Tombstone Tuesday: Chaye Sarah Stein, Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, New York

Chaye Sarah Stein, mother of Samuel Stein, was born and lived in Starokostantinov, Russian Empire (today Starokostyantyniv, Ukraine), but is buried in one of the Montefiore Cemetery burial plots owned by the First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association (FLPBA). 

Here lies

Mrs. Chaye Sura daughter of Rabbi

Azriel Yehudah Yosef

Died 16 Shevat 5691

May her soul be bound in the bonds of the living

CHAYE S. STEIN

AGE 84 YEARS

The date 16 Shevat 5691 is equivalent to 3 February 1931. She was buried the following day.

Labun (aka Lubin and, today, Yurovshchyna) is the community associated with the FLPBA. Starokostyantyniv is located about 32 kilometers (almost 20 miles) SSW of Labun. It was and the closest larger community to Labun. In 1900, Starokostantinov had a Jewish population of about 9,200, compared with Labun's 1,200. The larger community was a natural place for those from the more rural areas to migrate.
 
We may account for Chaye Sarah's burial in the FLPBA plot because of her association with her son, Samuel's, family: his wife Chava was born in Labun, as were all of Samuel and Chava's children.

Chaja Sura Sztejn arrived in the United States with her son, Szmul, and grand daughter, Lejka, on 8 November 1923.[1] She was a widow. According to the information on the manifest, she was 79 years old - that meant she was born about 1844 and she would have been about 14 years old at Szmul's birth. If she was 79 in 1923, then her age at death would have been about 87.
 
Her maiden name may have been Slawitz (or, perhaps Solowitz) - as shown on her death certificate.[2] Her mother's name was Molly [likely Malka] Ginsberg.

I have not been able to locate Chaye (who may have gone by Chaye, Ida or Sarah) in the 1925 New York State census. In 1925, her son, Samuel, was living with his son, Israel and daughter, Laura (Lejka) at 233 Penn Street in Brooklyn.[3]

In 1930, however, she was enumerated as Sarah living with her son Samuel at 172 Harrison Avenue, Brooklyn.[4]

Chaye's death certificate indicates she died of stomach cancer. Her doctor indicated he had been treating her since 15 June 1930. She died at home on Harrison Street. 

Chaye Sura was buried in block 5, gate 567W, line 1L, grave 1 in Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, New York. 

Notes:
1.  Manifest, S.S. Belgenland, 8 November 1923, list 8, line 26, Chaja Sura Sztejn, age 79; images, "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 November 2016).
2. Kings County, New York, death certificate no. 3632 (1931), Chaia Sarah Stein, 3 February 1931; Municipal Archives, New York City.
3. 1925 New York State census, Kings County, New York, enumeration of inhabitants, Brooklyn, assembly district 4, election district 20, page 4, line 27, Samuel Stein; images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 November 2016); citing New York State Archives, Albany. 
4. 1930 U.S. census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, enumeration district 24-185, sheet 3A, dwelling 18, family 62a, Sarah Stein; images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 November 2016); citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 1518.