Goodbye for now, Santa Fe

Posted on November 8, 2014 by Amy

Gau-Algesheim. Langgasse. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Where They Started

I’ve now completed my research of the American Seligmans, or at least those I know to be related to me. I have added a page with a family tree and descendant chart to the blog that you can find by clicking on the label in the menu box at the top of the page.

For a number of reasons, this has been the easiest branch of the family tree to research. First, I was fortunate to find my cousin Arthur “Pete” Scott, who is the great-grandson of Bernard Seligman and the grandson of Arthur Seligman. He had already done a lot of work on the family history in New Mexico and was very generous in sharing his research and photographs with me. He also had published a great deal of it on the web at vocesdesantafe.com.

Secondly, Bernard and Arthur Seligman were public figures—men who were often written about during their lives in newspapers and after their lives by historians. Their fame made it much easier for me to find sources and information to learn about their lives and the lives of their families. (Although it was easier to find information, it also was a lot more work to read it, digest it, and analyze it all.)

My great-great-grandfather Bernard on the fronteir

Also, there were not a lot of descendants to trace. Sigmund Seligman never married, James Seligman in England had no children, and Bernard only had three children who lived to adulthood—my great-grandmother Eva and her two brothers James and Arthur.[1] Eva’s family I had already researched in doing the Cohen branch, James had only one child who lived to adulthood, and Arthur had one biological child and a stepdaughter. So compared to the thirteen children of Jacob Cohen, some of whom had over ten children themselves, this was a much smaller family to research.

I still do have work to do, tracing the German Seligmanns and seeing if I can learn what happened to them. That is a task I will continue to work on, but it will be slowed by the inaccessibility of German records and my inability to read German. I am ordering copies of the records I posted about here, but I hope to be able to learn more. Once I know more, I will write about it on the blog.

But for now I will move on from the Seligmans in my writing and begin the next branch of my father’s father’s family, the Nusbaums. As far as I know, there are no famous people on this branch, but time will tell. I am hoping that my cousin Pete will be able to help me here as well since he also is a descendant of Frances Nusbaum Seligman. I have already learned some interesting things about the Nusbaums and am eager to learn more.

Arthur Seligman, Marjorie, and Eva May Cohen, 1932 Atlantic City

Governor Arthur Seligman, Marjorie, and his sister, my great-grandmother Eva May Seligman Cohen, 1932 Atlantic City

Before I move on from the Seligmans, however, I have a few concluding thoughts about this branch of my family tree. Unlike my Cohen, Goldschlager, Rosenzweig, and Brotman branches, the Seligmans were in the public eye and not able to lead the private lives that my other relatives lived and that most of us live. They were subject to much scrutiny—Bernard was a wealthy merchant and public servant, Arthur a mayor and governor, and Morton a Navy hero. Their actions and character were criticized at times, but each in his own way managed to rise above that criticism. They were loyal, decent and honest men who served their communities with honor.

What the Seligmans share with the rest of my ancestors is the story of Jewish immigrants in general—whether they came in 1850 or 1890 or 1910, whether they came from Germany or England or Romania or Galicia. All came here for a better life, all were brave enough to leave their homes and their families, all took a risk that living in America would be better for them, their families, and their descendants. Some may have come with more than others, some succeeded more than others, but all were undoubtedly better off here than they would have been had they stayed in Europe. With hindsight we know what would have been their fate if they had still been in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, as was the fate of some of my German Seligmann relatives who did not leave Europe in time.

Once again, I feel grateful for the risks that my ancestors all took and for their courage and hard work, which made it possible for me to be here today, remembering them all.

My great-great-grandfather Bernard Seligman, born in Gau-Algesheim, a pioneering leader in Santa Fe, and father of a US governor

[1] Adolph did have children, and I’ve traced all of his descendants, but out of privacy concerns have not written about them since many of his grandchildren are still living, and I have not been in touch with them.

More Gifts from Doing Genealogy: The Gau-Algesheim Seligmanns and New Friends in Germany

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Amy

As I’ve been researching and writing about my American Seligman relatives, I’ve also been busy trying to learn more about my German ancestors. I wrote to about five different people in Gau-Algesheim, names I found on websites or through contacts from JewishGen or two Facebook groups, Tracing the Tribe and German Genealogy, including Klaus Cook. I’d been trying since September 7 to find someone to help me learn whether there were any records of Jewish births, marriages and/or deaths from the town where I knew Sigmund, Bernard and Adolph Seligman were born. I had gotten no responses—not even one saying that they had no such records.

Coat of arms of Gau-Algesheim (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I also contacted a woman named Dorothee Lottman-Kaeseler. I had found her name on the website describing the restoration of the Gau-Algesheim cemetery, and she did write back to me. She was very helpful and eventually she managed to find someone to pay attention to my emails. Imagine my delight when the other morning I woke up to this email:

On behalf of our registrar, Frau Hemmkeppler, I am hereby replying to your genealogy request, which we have received on 15. Oct. 2014 via email.

At first, please note, that due to age, we do not have any electronic archives of our historical records. However, we have put in extra efforts and were able to manually trace the following information related to the name of Seligmann:

Siegesmund Seligmann, DOB: 24. Dec.1829 in Gau-Algesheim, Reg-Nr. 67/1829

Salomon Seligmann, DOB: 15. Mar.1832 in Gau-Algesheim, Reg-Nr. 19/1832

Carolina Seligmann, DOB: 18. Mar.1833 in Gau-Algesheim, Reg-Nr. 25/1833

Benjamin Seligmann, DOB: 10. May 1835 in Gau-Algesheim, Reg-Nr. 36/1835

Bernhard Seligmann, DOB: 23. Nov.1837 in Gau-Algesheim, Reg-Nr. 49/1837

Hyronimus Seligmann, DOB: 14. Dec.1839 in Gau-Algesheim, Reg-Nr. 75/1839

August Seligmann, DOB: 10. Dec.1841 in Gau-Algesheim, Reg-Nr. 88/1841

Adolph Seligmann, DOB: 29. Sep. 1843 in Gau-Algesheim, Reg-Nr. 52/1843

Mathilde Seligmann, DOB: 31. Jan. 1845 in Gau-Algesheim, Reg-Nr. 4/1845

Paulina Seligmann, DOB: 29.01.1847 in Gau-Algesheim, Reg-Nr. 5/1847

All the beforementioned persons are the children of Moritz and Eva Seligmann (born as Eva Schoenfeld). ….

Sincerely,

B. Brettschneider

IT-Administrator

There was the birth record of my great-great-grandfather Bernard, his brothers Sigmund and Adolph, and seven other siblings, all born in Gau-Algesheim, all the children of Moritz and Eva Schoenfeld Seligmann. I was so excited. I now had seven more relatives to learn about and, most importantly, the names of my great-great-great-grandparents, Moritz Seligmann and Eva Schoenfeld.

I have now been in touch again with Bernie Brettschneider and hope to obtain copies of these records and also to learn if there are any other records of these individuals or of others who might be their children, spouses, and so on.

Gau-Algesheim in MZ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am deeply grateful to Klaus Cook and the other people in the Facebook groups and JewishGen, to Dorothee Lottmann-Kaeseler and to Bernie Brettschneider for their assistance, and I am excited to see what else I can learn about this part of my family. I am also in touch with Walter Nathan, who was the man behind the cemetery restoration in Gau-Algesheim. Walter and I are trying to find what connections there may be between my Seligmanns and his Seligmann family, and I am learning more and more about how Jews lived in Germany in the 19^th century.

When I started down this path less than three years ago, I never imagined how much I would learn about the world and its history by simply researching my own little family. I never imagined I would make contact with people in Germany and Romania and Poland, have cousins all over the world and talk to people whose lives have been so interesting. The gifts I receive from genealogy continue to surprise me and warm my heart.

And I now am thinking that someday in the not too distant future I will visit Gau-Algesheim and see where my Seligmann ancestors lived. And Iasi to see where my Goldschlager and Rosenzweig ancestors lived. And Tarnobrzeg, Poland, to see where my Brotman ancestors lived. In fact, that last one is being planned for this coming spring. And then there are all the places right here in the US where I can go to walk in the places where my ancestors lived—New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, Santa Fe, Colorado, and who knows where else? The adventures continue.

Gau-Algesheim and the Seligmans: My Great-great-grandfather’s Birthplace and What I Learned

“Brothers and Sisters in England and in Germany” and My Lost Inheritance

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Amy

When Bernard Seligman died in 1903, his obituary listed among his survivors not only his brother Adolph, but also “other brothers and sisters in England and in Germany.” Thus far, I have only found one other definite sibling, a brother named James, and one possible sibling, a brother named August. I am still working on locating records from Gau-Algesheim to see if I can locate any other siblings or other relatives of my great-great-grandfather.

My belief that August may be a sibling is based on two records I found on ancestry.com. One is a birth record for August Seligmann, born on December 10, 1841, in Algesheim, Rheinhessen, Germany, to Maritz Seligmann and Barbara Schonfeld. The second is a marriage record for August Seligmann to Rosa Bergmann on March 5, 1875, in Frankfort-Main. I know that this record is for the same August Seligmann as the birth record because the birth date and the parents’ names match those on the birth record. Why do I think that August Seligmann was Bernard’s brother? Because Adolph’s death certificate said his father’s name was Morris and because other sources state that Bernard’s parents’ names were Moritz and Babette. The place of birth and the date of birth also make it likely that August was my great-great-great-uncle and that Maritz Seligmann and Barbara Schonfeld were my three-times great-grandparents. Now if I could only get access to Gau-Algesheim records, I might find the other missing family members. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Meanwhile, I will continue to scour the resources I have to see if I can find them.

Gau-Algesheim. Langgasse. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The one other brother I know of for certain I only know about because of my cousin Pete. Pete informed me about James Seligman, our English relative, and he himself only had known about James because of an estate settlement back in the 1980s involving James’ estate. (I do not know whether my father or my aunt Eva or my cousin Marjorie ever were contacted about this inheritance, but given the amount at stake and how much time has passed, it’s not worth the trouble of finding out. Pete said his share was a little more than $100, and it took years before he received payment.)

James Seligman was born in about 1853 in Germany, and by 1881 he had settled in Kilpin, Yorkshire, England and was living as a “visitor” in Kilpin Lodge, according to the 1881 England and Wales census. (England and Wales Census, 1881,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X3FK-ZVF : accessed 30 Sep 2014), James Seligmare in household of George H Anderton, Kilpin, Yorkshire (East Riding), England; citing “1881 England, Scotland and Wales census,” index and images, findmypast.co.uk (www.findmypast.co.uk : Brightsolid, n.d.); PRO RG 11/, p. , The National Archives of the UK, Public Record Office, Kew, Surrey) The census listed his occupation as a wine merchant. On May 21, 1886, James became a naturalized British citizen. He was residing in Lewisham, Kent County, England at that time, unmarried, and employed as wine merchant.

The National Archives; Kew, Surrey, England; Duplicate Certificates of Naturalisation, Declarations of British Nationality, and Declarations of Alienage; Class: HO 334; Piece: 13.

James married Henrietta Walker Templeton in 1887 in the Marylebone district of London. In 1901 they were living on Buchanan Street in Glasgow, Scotland, where James was now employed as a “hotel keeper,” according to the 1901 Scotland census. From the census record it appears that there were about thirty people residing in this hotel. James and Henrietta did not have any children listed as living with them, and according to Pete, they never did have any children, and I did not find any children listed on the BMD index who might have been their children.

Buchanan Street, Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don’t have another record for James after 1901 until 1922 when he and Henrietta are listed as residing at 11 Woodbourne Road in Birmingham, England, on the Midlands, England, Electoral Register for that year. They also appear at the same address on the 1925 and 1927 electoral registers.

11 Woodbourne Road, Birmingham, England https://www.google.com/maps/@52.470453,-1.952537,3a,90y,235h,93.94t/data=!3m3!1e1!3m1!2e0!6m1!1e1

Henrietta died on October 4, 1928, and is buried in Harborne, Stafford, England. About a year later, James married Clara Elizabeth Parry. He was seventy-six at that time, and his new bride was thirty years old, so like his brother Adolph in Santa Fe, James also married a much younger woman in this second marriage. He died less than six months later on March 31, 1930, in Birmingham, and, like his first wife Henrietta, was buried in Harborne.

Clara, his young widow, did not die until about 1977. It was after then that a search was made for James’ heirs, as Clara and James had not had any children, and James had died intestate. Here is a copy of the letter that Pete’s sister received in January, 1980, regarding the estate of James Seligman.

An investigation was done to find James’ heirs, and a family tree was created that included my father, his sister, and his cousin Marjorie as well as the other grandchildren of Bernard Seligman and the descendants of Adolph Seligman as the potential heirs to this estate. There are several errors and omissions on this tree, which makes me wonder about the thoroughness of the search. I would post the tree except that there are references to living people with their birth dates and other identifying information and so out of concern for their privacy, I am not posting it.

That, unfortunately, is all I know about James Seligman and about August Seligman. I have nothing specific to tie James to Bernard aside from this estate settlement and only those two German records to connect August with Bernard. I remain hopeful that I will at some point find more records for the other Seligman(n)s who were my great-great-grandfather’s siblings and parents and other relatives.

Adolph Seligman: A Rift in the Family?

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Amy

Before I continue to write about the children of Bernard and Frances Seligman, I want to write about Bernard’s other siblings, most importantly Adolph Seligman, the third Seligman brother who settled in Santa Fe. I am aware of one other brother, James, who settled in England, but there may have been and probably were other siblings. Bernard’s obituary referred to siblings in Germany and in England who survived him, and the age gaps between Sigmund (1830), Bernard (1837), Adolph (1840 to 1845), and James (1853) suggest that there may have been other children born in the gaps between those years. I have found one other record for an August Seligman (1841), who may have been another sibling, but I have only two mentions in German indices for August to rely on.

For now, however, I will focus on the life of Adolph Seligman. Adolph was born between 1840 and 1845, according to various records, and he arrived in the US in 1863, as seen on the two ship manifests below. The first indicates that he was born in Gau-Algesheim, was a merchant, and was 20 years old. He sailed from Hamburg on the Germania on August 22, 1863, and arrived in New York on September 7, 1863.

Staatsarchiv Hamburg; Volume: 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 017; Seite: 545 Description Month : Direkt Band 017 (10 Jan 1863 – 26 Dez 1863) The Germania, Departure from Hamburg to New York on August 22, 1863

New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1891,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16955-70464-13?cc=1849782 : accessed 09 Oct 2014), 233 – 3 Sep 1863-3 Oct 1863 > image 63 of 409; citing National Archives, Washington D.C. Arrival September 7, 1863

This was apparently the maiden voyage for this ship. To see a photo of the ship and more about it, click here.

Although Adolph landed in New York City, he was definitely in New Mexico by 1868 because he appears on the IRS tax assessment records there for that year, residing in Elizabethtown. On the 1870 census he appears as a dry goods merchant living in Colfax, New Mexico.

By 1873, he was residing in Santa Fe, and he is listed with his brother Sigmund and with Julius Nusbaum, Bernard’s brother-in-law, as one of the principals in Seligman Brothers and Company on the 1873 IRS tax assessment list. (As discussed here, Bernard withdrew from the business in 1873, and Adolph and Julius took his place as owners of the company.)

1873 IRS Tax Assessment for Adolph Seligman The National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Internal Revenue Assessment Lists for the Territory of New Mexico, 1862-1870, 1872-1874; Series: M782; Roll: 1; Description: Monthly and Special Lists; 1869-1874; Record Group: 58, Records of the Internal Revenue Service, 1791 – 2006.

On the 1880 US census, Adolph was living with Bernard and his family in Santa Fe; both Bernard and Adolph listed their occupation as general merchants. (In addition to Adolph, Bernard also was providing a home for his father-in-law John Nusbaum, my three-times great-grandfather, and Simon Nusbaum, his brother-in-law, that year.)

Seligman and Nusbaums on 1880 US census santa fe

1880 Census for Bernard Seligman and household Year: 1880; Census Place: Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Roll: 804; Family History Film: 1254804; Page: 27A; Enumeration District: 040; Image: 0056.

Adolph was still living with Bernard and his family (and Simon Nusbaum) in 1885. On April 6, 1886, Adolph was appointed postmaster for Santa Fe and continued in that position until at least July, 1889.

In 1890, Adolph was elected president and his nephew Arthur Seligman and two other men were elected officers of a corporation organized for a mining venture. According to an article dated April 26, 1890, in the Santa Fe Sun, the mine, called the Chester mine, was “a fine mine and its development will disclose ore of startling richness. The last fifty-six sacks of ore taken from this mine yielded the owners $1,700 per ton in Denver. The gentlemen engaged in this enterprise are all energetic men of business and well deserve the success that is sure to follow their work.”

Santa Fe Sun, April 26, 1890

It seems that Adolph must have struggled with some health issues during the late 1890s as I found two news articles, one dated 1900 after a trip to Europe and one dated 1898 after a trip to Santa Rosalia Hot Springs, Chihuahua, both mentioning how his health was improved after these vacations.

Date: Saturday, November 10, 1900 Paper: New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) Volume: 37 Issue: 226 Page: 4

(The 1900 trip may explain why I cannot find Adolph on the 1900 US census.)

Adolph then went through some transitions at the Seligman’s family business. The Santa Fe New Mexican of January 21, 1903, announced that Adolph had withdrawn from the business as of December 31, 1902, and that a new corporation had been formed under the name Seligman Brothers Company with Frances, James, and Arthur Seligman as stockholders. James was to be the president and general manager and Arthur the secretary and treasurer of the newly formed corporation. Bernard was described as the senior member of the company, representing its business as a buyer in the east (as by that time Bernard and Frances were living in Philadelphia, as discussed here).

So what happened to Adolph? Had he been pushed out, or he had retired for health reasons? Was there a rift in the family or just an independent decision to leave? I don’t know. In the 1903 New Mexico city directory, Adolph is listed as a saloon owner in Santa Fe. An ad in the May 2, 1904 Santa Fe New Mexican reveals that at that time, Adolph was back in the dry goods business, selling men’s, women’s, and children’s shoes.

May 2, 1904 Santa Fe New Mexican

In fact, during the next decade or more, Adolph appears to have been in competition with his brother’s company, as seen in this ad from the Santa Fe New Mexican in 1911. Notice that the clipping has an ad for Seligman Brothers on the left side and one for Adolph Seligman Dry Goods on the right side.

October 2, 1911 Santa Fe New Mexican

Meanwhile, Adolph’s personal life had also changed around the same time as these changes in his work life. Adolph was single until 1902, and then when he was about sixty years old, he married Lucille Gorman, who was only nineteen years old at the time. Did this change in his personal life have anything to do with his withdrawal from Seligman Brothers? I do not know.

Adolph and Lucille had a daughter Minnie in 1903, the year after they married, and then had five more children: Jacob and Adolph, Jr. (1909),[1] William (1911), Gladys (1915), and Mildred (1919).

On the 1920 census when he was reported to be 76 years old, Adolph reported no occupation; Lucille was working as a seamstress.

Adolph Seligman and family 1920 US census Year: 1920; Census Place: Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Roll: T625_1080; Page: 11B; Enumeration District: 129; Image: 123

Adolph died soon after this census was taken. He died on February 12, 1920, from locomotor ataxia. He was about 76 years old, although his death certificate reported his birth date to be September 29, 1840, and his age to be 79.

New Mexico, Deaths, 1889-1945,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FLTH-K9Y : accessed 06 Sep 2014), Adolf Seligman, 12 Feb 1920; citing Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, reference Item 3, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistic

I am not sure whether this birthdate is accurate, given the ages on all the other records, and also given that the death certificate said his birthplace was Cologne, Germany, which is inconsistent with earlier records placing his birth in the Hesse-Darmstadt region just like his brothers Sigmund and Bernard. The ship manifest for his trip from Hamburg in 1863 also said that he was from Gau-Algesheim.

Lucille was left with six children ranging in ages from a year old to seventeen years old, and she herself was only 37 when Adolph died. In 1930 she was listed as a widow on the census with no occupation, but her three oldest children were employed, Minnie as a salesperson, Adolph, Jr., as a tailor, and Jake as an electrician. All six children were still living with her, now ages eleven to 27 (although Minnie’s age was listed as 23 on the census). Sometime after the census was taken but during 1930, Lucille remarried. She is listed as Lucille, wife of Frank C. Daniels, in the 1930 Santa Fe city directory.

Adolph, Jr., died the following year on June 13, 1931; he was only 22 years old. I was not able to access a death certificate to determine his cause of death. Lucille died a year after her son on November 10, 1932, under the name Lucille S. Daniels. She was 40 years old. I don’t know her cause of death either.

Her widower Frank Daniels, who had married Lucille just two years earlier, took on the responsibility for her three daughters and her son William, all of whom were still living with him as late as 1940, some using the surname Daniels. Frank was working as a carpenter for a building supply company. Minnie was now 37 (35 on the census) and working as bookkeeper for a building supply company; William, 28, was also working as a bookkeeper for a building supply company. (I assume that Frank, Minnie, and William were all working for the same company.) Gladys was 24 and working as a cashier for the power company. Mildred was 21 and had no occupation listed.

Jake, who had been living with his siblings and stepfather Frank in 1932 according to the Santa Fe city directory of that year, married Adela Roybal sometime soon thereafter. He continued to work as an electrician. He and Adela had one child. Two of Adolph’s children never married or had children, Minnie and Gladys. William married Mae Leeper, and they had four children. William served as a city councilman in Santa Fe. Mildred married David Roberson and had one child. Many of Adolph and Lucille’s descendants continue to live in Santa Fe.

There are many unanswered questions about Adolph and his life after 1902. Like his brothers Sigmund and Bernard, he was a risk-taker and a pioneer, both following in his older brothers’ footsteps and also finding his own path.

——————–

[1] Although several records indicate that both Jacob and Adolph, Jr., were born in 1909, neither appears on the 1910 census, and on the 1920 census, Adolph was reported to be eleven whereas Jake was said to be only ten. The 1930 census has Adolph as 21 (meaning a birth year of 1909), but has Jacob’s age as 18, meaning a birth year of 1912. Adolph’s headstone has a birth year of 1909. Jacob’s obituary states that he was born on September 9, 1909, as does his entry in the SSDI. I will have to request a search from the New Mexico Bureau of Vital Records to determine the exact birth dates, which will take as much as 12 weeks to process.

Gau-Algesheim and the Seligmans: My Great-great-grandfather’s Birthplace and What I Learned

My Seligman Great-Great-Grandparents: Two Pioneers Who Made A Difference with Integrity and Kindness

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Amy

Bernard Seligman http://swja.arizona.edu/content/bernard-seligman-family

By the 1890s, my great-great-grandparents were “empty nesters.” Their daughter Eva, my great-grandmother, was married to Emanuel Cohen and raising her family in Philadelphia. (I’ve written about my Cohen great-grandparents here.) Their son James was working as a draftsman for the Department of Interior in Salt Lake City, Utah; he would marry Ruth V.B. Stevenson in 1893 in Salt Lake City, and have two children, Morton Tinslar Seligman, born July 1, 1895, in Salt Lake City, and Beatrice Grace Seligman, born December 4, 1898, also in Salt Lake City. By 1900, however, James, Ruth and the children had moved to Santa Fe, where they were living next door to Bernard and Frances. James was working as a clerk in a dry goods store, presumably the Seligman store.

Bernard Seligman and James Seligman and families 1900 US census Year: 1900; Census Place: Santa Fe Ward 4, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Roll: 1002; Enumeration District: 0126; FHL microfilm: 1241002

Arthur, the youngest child of Bernard and Frances, had returned to Santa Fe after college in Philadelphia, and in 1896, he married a widow named Frankie E. Harris in Cleveland, Ohio.

Marriage certificate of Arthur Seligman and Frankie E. Harris Cuyahoga County Archive; Cleveland, Ohio; Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Marriage Records, 1810-1973; Volume: Vol 42-43; Page: 489; Year Range: 1892 Sep – 1896 Jul

Frankie had an eight year old daughter Richie from her first marriage who became a part of the Seligman family. In fact for her ninth birthday on August 3, 1897, Bernard and Frances hosted a birthday party for Richie and 42 of her friends in their Santa Fe home.

City News Items Date: Tuesday, August 3, 1897 Paper: New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) Volume: 34 Issue: 138 Page: 4

(This same “gossip column” also reported that Arthur and James Seligman and some friends were going on a two week fishing trip soon after this birthday party.)

Arthur and Frankie had a son together just a year later; Otis Perry Seligman was born on February 14, 1898, in Santa Fe. Thus, by 1900, Bernard and Frances had four grandchildren living in Santa Fe plus three more grandsons living in Philadelphia, including my grandfather John Nusbaum Cohen.

On the professional side, I could not find any specific references to Bernard’s political activities or his business activities during the 1890s although the 1900 census listed his occupation as a dry goods merchant. In 1894 he seems to have taken an extended trip to Europe, including to Germany and to Italy.

Saturday Small Talk Date: Saturday, October 27, 1894 Paper: New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) Volume: 31 Issue: 214 Page: 4

From this clipping it is hard to know whether or not he was traveling with Frances. I also wonder who the relatives were in Italy and who he was visiting on the Rhine. Was this purely for pleasure or was it a business trip? I don’t know.

At some point after this trip, however, Bernard and Frances moved back to Philadelphia. Bernard was living in Philadelphia when he died on February 3, 1903, at age 65 from myocarditis. He was residing at 1606 Diamond Street at the time.

When I looked back to see where my great-grandmother Eva was living at that time, I was hardly surprised to see that she, her husband Emanuel Cohen, and their three sons were also living at 1606 Diamond Street as of the 1900 census. In fact, in 1900, Emanuel’s brother Isaac and nephew were also living at 1606 Diamond Street after the death of Isaac’s wife. Thus, Eva and Emanuel Cohen, my great-grandparents, were housing not only their three children, but also at least four other family members, Eva’s parents and Emanuel’s brother and nephew.

According to his obituary, Bernard (and presumably Frances) had moved back to Philadelphia three years before his death, to “recuperate from over-work.” The obituary goes on to say that Bernard had been doing well until sometime in the prior year when he had a “severe stroke of paralysis which weakened him considerably.” The paper noted, however, that he had been improving and that no one thought that he was near death. The obituary described his death as “shocking” and reported that the day before his death he had appeared fine and had even sent a dispatch relating to business matters to his son Arthur.

“A Good and True Man Called Hence,” Santa Fe New Mexican, February 3, 1903, p. 1

The obituary recounts all of Bernard’s many accomplishments, both political and business, and describes him as follows:

“Mr. Seligman was a pioneer in New Mexico, and during his residence of over forty years in this city and territory, was one of the most progressive, shrewdest and brightest businessmen and citizens of the commonwealth. He was a man of the strongest integrity and keen perception and high courage, public spirited and thoroughly posted on public affairs, indeed a valuable and good citizen in every sense of the word, a loving husband and a kind and indulgent, yet at the same time, a firm and sensible father. He was a prominent and important factor in the building up of the commercial, educational, civic, moral, and material interests in this city and county and of the entire territory. A good and true man has gone to the great beyond.”

What can I possibly add to that? Only that I wish that I had known him. I stand a bit taller knowing that I am descended from Bernard Seligman.

Just two years later, my great-great-grandmother Frances Nusbaum Seligman also died. She died in Philadelphia on July 27, 1905, at age 59.

She had been living at 1431 Diamond Street at the time of her death. Again, I checked to see where my great-grandparents Eva and Emanuel Cohen were living, and 1905 Philadelphia directory, their address was, not surprisingly, 1431 Diamond Street, and they still had their three sons and Isaac living with them in 1910 as well.

Frances was described in her obituary in very loving terms:

“She was a beautiful and accomplished woman, as good as she was beautiful and as beautiful as she was good, and of a most lovable and gentle disposition. She was an exemplary wife, a fond and good mother, and a dutiful and loving daughter. Indeed she was all that is implied in the phrase ‘a thoroughly good and moral woman.’ … She will be especially remembered by the poor people of [Santa Fe], to whom she was particularly kind. Many and many truly charitable deeds have been put to her credit.”

The obituary further commented:

“From the moment of her arrival to within a few years ago, when she commenced to spend most of her time in Philadelphia, she was a social leader, admired, respected and popular. She was a woman without guile and always ready to lend a helping hand in social as well as in charitable work.”

(“Gentle, Good Woman Gone,” Santa Fe New Mexican, July 27, 1905, p. 1)

While I was impressed and proud when I read my great-great-grandfather’s obituary, I was very moved and emotional in reading about my great-great-grandmother Frances. The words “good,” “gentle,” and “kind” are the same words that I have heard my father and my cousin Marjorie use to describe their grandmother, Eva Seligman Cohen, the daughter of Frances Nusbaum and Bernard Seligman. She seems to have inherited or learned those very traits from her parents, two people who left the city of Santa Fe a better place by the time and the effort that they spent in caring for their community while they lived there. As I will describe, their surviving children also left their mark, my great-grandmother Eva by her kindness and caring for others, and her two brothers James and especially Arthur by their service to Santa Fe and New Mexico.

Bernard Seligman

Frances Nusbaum Seligman

These two photos were given to me by my cousin Arthur Scott. They were taken from a video made by his sister of family photos in their home. The one of my great-great-grandmother Frances is so far the only photograph I have of her.

Bernard Seligman: His Political Career and His Family 1870-1890

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Amy

I want to thank my cousin Arthur “Pete” Scott for all his help with finding newspaper clippings (including some of the ones appearing in this post) and other information to try and fill in the timeline for Bernard and the other Seligmans. He has also contributed a great deal of information about our family at the Voces de Santa Fe website. Like my father, Pete is a great-grandson of Bernard Seligman and thus my second cousin once removed.

I have been having a hard time tracking the whereabouts of my great-great-grandfather Bernard in the 1870s. Although I know that Bernard and his family had moved back to Santa Fe sometime before their youngest child Arthur was born in June, 1871, it seems that Bernard was in and out of town during the 1870s. In 1873, he withdrew from the Seligman Brothers partnership:

Date: Thursday, January 2, 1873 Paper: Santa Fe Daily New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) Page: 1

The firm of S. Seligman and Brother was dissolved, and a new firm owned by Sigmund and Adolph Seligman and Julius Nusbaum was created named Seligman Bros. and Company. Who was Julius Nusbaum? He was Bernard’s brother-in-law, the brother of Frances Nusbaum, Bernard’s wife.

Daily New Mexican, January 13, 1873

I cannot find an explanation for Bernard’s withdrawal, and he certainly was involved in the business again in later years. He had applied for a passport on April 3, 1873, and he served as a representative to the Vienna Exposition of 1873, so maybe that prompted his withdrawal.

Bernard Seligman passport application 1873

Maybe it’s my modern skepticism that is coloring my perception, but it also seems possible that Bernard withdrew only in name, placing his wife’s brother in the firm in his stead. Was this done for political purposes to avoid at least the appearance of any conflicts of interest?

Henry Tobias, author of The History of the Jews of New Mexico (University of New Mexico Press, 1990), writing about New Mexico in the 1880s and 1890s, described Bernard Seligman as “probably the most political of all the Santa Fe Jews” during that era (Tobias, p. 117). Ralph Emerson Twitchell, author of Old Santa Fe: The Story of New Mexico’s Ancient Capital (Rio Grande Press, 1925), wrote, “A public speaker of great force and convincing power, [Bernard Seligman] found time to engage in the public affairs of the country of his adoption and was elected and appointed to many positions of profit and trust.” (Twitchell, p. 477) Twitchell also pointed out that Bernard “was a linguist of rare ability; speaking with fluency the English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew idioms.” (Ibid.) Bernard must have been well suited for a career in politics and government in bilingual New Mexico.

Tobias wrote that Bernard became a member of the territorial legislature in 1880. (Tobias, p. 117) Both Bernard’s obituary (“A Good and True Man called Home,” Santa Fe New Mexican, February 3, 1903, p. 1) and Twitchell (p. 477 ) also state that Bernard served several terms in the Legislative Assembly for New Mexico. Another source reported that Bernard was instrumental in the passage of the mechanic’s lien law while he served in the territorial government, a law considered to be very important at that time. (George B. Anderson, History of New Mexico: Its Resources and Its People, Vol. 2 (Pacific States Pub. Co. 1907)).

One newspaper clipping shows that Bernard was the Democratic Party’s nominee for Santa Fe County Commissioner in 1884.(Las Vegas Daily Gazette., October 22, 1884, Image 2, at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90051703/1884-10-22/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1873&index=5&rows=20&words=Bernard+Seligman&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=New+Mexico&date2=1903&proxtext=bernard+seligman&y=4&x=6&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 ). Twitchell wrote that Bernard was chairman of the board of the Santa Fe County Commission for three terms, presumably in the mid-1880s. (Twitchell, p. 477)

Bernard and the Santa Fe County Commission ran into some legal trouble when a local resident and attorney, Thomas Catron, sued the Commission, alleging fraud. Catron claimed that in 1886 the Commission had issued warrants to raise money for a new courthouse that would increase the county debt beyond the limits set by a new federal statute; he alleged that to avoid that new limitation, the Commission had falsely stated the issuance date of the warrants so that they predated the effective date of that new law. Bernard Seligman is named in the case as the chair of the Commission at the time of this alleged fraud. The Supreme Court of the Territory of New Mexico found that Catron had stated sufficient facts, if proven, to support a claim against the Commission and remanded the case for trial. Unfortunately, I cannot find any report on the final outcome of the case on the merits.[1] Given Bernard’s future political success, perhaps Catron lost the case.

Bernard also encountered some controversy when the Governor of the New Mexico Territory, Edmund Ross, named him as his choice to be the treasurer of the territory. Thomas Catron was again involved in the fight against Bernard. Catron was himself a political leader in New Mexico, having served as Attorney General and US Attorney for the territory and later serving as one of its first US Senators when New Mexico became a state.

English: Thomas Benton Catron, Senator of the United States from New Mexico (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In July, 1886, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that Governor Ross might appoint Bernard as treasurer:

Bernard Seligman medicine man to be treasurer

Date: Friday, July 16, 1886 Paper: New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) Page: 2

I am curious about the reference to Bernard as a “medicine man;” I have no idea what it means in this context.

Governor Ross did in fact appoint Bernard Seligman to be territorial treasurer, but that appointment was then resisted by a man who claimed to be the sitting treasurer, Antonio Ortiz y Salazar, who refused to turn over his office to Seligman. Ortiz, represented by the same Thomas Catron who was suing Bernard for fraud in his role as County Commissioner, argued that the governor had not had authority to appoint Seligman because there was no vacancy to fill as Ortiz still held the seat and had not resigned or died.

Seligman brought a mandamus action against Ortiz, seeking to have him hand over the incidents of the treasurer’s office. Seligman claimed that the oath taken by Ortiz when sworn in for a second term in 1884 was void because of some irregularities. Ortiz responded that he had been properly sworn into office in 1882 for his first term, and thus he still had a valid claim to the treasurer’s office despite the governor’s appointment of Seligman. The trial court judge disagreed and ruled that Seligman’s appointment was valid and that Ortiz had to give up his seat. Ortiz requested a rehearing, and on review, a different judge reversed the first court’s decision and ruled in favor of Ortiz, concluding that the appointment of Seligman as treasurer was not valid because Ortiz still properly held the seat.

Date: Thursday, August 19, 1886 Paper: Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican and Livestock Journal (Santa Fe, NM) Page: 4

Henry Tobias saw this incident as an example of the resentment some New Mexico residents felt about the success of the Jewish merchants in New Mexico. In response to his appointment of Seligman, Ross was advised by one prominent resident that there were already too many Jews in Santa Fe politics and government. (Tobias, pp. 119-120.)

Edmund G. Ross. Library of Congress description: “Hon. E. G. Ross of Kansas” (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Governor of New Mexico Territory 1885-1889

In December 1886, Governor Ross made a statement explaining his choice of my great-great-grandfather that upset some residents of the territory because of the insulting and discriminatory assumptions underlying that statement:

governor ross appoints bernard seligman-page-001

Date: Wednesday, December 29, 1886 Paper: Santa Fe Daily New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) Page: 2

Perhaps there was prejudice on both sides: anti-Mexican prejudice by Ross and anti-Semitic prejudice on the part of those opposing the appointment of my great-great-grandfather.

Several sources, however, state that Bernard Seligman did serve as territorial treasurer: his obituary, Twitchell, and Tobias all refer to the fact that he served as treasurer. The Legislative Blue Book of the Territory of New Mexico (1911) lists Bernard Seligman as territorial treasurer from 1886 through 1891. None of these sources explain, however, what happened that allowed Seligman to continue in office after the court decision in favor of Ortiz in 1889.

Thus, for much of the 1880s Bernard was pursuing his political career. However, he also must have been somewhat involved in the Seligman Brothers business. This news clipping dated April 8, 1889, certainly suggests that Bernard was active in the business:

New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM), Monday, April 8, 1889 , Volume: 26, Issue: 41,Page: 4

Meanwhile, at home his children were growing up. In 1881, my great-grandmother Eva, then fifteen years old, left Santa Fe for Philadelphia where she went to Swarthmore[2] and later married my great-grandfather Emanuel Cohen in 1886. Her younger brother James also went to Swarthmore, where he was a member of the class of 1888 and a member of the literary society.

Bernard and Frances’ next child, Minnie, also followed in her siblings’ footsteps and enrolled at Swarthmore as did her younger Arthur. Although Arthur was two years younger than Minnie, they both enrolled at Swarthmore the same year—1885-1886. In that year James, Minnie and Arthur were all students at Swarthmore, James a sophomore in the college and Arthur and Minnie as juniors in the preparatory school. I am not sure where Eva was living that year as she appears to have finished her studies at Swarthmore in 1884 and did not marry Emanuel until 1886.

With at least three of their children living in Philadelphia and Bernard busy with politics, I wonder whether Frances had also returned to Philadelphia to be closer both to her Nusbaum family and her children and whether Eva was also living with her mother there. Although Eva and Frances are listed on the 1885 New Mexico Territorial Census, so are the other three children, despite the fact that those three were enrolled at school in Philadelphia that same year. The news clipping above reported that Frances had stayed behind in Philadelphia “with friends” in 1889 when Bernard had returned to Santa Fe.

The family suffered a tragic loss on January 14, 1887, when Minnie, only seventeen years old, died from meningitis while in Philadelphia. The address on the death certificate was 829 North 5^th Street, Philadelphia. Although I cannot find where the other Nusbaums were living in 1887, earlier Philadelphia directories list several members of the extended Nusbaum family living at residences nearby on North 6^th Street and North Marshall Street.

Minnie Seligman death certificate 1887

This note in a Quaker publication says that Minnie died at the home of a relative:

Friends’ Intelligencer United with the Friends’ Journal, Volume 44 (Google eBook), p. 59

Minnie was buried in Philadelphia at Mt Sinai cemetery, the same cemetery where her infant sister Florence had been buried in 1867 and where her uncle Sigmund Seligman had been buried in 1876 and where her parents and her sister Eva would later be buried. Although the family may have left Philadelphia for Santa Fe almost twenty years before, it is pretty clear to me that the ties back to Philadelphia remained very strong for the family of Bernard Seligman.

[1] Catron v. Board of Commissioners, 21 P. 60 (N.M. 1889)

[2] Swarthmore had a preparatory school as well as a college in those days, and my great-grandmother and her siblings all attended the preparatory school and then most attended the college for at least some time as well.

Sigmund Seligman: “A Beloved Friend to Humanity and an Uncompromising Lover of His Country”

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Amy

“La Ciudad de Santa Fe.” Engraving from “Report of Lt. J. W. Abert of his Examination of New Mexico in the Years 1846-1847.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My great-great-uncle Sigmund Seligman must have been an impressive human being. Born in 1830, he came by himself to the US from a small town in Germany before he was even twenty years old. Although I have no records of his arrival or where he might have settled first (although other facts suggest he first settled in Philadelphia), historical sources report that by 1849 he had settled in Santa Fe, first working as a photographer there and then joining up with Charles Clever to start the trading business that became Seligman and Clever and eventually Seligman Brothers, a business that flourished and eventually supported not only Sigmund, but also his two brothers, Bernard and Adolph, and their families.

By 1857, he had applied for US citizenship in Philadelphia, and by 1860 he reported on the US census that he had $20,000 worth of personal property and the same in 1870. According to two different websites I found for converting 1860 dollars to today’s money, that amount would be the equivalent of over $400,000 today. Not too bad for a thirty year old entrepreneur.

I found a number of interesting news articles about Sigmund, including one dated June 6, 1871, that announced Sigmund’s return to Santa Fe after being away for a year “in the states and Germany.” I would love to know what took Sigmund back to Germany in 1870-1871. There must have still been family members there, but I have no idea who he might have been visiting. Maybe he was looking for a wife—as Parish had said, many men traveled back east or to Germany to find a Jewish woman to marry. If that was the purpose of Sigmund’s travels, he seems not to have been successful as he never married.

Santa Fe Daily New Mexican June 6, 1871, p.1

I assume that his travels in the states included Philadelphia, where his brother Bernard and his family were living during at least some part of that time. Perhaps Bernard was traveling back and forth, as I suggested in an earlier post, to keep an eye on the business while Sigmund was away. Sigmund had applied for a US passport on April 26, 1870, in Philadelphia, presumably for this trip. Written across the letter are the words “Nat Dis Court Santa Fe, New Mexico, December 15, 1856. Paid.” I don’t know what the December 15, 1856 date refers to, but I assume that Sigmund applied for this passport in order to take his trip back to Germany. He also had become a US citizen on April 26, 1870, also in Philadelphia, signed by the same notary who wrote in support of his passport application.

Sigmund Seligman passport application 1870 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Passport Applications, 1795-1905; Collection Number: ARC Identifier 566612 / MLR Number A1 508; NARA Series: M1372; Roll #: 165.

Sigismund Seligman naturalization affidavit

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Passport Applications, 1795-1905; Collection Number: ARC Identifier 566612 / MLR Number A1 508; NARA Series: M1372; Roll #: 165.

A year is a long time to leave a thriving business, and Sigmund reportedly received a “hearty welcome from his numerous friends” when he returned. (Santa Fe Daily New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM), June 6, 1871, p. 1) Sigmund was apparently quite well liked. In an editorial dated May 21, 1875, the Santa Fe New Mexican singled out Sigmund for his generosity and civic-mindedness based on his support of a project to provide sprinklers for the streets of Santa Fe to control the dust that tended to develop there on what I assume were dirt roads.

(Santa Fe New Mexican, May 21, 1875, p. 1)

Unfortunately, Sigmund’s life was cut short when he was only 46 years old on October 4, 1876. He died at Fort Craig, New Mexico, a site that is 181 miles from Santa Fe, so quite a distance; it was a US Army fort, the largest in the Southwest. As his obituary described it, he was in a “far off portion of the Territory.”

English: Former officers’ quarters, Fort Craig, New Mexico, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He died of apoplexy, according to one death record, and his obituary indicated that he died “from a sudden and resistless stroke of disease.” According to MedlinePlus, “When the word apoplexy (with no organ specified) is used alone, it often refers to stroke symptoms that occur suddenly. Such symptoms can be caused by bleeding into the brain or by a blood clot in a brain blood vessel. Conditions such as subarachnoid hemorrhage or stroke are sometimes called apoplexy.” http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000328.htm

The public reaction to his death was described in expressive terms in Sigmund’s obituary in the Santa Fe New Mexican dated October 10, 1876. The paper reported, “At no time in the history of our citizens has there been a more spontaneous outpouring of the people to show a becoming respect to the memory of a departed fellow-citizen and friend.” A Jewish “burial service” was read by Lehman Spiegelberg, another Santa Fe merchant, and Sigmund was buried at Odd Fellows cemetery in Santa Fe on October 9, 1876. A eulogy was given by Edmund F. Dunne, “portraying in most affecting, generous and glowing terms the many virtues and excellent qualities of the deceased as a brother, friend, citizen and correct man of business.” The paper described him as “a beloved friend to humanity and an uncompromising lover of his country, her institutions and laws.”

Obituary of Sigmund Seligman 1876 Daily New Mexican page one Personal collection of Arthur Scott http://www.vocesdesantafe.org/index.php/explore-our-history/historical-documents2/item/301-the-daily-new-mexican-ocotober-10-1876

There was only one thing that puzzled me about this obituary. It does not mention Bernard or his family at all. In fact, the paper describes Adolph as “the surviving brother” as if there was no other. Since Arthur Seligman, Bernard’s son was born in Santa Fe in 1871 and since Bernard appears as living there on both the 1870 and 1880 US census reports as well as serving on the Board of Trustees of the Santa Fe Academy in 1878, I would have assumed that Bernard would have been in Santa Fe in 1876.

Although Sigmund was initially buried in Santa Fe, his body was moved to Philadelphia in April, 1877, six months after his death, where he was buried at Mt Sinai cemetery, the same cemetery where his brother Bernard would later be buried as well as other members of Bernard’s family. Putting this information together with Bernard’s absence from Sigmund’s funeral makes me wonder whether Bernard had in fact moved back to Philadelphia between 1876 and 1877 and decided to have his brother buried in a proper Jewish cemetery rather than in Santa Fe’s Odd Fellows cemetery.

Sigmund Seligman death record, Philadelphia “Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11110-64044-12?cc=1320976 : accessed 29 Sep 2014), 004000970 > image 141 of 448; citing Department of Records.

I am sorry that I do not have any photographs of Sigmund. He must have been an interesting man—adventurous, courageous, generous, respected, and well-liked by his fellow Santa Fe citizens. His life may have been short, but by going to Santa Fe, he not only made a good life for himself, he helped out his community, and he provided a good foundation for his two younger brothers and their families.

Gau-Algesheim and the Seligmans: My Great-great-grandfather’s Birthplace and What I Learned

One Lovely Blog Award—A Nice Start to the New Year

Posted on September 27, 2014 by Amy

My new year started off on Thursday morning in just the right way. First, my daughter texted me to tell me that her baby, my grandson Remy, had slept through the night for the first time. Then I checked my email and saw there was a new post from one of my favorite bloggers, Pancho of The People of Pancho. She’d been nominated for The One Lovely Blog Award and was very excited. I was excited for her because I really enjoy her blog about her family research and about her childhood growing up in the Panama Canal Zone.

But imagine my surprise as I read through her blog post to see that she had in turn nominated me for The One Lovely Blog Award! I am so honored and flattered to have received this nomination. So Pancho, thank you so much for this nomination and for starting my year off with this great ego boost!

Now part of the deal in accepting this nomination is that there are certain rules to follow. Here are the rules for this award:

Thank the person who nominated you and link to that blog. (Thanks again, Pancho!)
Share seven things about yourself.
Nominate 15 bloggers you admire (or as many as you can think of!).
Contact your bloggers to let them know that you’ve tagged them for the One Lovely Blog Award

So… seven things about me? In no particular order, here are seven rather random thoughts about who I am:

My family is the center of my life, and not just my dead ancestors! My living and breathing family—those who have known me since birth and childhood and those I’ve only known since adulthood. I have been married for 38 years to the guy I met working at a day camp back in 1973. I still am amazed by how wonderful a man he is. My children and grandchildren give me endless joy. I am writing this blog for them, whether they realize it or not.
I taught law for 32 years—copyright, trademark, antitrust, and contracts law. I retired last spring, and so far retirement has been wonderful! I have more time to pursue genealogy, and I am exploring various volunteer projects that give me a chance to work with children and use my teaching skills.
I love animals, especially cats and dogs. I have never met a cat I didn’t like. They are all beautiful to me. I love dogs also, but not as much as I love cats. Except my dog. I love her as much as my cats.
The Outer Cape in Massachusetts—the location of the towns of Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown—is my favorite place in the world. No place else is as beautiful to me. Put me on the beach in the National Seashore or overlooking Cape Cod Bay, and my mind immediately clears.
I am a die-hard Red Sox fan and have been for 39 years…ever since 1975 when the Red Sox lifted me out of the doldrums and stress of my first year of law school. This year might have been the hardest season ever to be a Sox fan, from last to first to last again. Go Sox….2015?
English: Boston Red Sox Cap Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Reading has been my favorite pastime since I was very young. I am always reading something for pleasure. My tastes are pretty eclectic, but mostly I read novels, biographies, and memoirs. I thank my mother for getting me hooked on books at a very early age. My favorite two books from childhood are The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. The first taught me that books could create a whole imagined world where anything can happen; the second taught me that books could make me care enough about well-developed and well-written characters—even a spider—that I would cry over them. I still cannot think about the ending of Charlotte’s Web without getting choked up.
Cover of The Phantom Tollbooth

Charlotte’s Web (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Since I first started reading books on my own as a child, I have always been inspired by good writing. I have always, always, wanted to write. Work, family, and life got in the way. This blog has been a gift for me—I finally get to write what I want to write the way I want to write it. Thank you to all my readers and followers for giving me an audience and the encouragement and the inspiration to keep on writing. I share this nomination with you all.

And now my turn to recognize some of the blogs that have inspired me and that teach me something about genealogy, about writing, and/or about life. First, Pancho already recognized three of my favorite blogs: Bernfeld Family of Galicia & More, The Genealogy Girl, and Shaking the Tree. I would also have nominated these three as all are wonderfully written, very expressive, and very well-researched genealogy blogs. All three touch me and help me all the time.

I would also re-nominate The People of Pancho for all those reasons and also Jana’s Genealogy and Family History Blog, though I know that Jana nominated Pancho thus must herself have been nominated. So those are five genealogy blogs that I would also have nominated even though they’ve already been nominated. But I will spread the wealth and nominate a different group of fifteen.

These are in no particular order, but the first group are all genealogy blogs that I enjoy reading, find helpful, are amazingly well-researched and well written.

1. Root to Tip

2. The Family Kalamazoo

3. The Lives of My Ancestors

4. The Legal Genealogist

5. Genealogy Sisters

6. Moore Genealogy

7. Genealogy Lady

8. One Rhode Island Family

To demonstrate that I do have interests outside of genealogy, here are seven non-genealogy blogs that I enjoy:

9. wmtc: formerly, We Move to Canada, a blog originally (not surprisingly) about Laura Kaminker’s move to Canada from the US, but now much more than that: politics, books, travel, personal reflections, dogs, baseball, you name it—all clearly and beautifully written and often very provocative.

10. The Joy of Sox: the very first blog I ever read—all about the Red Sox. Allan Wood’s latest book about the Red Sox, Don’t Let Us Win Tonight, has made me an even bigger fan.

11. BJJ, Law, and Living–the thoughts and experiences of the blog owner, who is a recent law graduate and mother

12. Wellfleet Today—the ins and outs and ups and downs of running a B&B in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Amazing photographs.

13. Rex Parker Does the New York Times Crossword Puzzle—ever since I discovered this site a few years ago, I no longer have to wait 24 hours to find out what obscure answers I missed, and I also get to read all the rantings of Rex and his followers.

14. Over the Monster–another Red Sox blog

15. The TTABlog–a blog I followed regularly while teaching trademark law. Although I am retired and no longer reading it regularly, I want to recognize it because it was tremendously helpful to me while I was teaching.

So those are my fifteen nominations. Now I have to go tell them all they’ve been nominated. I hope they are as pleased as I was by my nomination.

Looking back: The Cohen Family from Amsterdam to England to Philadelphia and Washington and beyond

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Amy

Amsterdam coat of arms

T wo months ago I wrote a summary of my perspective on the descendants of Jacob and Sarah Jacobs Cohen and their thirteen children, including my great-grandfather Emanuel Cohen. I wrote about the way they managed to create a large network of pawnshops that provided support for the generations to come. Many of the Philadelphia Cohens stayed in the pawnshop business into the 20^th century. The generation that followed, those born in the 20^th century, began to move away from the pawn business and from Philadelphia. Descendants began to go to college and to become professionals. Today the great-great-grandchildren of Jacob and Sarah live all over the country and are engaged in many, many different fields. Few of us today can imagine living with twelve siblings over a pawnshop in South Philadelphia. We can’t fathom the idea of losing child after child to diseases that are now controlled by vaccinations and medicine. We take for granted the relative luxurious conditions in which we live today.

Philadelphia flag

The story of the Cohen family in Washington is much the same in some ways, different in other ways. Jacob’s brother Moses and his wife Adeline also started out as immigrants in the pawnshop business , first in Baltimore and then Washington. But unlike Jacob who lived to see his children become adults, Moses Cohen died at age 40 when his younger children were still under ten years old. Adeline was left to raise those young children on her own as she had likely raised her first born son, Moses Himmel Cohen, on her own until she married Moses Cohen, Sr. When I look at what those children accomplished and what their children then accomplished, I am in awe of what Adeline was able to do. For me, the story of the DC Cohens is primarily the story of Adeline Himmel Cohen for it was she, not Moses, who raised the five children who thrived here in the US. She somehow instilled in those children a drive to overcome the loss of their father, to take risks, to get an education, and to make a living.

Her son Moses, Jr., an immigrant himself, had nine children; his son, Myer, became a lawyer. To me it is quite remarkable that a first generation American, the son of a Jewish immigrant, was able to go to law school in the late 19^th century. Myer himself went on to raise a large family, including two sons who became doctors and one who became a high ranking official at the United Nations in its early years after World War II. Moses, Jr.’s other children also lived comfortable lives, working in their own businesses and raising families. These were first generation Americans who truly worked to find the American dream.

Adeline and Moses, Sr.’s other three children who survived to adulthood, Hart, JM, and Rachel Cohen, all took a big risk and moved, for varying periods of time, to Sioux City, Iowa. Even their mother Adeline lived out on the prairie for some years. JM stayed out west, eventually moving to Kansas City; he was able to send his two daughters to college, again something that struck me as remarkable for those times. His grandchildren were very successful professionally. Hart, who lost a son to an awful accident, had a more challenging life. His sister Rachel also had some heartbreak—losing one young child and a granddaughter Adelyn, but she had two grandsons who both appear to have been successful.

Three of the DC Cohen women married three Selinger brothers or cousins. Their children included doctors, a popular singer, and a daughter who returned to England several generations after her ancestors had left. The family tree gets quite convoluted when I try to sort out how their descendants are related, both as Cohens and as Selingers.

There were a number of heart-breaking stories to tell about the lives of some of these people, but overall like the Philadelphia Cohens, these were people who endured and survived and generally succeeded in having a good life, at least as far as I can tell. The DC Cohens, like the Philadelphia Cohens, have descendants living all over the United States and elsewhere and are working in many professions and careers of all types.

flag of Washington, DC

Looking back now at the story of all the Cohens, all the descendants of Hart Levy Cohen and Rachel Jacobs, I feel immense respect for my great-great-great grandparents. They left Amsterdam for England, presumably for better economic opportunities than Amsterdam offered at that time. In England Hart established himself as a merchant, but perhaps being a Dutch Jew in London was not easy, and so all five of Hart and Rachel’s children came to the US, Lewis, Moses, Jacob, Elizabeth, and Jonas, again presumably for even better opportunities than London had offered them. Eventually Hart himself came to the US, uprooting himself for a second time to cross the Atlantic as a man already in his seventies so that he could be with his children and his grandchildren. Rachel unfortunately did not survive to make that last move.

The flag of the City of London

Arriving in the US by 1850 in that early wave of Jewish immigration gave my Cohen ancestors a leg up over the Jewish immigrants who arrived thirty to sixty years later, like my Brotman, Goldschlager, and Rosenzweig ancestors. Of course, the Cohens had the advantage of already speaking English, unlike my Yiddish speaking relatives on my mother’s side. They also had the advantage of arriving at a time when there wre fewer overall immigrants, Jewish immigrants in particular and thus faced less general hostility than the masses of Jewish, Italian, and other immigrants who arrived in the 1890s and early 20^th century. Also, my Cohen relatives may not have been wealthy when they arrived, but Hart and his children already had experience as merchants and were able to establish their own businesses fairly quickly. Thus, by the time my mother’s ancestors started arriving and settling in the Lower East Side of NYC or in East Harlem, working in sweatshops and struggling to make ends meet, my father’s ancestors were solidly in the middle and upper classes in Philadelphia, Washington, Sioux City, Kansas City, Detroit, and Baltimore.

When I look at these stories together, I see the story of Jewish immigration in America. I see a first wave of Jews, speaking English, looking American, and living comfortably, facing a second wave who spoke Yiddish, looked old-fashioned, and lived in poverty. No wonder there was some tension between the two groups. No wonder they established different synagogues, different communities, different traditions.

A recent study suggests that all Ashkenazi Jews were descended from a small group of about 350 ancestors. We all must share some DNA to some extent. We are really all one family. But we have always divided ourselves and defined our subgroups differently—Orthodox, Conservative, Reform; Galitizianer or Litvak; Sephardic or Ashkenazi; Israeli or American; so on and so forth. We really cannot afford to do that in today’s world; we never really could. Today very few of us make distinctions based on whether our ancestors came in 1850 or 1900 because we are all a mix of both and because we have blurred the economic and cultural distinctions that once were so obvious. But we still have a long way to go to eradicate the divisions among us and to overcome the prejudices that continue to exist regarding those who are different, whether Jewish or non-Jewish.

Update: Adelyn Selinger’s Death Certificate

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Amy

Today I received the death certificate for Adelyn Selinger, the nine year old daughter of Monroe and Estelle Selinger, granddaughter of Frederick Selinger and Rachel Cohen. I have updated the appropriate post, but will include it here as well.

Adelyn Singer death certificate May 30, 1923

Adelyn died of meningitis and mastoiditis, a bacterial infection of the mastoid bone, which is located behind the ear. According to WebMD, these infections are usually caused by a middle ear infection that has not been successfully treated. Once again, I am grateful for modern medicine and all that pink amoxycillin my kids took for ear infections.

Notice also that the informant on the death certificate was Aaron Hartstall, Adelyn’s uncle, her father’s brother-in-law. I assume that her parents. grandparents, and aunt were too distraught to provide the details for the death certificate.

Brotmanblog: A Family Journey

Adventures in Genealogy

Tag Archives: genealogy

Goodbye for now, Santa Fe

More Gifts from Doing Genealogy: The Gau-Algesheim Seligmanns and New Friends in Germany

“Brothers and Sisters in England and in Germany” and My Lost Inheritance

Adolph Seligman: A Rift in the Family?

My Seligman Great-Great-Grandparents: Two Pioneers Who Made A Difference with Integrity and Kindness

Bernard Seligman: His Political Career and His Family 1870-1890

Sigmund Seligman: “A Beloved Friend to Humanity and an Uncompromising Lover of His Country”

One Lovely Blog Award—A Nice Start to the New Year

Looking back: The Cohen Family from Amsterdam to England to Philadelphia and Washington and beyond

Update: Adelyn Selinger’s Death Certificate

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