Tombstone Tuesday: Abraham and Norma Orenstein Gootkin, Beth Moses Cemetery, Pinelawn, New York

It was Norma Orenstein Gootkin's family who hailed from Labun, Ukraine - the community associated with the First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association landsmanshaft burial plot in Beth Moses Cemetery. 

GOOTKIN

FATHER

Here lies

Avraham son of Yakov Moshe haLevi

May his soul be bound in the bonds of the living

ABRAHAM

BELOVED HUSBAND

DEVOTED FATHER

DEAR GRANDFATHER

15 FEB. 1905

29 DEC. 1970

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

MOTHER

Here lies

Nechama daughter of Tzav haKoheyn

May her soul be bound in the bonds of the living

NORMA

BELOVED WIFE

DEVOTED MOTHER

DEAR GRANDMOTHER

FEB. 2, 1906

APR. 17, 1986

Norma Orenstein was born Nechama Gorinstein in Labun on, perhaps, 2 February 1906 or 15 December 1906 to Feiga (Fannie) and Joseph.[1] Nechama, her mother and several siblings landed in New York on 7 November 1921.[2] The 1930 census indicates that her father immigrated in 1912.[3] I have not yet located his passenger manifest.

On 16 March 1935, Norma Orenstein married Abe Gootkin. Abe was the son of Jankel and Alte Gutkin and was born on 13 February 1905. His home town is likely to have been Lepel, Vitebsk Gubernia, Russian Empire (today in Belarus). I have not located his immigration papers, but his father's passenger manifest and naturalization records indicate he left his family behind in Lepel.[4] 

Abe's mother Alte died in the old country before immigrating. Abe immigrated sometime after his father naturalized on 25 June 1925, likely in 1927. On his father's naturalization petition Abe and other family members are listed as residing in Russia. A naturalization index card for Abe indicates that he had been in the country for two years on 2 July 1929 when he confirmed his naturalization via his father's papers.[5]

In the 1940 census, Abe and Norma lived in Brooklyn at 518 Pennsylvania Avenue. Abe worked as a window cleaner for buildings. He and Norma had one son, Jack.[6]

Abe's and Norma's graves are in the First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association plot, block 24, Maccabee Road  in Beth Moses Cemetery, Pinelawn, New York.

Notes:
1. Norma's Social Security Death Index record indicates the 2 February 1906 birth date. Her naturalization records indicate 15 December 1906.
   "U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014," index, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 October 2015), entry for Norma Gootkin, SSN 099-03-7663, April 1986.
   Norma Orenstein, petition for naturalization no. 192948, 9 May 1934, U.S. District Court of New York, Eastern District, Brooklyn; images, "New York, State and Federal Naturalization records, 1794-1940," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 August 2017); citing NARA record group 21, Records of the District Courts of the United States.
2. Manifest, S.S. Scythia, 7 November 1921, list 34, line 22, Nechama Gorenstein, age 15; images, "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 August 2017).
3. 1930 U.S. Census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, enumeration district 24-256, sheet 10A, dwelling 63, [no family number entered], Joseph and Fannie Ornstein family; images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 October 2015); citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 1542. 
4. Manifest, S.S. Cedric, 11 August 1914, list 10, line 29, Jankel Gutkin, age 47; images, "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 August 2017).
   Jacob Gootkin, naturalization file no. 196938, 26 June 1925, U.S. District Court of Ohio, Northern District, Cleveland; images, "Ohio, Naturalization Petitions and Record Books, 1888-1946," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 October 2015); citing NARA record group 21, Records of the District Courts of the United States. 
5. "Ohio, County Naturalization Records, 1800-1977,"  images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8HM-CZM : accessed 29 July 2017), Abraham Gootkin, 1925; citing Naturalization, Ohio, Cuyahoga, county courthouses, Ohio; FHL microfilm 2,247,341. 
6. 1940 U.S. Census, Kings Co., pop. sched., Brooklyn, e.d. 24-78, sheet 7A, household 129, Abe and Norma Gootkin family; images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 October 2015); NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 2548. 
   "Norma Gootkin," obituary, Suffolk County News (Sayville, NY), 24 April 1986, p. 22; images, Fulton History (http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html : accessed 25 October 2015).