30 July 2014

IAJGS2014: Day 2

I am behind in my blog posting due to (way too much) socializing and networking and, unfortunately, poor quality wireless access to the Internet. I cannot access the network when I am in my hotel room. And when I sit downstairs and try to blog I am usually (although not unhappily) approached and engaged in conversation with other conference attendees. 

I attended several presentations on Monday, 28 July 2014.

Andrew Zalewski, "The War that Spelled the End to Galicia"

Since 1914 is deemed the centenary of the start of World War I, the IAJGS decided that this year's conference would emphasize experiences during the war. Zalewski's talk focused on the eastern front. Much of Galicia was repeatedly caught in the crossfire as the area was several times lost and retaken by all sides in the conflict. 

The Austrian Empire evacuated several communities in anticipation of enemy action. Krakow, for example was evacuated in October 1914 and Jewish people moved to Vienna. When Russia occupied the areas, many of those who remained were arrested and deported to Russia for the slightest offense.

Fighting was often brutal and many towns were bombarded to dust. 

In 1917, in the midst of the war, the Russian Czar abdicated. As a result, the Russian army disintegrated. In the end, the Galicia area of the Austrian Empire was left in ruins. Lviv escaped major bombardments, but in the end suffered greatly from a pogrom as mobs went through the Jewish district on 22-23 November 1918.

While the armistice ended the formal fighting, for Galicia the conflict morphed not into peace, but into sectarian conflicts.

Zalewski has two books of interest: Galician Trails and, coming in the fall, Galician Portraits.
 ~~~~~~~~~~

Shipley Munson, "Marketing Your Society"

Munson, Chief Marketing Officer, SVP Marketing at FamilySearch, discussed making and keeping genealogical societies vital to their members. 

Munson's work with FamilySearch and promoting RootsTech taught him that the key to a vital society is to host a conference or event. 

His group at FamilySearch found that societies spent an average of 2000 hours developing and implementing each event. In order to encourage more events for more societies the marketers at FamilySearch have developed a "conference in a box," a package that reduces event preparation time to 200 hours. The package includes online materials: a handbook and promotional materials.

Using these materials, one small Kentucky society held a genealogy event that drew 130 people and 12 new members. The key was not just conference content, but also getting the message out about the event.
~~~~~~~~~~

Sallyann Sack Pikus, Adam Brown, Gary Mokotoff and Israel Pickholtz, "Internet Collabotation: How Do We Share Our Family Trees Online?"

Last summer at the IAJGS conference in Boston, Adam Brown and Randy Schoenberg presented their vision of the future of Jewish genealogy as a completely collaborative enterprise enabled by the Geni.com platform. Avotaynu printed written versions of their presentations in the fall.

This was seen by some as a salvo over the bow of the good ship Genealogy and resulted in responses this past winter from both Israel Pickholtz and Gary Mokotoff  in Avotaynu

The discussion continued in Monday's panel event. The argument seemed to center over use of or lack of sourcing one's  evidence and control over product trees.

To a certain extent, I think the arguments are beside the point. Trees are graphic presentations of the results of our research. They may help us in our analyses of evidence, but as static trees are not capable platforms for presenting complex analyses of evidence or proof arguments.

For that, we will continue to need written analyses of evidence. If these could be included and displayed with graphics of the conclusions, then we'd have something.

~~~~~~~~~~
Check here for earlier blog posts and blogs posts by other bloggers in attendance at the IAJGS conference.

28 July 2014

IAJGS 2014: Assembled Jewish Genealogy Bloggers

These bloggers have posted articles thus far regarding their experiences at the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Check back. I will be updating this list daily on this post.

Emily Garber, The Extra Yad
IAJGS2014: Preconference FHL activity
IAJGS2014: Day 1, Exhibitors
IAJGS2014: Day 2
IAJGS2014: Bloggers' Dinner 
IAJGS2014: Day 3  
IAJGS2014: Day 4
IAJGS2014: Day 5 
IAJGS2014: Day 6
IAJGS2014: Heard in the Hallways 

Kitty Cooper, Kitty Cooper's Blog
IAJGS conference and talking with Greenspan

Lara Diamond, Lara's Family Search
IAJGS2014 Conference - Day 1
IAJGS2014 Confernece - Day 2, Part 1/2
IAJGS2014 Conference - Day 3, Part 1/2
IAJGS2014 Conference - Day 3, Part 2/2
IAJGS2014 Conference - Day 4 
IAJGS2014 Conference - Day 5

Tammy Hepps, Treelines
Margarine Moonshiner Alert!
My Margarine Cousin From Idaho

Deborah Holman, Who We Are...and How We Got This Way
IAJGS Conference - Bloggers Dinner
IAJGS 2014 - Salt Lake City - Sunday and Monday
IAJGS 2014 - Tuesday - July 29
IAJGS 2014 - Wednesday - July 30
IAJGS 2014 - Thursday, July 31
IAJGS 2014 - Friday, August 1 - A Tour of Ancestry.com

David Laskin, article in the Forward [not a blog post, but I think this is an insightful review of the IAJGS conference]
A Report from Jewish Genealogists' Summer Camp

Israel Pickholtz, All My Foreparents
Salt Lake City

Janice Sellers, Ancestral Discoveries
IAJGS Conference Days 1 and 2
More IAJGS Conference - Days 3 and 4 
IAJGS Conference Wrap-up: Days 5 and 6 (only a little delayed)

Janette Silverman, RelativaTree
Salt Lake City research
IAJGS Conference
...it's the little things 
Networking as a viable research tool

James Tanner: Genealogy's Star 
Off to the IAJGS Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah
IAJGS Conference - Day One (for me)
IAJGS Conference - A Short Course in Hebrew
Sharing Genealogy Online with Family Trees 
What are Crypto-Judaic Studies? 
IAJGS Conference: I Couldn’t Put it Down! Series: Flipboard Your Family History
IAJGS Conference: Genealogy Under Fire: Government Actions Impede Access to Records YOU Need
IAJGS Conference: How Did Jews Get to Europe?
IAJGS Conference: Creating a Collaborative Family Website using Treelines.com  
IAJGS Conference: Funeral and Mourning Ceremonies of Our Ancestors
IAJGS Conference: Latest Trends in Publishing for Genealogists
IAJGS Conference: Sephardic Genealogy: Many Resources 
IAJGS Conference: Understanding Our Families, Understanding Ourselves 
IAJGS Conference: Researching Your Canadian Jewish Family from Afar
The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding
IAJGS Conference: Austria, Poland & Ukraine: 3 Countries, 5 Archives & 12 Wonderful Days of Discovery

Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain, Jewish Ancestors?
2014 IAJGS Conference – first few days
IAJGS 2014 report by Leigh, part 2 of 3
Final IAJGS 2014 conference blog, part 3 of 3, by Leigh

27 July 2014

IAJGS2014: Day 1, Exhibitors

My first morning of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies conference started a little inauspiciously when the first presentation I'd planned to attend was cancelled. But, ever able to make a purse out of a sow's ear (are sows allowed at a Jewish genealogy conference?), I spent some quality tile with some of the venders at the Exhibitors Hall.

Sherlock Cohn (aka Ava Cohn, seated) who analyzes old photographs, chats with Marla Waltman


Family Tree DNA with (L-R) Elise Friedman and Kirsten Lanpi
L-R: Me (your esteemed blogger) with Ancestry's Christa Cowan
I also had a chance to visit with Schelly Talalay Dardashti at the My Heritage booth. 

Stay tuned: later this evening or tomorrow I will be posting a list of bloggers in attendance and their posts about the conference.

IAJGS2014: Preconference FHL activity

The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies conference started this morning in Salt Lake City, Utah. I look forward to reconnecting with past conference attendees and networking with those whose knowledge and skills I may tap for help in my own research. On Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m. (room Canyons C), I will deliver "Beyond the Manifest: Methods for Confirming One's Ancestral Origins." 

I arrived in town late Thursday afternoon and spent all day Friday and most of Saturday at the Family History Library. I have a small, but high priority list of items to acquire. First up was some Jewish vital records recorded in register books for Czernowitz (Chernauti, Ukraine). These records from the Austrian province of Bukovina are in the process of being indexed and may be searched online at http://microtarget.com/czernowitz/CzernowitzBMDindex.htm

While I do not have definite "sightings" of relatives (on my mother's side of the family) in Czernowitz, my Liebross and Wenkert families lived nearby. Thus, I was pleased to find more than twenty indexed records for those names in the database. At the Family History Library I managed to located all but about two. The records often identify the person's mother and father, their parents and the towns in which they lived or were registered. As I expected, some of the Wenkerts recorded in Czernowitz had family registered in Zaleszczyki - the community most associated with my Wenkert family and, likely, my Liebross family.

Else Wenkert birth record, Chernivtsy State Archives, Fond 1245, Opis 15, Delo 25, page 63, record 13; Family History Library microfilm 2395781(2).
These two images of a record documenting the 3 January 1914 Czernowitz birth of Else Wenkert, for example, show her father as Eisig Wenkert, son of Ester Malke Wenkert of Zaleszczyki, and Jutte Wenkert, daughter of Aron and Marjem Fliesler of Zaleszczyki.

I do not know how or if Else or her parents or grandparents are related to my Wenkerts, but these types of records may ultimately be the key to help me push my Wenkert family back a generation or two.

22 July 2014

Tombstone Tuesday: Benjamin and Annie Weingart

I first wrote about Benny Weingart last year after I'd visited Kolomyya, Ukraine. On his World War I Draft card, David Ett, my grandmother's first cousin, reported working for Markowitz and Weingart.[1] When I'd looked up the firm in directories of the era, it was clear that the Weingart part of the company was Benny and that they were furriers (as was Dave Ett). 

Benny's surname had been Wenkert - the same as my great grandmother Bertha Wenkert Liebross. Like my great grandmother's family, Benny's Wenkerts started in the Zaleszczyki area of the Austrian Empire. Unlike my great grandmother and her children who were in (what is today) Radauti, Romania before emigrating the the United States, Benny and most of his siblings lived in Vienna.

Photos used by permission of Dyane McIndoe [2]
Here lies
Khane Dinah daughter of David Yitzchak
Died 1st day in the month of Cheshvan 5707
May her soul be bound in everlasting life
----------・・・----------
OUR BELOVED
MOTHER
ANNIE
WEINGART
DIED OCT. 25, 1946
AGE 58 YEARS


Here lies
Dov Ber son of Yonah Tzadik
Died 2nd day of Sukkot 5695
May his soul be bound in everlasting life
----------・・・----------
BELOVED HUSBAND
AND DEAR FATHER
BENJAMIN
WEINGART
DIED SEPT. 27, 1934
AGE 53 YEARS
------------
LONELY ARE WE WITHOUT YOU
HOW WE MISS YOU NO ONE KNOWS
OUR THOUGHTS ARE ALWAYS WITH YOU
FROM EARLY MORN TILL EVENING CLOSE

Benny was the son of Yonah Tzudek (or Tzadik) Wenkert and Khane Altschul.

Benjamin Weingart
Benny, a furrier, arrived in New York Harbor from Vienna in 1899 on the S.S. Statendam.[3]

On 5 March 1904 he married Heni (Anna) Panitzky.[4] Annie was the daughter of David Isaac Panitzky and Khava Orlinsky.

Benny and Anna had five children: 
  • Julia Weingart Kravitz (15 November 1905-11 December 1992), 
  • Ruth Weingart Rosenberg (19 July 1907-25 May 1997),
  • Hilda Weingart Deaner (13 march 1910-21 Apri 2002),
  • Irving Weingart (25 February 1914-14 June 1997), and 
  • Howard Ira Weingart (30 June 1916-23 January 2002).
Annie and Benjamin are buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery, Queens, New York; Empire State Lodge plot, block 25, reference 7, section F, Line 2, graves 8 and 9.

Today, Benny is still one of my "floaters": someone I know is related but for whom I have thus far found no direct documented links.

Notes:
1. "World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 May 2008), card for David Ett, no. 283, Kings County Draft Board 68, Precinct 164; citing World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917 - 1918, National Archives microfilm publication M1509; imaged from Family History Library microfilm roll 1,754,596.
2. Benjamin Wenkert & Annie Wenkert, grave, Mount Hebron Cemetery, Queens, New York; digital images, Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 25 May 2012), photographed by Dyane McIndoe.
3. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 November 2013), manifest, S.S. Statendam, Rotterdam to New York, arriving 18 June 1899, List 47, number 3, Berel Wenkert; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715, microfilm roll 71.
4. New York County, New York, Certificate and Record of Marriage no. 5130 (5 March 1904), Benj. Weingart and Heni Panitzky, New York City Municipal Archives, New York.

17 July 2014

Join a JGS and go Live!

Now is a good time to acquire an extra perk with your Jewish genealogical society membership. The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies is offering a 10 percent discount to member societies on Live!: 60* live-steamed and recorded sessions from the up-coming 2014 IAJGS conference in Salt Lake City. So far, more than 20 member societies are offering the discount to their members. My society, the Phoenix Jewish Genealogy Group (a part of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society), is offering the discount. Is yours?

IAJGS Live! is terrific opportunity to continue your learning in Jewish genealogy without the expense of traveling to Salt Lake City for this year's conference (watch a promo here). Sixty presentations, including the keynote address by David Laskin will be live-streamed and video recorded. Live! attendees may ask questions during the streamed sessions via Twitter. Speaker handouts may be downloaded.

Through Live! one may purchase the opportunity to watch 60 presentations on your computer via the Internet as they are delivered at the Salt Lake City conference and/or watch them later (or again) when it's more convenient. Recordings will be available for replay for 90 days after the conference (until Monday, 3 November 2014, I think).

Those attending the conference may purchase IAJGS Live! for an additional $99. There is no further discount on that price. The price for those not attending the conference is $149. With the JGS discount, however, one may acquire access for $134. Each member society has a different discount code. If your society has not yet shared the code with its membership, contact them and ask for it. If they are not offering it, ask them to do so, or find one that is.
---------------------------------
* FYI: my presentation, "Beyond the Manifest: Methods for Confirming One's Ancestral Origins," to be delivered Tuesday, 29 July 2014 at 10:30 A.M., was not selected to be among the 60. I'm (mostly) over being miffed about that. There will be plenty of good presentations on Live! To hear me you will either have to be in the room at the conference or, better still, invite me to speak to your group later this coming year. In the past, the conference has also sold audio recordings of all the sessions. I hope they will be doing so this year, but I do not see indications of that on the current conference webpage.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Citizens' Credit Union

Considering Max Liebross' troubled life, I was surprised to see him listed as an officer of the Citizens' Credit Union, which was led by his relative, successful businessman Louis Cohn. In the Jewish Communal Register of New York City, 1917-1918, Max Liebross is listed as Secretary and Louis Cohn, Max's first cousin by marriage, as President of the fledgeling enterprise started in 1916.[1]

Citizens' Credit Union . 115 Manhattan Ave., B'klyn. Organized 1916. Pres., Louis Cohn, 680 Flushing Ave., B'klyn. Vice-Pres., Harry Lapatkin, 36 Johnson Ave., B'klyn. Sec'y, Max Liebross, 14 Lewis Ave., B'klyn. Treas., Charles Forstadt, 680 Flushing Ave., B'klyn.
I have not located any index information in the New York State Corporation and Business Entity Database, but I have found three additional references to this credit union in publications of the New York State Legislature in 1918, 1919 and 1922.[2]

The Credit Union grew from 167 shares in force in 1917 and $ 2,206.33 in assets to 710 shares as of 1 January 1921 and $ 11,660.05 in assets. By the 1922 report, all the officers of the organization had changed except for Louis Cohn, who was still president.

Notes:
1. The Jewish Communal Register of New York City, 1917-1918, second edition (New York: Kehilah of New York City, 1918), p. 730; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/ : accessed 17 July 2014).
2. New York Legislature, Documents of the Senate of the State of New York, 1918, vol. 6, nos. 12 & 13 (Albany: J.B. Lyon Company, 1918), pp. 485-486; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/ : accessed 17 July 2014).
New York Legislature, New York Legislative Documents, 1919, vol. 1, nos. 1-5 (Albany: J.B. Lyon Company, 1919), pp. 494-495; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/ : accessed 17 July 2014).
New York Legislature, New York Legislative Documents, 1922, vol 10, nos. 22023 (Albany: J.B. Lyon Company, 1922), pp. 416-417; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/ : accessed 17 July 2014).

15 July 2014

Tombstone Tuesday: Rose Liebross, 1913-1928

Rose Liebross, was the eldest child of Max Liebross and Anna Berkowitz Liebross. She was born 26 March 1913 in New York City.[1]

Photo by E. Garber, 8 Sept. 2008
Here lies
Reisel daughter of Mane haLevi
Died 14 Av 5688
May her soul be bound in everlasting life
----------
RAIZEL
LIEBROSS
DIED
JULY 31, 1928
AGE 15
Y'RS
----------
BELOVED
GRANDCHILD
AND NIECE 

The broken tree trunk motif is often used for someone who had died before they'd had a chance to live. Also, note the rose motif below the main epitaph and the "R." This stone was obviously designed and crafted with great care and love for young Rose.

Rose's short life was likely difficult. Her father left the family in the 1920s.[2] Her mother supported herself and her four children as a seamstress.

Rose's death certificate and the inscription on the lower portion of her gravestone are of interest. She passed away at 291 Stuyvesant Avenue, Brooklyn. This apartment was the home of her grandparents (Louis Liebross and Bertha Liebross), aunts and uncles in both the census records of 1925 and 1930.[3] It is not clear who the informant was on Rose's death certificate, but the second page indicates that the funeral home was hired by her father.  

The stone reads: "Beloved grandchild and niece." At the time of her death she was a daughter, as well, but that is not mentioned on the stone. This may indicate that her grandparents, Louis and Bertha Liebross and her father's siblings paid for her burial and stone.

Rose died of "chronic valvular disease of the heart (mitral stenosis)."[4] She had been under doctor's care from 4 November 1926 until her death in July 1928. She is buried in Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Glendale, Queens, New York, Workmen's Circle Block, section D, line 12, grave 8.
Notes:
1. Kings County, New York, Certificate of Death, Number 16457 (31 July 1928),  Rose Liebross, Municipal Archives, New York, New York.
Max Liebross Petition for Naturalization (1924), Volume 262, page 173, petition number 65273, Supreme Court, Kings County, New York.
2. Max is enumerated with his wife and children in the 1925 New York State census, but not with then in the 1930 U.S. census enumeration. His son, Harold, told his children that his father had abandoned the family when Harold was 6. If so, that would have been about 1922. 
1925 New York State census, Queens County, New York, population schedule, Arverne, Enumeration District 68, page 37, 228 Beach 72nd Street, Max Leibross; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 September 2012), New York State Archives, Albany.
1930 U.S. census, Bronx County, New York, population schedule, Bronx, Enumeration District 3-302, page 4B, family 73a, Anna Lebrose; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 May 2008), citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 1471.
3. 1925 New York State census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, Enumeration District 11, page 4, lines 37-44, Louis Liebross family; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 January 2013), New York State Archives, Albany.
1930 U.S. census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, Enumeration District 24-276, page 16B, family352, Louis Liebross family; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 July 2008), citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 1502. 
4. Mitral stenosis is usually a complication resulting from rheumatic fever. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitral_valve_stenosis

10 July 2014

Treasure Chest Thursday: Louis Cohn's manifest

Louis Cohn, husband of Sarah Ett Cohn, left the port of Hamburg on the S.S. Batavia on 25 May 1903 and arrived in New York Harbor on 8 June 1903. Louis' naturalization papers confirm this arrival record.

"New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 November 2013), manifest, S.S. Batavia, Hamburg to New York, arriving 8 June 1903, List 31, number 13, Lewys Kohn; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715, microfilm roll 365.

Lewys Kohn is listed at number 13 on the page.

detail of manifest page
[Items in red will be discussed further, below.]
 
Name: Lewys Kohn
Age: 20
Sex: m
Married or Single: s
Calling or Occupation: ? smith
Able to Read: yes
Able to Write: yes
Nationality: Austria
Race or people: Hebrew
Last residence: Kazmiowa
Final Destination: Brooklyn, N.Y.

detail of manifest page

Whether having a ticket to destination: yes
By whom was passage paid: cousin
Whether in possession of $50: $25
Whether ever before in the United States: No
Whether going to join a relative or friend: 
          cousin Max Wolkowicz
          Brooklyn, NY 223 Lynch Str
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Louis was a tinsmith in the United States and became a successful businessman dealing in sheet metal. He apparently brought some skills as a smith to the United States. It is unclear to me what the first word may be in his occupation information on the manifest. It is likely "tinsmith."

Austria is noted as Louis' nationality. He is likely to have been born in Kamyanets Podilskyy - at that point (in about 1883) within the Russian Empire, but very close to the border with Austria. Family stories suggest he may have been born in Kamyanets Podilskyy, but grew up in Czortkow (Chortkiv, Ukraine), which, at the time, was in the Austrian Empire.

As best I can decipher, the community of last residence was written as Kazmiowa. I am unable to find a community in eastern Europe with that name. Louis' Declaration of Intention to naturalize (the first papers he filed for naturalization on 27 January 1921), indicated that his last residence was in Kazimierz, Austria.[1] Kazimierz is today a suburb of Krakow, Poland. Prior to World War I it was within the Galicia province of the Austrian Empire. It is quite far from Chortkiv and one may wonder, if this is the correct town of residence for Louis, what he was doing so far from home.

Louis reported on his manifest record that his cousin purchased his ticket for passage and that he would be heading to his cousin Max Wolkowicz residing at 223 Lynch Street, Brooklyn, New York.

The X to the left of Louis's name on the manifest indicates that he was detained by immigration officials. Louis' detention page (found near the end of the manifest pages for the Batavia voyage) shows he was met by his cousin Max who then resided at 188 Middleton, Brooklyn.

Detail from: "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 November 2013), manifest (Record of Detained Alien Passengers), S.S. Batavia, Hamburg to New York, arriving 8 June 1903, page 184, number 8, Lewy Kohn; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715, microfilm roll 365.
I have not located Max Wolkowitz at Lynch Street or Middleton in Brooklyn directories from the early 1900s. However, I have found Max Wolkowitz, a tinsmith from Austria, married to Clara and living on Ellery Street in the 1910 U.S. Census.[2] While I am not certain this is Louis' cousin Max Wolkowitz, this man's World War II Draft Registration record indicates he was working for a metal roofing company and was originally from Jagielnica, Austria.[3] Jagielnice (today Yahilnytsya, Ukraine) is six miles from Chortkiv. Further research may identify Max as a relative Louis Cohn and shed further light on Louis' origins.

Notes:
1. Louis Cohn Declaration of Intention no. 51717 (1921), Eastern District Court of New York, filed with Petition for Naturalization no. 81039, volume 325, page 189, Supreme Court, Kings County, New York.
2. 1910 United States census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, Enumeration District 480, page 17A, line 11, Max W. Wolkowitz; digital image, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 9 July 2014), citing NARA Microfilm publication series T624, roll 968.
3. "U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 July 2014), card for Max Wolkowitz, no. U-65, Kings County, New York, National Archives record group 147, Saint Louis, Missouri.

08 July 2014

Tombstone Tuesday: Ethel Hammer Liebross

Ethel Hammer was likely born in Krasnoyil's'k, Austrian Empire (once in Bukovina province and now in Ukraine) at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains in about 1857. Her parents names were Anglicized on her death certificate to Harry Hammer and Mary Reisenberg.[1] Ethel married Simon Liebross in the Austrian Empire sometime between between 1881 and 1889. She and Simon sailed to the United States on the S.S. Rhaetia in January 1890.[2] As far as I know they did not have any children.

Photo by E. Garber, 7 Sept. 2008
Here lies
Etel daughter of Tsvi Eliezer
May her soul be bound in everlasting life
ETHEL LIEBROSS
DIED JULY 10, 1947
AGE 90 YEARS

Simon and Ethel settled immediately in Brooklyn and are recorded on Moore Street in the 1892 New York State census.[3] After Simon's death in 1927 Ethel lived with her nephew Peter Hammer and his wife Yetta.[4] 
Photo by E. Garber, 7 Sept. 2008

It is interesting that by 1935 at the latest, Ethel was residing with David and Bessie Ett and their family. In the 1940 census, Ethel is listed as a cousin.[5] In fact she was not really related to them at all. Her late husband Simon was Louis Liebross' brother. Louis had married Bertha Wenkert Liebross who was Dave Ett's aunt. So, the Etts and Ethel were linked via two marriages. They had also lived near each other in Rockaway and were obviously acquainted before Ethel was invited to move in. 

Dave and Bessie were good people and took in an old person in need. Their daughter Pearl has told me that Ethel was a very sweet person and became a part of the family. When Ethel passed away in 1947, Bessie Ett was the informant on her death certificate.

Ethel Liebross is buried in the Workmen's Circle Block of Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Queens, New York: section D, line 9, grave 2.

Notes:
1. Kings County, New York, Certificate of Death, Number 14198 (10 July 1947), 
Ethel Liebrois [sic], Municipal Archives, New York, New York.
2. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 28 May 2008), manifest, S.S. Rhaetia, Hamburg to New York, arriving 25 January 1890, list 93, line 35, Simon Libros, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial M237, roll 543.
3. 1892 New York State Census, Kings County, New York, City of Brooklyn, Enumeration District (ED) 14, Ward 16, sheet 19, 26 Moore Street, Simon Librose and Addie Librose; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 July 2010). 
4. 1930 United States census, Kings County, New York, Brooklyn, E.D. 24-1668, sheet 10A, family 180, Ethel Liebross; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 January 2013).
5. 1940 United States census, Queens County, New York, Queens, Enumeration District 41-1570, sheet 6A, household 130, Ethel Liebros; digital image, Archives.gov (http://www.archives.gov : accessed 4 April 2012).

03 July 2014

Treasure Chest Thursday: Louis Cohn's Petition for Naturalization

We've been having some trouble deciding where Louis Cohn (married to my grandmother Tillie Liebross' first cousin Sarah Ett Cohn) was born. This is one of the typical problems one has when there are:
  1. more than one Eastern European town with the same or similar names and 
  2. variations in how town names have been written or transcribed by others. 
On Louis' Petition for Naturalization he indicated Kaminetz, Poland, Russia.

Louis Cohn Petition for Naturalization (1923), Volume 325, page 189, petition number 81039, Supreme Court, Kings County, New York.


















[page] 189
No. 81039
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PETITION FOR NATURALIZATION
 
To the Honorable the Supreme Court of the State of New York:
The petition of Louis Cohn, hereby filed, respectfully showeth:
  First, My place of residence is 949 East 12th St., City of New York, Borough of Brooklyn, N.Y.
  Second, My occupation is Merchant
  Third, I was born on the 12 day of Dec., anno Domini 1884, at Kaminetz Poland, Russia
  Fourth, I emigrated to the United States from Hamburg Germany on or about the ----- day of May, anno Domini 1903, and arrived in the United States, at the port of New York, on the 23 day of May, anno Domini 1903, on the vessel Batavia
  Fifth, I declared my intention to become a citizen of the United States on the 27 day of January, anno Domini 1921 at Brooklyn, N.Y. in the District Court of U.S. Eastern District of N.Y.
  Sixth, I am married. My wife's name is Sarah; she was born on the 26 day of Sept, anno Domini 1887 at Austria, and now resides at 949 E. 12th St., City of New York, Brorough of Brooklyn, N.Y.
I have 6 children, and the name, date, and place of birth, and place of residence of each of said children are as follows:
Jacob born 9 Apl 1908     }
Dora      "   14 Dec. 1909  }
Pauline  "   13 Sept 1911  }   At & resides at Bkyn, N.Y.
Blanche "     5 Oct. 1914  }
Rose      "   26 Sept 1919  }
Ira         "   13 Dec. 1920  }
  Seventh, I am not a disbeliever in or opposed to organized government or a member of or affiliated with any organization or body of persons teaching disbelief in or opposed to organized government. I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy. I am attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and it is my intention to become a citizen of the United States and to renounce absolutely and forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly to the Republic of Poland, of whom at this time I am subject, and it is my intention to reside permanently in the United States.
  Eighth, I am able to speak the English language.
  Ninth, I have resided continuously in the United States of America for the term of five years at least, immediately preceding the date of this petition, to wit, since the 23 day of May, anno Domini 1903 and in the State of New York, continuously next preceding the date of this petition, since the 23 day of May, anno Domini 1903 being a residence within this State of at least one year next preceding the date of this petition. ...

Louis had previously submitted Declaration of Intention No. 51717, filed on 25 July 1923.

Witnesses to this petition were:
  • Harry Husib, Jobber, residing at 337 Vermon [?] Ave, Brooklyn, and
  • Louis Robinson, Salesman, residing at 1569 50th Street, New York.
The petition was subscribed and sworn on 25 July 1923.

Some of the information about the children differs from that provided on Sarah Cohn's petition. On Sarah's petition, Dora (later called Dorothy) was born on 13 December 1910; Pauline was born in 1912; and Ira was born on 12 December 1920. I have not located birth certificates for the children, but Ira's Social Security Death Index record shows his birth on 13 December.[1]

There were two communities in the Pale of Settlement with the name "Kaminetz: Kamyanyets-Litovsk, Grodno Gubernia (today in Belarus) and Kamyanets Podilskyy, Podolia Gubernia (then, close to the border with Austria and today in Ukraine). Based upon family stories of Louis crossing the border to enter Austria and be with family and information about other family members from communities (such as Chortkiv) in Austria close to the border with the Russian Empire, it is likely that Louis was born in Kamyanets Podolsky.

Notes:
1. U.S. Social Security Administration, "Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 June 2014), entry for Ira Cohn, no. 999-12-3804.