In my last posting, I had shared my working assumption that Ida Paley had passed away some time between 1920 and 1925, Bronx, New York. Ida, also known as Yetta and Edith, was my 2x great grandmother. She was married to a David Lipschitz. They had 7 children, Samuel, Fanny, Molly, Solomon/Simon, Rachel, Isaac and my great grandfather, Benjamin.
Having gone back into the records looking for Ida, I discovered her living with her daughter Fanny and husband Israel Lifschitz (spelled Lipschidt on the census) at 1330 Franklin Ave., Bronx. Ida was listed as mother, 77, wd.. Listed as mother and not mother in law, I was still convinced this was Fanny’s mother and not Israel’s.
Continuing to work on learning when she passed away, I have had another breakthrough discovery and confirmation that I was right she was Fanny and not Israel’s mother.
Found under the last name spelling of Lifshitz, Ida (Ida Paley) was her death record.
New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948 Ancestry.com
The option was given to purchase the certificate, which I have done and will post it once it is received.
Fanny was still living with her daughter Fanny and family at the 1330 Franklin address when she passed away. Executor was her son Simon, and an added bonus was the names of her parents. Also a birth date was given on this record.
Ida passed away on 23 June 1921 and is buried at Washington Cemetery.
Still on my ‘to find’ list is for Samuel. He is the only sibling that I have no information on other than his name. With only his name, it has been impossible to identifying any match.
It has been some time since I have written about the family of my 2 X great grandparents David/Davis Lipschitz and a woman known as Ida/Edith/Yetta Paley. They were the parents of my great grandfather Benjamin Lipschitz who married Kate (Kruse) Rosen. Both Benjamin and Kate were born hearing and became deaf from childhood illness. A marriage was arranged for them and on 2 November 1913 they were married in Manhattan. They went on to have three daughters, Minnie aka Myra (my grandmother) who married Isadore Haimowitz, Esther who married Oscar Raskowitz later changed to Ralston and Mary who married Hyman Salsbergh.
Quite recently I was contact by another researcher, Jeanne, who had read one of my postings on this Lipschitz family and wanted to let me know she had discovered another child for David and Yetta that I had not mentioned. Jeanne’s connect is through Harry Schwartz, from her tree who had married Rachel Lipschitz. After a few email exchanges I am ready to add Rachel Lipschitz born abt. 1879 as another sister of Benjamins.
The spelling of this last name with in this family alternates between the p and f and sch and simply sh spelling.
Let me recap before getting to Rachel
David and Ida were the parents of Benjamin, who appears to be the youngest of their children. He was born the 10 November, 1883 in Slutsk, Belarus/Russia and passed away on 22 May 1948 Bronx, N.Y.. I have arrival dates spanning 1891 – 1910 from possible passenger lists for him, non of which I can prove. His marriage certificate has his parent named as David (sp) Lipshitz and mother Yetta Pallai, place of birth Minsk. One his S.S. application his parents were written David Lipshitz and Edith Palay and his birth place as Slutsk, Russia. His death certificate simply has David and Gittel for his parents and place of birth Russia. Reporting on his death certificate was his son-in-law, Oscar Ralston who had married his daughter Esther.
Fanny Lipschitz born abt 1867 died 29 Dec. 1937 Bronx. She married Israel Lifschitz and they had children Estelle (Esther), Jacob (Jack) Louis, Samuel, Benjamin (Barnett) and Dorothy (Dora). On Fanny’s death certificate her parents were listed as David Lipshitz and Yetta Palley
Mollie Lifschitz born abt 1872 died 10 Mar. 1922 N.Y.C.. She married Hyman (Harry) Cohen and they had two sons Joseph and Jacob Lyons Cohen. On her marriage certificate her parents were listed as Davis Lifschitz and Ida Paley. Her death certificate has David Lifschitz and Ida Pallay.
Solomon Simon Lifschitz born Dec. 1873 Russia died 27 Jan 1941. He married Anna Dinofsky. They had children Moses (Moe, Morris), Rachel (Rae), Esther (Estelle), Stella Dora and Charles Lifschitz later changed to Lipton. On Simon’s death certificate his parents were listed as David Lipshitz and Ida Paley. On Simon’s marriage record his parents were listed DavidLipshitz and Chia Paley
Isaac (Ike) Lifschitz born 1 May 1880, Bronx died 14 Sept. 1955 Bronx and he married RebeccaLeff. They had two sons, David Lewis and NaphtaliLewis . I do not have a marriage or death record to check his parents names however I have confirmed DNA matches with this family and have been in touch with them. They have confirmed Isaacs parents for me. On Ikes New York, U.S., Index to Petition for Naturalization New York City, 1792 – 1989 (1902) his witness was his brother Simon living at 56 Monroe St. – which was Simon’s address on the 1910 census. Also known is that Ida – Isaac’s mother was alive, living in the Bronx and had attended the marriage of her son Isaac to Rebecca (Mar. 8, 1903, Manhattan) and I have a copy of the invitation. Not only was Simon and his wife Anna lived at this 56 Monroe St. address but Rachel and her husband Harry Schwartz was also living there and sister Fanny and Israel were at 58 Monroe St.
Which brings me to mother Ida and son Benjamin who had not yet married. I have long been looking at a 1910 census record for Ida Lipshitz, 60, widow, 10 births 7 living, at 56 Monroe St. with son Benjamin, 20, single, working as operator/sweat shop. (boarder Abraham Appestein,35, operator/sweat shop) I am convinced now this is the correct record for them. She is living by her daughter Rachel, son Simon, and daughter Fanny. Also she had 10 births 7 living and with Rachel, I now have 7 children for her. I have not been able to find anything on her death.
Samuel Lifschitz I have no information on him.
Rachel Lipschitz
According to the records pulled from familysearch.com Rachel Lipschitz was the daughter of David Lipschitz and Yettie Palia. She married Harris (Harry) Sapiro (Shapiro) on 13 March 1898, N.Y.C.. His parents were Yankel Movsha Shapiro (Shapira) and Sadie (Shimka) Fishkin.
Rachel and Harry were the parents of six children. Sadie (abt.1898) Julia (abt. 1900) Dora (abt.1905) Esther Stella (abt.1908), Miriam (Mary) (abt.1909) Aaron (abt. 1913)
Rachel passed away at 55 years of age on 8 Sept. 1932. According to her death record from Ancestry, her place of death was her home at 1270 E. 19th St., Brooklyn. She was widowed and cause of death was Coronary Thromnosism Coronary Sclerosis. She was buried at Washington Cemetery. Her parents were listed as David Lipschutz and Yetta Lipschutz
From familysearch.com
May her memory be a blessing
After discoveries like these I am always hopeful for communication from descendants. I have little to no other information on the children of Rachel and Harry other than names and ages from census records. I will be working on this branch in the future and hope to add more information for them.
Recently I was contacted by a woman researching her family and stumbled upon the blog. (I love those stumbled upon) She was inquiring about a possible connection to me through the Haimowitz line. I will share right now there was not a connection but I initially thought – lost Haimowitz sister? Since corresponding and helping her with research, I decided to post about this family for her and her father in hopes that just like she did, someone will ‘stumble upon’ this posting and I can connect them. Benjamin was her great grandfather and grandfather to her father.
Our main research question is to try and find out who was and what happened to this man named Benjamin Haimowitz. I began by learning Benjamin had married a woman named Gussie, last name unknown. They had a son named Abraham aka Al. Abraham was an only child. Gussie, at some time divorced Benjamin and remarried a man with the last name of Sherman, his first name was unknown. Abraham eventually either legally or not, took on the last name of his step father, Sherman.
Below are three photos that were graciously shared with me by the Sherman family.
order of names mislabeled on front: Abraham (aka AL), Eddie and Harry Haimowitz (abt 1925-1930) back of the photo and labeling order appears to be correct
In the two photo’s below both are labeled with Harry, Harry Haimowitz from the picture above.
Their second question is who was Harry Haimowitz to Abraham/Al? That information has been lost. Was he a brother to Benjamin, a cousin? No information on him has survived their family history.
Al & Harry Haimowitz 1940
Harry and his wife Rose (LNU)
Here is what I have discovered about this family
Abraham aka Al was born on 12 Sept. 1910, in New York City to parents Benjamin Haimowitz and Goldie Gussie Steinworzel,(and with a t wotzel) later shortened to Stein. On the few documents I have located for him his last name has been spelled Heimowitz, Hymowitz and Himowitz.
Gussie’s parents were Jacob Steinworzel and ClaraSchwartz. The family was from Romania.
According to Gussie’s naturalization records her birth date was listed as 3 Nov. 1882 and from what I can tell she was the oldest child of Jacob and Clara. Her last known address was Vaslui, Romania. Leaving from Hamburg, Germany on the 18 Feb. 1900, she arrived on 5 Mar 1900 under the name of Goldie Steinworzel aboard the SS Pretoria. She was traveling with her mother under the name of Alte b. 1860, with siblings David b. 1889, Israel b. 1891, Frume (Anna) b. 1893, and Gittel (Lillian) b. 1899. Jacob and Clara went on to have two more children born in New York, Jennie b. 1902 and Phillip b. 1904. The connection to this family was proven with a DNA match with a granddaughter of Phillip.
Sometime between arriving in 1900 and 1904 Gussie met and married Benjamin Haimowitz. I have not been able to find a marriage record for them. One of the first records I located for Benjamin was the 1910 census under the spelling of Heimowitz. Listed as Bennie, he was 32, b. abt 1878, Romania. They were living at 306 E. 102nd St. N.Y.C.. Benjamin listed his occupation as tinsmith, he could read and write, Gussie was marked not able to read and write. Gussie had also reported she had had 3 births and 0 were living. Benjamin had arrived in 1900 and had submitted his papers to naturalize. I have been unable to locate his naturalization papers.
Ancestry.com 1910 United States Federal CensusGussie listed 3 births 0 living which was a confirming clue that I had the correct couple
Using familysearch.com I was able to locate the three births and deaths for the children born to Benjamin and Gussie prior to Abraham being born.
In 1905 daughter Zipora (Heimowitz) was born. She lived for a year and on 17 of Jan 1906 she passed away. She was buried at Silver Lake Cemetery on Staten Island. Her parents were listed as Benny Heimowitz and Gossie Stein. Also noted was the address of 306 E. 102 St. tenement. Interestingly her place of birth was listed as Rochester N.Y. Her death certificate is available for purchase.
8 Oct. 1907 Sarah (Himowitz) was born and died 2 years later on 10 Oct. 1909. She is buried at Mt. Zion Cemetery, Queens, N.Y.. Her father was listed as Benjamin Himowitz and her mother as Gussie Stein.
Their third child was Zudek Lewis (Himowitz) born 4 Apr 1909 and on this birth record his parents are Benjamin Himowitz and Gussie Stein Himowitz. He passed away on 31 May 1909. On his death record (all records from familysearch) his name was written Zudek Lewis and his mother was listed as Gussie Goldy. He was also buried at Mt. Zion and the address was noted as 306 E. 102nd St.
Benjamin and Gussie faced the death of three children prior to their last Abraham (AL) born 12 Sept. 1910 at 306 E. 102 St.
Sometime between 1910 and 1915 Gussie had separated from Benjamin. I located her on the 1915 census listed as Goldie (33) living with her parents Jacob and Clara at 1294 Park Ave. N.Y.C. along with her siblings Lillie, Annie, Jennie and Phillip. She was working as a ‘finisher’. Her son Abraham was not listed with the family. He would have been 5 years old. It just may have been an omission by the census worker but the question is raised where was Al and what had happened to Benjamin? I have not been able to locate any records for either of them in the 1915 census using both Ancestry and Familysearch.
I have searched military records for a WWII draft registration for Benjamin on Ancestry, Familysearch and Fold3 and could not locate anything that even came close to a match.
I feel lucky I found a divorce record for Benjamin and Gussie with her name recorded as Goldie. In this case the defendant was Goldie and Benjamin had filed for the divorce.
Bronx County, New York, U.S., Divorce and Civil Case Records, 1914 – 1995 Ancestry
Name:
Goldie Hymowitz
Plaintiff or Defendant:
Defendant
Date of Action:
15 Dec 1920
Place of Action:
Bronx, New York
Other Party:
Benjamin Hymowitz
Volume Number:
4
Page number:
321
File Number:
3341
Location:
The Office of the Bronx County Clerk
As you will read shortly on Gussie’s naturalization paper’s, the final date for her divorce was Sept. 22, 1921 however on the 1920 census Gussie (37) claimed to be married to Morris Sherman (40). They were living with her parents Jacob and Clara, along with sisters Lillie,Jennie and her brother Phillip. Also listed was grandson Abe (9) under the last name of Sherman. The address was 630 E. 170th St. Bronx. According to the census, Morris arrived in 1904 from Russia and had applied for citizenship. He was working as a tailor in a shop. I have been unable to locate any prior census records for Morris.
By 1925 Morris had moved Gussie and Abraham/Al still under the name of Sherman (14) to 996 Trinity St. in the Bronx. Morris was working as a presser and listed his status as alien. Living with them now was Morris’s three children from his first marriage, Isadore (13) Helen (17) office helper and Sophia (16) With the exception of Helen, the others were in school. I have been unable to discover who his first wife was.
If you remember the photo above, taken at Coney Island, with Al and Harry, there was the friend Eddy (Anthony Eddie) Lo Guercio (15). I was excited to spot Eddie and his parents living at the same address as the Shermans. They were too entries down from the Shermans. Eddie was the son of Andrew and Leonarda both from Italy. From this information I have dated the photo abt 1925-1930. Father Andrew was working as a barber. In the photo below I feel like the boys all appear about in the same age group.
Al, Eddie and Harry
In the photo of the 3 men, the Sherman family has confirmed Abraham on the end in pants, leaving the middle to be Eddie (as marked on the back side of the photo) and the right end in shorts as Harry. A blow up of Harry with Rose has him in glasses.
itThe labeling of this photo, 1940 has me a bit confused. Abraham is the younger man with the tie. Believed to be ‘Harry Haimowitz’ could this be the same Harry? They do not look the same to me. Our 2nd question is who was this Harry Haimowitz to Abraham and Benjamin? and I am questioning is this the same Harry?
Getting back to the family
In 1930 on the census Abraham, listed as Al (19) was recorded as the step son of Morris Sherman. His last name was butchered by the census worker and recorded as Howizthy. I am sure my inability to find records for Benjamin is do to this kind of spelling errors. The family was now living at 2011 Mapes Ave, Bronx. Morris was a presser in a tailor shop. Helen was working as a saleswoman in ladies wear, Sophia an operator in leather goods. Isadore (18) and Al were not working. They were renting at $45 a month, they had no radio, and both he and Gussie, listed as Gennie, could not read or write and the language spoken was yiddish.
Abraham/Al Sherman married Blance Weisser on January 21, 1933, Bronx, N.Y.. In 1940 they were living at 3009 Kingsbridge Terrace in the Bronx. The census records they were living there in 1935. Their first child had been born. His occupation was listed as law professional.
Gussie Sherman applied for citizenship on 3rd or 5th of May, 1933 and became a naturalized citizen on 8 August 1940.
The page below gives us some inside into her divorce from Benjamin but unfortunately does not provide enough information to locate him. She initially stated she had remarried in 1918 but this was amended to state it wasn’t until Sept. 22, 1921 with her divorce on Feb. 24 1921. This may explain the confusion with the 1920 census which had then living together and married.
Gussie Sherman from her Naturalization record
At first I was unable to locate Gussie and Morris on the 1940 census. Using the address on Gussies naturalization papers I searched Ancestry with just the 2091 Prospect Ave. address. Morris had been transcribed as Harris. Morris (62) Gussie (56) had been living in the home since 1935. Both said they had no schooling, they were renting – $34 – working still as a presser, Morris had been out of work for 20 weeks and had made $900. Living with them was a widow, female Feinberg (73) she was not working but under the heading of ‘other income’ it said yes.
I was unable to conclusively find any death records for both Gussie and Morris.
While I still have not answered the question of what happened to Benjamin or the question who was Harry Haimowitz, in my next posting I will be sharing about the discovery of a brother to Benjamin Haimowitz.
I am looking for the sister of my great grandmother Rebecca Haimowitz nee Srulowitz. She was the daughter of Samuel Strulowitz and Minnie Cohen. Rebecca had a sister also using the name of Minnie who married a man (unknown). They had two daughters, one was Esther and the other was Molly, known as red headed Molly, as not to be confused with her 1st cousin Molly, daughter of Rebecca and Samuel Haimowitz. Esther is a new piece of information shared recently shared with me by my cousin Arline.
I know that Rebecca had family in Chicago, Illinois which has been my primary area of search along with multiple DNA connections to Srulowitz families there.
I am searching for Minnie (maiden name Srulowitz or alternate spellings) who had two daughters Molly and Esther – a needle in a haystack search.
Leaving no stone unturned in my search for the missing sister and family, while searching on newspapers.com, I spotted an article, year 1899, name Srolowitz, in a Chicago paper, that jumped out at me. The title was intriguing, so I had to take a look.
From the Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinios) . 20 Jan 1899, Fri . Page 8
.This was a real live matchmaker’s tale and I just had to dig further. With the little information that was given I began searching for Benjamin Perbona on both ancestry and familysearch.org and came up with nothing. Going back to newspapers.com, I found a second related article which gave me additional information. The name of the granddaughter, Rachel (Papini ? Lapini ? ) I had the grandmothers name Hannah Srolowitz, the groom Benjamin Perbona, the bride Rachel, the wronged matchmaker, Meyer Brick. Now I was wondering why this mention in a Texas paper as well as a Chicago paper.
From the San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) 1899 > February >12
Checking back on familysearch.org, I tried using the spelling of Perboner on a hunch and found 1 mention for a passport application for a Benjamin Perboner, event year 1895, he was 19, with a birth date of 3 Oct. 1876, location Chicago, Ill.. Also noted was a witness Adolph Perboner, was this a brother, father, uncle, cousin?
familysearch.org U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925
Switching back to ancestry.com, I decided to look under the All Public Member Trees and spotted three researchers with a Bernhard Perbohner Perboner with the 3 Oct. 1876 birth date. One of the researchers immediately jumped out at me – The Ogron Family. I had been in contact with them before. While not a direct connection with me, they do connect through marriage on the Weiss/Hyamovitch branches.
Here I was, looking at a matchmakers tale involving Srolowitz’s that circled back possibly connecting to my branch in some way. Continuing to search with the name of Bernhardt, I located this record below for a marriage to a Eleanor Rabchikow. It was not ‘Rachel’ from the newspaper article but the date certainly matched. I had the last name of what looked like Papini or Lapini from the article. Using that, I could not find any records to match or come close
Name:
Bernhardt Perbohner
Age:
22
Gender:
Male
Birth Year:
abt 1876
Marriage Type:
Marriage
Marriage Date:
18 Oct 1898
Marriage Place:
Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Spouse Name:
Eleanor Rabchikow
Spouse Age:
16
Spouse Gender:
Female
FHL Film Number:
1030289
Next I checked for a census record for Bernhardt and Eleanor and easily found a 1900c record for them under Bernard (b. 1870), occupation printer and Ella (b.1882) making her 18 and the right age for her age with the marriage. It also listed living with them (transcribed as Groehowitz but was clearly Srolowitz looking at the census) was grandfather Lieb and grandmother Anna Srolowitz on the census record. Anna could very well be Hannah. Also living with them was their son Rubin, 11/12, born 1899. They were living at 235 Maxwell St. Chicago, Ill..
I believe I have the family of the newspaper article. But why Eleanore? Perhaps one explanation is that Rachel was her Hebrew name and what her grandmother knew and referred to her as. Her last name in the article is still a mystery. And why the passport application of Benjamin as a musician and not a printer?
The 1910c listed him with the name Bernard, 33, printer in a printing shop, owned his home with a mortgage at 657 Maxwell St, Chicago, Ill.. Wife Eleanor 28, were children Reuben 10, Miriam 1. Living with them still was father-in-law Leeb Srolowitz 72, and Annie Srolowitz 63. (Bernard and Eleanor would add one more daughter Lillian abt 1914)
The name of ‘Benjamin’ on the marriage record still threw me and why was he a musician and not a printer? I decided to check on the parents of Bernhardt/Bernard and see what I could learn from that.
His parents were Elias (Bernhardt) Perbohner b. 1831, Kourland, Germany and his mother was a woman named Rae (Rachel) Rose b. Dec. 1834, Germany. They were the parents of Adolph, William, Mary, Ida, Jacob, Rose and Lina and Bernhardt. His brother Adolph rang the bell and if you remember from the above passport record, he was the witness for Benjamin Perboner.
I was unable to locate any census records for Adolph on ancestry and familysearch. I wanted to try and match up the address Adolf had given on the passport record.
Turning to Military records and finding two WW1 records really opened up a lot more questions.
Ancestry.com Bernard, Chicago, printer and wife Eleanor Ancestry.com Bernhard, Seattle, Violin teacher, wife Ray – (Rachel)
They had to be two different people. But what about the Srolowitz connection? What about the brother Adolph on the passport? What about the marriage year reported in the newspaper article of 18 Oct, 1898 and the marriage record for Bernhardt to Eleanor on that date?
I started clicking on hints for Bernhardt and Eleanor and then located this one for their daughter Miriam
Then I located a 1910 c in Seattle, WA for Ida P. Goldberg, 42, widow living with her brother Bernhard Perboner 34, musician in an orchestra. Ida was one of Bernhard sisters. Bernhard had a sister Ida, who married Jacob Goldberg on the 19 Jan. 1886, N.Y.C.. She would later marry a second time to Samuel J. Levenson in 1912, Chicago, Ill..
I also found a Bernhard Perboner 63, at 6041 Sycamore St. Seattle, divorced, music teacher in the 1940c.
Here is his WW11 draft registration from ancestry.com
What began with a newspaper article with the name of Strolowitz in the year 1899, with a mention in a Chicago paper and also in a Texas paper has certainly led me on quite a journey. Has this circled back and connected to my branch – not that I can prove at this time.
The big question now for me is, am I dealing with two different men and families? Bigamy also crossed my mind. I don’t have the answers. I would love to know more about Hannah/Anna and Leib Srolowitz.
I have checked in with the Ogron family, the other researchers and hope to hear back from them. I will be digging deeper. In my next posting, I am hoping I may have stumbled onto something that may clear things up.
On May 14th, I wrote a post about Freda Hyamovitch (1c2xr) who was traveling from her home in England to Brooklyn, New York. You can read the post at the link below.
On her travel document she had declared she was traveling to 127 Corbin Place, Brooklyn, New York. This document opened up the question for me – who was she traveling to? Could it be to the home of our mystery Haimowitz – sister to brothers Marks Hyamovitch and Samuel Haimowitz. (Marks was her father. I was hoping researching the address might lead me to this sister, but it hadn’t)
On April of 1951, Freda traveled to New York and visited with her Aunt and Uncle Samuel (my great-grandfather). Below photo taken on this visit with her mystery Aunt, Samuel and Freda.
Since locating our branch of the family in England, I have been in close contact with a 3rd cousin named Karen. Yesterday, she was visiting her Aunt Marie (my 2ndc1r) and Karen shared with Marie the post I had written ‘Freda Hyamovitch/Hyams 1919-1994 And Her Mystery Aunt’
Corresponding by email, Marie shared she thought the address in Brooklyn, 127 Corbin Place, probably belonged to Marks Hyamovitch wife’s family. Freda was most likely traveling to her mother Polly’s side of the family. Marie also shared she too had visited Brooklyn in the 1950’s. She had visited with Marion Levin (nee Weiss) and her two brothers, Samuel and Norman.
With this lead, I began to look at the Weiss family. Polly Weiss, Marks wife, had a sister Rose and brother Phillip (Pacey) both who immigrated to the United States, Phillip eventually settling in Chicago and Rose remaining in New York. Phillip married Sarah Meiselman and Rose married William Levin.
Phillip and Sarah had children Jeanette, Rachel and Seymour. Rose and William had children Samuel, Norman and Marion.
Ruling out Phillip and Sarah’s children during this time period, I focused on records for Rose and William’s children and looked for anything I may have missed when originally researching them.
There it was, with the help of Marie and her memories, I found the New York Passenger arrival list for Marion Levin, age 27, single, departing Southhampton and arriving in New York on 7 May, 1950, returning home to 127 Corbin Place. She had been to England visiting family.
While Freda had indeed traveled to Brooklyn, New York and visited with her Aunt and Uncle she had traveled to and was visiting with her cousin Marion Levin nee Weiss and family.
Thank you Marie and Karen for your help in solving this family mystery.
Freda Hyamovitch was my 1 cousin 2x removed. She was the daughter of Marks Hyamovitch and Polly (Pauline) Weiss. Born June 20, 1919 in London, England, her first marriage was to Jack Power in 1939, London and her second marriage was to Sidney Katanka in 1947, London.
Freda was the key to discovering that her father Marks, was the brother of my great grandfather Samuel Haimowitz. Below is the photo that started it all.
Unknown sister of Marks and Samuel, Samuel, Freda 1949 or 1951
Found on Ancestry, below is the outbound and inbound passenger lists for the “Queen Elizabeth”. Freda left Southhampton bound for New York on March 18, 1949. (Freda’s name appears closer to the bottom. Freda, age 29, traveling alone to N.Y.)
Here is her return document, line 21. She left New York on April 28th, 1949. Her visit was 41 days.
Freda (line 10) made another trip in 1951. On this manifest, below, the date inbound was April 29th, aboard the Queen Mary. It reads that her destination was 127 Gorbin Pl. Brooklyn. I have discovered that this was a typo error and the street was Corbin Pl. This visit was for a month.
The record below shows her returning on May 29th. (line 170)
Who lived at 127 Corbin Place, Brooklyn that Freda was visiting ? Was it her Aunt, the unknown sister of her father Marks and Uncle Samuel? Below shows the home at 127 Corbin which was built in 1930.
Wide street view of Corbin Place Brooklyn- Google
Middle home with the fancy brick porch
Finding this destination address for Freda seemed a clue for possibly discovering who she was visiting.
After locating the home/address my next step was to see if I could discover who was living at there on the 1940c. Although she was traveling in ’49 and ’51, my thought was if I could locate who was living at this address and there was a married woman, I could look for a marriage record and try and discover the maiden name, hoping it would match Haimowitz. If so, then hopefully I may have discovered the missing sister.
Proving a bit more difficult than I thought, I turned to Facebook group Tracing The Tribe for help. Diane Greenspun found this mention for a Samuel Hyman living at the 127 Corbin address in 1945.
1945 – from Newspaper.com
Samuel Hyman, musician was living at 127 Corbin Place in 1945. This seemed close enough to the 1951 date and worth investigating who Samuel was and if there could be a connection. Locating his WWII draft registration, I confirmed this was the right man with the address and his occupation.
I found Samuel (46) on the 1930 census at 1813 6th Street, Brooklyn living with Louis Wattman (49) (above record of person who will always know where Samuel was) his wife Ray (46) and daughter Helen (21). Further census records revealed another daughter named Sadie. Samuels occupation was listed musician – band. Louis was working as a furrier in a shop, Ray was home and Helen was millinery – hat shop. I also noticed that Samuel was listed as divorced.
As I continued to think about this development in my search I had two questions forming. Could Ray be Ray Haimowitz, married to Louis Wattman, our missing sister or could Samuel Hyman have been married to our missing sister at one time? Had Freda actually been visiting with the Wattmans or Samuel or had they since moved from the 127 Corbin address and someone else was there in 1950/51?
Using both Ancestry and Familysearch I was able to confirm that Louis Wattman was at the 127 Corbin address in 1942 with his WWII draft registration. Samuel was living with this family for 12 years and most likely up till 1945 with the address and date of the above newspaper mention.
Clues continued with a death record on Familysearch. Looking for a 1940c for Louis, I found a death record for his daughter Sadie b. 1906. (I had found this daughter on 1910c and 1920 c) This record listed her mothers name as Ray Kaplan. (Ray was Rachel from earlier census records)
I had now proved that Louis was not married to our mystery Haimowitz sister.
Sadie Levy nee Wattman was born in 1906/7 (records differ) and passed away at the age of 25 on 27 May 1932, Brooklyn, N.Y.. She is buried at Mt Judah Cemetery, Ridgewood, Queens. She had married Irving Levy in 1929
The Standard Union (Brooklyn, New York) . 08 Mar 1928, The. Page 7
Checking back on Ancestry.com, I found Samuel Hyman on the 1920c (40) married, living at 133 E. Broadway with his parents Abram (67) (musician) and Lena (67) also in the household was his brother Irving (37) noted as single and a grandson, Benjamin (16). Both Irving and Samuel were listed as Musicians – Theatre. There was no wife listed for Samuel. Since he was listed as married, I assumed the grandson was the son of Samuel and not Irving.
Next step was to try and locate Samuel Hyman with a wife and son Benjamin.
I found a 1905c, 1910c and 1915c all with Samuel listed as musician. 1905c Samuel (23) Minnie (19), Benjamin (2) and MIL Rosie Slovei (65 – midwife) living with them. MIL Rose was Rose Posner (58) widow on the 1910c but on the 1915c Rose (55) was Slovinsky. On the 1910c daughter Goldie (4) had joined the family. The two different last names helped in identifying Minnies maiden name. I was losing hope that Minnie was a Haimowitz, no less our mystery sister. Further research has pretty much confirmed she is not her.
A marriage record on Ancestry for a Minnie Peisneck to a Samuel Hyman 6 Nov. 1902, seemed to be the only record found that could fit. A look at Familysearch located the birth record for Benjamin with his mothers name listed Minnie Pasnick Hyman. I had a match. Posner on the 1910c seemed to be a transcription error for Pasnick and taking a closer look it most definitely could be Posnick and not Posner.
I have solved this clue – somewhat. Neither Rachel/Ray Wattman nor Minnie Hyman are our missing mystery sister.
The question still remains – was Freda traveling from England to visit The Wattmans or Samuel Hyman? The 1950 census will be coming out next year. Then I will be able to see who was living at this address yielding perhaps another lead.
Until then perhaps this will jog a memory for a family member and provide me with another lead for finding the mystery sister of Samuel and Marks.
It is time for me to go back and address the Lipshitz branch of the family. Most recently, through the blog, I connected with two distant cousins and while DNA has confirmed the connection, I am still unable to connect our dots. They both connect to me through Solomon and Sarah Maria Lifshitz. I was delighted to be gifted this wonderful wedding photo of the marriage of Fannie Lifshitz and Abraham Ordin.
Abraham Odin and Fannie Lifshitz ~ Courtesy Ordin Family
Fannie Lifshitz was the daughter of Solomon (Zalman Hillel) Lifshitz and Sarah Marie Kinoy. She was born on July 18, 1896, Gomel, Russia. On January 17, 1915, N.Y.C., Fannie married Abraham Ordin. He was the the son of Hersh Ordin and Minnie Rosenbloom (info from family search.org) Abraham was born abt. 1890 Gomel, (Belarus) Russia The photo above is the first photo I have for this family branch.
I need to make note of the spelling of the last name. While my immediate branch spelled it with a ‘p’ most all other branches spelled it with a ‘f’
My great grandfather was a man named Benjamin Lipshitz. He was born November 10, 1883, Slutsk, (Belarus) Russia. His date of immigration is still unknown however it was prior to November, 1913 in N.Y.C., when he married Kate Rosen born the 10 January, 1889, Sompolno, Poland. Both Benjamin and Kate were born hearing but both became deaf from childhood illnesses.
They had three daughters Myra (b. 1914) my grandmother, Esther (b.1916) and Mary (b.1918).
Prior to the beginning of my family research very little to no information was known about Benjamin’s family, parents, siblings. All the information/knowledge seemed to be lost.
By obtaining marriage and death records for Benjamin I learned that his parents were
David Lipshitz and Ida Paley. I am estimating their birth years 20 years prior to their first child, to be about 1847 – 1850. For Ida I have numerous first names on documents, Ida, Yetta, Edith, Gittle as well as Pallai/Palley for the last name. With this information, some DNA matches and purchasing marriage and death documents, along with using familysearch.org, I was able to confirm these 4 siblings with 1 still unconfirmed.
Benjamin’s siblings were
Fanny (b.1870), Molly (b.1872), Solomon (b.1873), Isaac (b.1880) and Samuel.
Fanny married Israel Lifshitz (same last name) and went on to have Estelle, Jacob, Samuel, Benjamin and Dorothy.
Molly married Hyman (Harry) Cohen and they went on to have two sons, Jacob and Joseph.
Solomon (Simon) married Anna Dinofsky and they had Moses (Moe), Rachel (Rae), Esther (Estelle), Stella Dora and Charles.
Isaac (Ike) married Rebecca Leff and they had two sons David and Naphtali
The last of the siblings was Samuel but I have no information at this time for him.
Also connected through DNA is the family of Fannie above. Her siblings were
Samuel (abt 1885) Elias (b.1887), Isaac Isidore (b.1890), Ida, Annie, Fannie (b.1896), Minnie (b. 1900) and Emaunel (b. 1905)
Samuel – I have no information
Elias married Maria (Manya) Golden they had Ruth Rachel, Murray (Moses), Jean, Anne Constance, Betty, Edith and Edward
Isaac Isidore married Bertha Deitch and they had daughter Frances and son Bernard.
Ida and Annie – I have no information on either of them
Minnie Michele married Julius Delan they had children Daniel, Hannah, Edith, and Ira Arthur
Emanuel married Eleanor Rosen and they had Martha, Howard and Susan
These two families connect, just how I have not been able to figure out. When my great grandfather Benjamin married Kate Rosen (an arranged marriage) he was living at 1268 Park Ave. N.Y.C. as noted on his marriage license. On the 1915 census living at that same address was Solomon and Sarah Marie with children Annie, Minnie, Mendel (Emanuel) and Isaac. Solomon and Sarah would remain at that address up until Solomon passed in 1935.
Also at that same address in 1910c and 1915c was Benjamin’s brother Isaac (Ike) wife Rebecca and their two sons David and Naphtali.
Solomon’s (Zalman Hillel) parents, as listed on his death certificate were David Lifshitz and Rachel Rifkin. Using the age of Solomon at his passing of 62 we can estimate his birth year as about 1873. Going back 20 years we can estimate his fathers date of birth as about 1853. Doing the same with my great grandfather and his siblings estimating his father David Lifshitz born between 1847 – 1850. The overlap of ages for children rules out David as having been married to Rachel Rifkin then Ida Paley (or vice versa). So we need to go back a generation if not more for our shared ancestor. With out more information for now I am stuck.
But connections with families means the possibilities of more information and answers so I have never been more excited to connect with the descendants of Fanny Lifshitz and Elias Lifshitz.
Still standing in our families story is the Srulowitz/Strulowitz brick wall. (I will be using the spelling of Srulowitz as this seems to be the most common spelling in my records)
Who, where, what happened to you, sister of Rebecca Srulowitz born abt. 1885 in Romania? Rebecca married Samuel Haimowitz in Romania. Their first son was Hyman (Herman) born 1898, Iasi, followed by Pincus (Paul),1901, Galati. I have not been able to find the families immigration record but my best guess, based on records, is 1902. Daughter Freda (Fay), 1902/3, Isidore Irving (my grandfather) 1904, and Molly 1911, were all born in N.Y.C.. Rebecca’s death certificate said she was 51 when she passed away on Jan 4, 1937. Rebecca was laid to rest at Mt. Zion Cemetery, N.Y. on the following day. Her parents were listed as Samuel (sp) Strolowitz and Minnie Cohen, both from Romania.
Missing sister, family remembrances have you known as Minnie Srulowitz (same as your mom), you married and had at least 2 daughters, one of which was named Molly, who was known as “red headed Molly” so she wouldn’t be confused with her cousin Molly Haimowitz who married Louis Petchers in 1933, N.Y.C.. This memory indicates to me there must have been a close family connection of some kind as there could be confusion.
As I continue my search to break down this wall, I have been able to identify many DNA cousin. I have worked on fleshing out their trees, comparing dates, ordering death and marriage certificates to look for parental names but I have not been able to identify with any certainty these family connections.
While the brick wall still stands, it’s not to say I haven’t discovered interesting and fun information and facts on Srulowitz’s. Like the most recent one below for Sidney Srulowitz and his feather beds that became hand sewn quilts.
Sidney Quilt Shop
The Standard Union Brooklyn New York 04 May 1929, Page 17
In paragraph 2 it starts “Handmade Quilts are a specialty of Sidney’s Quilt Shop”. This article caught my eye because I am a hand quilter. His quilt speciality of course could have been machine stitched but the fact it didn’t say ‘machinemade’ peeked my interest. I began hand quilting in the mid 70’s. Below are 2 of 4 quilts I made this past year, 2020.
Dahlia Quilt
Capitol T Quilt
The question became, who was Sidney Srulowitz and was there a possibility he could be related to my Rebecca?
I began with a search of public member trees on Ancestry for him and identified 4 different Sidney’s, 1 married to Rose, Fanny, Evelyn and a Rhoda. Sidney (last name Small) jumped out at me because his parents were listed Isidore Srulowitz and Gussie Silverman and that seemed familiar to me. Checking census records showed Sidney, married to Rose was the proprietor of a leather shop but his WWII Draft registration record listed his occupation as “Self, Sidney’s Quilt Shop ” Long Island City.
Sidney Srulowitz was born 19 Oct. 1907, N.Y. He was the son of Isidore Srulowitz born abt. 1884, Romania, died 21 Jan. 1940, Manhattan, N.Y. and Gussie Silverman born abt. 1888, Romania died 28 Aug. 1945, N.Y.. Sidney and Gussie had 9 children, Sidney the oldest followed by Miriam 1909, Irving Maxwell 1910, Paul 1913, Mollie 1916, Joseph 1917, Hyman 1920, Edith Yetta 1923, and Charles 1927. Noted here: it appears all the male children changed their last name to Small sometime around 1940.
Once I discovered Sidney’s father was Isidore my question in researching became, could Isidore be a brother to my Rebecca making her Sidneys Aunt and 1st cousin to my grandfather.
Checking in on father Isidore, he was the original quilter. His WWI draft registration, 1918 lists his occupation as “Quilt Manufacturer in business for himself”. Both his home and business address was listed as 173 Allen Street, N.Y.C.. It also gave his birth date as Dec. 1881. The date corresponds with Rebecca’s estimated birth year of 1885. Checking family search I found his death record with a link to findagrave with his gravestone inscription translated Yehuda, son of Israel David. Isidore is buried at Mt. Hebron Cemetery, Queens, N.Y..
The 1910 census for Isidore and his family provided some additional information. It listed his occupation as a “Quilt Maker” in Industry “Iron Store”, immigration year of 1905 and the spelling of the last name as Strulovitch. Max Strulovitch (21) cutter / mufg. coats was listed as Isidore’s brother and two ‘boarders’ Jake Silverman (19) cutter mufg. quilts and Rose Silverman (17) operator mufg. were also on the census. Although marked boarders, I believe they were the brother and sister of Gussie.
My search for answers had me looking for immigration records for Isidore hoping perhaps I would find a clue as to who they were traveling to, perhaps to a sister Rebecca and husband Samuel Haimowitz ? But I could not locate any records as of this writing.
I went back to searching public member trees to check for DNA matches and any additional clues. One researcher had the parents of Isidore as Samuel Srulowitz and Mollie LNU – that’s was interesting as Rebecca’s death certificate did lists her parents as Samuel and Minnie (Cohen) (There was no documentation to support these parental names) I also had a distant DNA match to two people in one of the trees.
Using the trees on Ancestry, I did discover that Isidore had a confirmed brother named Max Srulowitz married to Yetta Goodman.
I have a few additional steps to take in researching this family. I have ordered the death certificate for Isidore to confirm his father and mothers name, if possible. If the death certificate for Isidore doesn’t show parental names I will default to Max and Yetta’s records, marriage and his death cert. to confirm Samuel and Molly as parents. I am looking for Molly’s last name to be Cohen.
But before I leave you I wanted to remember Gussie (Gittel) Srulowitz nee Silverman, who I discovered passed away in 1945, the results of a terrible car accident.
The Courier-News Bridgewater, New Jersey . 28 Aug 1945, Tues . Page 4
The Standard Union Brooklyn, New York . 04 May 1929 . Sat. Page 17
Notice the address for Pvt. Louis Solnert was listed as ‘same’ as Gussie. In another article it was mentioned that he was her son-in-law and driver Paul’s brother-in-law. I can’t imagine the heartache and pain of Paul and this entire family.
Freda Hyams (Hyamovitch) was my 1st cousin 2x removed. Her second marriage was to Sidney Katanka in January of 1947.
Below is a photo of Freda and Sidney Katanka shared with me by Steve Freedman. Steve contacted me after finding a blog post I had previously written in Memory of Freda. He has graciously shared this wonderful picture with me to share. Steve’s connection to the family is through the Katanka’s, his mother was Sidney’s cousin.
Freda and Sidney Katanka (1960 – 1965) Courtesy of Steve Freedman
This is another glimpse into the life of Freda and Sidney Katanka
I haven’t given up and have been continuing to try and discover the location of the cemetery for the gravestone photo of Miriam Weiss nee Schwartz, mother of Polly, Phillip and Rosie Weiss. I go in spurts, researching, making calls, checking cemeteries and then putting the project aside before starting again.
My connection to the Weiss family is distant; through marriage. Miriam was the mother-in-law of my 2nd great uncle Marks Hyamovitch.
While working on this project I went back to her daughter Rosie, who we believe is in the photograph above. Both Rosie and her husband William Levin are buried in Mt. Hebron Cemetery, Flushing Queens. On ‘Find A Grave’ a photo of Williams headstone is shown but not for Rosie.
It was easy to obtain a photo of Rosie’s headstone using Mt Hebron’s ‘request photo pay now’ button. 3 days later and the photo below was in my email.
Rosie and William Levin ~ May their memory be a blessing
Branches On Our Haimowitz Family Tree 