Tombstone Tuesday: Sarah Loveshak, Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, NY

Researching the surname Loveshak does not produce easy Google search results. When one Googles on "Loveshak" one gets either information on the B-52's hit single or sites concerned with (uh-hum) interpersonal relations. 

Here lies

our beloved mother

Chaya Sarah Loveshak

daughter of Yisrael Alpern

Died 7 Adar 5696

May her soul be bound in eternal life

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

OUR BELOVED MOTHER

SARAH

LUVESHAK

DIED MAR. 1, 1936

AGE 58 YEARS

  
Tombstone engravers seem to have gotten it wrong, as well. Once in the United States, Sarah and her children consistently spelled their new surname: "Loveshak" not, as it says on the tombstone "Luveshak." Even Montefiore Cemetery has it indexed incorrectly. If one searches on Loveshak or Luveshak, there are no hits. Try "Lushak."

In addition, the Gregorian calendar date of death on the tombstone is actually the date of burial. She died on 28 February 1936.[1] Since it was 7 PM (likely after dark), the Hebrew date, which starts at sundown, is correct.

This tombstone includes useful genealogical information not often included on Jewish tombstones, specifically Sarah's maiden name: Alpern. My research shows she is the sister of Jacob Alperin, and Morris and Milton Alpern, also from Labun. Their parents were Israel Alpern and (Anglicized) Katie or Clara Sporin.

Unlike her brothers, she likely arrived in the United States after WWI and the Russian Revolution. I have yet to locate her manifest, but the 1925 New York State census indicates an approximate arrival in 1920.[2]

Sarah was a widow before she emigrated. Her husband Baruch was from Gritsev, a community 8 miles west of Labun. They had four children who came to the United States: Lena, Meyer, Doris and Anna. 

Sarah is buried in the First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association plot in Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, New York: block 5, gate 567W, line 1L, grave 2.

Notes:
1. Bronx County, New York, death certificate no. 2346 (1936), Sarah Loveshak, 28 February 1936; Municipal Archives, New York.
2. Bronx County, New York, 1925 New York State Census, population schedule, the Bronx, assembly district 2, election district 74, page 21, Sarah Loveshak; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 May 2013); New York State Archives, Albany.