Tombstone Tuesday: Samuel and Sarah Rogel, Montefiore Cemetery, NY

Sam and Sarah Rogel are both buried in the First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association plot in Montefiore Cemetery in Queens County, New York (block 89, gate 156N, line 10R, graves 1 and 2).

ROGEL

SAMUEL

BELOVED HUSBAND

DEVOTED FATHER

AND GRANDFATHER

DIED DEC. 11, 1962 AGE 73

Shmuel son of Mosche

Died 14 Kislev 5723

SARAH

BELOVED WIFE

DEVOTED MOTHER

AND GRANDMOTHER

DIED FEB. 28, 1978 AGE 90

Sarah daughter of Benyamin

Died 21 Adar 5738

Last Thursday's post was about this couple, as well. What I did not say then is that they confound me(!). Actually, it is Sarah who has me confused. 

When she arrived in this country in 1906, she did so as Sure Fellhandler.[1]

When she married Abraham Rogel in 1909 and, later, his brother, Samuel, in 1915, her name was Sarah Feldman.[2] She identified her father's first name as Benjamin.

One of her sisters (whom she traveled with to the United States), Rivka Barshak, married Abram (Abraham) Malzmann (Maltman). Another of Sarah's sisters, Fannie Barshak, married Morris Feldman. Their father was Benjamin Barshak.

When Benjamin Barshak traveled to the USA the first time in 1903, he was accompanied by Abram Malzman.[3] 

When he arrived in the USA in 1921, he was heading to his other son-in-law Sam Rogel.[4]  

There was a Szewa Barsiak who arrived in Boston in February 1921 and was heading to her son-in-law Samuel "Rojel" in Brooklyn.[5] She is likely Sarah's mother (and Benjamin's wife).

On Morris Feldman's 1904 manifest, he identifies the person he is going to meet in the US as his brother-in-law Abram Malzmann.[6]

In Ancestry's database, "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," Sarah Rogel's father is identified as Benjamin Barshak. The surname Feldman is not mentioned. 

So, why did Sarah arrive in the US a Fellhandler and marry under the surname the Fellhendler family adopted in the USA: Feldman? A mystery.

Of course, the first genealogy research rule to follow is  acquire original  documents - don't work from indexes. I have Sarah and Sam Rogel's marriage certificate. Both Rivka and Fannie married in the old country - and vital records for that area and from that time period have not yet been located.

New York laws will not yet allow me, a non-descendant, access to Sarah's death records. I have not yet ordered her Social Security application (SS-5).

Benjamin Barshak died in 1930 and is buried in another plot in Montefiore Cemetery. I'll have to get more info about his death and burial. 

I have not thus far been successful tracking Benjamin and Szewa in the United States.

And then there is the Feldman family. Perhaps their history might shed light on this mystery.

Notes:

1. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 16 December 2015), manifest, S.S. Noordland, Antwerp to New York, arriving 10 April 1906, list A (handwritten), list 71 (stamped), line 7, Sure Fellhandler; citing NARA microfilm publication T715, roll 689.

2. New York County, New York, marriage certificate no. 4666, Abram Rogell and Sarah Feldman, 28 February 1909, Municipal Archives, New York City.
New York County, New York, marriage certificate no. 5140, Samuel Rogel and Sarah Feldman, 26 February 1915, Municipal Archives, New York City.
3. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 April 2009), manifest, S.S. Moltke, Hamburg to New York, arriving 7 January 1903, list 5, line 26, Abrom Malzmann, citing NARA microfilm publication T715, roll 317.
4. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 June 2011), manifest, S.S. Zeeland, Antwerp to New York, arriving 9 October 1903, list 23, line 26, Benjamin Barszak, citing NARA microfilm publication T715; roll 3034.
5. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 February 2011), manifest, S.S. Manchuria, Danzig to Boston, arriving 9 October 1903, list 8, line 2, Szewa Barziak, citing NARA microfilm publication T843; roll 514.
6. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 February 2011), manifest, S.S. Belgravia, Hamburg to New York, arriving 1 July 1904, list 8, line 20, Moische Felendler, citing NARA microfilm publication T843; roll 472.