Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Was the Great Love Story in Your Family Tree?

It's Valentine's Day today, and Randy Seaver has created a challenge related to that for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.

1.  It's Valentine's Day — a day for lovers!  We all have hundreds of love stories in our ancestry.

2.  What was the great love story of the ancestors in your family tree?  What wedding had a great story in it?  Choose one ancestral couple.  Share how they met (if known) and when and where they married.  Note how long they were married.  Highlight something that suggests affection or partnership.

3.  Share your great love story in your family tree in your own blog post or in a Facebook, SubStack, BlueSky, or other social media post.  Leave a link to your post on this blog post to help us find your post.

The one great love story that I know about in my family tree is that of my maternal grandparents, Abraham Meckler and Lillyan Gordon.  Bubbie (Yiddish for grandmother) told me they met on September 15, 1937 in Manhattan, but she never told me how they met.  I know they were both living in Brooklyn (half a mile from each other!), so I have no idea what they were doing that day in Manhattan.

They were married October 29, 1939 in The Bronx, even though they lived in Brooklyn.  It was a double wedding with the younger of Lily's two older brothers, Alexander Gordon, who married Roslyn Rubin.  Technically Al and Rose's wedding was recorded as October 28, 1939, so I don't know if they married before midnight and my grandparents married after midnight.  Supposedly there's a Jewish superstition about double weddings, so the dates were recorded as consecutive instead of the same.

I have been told the caterer for the wedding was Abe's older brother Harry's wife Ida Bogus, who worked in catering with her aunt and uncle, Louis Perelmuth and Anna Posner (sister of Ida's mother).  Louis and Anna had a son named Jacob who was a singer, although not famous at the time (he did become famous under the name Jan Peerce).  He sang two songs at the wedding, although Bubbie did not remember what those songs were.  She did remember that the cantor's son sang "Oh Promise Me" and "Because."

Bubbie and Zadie (Yiddish for grandfather) were married for just over fifty years, until Zadie died on December 10, 1989.  Zadie had been ill for several years but held on for the 50th wedding anniversary party, which was held in Las Vegas.  It was a big family reunion, with relatives coming from all over the country.

I always remember Bubbie and Zadie as being very in love with each other.  Among the many things Bubbie told me was that every year while they were married, Zadie gave her a big flowery card for Valentine's Day.  After Zadie passed away, I sent Bubbie cards for Valentine's Day.

Lily and Abe: A Love Story

Lily and Abe were my maternal grandparents, Lillyan E. Gordon and Abe Meckler.  I knew them as Bubbie and Zadie, Yiddish for grandmother and grandfather.

Lily was born Esther Lillian Gordon on March 6, 1919 at 1575 Madison Avenue, Manhattan, New York.  Her parents were Joe Gordon and Sarah Libby Brainin.

Abe was born Abram Meckler (I think) on July 23, 1912 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.  His parents were Morris Meckler and Minnie Zelda Nowicki.

Bubbie lived in Manhattan until shortly before 1930, when her family was enumerated in Baltimore, Maryland.  In 1940, her parents were enumerated in Brooklyn at 231 Livonia Avenue, and the census taker indicated that they were living in the same house in 1935, so sometime between 1930 and 1935 they moved there.

As far as I know, Zadie lived in Brooklyn from birth through to when he and Bubbie left New York and moved to Florida in the 1940's.  In 1930 he was at 420 Junius Street with his parents.  I have not yet found his father in the 1940 census (his mother died in 1936) so don't have a possible address for 1935, assuming he was living with his father at that time.

I don't know how my grandparents met.  Bubbie told me that they met on September 15, 1937 in Manhattan but didn't give me more details.  So they were both living in Brooklyn but met in Manhattan.  In 1940 they were at 484 Livonia Avenue, Brooklyn, only a couple of blocks from her parents.  The census shows that both were living in Brooklyn in 1935.

Bubbie and Zadie were married October 29, 1939, not in Brooklyn, not in Manhattan, but in The Bronx.  It was a double wedding, of sorts.  Bubbie's older brother, Alexander "Al" Gordon, and Roslyn "Rose" Rubin were married on October 28.  I was told that Jews are not supposed to have double weddings and so Al, being older, was married first and then Bubbie and Zadie were married.  Because the dates that I was told are from the civil calendar, that would suggest that Al and Rose were married just before midnight, and Bubbie and Zadie just after.  But Judaism uses sunset as the divider between days, which could mean that sunset was the breakpoint between the two, and perhaps the consecutive secular dates were used on the marriage returns for convenience.  I probably won't find an answer to that question, or why they were married in The Bronx, now that all four of them have passed away.

Right now I can't find the name of the rabbi who performed the marriages, but I do know that Jan Peerce, the well known Metropolitan tenor, sang two songs, because Bubbie suddenly blurted that out one day.  She couldn't remember what he sang but did recall that the cantor's son sang "Because" (maybe this one) and "Oh Promise Me."

Bubbie and Zadie were in love with each other for their entire lives.  They were always so good to each other and went everywhere together.  For each of the 50 years that they were married, Zadie gave Bubbie a big, flowery Valentine's Day card.  Bubbie used to call Zadie her "little man" because she was taller than he was.

Zadie was ill for the last years of his life but lived long enough to attend the big 50th wedding anniversary party that their three children coordinated for them.  It was held in Las Vegas, and lots of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives came.  I think Zadie really wanted to go to the anniversary and held on so he could.  He died shortly after it took place.  Bubbie missed him so much after he was gone.

Wedding Wednesday

My maternal grandparents, Abe (Jewish name Avram) Meckler and Esther Leah Gordon (known as Lily), were married October 29, 1939, in The Bronx, Bronx County, New York.  Yesterday was the 80th anniversary of their marriage.

The marriage lasted 50 years, ending with the death of my grandfather.  He had been ill for some time but held on long enough for the big 50th anniversary party that was held in Las Vegas in 1989.  So many of my relatives came!  Zadie (Yiddish for grandfather) died in December.

Fifty years is a good long marriage.  Just out of curiosity, I looked up "longest marriage" and found that a Sikh couple in India had been married 90 years.  That's nothing short of amazing.

My grandparents had a double wedding with my grandmother's older brother, Al.  Alexander Gordon married Roslyn (Rose) Rubin on October 28.  I have been told that Jews aren't supposed to do double weddings (don't know if it's actually true), so Al and Rose were married just before the end of the 28th and my grandparents right after the beginning of the 29th.  I was told the changing point was midnight, but that would have made for a very long night.  On top of that, by the Jewish calendar, the day changes at sunset, so maybe it was actually earlier in the day.  I don't think I have a copy of Al and Rose's marriage certificate, so I probably need to get that to check on the story, don't I?

In 1999, when Bubbie (Yiddish for grandmother) and I were visiting my grandfather's cousin Mort, Mort showed us a basic family tree that he had put together.  He told us that the family name of Perlman had originally been Perlmutter.  I made a somewhat cynical observation that there must be a family story that they were related to the famous operatic tenor Jan Peerce, whose original name was Perelmuth (a spelling variation), and Mort said yes, indeed, that they were.  Suddenly Bubbie popped up and said, "He sang at my wedding."  We both stared at her and said, "What??"  See, Jan Peerce was already very famous by 1939, and my grandparents, although I loved them dearly, weren't anything special in New York City society.  So why would the great Jan Peerce be singing at their wedding?

And my grandmother explained that Zadie's brother Harry was married to Jan Peerce's cousin and that the two families were in a catering business together.   So we had a connection.  Maybe Harry asked his wife if she could get her famous cousin to sing at his brother's wedding?  Bubbie couldn't remember the two songs the famous opera singer sang, but she did remember what the cantor's son sang:  "Oh Promise Me" and "Because" (perhaps this one).  (But here's a recording of Peerce singing "Oh Promise Me.")

I have put a little effort into trying to verify the story but haven't gotten anywhere.  I believe I checked the New York Times and didn't find anything.  I suspect that if Jan Peerce was there the wedding would have been written up in one of the many Yiddish neighborhood newspapers that existed in New York City at that time.  Alas, I don't read Yiddish, and none of those newspapers is indexed, much less in English.  But some day I will figure it out.

I have two more photographs from the wedding, which I can't currently find due to too many boxes still unpacked after my move two years ago.  One is of my grandmother alone, and the other is of her and Rose together.  Surprsingly, I don't think I have any photo of Al from the wedding.  I should get in touch with Al and Rose's daughter and rectify that.  And maybe she also has heard the story about Jan Peerce singing at the wedding.  At least that would be more support for it being true.

Events in My Family Tree: February 4

I have many photographs of my Aunt Rose, so it was difficult to choose one to include with this post.  I decided that her smile was best in this one.

Births

Sarah Fox, daughter of John Fox and Catherine Fisher, was born February 4, 1816 in Germantown or Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.  She is my 3rd great-grandmother.

Elmer Gaunt, son of Samuel Gaunt, Jr. and Ann HOrner, was born February 4, 1825.  He is my 3rd cousin 4x removed.

John Franklin Sellers, son of Henry S. Sellers and Mary Ann Yost, was born February 4, 1854 in Pennsylvania.  He is my 2nd cousin 3x removed.

David Foote Sellers, son of Edwin Elias Sellers and Olive Lay Foote, was born February 4, 1874 at Fort McIntosh, Travis County, Texas.  He is my 4th cousin 3x removed.

Wayne Robert Gantt, son of Carl Thomas Gantt and Mabelle Yost, was born February 4, 1918 in York, York County, Nebraska.  He is my 4th cousin 2x removed through my Gauntt line.

Roslyn "Rose" Rubin was also born February 4, 1918, but in Manhattan, New York County, New York.  She is my dear grandaunt by marriage, having been married to Alexander Gordon, son of Joe Gordon and Sarah Libby Brainin, who is my maternal granduncle.

James Owen Gaynor, Jr., son of James Owen Gaynor, Sr. and Maire Hennessey, was born February 4, 1929 in Orange, Essex County, New Jersey.  He is the 1st cousin once removed of my half-sister Laurie Sellers on her mother's side.

Nancy Ann Wolf was born February 4, 1950 in Glen Cove, Nassau County, New York.  She was married to William Paul Bowen, son of Paul Sayer Bowen and Catherine C. Corley, also the 1st cousin once removed of my half-sister Laurie Sellers on her mother's side.

Michael James Allen was born February 4, 1982.  He is my 5th cousin 2x removed on my Gauntt line.

Marriage

Kent Morris Baldwin, son of William Lewis Baldwin and Bette McNear, and Tannis Marie Macklin were married on February 4, 1978.  Kent is my 5th cousin once removed on my Gauntt line.

Deaths

Henry Zepp died February 4, 1857 at the age of 58, probably in Pennsylvania.  He was married to Tirzah Sellers, daughter of Abraham Sellers and Sophia Bodder, who is my 3rd great-grandaunt.

Joseph L. Gauntt, son of Mark Lewallen Gauntt and Rhoda Ewing, died February 4, 1913 at the age of 32, probably in New Jersey.  He is my 3rd cousin 2x removed.