his headstone?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Moses Rothschild, Part I: When Did He Die?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. Moses Rothschild, ship manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; Microfilm Serial or NAID: M237; RG Title: Records of the U.S. Customs Service; RG: 36, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
  2. Moses Rothschild, ship manifest, The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; Microfilm Serial or NAID: M237; RG Title: Records of the U.S. Customs Service; RG: 36, Description Ship or Roll Number: Ariel, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
  3. Moses Rothschild, 1870 US census, Year: 1870; Census Place: New York Ward 11 District 23 (2nd Enum), New York, New York; Roll: M593_1028; Page:  787B, Description Township: New York Ward 11 District 23 (2nd Enum), Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census ↩
  4. “New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2CN-VN8G : Fri Mar 08 21:51:45 UTC 2024), Entry for Moses Rothschild and Matilda Seligmann, 8 December 1872. ↩
  5. Mathilda Rothschild, [Mathilda Selizmann], Gender Female, Race White
    Marital Status Widowed, Age 82, Birth Date 19 Feb 1849, Birth Place Germany
    Years in US 63 Years, Death Date 7 Nov 1931, Death Street Address 2033 Morris Ave
    Death Place New York City, Bronx, New York, USA, Cause of Death Chronic Myocarditis and Nephritis, Arterial Hypertension, Burial Date 9 Nov 1931
    Burial Place Mount Carmel Cemetery, Occupation House Wife, Father’s Birth Place Germany, Mother’s Birth Place Germany, Father Louis Selizmann, Mother Theresa Selizmann, Executor Sam Rothschild, Executor Relationship Son, Certificate Number 9230, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Death Certificates; Borough: Bronx; Year: 1931, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948 ↩
  6. Samuel Rothschild birth record, “New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:27BV-JW5 : 11 February 2018), Samuel Rothschild, 21 Jul 1873; citing Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, reference cn 114503 New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,322,065. ↩
  7. Rudolph Rothschild birth record, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1875, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909; Rudolph Rothschild, Birth Date 17 Mar 1875, Birth Place New York, Claim Date 3 Apr 1940, SSN 111071339, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  8. Albert Rothschild birth record, Gender Male, Race White, Birth Date 2 Jan 1876
    Birth Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, USA, Residence Address 7th Street 256, Certificate Number 198376, Father Moses Rothchild, Mother Mathilda Rathchild, Mother Maiden Name Seligman, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1876, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩
  9. Theresa Rothschild birth record, Teresa Rothschild, Gender Female, Race White
    Birth Date 22 Aug 1878, Birth Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, USA, Residence Address 7 Street 244, Certificate Number 239687, Father Moses Rothschild, Mother Matilda Deligman Rothschild, Mother Maiden Name Seligman, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1878, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩
  10. Grethe Rothschild birth record, Grethe Rothschild, Gender Female, Race White
    Birth Date 10 Feb 1880, Birth Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, USA, Residence Address E. 5 Street 622, Certificate Number 277695, Father Moses Rothschild, Mother Matilda Seligman Rothschild, Mother Maiden Name Seligman, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1880, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩
  11. Aron Rothchild, Gender Male, Race White, Birth Date 17 Aug 1881, Birth Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, USA, Residence Address E. 78th St. New York 344, Certificate Number 318749, Father Moses Rothchild, Mother Matilda Rothchild, Mother Maiden Name Seligmann, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1881, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩
  12.  New York, New York, City Directory, 1882, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, p. 1385. ↩
  13.  New York, New York, City Directory, 1883, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 ↩
  14.  New York, New York, City Directory, 1884, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, p. 1523. ↩
  15.  New York, New York, City Directory, 1886, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, p. 868. ↩
  16.  New York, New York, City Directory, 1888, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, p. 1706. ↩
  17. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/131249188/moses-rothschild: accessed August 17, 2024), memorial page for Moses Rothschild (unknown–unknown), Find a Grave Memorial ID 131249188, citing Union Field Cemetery, Ridgewood, Queens County, New York, USA; Maintained by Athanatos (contributor 46907585). ↩
  18. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/127067956/august-seligmann: accessed August 17, 2024), memorial page for August Seligmann (unknown–1916), Find a Grave Memorial ID 127067956, citing Union Field Cemetery, Ridgewood, Queens County, New York, USA; Maintained by Athanatos (contributor 46907585). As we will see in later posts, Mathilde and several of their children are buried elsewhere. ↩
  19. Albert Rothschild and Rosie Katz marriage record, “New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2CN-Q2R3 : Sun Mar 10 19:42:31 UTC 2024), Entry for Albert Rothschild and Rosie Katz, 4 May 1895. ↩
  20. Milton Rothschild birth record, Milton Rothschild, Gender Male, Race White
    Birth Date 26 Sep 1898, Birth Place Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, USA, Residence Address Third Avenue 2068, Certificate Number 40264, Father
    Albert Rothschild, Mother Rosie Rothschild Mother Maiden Name Katz, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Birth Certificates; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1898, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909 ↩
  21. Rudolph Rothschild and Rebecca Schlossberg marriage record, “New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24ZZ-QWH : Tue Feb 20 21:40:11 UTC 2024), Entry for Rudolph Rothschild and Rebecca Schlossberg, 17 Apr 1898. ↩
  22. Mortimer Rothschild, World War I draft registration, Mortimer Maxwell Rothschild
    Birth Date 28 Oct 1899, Residence Date 1917-1918, Street Address 645 W 160st St
    Residence Place Manhattan, New York, USA, Draft Board 147, Relative Rudolph Rothschild, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 ↩
  23. Samuel Rothschild and Sallye Livingston marriage record, Samuel S. Rothschild
    Age 25, Gender Male, Birth Year abt 1873, Marriage Type Marriage, Marriage Date 4 Sep 1898, Marriage Place Chicago, Cook, Illinois, Spouse Name Sallie Livingston
    Spouse Age 24, Spouse Gender Female, FHL Film Number 1030288, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Marriages Index, 1871-1920 ↩
  24. Sallye Rothschild death record, Sallye Rothschild, [Sallye Livingston], Gender Female, Race White, Marital Status Married, Age 77, Birth Date 14 Oct 1868, Birth Place Missouri, Clarkville, Residence Street Address 1900 Grand Concourse
    Residence Place New, Death Date 14 Nov 1945, Death Street Address 1900 Grand Concourse, Death Place New York City, Bronx, New York, USA, Cause of Death Adenocarcinoma of Ascending Colon, With Metastasis, Burial Date 16 Nov 1945
    Burial Place MT Carmel Cemetery, Occupation Housewife, Father’s Birth Place Germany, Mother’s Birth Place Germany, Father Aaron Livingston, Mother Magdeline Livingston, Spouse Samuel Informant Thomas Rothschild, Informant Gender Male
    Informant Relationship Husband Executor Samuel Rothschild Executor Relationship Husband, Certificate Number 10938, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Death Certificates; Borough: Bronx; Year: 1945, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948 ↩
  25. Milton Rothschild birth record, Milton Rothschild, Birth Date 5 Mar 1906
    Birth Place Manhattan, New York, USA, Certificate Number 28041, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Birth Index, 1878-1909 ↩

John Nusbaum Album: Of Babies Who Died Too Soon and Family in Peoria

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Having now discussed many of the photographs that were unlabeled in the Nusbaum Album, I am going to turn to the few photographs that were labeled, making the task of identification much easier. There were only a handful that had names on them or other clues as to who was depicted in the photograph, and two of those appear on the very last page of the album and are of two babies who died as children.

First, there is this photograph with the following inscription under the baby’s picture: “Yours Truly Milton Josephs.” The reverse of that photograph shows that this was taken by George H. Rau Photographers of 922 Girard Avenue in Philadelphia.

Milton Josephs

Milton Josephs was born in Philadelphia on December 28, 1878, to Gustavus Josephs and Miriam Nusbaum. Miriam was the daughter of John and Jeanette Nusbaum and a sister of Frances Nusbaum, so she was my three-times-great-aunt. Her son Milton was John and Jeanette’s grandson and Frances’ nephew. Little Milton died before his second birthday on November 17, 1880. Given that he looks about three or four months old in this photograph, I assume it was taken in early 1879.

Right next to the photograph of little Milton in the Nusbaum Album is this photograph. It has the following inscription on its reverse side: “Compliments of STN [?] Dinkelspiel. Eva H. Dinkelspiel. 6 mo 19 days old weighs 23 lbs. How’s that for high[?]?“ The photograph was taken by Thurlow & Smith Photographers of 107 Main Cor. Jefferson, Peoria, Illinois.

Eva Helen Dinkelspiel

Eva Helen Dinkelspiel was the daughter of Adolph Dinkelspiel and Nancy Lyon; her paternal grandmother was Mathilda Nusbaum Dinkelspiel, John Nusbaum’s sister. Eva thus was John’s great-niece. Adolph Dinkelspiel was John’s nephew and a first cousin to Frances Nusbaum.  Eva was born on January 25, 1872, in Peoria, Illinois. That means this photograph, taken when she was six months old and nineteen days old, was taken on July 13, 1872,  seven years before the photograph of Milton Josephs, yet they are placed together in the Nusbaum album. Eva, like Milton, died as a child. She was seven years old when she died from scarlet fever on November 28, 1879, in Peoria.

It obviously was not an accident that these two photographs were placed next to each other in the album. They were not taken at the same time or at the same place and although they are both of Nusbaum family members, they were not from the same nuclear family. They had to be placed here because they were both of children who died young. And they died just about a year apart in time.

What makes the placement of the photograph of Eva Dinkelspiel also surprising is that the other seven photographs taken in Peoria appear in the album much earlier—at about the midpoint of the album. Here are those two pages:

The woman on the lower right of the first of those pages was photographed in Harrisburg, but the other seven—six men and one woman—were photographed in Peoria, by various photographers.   As I was surprised to learn when I first was researching my Nusbaum family, many of them ended up in Peoria. You can read about Peoria and why, when, and how my Nusbaum relatives ended up living there here on my blog. 

John Nusbaum, as noted in that blog post, opened a store in Peoria and is listed in the Peoria directories, but it was his three sons who ran that store during the 1860s and 1870s and who lived in Peoria: Adolphus, Simon and Julius Nusbaum. We’ve already seen that John’s nephew Adolph Dinkelspiel, father of the ill-fated Eva mentioned above, also lived in Peoria during those decades, as did his sister Paulina Dinkelspiel Simon, John’s niece.

Although I do not have Ava’s expertise about individual photographers, I did find most of the photographers who took the photographs of these seven people in Peoria listed in Peoria directories in the 1860s and 1870s; two of those photographers also included on their CDV insignias the words “over Philadelphia store.” The “Philadelphia store” must have referred to John Nusbaum’s store in Peoria, which was located at Main and Adams, the same location as those two photographers. It seems obvious that the Nusbaum brothers knew these photographers and vice versa.

I believe that the seven people in these photographs are probably Nusbaum relatives. These three seem to resemble each other the most.

They also seem to look a bit like the man in the photos who might be John Nusbaum.

I am willing to speculate that they were John and Jeanette’s sons, Frances’ brothers, Adolphus, Simon, and Julius. That thought, however speculative it may be, makes me happy.

Nusbaum Album: Are These My Seligmann Relatives from Germany?

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With more realistic expectations but nevertheless high hopes, I awaited Ava’s final work on the Nusbaum Album, some of the photographs from Germany. Although there were some photographs from Stuttgart, Berlin, and Wiesbaden, since I did not know of any relatives living in those places in the mid to late 19th century, I focused on the photographs taken in Bingen and Mainz. Although my closest Seligmann relatives lived in the small town of Gau-Algesheim, both Bingen and Mainz were relatively close by and the closest cities to Gau-Algesheim, and many relatives eventually moved there. It seemed most likely that that my Seligmann relatives would have gone to one of those two cities to be photographed.

I selected three photographs from Mainz, all taken by the same photographer, Carl Hertel, and two from Bingen, both taken by J.B. Hilsdorf. These were all on the back of the first four pages at the beginning of the album whereas other photographs from Germany including from Mainz and Bingen were much later in the album. I hoped that meant the ones earlier in the album were more likely closer relatives.

The first Mainz photograph was dated by Ava as taken between 1873 and 1874; she noted that in 1874, Hertel became a court photographer. She wrote, “Generally, when a photographer was appointed as a court photographer that information would appear on the mounting card in the imprint and after the photographer’s name with the letters HOF. Since there is no indication of this appointment, I am placing the date of the photograph before 1874.”1 In addition, another photograph of Hertel’s found elsewhere with the same imprint was dated 1873.

Ava estimated the age of the man as mid to late 70s based on the lines on his face and the style of his tie. That meant the man was born in about 1800-1804. Ava speculated that this could be my three-times great-grandfather Moritz Seligmann, who was born in 1800. And this time I was able to confirm that speculation because I belatedly remembered that I have an actual photograph of Moritz that I had obtained from a cousin years back:

Moritz Seligmann

So bingo! We had a positive identification!

Moving on to the next two Mainz photos, Ava concluded that they also were taken between 1873 and 1874 based on the information she’d already found about Hertel. The first one she believed to be of a man who was in his thirties, perhaps 35, so born in about 1838-1839. The younger man on that same page appeared to her to be eighteen so born in about 1855. Since these photographs were all taken by the same photographer at about the same time, I thought that perhaps these two younger men were sons of Moritz Seligmann, that is, brothers of Bernard, my great-great-grandfather. In addition, they appeared on the second page of Germany photographs right after the photograph of Moritz, who appeared on the first page of the Germany photographs in the album.

Looking at the family tree, I found two possibilities. The older “son” could be Hieronymous Seligmann, born in 1839. The younger “son” could be Moritz’s youngest child, Jakob Seligmann, born in 1853. I was excited at the thought that perhaps I finally had found some relatives I could identify in the album.

I shared my analysis with Ava. She was skeptical that the younger man was Jakob Seligmann because she had identified Jakob in a photograph from a different set of photographs that she had worked on during an earlier project, and she did not see any similarities or enough to believe that the blonde teenager photographed in Mainz was the same person identified as Onkle Jakob in the later photograph.

We went back and forth with me trying my lawyerly best to persuade her that the blonde man could have grown up to be the dark haired Oncle Jakob. But in the end I failed to do so. I have to defer to Ava. She’s the expert, and I am a biased viewer hoping to see what I want to see. But if this was not Jakob Seligmann, who was it? I don’t know. Maybe a nephew or a cousin. Maybe not anyone in the family at all.

Knowing now that the Hertel photographs were likely taken before 1874 as Ava concluded, I looked on my own at the other three Hertel photographs taken in Mainz that appear later in the album:

 

Who are these three women? I don’t know since I have no photographs to use for comparison. Two of them look too young to be Bernard Seligman’s sisters Mathilde and Pauline, who were born in 1845 and 1847, respectively, and certainly too young to be his half-sister Caroline born in 1833, if the photographs were taken around 1873 as Ava concluded about the other Hertel photographs. And they are too old looking to be the children of any of Bernard’s siblings. So sadly they also will remain unidentified.

The next photograph I asked Ava to analyze is on the same page as the two blonde men except this photograph was taken in Bingen, not Mainz, by J.B. Hilsdorf, who was in business in Bingen from 1861 to 1891, according to Ava’s research. When I believed that the other two men on that page were Hieronymous and Jakob, I speculated that this third man could be their brother August, the only other son of Moritz Seligmann who survived beyond 1853 and was living in Germany.

Based on the size of this particular photograph, Ava dated it in the mid-1860s. She thought the man was between 30 and 35 so born between 1827 and 1834.2 August Seligmann was born in 1841 so too young to be the man in this photograph. In addition, Ava compared this photograph to one I have of August and found them to be dissimilar. It didn’t take as much to persuade me this time.

August Seligmann

That left one last photograph for Ava to analyze, the second photograph from Bingen that I had selected.

It also was taken by J.B. Hilsdorf, and for the same reasons Ava dated it in the mid-1860s. She estimated the woman’s age to be in her late 40s, early 50s, giving her a birth year range of 1812 to 1817. Based on the age and other photographs I have of my three-times great-grandmother Babette Schoenfeld Seligmann, Ava thought there was a good possibility that this photograph was also Babette. Here are the other photographs of Babette that Ava used for comparison.

Ava did an incredible job of researching the photographers and the photographs they’ve taken to come up with reliable time frames for when the album photographs were likely taken. But it is only possible to go so far with identification without known photographs of the people in your family to use for comparison. You can narrow down the possibilities and eliminate those who clearly do not fit within the parameters of the dates, but you can never be 100% confident of the specific identity of the person in the photograph based just on dates and locations. I wish I had more photographs that Ava could have used to make facial comparisons, but I don’t. I have to accept that I may never know who most of these people were.

Fortunately, there were a handful of photographs in the Nusbaum Album that were labeled and that I could on my own identify and place in my family tree. More on those in my next few posts.

 

  1. Ava Cohn, Analysis of Nusbaum Album #4, March 17, 2024 ↩
  2. Ava Cohn, Analysis of Nusbaum Album #5, April 3 ,2024
    . ↩

Nusbaum Album: Santa Fe Photographs

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I decided to move on from the Philadelphia photographs in the Nusbaum Album even though there were still many more of them in the album because it seemed to be unlikely that I would ever identify anyone.  I asked Ava to focus next on the six photographs taken in Sante Fe, hoping that they would more clearly be of my Santa Fe relatives.

Of those six, three were of young children, two were of adult men, and one was of a couple. My hope was that the couple would be Frances Nusbaum and Bernard Seligman, my great-great-grandparents, the children would be their children, and the two men would be other Seligmans or Nusbaums.

 

Once again there were no tax stamps on these photographs, so Ava concluded that they were taken either before August, 1864, or after August, 1866. Since Bernard and Frances didn’t move to Santa Fe until after 1868, I was hoping that the photographs fell into that later period. These photos also appear more than halfway into the album so were perhaps later than those 1863 to 1870 Philadelphia photographs Ava had already analyzed.

The three photographs of children were all taken by the same photographer, H.T. Hiester. Ava’s research of Hiester revealed that “Henry T. Hiester came to Santa Fe from Texas in the summer of 1871 at the request of Dr. Enos Andrews. Hiester was active in Santa Fe from 1871-1878. He had a studio in West Side Plaza from 1871-1874 and one on Main Street from September, 1874 to March, 1875.”1

Although Ava believed that two of these photographs were taken at the same studio given that they have the same set, back drop, and chair, she concluded that they were not taken at the same time. She opined that they were both of the same child, possibly James Seligman, Bernard and Frances’ older son who was born in 1868 in Philadelphia. She thought the photo on the upper right could be James at three or four and the photo on the lower right James at six or seven.

The baby in the first photograph cannot be James Seligman since he was born in 1868 in Philadelphia before the family moved to Santa Fe. Thus, that baby has to be Arthur Seligman—if it is of one of the children of Bernard and Frances Seligman—as he was the only child of theirs born in Santa Fe, and he was in fact born in 1871, the year that Ava dated the photograph. Perhaps one of the other photographs is of James or perhaps is Arthur as he grew older.

I can see by looking at the coloring on the reverse of these three photos that they might have been taken years apart as they have faded in different ways. (It’s hard to see in the scan below, but they were slightly different shades.) But nevertheless, I can’t imagine why Frances and Bernard would have three photographs of one of their three living children and none of the other two—including my great-grandmother Eva Seligman Cohen, their oldest child. I was so disappointed that there was no photograph of her.

Moving on to the two men photographed in Santa Fe, the one on the same page as the three children (or the three photographs of the one child) was taken by a different Santa Fe photographer, Dr. Enos Andrews (1833-1910). Ava wrote that Andrews had a photography studio in Santa Fe from the end of the 1860s until the early 1870s. Based on her analysis of Santa Fe directory and census listings for Enos Andrews and other factors, Ava concluded this photograph was taken sometime between 1866 and 1871. Since she estimated that the man was about fifty years old, that would mean he was born between 1816 and 1821.2

But who was he? Although the birth year might led me to believe it was John Nusbaum, who was born in 1818, Ava pointed out that in the late 1860s, John (as well as Frances and Bernard until at least 1868) was living in Philadelphia. But it was possible that John went to Santa Fe and had his photograph taken there. After comparing this photograph with the one we thought could be John Nusbaum on the first page, Ava and I both thought it could be the same man and both could be my three-times great-grandfather John Nusbaum.

What about the other photograph of a man taken in Santa Fe on the following page? That photo was taken by Nicholas Brown, who once partnered with Enos Andrews. Ava provided the following background on Nicholas Brown and his son William Henry Brown, who took the photograph of the couple on the same page.

Nicholas Brown (born 1830) was the father of William Henry Brown. Nicholas was active in Santa Fe in 1864-1865. In August of 1866, Nicholas announced the opening of a studio with his son, William. Between 1866 and 1867, William was in partnership with his father in Santa Fe and they advertised the studio as N. Brown & Son and N. Brown E Hijo (1860s in Mexico). At the end of 1870, William was in Mexico. At the beginning of 1871, Nicholas re-opened his studio in Santa Fe but this time it was located on West Side Plaza. Because there is no address on [the reverse of the Nicholas Brown photograph of the bearded man], I am placing this image before 1871.3

Ava dated this photograph as 1866-1867 and estimated the man’s age as 45 to 50, meaning he was born between 1816 and 1822.

I could speculate that maybe this is Bernard’s brother Sigmund Seligman, who lived in Santa Fe from at least 1860 until his death in 1874. Sigmund was born in 1829, so later than the 1816-1821 time frame Ava posited. Could this man be younger than fifty? Could he be in his forties? The beard does make it hard to tell. But it’s possible. So could this be Sigmund? Maybe. Maybe not. I have no idea. Maybe he was a friend of Bernard’s, not his brother. I have no way to know.

Finally, the last photograph from Santa Fe is the one of the couple taken by Nicholas Brown’s son, William Henry Brown. Ava dated this photograph far later than the one taken by Nicholas Brown because William was a partner in his father’s studio in Santa Fe from 1866-1867. By 1870, he was in Mexico. Then he returned to Santa Fe between 1880 and 1884 where he was a partner with George C. Bennett in a photographer studio on West Side Plaza. After 1884 William Henry Brown was no longer living or working in Santa Fe. Based on these facts, Ava dated this photograph at about 1882-1883.4

Ava thought that both the man and the woman were somewhere between 25 and 30 years old, meaning they were born between roughly 1852 and 1858, making them too young to be Bernard and Frances, who were born in 1838 and 1845, respectively. Thus, I have no idea who they are.

The fact that I could not identify the people in these Santa Fe photographs was disappointing. Ava reminded me again about the nature of CDVs—literally, “cartes de visite” or visiting cards. People gave them away, for example, when they came for a visit. And maybe they were taken while visiting and not in their hometown. That meant even those taken in Santa Fe or Philadelphia or elsewhere could be of people who didn’t live in those places. That meant the universe of people who might be in these photographs was anyone who lived during this time period. No wonder we couldn’t identify anyone with any degree of certainty without known photos of them.

The last portion of Ava’s work on this project was devoted to trying to identify the people in some of the photographs taken in Bingen and Mainz, Germany.

  1. Ava Cohn, Analysis of Nusbaum Album #3, January 24, 2024 ↩
  2. See Note 1, supra. ↩
  3. See Note 1, supra. ↩
  4. See Note 1, supra. ↩

John Nusbaum Album: More Philadelphia People—Family, Friends, or Who Knows?

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Having experienced some disappointment with the first batch of Philadelphia photographs from the Nusbaum album, I brainstormed with Ava about how to select the next group. In selecting the next group, I went through the album page by page, starting with the front of the second page. I looked for those that showed full body shots so that Ava would have more clothing to work with in dating the photographs. I also decided that since the photographs tended to be grouped on each page by photographer, I would select one from each page taken by a particular photographer in the hope that there would be some connection between the person I’d selected and the others whose photographs had been taken by that photographer and placed on the same page.

The second page in the album had one photograph taken in Philadelphia:

Since this photograph was taken by Robert Keely, the same photographer who took three of the photographs on the first page, I already knew the background and possible dating of this photograph to be around 1863-1864 (see my prior posts). Ava found additional evidence here in the fringed chair, which was introduced in 1864. She estimated that the little girl was about six years old so born in 1858.1 I theorized that she could be Miriam Nusbaum, John and Jeanette’s second daughter, who was born in 1858. She would have been my three-times great-aunt, Frances Nusbaum’s little sister. Can I be positive? No, since I have no known photograph of Miriam. But given the dating and the location and its placement on the second page of photographs, I think it’s likely.

I then turned to this page in the album. All the photographs on this page were taken by the same photographer, Edward P. Hipple of 820 Arch Street, Philadelphia. Three are head shots and one is a full body photograph of a man.

I asked Ava to analyze the photograph in the upper right.

Ava dated this photograph as taken in about 1863. She wrote, “Hipple operated a studio at 820 Arch Street from 1862 to 1866. In 1865, he opened a second studio in Norristown. Since only the Philadelphia studio is on the reverse of this photo, it is assumed that this is prior to the Norristown studio being added. The lack of a tax revenue stamp places the date before 1864.”  Ava also estimated that the woman in that photograph was about 25 years old, giving her a birthdate of about 1838.2

That conclusion sent me back to my family tree to see if I could find a woman born in about 1838 who was living in Philadelphia in 1863. The choices were limited. My great-great-grandmother Frances was born in 1845 and was living in Philadelphia in 1863, but Ava did not believe the photograph was of Frances, if we assume that the woman on the first page of the album was Frances. But we can’t be 100% certain. Ava tried AI, and it showed a high degree of similarity to the woman in the clip of the video of the portrait of Frances.

The only other family member who could have fit those criteria was Eliza Wiler, the daughter of Caroline Dreyfuss, Jeanette’s sister, and Moses Wiler. Eliza was born in 1842 in Harrisburg, but by 1863 she was married and living in Philadelphia. Eliza had one younger brother Simon (1843) and two younger sisters, Fanny (1846) and Clara (1850). Ava suggested that the four photographs on this page could be a father and his children. Perhaps then this is Moses Wiler at the bottom left with his son Simon and two of his daughters, Eliza and either Fanny or Clara. Maybe. But maybe not.

Turning to the next two pages, there are eight photographs all taken by another Philadelphia photographer, Frederick Gutekunst at 704 & 706 Arch Street, Philadelphia. Here are those two pages:

Ava had this to say about Gutekunst:

Gutekunst had a very prestigious studio in Philadelphia. He has been described as “America’s Most Famous Civil War Era Photographer.” Gutekunst photographed many famous people including Gen. Ulysses Grant, Major General George McClennan, Gen. Philip Sheridan, Walt Whitman, Henry W. Longfellow, Abraham Lincoln as well as other Civil War era celebrities and ordinary Union soldiers both before and around the time of the Battle of Gettysburg. He also photographed images from the Gettysburg battlefield itself.3

Who were these people photographed by this famous photographer? I asked Ava to focus on the woman in the upper left of the first page of Guntekunst photos since it was a full body shot with lots of clothing to help with dating the photo.

Ava thought that the woman was in her late 20s, 28-30, and that the photograph was taken between 1862 and 1864, meaning the woman was likely born in the early 1830s. Ava added these notes to her analysis:4

The woman in this photograph is wearing a ring, though it is on the wrong finger to be a wedding ring. Her hair and dress are also from this same time period.  The dark velvet applique trim on her skirt appears to have been added to an already made dress.  While there is no direct evidence that this has any meaning at all, it could be interpreted, given the time period, that this trim was added as a sign of mourning.

From the following page, I also selected a woman in a full body shot, the one at the lower right.

Ava thought this photograph was also taken between 1862 and 1864 and that this woman was a bit older than the one in a similar dress on the prior page. Comparing their clothing, Ava wrote, “Their dresses are similar, though this woman’s dress has Pamela sleeves which were fashionable at the time. The ruffles on her skirt have no added velvet trim.”5 If this woman was in her early thirties, she would have been born between about 1827 and 1830 or so.

I was at a total loss. There just weren’t any people on my family tree born in the late 1820s, early 1830s who were living in Philadelphia in the early 1860s. John and his siblings were too old; their children were too young. Jeanette Dreyfuss had two sisters born in the 1820s, Caroline in 1822 and Mathilde in 1825, and Mathilde was a widow after her first husband Maxwell died in 1851. But by 1862 she was remarried and presumably not wearing mourning clothes. As for all the other people on those two pages, I have no clues. They all look like adults in the 20s and 30s to me so also born in the 1830s and maybe 1840s, but who they could be is a mystery. Maybe family members, maybe not.

There were two more Philadelphia photographs I asked Ava to analyze, both on this page, the next one in the album:

I asked her to look at the little girl in the upper right and the couple on the lower left. Both were taken by yet another Philadelphia photography studio, Gihon & Jones, John L. Gihon and Alfred T. Jones, at 812 Arch Street, Philadelphia. Ava’s research found that Gihon and Jones were only in partnership at 812 Arch Street for one year, 1869-1870. She also concluded that the girl’s dress was from 1870. Since she thought the girl was between ten and twelve years old, she posited that she was born between 1857 and 1860.5

That means that this could be another photograph of Frances Nusbaum’s sister Miriam, who was born in 1858 and living in Philadelphia in 1870. Comparing this photograph to the one on an earlier page that also was possibly Miriam, I can see some similarity. Or it could be Lottie Nusbaum, the youngest child of John Nusbaum and Jeanette Dreyfuss and Frances’ youngest sibling. Lottie was born in 1863, however, so would have only been seven in 1870. Or…this could be any number of cousins or friends of the family.

1864 born about 1858 Philadelphia could be Miriam Nusbaum

As for the couple in the bottom left, Ava thought the man was around 21, the woman a bit younger, and that the photograph was taken in the year that Gihon and Jones were partners, 1869. That meant the man and woman were born around 1848-1850 or so. Ava ruled out that this was Bernard Seligman and Frances Nusbaum. That left numerous possibilities—too numerous to list and too speculative to list. Could be family, could be friends. We have no way of knowing.

At this point I decided to turn to the photographs from Sante Fe and stop trying to identify anyone in the Philadelphia photographs. There were only six taken in Santa Fe, and there were far fewer relatives who lived in Santa Fe during the mid-19th century. I figured these would be far easier to identify. I wish that were so.

  1. This and other information I received from Ava came from her second report on the album.  Ava Cohn, Analysis of Nusbaum Album #2, December 22, 2023. ↩
  2. See note 1, supra. ↩
  3. See Note 1, supra. ↩
  4. See Note 1, supra. ↩
  5. See Note 1, supra. ↩ ↩

John Nusbaum Album: Will the real Frances Nusbaum please identify herself?

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As I wrote in my last post, I learned from Ava’s information and analysis of the photograph that might be John Nusbaum that without a photograph that was labeled “John Nusbaum” to use for comparison, there was no way to know for sure who that man really was.

Turning to the two photographs of women on the first page, I had hoped that the woman at the bottom of the page would be Frances Nusbaum. Let’s look at Ava’s analysis of this photograph:

It was taken by Keely, the Philadelphia photographer who took the photographs of the two men on this page, and, according to Ava, likely in the same time frame (if not at the same time) as those first two photographs, i.e., 1863 to 1864. Ava estimated that the young woman in the photograph would be 20-22 years old, meaning she was born in the early 1840s.1 Frances Nusbaum was born in 1845. She had no older sister, only older brothers. So this could be Frances.

But I have no other photograph of Frances, just a very blurry still from a video taken of a portrait made when she was much older. Ava didn’t find enough similarity between that blurry image and this photograph to conclude with certainty that this was Frances. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. The placement on the first page adds weight to the conclusion that this could be Frances, but there is no certainty.

I was further confused about whether this could be Frances when I asked Ava to analyze a different Keely photograph later in the project but worth discussing now. That photograph appears much later in the album, close to the end of the album. But it had a specific inscription on it, one of the very few in the album that did.

The inscription reads “Miss Nusbaum” in one handwriting, and then in a separate hand someone wrote, “Joan’s Great-great-grandmother.” The reference to Joan is almost definitely Joan Seligman, the granddaughter of Arthur Seligman and one of the last people to own the album, according to her granddaughter Jhette. Joan was the great-granddaughter of Frances Nusbaum. Her great-great grandmother with a Nusbaum surname would have been Jeanette Dreyfuss Nusbaum. Could this be either Frances or Jeanette?

Since this was a Keely photograph with no tax stamp, Ava dated it as either before August 1864 or after August 1866; based on the clothing and furniture, she narrowed it down to the earlier period, roughly 1861-1863. She also estimated that the woman in the photograph was a teenager between fifteen and eighteen years old, meaning a birth date between 1843 and 1848.

That meant it could not be Jeanette, who would have been much older than that by 1861, but it could be Frances, who was born in 1845. That seemed the logical answer to me, given the inscription on the back. The misidentification of her as Joan’s great-great-grandmother rather than her great-grandmother seemed minor.

But Ava was skeptical. She did not see a similarity to the woman she thought was Frances on the first page in the album. And she did not see a similarity to the woman in the blurred image from a video of a portrait supposedly of Frances. And she thought it unlikely that if Frances owned the album that her photograph would appear so late in the album.

But what if someone moved the photographs around? What if the photograph on that first page is not Frances? In my mind, the inscription carries more weight than the location in the album, but it’s also possible that the inscription is wrong. Maybe it was a different Miss Nusbaum. Maybe it wasn’t Joan’s ancestor. I don’t know.

Finally, the remaining photograph on the first page, the one I’d hoped was Jeanette Dreyfuss, my three-times great-grandmother, turned out to be the most confusing one of all to identify. It is the very first photograph in the album; it should be of someone very important, you would think. I sure was hoping so.

This photograph was not taken by Keely, who took all the other photographs on the first page, and it was not taken in Philadelphia, but in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My three-times great-grandparents John and Jeanette (Dreyfuss) Nusbaum had lived in Harrisburg from about 1843 until about 1858. Frances Nusbaum, my great-great-grandmother, was born in Harrisburg in 1845. But by 1860 and thereafter, John and Jeanette and their children were living in Philadelphia. Thus, if this photograph was taken when my Nusbaum ancestors were living in Harrisburg, it had to be taken before 1860.

But Ava concluded that this photograph was taken after 1866. The photographer who took this photograph was Christian S. Roshon, located at “No. 424 (Old No. 110) Market Street Harrisburg, Penna.” By tracing the succession of photographers who worked at this location, Ava found that Roshon succeeded a photographer named Robert S. Henderson, who came after David C. Burnite.  Burnite (Burnite and Weldon’s) had been at 110 Market between 1864 and 1866, and Henderson was there with a photographer named Rogers from 1865-1866. That meant that Roshon didn’t occupy that address until 1866 or later, meaning that the first photograph in the album was taken after 1866. My Nusbaum ancestors were in Philadelphia by then, not in Harrisburg.

Since Ava estimated that the woman in the photograph was in her early 20s (20-22), she could not be Jeanette, who would have been far older than that by 1866. She might be Frances, who was 21 in 1866, but since Frances was no longer living in Harrisburg and was married to Bernard by 1866, that seemed unlikely.

So who could this young woman who holds the first spot in the album be? I searched my tree for a relative born in about 1845 who would have been living in Harrisburg in 1866. I could only find two women who came close to fitting into those parameters: Paulina and Sophia Dinkelspiel, daughters of Mathilde Nusbaum (John’s sister) and Isaac Dinkelspiel. Paulina was born in Germany in 1840, and Sophia was also born in Germany in 1849. Both were living in Harrisburg in the late 1860s. They were first cousins to Frances Nusbaum and John Nusbaum’s nieces.

Could that photograph be of Paulina or Sophia? Sure. But is the photo of either one of them? I have no idea. And if it is one of Frances’ cousins/John’s nieces, why would she be the first one in the album? It really doesn’t make much sense to me, but I also can’t disagree with Ava’s expert analysis of the dates of the photograph or the age of its subject.

Also, it’s important to remember that these CDVs could have been taken when someone was visiting from another town. Maybe Frances or someone else went to Harrisburg to visit her cousins and had her photograph taken while there. Of course, once you factor in that possibility, the photographer’s location becomes a less defining factor for identifying who was who in any of the photographs.

I decided to try a different approach with the next set of photographs.

  1. The references to Ava’s analysis in this post all come from her first report, Ava Cohn, Analysis of Nusbaum Album #1, December 16, 2023 ↩