Posted in Chicago, Genealogy, Srolowitz

Srolowitz And The Matchmaker: Fraud, Graft and Fortune Telling

Posted on by Sharon

In my last posting I wrote about Matchmaker/Marriage Broker Meyer Brick who sued grandmother Hannah Srolowitz in the amount of $200 for breach of contract in the arrangement of Bernhard Perboner to her granddaughter Rachel Lapini (Papini) in marriage. You can read about it at the link below ~

https://wordpress.com/post/nwpaintedlady.wordpress.com/9496

Going back into newspapers.com using ‘Meyer Brick’ and the year 1899, I was stunned to find the story had been picked up in 9 states. Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Texas, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois all ran the story. What was it about this that made it so note worthy?

In the last post I shared records that led to my confusion regarding two different Bernhard’s and who was the right one. I believe I have cleared up the confusion on the two.

Elias Perbohner and his wife Rachel Rose had sons, their oldest Adolph b. 1855, Latvia and their youngest Bernhard b. 3 Oct, 1876 Latvia, who I’ll refer to has # 1. Adolph married Anna Elias and they had a son named Bernhard b. 24 Dec. 1877, who I’ll refer to has # 2. Brenhard #1 spells his last name Perboner without the h. Born a year apart, the two were uncle and nephew.

In the newspaper articles shared in the last post, grandmother Hannah Srolowitz seems to be implying that the marriage was between Bernhard #1 to a Rachel/Rae Lapini/Papini on 18 Oct 1899, however the only marriage record I could find was for Bernhard #2 is to Eleanor Rabchikow on 18 Oct on 1898. The date reported in the papers was 16 Oct., 1899. Also, reported as Hannah – I only found her in records as Anna)

I can not find any marriage record for Bernhard #1 to a Rachel Lapini/Papini, nor can I find any record for a Rachel/Rae/Ray with either last name. If they had married they were not together by 1904 which seems to be substantiated by this article I found.

From The Tacoma Tribune (Tacoma, Washington) . 18 Jan 1904, Mon . Page 1

What was he doing walking back home at 1:30 with $600 worth of diamonds and other valuables?
In 1904 Bernhard was living with his sister Ida Goldberg (widow)

The 1910 & 1920 census records support that Eleanor was the granddaughter of Hannah and her husband Lieb Srulowitz. They were living with Eleanor and her husband Bernhard #2 and children Robert/Rupert, Miriam and Lillian up until their passing.

If Rachel was another granddaughter – I have nothing to prove or disprove that. From ancestry.com I found a marriage record for Bernhard #1 for a marriage to LaVillah Sands on 12 Apr 1948, in Seattle, WA. From newspapers.org, I also found a 1923 marriage announcement to Miss Flora (Florence) Snitovsky. They would have 1 daughter, Marjorie Rae, born 1924.

Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) . 19 Aug 1923, Sun . Page 64

Looking at the record I found for Bernhard #1 with a connection to a Rachel aside from the original newspaper mentions is Bernhard’s #1 WWI draft registration, 1918. At first I thought this may confirm a girlfriend/wife but after some thought I decided to check on this mention of “Ray” with the Richmond, VA address.

This Ray is not a wife, Rachel, but is referring to his mother Rachel – Ray. I found her living, with her daughter Lena and husband Louis Burnstein and family at that exact address on the 1920 census.

The papers reported that “Perbona and his wife testified and substantiated Mrs. Srolowitz’s story.” They had spelled his last name as Perbona, the papers all differ with the spelling of Rachels last name. Lapini and some as Papini. Using both spellings and variations I still could not find a marriage record. (In fact I am jumping the gun here, bare with me. My thoughts are leaning toward – had this been an elaborate scam of some kind? You’ll understand why this thought shortly)

Bernhard #1 went by two names, Bernhard and Benjamin Perboner. His passport application dated 14 Sept. 1895, age 18, birthdate 3 Oct., 1876 was under Benjamin Perboner. His passport was issued on 11 Sept 1907, age 30, birthdate 3 Oct., 1876 under Bernhard Perboner.

This all began with a newspaper article with the last name of Srolowitz catching my eye. I have spent enough time on the possible trying to find a connection to our branch and it’s time to put it to rest. But before I do that, I wanted to share what I discovered about his brother Adolph.

Adolph Perbohner b. 1855 met an untimely and quite tragic death on 27 Oct., 1905, in Chicago, Ill.. He was 50 years old. And once again, I am struck by the amount of newspaper coverage his death got. It was picked up in 13 states that I found, Ill., Iowa, N.C., Penn., OK., Utah, Texas, Neb., Washington D.C., Tenn., N.D., Wisconsin, and Kansas.

from The Charlotte News (Charlotte, North Carolina . 27 Oct 1905, Fri . Page 1

In another article headed “Big Ring of Grafters Pray On The Public”

Fron Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) . 23 Sept. 1906, Sun . Page 53

My rabbit hole adventure with this family seemed to become endless. The Chicago Tribune in a follow up article a year later on graft in the city made mention of not only Adolph but his wife Anna. Who was Adolph’s wife, Anna, clairvoyant and fortune teller?

Anna was the daughter of Hyman Elias and Lena Kaminsky. Born about 1855, Russia, she immigrated about 1885/87. I found her in the 1900 and 1910 census. Both records listed her occupation as clairvoyant. She was head of household for both. With husband Adolph’s death in 1905, I was surprised to see he was not listed with her and children Leopold, Jacob, and Mary/Marion in 1900. Anna had 5 births with 4 living, the 4th being Bernhard who married to Eleanor Srolowitz. I also found a 1904 city directory listing her under ‘Clairvoyant’ heading. Anna died on 22 July, 1911 and is buried at the Waldheim Cemetery.

Having found this information on brother Adolph, I am now beginning to wonder if perhaps Meyer Brick, marriage broker, trying to recoup his $200 fee may actually have been some kind of scam that went wrong. I have the wrong granddaughter connecting to Srolowitz, fortune telling, clairvoyant, diamonds, graft, fraud, suicide….. I just touched the tip of newspaper reporting on this family and have left connecting Hannah and Lieb Srolowitz to our branch open.

I would to love read your thoughts on this.

Posted in Ancestry, Genealogy, Haimowitz, Hyamovitch, Srolowitz, Srulowitz, Weiss

Hannah Srolowitz Takes on The Matchmaker – Meyer Brick In 1899

Posted on by Sharon

I am looking for the sister of my great grandmother Rebecca Haimowitz nee Srulowitz. She was the daughter of Samuel Strulowitz and Minnie Cohen. Rebecca had a sister also using the name of Minnie who married a man (unknown). They had two daughters, one was Esther and the other was Molly, known as red headed Molly, as not to be confused with her 1st cousin Molly, daughter of Rebecca and Samuel Haimowitz. Esther is a new piece of information shared recently shared with me by my cousin Arline.

I know that Rebecca had family in Chicago, Illinois which has been my primary area of search along with multiple DNA connections to Srulowitz families there.

I am searching for Minnie (maiden name Srulowitz or alternate spellings) who had two daughters Molly and Esther – a needle in a haystack search.

Leaving no stone unturned in my search for the missing sister and family, while searching on newspapers.com, I spotted an article, year 1899, name Srolowitz, in a Chicago paper, that jumped out at me. The title was intriguing, so I had to take a look.

From the Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinios) . 20 Jan 1899, Fri . Page 8

.This was a real live matchmaker’s tale and I just had to dig further. With the little information that was given I began searching for Benjamin Perbona on both ancestry and familysearch.org and came up with nothing. Going back to newspapers.com, I found a second related article which gave me additional information. The name of the granddaughter, Rachel (Papini ? Lapini ? ) I had the grandmothers name Hannah Srolowitz, the groom Benjamin Perbona, the bride Rachel, the wronged matchmaker, Meyer Brick. Now I was wondering why this mention in a Texas paper as well as a Chicago paper.

From the San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) 1899 > February >12

Checking back on familysearch.org, I tried using the spelling of Perboner on a hunch and found 1 mention for a passport application for a Benjamin Perboner, event year 1895, he was 19, with a birth date of 3 Oct. 1876, location Chicago, Ill.. Also noted was a witness Adolph Perboner, was this a brother, father, uncle, cousin?

familysearch.org U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925

Switching back to ancestry.com, I decided to look under the All Public Member Trees and spotted three researchers with a Bernhard Perbohner Perboner with the 3 Oct. 1876 birth date. One of the researchers immediately jumped out at me – The Ogron Family. I had been in contact with them before. While not a direct connection with me, they do connect through marriage on the Weiss/Hyamovitch branches.

Here I was, looking at a matchmakers tale involving Srolowitz’s that circled back possibly connecting to my branch in some way. Continuing to search with the name of Bernhardt, I located this record below for a marriage to a Eleanor Rabchikow. It was not ‘Rachel’ from the newspaper article but the date certainly matched. I had the last name of what looked like Papini or Lapini from the article. Using that, I could not find any records to match or come close

Name:Bernhardt Perbohner
Age:22
Gender:Male
Birth Year:abt 1876
Marriage Type:Marriage
Marriage Date:18 Oct 1898
Marriage Place:Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Spouse Name:Eleanor Rabchikow
Spouse Age:16
Spouse Gender:Female
FHL Film Number:1030289

Next I checked for a census record for Bernhardt and Eleanor and easily found a 1900c record for them under Bernard (b. 1870), occupation printer and Ella (b.1882) making her 18 and the right age for her age with the marriage. It also listed living with them (transcribed as Groehowitz but was clearly Srolowitz looking at the census) was grandfather Lieb and grandmother Anna Srolowitz on the census record. Anna could very well be Hannah. Also living with them was their son Rubin, 11/12, born 1899. They were living at 235 Maxwell St. Chicago, Ill..

I believe I have the family of the newspaper article. But why Eleanore? Perhaps one explanation is that Rachel was her Hebrew name and what her grandmother knew and referred to her as. Her last name in the article is still a mystery. And why the passport application of Benjamin as a musician and not a printer?

The 1910c listed him with the name Bernard, 33, printer in a printing shop, owned his home with a mortgage at 657 Maxwell St, Chicago, Ill.. Wife Eleanor 28, were children Reuben 10, Miriam 1. Living with them still was father-in-law Leeb Srolowitz 72, and Annie Srolowitz 63. (Bernard and Eleanor would add one more daughter Lillian abt 1914)

The name of ‘Benjamin’ on the marriage record still threw me and why was he a musician and not a printer? I decided to check on the parents of Bernhardt/Bernard and see what I could learn from that.

His parents were Elias (Bernhardt) Perbohner b. 1831, Kourland, Germany and his mother was a woman named Rae (Rachel) Rose b. Dec. 1834, Germany. They were the parents of Adolph, William, Mary, Ida, Jacob, Rose and Lina and Bernhardt. His brother Adolph rang the bell and if you remember from the above passport record, he was the witness for Benjamin Perboner.

I was unable to locate any census records for Adolph on ancestry and familysearch. I wanted to try and match up the address Adolf had given on the passport record.

Turning to Military records and finding two WW1 records really opened up a lot more questions.

Ancestry.com Bernard, Chicago, printer and wife Eleanor
Ancestry.com Bernhard, Seattle, Violin teacher, wife Ray – (Rachel)

They had to be two different people. But what about the Srolowitz connection? What about the brother Adolph on the passport? What about the marriage year reported in the newspaper article of 18 Oct, 1898 and the marriage record for Bernhardt to Eleanor on that date?

I started clicking on hints for Bernhardt and Eleanor and then located this one for their daughter Miriam

Name:Elenor Sroclowitz
Gender:Female
Spouse:Bernhardt Perboner
Child:Marian Perboner
FHL Film Number:1315046
Page Number:264

Then I located a 1910 c in Seattle, WA for Ida P. Goldberg, 42, widow living with her brother Bernhard Perboner 34, musician in an orchestra. Ida was one of Bernhard sisters. Bernhard had a sister Ida, who married Jacob Goldberg on the 19 Jan. 1886, N.Y.C.. She would later marry a second time to Samuel J. Levenson in 1912, Chicago, Ill..

I also found a Bernhard Perboner 63, at 6041 Sycamore St. Seattle, divorced, music teacher in the 1940c.

Here is his WW11 draft registration from ancestry.com

What began with a newspaper article with the name of Strolowitz in the year 1899, with a mention in a Chicago paper and also in a Texas paper has certainly led me on quite a journey. Has this circled back and connected to my branch – not that I can prove at this time.

The big question now for me is, am I dealing with two different men and families? Bigamy also crossed my mind. I don’t have the answers. I would love to know more about Hannah/Anna and Leib Srolowitz.

I have checked in with the Ogron family, the other researchers and hope to hear back from them. I will be digging deeper. In my next posting, I am hoping I may have stumbled onto something that may clear things up.

Posted in Genealogy, Haimowitz, Memorial

Who was Benjamin Haimowitz ~ WWI Casualty

Posted on by Sharon

While working on my Haimowitz family I ran across a mention for a Benjamin Haimowitz on newspapers.com. He is not in my family tree but his photo caught my eye so I opened the article.

Benjamin lost his life in battle during WWI and because Memorial Day has just past I decided to do a bit of digging and see if I could discover anything about Benjamin and include him in the blog.

Before Benjamin left for the front he wrote to his mother.

The Evening World (New York, New York) . 10 October 1918, Thursday . Page 8

From the article above, I learned his mother was named Lena and she was living at 336 Fifth St. The article also indicated Benjamin was 25, giving me his approx. age and a birth year of 1893. I first decided to see if I could locate Lena at this address. Checking both ancestry.com and familysearch.com I was unable to find a census record for her in 1915 and 1920.

Checking for Benjamin, I found 2 military records for him. The record below gave me a new address along with his birthdate. Benjamin was born 28th of Sept. 1890. He was living at the Park Row address.

familysearch.com

I was not able to find a draft registration for him on either ancestry of familysearch. I did however find this record. Notice to on the records that I have conflicting birthdates.

U.S., New York, Abstracts Of World War I Military Service 1917 – 1919 Ancestry.com

Next I checked in on fold3.com and located this record for Benjamin. Confirmed with his death date and his emergency contact his mother, her name was written as Leah Haimowitz at the 336 E. 5th St. address.

Benjamin was laid to rest overseas in Frances. You can read about the American City Cemetery here: https://www.abmc.gov/Oise-Aisne

I was coming up empty on all census searches for a Lena or Leah Haimowitz and decided to search under ‘all collections’ on ancestry. I put in Leah Haimowitz, New York. There was findagrave mention for a Leah born 1862, Suceava, Romania, death 1944, Brooklyn and clicked on it. This Leah was buried at the United Hebrew Cemetery, Richmond (Staten Island). There was a child mentioned, Solomon Haimowitz. Was I wasting my time?

I had already spent the entire morning trying to find Leah/Lena. I clicked on his name and quite a few hints came up. One was for his WWI draft registration and there it was, Solomon was living at the 336 E. 5th St. N.Y., N.Y. address. I found Benjamin’s mother and his brother.

I searched for Solomon on the 1920 census and found him married to Mary and living on E. 6th St. They had three sons, Hyman b. 1916, Oscar b. 1918 and Martin b. 1929. Looking at his naturalization record on ancestry, his address, given on this 1911 document, was again the 336 E. 5th St. address.

I decided to try and find the 336 5th St. address by searching on the 1910 census. I put in his first name, Solomon, and the address in the information slot. From there I just started scanning till I found someone with the 5th street address. Starting in the 200 addresses I just kept scanning ahead or in this case back, until I came to the 336 address. And there I spotted written Liza Hymanowith, 46, widow, 9 births 6 living, Romania, arrived 1904. Living with her was son Barnett, 19, printer in print shop and brother Morris, 17, salesman – furs. I felt confident that this was Lena/Leah and Barnett could be Benjamin. The three of them arrived in 1904. However, not convinced I dug a bit further. I found an obituary for Solomon. That stated he was brother to Barnett and Murrey (Morris) and sisters Sarah Segal and Rachel Steinberg. That seemed to indicate Barnett was alive. On this 1910 census “Liza” was the mother to 6 living children. If you include Solomon and Benjamin to the obit information, that would be 6 children. Why the obit does not say predeceased by brother Benjamin I don’t know. Maybe 37 yrs was a bit too long to mention him.

Benjamin Haimowitz

28 Sept 1918 ~ 8 Sept. 1928

May his memory be a blessing

Posted in Ancestry, DNA, Genealogy, Jewish History, Lifschitz, Lifshitz, Lipschitz, Lipshitz, Paley, Palley

Fannie Lifshitz (1896 – 1992) and Abraham Ordin (1890 – 1957)

Posted on by Sharon

It is time for me to go back and address the Lipshitz branch of the family. Most recently, through the blog, I connected with two distant cousins and while DNA has confirmed the connection, I am still unable to connect our dots. They both connect to me through Solomon and Sarah Maria Lifshitz. I was delighted to be gifted this wonderful wedding photo of the marriage of Fannie Lifshitz and Abraham Ordin.

Abraham Odin and Fannie Lifshitz ~ Courtesy Ordin Family

Fannie Lifshitz was the daughter of Solomon (Zalman Hillel) Lifshitz and Sarah Marie Kinoy. She was born on July 18, 1896, Gomel, Russia. On January 17, 1915, N.Y.C., Fannie married Abraham Ordin. He was the the son of Hersh Ordin and Minnie Rosenbloom (info from family search.org) Abraham was born abt. 1890 Gomel, (Belarus) Russia The photo above is the first photo I have for this family branch.

  • I need to make note of the spelling of the last name. While my immediate branch spelled it with a ‘p’ most all other branches spelled it with a ‘f’

My great grandfather was a man named Benjamin Lipshitz. He was born November 10, 1883, Slutsk, (Belarus) Russia. His date of immigration is still unknown however it was prior to November, 1913 in N.Y.C., when he married Kate Rosen born the 10 January, 1889, Sompolno, Poland. Both Benjamin and Kate were born hearing but both became deaf from childhood illnesses.

They had three daughters Myra (b. 1914) my grandmother, Esther (b.1916) and Mary (b.1918).

Prior to the beginning of my family research very little to no information was known about Benjamin’s family, parents, siblings. All the information/knowledge seemed to be lost.

By obtaining marriage and death records for Benjamin I learned that his parents were

David Lipshitz and Ida Paley. I am estimating their birth years 20 years prior to their first child, to be about 1847 – 1850. For Ida I have numerous first names on documents, Ida, Yetta, Edith, Gittle as well as Pallai/Palley for the last name. With this information, some DNA matches and purchasing marriage and death documents, along with using familysearch.org, I was able to confirm these 4 siblings with 1 still unconfirmed.

Benjamin’s siblings were

Fanny (b.1870), Molly (b.1872), Solomon (b.1873), Isaac (b.1880) and Samuel.

Fanny married Israel Lifshitz (same last name) and went on to have Estelle, Jacob, Samuel, Benjamin and Dorothy.

Molly married Hyman (Harry) Cohen and they went on to have two sons, Jacob and Joseph.

Solomon (Simon) married Anna Dinofsky and they had Moses (Moe), Rachel (Rae), Esther (Estelle), Stella Dora and Charles.

Isaac (Ike) married Rebecca Leff and they had two sons David and Naphtali

The last of the siblings was Samuel but I have no information at this time for him.

Also connected through DNA is the family of Fannie above. Her siblings were

Samuel (abt 1885) Elias (b.1887), Isaac Isidore (b.1890), Ida, Annie, Fannie (b.1896), Minnie (b. 1900) and Emaunel (b. 1905)

Samuel – I have no information

Elias married Maria (Manya) Golden they had Ruth Rachel, Murray (Moses), Jean, Anne Constance, Betty, Edith and Edward

Isaac Isidore married Bertha Deitch and they had daughter Frances and son Bernard.

Ida and Annie – I have no information on either of them

Minnie Michele married Julius Delan they had children Daniel, Hannah, Edith, and Ira Arthur

Emanuel married Eleanor Rosen and they had Martha, Howard and Susan

These two families connect, just how I have not been able to figure out. When my great grandfather Benjamin married Kate Rosen (an arranged marriage) he was living at 1268 Park Ave. N.Y.C. as noted on his marriage license. On the 1915 census living at that same address was Solomon and Sarah Marie with children Annie, Minnie, Mendel (Emanuel) and Isaac. Solomon and Sarah would remain at that address up until Solomon passed in 1935.

Also at that same address in 1910c and 1915c was Benjamin’s brother Isaac (Ike) wife Rebecca and their two sons David and Naphtali.

Solomon’s (Zalman Hillel) parents, as listed on his death certificate were David Lifshitz and Rachel Rifkin. Using the age of Solomon at his passing of 62 we can estimate his birth year as about 1873. Going back 20 years we can estimate his fathers date of birth as about 1853. Doing the same with my great grandfather and his siblings estimating his father David Lifshitz born between 1847 – 1850. The overlap of ages for children rules out David as having been married to Rachel Rifkin then Ida Paley (or vice versa). So we need to go back a generation if not more for our shared ancestor. With out more information for now I am stuck.

But connections with families means the possibilities of more information and answers so I have never been more excited to connect with the descendants of Fanny Lifshitz and Elias Lifshitz.

Posted in Ancestry, England, Genealogy, Haimowitz, Hyamovitch, Katanka

Freda Hyams (Hyamovitch) and Sidney Katanka

Posted on by Sharon

Freda Hyams (Hyamovitch) was my 1st cousin 2x removed. Her second marriage was to Sidney Katanka in January of 1947.

Below is a photo of Freda and Sidney Katanka shared with me by Steve Freedman. Steve contacted me after finding a blog post I had previously written in Memory of Freda. He has graciously shared this wonderful picture with me to share. Steve’s connection to the family is through the Katanka’s, his mother was Sidney’s cousin.

Freda and Sidney Katanka (1960 – 1965) Courtesy of Steve Freedman

This is another glimpse into the life of Freda and Sidney Katanka

Posted in Ancestry, Genealogy, Haimowitz, Hyamovitch, Memorial, Wedding, Weiss

The Headstone for Rosie Levin nee Weiss

Posted on by Sharon

I haven’t given up and have been continuing to try and discover the location of the cemetery for the gravestone photo of Miriam Weiss nee Schwartz, mother of Polly, Phillip and Rosie Weiss. I go in spurts, researching, making calls, checking cemeteries and then putting the project aside before starting again.

MarianWeissGravestone copy

My connection to the Weiss family is distant; through marriage. Miriam was the mother-in-law of my 2nd great uncle Marks Hyamovitch.

While working on this project I went back to her daughter Rosie, who we believe is in the photograph above. Both Rosie and her husband William Levin are buried in Mt. Hebron Cemetery, Flushing Queens. On ‘Find A Grave’ a photo of Williams headstone is shown but not for Rosie.

LevinWilliam

It was easy to obtain a photo of Rosie’s  headstone using Mt Hebron’s ‘request photo pay now’ button. 3 days later and the photo below was in my email.

LevinRose1

Rosie and William Levin ~ May their memory be a blessing

Weiss16 copy

October 2, 1909, New York City

Posted in Ancestry, England, Genealogy, Haimowitz, Hyamovitch, Jewish History, London

Jack Hyamovitch (Hyams)

Posted on by Sharon

Jack Hyamovitch was born on June 28, 1908, London, England to Marks and Polly Hyamovitch. He was the 4th child, the 4th son born to them. Jack was my 1st cousin 2x removed. The picture below is one of the earliest known photo’s of the family and you can see Jack seated next to Polly. The year is most likely about 1910.

Hyamovitch1 copy                       All Photo’s Courtesy of The Weiss Family Collection

 Jack Hyamovitch 

JackHyamovitch1 copy

I believe this is Jack a bit older – but I can not be sure.

JackHyamovitch2 copy

I have very little to no information on Jack and his early years and life. He would marry two times. His first marriage was to Alice Thorpe. From Ancestry.com  England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005  I found this record for his marriage.

Name: Jack Hyamovitch
Registration Date: Jul 1932
[Aug 1932] 
[Sep 1932] 
Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration district: West Ham
Inferred County: Essex
Spouse: Alice Thorpe

Unfortunately at this time there is no other information to identify who her parents were.

Born to Alice in June of 1931 was daughter Beryl K. It is unclear to me if in fact she was the daughter of Jack. Notice she was born one year prior to their marriage. Alice and Jack  did have a confirmed daughter, Marie, born 19 Sept. 1933, West Ham, Essex.

Two marriages were found for Beryl, the first to Kenneth Bishop and a second to Robert E. Browne, 1950 (Jan-Feb-Mar) in Islington, London.

I could find no marriage record for daughter Marie.

Jack’s second marriage was to Louise Silver (Davyatski) (according to a researcher on Ancestry with this family, Louise’s parents were Ruben and Sarah with a last name of (Davyatski) changed to Silver)

I was unable to find a record for their marriage using both Ancestry and FamilySearch, under Silver or Davyatski,  Haimovitch or Hyams. Their first child, a son named Jeffrey Hyams was born 18 Feb. 1938, Stepney, London. Benjamin followed on 26 Mar. 1939, Bethnal Green, Middlesex, then Myrna born on Feb. 24th, 1941 in Herefordshire and their last child, another son, Melvyn, 4 May 1943 in Luton, Bedforshire.

Locating the 1939 England and Wales Register for Jack Hyamovitch  on Ancestry, I found him listed living with Louise’s parents

Jack1939Census

What I found most interesting was that only Jack was listed and not Louise. It states he was born June 18, 1908,  (could be a typo as we have the 28) married and a carpenter. He is listed with Rubin Silver, 2 Oct, 1880, a fur nailer and Sarah Silver, 2 July, 1884, unpaid domestic duties. So where was Louise and first son Jeffrey?

I decided to do a quick check on ancestry for Louise and actually found her under the name Louise Hyams under the 1939 England and Wales Register Norfolk > New Huntstanton >UD > TQGB The birthdate of 11 Aug. 1914 confirmed this was her. She was working as an unpaid domestic duties @ 42 Victoria Ave listed under Harry J. Bennet, gardener, Kate E., unpaid domestic duties and a Phyllis Bennett, unpaid domestic duties and part time grocery bookkeeper, along with a William J. Rennie

LouiseHyams

So my thoughts jump to why was she not living with her husband and parents? Does unpaid actually mean unpaid and if so why again would she be working for a family and not getting paid? Where was her first son Jeffrey who would only have been 1 years old? He was not listed with either Jack or Louise.

Trying to learn just what was meant by unpaid domestic duties, I turned to google with a search for just that on the 1939 England and Wales Register. According to walesonline.co.uk 1939 was one of the most important records at the beginning for WWII,

“In just one day 65,000 enumerators were employed to visit every house in England and Wales to take stock of the 41 million strong civil population.

The information that they recorded was used to issue Identity Cards, plan mass evacuations, establish rationing and co-ordinate other wartime provisions.

In the longer term, the 1939 Register would go on to play a central role in the establishment of post-war services like the NHS.

As well as being a vital document at the time, the register is also set to be a resource of huge historic importance. Due to the 1921 census not being publicly available, the 1931 census having been destroyed during the war and the 1941 census not being taken because of the war the 1939 Register bridges a hitherto vacant period between 1911 and 1951″ 

No.1 under top professions for woman was “unpaid domestic duties” I was unable to find a suitable reason as to why Louise would be in the home of anther family carrying out the duties of an unpaid domestic  which simply ‘refers to a housewife’.

Which brings up the question of when the Hyamovitch family changed their last name and started using Hyams. In 1939 Marks and Polly were listed with the Hyamovitch, son Sam had Hyamovitch but it was crossed out and Hyams was replaced. Philip was interesting as he was first listed as Phil Hyams which was crossed out and Hyamovitch, Phil was written then o/w Phil Hyams with an additional notation

PhilipHyams1939Register

We saw above that Jack was listed under Hyamovitch, and I was unable to find a record for Harry or Hyman.  As late as July of 1947 Sam was still using Hyamovitch when he married Fanny Kaplan/Isaacson, in 1940 Hyman was using Hyamovitch … I could go on, it appears the name change may have been on an individual basis and not one instituted by their father Marks. I would love to hear from a family member on this.

Getting back to Jack – he was a carpenter like his father Marks and Uncle Samuel. I do not have any more information on him.

Jack Hyamovitch Hyams born 28 June 1908 passed away o March 7, 1960 in Skegness, Lincolnshire, England at the age of 52.

HIs children ranged in the ages of 27-17 years old when he passed.

I have no information at this time on what became of Louise his second wife.

 

Posted in Ancestry, Chicago, Genealogy, Goldberg, Haimowitz, Hyamovitch, London, New York, Srulovitz, Srulowitz, Strulowitz

Kalman Asriel Goldberg married Arlene Srulovitz: Are we connected?

Posted on by Sharon

In my last post I wrote about Jeanette Weiss who married Emanuel Goldberg. You can read about them here  While researching them I made an interesting discovery connecting them back to my Srulowitz/Srulovitz or Strulowitz family.

In 1932, Jean and Manny had a son, Kalman Asrial born January 27th, Chicago, Ill.

For some time now I have been trying to locate my Strulowitz family that had left New York for Chicago. My great grandmother was a woman named Rebecca Strulowitz and while we know her parents names were Samuel Strulowitz and Minnie Cohen, that is really all we knew with the exception that Rebecca’s extended family had located in Chicago. In addition she had a sister named Minnie who had a duaghter named Mollie, known as red head Mollie.

I have a number of Strulowitz connected DNA cousins  4 – 8 generations back and nothing to connected our family with these matches, that is until now.

Before I go further let me explain my connection to Jean Weiss. She is the neice of the wife of my 2x great uncle; Phillip Hyam’s (Hyamovitch). Phillip’s father was Marks Hyamovitch (England branch) brother to my great grandfather Samuel Haimowitz (New York branch) The connection is distant but with the discovery of Kalman and then to his wife, I may have connected these two families through marriage and linked them to our Strulowitz family.

Kalman Asriel Goldberg married Arlene Srulowitz on October 24, 1954 in Chicago, Ill. Arlene was born June 5, 1934. That was an interesting discovery for me and I quickly went to work trying to discover who Arlene was.

Arlene was the daughter of Herman Srulovitz b. May 3, 1913, Brooklyn, N.Y. son of Isadore Srulovitz b. 1884 Hungary- d. 1933 Chicago and Esther Altberger b. 1891 Hungary – died 1966 Chicago.

I have been sitting on 3 DNA connections to the family of Isadore and Esther for a few years now. I have been in communication with the granddaughter of Arlene in both group emails with the England Hyamovitch family and privately the last view months unaware that we circle back around and connect.

I have a task in front of me to try and discover just how Isadore and Rebecca are connected. I have nothing proven yet.  What I am going to try to prove is were

Could Isadore born 1884, father Samuel M. and Rebecca born 1880, father Samuel be brother and sister?

Posted in Ancestry, Genealogy, Haimowitz, Hyamovitch, Romania

Samuel Haimowitz and the Missing Immigration Records Update

Posted on by Sharon

In my last post I wrote about my continuing search for the missing immigration papers for my great grandfather Samuel, his wife Rebecca and their two sons, Hyman and Pincus. With many questions left open as to when they traveled, who exactly traveled and or who traveled together, I wanted to update with information provided by my cousin Arline. I threw out a life line asking for information and help and she came through.

“Read your recent email and here’s what I remember.  My grandfather was a carpenter in Romania and he had money as that was a prestigious profession.  I was told he came to America to escape the Russian draft.  At that time if you were Jewish and drafted, you went to Siberia.  I was also told he came to this country via Ellis Island with my grandmother and two sons Herman and Paul.  Both Herman and Paul were born in Romania and I think that maybe there were 3 years or so between their ages.  Paul was not born aboard ship.”

The birth date for first born son Hyman/Herman is 22 Sept 1898 and for Pincus/Paul,  3 June 1901, with it listed as 1902 on his death certificate. That year of birth was provided by his daughter and she may not have known for sure. I am using 1901 as the confirmed birth year as that is what is written on his official documents.

With the earliest census record of 1905 for the family taken in June, I will continue to hunt for their immigration record for the years 1901 – 1905 and as a family of 4 coming over together.

Samuels age for immigration is not consistent on his records with the ages 21 – 28 years for arrival. Wife Rebecca’s age is shown as being between 21 – 25 years of age on arrival.

*I have thrown out the year of 1896 for arrival (as seen on the 1930c)

Thank you to my cousin Arline for always being so willing to jump in and help when she can 🙂 It’s is always appreciated.

Posted in Ancestry, Census, Galati, Genealogy, Haimowitz, Hyamovitch, New York, Romania, Srulowitz

Samuel Haimowitz and the Missing Immigration Records

Posted on by Sharon

Locating the immigration record for my great grandfather Samuel Haimowitz feels hopeless at times. Am I making progress or just going over the same old records aimlessly?

I have been trying to locate his immigration record for years now with no success. Family lore recounts that he immigrated with his wife Rebecca along with his son Hyman, 2/3 and infant son Pincus, who may have been born aboard ship. Whether that is true, whether they traveled together has not been proved. In an attempt to recap and revisit and possibly discover something I have missed I am sharing what I know and welcome all suggestions, ideas and help 🙂

Before I go further I want to establish the birth date that I am using for Samuel. It is 15 March 1875. This date comes from his WWI draft registration and from his S.S. application.

005264774_03548Last name written as Himowitz above.

SamHaimowitzSSCardNote his handwriting for his last name.

My earliest record for the family is the 1905 c, spelled Heimowitz, Samuel (28) b. 1877, Romania, Rebecca (25) b. 1880, Romania, son Hyman (8) b. 1898, Romania, Pincus (3)  b. 1902, U.S., Freda (1) living @ 170 Ludlow, NYC. Samuel’s profession was carpenter and Hyman was attending school.

I believe the two records below for petition for citizenship is for my Samuel Haimowitz.  Dated Sept. 24th, 1906, his age was listed as 30 with a birth year of 1876. I have identified this as ‘his’ papers by the occupation listed as Carpenter and the arrival date of 1901 which seems to be the most consistent with the other data found.  Since I could find no other Haimowitz or similar name with occupation of carpenter, this led me to believe that this is for him.

32126_22314880167787-01163

His arrival date was recorded as ‘on or around’ 12 February 1901, no ship name was given and the spelling of his last name was Haimovich. This interests me as his brother, Marks, who settled in England spelled his name Hyamovitch. Discussions with family in England has included the difference in spelling of the last name and which might have been the original family spelling. Having recorded on this official document the ‘vich’ sound ending, I am leaning towards the England branch spelling being the more original.

007790848_00147

The above 2nd document for Samuels petition for citizenship has a date of 19 February 1904 the name Sam Hymovich, arriving the 12 February 1901, address of 102 Allen St., born in the year 1876. His age was listed as 28. The dates and ages are consistent with the first document. While the name is spelt differently, the arrival day the same, leads me to believe it is the same person. Notice his signature is ‘his mark’ and someone else has spelled the name/written it as Hymovich. The other is 2 year later and it appears he is able to sign his name.

*I have to stop here and report that there are numerous Samuels with birth dates all within a 10 year period along with a variety of spellings. There is another Sam Hymovich born 1877, Russia. I have ruled him out for the above record not belonging to him based on the country of birth and actually locating his naturalization records for the year 1933 along with his wife

Using both the Ellis Island search site, Ancestry, and family search, countless times, using as many spellings and wild cards, more combinations I can think of, I can not find a listing for arrival in 1901, from 1998 – 1905, I can not find any family or single person traveling that could match this family. Using One Step Pages by Stephen Morse, I have identified a number of possible ships arriving the 11th – 13th but that Feb. 12 date could really be outside that box all together. Ships arriving then were the Kaiser Maria Theresia, Havana, Umbria, Potsdam, Tartar Prince & the Capri.  Identifying all these dates and ships on FHL Roll 1403921, I haven’t pursued this further. 

Before going further I can not settle whether Pincus/Paul was born on board ship but I think I can settle the question of whether Pincus/Paul was born in the US or in Romania. All of the census records differ with where he was born and his death certificate says New York, with the information given by the informant, his daughter Annette which could be wrong information. His marriage certificate, S.S. application states, Romania, Galatz. I am going with his Romania as this information was provided by Pincus/Paul himself on official documents. I have no birth certificate for him.

PaulHaimowitzSS

PaulHaimowitzBirthCert

PaulHaimowitzDeathCert

Now if the family arrived on 12 February 1901 and the birth date on the s.s. applications says  3 June, 1901 there is a conflict. In addition notice the date of birth on the death certificate, 3 June 1902, that is after the 1901 arrival as well.

The original quest or question is the location of the immigration records for Samuel, Rebecca, Hyman and Pincus. Believed traveling together, with no records yet found. My thought was establishing where Paul was born could help me find the family traveling. Was I looking for 4 people or 3? Was I look for Samuel alone and Rebecca with 1 or 2 children?

Let me look at the census information.

The 1910c changes a few of the facts and supports the story that Pincus was born either in Romania or Romania waters, on board ship, as his place of birth was listed as Romania and not U.S. as in the 1905c. The family was then living at 228 E. 99th St, NYC.  The immigration year was recorded as 1901 for all 4 of the family, Samuel, Rebecca, Hyman & Pincus. Hyman (10) and Pincus (9).  Freda, now under Fannie was 6 and my grandfather Isidore 4, had been born.

My favorite photo shared with me by my cousin Arline

infantisidor3
Hyman (Herman) Pincus (Paul) Isidore & Freda (Fay) Haimowitz

By 1915 the family had moved again living @ 316 100th St, NYC, Pincus (14)  listed born U.S.. Samuel, Rebecca and Hyman still Romania. Daughter Mollie (4), has joined the family and Sam Shapiro (43) born Russia, cigar maker, was boarding with the them.

Which brings us to 1920 records and the immigration year was listed 1900 for Samuel Rebecca and Pincus, now using Paul (18), was listed as being born in Romania. Samuel’s naturalization year was listed as 1909 with Rebecca and Paul both identified as naturalized also 1909.  If they immigrated in 1900, it appears Paul would not have been born or traveling with them.

Taking a quick glance over at son Hyman in 1920, now going by Herman (21), he was married to Sadie Cantor (20) with an infant son named Harold. His immigration year was noted as 1901 and naturalized 1910. Hermans date of birth, as noted on his WWI draft registration was 22 Sept 1898, Romania. I could not locate a naturalization for Herman or under Hyman. I tried Ancestry, familysearch and Fold3.

1925 c  doesn’t give much information but what it did repeat was Romania for place of birth for Paul but if you look under citizenship Samuel, Rebecca and Paul was marked “a” for alien and not C for citizen. see below

1925c

1930 c really threw me.  Sam and Rebecca, both in their 50’s, said the immigration year was 1896 and that they were both naturalized. Checking on Paul, now married to Ida Taub and living on their own, his place of birth was listed New York again and checking on Herman, his information has the immigration year as 1902 and naturalized.

Wrapping up with the 1940 c which simply says whether naturalized and gives no date of arrival. Samuels says Romania, Na, Hermans says Romania and is coded 4 which is American Citizen born abroad and Pauls says Romania, Na. I have yet to find any naturalization papers for Herman or Paul nor the final papers for Samuel which may show that Herman and Paul naturalized under their father which I suspect was the case and may give additional immigration information.

When did this family arrive in the states? Did they travel together? Did Samuel arrive first and then Rebecca and the children? Where did they depart from? Had they traveled first to England with his brother Marks and his wife Polly and leave from there?

I have asked these questions before, and scoured the records countless times and still have not found any answers.

The only thing I can add is I have had fun trying and as long as I am having fun I will continue to try and track down the answers to these questions.