Avrum's Women: Part 10, Morris Lederman - Who's your Mama?

It's been quite a while since I last discussed my research on Fannie Greenfield and her relationship to my family. I first encountered Fannie (aka Feiga Grinfeld) on Ellis Island manifests associated with my Garber family. The question is: how was she related to my family? 

I was able to track her in the United States, despite a name change and migration from New York to Cincinnati. When I found that I could not determine how or if she is related to the Garbers from her information alone, I began searching for her brother Morris Liderman. 

In my last post in this saga, I asked the following questions about one of two Morris Ledermans of Detroit who, I thought, was likely Fannie's brother. What was his mother's name? What was her maiden name? Was Morris from Baranovka? When did he come to the United States?

Before we go any further in addressing the first two questions, readers might want to review previous posts in this series:

Avrum's Women, Part 2: Feiga Grinfeld
Avrum's Women, Part 3: Following Feiga (and Raya)
Avrum's Women, Part 4: The Trouble with Harry
Avrum's Women, Part 5: Finding Feiga 
Avrum's Women, Part 6: Added Confirmation
Avrum's Women, Part 7: Feiga's Family
Avrum's Women, Part 8: Fannie's Story  
Avrum's Women, Part 9: Fannie's Brother Morris 

In Review

In the last post I'd located Morris and his wife Rene's graves and found that Morris' father's first name had been Yitzchak.[1] Fannie's father was Levi Yitzchak.[2]  

It is usual for Jewish men to have two Hebrew/Yiddish names and to use them together or individually from time to time. So, Levi Yitzchak and Yitzchak could be the same person. I would need additional information to confirm Fannie and Morris' sibling relationship.

I knew from Fannie's manifest and her death certificate that her mother's name had been Frieda Liderman.[3] If I could find a record from this Morris with a matching mother's name, I'd know he was the correct Morris Lederman. Additionally, since I did not know if Fannie Greenfield was related to the Garber's on her mother's or father's side, her mother's maiden name could be useful for further research.

First Comes Marriage

While I'd located U.S. Census records 1920 through 1940 for Morris and Rene and their family, I'd not located some of the basic genealogically useful records for Morris: marriage certificate, death certificate, naturalization and manifest.[4]

The 1930 U.S. Census indicated that Rene, age 30, had been born in England, came to the United States about the age of 20 and married at 20.[5] I'd located Morris as an unmarried boarder living at 313 Erskine Street, Detroit in the 1920 U.S. Census, so it was a good bet that Morris and Rene had married sometime after the record date of the Census: 1 January 1920.[6]  

I determined that if I knew Rene's maiden name I might be able to locate her manifest, where she might have headed after arrival and where Morris and Rene married.

To find Rene's maiden name, I checked on marriage records for her daughter, Zena Lederman. She'd married Murray E. Moss in Montana in 1943.[7] While Zena's father's name was listed, her mother's name was not provided. But, an obituary for Zena Moss of Flint, Michigan provided Rene's maiden name: Cohen.[8]

Ordinarily, Cohen, such a common name, would have made sorting through manifest records almost impossible. But, Rene is an unusual name. I found her manifest: Rene Lewis-Cohen arrived from Liverpool on the S.S. Baltic on 27 August 1920.[9] Twenty-year-old Rene was headed for her fiance, Maurice Lederman of 313 Erskine Street, Detroit, Michigan.

I think it must have been Leah Greenfield Saltzman's marriage in New York City that gave me the inspiration to check New York City marriage records. I suppose I might have been successful locating Morris and Rene's marriage certificate without finding Rene's manifest record, but before seeing that she'd come to the United States already planning to marry Morris, New York didn't seem like an option.

Morris Lederman and Rene L. Cohen married at the Municipal Building in Manhattan on 27 August 1920.[10] Morris Lederman's parents were Louis (an anglicized version of Levy or Leib) and Frieda Simberg. Now I know that Morris was indeed Fannie Greenfield's brother. And their mother's maiden name was Simberg - a new surname for my family history research.

To be continued.... 

Notes:
1. Morris Lederman gravestone, Hebrew Memorial Park, Detroit, Michigan, Workmen's Circle, Turover Aid Society, Lot 7, Grave 15.
2. Fannie Greenfield gravestone, Adath Israel Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio; digital image, Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati (http://www.jcemcin.org : accessed 31 October 2011).
3. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 8 March 2008), manifest, Aquitania, Southhampton to New York, arriving 4 November 1922, list 4, Feiga Grinfeld, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715, roll 3215. 
"Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XZP6-FVZ : accessed 31 October 2011), Fannie Greenfield, 1942; citing reference fn 69916, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio.
4. I'd requested a death record from the City of Detroit and been told they did not have one. I have not yet requested a search of Michigan death records.
5. 1930 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michigan, Detroit, Enumeration District 82-368, sheet 15A (handwritten), page 74 (stamped), dwelling 11, family 11, Morris Leiderman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 November 2011), citing National Archives microfilm publication T626, roll 1046.
6. 1920 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michgan, Detroit, Enumeration District 166, sheet 6B, dwelling 40, family 111, Morris Liederman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 November 2011), citing National Archives mcrofilm publication T626, roll .
7. Cascade County, Montana, marriage record no. 20303, Great Falls, reel 44, Murray E. Moss and Zena Lila Lederman (24 March 1943); digital image, "Montana, County Marriages, 1865-1950," FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 11 September 2012).
8. "Moss, Zena," The Flint Journal, Michigan, 2 August 1999, page C3; digital image, Genealogy Bank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 1 September 2012).
9. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 22 February 2014), manifest, S.S. Baltic,Liverpool to New York, arriving 27 August 1920, list 4, passenger 11, Rene Lewis-Cohen, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715, roll 2822.
10. New York County, New York, marriage certificate no. 34414, Manhattan, Morris Lederman and Rene L. Cohen (27 Aug 1920), Municipal Archives, New York City. 
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The next posts in this series are: 
Avrum's Women, Part 11: Garber Y-DNA = Lederman Y-DNA
Avrum's Women, Part 12: Finding Family with Family Finder  
Avrum's Women, Part 13: Bond of Brothers