Happy Mother's Day, L2a1l2a!

Happy Mother's Day to my late mother Norma, grandmother Tillie, great grandmother Bertha and my great great grandmother Reisel!

Bertha Wenkert Liebross

I do not know the maiden name of my great great grandmother Reisel Wenkert from the Zaleszczyki area of today's Ukraine but among her children was my great grandmother, Breindel Wenkert, born about 1868. 

I know Breindel had one elder sister, Perl Wenkert Ett, who died in Skole, Austria in 1895. Perl had five daughters, all of whom bore daughters, as well (she also had a son, but that information is not helpful for following out MtDNA results). Beyond Perl and Breindel, I do not yet know of any other siblings.

Breindel married Eliezer (Leiser) Liebross. They resided in Radautz, Austrian Empire (now Radauti, Romania) and had eight children. 

Leiser and Breindel  immigrated in 1897 and 1898, respectively, and became Louis and Bertha Liebross in New York City.

Tillie Liebross Wilson

Their eldest child was my grandmother Tillie (born about 1888 in Radautz). Tillie attended school through the eighth grade. She married Joseph Wilson in 1917 in New York City. Of Louis and Bertha's three daughters, Tillie was the only one to bear children who lived to adulthood.

Tillie was not the stereo-typical white-haired grandmother. While she was doting and a superb cook, she dyed her hair to match her former auburn locks. She was ten when she became an immigrant and in later years did not have an accent from the Old Country. I think this photo (at left) really shows her as stylish woman.

Joe and Tillie's second child was my mother Norma Circe Wilson, born in Brooklyn in 1921. The Wilson's did well financially and purchased their two-family home in Brooklyn at 31 Colin Place. 

Me and my mother Norma Wilson Garber (about 1977)

Both Norma and her brother Ira attended Lincoln High School and then New York University. Norma graduated in 1941. She worked as a bookkeeper for a few years before marrying Bernard Garber in 1947. She became a home-maker after my brother Jim was born.

Our maternal line mitochondrial DNA haplogroup is L2a1l2a. Unfortunately, our haplogroup is an exact match with 25 other people who have tested with Family Tree DNA. Thus far, there does not appear to be any discernible common ancestor among us.

1940 U.S. Census: Liebross Inconsistencies

Well, my top genealogy goal yesterday was to find my mother and uncle, their parents, and some of my grandmother's siblings at 31 Colin Place. And last night I did find them when Ancestry loaded the EDs for Brooklyn. 

NY ED 24-1839 [click to see readable version]

The whole 31 Colin Place clan was there: the Wilson family (Joseph, Tillie, Norma and Ira) are on lines 24-27; and four of Tillie's Liebross siblings (Rose, Jerome J, Irving, and Celia) and Jerry's son Stanford are on lines 28-32. My grandmother Tillie was the informant.


I don't know what to make of the ages shown for the adults in the house.  My grandfather's would be correct: all the records I have for him are amazingly consistent that he was born in 1889.  But all the rest are apocryphal. Tillie was recorded as 10 years old when she emigrated to the USA in 1898. That would make her about 52 in 1940. Rose was 9 when she emigrated. So, she would have been about 50, not 41.

But I think my favorite ageless wonder was Great Aunt Celia. Ever since the 1920 U.S. Census, Celia had been getting younger. According to the family's manifest, she was born about 1894 and was the sixth of eight children (the two youngest being Jerry and Irving). Between 1910 and 1920 she aged only 8 years.  Between 1920 and 1930, and 1930 and 1940, she only had six birthdays each decade.  She was reported as 36 in 1940 and had miraculously become the youngest of the Liebross siblings!

I was a bit surprised to find Jerry and Stanford at 31 Colin Place in 1940 since other information I'd gathered indicated they'd likely be at 921 Montgomery Avenue, Brooklyn where Jerry also had his dental office. Since I'd already determined the ED for 921 Montgomery, I figured I'd look there, anyway.

NY ED 2102A [click to see readable version]

I'm glad I did. There they are again (lines 1-3)! Jerry and Stanford were counted twice in the 1940 U.S. Census and Jerry's wife/Standford's mother, Sadie, was the informant at 921 Montgomery. Sadie was hospitalized for the rest of her life some time during Stan's childhood. I now know that event had not occurred before April 1940. It did occur sometime before Jerry died in 1948.

1940 U.S. Census: Liebross Family

O.K. time's getting short for the Monday, April 2, 2012 release of the 1940 U.S. Census and I'm counting down. Time to get cracking on those Enumeration Districts I've not yet located.

In a prior post and one subsequent post to that, I discussed my maternal grandparents' home at 31 Colin Place, Brooklyn, NY.  They owned the two family home starting in 1929 and remained there through my grandmother's death in 1961. During part of their time there my grandmother's Liebross family (her father and mother, her two sisters, Celia and Rose, and her youngest brother, Irving) lived upstairs. Irving likely moved out 0f 31 Colin Place by 2 January 1944 when he married Lillian Ables. On his brother Jerry's 1948 death certificate, Irving was living at 919 Park Place, Brooklyn.

                                              Enumeration District

Celia, Rose, and Irving Liebross

1933  31 Colin Place, Brooklyn, New York[1]          24-1839

1946  31 Colin Place, Brooklyn, NY[2]                24-1839

Harry and Gertrude Bohrer Liebross

1933  760 E. 53rd Street, Apt 2, Brooklyn, NY [1]    24-167A

1942  313 E. 49th Street, Brooklyn, NY [3]           24-2207A

Joseph Jerome Liebross

1933  921 Montgomery Street, Brooklyn, NY [1]        24-2102B

1942  921 Montgomery Street, Brooklyn, NY [4]     or 24-2103

Max Liebross

1942  161 West 36th Street, New York, NY [5]         31-853

                                                  or 31-854

Ethel Hammer Liebross (widow of Simon)

1933  379 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, NY [1]           24-1981A

1947  278 Beach 138th Street, Rockaway Beach, NY [6] 41-1569

                                                  or 41-1570

Notes

1. R.L. Polk & Co.'s 1933-4 Brooklyn City Directory, (New York City, NY: R.L. Polk & Co., Inc., 1933), 1160, entry for "Liebross"; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 March 2012).

2. New York City Department of Health, death certificate 26589  (16 December 1946), Celia Liebross; New York City Municipal Archives, New York.

3. "U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : accessed 31 March 2012), card for Harry Liebross, no. U1150, Brooklyn, New York, citing United States Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II, Fourth registration, National Archives and records Administration microfilm publication M 1939.

4. "U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," digital images, Ancestry.com, card for Dr. Joseph J. Liebross, no. U2725, Brooklyn, NY.

5. "U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," digital images, Ancestry.com, card for Max Liebross, no. U4145, Brooklyn, NY.
6. New York City Department of Health, death certificate 14198 (10 July 1947), Ethel Liebross; New York City Municipal Archives, New York.

The URL for this post is: http://extrayad.blogspot.com/2012/03/1940-us-census-liebross-family.html

31 Colin Place - Memories

In my last post, I related some memories of my visits to my grandparents' (Tillie Liebross and Joe Wilson) home at 31 Colin Place, Brooklyn, NY. I've received the following email reminiscence from Larry Liebross (their nephew). He has given me permission to post it.

"I don't blog so I'm just going to respond conventionally. 

"I used to spend some fun evenings at Colin Place. The men always played "gin" (Joe, Irving, sometimes your grandfather's brother Ben [Wilson], and a neighbor or two). Tillie and your mother [Norma Wilson Garber] always made a fuss over me. Tillie would take me into the dining room and give me the most delicious strudel I ever ate (even my mother, who was pretty demanding in a social setting, said that Tillie was a great hostess and her strudel was the best). Your dad [Bernard Garber] always went out of his way to "clown around" with me and your grandfather and my father [Irving] were always talking about the trotters at Yonkers and Roosevelt Raceway. 

Strudel: This blog has a great many pastry pictures - now I recall why

"From what I recall, one entered the house to the right and there was a parlor room where Joe was always found in this big stuffed chair. There was a sun room off to the left that faced Colin Place. If you walked straight head, you got to the kitchen, on the left, and there was a room to the right (opposite the kitchen) which was either the dining room or breakfast room. The bedrooms were in the back. I was a little kid so I can't be certain about the floor plan but, I can be certain about the love and the strudel. Keep those cards and letters coming. Stay well."
------------------------------------------
Well, Larry, now you've blogged. Allow me to repeat Larry's encouragement:  keep those cards and letters coming! It is this type of response that I was hoping for when I started this family history/genealogy blog. If this has jogged some family memories, send me a message either using the box below or via email. I'd love to hear from you. - - Emily

1940 U.S. Census: 31 Colin Place, Brooklyn, New York

I know where I'll look first in the 1940 U.S. Census when it becomes available to the public on 2 April 2012 - and I know who'll be shown living there. The two-family home on a 32 X 10o foot lot at 31 Colin Place in the Flatbush (Gravesend) section of Brooklyn was built in 1920 and purchased on 15 July 1929 by my mother's parents, Tillie Liebross Wilson and Joseph Wilson, and sold by my grandfather on 30 January 1962 after my grandmother had passed away. The Wilson family lived on the first floor.[1]

31 Colin Place, Brooklyn, NY in 1941 [4]

In the 1930 U.S. Federal Census taken on 4 April 1930, Joseph and Tillie Wilson owned the home and lived there with their children Ira (age 11) and Norma (age 8). The elementary school (PS-215) that Ira and Norma attended was just down the street. My grandfather owned a sweater factory and had, apparently, done fairly well. The home was valued at $16,500. The Samuel and Lillian Dietch family with 4 children lived at 31 Colin Place, too, presumably in the second floor. They paid $80 rent each month for the privilege.[2]

On 26 September 1930, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle carried a classified advertisement in the Real Estate section for an unfurnished apartment on the top floor of a two family house at 31 Colin Place.  The apartment had 6 rooms, one bath and an open porch.[3]

I do not know if my grandparents acquired a renter in 1930, but I do know that the 1933 Brooklyn Directory indicates that several of Tillie Wilson's Liebross family members resided there: her parents Louis (Eliezer) and Bertha (Breina) and three of Tillie's siblings (Celia, Rose and Irving). [5]

Louis died in 1935 and Bertha in 1937.  So, by 1940, I expect to see that Celia, Rose and Irving are living upstairs. My grandmother's home was a welcoming place and the house was a hub of family activity for the Liebross clan. Tillie's brother Jerry and his son Stanford spent a great deal of time there. Tillie's cousins David and Bessie Ett would play cards frequently at 31 Colin Place.[6] [7]

By 1940, my mother Norma and my uncle Ira were both students at New York University. My mother majored in English with the thought of becoming a teacher and my uncle eventually got a law degree.

The property stayed in the family until my grandmother's death. I was young at the time and I have vague memories of the lower floor where my grandparents' lived. There were two bedrooms toward the back of the house and an enclosed porch in front. When there were four living in the house, my mother's bedroom was one of the back bedrooms and my uncle's room was in the enclosed porch area. My recollection of the kitchen was that it had a lot of white tile. Tillie was an excellent cook and particularly excelled at baking. I remember watching my grandmother braid challah - a skill I have yet to master. There was a breakfast area just off the kitchen and I recall sitting there eating delicious hamburgers off of glass plates. Later in life when I needed new plates, I purchased blue glass ones in my grandmother's honor. My brother tells me that my grandmother's hamburgers were so special because of the secret ingredient: chicken fat. The stuff from which memories are made!

When the 1940 United States Federal Census becomes available for the first time on 2 April 2012 after 72 years of storage, it will not be easy to find 31 Colin Place, Brooklyn, NY.  Unlike its previously released online brethren, the 1940 Census will not yet have been indexed by name. Estimates are that with a good volunteer effort, a full index may be online within six months. With a great volunteer indexing effort, the wait may be shorter. The 1940 US Census Community Project aims to recruit, train and enable volunteer indexers to create an index for the Census that will be free online. I have signed up and I have been indexing other records to prepare for the arrival of the 1940 U.S. Census.

In the mean time, my genealogy plans are to search out 31 Colin Place using the current tools at my disposal.  Thanks (once again) to SteveMorse.org for creating several tools to help us locate our families in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census even before an index is available. Since I know the address and the Census Enumeration District in the 1930 Census (E.D. 24-1932, found in the upper right corner of the census page), I was able to short-cut the process slightly. Using the "Unified 1940 Census ED Finder" I was able to enter:

• State: New York
• ED: 24 (Kings) - 1932
• Press "Get 1940 ED numbers" and
• Locate E.D. 24-1839

One might alternatively use the "1880-1940 Census E.D. Finder"

• Select State: New York
• Select City: Brooklyn (Kings Co)
• Select a Street: Colin Pl

The One Step tool then provides the following: "The ED you want is 24-1839."

So, I'm ready to add to my family history for the Joseph and Tillie Wilson family and several of their Liebross kin in 1940. Once the images are online, even without an index, I'll be able to enter the E.D. number, quickly sort through the sheets in that Enumeration District, and find my family at 31 Colin Place. This one will be easy, because I know where they will be.  For most of my relatives, however, an index will be critical for finding them in the 1940 U.S.Census.  Let's get this done in record time! You should sign up for indexing, too.

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

Notes:

1. Kings County, New York, 1961 probate file, Tillie Wilson; Surrogate Court, Kings County, Brooklyn.

2. 1930 U.S. Census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, Enumeration District (ED) 24-1932, sheet 7-A, dwelling 82, family 107, Joseph Wilson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 March 2012), citing Family History Library Microfilm 2341260.

3. The Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, NY), Sunday, 26 September 1930, page 32, column 2; digital images, Old Fulton, New York Postcards (http://www.fultonhistory.com: accessed 1 March 2012).

4. "Block 6681, Lot 95," 1940 Tax Photographs, New York City Department of Records, Municipal Archives, New York, New York.
5. R.L. Polk & Co's 1933 Brooklyn City Directory (Brooklyn, New York: R.L. Polk & Co., 1933), 1160, entry for "Liebross"; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 February 2012).

6. New York City Department of Health, death certificate 14091 (29 June 1935), Louis Liebross; New York City Municipal Archives, New York.
7. New York City Department of Health, death certificate 10976 (11 May 1937), Bertha Liebross; New York City Municipal Archives, New York.

The URL for this post is: http://extrayad.blogspot.com/2012/03/1940-us-census-31-colin-place-brooklyn.html

See another post about 31 Colin Place: http://extrayad.blogspot.com/2012/03/31-colin-place-memories.html