Vital Records—American versus Romanian

Romanian flag

Romanian flag (Photo credit: Tudor Girba)

American flag

American flag (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The other Romanian records I received last week from Marius Chelcu are the birth and marriage records of Gustave Rosenzweig, my great-great uncle, the man who stood up for and posted a bond of Jankel Srulovici, the man who met his nephew Isidor or Srul Srulovici at Ellis Island, and the man who signed as a witness for his niece Bertha at her wedding in 1915.  Although I’ve not yet found any record linking him directly to my grandfather or his siblings, I have to believe that he also helped out my grandfather when he first arrived and probably also helped when my great-grandfather died in 1910 right before his wife and other children arrived.

So I have a great feeling of fondness for Uncle Gustave, and I was very happy that Marius was able to find these records.  There were six pages of documents: a birth record, a record to prove that Gustave and his wife were not related under the Romanian Civil Code, and four pages of marriage records.  Marius explained that these last four are essentially the same, as marriage laws required that there be three announcements of the marriage. (I am not sure what the fourth represents.)  Marius only provided one translation of these four pages, however, so they need to be reviewed more carefully.  I wish I knew Romanian, but looking over these documents I can pick out many words because of their similarity to English, French or Italian.  But it is still hard to compare them, given the handwriting as well as the unfamiliar words.

The birth record is not like the records I posted about yesterday, which were actual birth records for David and Rebecca Srulovici, filed at the time of their birth.  Gustave’s record was created at the time of his wedding in June, 1884, to substitute for a missing birth record.  On this document, four witnesses, including his father David Rosenzweig and his father-in-law to be, Itzic Zacu, attest to the fact of Gustave’s birth as Ghidale on June 10, 1856.  This document was important to me for several reasons: it provides not only information about Gustave’s birth date but also the birth year of my great-great grandfather David Rosenzweig.  The record gives David’s age as 60 in 1884, meaning he was born around 1824.  Also, it appears that Itzic Zacu knew Ghidale from birth or at least was willing to attest to that fact, perhaps indicating a close relationship between the Rosenzweig and Zacu families.

Gustave Rosenzweig birth record

Gustave Rosenzweig birth record

translation of birth record

translation of birth record

The second document is entitled “Testimony,” according to the translation provided by Marius.  The translation simply reports that Ihiel Fisler, a witness to the wedding, attested to the fact that Ghidale and his bride Ghitla Zacu were not related under the Civil Code.  The actual document, however, has four signatures, two written in Yiddish or Hebrew, two in the Latin alphabet.  I have tried to decipher the ones written in the Hebrew alphabet, but would love some help if anyone knows Hebrew script better than I do.

testimony for Gustave and Gussie

testimony for Gustave and Gussie

translation of testimony

translation of testimony

The remaining pages are the four pages of the marriage record itself, each one repeating what the other said, that is, that Ghidale Rosenzweig, 28 years old, son of David and Esther Rosenzweig, a painter by occupation, wanted to marry Ghitla Zacu, 20 years old, daughter of Itzic and Mirel Zacu, on June 1, 1884.  Unfortunately, the translation Marius provided contains an error; it had the date as September 2, 1887, even though I could see the date was June (Iunie) 1, 1884 myself.  I may ask him to provide a translation of each document separately, as it seems to me that there are some differences.  Take a look and let me know what you think.

Gustave and Gussie Rosenzweig marriage record

Gustave and Gussie Rosenzweig marriage record

Ghidale Rosentzveig with Ghitil Zacu_Marriage Record_1884_3 Ghidale Rosentzveig with Ghitil Zacu_Marriage Record_1884_2 Ghidale Rosentzveig with Ghitil Zacu_Marriage Record_1884_5

translation of marriage record

translation of marriage record

When I reviewed these dates against the other records I have for the birthdates of Gustave and Gussie and their children, I was somewhat puzzled.  According to the 1900 census, Lillie, their first born, was born in July, 1884, a month after the wedding.  I realize that women did get pregnant before marriage even back then, but Gussie would have been eight months pregnant in June, 1884; why would they have waited so long? But then again the same census has Gustave’s birth year as 1861 and Gussie’s as 1862, not 1856 and 1864, as the Romanian records suggest.  And it says Lillie arrived in the US in 1884, whereas Gustave’s naturalization papers clearly indicate that they arrived in 1887.

Does it seem likely that Lillie was born a month after her parents’ wedding?  I went back to look at the 1905 census, and there Lillie or Lillian is listed as 21, giving her a birth year of 1884 as well. On the other hand, on the 1910 census, she is listed as 24 years old, making her birth year 1886, which makes more sense.  Unfortunately, I’ve not yet found any other record for Lillie either after 1910 or before 1900, so I have no further evidence to corroborate either date.  Perhaps Marius will find her Romanian birth record or perhaps I will find more American records.  But which should I trust?  What do you think?

UPDATE: This story on the blog Genealogy Tip of the Day relates to my question.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Romanian birth records

I have received a number of different records from Marius Chelcu, the man who has been doing research for me in Iasi, Romania.  Among those records are the birth records for five of the children of Jankel Srulovici and Tillie Rosenzweig, my great-great aunt.  I now have birth records for Isidore, or Srul, their oldest child, for Bertha, or Bruha, their second child, for David, their third child, and one for Rebecca/Ray, their fourth child.  I also have one for a son who died in infancy, Zissu.  Unfortunately, Marius was unable to find a birth record for either Pincus or Leah.

First, the birth record for Isidore, or Srul, indicates that his birth date was June 9, 1883, and that his parents were Iancu Itzic Strulovici, age 38, and Bruha Thela Strulovici, age 36.  This birth year is consistent with Isidore’s age on the 1910 US census, so it would be appear to be the right child and the right parents.

Isidore (Srul) Strolowitz Adler's birth certificate

Isidore (Srul) Strolowitz Adler’s birth certificate

Strul Strulovici_Birth record_1883-page-001This record provides corroboration that Jankel Srulovici, here named Iacob Itzic Strulovici, was in fact Isidore’s father and that there was no first husband named Adler. The same is true on David, Bertha, and Rebecca’s birth records: Iacob Itzik Strulovici is their father.  There is no indication on any of these  birth records of anyone named Adler, and it thus does seem that the Adler name was chosen by the family sometime after arriving in NYC for reasons that are not yet clear.

If the ages of Jacob and Tillie are correct on Isidore’s birth record, they were born in 1845 and 1847, respectively, contrary to the 1851 and 1860 on their American death records.

The record for their next child, Bertha, has a date of birth of February 16, 1885, and her parents’ names as Iacob Itzic Strulovici, age 39, and Tilla Strulovic, age 36.  Two things raise questions for me here as to whether this is the same mother named in Srul’s birth record.  First, the mother is still 36 years old.  That alone would not concern me, given how inaccurate the ages on these records appear to me.  But her name is different.  Certainly Bruha Tella could be the same person as Tilla, but the child’s name was also Bruha.  Given Jewish naming patterns, it seems quite unlikely that Bruha would give her daughter her own name.  It seems more likely that Bruha had died between 1883 and 1885 and that Iacob had then married Tilla, the mother of Bruha.  But obviously I cannot be sure.

Bertha (Bruha) Strolowitz Adler birth record

Bertha (Bruha) Strolowitz Adler birth record

Bruha Strulovici_Birth record_1885-page-001

 

The next record  is for David, born on October 22, 1886, in Iasi, to Iacob Itzic Strulovici, 41, and Tela Strulovici, still 36.  Perhaps Tillie just didn’t want to age and she was the mother of all three children?

David Strulovici birth record

David Strulovici birth record

translation of David Strulovici birth record

translation of David Strulovici birth record

Next is the record for Zissu Strulovici, who was born April 1, 1891 and died six days later on April 7, 1891.  At his birth Iacob is listed as 45 and Tillie as 40.  Tillie had finally gotten older than 36.

Zissu Strulovici birth record

Zissu Strulovici birth record

Zissu Strulovici_Birth record_1891-page-001

But when Rebecca was born on October 24, 1892,  her father was 48 and her mother 39.  So the best we can say about the accuracy of the Romanian records is that they are consistently inconsistent.

Rifca Ruhla Strulovici birth record

Rifca Ruhla Strulovici birth record

 

translation of Rifca's birth record

translation of Rifca’s birth record

Assuming then that Jacob was really 48 in 1892, he would have been 63 when he arrived in NYC in December, 1907, eight years older than the 55 he claimed on the manifest and at Ellis Island for his immigration hearing.  Given the typical lifespan back then and the fact that he was reported to be senile by the doctor who examined him at Ellis Island, it does make it seem even more likely that he died not long after being admitted to the US.

I was also interested to see on Isidore, Bertha and David’s birth records that Jacob signed his name in Hebrew or Yiddish.  I can decipher the “Yaakov Itzic Srulov—“ .  It also appears that his older brother Joseph was a witness and signed as “Strulov” on David’s record.  On Rebecca’s birth record six years later, it seems that Jacob signed his name as “Strulov” and not in Hebrew letters, as did the other two witnesses.  It also seems that Strulov could have been written by the same person, presumably Jacob, on both documents as the writing is very similar.

I find great comfort in seeing these documents.  It’s wonderful to have a record of events that happened in the family so long ago, and it gives me hope that all the work I’ve done will survive as well.  It is also very moving to imagine my grandfather’s cousins as babies, their births being recorded for all time by their parents.  Given what I’ve learned about how the lives of these children unfolded and ended, it is particularly poignant to think of them as innocent babies, unaware of their struggles ahead.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Uncle Gustave to the Rescue Again

A key lesson I’ve learned over the months I’ve been doing genealogy work is that it is important to go back and look at documents and information you received over and over again.  Something that seemed unimportant or confusing when first viewed can take on a lot more meaning after you’ve learned more about a family or a person.  So while I am waiting for new documents, I took the opportunity to review some old documents.

I went back to look at the information I had for Isidor Strolowitz Adler, Tillie and Jankel’s oldest child.  I did this because I noticed (for the first time) that on the 1910 US census that Tillie said that she had been married for 27 years.

The Strolovitz Adler family with Isadore and Betty in 1910

The Strolovitz Adler family with Isadore and Betty in 1910

Since she was a widow, the first time I looked at this it did not seem relevant.  This time I thought there might be a clue here as to when Jankel had died.  Assuming that Isidor was born within a year of marriage, as seemed to be the case in so many of the marriages of that era, if Tillie and Jankel were married the year before Isidore’s birth and were married for a total of 27 years, I might get a better estimate of when he died (or disappeared).

So I turned to Isidor’s information and saw that I had an estimated date of birth of 1883 based on the fact that Isidor was listed as 27 on the 1910 census.  According to his death certificate, he was 31 years, two months at the time of his death on April 23, 1915, giving him a birth date of February, 1884.

Isidor Adler death certificate

Isidor Adler death certificate

Since Bertha, the second child, was born in February, 1885, it certainly is feasible that Isidor had been born twelve months earlier.   Unfortunately, these were the only two documents I had for Isidor since he died so soon after arriving in the US.  I am hoping my Iasi researcher will find his birth record (he has located birth records for two of Isidor’s siblings; more on that in a separate post), but I decided to see if I could find a ship manifest for Isidor.

On my entries for Isidor I had two different arrival dates: 1901 and 1903.  His death certificate in 1915 said he’d been in the US for twelve years, giving me 1903.  The 1910 census said that he had arrived in 1901.  Although the 1910 census indicated that Isidor had petitioned for citizenship, I’ve yet to locate that petition.  And I had no ship manifest.  Although I had found ship manifests for all of his siblings and for his parents, I’d not been able to locate one for Isidor.  I’d searched for Isidor, Isaac, Ira, and Israel and all the variations of his last name, but had not found anything.

But this time I vaguely remembered something: in the records for his father’s hearing at Ellis Island, Isidor had been referred to by another name.  I went back to look at those records and found that Isidor had been identified as Srul.

transcript listing Srulovici children

transcript listing Srulovici children

I had learned from one of my JewishGen contacts that Srul was a Yiddish version of Israel—that Srulowitz means son of Israel.  So Srul had become Israel and then Isidor in the US.  The transcript also said that Srul was 26 in January, 1908, making his birth year 1883.

So I went back to the Ellis Island search engine created by Steve Morse and searched again, using Srul, and lo and behold—there it was.  Strul Strulovici, age 19, had arrived on January 12, 1902, from Jassy, Romania, via Hague on the ship La Gascogne.   That would make his birth year either 1883 or 1882.  So I am no more certain of his birth year and thus no more certain of when his parents had married.  But assuming they were married sometime between 1881 and 1883, that would mean that Tillie became a widow between 1908 and 1910, which is what I already assumed.

Strul Strulovici ship manifest

Strul Strulovici ship manifest

But I did learn something new from the manifest.  Under the column asking who was meeting Strul/Isidor in America was the entry “Uncle.”  I have to believe that this was his mother’s brother, Gustave Rosenzweig, my great-great uncle, the same uncle who stood up for Jankel in 1908 and posted a bond, the same Gustave who acted as a witness at his niece’s wedding.  I can only imagine all the other things that this man did that were not documented for eternity.  This new finding gave me the incentive to go back and learn more about Gustave and his children.

Gustave Rosenzweig

Gustave Rosenzweig

So keep reviewing those documents.  You never know what you will learn a second time or third time or even a fourth time through.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Another new relative: Gustave Rosenzweig

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

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

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

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

1894 NYC directory

Gussie and Gustave moved several times after 1892—uptown on East 74th Street in 1894, downtown to E. 6th 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 110th 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

Rosenzweigs in Brooklyn 1920

Gustave Rosenzweig in Manhattan 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

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. William Rosenzweig at Hebrew Orphanage 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.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Itic Jankel Srulovici

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.

acting commissioner's recommendation

Enclosed with the recommendation were the report of the doctor’s exam of Jankel, as described in the Acting Commissiner’s letter,doctor's report 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

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

bond application p.1

page 2

page 2

Oath of Joe Langman

Oath of Joe Langman

Oath of Gustave Rosenzweig

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.commissioner's recommendation

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.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Betty Goldschlager and Her Daughters Frieda and Estelle: FOUND!

Betty Goldschlager

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)

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

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

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

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

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 Feuerstein, Betty’s daughter

Estelle and Irving KennerEstelle 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

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

Frieda and Abe

Estelle

Estelle

Estelle's children Barry Robyn and Karyn 1963Estelle’s children Barry Robyn and Karyn 1963

Frieda and her children Robert, Gayle and Richard

Frieda and her children Robert, Gayle and Richard

Barry Kenner's family

Barry Kenner’s family

Enhanced by Zemanta

My Great-Grandfather Moritz (Moses ben Ira) Goldschlager

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 Leib Goldschlager birth record

Moses birth record transcribed and translated

Moses birth record transcribed and translated page 1

page 2

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

Moses Leib Goldschlager and Ghitla Rosentzvaig marriage record

Transcription and translation of marraige 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

Ira aka Isidor Goldschlager birth record

transcription and translation

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

David Goldschlager birth record

transcription and translation

transcription and translation

The Goldschlager home at 26 St Andrew Street, Iasi

The Goldschlager home at 26 St Andrew Street, Iasi

St_Andrew_Str_no_26_0001

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 147th 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

Ship Manifest of Moritz Goldschlager

page 2

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

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 109th 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

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.

Enhanced by Zemanta

The Sisters Rosensweig[1]

One of the things that confused me about the ship manifest for David Goldschlager, before I knew that it was really my grandfather Isadore on the ship using his brother’s name, was that David did not list his brother Isadore as the person meeting him in New York.  Instead, he listed an uncle whose name appeared to be Morishe (?) Mintz.  I had no idea who this was, and I could not turn up anyone on any document who might have been this mysterious uncle.  Also, if Isadore had arrived first, why wasn’t he meeting his brother David?

Isadore Goldschlager ship manifest (under David's name)

Isadore Goldschlager ship manifest (under David’s name)

Once I established that in fact Isadore was the one who had arrived on the Patricia in October, 1904, I went back to look more closely at the manifest and to search again for Uncle M. Mintz, with no luck.  I did, however, find a separate document that I had not seen before relating to Isadore’s (“David’s”) arrival at Ellis Island, a Record of Detained Aliens, shown below.

Record of Detained Aliens Isadore listed as David Goldschlager

Record of Detained Aliens
Isadore listed as David Goldschlager

I am familiar with this type of document now because I had seen the one issued for Gisella Goldschlager, who had listed her husband Moritz as the person meeting her.  Because her husband had died, she was apparently detained and released to her son Isadore instead.  It appears that the same type of occurrence detained my grandfather.  On the document it says the cause of detention was “to uncle,” and then in the next column for “Disposition,” it says “Aunt Zusie (?)  Mintz, 177 East 111th Street, New York City.”  From this I surmised that something prevented Uncle Mintz from meeting Isadore and that instead his wife Zusie had picked him up instead.

That led to a search for the aunt and uncle.  I could not find any M  Mintz on the 1900 census from Romania who could fit.  I searched the NYC marriage index and also had no luck—until I searched for all men named Mintz who had married between 1880 and 1904.  I checked every one of them to see what their bride’s names were and was excited when I found a bride named Zusia ROSENSWEIG married to a Harry Minz in 1896.  Could this be a third Rosensweig sister?

If so, she would have been the youngest sister, about 14 years younger than Tillie, ten years younger than Ghitla/Gisella.  Why would she have left Romania first and not her older sisters? Her sisters did not arrive until 1907 and 1910, respectively, when they were already married and had children.  But Zusia was still single, and thus more able to pick up and leave earlier, as did her nephew Isadore at age sixteen.

Harry and Zusia were married in 1896, so I looked again on the 1900 census using the name Harry with a wife with a name that could be Zusia.  No luck.  I decided to look just for an S or Z Mintz and found a Sonsa Mintz, a widow, living with Jason and Rachel Reitman and their one year old daughter Clara.  Sonsa was identified as a cousin of the head of household and as a widow.  Assuming that this is the same woman who had married Harry Mintz, it means that her husband died less than four years after they were married.  It obviously would explain why he was unable to meet Isadore/David at the boat in 1904. I have not located a death certificate for Harry, however, nor do I know for sure yet that Sonsa is the same person as Zusia or really the sister of Tillie and Gisella.

Unfortunately, I cannot find a Sonsa, Zusia, Susan, or Susie Mintz in any later census.  I did find a reference for a Susie Mintz who died in the Bronx in 1931 and is buried in New Jersey, but I do not know if this is the same person.  I will order the death certificate to see, but at the moment I have no other records for Sonsa Mintz after 1900.  I assume she may have remarried, but I did not find a marriage record either.

The only other possible record relating to the third Rosensweig sister is a ship manifest listing an eighteen year old girl named Sural Rosensweig from Romania, arriving in New York on September 30, 1890.  The age and name are close enough that it could be the same person, but I cannot know for sure.  (On the 1900 census, Sonsa Rosensweig’s birthdate is April, 1874, and her arrival date is 1891, whereas on the manifest her birth year would have been 1872 and arrival year 1890.)

Although I’ve hit a wall so far with Sonsa and with Harry, her husband, I did look to see if I could figure out how Sonsa was a cousin to the Reitmans.  Was it through Harry? Through Jacob or through his wife Rachel? Although I was able to find a number of records for the Reitmans, up through their great-grandchildren, I have not yet figured out the relationship.  They, like Sonsa, were from Romania, but beyond that, I have no clues.  I have sent an email to one of the great-grandchildren, but it seems quite unlikely that they would know anything about a woman named Sonsa Mintz who lived with their great-grandparents in 1900.

I will have to hope that the 1896 marriage certificate for Harry Mintz and the 1931 death certificate for Susie Mintz have some clues.


[1] With apologies to Wendy Wasserstein.  No connection to her play is intended….

Enhanced by Zemanta

The Schwartz Family: Updates, Documents and Pictures

First, a few comments about my last post about the Schwartz family.  My mother pointed out to me that David Goldschlager’s wife Rebecca was always called Becky, not Rebecca. Richard, her grandson, confirmed this, so from now on I will refer to her as Becky.  Also, both my mother and Richard described Becky as a warm, outgoing person with a wonderful laugh (and a great apple strudel, according to Richard.)  Looking at the wonderful pictures below, I can see that Becky came from a large, but close family, and that despite losing two brothers and overcoming the adjustments to living in America, there must have been happy times in their childhood here.

Thanks to Jon Schwartz, Becky’s nephew, I have some wonderful documents and photographs to share of the Schwartz family.  First, Jon has shared the marriage certificate of his grandparents Solomon Schwartz and Louise Schwartz, or Solomon Svarti to Luisa Svarti in Romanian.  Here is the English translation:

Marriage record for Solomon and Louise Schwartz 1888

Marriage record for Solomon and Louise Schwartz 1888

Two things are interesting here.  First, Jon wonders whether his grandparents were cousins since both had the surname Sfarti before they married, just as we believe that Joseph and Bessie Brotman were related, both sharing the same surname before marriage.  It was apparently not uncommon for families to arrange marriages between cousins.  Also, note that Solomon was from Jassy (Iasi), and Luisa from Berlad.  According to Google Maps, the two cities are about 80 miles apart and would take even today two hours to travel between.  It seems unlikely that Solomon met Luisa without some prior arrangement so a family connection makes sense.

It’s also interesting that Solomon came from Iasi.  Perhaps he knew the Goldschlager family growing up, which might explain how David Goldschlager ended up marrying Solomon’s daughter Becky.  What makes this seem a bit more possible is the fact that Solomon was a hatter even in Romania.  Although David was born after Solomon had married and left Iasi, it is interesting that David, a hatter from Iasi, ended up marrying the daughter of Solomon, a hatter from Iasi.

Jon also sent me the birth certificate, both in Romanian and in English, for Rebecca (Becky), Solomon and Luisa’s first child, born in April, 1889, ten months after their wedding.  Here is the English version below:

Rebecca Schwartz birth certificate translated

Rebecca Schwartz birth certificate translated

Jon also has some wonderful photographs of his father’s parents and siblings.  My favorite is this one, depicting the Schwartz family probably a year or so after they arrived in Newark.

The Schwartz family c. 1905

The Schwartz family c. 1905

From left to right, they are Sophie, Annette, Louise (sitting), Becky, Abram, Solomon, Meyer, Etta and Rose.

Jon thought that the baby was Jennie, the Schwartz’s youngest child born in 1907, but since the picture does not include the other child born in the US, Meyer, who was born in 1904, I think the baby is Meyer.  Also, the ship manifest said Abram was two at the time they left Romania(1903), and in this picture Abram (the little boy leaning on his mother’s knee) looks too young for him to be six or seven, which he would have been when Jennie was a baby in 1907.  I would date this picture between 1904 and 1905, and I believe that the baby is Meyer, the poor little boy who died of a burst appendix when he was nine years old.

The other Schwartz children all grew to adulthood, Abram becoming Arnold, the only brother among six sisters.  He had a painting business for some time, but when it failed during the Depression, he became a route salesman. He had two sons, Stephen and Jonathan. The sisters all married except for Sophie, and all but Jeanette had children.  Here are two pictures of the Schwartz sisters, courtesy of their nephew Jon.

Rose Schwartz

Rose Schwartz

Schwartz sisters 1956

Schwartz sisters 1956

Sophie (aka Sherry), Jeannette, Rebecca, Etta, Rose, Annette

Enhanced by Zemanta

Update: My Grandfather’s Arrival

Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Isl...

Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island and Liberty Island, Manhattan, in New York County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yesterday I received eight new documents, and I will report on them all over the next couple of days.  But for me, the most exciting document is my grandfather’s naturalization application.  It is always touching to see a document written in the handwriting of someone who means a lot to you, so that alone would have made it exciting.  It’s also exciting to see the names of my grandmother and aunt and uncle on his petition.  It’s exciting to see his distinctive signature.

But what made these pages particularly exciting is that they resolved a question that has been unanswered for a long time.  A number of years ago my brother tried to find the ship manifest for our grandfather Isadore at Ellis Island.  He was able to locate the manifests for David, Betty, Moritz and Gisella, but not Isadore.  When I started my own research almost two years ago, I also tried to find something that documented when Isadore arrived in New York, but found only the same information that Ira had found.  I had given up and moved on to other things.

When I returned to researching the Goldschlagers a few weeks ago, I once again looked, figuring that with my improved research skills and newer research tools, maybe I would finally find a ship manifest for my grandfather, but once again, nothing turned up.  I resigned myself to the idea that I would never find a record for his arrival.

Then the other day, as I wrote in my post entitled “Isadore and David Goldschlager: More than Brothers,” I realized that there were two ship manifests for David Goldschlager: one dated October 27, 1904, and the other dated November 4, 1910.  I also realized that it was the later one that was accurate.  Every other document said David had arrived in 1910: his naturalization papers, several census reports, and his wife’s naturalization papers.  It also made sense that David had waited with his mother and sailed with her to America.

That left me thinking that the David Goldschlager on the 1904 manifest was not David, but Isadore, my grandfather.  That manifest was for a ship called the Patricia, sailing from Hamburg, and arriving in the United States on October 27, 1904.  I was hoping that Isadore’s naturalization papers would reveal what ship brought my grandfather to America.  I hoped that I had finally found the evidence of how and when Isadore traveled to his new home.

Well, I opened the naturalization papers today, holding my breath, scanning quickly to see if the answer was revealed.  And there it was: Isadore wrote that he arrived on October 28, 1904, on the Patricia, sailing from Hamburg.  Isadore had in fact used his younger brother’s name to escape from Romania.

Isadore Goldschlager naturalization papers page 1

Isadore Goldschlager naturalization papers
page 1

page 2

page 2

page 3

page 3

I was always told that he left Romania to avoid the draft.  He turned sixteen in August, 1904, and was presumably then draft age.  David, on the other hand, was a year younger and would not turn sixteen until 1905.  Perhaps Isadore took David’s passport to get out of Romania.  Or maybe he just used his name.  (That leaves me wondering how David managed to stay safe until he left in 1910, but I am afraid we will never know the answer to that question.)

When I told my mother what I had found, she said that she was not surprised that her father figured out a way to get out of the country.  He was a very clever and resourceful man who knew how to get what he wanted.  He used his wits to survive.  As one of his namesakes who never knew him likes to say, “If at all possible, lie.” It seems that that approach may have saved our grandfather’s life and enabled his three children, his nine grandchildren, his fourteen great-grandchildren, and the ever-increasing number of great-great grandchildren to come into this world.

Thank you, Grandpa, for being so clever and for escaping Romania, and thank you, David, for letting him borrow your name.

SS Patricia, the ship that brought my grandfather to America

SS Patricia, the ship that brought my grandfather to America

Enhanced by Zemanta