Tombstone Tuesday: David and Mollie Kaby, Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, New York

Last week I posted about Paul Lederman whose grave is within one of the First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association plots in Montefiore Cemetery. I determined, during research for that post, that Paul had, likely in the early 1940s, married Yvette Kaby, daughter of David and Mollie Kaby, who are also buried in the same Montefiore cemetery plot. 

Here lies

David son of Amran

May his soul be bound in the bonds of the living

DAVID

KABY

BELOVED FATHER

DEAR GRANDFATHER

GREAT GRANDFATHER

DIED SEPT. 2, 1972

85 YEARS YOUNG

ETERNAL LIFE

David arrived in the the port of New York on 20 May 1907.[1] He traveled from Naples on the S.S. Liguria and said he had been born in Jaffa, Palestine.

On 22 October 1909, David married fellow immigrant Mollie Levine.[2]

Here lies

Malkah daughter of Velvel ha-Levi

May her soul be bound in the bonds of the living

MOLLIE

KABY

BELOVED WIFE

DEVOTED MOTHER

AND GRANDMOTHER

DIED FEB. 19, 1966

AGE 73 YEARS

REST IN PEACE

While Levine was shown was Mollie's surname on her marriage record, it appears that it was the family surname adopted in the United States. The original family surname was Chajchuk. 

In Ancestry's "U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007" database, which reflects information provided in Social Security program applications (Form SS-5) and subsequent claims, Mollie's father's name is listed as Velvel Hychuk.[3] Her mother was Rifka Tartfofsky (a transcription that may be in error). On her indexed marriage record, her mother's last name was listed as Dostirosky
[I have not yet ordered copies of her SS-5 or marriage record. It will be interesting to see compare what is actually written on them.].

The "Social Security Applications and Claim Index" database lists Mollie's birth date as 16 January 1889. David Kaby's naturalization petition provides Mollie's birth date as 25 April 1891.[4] The 1920 U.S. census, taken in January 1920, indicates she was 28 years old (born between 1891 and 1892).[5] The 1940 U.S. census is consistent with 1920: Mollie was 47 (born about 1892).[6]

No manifest of arrival or naturalization papers have been located, thus far, for Mollie, so we cannot say, for sure when she immigrated to the United States or where she had lived before emigration. The 1920 U.S. Census indicates she arrived in the USA in 1907.  

However, Mollie's widowed mother Rywka, sister Jenta (later Helen) and brother, Moszko (Morris), arrived Philadelphia in 1921.[7] They reported that they were from Salnice, Russia. This likely Sal'nitsa, Ukraine (before World War I, in the Litin District of Podolia Gubernia), about 195 km WSW of Kiev (about 55 km SE of Lubin).

Mollie likely had another sister, Gussie Levine, who in 1925 lived at 354 South 2nd Street, Brooklyn, with her mother, Ray, brother Morris and sister Helen.[8]

David's naturalization petition in 1924 reported birth dates and birth locations for each of his and Mollie's children. The family moved around quite a bit. 

• Sarah, born 7 October 1910 in Connecticut
• Vera, 24 Nov 1911 in Rochester, NY
• Bertha 23 Nov 1915 in NY, NY
• Rose 19 Aug 1917 in Kings Co, NY

They had Yvette in New York in about 1925.[6]

In April 1940, David was not enumerated in the census with Mollie and Yvette. They were at 35 Brighton First Walk in Brooklyn. A 1942 Los Angeles City directory and the 1942 World War II Draft Registration card for David located him in Los Angeles. In his draft card, he notes that while his address is 329 1/4 North Mott Street, Los Angeles, CA, Mollie is at 3014 Bridge 8th Street in Brooklyn.[9]

For the most part, David was a tailor. When he was in Rochester, NY, the city directory identified him as a "moulder."

David Kaby's grave is located in Montefiore Cemetery in the First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association plot, block 5, gate 567W, line 3L, grave 1. Mollie is in grave 2.

I have been in contact with a family member to try to discern why the Kabys were associated with the Lubin landsmanshaft.  I learned a few things that were not immediately apparent in the records I located online:

• David had a sister also in the USA [I believe, based upon some records I have sine located, that her married name was Bessie Makowsky/Makoff and she was married to Meyer. They lived in several locations around the country, including DeKalb, IL; New Haven, CT; and Bakersfield, CA.]
• Yvette Kaby and Paul Lederman were divorced at some point. Paul's second marriage was to a non-Jewish woman. When Paul died, Yvette convinced her to have Paul buried in a Jewish cemetery. Yvette arranged for his burial in the plot near her parents. [I still don't know why her parents are in this plot, however.]

Notes:
1. Manifest, S.S. Liguria, 20 May 1907, stamped p. 21, line 4, David Kaby, age 20; images, "New York, Passenger Manifests, 1820-1957," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 April 2017).
2. New York County, New York, marriage certificate no. 21308, David Koby and Mollie Levine, 22 October 1909; index, "New York, New York City Marriage records, 1829-1940," Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 10 April 2017); citing Municipal Archives, New York City. [copy of original record will be ordered.] 
3. "U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," index, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 April 2017); entry for Mollie Kaby, Social Security Administration, Baltimore, MD. >
4. David Kaby naturalization file no. 86364, Kings County (New York) Supreme Court, vol. 347, p. 14; images, "New York, County Naturalization Records, 1791-1980," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 10 April 2017), Kings>image 48 of 766.
5. 1920 U.S. Census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, enumeration district 816, sheet 10B, dwelling 16, family 199, David and Mollie Kaby family; images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 April 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 1165.  6. 1940 U.S. Census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, enumeration district 24-425, sheet 3A, household 80, Mollie Kaby; images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 April 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 2557.   
7. Manifest, S.S. Samland, 2 July 1921, p. 36, lines 19-21, Rywka Chajczuk (age 50), Moszko Chajczuk (24), and Jenta Chajczuk (18); images, "Pennsylvania Passenger and Crew Lists, 1800-1962," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 May 2017). This is known to be Mollie's family due to the shared surname (Chajczuk), as well as correlated records for her sister, Helen Milstein's, naturalization and marriage. In addition, destination of the Chajczuk family in the manifest correlates with an address close to that of the Kaby's in the 1920 census: 265 or 269 South 2nd Street, Brooklyn.  
8. 1925 New York State Census, Kings County, New York, enumeration of inhabitants, Brooklyn, assembly district 14, election district 23, p. 40, Gussie Levine; images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 June 2017); New York State Archives, Albany. 9. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 April 2017); entry for David Kaby, serial no. U3493, Los Angeles, California.