Getting to Gittle: Some of the Rest of the Story

When we last met (here) I was celebrating the discovery of Gittle Ett Rothleder's long-sought last name. I was able to link her to Gertrude Rothleder identified in the 1950 census living with her brother Dave Ett and his family. I found that she'd passed away in 1952 and located her grave in Mount Hebron Cemetery. But genealogy leaves no time for dilly-dallying. There certainly are more questions about Gittle.

More of the Story 

Family members who remembered her told me that Gittle lived in Argentina and immigrated to the United States sometime in the 1940s after her daughter died. 

My research found that Gittle lived for almost 20 years in Argentina.

Indexed arrival manifests on CEMLA.com (Centro de Estudios Migratorios Latinamericanos) showed that Gittle arrived in Buenos Aires aboard the S.S. Arlanza as Guitla Rothleder on 22 September 1926. She was identified as a widow, born in Zaleszczyki, of Polish nationality, and 50 years old (born about 1875 - consistent with most of the other records we have for her thus far). She had embarked on her voyage from Cherbourg, France.[1]

Why did she go to Argentina when most of her siblings were in New York? By that time the United States had implemented restrictions on those who were allowed to immigrate. But, her decision, likely after her husband died in the Zaleszczyki area, was probably more personal: her daughter, Perla, and Perla's family were already in Argentina.

There was no indexed arrival manifest for Perla on the CEMLA.com website. This is, apparently, not unusual: the records are not complete.

Lucky for our research, the surname Rothleder is uncommon. Alexander Beider's seminal work on Jewish surnames in Galicia indicates the name is from the Zaleszczyki area and several of the adjacent towns and districts in what had been eastern Galicia: Lwow, Stanislawow, Horodenka, Czortkow, Husiatyn, and Tarnopol. He also noted that it means red leather.[2]

JewishGen.org has indexed gravestone records from Cemeterio Comunitario de Tablada (Tablada Cemetery) in Buenos Aires - one of the cemeteries used by Askenazi Jews in Argentina. The index included a young woman named Perla Rotleder Feingold (mis-indexed as Fenigold). Perla died on 2 July 1941. AMIA (Asociacion Mutual Israelit Argentina), which administers the cemetery, provided photos of the gravestone.[3] Unfortunately, the inscription is worn and not all of it is readable. There is, however, a wonderful photo of Perla on the stone.

[Hebrew:] Perel [remainder of name not readable]

[Hebrew date not clear. It might be 7 Tamuz 5701]

[Spanish:] PERLA R. de FEINGOLD

2 - 7 [July] - 1941

39 YEARS

Her husband, children,

grandchildren

While Perla's maiden name is represented by only an R on the stone, clearly, at some point the cemetery had a record that Perla's maiden name was Rot[h]leder. 

AMIA has a difficult history. In July 1994, anti-Semitic terrorists bombed and destroyed the AMIA building, killing 85 people and injuring 300. The bombing also destroyed most of AMIA's 150,000 registrations. The organization could not provide me any clarifying information about the grave.

I was also hoping to learn Perla's father's name. But that area of the inscription is worn beyond readability.

But from this stone we can see that Perla was 39 years old at death - born about 1901 or 1902. She was married to someone named Feingold and had children and grandchildren.

The name Perla makes perfect sense for Gittle's child. Gittle's mother Perl died in 1895. Of course Gittle would name her child after her recently deceased mother (several of the Ett siblings named girls in honor of their mother). We can pursue the surname Feingold with the hope we can confirm that we have, indeed, located Gittle's daughter.

An Argentinian genealogist was kind enough to contact the Buenos Aires Archive to help locate Perla's death certificate. The archive did not find one among their collections. Either someone lost the record or Perla did not die in Buenos Aires. 

What I have learned about Argentinian genealogy research is that record search is not usually very easy. Records for Buenos Aires may be centralized, but areas outside the province are not. I found that to place an order for a vital record from the archive in Buenos Aires either one has to be from Argentina (and provide an Argentinian ID number) or one must visit the archive in person. If the Feingold family did not live in Buenos Aires I would need to figure out where they may have been when Perla died.

While I did not find a passenger arrival manifest in the CEMLA index for Perla Rot[h]leder Feingold, I believe I may have found her husband's. Izaak Feingold was a married 25-year-old when he arrived in Buenos Aires on the S.S. Francesca from Trieste on 4 July 1924. He was from the same community as the Gittle's family: Torskie (or Torske).

There are no birth or marriage records in Jewish Records Indexing-Poland and Gesher Galicia databases for Izaak and Perla (nor for Gittle Ett and Mr. Rothleder). However, owing to record loss in the Zaleszczyki district (of which Torskie was a part), I did not expect to find anything.[4]

Torskie (I visited in 2013), however, was a very small community with only a few Jewish families. In fact there was neither a synagogue nor a Jewish cemetery. My cousin Sally Barath Eisner told me that in the 1920s and 1930s she, her brother Abe, and her parents would walk three miles to the closest synagogue, which was in Uścieczko, for Shabbat and holiday services.

So, the fact that this Isaak Feingold had the same surname as on Perla Rothleder Feingold's gravestone, was close in age to Perla, was from the same community in the old country, and arrived in Argentina two years before Gittle is compelling. Not enough, but interesting.

Gittle's Voyage to the United States

Ancestry.com provided several versions of Gittle's U.S. arrival manifest in 1946. She arrived in Miami from Buenos Aires on 10 June 1946 via Pan American World Airways flight 33612 from Buenos Aires. She was 69 years old, of Polish nationality, and admitted to the United States based upon a affidavit.[5]

She, apparently, did not have a passport. That may indicate that she never naturalized in Argentina. I will check with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service to see what they may have on Gittle in their immigration files. She may not have naturalized in the USA, but she would have had to register as an alien.

We do not know how she traveled from Miami to New York to stay with her brother, Dave Ett and his family in Belle Harbor, Queens. 

Online Trees?

Both MyHeritage.com and Geni.com have online trees for a Rothleder-Feingold family in Argentina. Based on these it appears that Isaak and Perla Rothleder Feingold had three children (all now passed away). Using some clues from these trees I located a grave for Enrique (Tzvi) Feingold in Ashkelon Cemetery in Israel on Billion Graves.

Tzvi Feingold, son of Perla and Yitzkhak, of memory, was born in 1931 and died on 5 Cheshvan 5770 (22 or 23 October 2009).

Yitzkhak is the Hebrew version of Isaac.

In my previous post about Gittle, I noted that one of her father's Yiddish names was Hersch and that the Hebrew equivalent of Hersch is Tzvi. Enrique is the Spanish equivalent of the English name Henry. Enrique/Henry, whose Hebrew name was Tzvi was probably named for his grandfather whose had the Hebrew name Tzvi. 

At least one of the online trees suggested that the two oldest of the Feingold children were born in Galicia, but that Enrique, the youngest was born in La Pampa, Argentina - a province about 850 kilometers southwest of Buenos Aires.

I have to consider that perhaps the family lived in one of the Baron Hirsch/Jewish Colonization Association agricultural colonies outside of Buenos Aires. There were several in the La Pampa area. The small amount of reading I have done indicates that Jews from Galicia did participate in Argentinian colonies, especially in the 1920s. So far I have not located evidence of the family tied to a JCA project. I will keep looking.

 

Family Contacts

I think this Feingold family is likely related to Gittle. I have sent messages through MyHeritage's mail system to three of the tree owners. I hope at least one will respond and help answer a few of my questions.

Notes:

1. "Arrival Records," index, CEMLA.com (Centro de Estudios Migratorios Latinamericanos), entry for Guitla Rothleder, age 50, S.S. Arlanza, from Cherbourg to Buenos Aires, arrived 22 September 1926. Unfortunately, Argentinian passenger arrival manifests are hit or miss. Many passenger manifests have been lost. CEMLA only has indices. Originals should be at the Argentina National Archives, but, they are in the process of moving to a new building and are not currently fulfilling record requests. FamilySearch has some digitized Argentinian passenger records (arrival and departure - as far as I can tell). But browsing through all the images on digital film 103972426 ("Lista de pasajeros, AR-AGN-DAI-DNM-LPM-S-0448-edi (Puertos de Ultramar), 1926 Sep" did not locate relevant records.

2. Alexander Beider, A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia (Bergenfield, New Jersey: Avotaynu, 2004), p 456. 

3. Perla Feingold, gravestone, 2 July 1941, Cemeterio Comunitario de Tablada (Tablada Cemetery), lot 50, row 419, parcel 25; photo provided to E. Garber by AMIA (https://www.amia.org), 8 July 2022).

4. I did note some Feingolds in Zaleszczyki in the Residence List books from 1941 (in the JRI-Poland database). But until I determine Isaac's parents names (or at least his father's name), it is hard to know if these people might be related.

5. Passenger manifest, Pan American World Airways flight 33612, from Buenos Aires to Miami, 10 June 1946, passenger no. 10, Gitla Rohtleder [sic], age 69; images, Ancestry.com; citing NARA RG 85, roll 73. I will have to see if I can get a copy of that affidavit - likely from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.

Getting to Gittle

Gittle Ett has been a mystery. Neither of her nieces (Sally or Pearl) recalled her married name. I could not find any Gittle with the maiden surname Ett in Argentina, where she first immigrated, or New York, where she spent her last years.

Finally the 1950 U.S. census provided the critical information and her gravestone inscription clinched it! This has led to a slew of additional records that start to fill in the story. In this post I will go through just a few pieces of evidence and the records in which they appeared. A full discussion of all the proverbial stones that have come loose as a result of this initial research is too much for one blog post. [I promise to get to it soon!]

Gittle was the oldest of Tillie Liebross Wilson's (my grandmother) first cousins from the Ett family. While Gittle's younger brother (Dave) and sisters (Clara, Sarah and Sophie) immigrated to New York (between about 1900 and 1910) and settled in Brooklyn. Gittle and the youngest sibling, Jutte, stayed in the Zaleszczyki, Galicia, area. 

Jutte, born in in Skole in 1894 - 18 months before her mother Perl Wenkert Ett passed away - moved back to Zaleszczyki with her father Hersch Leib Ett. Years later she married Moshe Efraim Barath and had two children. Before the Shoah, Jutte lived with her family in Torskie, a small community within the Zaleszczyki district (and the place where her brother Dave Ett and sister, Sprintze/Sophie, said they was born). While Jutte's and Moshe Efraim's children managed to survive the Nazi invasion and the Shoah (ultimately immigrating to Canada), Jutte and Moshe Efraim did not.

But what happened to Gittle? Family stories indicated that Gittle had, at some point, immigrated to Argentina. Her (unnamed) daughter died there (Gittle's nieces said her daughter died of Sleeping Sickness) and sometime after that, in the 1940s, Gittle moved to New York and lived with her brother Dave Ett's family. She died sometime in the early 1950s.

Unfortunately, Zaleszczyki vital records were lost during World War II and the only records relevant to this time period and available thus far, remnant residence lists from Zaleszczyki, did not include anyone from the Ett family.

At some point I tried the shooting-fish-in-a-barrel research strategy (NOT!): I tried to find anyone named Gittle (or Gertrude, or Gussie) in cemetery plots where her siblings were buried.

• Clara Rappaport in Wellwood Cemetery, West Babylon, NY
  
• Sarah Cohn in Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Queens, NY
• Dave Ett in Beth David Cemetery, Elmont, NY 
• Sophie Leiner in Mt. Lebanon Cemetery, Queens, NY

Bottom line on that? Too many Gittles/Gertrudes/Gussies and too little known information to allow for identifying the correct one.

For me, Gittle's life remained in darkness. I settled in, hoping that I could find her living with Dave Ett's family in the 1950 census when it became available in April 2022. I have been (s0mewhat) patiently waiting for several years.

The 1950 U.S. census reveal at 12:01 AM on April 1, 2022? Yes! Gertrude Rothleder, a widow, lived with her brother David Ett's family.

Dave and Bessie Ett, as I expected, lived at 278 Beach 138th Street, Queens, NY. They were in 1950 census enumeration district 41-2123.[1]

Since I had heard that Gittle (aka Gertrude) died in the early 1950s, I searched the New York City death indices indexed on Ancestry.com and found a Gittle Rothleder who passed away on 31 January 1952 in Brooklyn.[2] It seemed like a good bet. But, of course, I am still waiting for the New York City Department of Health to approve the application for a copy of her death certificate [kindly submitted by one of Gittle's great nieces (thank you!) because I am Gittle's first cousin twice remove - too distant a relative to be eligible for a 1952 death certificate in NYC].

In the meantime, Find A Grave to the rescue. They included Gittle Rothleder in an index (no photos) in Mt. Hebron Cemetery, Queens, NY.[3] 

Unfortunately, there was another Gertrude Rothleder in New York City and, amazingly, buried in the same cemetery. That one, however, despite the name, could not have been Gittle Ett. A bit of research indicated that Gertrude Rothleder [II] had been born Gussie Horn on 6 February 1901 in New York City to Max Horn and Lena Schwartz and died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on 19 March 1990. She married Emanuel Rothleder on 22 May 1922 in Brooklyn, New York.[4] She was a generation too young, not born overseas, and not an Ett sibling.

Mt. Hebron has a nice feature where one may order an inscription photo online. Of course, after I placed my order I found out that Gittle's gravestone was toppled over - no inscription could be photographed. In mid-April I paid to reset the stone and waited.

Yesterday I finally received photos of Gittle's gravestone.[5]

[Hebrew:] Here lies

Mrs. Gittle 

daughter of Tzvi Arye

Died 3 Shevat 5713*

May her soul be bound in the bonds of the living

[English:] OUR BELOVED SISTER

GITEL

ROTHLEDER

JAN 31, 1952

AGE 76 YEARS

IN OUR HEARTS

YOU LIVE FOREVER

[* the Hebrew year is incorrect. It should be 5712.] 

Gittle's age of about 76 would make her just older than her sister Clara (who was born about 1879).

The Ett siblings' father was known to the family as Hersch Leib Ett. Gittle's father is identified on her gravestone as Tzvi Arye. In fact, Hersch Leib and Tzvi Arye are the same names in two different languages (known as calques or loan translations): respectively, Yiddish and Hebrew. Hersch and Tzvi = deer; Leib and Arye = lion). 

But, for further confirmation, I checked other previously located records for renderings of Hersch Leib Ett's first names.

Perl Ett's death certificate in Skole in 1895 identified her surviving husband as Hersch Leib Ett. 

Clara Ett Rappaport's gravestone inscription in Wellwood Cemetery indicated that her father had been Hersch Leib.[6]

 

[Hebrew:] Here lies Khaya daughter of Hersch Leib

[English:] BELOVED MOTHER

AND GRANDMOTHER

CLARA

RAPPAPORT

DIED AUG. 29, 1966

AGE 84 YEARS

GREAT GRANDMOTHER

Sarah Ett Cohn's inscription on her gravestone at Mt. Carmel Cemetery showed her father as Hersch Leib.

Sophie Ett Leiner's father was Hersch Leib on her stone in Mt. Lebanon Cemetery.

Only David Ett's stone in Beth David Cemetery named his father as Tzvi Arye.[7]

 

ETT

Here lies

David son of Tzvi Arye

Died 4 Tevet 5719

DAVID

DIED DEC.15, 1958

AGE 67 YEARS

BELOVED HUSBAND

DEVOTED FATHER

A few thoughts. I will stay with the calque concept: that Tzvi Arye is the Hebrew version of Hersch Leib. 

In the Ett siblings' generation, women were not called to read the Torah in synagogue in conservative or orthodox congregations. David Ett belonged to and was active in Temple Beth-El in Rockaway Park, Queens - a Conservative congregation.[8] So, of the Ett siblings, Dave, the only son, would have been the one for whom his father's Hebrew name was critical to his synagogue participation. A traditional Hebrew name, used in ritual, identifies the person by their [Hebrew name] son of [their father's Hebrew name]. Of course Dave knew that everyone called his father Hersch and/or Leib, but he also knew that his father's ritual Hebrew name was Tzvi Arye.

Since Gittle had been living with her brother, it is probable that Dave and his wife Bessie were the informants for Gittle's death certificate. In the Jewish tradition, gravestones are often ordered months after burial. There is not necessarily any relationship between the informant on a death certificate and the informant for an inscription on the deceased's gravestone. So, when and if we receive Gittle's death certificate from the NYC Department of Health, we still will not know who ordered the stone. I will have to check with the cemetery to see they keep that kind of information.

Three siblings were still living when Gittle died: Clara, Sarah and Dave. The English inscription on Gittle's stone provided another clue about the family members still alive when Gittle passed. It referred to her as Mrs. Gittle, but only identified her as a sister. The assumption is that those who took responsibility for erecting the stone were siblings, not a spouse, children or grandchildren. She was referred to as Mrs. So, although she was not identified as a wife, she clearly had been married at some point, and her husband was no longer in the picture.

In another post I will provide evidence of the widow Gittle's arrival in the US from Argentina in 1946. I also have evidence that Gittle's daughter died in Argentina in 1941.

One small mystery: I do not know why she is buried in the Kurlander landsmanshaft plot in the cemetery. Kurland, Russia Empire, around the time Gittle was born is in Latvia today. Gittle was born in Galicia, Austrian Empire - today in southern Ukraine.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read more of this story in my next blog post: https://extrayad.blogspot.com/2022/07/getting-to-gittle-some-of-rest-of-story.html

Notes:

1. 1950 U.S. census, Queens Co., NY, population schedule, Queens, e.d. 41-2123, sheet 19, dwelling 161, David and Bessie Ett family; images, NARA (https://1950census.archives.gov : accessed 1 April 2022). 

2. "New York, New York, U.S., Death Index, 1949-1965," index, Ancestry.com, entry for Gittle Rothleder, 31 January 1952, Brooklyn 2120; citing New York City Department of Health. 

3. Gittle Rothleder, grave, 30 January 1952, Mount Hebron Cemetery, Queens, NY; index, FindAGrave.com, memorial no. 78053154. The date of death on this record is likely in error. Acquisition of Gittle's death certificate with the correct date is pending.

4. New York Co., NY, birth certificate no. 8383 (1901), Gussie Horn, 6 February 1901; Municipal Archives, New York City. Kings Co., NY, marriage cert. no. 6241 (1922), Emanuel Rothleder and Gertrude Horn, 27 May 1922; Municipal Archives, NYC. Both documents were accessed via https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/ on 10 July 2022 after locating indexed records via https://www.germangenealogygroup.com/.

5. Gitel Rothleder, grave, 31 January 1952, Kurlander Young Friends Benevolent Association, Block 11, Ref 1, Sec A-C, Line 3, Grave 24, Mount Hebron Cemetery, Queens, NY. 

6. Clara Rappaport, grave, 29 August 1966, Section 1, Block 7, Row H, Grave 2, Wellwood Cemetery, West Babylon, Suffolk Co., NY.

7. David Ett, grave, 15 December 1958, Section D, Block 1, Zion's Bruder Bund Society, Beth David Cemetery, Elmont, Nassau Co., NY.

8. Several newspaper articles indicated that Dave Ett and his family were members of Beth-El's congregation. His obituary stated that, as well. "Dave Ett, 67; Had Been Fur Dealer," Obituary Notices, The Wave (Rockaway Beach, NY), 18 Dec. 1958, p. 6, col. 1; images, Fulton History (https://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html : accessed 21 Dec 2013).

Yom HaShoah: Remembering

I really did not anticipate this when I started my genealogical research, but the greatest benefit, by far, has been discovering and honoring the memory of those whose lives were cut short by hateful people. 

I recall asking tentative questions of my parents. They seemed fuzzy, themselves, on who had been left behind in Europe and who had succumbed during Hitler's rampage.

For some who died, all I have is names. For others, there are bits and snatches of recollections from other family members or information I have gleaned from records. For just a few, we have recollections of those who knew and loved them.* 

My relatives did not die in concentration camps. Some were removed from their homes and sent to ghettos in nearby towns. How long each lived before being shot and dumped into a ditch is unknown.

Today is Yom HaShoah. We honor their memory on this day. I have yet to find all of my family members with connections to the Holocaust. I hope my research continues to uncover their stories.

Killed in/near Labun, Ukraine (ca. July-September, 1941):

• Perl Garber Zabarsky (born about 1888, age 53 at death), daughter of Avraham Garber and Chana Mazewitsky. Sister of my grandfather Jack Garber.
• Chana Zabarsky (b. 1 August 1926, age 15) , daughter of Perl Garber and Isseck Zabarsky.
•  Shmulik Mazewitsky (b. ca. 1915, age ca. 26), son of Monia Mazewitsky and Tzipa. Monia was (likely) the brother of my great grandfather Isidore Morris. 
• Sonia Weisman Mazewitsky (b. ca. 1916, age 25), wife of Shmulik and daughter of Liba.
• Aron Mazewitsky (b. ca. 1935, ca. age 6), son of Shmulik and Sonia. 

Died during service in the Russian military:

• Leib Bebik (Ber) Zabarsky (b. 8 December 1916, d. 17 January 1941) 
• Motel (or Mark) Zabarsky (b. 19 December 1918, d. 7 June 1943)

Both men were the sons of Perl and Isseck Zabarsky.

Died near Tluste, Ukraine (July 1943):

• Jutte Ett Barath (b. 21 January 1894), daughter of Hersch Leib Ett and Perl Wenkert. Perl Wenkert was my great grandmother's sister. 
• Moshe Efraim Barath, husband of Jutte Ett.

May their souls be bound in everlasting life.

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

* Records include:

• pages of testimony on the Yad Vashem website;  
• digitized documents (accessed via the Steve Morse One-Step webpage) for Russia's Fallen website; and
•  Kniha Skorboty Ukraine, Khmel'nyt︠s′ka oblast, volume 2, 2002.

Tombstone Tuesday: Benjamin and Annie Weingart

I first wrote about Benny Weingart last year after I'd visited Kolomyya, Ukraine. On his World War I Draft card, David Ett, my grandmother's first cousin, reported working for Markowitz and Weingart.[1] When I'd looked up the firm in directories of the era, it was clear that the Weingart part of the company was Benny and that they were furriers (as was Dave Ett). 

Benny's surname had been Wenkert - the same as my great grandmother Bertha Wenkert Liebross. Like my great grandmother's family, Benny's Wenkerts started in the Zaleszczyki area of the Austrian Empire. Unlike my great grandmother and her children who were in (what is today) Radauti, Romania before emigrating the the United States, Benny and most of his siblings lived in Vienna.

Photos used by permission of Dyane McIndoe [2]

Here lies

Khane Dinah daughter of David Yitzchak

Died 1st day in the month of Cheshvan 5707

May her soul be bound in everlasting life

----------・・・----------

OUR BELOVED

MOTHER

ANNIE

WEINGART

DIED OCT. 25, 1946

AGE 58 YEARS

Here lies

Dov Ber son of Yonah Tzadik

Died 2nd day of Sukkot 5695

May his soul be bound in everlasting life

----------・・・----------

BELOVED HUSBAND
AND DEAR FATHER
BENJAMIN
WEINGART
DIED SEPT. 27, 1934
AGE 53 YEARS
------------
LONELY ARE WE WITHOUT YOU
HOW WE MISS YOU NO ONE KNOWS
OUR THOUGHTS ARE ALWAYS WITH YOU
FROM EARLY MORN TILL EVENING CLOSE

Benny was the son of Yonah Tzudek (or Tzadik) Wenkert and Khane Altschul.

Benjamin Weingart

Benny, a furrier, arrived in New York Harbor from Vienna in 1899 on the S.S. Statendam.[3]

On 5 March 1904 he married Heni (Anna) Panitzky.[4] Annie was the daughter of David Isaac Panitzky and Khava Orlinsky.

Benny and Anna had five children: 

• Julia Weingart Kravitz (15 November 1905-11 December 1992), 
• Ruth Weingart Rosenberg (19 July 1907-25 May 1997),
• Hilda Weingart Deaner (13 march 1910-21 Apri 2002),
• Irving Weingart (25 February 1914-14 June 1997), and 
• Howard Ira Weingart (30 June 1916-23 January 2002).

Annie and Benjamin are buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery, Queens, New York; Empire State Lodge plot, block 25, reference 7, section F, Line 2, graves 8 and 9.

Today, Benny is still one of my "floaters": someone I know is related but for whom I have thus far found no direct documented links.

Notes:

1. "World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 May 2008), card for David Ett, no. 283, Kings County Draft Board 68, Precinct 164; citing World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917 - 1918, National Archives microfilm publication M1509; imaged from Family History Library microfilm roll 1,754,596.

2. Benjamin Wenkert & Annie Wenkert, grave, Mount Hebron Cemetery, Queens, New York; digital images, Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 25 May 2012), photographed by Dyane McIndoe.
3. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 November 2013), manifest, S.S. Statendam, Rotterdam to New York, arriving 18 June 1899, List 47, number 3, Berel Wenkert; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715, microfilm roll 71.

4. New York County, New York, Certificate and Record of Marriage no. 5130 (5 March 1904), Benj. Weingart and Heni Panitzky, New York City Municipal Archives, New York.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Louis Cohn's manifest

Louis Cohn, husband of Sarah Ett Cohn, left the port of Hamburg on the S.S. Batavia on 25 May 1903 and arrived in New York Harbor on 8 June 1903. Louis' naturalization papers confirm this arrival record.

"New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 November 2013), manifest, S.S. Batavia, Hamburg to New York, arriving 8 June 1903, List 31, number 13, Lewys Kohn; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715, microfilm roll 365.

Lewys Kohn is listed at number 13 on the page.

detail of manifest page

[Items in red will be discussed further, below.]
 
Name: Lewys Kohn
Age: 20
Sex: m
Married or Single: s
Calling or Occupation: ? smith
Able to Read: yes
Able to Write: yes
Nationality: Austria
Race or people: Hebrew
Last residence: Kazmiowa
Final Destination: Brooklyn, N.Y.

detail of manifest page

Whether having a ticket to destination: yes
By whom was passage paid: cousin
Whether in possession of $50: $25
Whether ever before in the United States: No
Whether going to join a relative or friend: 
          cousin Max Wolkowicz
          Brooklyn, NY 223 Lynch Str

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Louis was a tinsmith in the United States and became a successful businessman dealing in sheet metal. He apparently brought some skills as a smith to the United States. It is unclear to me what the first word may be in his occupation information on the manifest. It is likely "tinsmith."

Austria is noted as Louis' nationality. He is likely to have been born in Kamyanets Podilskyy - at that point (in about 1883) within the Russian Empire, but very close to the border with Austria. Family stories suggest he may have been born in Kamyanets Podilskyy, but grew up in Czortkow (Chortkiv, Ukraine), which, at the time, was in the Austrian Empire.

As best I can decipher, the community of last residence was written as Kazmiowa. I am unable to find a community in eastern Europe with that name. Louis' Declaration of Intention to naturalize (the first papers he filed for naturalization on 27 January 1921), indicated that his last residence was in Kazimierz, Austria.[1] Kazimierz is today a suburb of Krakow, Poland. Prior to World War I it was within the Galicia province of the Austrian Empire. It is quite far from Chortkiv and one may wonder, if this is the correct town of residence for Louis, what he was doing so far from home.

Louis reported on his manifest record that his cousin purchased his ticket for passage and that he would be heading to his cousin Max Wolkowicz residing at 223 Lynch Street, Brooklyn, New York.

The X to the left of Louis's name on the manifest indicates that he was detained by immigration officials. Louis' detention page (found near the end of the manifest pages for the Batavia voyage) shows he was met by his cousin Max who then resided at 188 Middleton, Brooklyn.

Detail from: "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 November 2013), manifest (Record of Detained Alien Passengers), S.S. Batavia, Hamburg to New York, arriving 8 June 1903, page 184, number 8, Lewy Kohn; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715, microfilm roll 365.

I have not located Max Wolkowitz at Lynch Street or Middleton in Brooklyn directories from the early 1900s. However, I have found Max Wolkowitz, a tinsmith from Austria, married to Clara and living on Ellery Street in the 1910 U.S. Census.[2] While I am not certain this is Louis' cousin Max Wolkowitz, this man's World War II Draft Registration record indicates he was working for a metal roofing company and was originally from Jagielnica, Austria.[3] Jagielnice (today Yahilnytsya, Ukraine) is six miles from Chortkiv. Further research may identify Max as a relative Louis Cohn and shed further light on Louis' origins.

Notes:
1. Louis Cohn Declaration of Intention no. 51717 (1921), Eastern District Court of New York, filed with Petition for Naturalization no. 81039, volume 325, page 189, Supreme Court, Kings County, New York.
2. 1910 United States census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn, Enumeration District 480, page 17A, line 11, Max W. Wolkowitz; digital image, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 9 July 2014), citing NARA Microfilm publication series T624, roll 968.
3. "U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 July 2014), card for Max Wolkowitz, no. U-65, Kings County, New York, National Archives record group 147, Saint Louis, Missouri.

Tombstone Tuesday: Ethel Hammer Liebross

Ethel Hammer was likely born in Krasnoyil's'k, Austrian Empire (once in Bukovina province and now in Ukraine) at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains in about 1857. Her parents names were Anglicized on her death certificate to Harry Hammer and Mary Reisenberg.[1] Ethel married Simon Liebross in the Austrian Empire sometime between between 1881 and 1889. She and Simon sailed to the United States on the S.S. Rhaetia in January 1890.[2] As far as I know they did not have any children.

Photo by E. Garber, 7 Sept. 2008

Here lies

Etel daughter of Tsvi Eliezer

May her soul be bound in everlasting life

ETHEL LIEBROSS

DIED JULY 10, 1947

AGE 90 YEARS

Simon and Ethel settled immediately in Brooklyn and are recorded on Moore Street in the 1892 New York State census.[3] After Simon's death in 1927 Ethel lived with her nephew Peter Hammer and his wife Yetta.[4] 

Photo by E. Garber, 7 Sept. 2008

It is interesting that by 1935 at the latest, Ethel was residing with David and Bessie Ett and their family. In the 1940 census, Ethel is listed as a cousin.[5] In fact she was not really related to them at all. Her late husband Simon was Louis Liebross' brother. Louis had married Bertha Wenkert Liebross who was Dave Ett's aunt. So, the Etts and Ethel were linked via two marriages. They had also lived near each other in Rockaway and were obviously acquainted before Ethel was invited to move in. 

Dave and Bessie were good people and took in an old person in need. Their daughter Pearl has told me that Ethel was a very sweet person and became a part of the family. When Ethel passed away in 1947, Bessie Ett was the informant on her death certificate.

Ethel Liebross is buried in the Workmen's Circle Block of Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Queens, New York: section D, line 9, grave 2.

Notes:
1. Kings County, New York, Certificate of Death, Number 14198 (10 July 1947), 
Ethel Liebrois [sic], Municipal Archives, New York, New York.
2. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 28 May 2008), manifest, S.S. Rhaetia, Hamburg to New York, arriving 25 January 1890, list 93, line 35, Simon Libros, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial M237, roll 543.
3. 1892 New York State Census, Kings County, New York, City of Brooklyn, Enumeration District (ED) 14, Ward 16, sheet 19, 26 Moore Street, Simon Librose and Addie Librose; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 July 2010). 
4. 1930 United States census, Kings County, New York, Brooklyn, E.D. 24-1668, sheet 10A, family 180, Ethel Liebross; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 January 2013).
5. 1940 United States census, Queens County, New York, Queens, Enumeration District 41-1570, sheet 6A, household 130, Ethel Liebros; digital image, Archives.gov (http://www.archives.gov : accessed 4 April 2012).

Treasure Chest Thursday: Louis Cohn's Petition for Naturalization

We've been having some trouble deciding where Louis Cohn (married to my grandmother Tillie Liebross' first cousin Sarah Ett Cohn) was born. This is one of the typical problems one has when there are:

1. more than one Eastern European town with the same or similar names and 
2. variations in how town names have been written or transcribed by others. 

On Louis' Petition for Naturalization he indicated Kaminetz, Poland, Russia.

Louis Cohn Petition for Naturalization (1923), Volume 325, page 189, petition number 81039, Supreme Court, Kings County, New York.

[page] 189

No. 81039

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

PETITION FOR NATURALIZATION

 

To the Honorable the Supreme Court of the State of New York:
The petition of Louis Cohn, hereby filed, respectfully showeth:
  First, My place of residence is 949 East 12th St., City of New York, Borough of Brooklyn, N.Y.
  Second, My occupation is Merchant
  Third, I was born on the 12 day of Dec., anno Domini 1884, at Kaminetz Poland, Russia
  Fourth, I emigrated to the United States from Hamburg Germany on or about the ----- day of May, anno Domini 1903, and arrived in the United States, at the port of New York, on the 23 day of May, anno Domini 1903, on the vessel Batavia
  Fifth, I declared my intention to become a citizen of the United States on the 27 day of January, anno Domini 1921 at Brooklyn, N.Y. in the District Court of U.S. Eastern District of N.Y.
  Sixth, I am married. My wife's name is Sarah; she was born on the 26 day of Sept, anno Domini 1887 at Austria, and now resides at 949 E. 12th St., City of New York, Brorough of Brooklyn, N.Y.
I have 6 children, and the name, date, and place of birth, and place of residence of each of said children are as follows:
Jacob born 9 Apl 1908     }
Dora      "   14 Dec. 1909  }
Pauline  "   13 Sept 1911  }   At & resides at Bkyn, N.Y.
Blanche "     5 Oct. 1914  }
Rose      "   26 Sept 1919  }
Ira         "   13 Dec. 1920  }
  Seventh, I am not a disbeliever in or opposed to organized government or a member of or affiliated with any organization or body of persons teaching disbelief in or opposed to organized government. I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy. I am attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and it is my intention to become a citizen of the United States and to renounce absolutely and forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly to the Republic of Poland, of whom at this time I am subject, and it is my intention to reside permanently in the United States.
  Eighth, I am able to speak the English language.
  Ninth, I have resided continuously in the United States of America for the term of five years at least, immediately preceding the date of this petition, to wit, since the 23 day of May, anno Domini 1903 and in the State of New York, continuously next preceding the date of this petition, since the 23 day of May, anno Domini 1903 being a residence within this State of at least one year next preceding the date of this petition. ...

Louis had previously submitted Declaration of Intention No. 51717, filed on 25 July 1923.

Witnesses to this petition were:

• Harry Husib, Jobber, residing at 337 Vermon [?] Ave, Brooklyn, and

• Louis Robinson, Salesman, residing at 1569 50th Street, New York.

The petition was subscribed and sworn on 25 July 1923.

Some of the information about the children differs from that provided on Sarah Cohn's petition. On Sarah's petition, Dora (later called Dorothy) was born on 13 December 1910; Pauline was born in 1912; and Ira was born on 12 December 1920. I have not located birth certificates for the children, but Ira's Social Security Death Index record shows his birth on 13 December.[1]

There were two communities in the Pale of Settlement with the name "Kaminetz: Kamyanyets-Litovsk, Grodno Gubernia (today in Belarus) and Kamyanets Podilskyy, Podolia Gubernia (then, close to the border with Austria and today in Ukraine). Based upon family stories of Louis crossing the border to enter Austria and be with family and information about other family members from communities (such as Chortkiv) in Austria close to the border with the Russian Empire, it is likely that Louis was born in Kamyanets Podolsky.

Notes:
1. U.S. Social Security Administration, "Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 June 2014), entry for Ira Cohn, no. 999-12-3804.