Treasure Chest Thursday: Zachary Myers Death Certificate

Zachary Myers was my great grandfather David Myers' brother. He arrived in the United States on the Finland on 4 January 1922. [1] This was several years after his two sons, Israel (1912) and Jacob (1908) had emigrated.

New York County, New York, Standard Certificate of Death, number 7469 (25 March 1933), Zachary Myers, New York City Municipal Archives, New York.

Place of Death  Borough of Manhattan, 118 Eldridge St.
Character of premises whether tenement, private, hotel, hospital or other place, etc.    tenement 
Registration No.  7469
2. Full Name Zachary Myers
3. Sex M
4. Color or Race W
5. Single, married, widowed or divorced: Widowed
6. Date of birth [blank]
7. Age 82 yrs
8. Occupation Farmer
9. Birthplace Russia
9a. How long in the U.S. 11 years
9b. How long resident in City of New York 11 years
10. Name of father Israel Myers
11. Birthplace of father Russia
12. Name of mother Minnie Saltzberg 
13. Birthplace of mother Russia
14. Special information [blank]
15. Date of Death March 25, 1933

16. I hereby certify that the foregoing particulars (nos. 1 to 14 inclusive) are correct as near as the same can be ascertained, and I further certify that I attended the deceased from February 23, 1933 to March 25, 1933, that I last saw him alive on the 25th day of March 1933, that death occurred on the date stated above at 9:30 P.M., and that the cause of death was as follows Chronic Myocarditis. 
duration 5 yrs.
Contributory Heart Block
duration 5 ds. 
Witness my hand this 26th day of March 1933
Signature M.M. Rubinstein M.D. 
Address 241 E. B'way 


17. Place of burial Montefiore Cemetery
Date of burial Mar 26, 1933
18. Undertaker Jacob Blum # 1765
Address 202 East Broadway

The second page (near bottom) indicates that the undertaker was employed by Zachary's son "Israel Meyers."

Comparison of this record with the death record for David Myers, shows that Israel was the father of both men. Malzmann is the likely surname. There is a discrepancy, however, regarding the mother's name: Dora Martman for David and Minnie Saltzman for Zachary. 

At this point, there is no way to adjudicate between the mother's names. We do not know who the informant was for David's death record. We may assume that Israel Myers was the informant for his father's record, but that is not certain. There is the possibility that David and Zachary had different mothers.

The name Martman may very well be a mistake based upon incomplete understanding of the name held by the family before coming to the United States: Malzmann. Neither Martman nor Saltzberg are names found in any other datasets (such as the JewishGen Family Finder, manifest records, Yad Vashem Shoah Names Database, and landsmanschaft burial records) I've viewed from Labun or the surrounding communities of Polonnoye or Gritsev.

Besides this record, his manifest and tombstone, I have located no other United States records for Zachary Myers. Thus far I have not located him in either the 1925 New York State Census or the 1930 U.S. Census. If there are any records in Ukraine, they may eventually help identify the name(s) of the mother of David and Zachary.

Notes:
1. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 16 July 2009), manifest, Finland, Antwerp to New York, arriving 4 January 1922, Schorja Malcman, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 3068; Line: 21; Page Number: 7.

Y-DNA: The Garbers are descended from....squid

We've no backbone! Or, so says Family Tree DNA. They're going to give us some.

Last December during a FamilyTree DNA sale my brother humored me by agreeing to take the Y-DNA 37 marker test (patrilineal).

I'd previously taken the full sequence mitochondrial DNA (matrilineal) and the Family Finder (autosomal) tests. I know that Jewish people are relatively rare in the world, and my Family Finder test shows a very interesting pie chart:

Guess my family hasn't valued diversity.

In my brother's Y-DNA test results not only are there no connections at the 37, 25 or 12 marker level, there is no predicted haplogroup. FamilyTree DNA predicts haplogroups by comparing the Y-DNA test results at the 12 marker level to known (backbone) haplogroups. When they cannot predict a haplogroup with certainty, they provide a free Y-HAP-backbone test.

The backbone test is projected to be completed by the end of April. In the mean time, I loaded the results into the Predicting Haplogroup in One Step application provided by Steve Morse. 

The answer is . . . T.  It will be interesting to see what FTDNA  reports.

Are the Garbers, as represented by my brother's Y-DNA, all that unusual? Maybe. Could be that my brother is just unusual (I knew that!). Or, maybe smaller, more insular ethnic groups (such as Ashkenazi Jewish folk) get hit with this no matches situation a bit more often than others. I haven't found any statistics on how often FTDNA must run a Y-HAP- backbone test (if anyone knows, please share).

This underscores for me the moving target nature of the relationship between current DNA studies and genealogy. The more of us who test, the greater the knowledge of human genetic variability and the greater the accuracy of predictions. 

FTDNA is thinking the same thing. They are running a $39 per 12 marker Y-DNA test sale through the end of March. After that, the price will settle in at $49 - a new low for 12 marker tests.  So, now's a great time to test.

While I'm waiting for the backbone test result, I'm looking over previously overlooked family portraits:

 

And if any of my male Garber relations would like to test their Y-DNA, let me know. We can only benefit from more participants.

Tombstone Tuesday: Chaye Sarah Myers

Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, New York, Gate 156/N, Block 89, Row 003L, Grave 6,
photographed 2 September 2008.
 

Here lies

Chaye Tsiril

daughter of Baruch Yisrael

Died 1st of Kislev 5687

May her soul be bound in the bonds eternal life

----------

CHAYE MYERS

DIED

NOV. 17, 1926

AGE 84 YEARS

------------------------

MOTHER

My great great grandmother Chaye (known in the United States as Ida) Myers was born Chaye Tziril Kesselman in Labun, Russian Empire (today, Yurovshchina, Ukraine). She married David Malzmann in Europe and emigrated with him in 1913. [1]

Ida was buried within one of the two First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association (landsmanschaft) burial plots in Old Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, New York.

This tombstone and her death certificate indicate advanced age, with an estimated year of birth of 1842. I believe, based on other records for Ida, that this birth estimate may be a bit early. [2]

Notes:

1. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 2 January 2009), manifest, Lapland, Antwerp to New York, arriving 27 January 1913, David and Chaie Maltzmann, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 2007; Lines: 15 & 16; Page Number: 19.

2. More on that in another post.

Avrum's Women, Part 9: Fannie's brother Morris

Recap

The last Feiga Grinfeld (aka Fannie Greenfield) post related her saga: birth in Baranovka, marriage, children, pogroms, murder of her husband, emigration and, finally, a life of relative tranquility in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is still not determined how or if she was related to my great grandfather Avrum Garber with whom she'd traveled to the United States in November 1922. In that manifest, she was identified as Avrum's wife. It is likely that was not true. An earlier manifest from March 1922 for Avrum's youngest children, listed Feiga Grunfeld as a cousin in Warsaw.

The Feiga Grinfeld on the manifest was the same person as the widow Fannie Greenfield who lived in Cincinnati with two of her three children.

Her late husband, Schachna Grinfeld, was murdered during a pogrom in their hometown of Baranovka, likely sometime around 1920. Her maiden name was Liderman. He father's name was Levi Yitzchak and her mother's name was Frieda.

Fannie Greenfield passed away in 1942. Her obituary identified one sibling, a brother Morris Liderman of Detroit. The contact for Fannie's family had no information on Morris Lederman. So, I was on my own. Since Fannie and Morris likely had at least one parent in common, it was time to see if Morris' parentage might reveal any relationship with Avrum Garber.

You say "Morris," I say "Maurice"

If Morris was living in Detroit in 1942, perhaps he was there in 1940, the U.S. Census year closest to Fannie's death? There was no one with the name Morris Liderman in the 1940 U.S. Census for Detroit. There seemed, however, to be two men named Morris Lederman. One was born about 1893 [1] and the other in about 1913.[2] I say "seemed" because they both had a penchant for appearing and then disappearing in Detroit city directories and for sometimes being identified as "Morris" and other times as "Maurice." 

Since Fannie was born about 1878, the elder Morris Lederman, who was about 15 years younger than she, was a more likely candidate for her brother. In addition, the born-in-1913 Morris was, in the 1930 U.S. Census and some Detroit city directories, living as the son of Abraham and Lillian Lederman. [3] Abraham and Lillian were born about 1884 and were younger than Fannie Greenfield.

Love them unusual names 

Morris Lederman (the 1893 variety) did genealogy a great favor by surrounding himself with women with unusual first names: wife, Rene; his eldest daughter, Marvel; and his second daughter, Zena. As a result, they were easily tracked to the 1930 U.S. Census as the Leiderman family - still in Detroit. [4] 

But the first real indication that 1893 Morris might be Fannie's brother was from the cemetery. The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit sponsors the Irwin I. Cohn Michigan Jewish Cemetery Index. A query on "Lederman" resulted in indices for Morris and Rene in the Workmen's Circle, Turover Aid Section, Lots 7 and 11 (respectively) and graves 0015 and 0001. No dates of death were indicated for these burials. 

A few calls later revealed that the cemetery in which, it appeared, Morris and Rene might be interred was now managed by Hebrew Memorial Park. The kind woman on the telephone was frustrated that there were few, if any, records for this portion of the cemetery. She agreed, however, to take a photograph for me of the two headstones (I sent them a donation).

Hebrew Memorial Park, Detroit, Michigan, Workmen's Circle, Turover Aid Society, Lot 7, Grave 15

LEDERMAN

BELOVED

HUSBAND & FATHER

MORRIS

JAN. 12, 1954 - AGE 61

-----------------

Moshe Shalom Mordechai son of Yitzchak 

The age was right for birth in about 1893. And Yitzchak - also Fannie's father's name! But too soon to celebrate. Yitzchak is a common name. Further work would be required before confirmation that this Morris might be 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?

Notes:
1. 1940 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, Enumeration District 84-820, sheet 2A, household 31, Morris Lederman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 July 2012).
2. 1940 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, Enumeration District 84-382, sheet 5A, household 135, Maurice Lederman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 March 2013).
3. 1930 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, Enumeration District 82-86, sheet 14A, family 60, Morris Lederman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 March 2013).
4. 1930 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, Enumeration District 82-386, sheet 18A, family 11, Morris Leiderman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 November 2011).

_______________________________________

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 10: Morris Lederman - Who's your Mama? 
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  
 

Treasure Chest Thursday: David Myers Death Certificate

Last Thursday's post was about the Ida (Chaye Sarah) Myers death certificate. Her husband, David, lived for several more years and passed away in 1929.

Place of Death  Borough of Brooklyn, 326 Bristol St.
Character of premises whether tenement, private, hotel, hospital or other place, etc.    tenement 
Registration No.  8313
2. Full Name David Meyers
3. Sex male
4. Color or Race white
5. Single, married, widowed or divorced: widowed
6. Date of birth Feb 1833
7. Age 96 yrs 1 mos
8. Occupation Retired
9. Birthplace Russia
9a. How long in the U.S. 20 yr
9b. How long resident in City of New York 20 yr
10. Name of father Israel
11. Birthplace of father Russia
12. Name of mother Dora Martman 
13. Birthplace of mother Russia
14. Special information [blank]
15. Date of Death March 28, 1929

16. I hereby certify that the foregoing particulars (nos. 1 to 14 inclusive) are correct as near as the same can be ascertained, and I further certify that I attended the deceased from March 26, 1929 to March 28, 1929, that I last saw him alive on the 28th day of March 1929, that death occurred on the date stated above at 12 P.M., and that the cause of death was as follows Bronco Pneumonia. Duration 2 da.

17. Place of burial Montefiore Cem
Date of burial Mar 29, 1929
18. Undertaker Jacob Blum # 45
Address 210 E Bway

Tombstone Tuesday: Irving Liebross

Knollwood Cemetery, Queens, New York (now administered by Mt. Carmel Cemetery), Section 5, Block AIC, Lot 17, Grave 2, photographed 2 September 2008

Here lies Yitzchak son of Eliezer haLevi

IRVING B. LIEBROSS

BELOVED HUSBAND

FATHER AND GRANDFATHER

FEB. 12, 1898 - JAN. 21, 1980 

Dr. Irving Brandolf Liebross was the eighth child and fifth son of Louis and Bertha Liebross and was born on 12 February 1898 in Radautz, Austrian Empire (today Radauti, Romania) and came to the United States in 1898 on the Britannic from Liverpool with his mother and seven brothers and sisters. [1] His father had emigrated six months earlier. [2]

Irving was a dentist. He married Lillian Ables on 2 January 1944. [3] They lived in Brooklyn and had one son. 

Irving and Lillian moved to Atlanta, Georgia late in life to be near their son. Irving died in Atlanta. Lillian lived to be 101 and passed away in Atlanta on 3 May 2008.

Notes:

1. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 13 May 2009), manifest, Britannic, Liverpool to New York, arriving 1 July 1898, Libros, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 25; Lines: 20-28; Page Number: 2.

2. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 5 September 2009), manifest, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, Bremen to New York, arriving 23 December 1897, Leiser Lebros, citing National Archives Microfilm Roll: 11; Line: 4; Page Number: 107.

3. L. Liebross, personal communication, 2008. 

Treasure Chest Thursday: Ida Myers Death Certificate

Chaye (Ida) Sarah Kesselman Malzmann was my great great grandmother. She was the mother of at least six children, all of whom emigrated to the United States from Labun (also known as Lubin and today known as Yurovshchina, Ukraine). Ida and her husband David arrived in the United States in 1913.[1] Their son Myer had been the first to emigrate and arrived in the United States in 1902.[2] He changed his surname to Myers and all the rest of his siblings and his parents followed his lead.

My great grandmother was Ida's eldest daughter Sarah Myers Morris. Chaye died on 16 November 1926 in the Bronx, New York.

 

Bronx County, New York, Standard Certificate of Death number 8086 (16 November 1926), Chaye Sarah Meyers, New York City Municipal Archives, New York.

Place of Death  Borough of Bronx, 1292 Hoe Av
Character of premises whether tenement, private, hotel, hospital or other place, etc.    tenement 
Registration No.  8068
2. Full Name Chaye Sarah Meyers
3. Sex female
4. Color or Race white
5. Single, married, widowed or divorced: married
6. Date of birth November 1st 1844
7. Age 82 years 16 days
8. Occupation housewife
9. Birthplace Russia
9a. How long in the U.S. 15 y
9b. How long resident in City of New York 15 y
10. Name of father Israel Kestelman
11. Birthplace of father Russia
12. Name of mother Deborah? 
13. Birthplace of mother Russia
14. Special information [blank]
15. Date of Death November 16, 1926

16. I hereby certify that the foregoing particulars (nos. 1 to 14 inclusive) are correct as near as the same can be ascertained, and I further certify that I attended the deceased from Nov 2, 1926 to Nov 16, 1926, that I last saw her alive on the 15th day of November 1926, that death occurred on the date stated above at 8 P.M., and that the cause of death was as follows Myocarditis. Duration 6 mos.

Witness my hand this 16th day of November 1926.
Signature A Epstein, M.D.
Address 982 Jackson Av 
Filed Nov 17 1926 

17. Place of burial Montefiore Cem
Date of burial Nov 17, 1926
18. Undertaker Jacob Blum # 1830
Address 210 E Bway

Side of 2nd page:  
Modern name of mother is not known.

Notes:
1. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 2 January 2009), manifest, Lapland, Antwerp to New York, arriving 27 Januaru 1913, David and Chaie Maltzmann, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 2007; Lines: 15 & 16; Page Number: 19.
2. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 13 May 2009), manifest, Lake Ontario, Liverpool to Montreal, arriving 31 July 1902, Myer Myers, Line: 29; Page Number: 1.