28 March 2017

Tombstone Tuesday: Estelle Sadowsky, Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, New York

Estelle Sadowsky was not technically a Lubiner (i.e., she was not born and/or raised in the town and she was not descended from someone who was). She was the sister of David Rosenheck and sister-in-law of Ruth Garber Rosenheck, who was born in and immigrated as a child from Labun. Ruth was my father's first cousin and daughter of Nathan and Yetta Garber.

Here Lies
Ester Chaye
daughter of Yehuda
Died 8 Nisan 5701
May her soul be bound in the bonds of the living
----------
ESTELLE
SADOWSKY
DIED
APR. 5, 1941
AGE 26 YEARS
----------
BELOVED WIFE
AND DEAR MOTHER

Estera Rosenheck was born and resided in Tlumachek, Kolomyya district, Galicia, Austrian Empire to Juda and Sophie Rosenheck. When she left home for the United States, Tlumachek was part of Poland.

Estera Rosenheck sailed to the United States with her older brother Dawid and younger brother Josef in December 1929.[1] She was reported as 22 (born about 1907). The siblings embarked at Southampton, United Kingdom on the S.S. Leviathan and arrived in New York harbor on 24 December 1929. Their father Juda was still living in the Old Country and they reported that they were headed to their uncle Sam Rosenheck in Monticello, Sullivan County, New York.
Estelle in 1934 [2]
Estelle Rosenheck married Max Sadowsky on 22 December 1935 in Brooklyn.[2]

When Estelle naturalized in 1937, she reported her birth date as 11 April 1907 (consistent with her age as shown on her passenger manifest).[2] 

In April 1940, when the U.S. census was taken, Max and Estelle lived with their daughter Loretta and Estelle's brother, Joe, in an apartment at 6401 24th Avenue, Brooklyn.[3] Both Max and Joe, like Estelle's other brother, David Rosenheck, sold fruit. 

Estelle died at Long Island College Hospital on 5 April 1941. Her date of birth reported on her death certificate was 18 April 1914. She birth date may have been fudged a bit since she was, apparently, older than her husband Max. At that time, it was expected that women would be younger than their husbands. Estelle died during surgery for a cancerous bowel obstruction. If she was born in 1907, she would have actually have been 34 years old at death - not 26. This was still very young and she left a small child at home. 

Her last residence was at 1565 West 11th Street in Brooklyn.

Estelle's grave is in one of the First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association burial plots in Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, New York: block 5, gate 567W, line 1L, grave 4.

Notes:
1. Manifest, S.S. Leviathan, 24 December 1929, stamped p. 92, line 7, Dawid Rosenheck, age 25; images, "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017).
2. Estelle Sadowsky, naturalization file no. 229053, 25 May 1937, Eastern District of New York; Record Group 21: Records of the District Courts of the United States; National Archives - Northeast Region, New York City.
"NYC Grooms Record Index," Italian Genealogical Group (http://www.italiangen.org : accessed 25 March 2017), entry for Max Sadowsky and Estelle Rosenheck [indexed as Rosenbek], Kings County marriage certificate no. 21825, 22 December 1935. Copy of record on order.
3. 1940 U.S. Census, Kings County, population schedule, Brooklyn, enumeration district 24-1816, sheet 7B, household 166, Estelle Sadowsky; images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 March 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 2593. 

21 March 2017

Tombstone Tuesday: David Rosenheck, Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, New York

David Rosenheck married my father's first cousin Ruth Garber, daughter of my great uncle Nathan Garber and his wife Yetta.
 
FATHER
EVER IN OUR HEARTS

Here lies
David son of Yehuda

DAVID
ROSENHECK

Additional inscription (not visible due to the thick hedge) on this stone indicates that Dave Rosenheck died on 9 March 1963 at the age of 56.

Based upon other records, it is likely that Dave was actually 60 years old when he died - still too young. His petition for naturalization showed he was born on 23 December 1903 in Tlumachek, Austrian Empire.[1] This 1903 date would be consistent with his age, 25, when he boarded the S.S. Leviathan in mid-December 1929 to emigrate.[2] Dawid Rosenheck, his brother Josef and his sister Estera left Southampton, U.K. and arrived in New York on 24 December 1929.

Dave was born to Juda Rosenheck and his wife Sophie.[3]

I do not yet know the exact date when Dave and Ruth married, but by April 1940 they were living with their month-old daughter Susan at 1514 West 11th Street in Brooklyn.[4] 

Two years later, they'd moved down the street to 1547 West 11th Street, Brooklyn.[5]

Several years later they had their son Jay.

Around 1950 they moved to 1724 E. 15th Street. From 1958 on, they lived at 1110 Avenue Z, Brooklyn.

Dave owned a store near West 10th Street and Avenue O selling fruit. Later, he moved it to Woodruff Avenue near Prospect Park. Business suffered after a big box store opened nearby. Dave closed the store and went to work for them.[6]

David Rosenheck's grave is located in one of the First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association plots in Montefiore Cemetery: Block 5, gate 567W, line 2R, grave 9.

Notes:
1. This community is now called Tovmachyk in Ukraine and is located 7 miles west-northwest of the Galician city of Kolomyya. 
David Rosenheck petition for naturalization no. 207457 (17 December 1935), Eastern District of New York; Record Group 21: records of the District Courts of the United States; National Archives - Northeast Region, New York City.
2. Manifest, S.S. Leviathan, 24 December 1929, stamped p. 92, line 7, Dawid Rosenheck, age 25; images, "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 March 2017).
3. New York County, New York, certificate of death no. 7708 (1941), Estelle Sadowsky, 5 April 1941; Municipal Archives, New York City.
4. The indexed NYC marrriage records at the German Genealogy Group website don't clearly link Ruth Garber and David Rosenheck. It appears they may have married on 26 December 1936 (recorded in 1937) in Kings County (Brooklyn). I have not yet ordered the original record.
1940 U.S. Census, Kings County, population schedule, Brooklyn, enumeration district 24-1823, sheet 8A, household 148, Dave and Ruth Rosenheck; images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 December 2013); citing NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 2593.
5. "U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 March 2008), entry for Nathan Garber, serial no. U2645, Brooklyn, New York; citing NARA Record group 147, "Records of the Selective Service System," NAI no. 255597. 
6. Jay Rosenheck, to Emily Garber, email, 19 March 2017, "Questions about your parents"; Garber file, privately held by Garber.

14 March 2017

Tombstone Tuesday: Anne and Lawrence Robbins, Beth Moses Cemetery, Pinelawn, NY

Many genealogists lament trying to locate birth surnames for their married female ancestors. That certainly may be a challenge. But, finding married surnames for those who later changed their surnames may be even more challenging. Such is the case with Anne and Lawrence Robbins. My research indicates that Anne was the daughter of David and Rose Cohen documented in a recent post. She was also the elder sister of Irving Cohen and Melvin Cohen

ROBBINS
Here lies Khana daughter of David
ANNE
BELOVED WIFE
DEVOTED MOTHER
DEAR GRANDMOTHER
GREAT-GRANDMOTHER
GREAT-GREAT GRANDMOTHER
SEPT. 24, 1921
SEPT. 6, 2006

Here lies Leibel son of Yosef
LAWRENCE
BELOVED HUSBAND
DEVOTED FATHER
DEAR GRANDFATHER
SEPT. 20, 1922
FEB. 7, 1987

May their souls be bound in the bonds of the living.
FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS

The Long Island Star-Journal posted a legal notice indicating that Lawrence Eunice Roblenski and Anna Roblenski had, on 27 August 1963, petitioned the Surpeme Court of New York in Queens County to change their names to Lawrence Robbins and Anne Robbins.[1] They also requested that their children, Joyce Cynthia and Michael Steven, also assume the new surname. The family members were to assume their new names as of 6 October 1963.

Birth dates for all four family members were included in the legal notice. Lawrence, who had no birth certificate, was born on 26 September 1922 at Anniston, Alabama (his tombstone inscription indicates 20 September 1922). His birth date was certified for the court proceedings by a Notice of Separation from the U.S. Navy. Anna Roblenski, born Anna Cohen, was born 24 September 1921 in Brooklyn, NY.

Anne lived with her parents at 457 Georgia Avenue, Brooklyn in 1930 and at 282 South 3rd Street, Brooklyn in 1940.[2] She was 18 in 1940, had completed two years of high school and worked as an operator at a factory making shoulder pads.

Lawrence, then called Eunice (which he later used as his middle name), was in Westerly, Fayette County, West Virginia in 1930, with his parents Joe and Roxie Roblenski. Joe was a coal miner and Polish immigrant.[3] Roxie was born in Alabama.

Lawrence Eunice Roblenski served in the U.S. Navy from his enlistment on 28 August 1942 in Charleston, West Virginia to at least September 1945. He served on the U.S.S. Wyoming and the U.S.S. Swasey.[4]

Anne had her first child in early 1945. It appears that Anne and Lawrence had a third child, Robert, sometime after the 1963 name change proceedings.[5] After Lawrence's death in 1987, Anne married Joseph Cooper, also a widower with children. She pre-deceased him.

Anne's and Lawrence's graves are in Beth Moses Cemetery, Pinelawn, New York, First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association plot, Block 24, Maccabee Road.

Notes:
1. "Legal Notices," Long Island Star-Journal (Long Island City, New York), 4 September 1963, p. 31; image, Fulton History (http://www.fultonhistory.com : accessed 27 February 2017).
2. 1930 U.S. Census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, enumeration district 24-1215, sheet 17A, dwelling 54, family 337, Anna Cohen; images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 February 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 1492.
  1940 U.S. Census, Kings Co., NY. pop. sched., Brooklyn, e.d. 24-1530, sheet 10B, household 214, Anne Cohen; images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 February 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 2585.
3. 1930 U.S. Census, Fayette County, WV, pop. sched., Waverley, e.d. 10-25, sheet 21-B, dwell. 390, fam. 390, Eunice Roblenski; images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 March 20170; NARA microfilm pub. T626, roll 2531.
4. "U.S., World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949," images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 March 2017); entries for Lawrence E. Roblenski, service no. 560-13-67; citing NARA Record Group 24.
5. Joseph Cooper obituary, Asbury Park Press (New Jersey), 25 February 2010; transcription, Legacy (http://www.legacy.com : accessed 5 March 2017).

07 March 2017

Tombstone Tuesday: Melvin Cohen, Beth Moses Cemetery, Pinelawn, New York

Melvin Cohen was born in Brooklyn, New York to immigrants David and Rose Cohen.[1] He was their third of four children and second son. He identified his mother's maiden name as Kachman. 



COHEN
Here lies Mendel son of David haCohan
MELVIN
BELOVED HUSBAND
DEVOTED FATHER
DEAR BROTHER

JULY 19, 1932
JULY 17, 1984

In 1940, Melvin, his parents, elder sister Anna and younger sister Ruth lived at 282 South 3rd Street, Brooklyn.[2]

Melvin served in the U.S. Army from 20 November 1953 through 8 November 1955.[3]

Based upon his gravestone inscription, we know that he married and had children. In New York State, marriage records are not available for public view until 75 years after the event. Birth records are not available for 100 years and death records for 50. A search of newspaper archives for the New York Times and Brooklyn Eagle, as well as New York newspapers digitized and online at FultonHistory.com, located no documentation of marriage or death for Melvin.

Melvin Cohen's last residence was in Staten Island, Richmond County, New York.[4] 

His grave is in the First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association plot in Beth Moses Cemetery, block 24, Maccabee Road, Pinelawn, New York.

Notes:
1. "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," index, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 February 2017); entry for Melvin Cohen, 126-26-5326, died July 1984. 
2. 1940 U.S. census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, enumeration district 24-1530, sheet 10B, household 214, Melvin Cohen; index, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 February 2017); NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 2585.
3. "U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010," index, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 February 2017); entry for Melvin Cohen, 126-26-5326, died 17 July 1984. 
4. "U.S. Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014," index, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 February 2017); entry for Melvin Cohen, 126-26-5326, died July 1984.