Letters from Levi Yitzkhkak Lederman, 27 April 1911

This post continues translation from Yiddish and analysis of letters sent by Levi Yitzkhak Liderman to his son, Morris, who was settled, initially, in New York City in 1910. For further background, see the first post in this series. 

For links to other posts in this series, scroll to the bottom.

As noted previously, translation is an art. Any comments or clarifications by Yiddish speakers/translators are welcome.

As an aid in understanding, I have included a family tree at the bottom of this post.

Postmark

27 April 1911, Polonnoe, Volin [Volhynia Gubernia]
[This is the Julian calendar date, which was in effect in the Russian Empire at this time. The letter was written one day earlier on 26 April 1911. The equivalent in the Gregorian calendar (in use in the United States, then and now) was 9 May 1911.]

Addressed to: 

Mr. J. Simberg

134-136 Cannon Street

Neu Yorc C.
for Morris Liderman

[The Russian printed text on the top left side of the card reads: L. Liderman.]

Translation

Translation by Esther Chanie Dushinsky

[Notes in blue as well as those at the end of the post are mine. Levi Yitzkhak tried to squeeze as much on the card as possible and did not break the text into paragraphs. For ease of reading, I have added paragraph breaks in the translation.]

3 Iyyar, May 9 [English], 26 April [Russian] 1911[1]

My dear son, as beloved as my own soul, Mr. Moshe'leh, should live. I received your card from Pesach that mother, should live, sent to me from home. Since then, I haven't received a single letter from me. Usually they send the letters with the Saturday mail. but this past Shabbos I didn't get anything. I know why. She planned to send it when she has an opportunity. This is Mr. Baruch Basya'kas [likely Baruch son of Basya]. He should have traveled here, but for some reason he didn't come. Most likely he will come at a later time. Mother plans to send it with him and won't have to pay for postage.

Leah Greenfield Saltzman

Today I received a letter from Faiga'n. Thank God for their health. Leah'nyu is currently studying in Zhitomir since Purim and they want her to _____ [Russian word transliterated as koncza, meaning end or terminate] towards _____ [transliterates as optekarski utcenicza][аптекарский ученица (aptekarskiy uchenitsa) means pharmacy student], or _____ [dantist-ka][дантист (dantist) is dentist].[2] And this time she is complaining again as to why you don't write to her. I sent her your cards, which on one card you wrote that Sura'le "How is my dear and beloved sister, the Barnaker [?]."[3] She writes about Sura'la that she is very happy that you are at least inquiring about her and wishes you and blesses you in the letter. I wish it will be fulfilled.

Here at home

[side 2]

there is no news. We thank God for our health. I hope to hear the same from you. Most likely in the letter that you have written to me during this time, you wrote everything about yourself. You write that you have _____ to travel to _____[Lun?][likely, Lynn].[4] Did you travel already, and how was the way? You father that loves you and blesses you with heart and soul _____  _____

Send regards to my brother in law _____.[5]

Notes:

1. May 9 (Gregorian calendar) and 26 April (Julian calendar) are equivalents. 3 Iyyar in the Hebrew calendar is a mistake. The correct equivalent Hebrew calendar date in 1911 would have been 11 Iyyar.

2. So it seems that the school that Leah was attending in Zhitomyr was encouraging her to continue her education in either pharmacy or dentistry. It does not appear that she pursued either of those careers. For further information on Leah, Faiga Liderman Grinfeld's eldest daughter, and her attendance at gymnasium (similar to a junior college) in Zhitomyr, see this blog post.

3. Sura was Morris' other sister.

4. A few months later, in August 1911, Morris moved to Lynn, Massachusetts. So, he likely took a trip there earlier to evaluate opportunities. It makes sense that Levi Yitzkhak would transliterate Lynn as Lun in Hebrew because in the Cyrillic alphabet the letter Y is pronounced as as oo.

5. Jacob Simberg

Posts in this Series

 

"Bond of Brothers"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 10 December 1910"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 17 December 1910"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 27 December 1910"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 18 January 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 4 February 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 21 February 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 8 March 1911"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 25 March 1911"
"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 27 April 1911" 

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 11 May 1911"   

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 21 May 1911"  

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 27 May 1911"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 21 June 1911"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 5 August 1911" 

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 9 August 1911" 

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 31 August 1911"  

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 11 September 1911"   

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 21 September 1911"  

"Letter from Frieda Lederman, date unknown (ca. 1910-1913)"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 19 October 1911"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 28 November 1911"  

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 27 December 1911" 

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 14 January 1912" 

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 19 March 1912"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 14 April 1912" 

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 4 July 1912" 

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 13 August 1912"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 30 August 1912" 

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 28 November 1912"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 2 December 1912" 

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 28 December 1912" 

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 18 February 1913"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 29 March 1913"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 1 June 1913"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 8 July 1913"

"Letters from Levi Yitzkhak Lederman, 23 April 1914"

    

Avrum's Women, Part 11: Garber Y-DNA = Lederman Y-DNA

From Wikipedia.org

Once upon a time there were four brothers who tried to avoid conscription in the Czar's army by taking different surnames. They believed that only-sons would not be taken and tried to hide their relationships. One kept the family surname: Utchenik. One took Garber; one Reznik; and one Lehman. Years later upon immigration to the United States, the Utchenik family headed west to settle in Michigan. The Garbers settled in New York and the Rezniks in New England. No one quite recalls what happened to the Lehmans. But, despite this subterfuge, they ultimately could not hide from their Y-DNA. 

I heard variations on this story (minus the DNA part) independently from my father, my uncle, and their first cousin. Many family historians have similarly apocryphal stories in their families. When I heard this one, I thought, "That's interesting," smiled knowingly and then cached it in the back of my brain in the unlikely event I might need it. Uh-oh.

During the last two years I've been working the angles with a reasonably exhaustive search through the records associated with the Greenfield/Lederman story. I started with just an unfamiliar name on a manifest and have been trying to determine how or if Feiga Liderman Grinfeld of Baranivka (aka Fannie Greenfield of Cincinnati) was related to my family (this is my tenth post in this series - see links, below).

In the last couple of posts regarding the Greenfields and Ledermans (here and here) I identified Fannie's brother as the Morris Lederman who:

• was born in about 1892-3 to Levi Yitzchak Liderman and Frieda Simberg
• married Rene Lewis-Cohen in New York City 1920;
• lived in Detroit with Rene and their three children: daughters Marvel and Zena and son S.;
• was buried in the Hebrew Memorial Park, Workmen's Circle, Turover Aid Section, Detroit, Michigan. He died 12 January 1954.

A helpful relative of Fannie's knew nothing of Ledermans. I  looked into possible Morris Lederman kin (but did not contact anyone) and, then, took a hiatus from this research. But, genealogy stops for no one. A few months ago, as a result of my blog posts I was contacted by another of Fannie's grandchildren who encouraged me by providing contact information for a Lederman cousin: Morris' son.

S. has been great. I learned a good deal more about Morris.  Immediately after World War I he was part of the Polar Bear Expedition in Archangel, Russia (that story deserves its own blog post!). He and Rene got together when he was in England recuperating from wounds and she was helping in the hospital. Fannie and Morris had another brother (Leon?) and sister (name unknown) who died in Europe. Morris' son shared some letters and post cards (written in excruciatingly small Yiddish script) from his grandfather (Levi Yitzchak) to his father. I was struck by the coincidence that my uncle Lenny Garber's Hebrew/Yiddish name was also Levi Yitzchak. But, best of all, S. agreed to do a cheek swab.

I already had a base for comparison with my Garber Y-DNA. I had convinced my brother J. and my father's first cousin, M., to collect samples for Y-DNA testing. Family Tree DNA placed both results in the T-M70 haplogroup - they, as expected, matched at 0 distance at 37 markers. The T-M70 Y-haplogroup is a relatively small group thus far in the Family Tree DNA test results population. In fact, J. and M. were each other's only exact matches. Other matches are only as close as 3 and 4 alleles distance (difference). Only one person matches at distance 3 and three at distance 4.

And S? As of this morning, J. and M. have another exact match on 37 markers: 0 distance. I now know that the Fannie Lederman Greenfield and Morris Lederman were Garber cousins. But, Lederman and Garber related along  fathers' lines? What goes on here?

The apocryphal story is starting to look better and better. I doubt the conscription aspect of the story - especially since the local Jewish community often selected those members of their community who would be taken for military service. Surely, just changing a surname would not fool many locals.  But it's reasonable to stay open to some aspects of family lore. While we may not be able to immediately document causation, we may be able to support evidence for surname changes.  

My father's first cousin, Sandra, seems to think that her grandfather, Avrum Garber, was the Garber sibling of the family story. If so, our further research needs to acknowledge that he was born about 1864 and Levi Yitzchak (whose daughter Feiga was born about 1878) was likely a bit older. Conscription rules and practices in effect during that time period will require additional research.

Several areas to be pursued:

• Research 19th Century Jewish conscription practices. I know they were not uniform over time. Could they have been associated with family Jewish name changes?
• I have ordered an autosomal (FamilyFinder) test for S. and already have test results for M. and me. Our results, according to Family Tree DNA, are consistent for first cousins. The test may provide information relevant to the closeness of our relationship with S. (I hope to see the results of his test in the next week or so).
• Exhaust the possibilities of records in eastern Europe. It's unlikely there are relevant records for this Russian Empire part of Volhynia Gubernia in today's Ukraine. But, never say never. The Routes to Roots website, which documents archival collections for a variety of communities in eastern Europe, indicates that there are several collections that include Baranivka records. None relate to the time period that I really need: about 1870s to 1920. But, I will be going after whatever I can find for both Baranivka and the Garber shtetl of Labun. I have traced Utcheniks to Zhvil (Novograd Volynsky) and Polonnoye. I need records from those places, as well.
• Find Utcheniks to test. I have already researched the Utchenik family who settled in Detroit. This is an unusual surname and other Utcheniks who settled in other areas of the USA are likely related to them. I contacted a couple of Utchenik researchers a few years ago. They knew of no similar story. But, now, I think I need to find someone for a Y-DNA and autosomal test.

Of course there could be other explanations for why these related men bear different surnames. Perhaps there was what we euphemistically call a "non-paternal event." Or perhaps it may be explained by the procedures by which Jewish families in this area of the Russian Empire acquired their surnames at the beginning of the nineteenth century. I will examine those alternatives in a future post.

In the meantime, I'm starting to believe in fairy tales!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Posts in this series:

Avrum's Women, Part 2: Feiga Grinfeld
Avrum's Women, Part 3: Following Feiga (and Raya)
Avrum's Women, Part 4: The Trouble with Harry
Avrum's Women, Part 5: Finding Feiga 
Avrum's Women, Part 6: Added Confirmation
Avrum's Women, Part 7: Feiga's Family
Avrum's Women, Part 8: Fannie's Story  
Avrum's Women, Part 9: Fannie's Brother Morris

Avrum's Women: Part 10, Morris Lederman - Who's Your Mama?

Avrum's Women, Part 12: Finding Family with Family Finder  
Avrum's Women, Part 13: Bond of Brothers  

Avrum's Women: Part 10, Morris Lederman - Who's your Mama?

It's been quite a while since I last discussed my research on Fannie Greenfield and her relationship to my family. I first encountered Fannie (aka Feiga Grinfeld) on Ellis Island manifests associated with my Garber family. The question is: how was she related to my family? 

I was able to track her in the United States, despite a name change and migration from New York to Cincinnati. When I found that I could not determine how or if she is related to the Garbers from her information alone, I began searching for her brother Morris Liderman. 

In my last post in this saga, I asked the following questions about one of two Morris Ledermans of Detroit who, I thought, was likely Fannie's brother. What was his mother's name? What was her maiden name? Was Morris from Baranovka? When did he come to the United States?

Before we go any further in addressing the first two questions, readers might want to review previous posts in this series:

Avrum's Women, Part 2: Feiga Grinfeld
Avrum's Women, Part 3: Following Feiga (and Raya)
Avrum's Women, Part 4: The Trouble with Harry
Avrum's Women, Part 5: Finding Feiga 
Avrum's Women, Part 6: Added Confirmation
Avrum's Women, Part 7: Feiga's Family
Avrum's Women, Part 8: Fannie's Story  
Avrum's Women, Part 9: Fannie's Brother Morris 

In Review

In the last post I'd located Morris and his wife Rene's graves and found that Morris' father's first name had been Yitzchak.[1] Fannie's father was Levi Yitzchak.[2]  

It is usual for Jewish men to have two Hebrew/Yiddish names and to use them together or individually from time to time. So, Levi Yitzchak and Yitzchak could be the same person. I would need additional information to confirm Fannie and Morris' sibling relationship.

I knew from Fannie's manifest and her death certificate that her mother's name had been Frieda Liderman.[3] If I could find a record from this Morris with a matching mother's name, I'd know he was the correct Morris Lederman. Additionally, since I did not know if Fannie Greenfield was related to the Garber's on her mother's or father's side, her mother's maiden name could be useful for further research.

First Comes Marriage

While I'd located U.S. Census records 1920 through 1940 for Morris and Rene and their family, I'd not located some of the basic genealogically useful records for Morris: marriage certificate, death certificate, naturalization and manifest.[4]

The 1930 U.S. Census indicated that Rene, age 30, had been born in England, came to the United States about the age of 20 and married at 20.[5] I'd located Morris as an unmarried boarder living at 313 Erskine Street, Detroit in the 1920 U.S. Census, so it was a good bet that Morris and Rene had married sometime after the record date of the Census: 1 January 1920.[6]  

I determined that if I knew Rene's maiden name I might be able to locate her manifest, where she might have headed after arrival and where Morris and Rene married.

To find Rene's maiden name, I checked on marriage records for her daughter, Zena Lederman. She'd married Murray E. Moss in Montana in 1943.[7] While Zena's father's name was listed, her mother's name was not provided. But, an obituary for Zena Moss of Flint, Michigan provided Rene's maiden name: Cohen.[8]

Ordinarily, Cohen, such a common name, would have made sorting through manifest records almost impossible. But, Rene is an unusual name. I found her manifest: Rene Lewis-Cohen arrived from Liverpool on the S.S. Baltic on 27 August 1920.[9] Twenty-year-old Rene was headed for her fiance, Maurice Lederman of 313 Erskine Street, Detroit, Michigan.

I think it must have been Leah Greenfield Saltzman's marriage in New York City that gave me the inspiration to check New York City marriage records. I suppose I might have been successful locating Morris and Rene's marriage certificate without finding Rene's manifest record, but before seeing that she'd come to the United States already planning to marry Morris, New York didn't seem like an option.

Morris Lederman and Rene L. Cohen married at the Municipal Building in Manhattan on 27 August 1920.[10] Morris Lederman's parents were Louis (an anglicized version of Levy or Leib) and Frieda Simberg. Now I know that Morris was indeed Fannie Greenfield's brother. And their mother's maiden name was Simberg - a new surname for my family history research.

To be continued.... 

Notes:
1. Morris Lederman gravestone, Hebrew Memorial Park, Detroit, Michigan, Workmen's Circle, Turover Aid Society, Lot 7, Grave 15.
2. Fannie Greenfield gravestone, Adath Israel Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio; digital image, Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati (http://www.jcemcin.org : accessed 31 October 2011).
3. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 8 March 2008), manifest, Aquitania, Southhampton to New York, arriving 4 November 1922, list 4, Feiga Grinfeld, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715, roll 3215. 
"Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XZP6-FVZ : accessed 31 October 2011), Fannie Greenfield, 1942; citing reference fn 69916, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio.
4. I'd requested a death record from the City of Detroit and been told they did not have one. I have not yet requested a search of Michigan death records.
5. 1930 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michigan, Detroit, Enumeration District 82-368, sheet 15A (handwritten), page 74 (stamped), dwelling 11, family 11, Morris Leiderman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 November 2011), citing National Archives microfilm publication T626, roll 1046.
6. 1920 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michgan, Detroit, Enumeration District 166, sheet 6B, dwelling 40, family 111, Morris Liederman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 November 2011), citing National Archives mcrofilm publication T626, roll .
7. Cascade County, Montana, marriage record no. 20303, Great Falls, reel 44, Murray E. Moss and Zena Lila Lederman (24 March 1943); digital image, "Montana, County Marriages, 1865-1950," FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 11 September 2012).
8. "Moss, Zena," The Flint Journal, Michigan, 2 August 1999, page C3; digital image, Genealogy Bank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 1 September 2012).
9. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 22 February 2014), manifest, S.S. Baltic,Liverpool to New York, arriving 27 August 1920, list 4, passenger 11, Rene Lewis-Cohen, citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715, roll 2822.
10. New York County, New York, marriage certificate no. 34414, Manhattan, Morris Lederman and Rene L. Cohen (27 Aug 1920), Municipal Archives, New York City. 
-------------------
The next posts in this series are: 
Avrum's Women, Part 11: Garber Y-DNA = Lederman Y-DNA
Avrum's Women, Part 12: Finding Family with Family Finder  
Avrum's Women, Part 13: Bond of Brothers  


 

Avrum's Women, Part 9: Fannie's brother Morris

Recap

The last Feiga Grinfeld (aka Fannie Greenfield) post related her saga: birth in Baranovka, marriage, children, pogroms, murder of her husband, emigration and, finally, a life of relative tranquility in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is still not determined how or if she was related to my great grandfather Avrum Garber with whom she'd traveled to the United States in November 1922. In that manifest, she was identified as Avrum's wife. It is likely that was not true. An earlier manifest from March 1922 for Avrum's youngest children, listed Feiga Grunfeld as a cousin in Warsaw.

The Feiga Grinfeld on the manifest was the same person as the widow Fannie Greenfield who lived in Cincinnati with two of her three children.

Her late husband, Schachna Grinfeld, was murdered during a pogrom in their hometown of Baranovka, likely sometime around 1920. Her maiden name was Liderman. He father's name was Levi Yitzchak and her mother's name was Frieda.

Fannie Greenfield passed away in 1942. Her obituary identified one sibling, a brother Morris Liderman of Detroit. The contact for Fannie's family had no information on Morris Lederman. So, I was on my own. Since Fannie and Morris likely had at least one parent in common, it was time to see if Morris' parentage might reveal any relationship with Avrum Garber.

You say "Morris," I say "Maurice"

If Morris was living in Detroit in 1942, perhaps he was there in 1940, the U.S. Census year closest to Fannie's death? There was no one with the name Morris Liderman in the 1940 U.S. Census for Detroit. There seemed, however, to be two men named Morris Lederman. One was born about 1893 [1] and the other in about 1913.[2] I say "seemed" because they both had a penchant for appearing and then disappearing in Detroit city directories and for sometimes being identified as "Morris" and other times as "Maurice." 

Since Fannie was born about 1878, the elder Morris Lederman, who was about 15 years younger than she, was a more likely candidate for her brother. In addition, the born-in-1913 Morris was, in the 1930 U.S. Census and some Detroit city directories, living as the son of Abraham and Lillian Lederman. [3] Abraham and Lillian were born about 1884 and were younger than Fannie Greenfield.

Love them unusual names 

Morris Lederman (the 1893 variety) did genealogy a great favor by surrounding himself with women with unusual first names: wife, Rene; his eldest daughter, Marvel; and his second daughter, Zena. As a result, they were easily tracked to the 1930 U.S. Census as the Leiderman family - still in Detroit. [4] 

But the first real indication that 1893 Morris might be Fannie's brother was from the cemetery. The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit sponsors the Irwin I. Cohn Michigan Jewish Cemetery Index. A query on "Lederman" resulted in indices for Morris and Rene in the Workmen's Circle, Turover Aid Section, Lots 7 and 11 (respectively) and graves 0015 and 0001. No dates of death were indicated for these burials. 

A few calls later revealed that the cemetery in which, it appeared, Morris and Rene might be interred was now managed by Hebrew Memorial Park. The kind woman on the telephone was frustrated that there were few, if any, records for this portion of the cemetery. She agreed, however, to take a photograph for me of the two headstones (I sent them a donation).

Hebrew Memorial Park, Detroit, Michigan, Workmen's Circle, Turover Aid Society, Lot 7, Grave 15

LEDERMAN

BELOVED

HUSBAND & FATHER

MORRIS

JAN. 12, 1954 - AGE 61

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

Moshe Shalom Mordechai son of Yitzchak 

The age was right for birth in about 1893. And Yitzchak - also Fannie's father's name! But too soon to celebrate. Yitzchak is a common name. Further work would be required before confirmation that this Morris might be Fannie's brother.

What was his mother's name? What was her maiden name? Was Morris from Baranovka? When did he come to the United States?

Notes:
1. 1940 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, Enumeration District 84-820, sheet 2A, household 31, Morris Lederman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 July 2012).
2. 1940 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, Enumeration District 84-382, sheet 5A, household 135, Maurice Lederman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 March 2013).
3. 1930 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, Enumeration District 82-86, sheet 14A, family 60, Morris Lederman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 March 2013).
4. 1930 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, Detroit, Enumeration District 82-386, sheet 18A, family 11, Morris Leiderman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 November 2011).

_______________________________________

Previous posts in this series:
Avrum's Women, Part 2: Feiga Grinfeld
Avrum's Women, Part 3: Following Feiga (and Raya)
Avrum's Women, Part 4: The Trouble with Harry
Avrum's Women, Part 5: Finding Feiga 
Avrum's Women, Part 6: Added Confirmation
Avrum's Women, Part 7: Feiga's Family
Avrum's Women, Part 8: Fannie's Story
Avrum's Women, Part 10: Morris Lederman - Who's your Mama? 
Avrum's Women, Part 11: Garber Y-DNA = Lederman Y-DNA 
Avrum's Women, Part 12: Finding Family with Family Finder  
Avrum's Women, Part 13: Bond of Brothers