Taking the First Kid to See Zadie (Grandpa)

I'm more than a little obsessive, so I like looking for all the documents I can find for my ancestors and collateral relatives also.  I'm always searching for everyone's names in databases.

Everyone on my mother's side of the family from the generation of my great-grandparents and some of their children immigrated to the United States during the early 20th century.  I have spent a lot of time searching for all of my immigrant relatives in passenger list databases.  This not only provides me with their original names prior to Americanization, but also tell me birth places and names of relatives who were still in Europe, listed as contacts in the old country.

One person I have continued to search for is my great-grandmother's sister, known as Jennie in this country.  After putting several puzzle pieces together, I have determined that her Jewish name was probably Zlate, although I have yet to find the passenger list for her first arrival in this country.

I know that Jennie married her cousin Louis Perlman (originally Leiser Perlmutter) June 30, 1908 in Brooklyn, so she had to have arrived before that date.  On May 22, 1906, my great-grandfather Moishe Meckler came into New York and provided the name of his sister-in-law — Zlate — as his relative here, so she was here before then.

Louis himself arrived at Ellis Island a few days earlier than Moishe, on May 19, 1906, and said the relative he was coming to was his cousin, so she was here before that date.  And Jennie's brother Sam arrived July 27, 1905 and listed her as his point of contact, so she was here by then.

But I still haven't found that passenger list for Jennie.  I have found her on a passenger list, but for several years later.

On the passenger list for the S.S. Zeeland, which departed Antwerp May 18, 1912 and arrived in New York May 29 (113 years ago today!), two of the passengers were Jennie Perlman and her son, Rubin Perlman.  They traveled in the second-class cabin, not in steerage, which was the normal method of travel for poor immigrant Jews coming from Eastern Europe.

Jennie and Rubin are the last two names in this image

Another unusual aspect of their travel is that they were apparently not held at Ellis Island.  Unlike the woman and her three children on lines 3 through 6, who are marked with X's, indicating they were detained; or the three minors on lines 14 through 16, just above Jennie, who have SI in front of each of their names, overstamped with ADMITTED, indicating they were held for Special Inquiry, Jennie and Rubin were apparently admitted with no delay.  Normally a woman of child-bearing age who was not accompanied by a man — particularly a woman with a child — was held until someone came to meet her, due to concerns that she would become a burden upon society, a "likely public charge" (abbreviated as LPC on pages listing detainees).  Maybe Louis met her at the ship.

Something not visually evident is that Jennie shouldn't have been listed on this page at all.  The title at the top of the page is very clear, in large capital letters:  LIST OR MANIFEST OF ALIEN PASSENGERS.  But Jennie was no longer an alien.  Her husband, Louis, became a naturalized citizen of the United States on January 23, 1912.  Under the laws of the time, she automatically became a citizen at the same time.  And Rubin was born here, so he was a citizen.  I don't know why Jennie and Rubin are on this page and not on a page for U.S. citizens.  On the other hand, I don't know when they departed the United States to travel to Europe, so it's possible that Louis had not completed his naturalization before they left.

When I first discovered this passenger list, I wondered why Jennie had taken the trip.  Then I noticed who she said was her nearest relative in the country whence she came:  her father, G. [Gershon] Nowitzky.  I think she went to visit her parents to introduce them to her first child.  Rubin wasn't Gershon's first grandchild — my great-grandmother Minnie, who was Jennie's older sister, had her first three children in Europe, and Gershon would have known them — but maybe Jennie was worried her parents wouldn't come to the United States (they didn't come until ten years after this) and wanted to make sure Rubin had an opportunity to meet them.

I'm glad I found this passenger list.  On the second page, in addition to saying that Jennie was born in Porozowo, Russia (now Porazava, Belarus), there is a notation that Jennie first came to the United States in 1904 and was in New York.  Maybe that will help me track down that first passenger list.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Did You Have Fun This Past Week?

Yay!  Randy Seaver gave me the perfect opening to talk about my great genealogy discoveries for tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music), is:

1.  Did you have good genealogy fun this past week?  Did you add to your family tree?  Did you make a great discovery?  Did you try something new?  Did you make family history?

2.  Share your genealogy fun in this past week on your own blog post or in a Facebook, SubStack, or BlueSky post.  Leave a link on this blog post to  help us find your post.

I was hoping that whatever topic Randy chose for tonight would be something I could work to my advantage, and it is!  Because I definitely had genealogy fun this past week.

Several months ago (August, in fact), Lara Diamond wrote on her Lara's Jewnealogy blog about Alien Registration forms (AR-2's) from 1940 having been transferred from USCIS to the National Archives.  These were forms that people who had not become citizens — whether they had filed only first papers or had filed no papers at all toward citizenship — had to fill out at the beginning of World War II.

The form asked for all names an alien had used, including maiden names, so you can find a still-unknown maiden name if a woman registered.  If you haven't found someone on a passenger list, that was information the person had to include.  If an individual had filed first papers but not followed through with the petition to finish the naturalization process, that was also requested on the form.

So I've known about these forms since August.  There's a great search form on the NARA site you can use to look for all those relatives of yours who might be in there.  I found my great-great-grandfather Gershon Novitsky (originally Nowicki), his niece (my first cousin 3x removed) Ethel Novitsky (also originally Nowicki, but immigrated under her married name of Perlmutter), my great-grandmother's baby brother Benjamin Brainin, and a cousin named Molly Nowick (originally, you guessed it, Nowicki).

This is the same search form I used when I looked for my sister's significant other's grandfather (boy, is that convoluted), which I wrote about in January.  Gary ordered his grandfather's AR-2, and it arrived only a day or two later, just as Lara described in her blog.  Hooray for NARA!

Well, I finally was able to send in my first AR-2 order.  I requested those for Gershon Novitsky and Ethel Novitsky.

NARA didn't fail me.  The next business day after I had sent my request, I had a response telling me how much it would cost and what to do.  I followed through, and the day after that I had my PDF's, sent electronically.  Hooray for NARA again!

I knew a lot of the information on Gershon's form, but two pieces of data confirmed stories that had not yet been documented.  One was something cousins had told me:  Yes, Gershon had originally immigrated to the United States in 1922, but a few years later he took a trip back to Europe and then returned.  And right there on his AR-2, he said that he had last come to this country in 1926 and provided a different ship name than the one on which he had arrived in 1922.  (I'm still looking for that second passenger list.  I'm wondering if my great-great-grandmother traveled with him and which relative they listed in Europe.)

The second item was something I noticed when I found Gershon in the 1930 census:  He had apparently filed his "first papers", or his Declaration of Intention.  After finding this, I had searched in the immigration database on Ancestry, but I had not found him.  But on the AR-2, he provided a spelling for his name I had not seen previously:  Gershen Navitzky.  And when I searched for that exact spelling, I found his Declaration, which he filed at the age of 72!

Other tidbits from the form were a complete birth date (which I am not taking as gospel, but it's the first time I have seen one for him), his birthplace of Porozowo (which I had hypothesized), and the fact that he signed in Hebrew but apparently could not sign in English.  He also stated that he had four children living in the United States, and I believe I have them all accounted for.

The second AR-2 I received was that for Gershon's niece, Ethel Novitsky.  I have avidly researched Ethel and her family, because there are multiple connections with my branch of the family, but I had never found her on a passenger list.  I had narrowed down the arrival to around 1921 and had determined three of her children whom I thought had traveled with her, but I just could not find them.

Guess what?  Ethel provided the ship name, date of arrival, and port — which was not New York!  Nope, she came into Boston.

Okay, jump onto the computer and start searching.  And yes, I found her this time, and the three children I had surmised should be with her.  She had the correct port and ship name and was only a couple of weeks off on the arrival date.  And now I have the Jewish names for all four of them.  Okay, most of them were easy guesses:  Etta for Ethel, Chane for Anna, and Feiga for Fannie.  But I never could have come up with Kadusz for Karl.  I also learned the name of Ethel's brother, about whom I had never heard even a whisper.  He was her nearest relative back in Europe.  I also know it's the right family because they were going to Ethel's son Louis, whom I have researched a lot.

Other helpful items from Ethel's form are a complete birth date, which I am again not taking as gospel, and her birthplace of Shereshevo, which I had correctly hypothesized.  She said she had six children living in the United States, all of whom I have found.  Ethel, unlike Gershon, was able to sign her name in English.

Comparing Gershon's form to Ethel's, I also kind of confirmed one more family story.  I was told many years ago that there was an old Jewish custom, when an older man was widowed, he would often "marry" his niece, who would become kind of his caretaker.  I was told that was the case with Gershon and Ethel.  (I don't know if it really is an old Jewish custom, but I have a second instance of this in my family.)  On their forms, they both said they were widowed, but when I looked at their addresses, they were both living at 1413 44th Street in Brooklyn.  But from what I've heard about Gershon, who was supposedly an energetic old man up until his death at the age of 92, I somehow don't think he actually needed a caretaker.

And I just ordered my next two AR-2's!  I can hardly wait to see what I learn about Benny and Molly.

How Was the Trip, Mr. Brainin?

1906 passenger list for Mendel Brainin

Mendel Hertz Brainin, my great-great-grandfather, arrived at the port of New York on April 17, 1906 on the S.S. Gneisenau.  He departed from Bremen on April 5.  As I did with my great-great-grandfather Avigdor Gorodetsky, I will go through and analyze all of the information on his passenger list pages.

As I believe was the case for all of my immigrant Jewish relatives, he traveled in steerage.  He appears on line 25 on the page above.  Over the number 25 is a stamped word, "ADMITTED."  (We'll talk about that soon.)  His name was recorded only as Mendel Brainin; I know the middle name of Hertz from family information.  He was 46 years old, suggesting a birth year of about 1859–1860.  This is the earliest document I have for him; other documents extend the range for his year of birth to 1863.  I do not have any documents for him from the Russian Empire.

He was male and married, and his occupation was shoemaker.  If I can ever find any Russian documents for him, that's not a common trade, so it will be helpful information.  He was able to read and write; I'm sure he could write in Hebrew, as he later worked as a rabbi.  Maybe he could read and write in Russian also.

He was a citizen of Russia (well, maybe) and of the Hebrew race, meaning he was Jewish.  Somewhat surprising to me, he seems to be the only Jewish person on this list, or certainly the only one designated as such.  Half the people on the page are "Kovak" and from Hungary, but I don't know of an ethnicity by that name; Kovak to me is a blacksmith.  Others are German, Magyar (Hungarian), Bohemian, Croatian, and Polish.  Hmm, that Croatian is a little out of his native area.

Mendel's last residence was Kreuzburg, Russia, which is now Krustpils, Latvia.  Everyone in this branch of my family said they were from Kreuzburg when they came here, but I still haven't found any documentation from the old country to substantiate it.  Mendel's destination was New York.  His ticket was for that destination, and it was paid for by his son.

He had $3 in his possession.  He had never been to the United States before.

The person to whom he was going was his son Max Brainin at 236-34 (I think) 103 Street, New York.  Max, whose Jewish name was Nachman, was the oldest son and the first family member to make the trip to the Goldene Medine, arriving in August 1904.

The next six columns are ditto marks for Mendel and for everyone on the page except the person on the first line, indicating that they have not been prisoners, in an almshouse, in an institution for the insane, or supported by charity; they're not polygamists; they're not anarchists; they're not coming due to some agreement to work in the United States; their mental and physical health is good; and they are not deformed or crippled.  Hooray, everyone is in great shape!

And that's the end of the passenger list.  Only one page in early 1906.

Now back to that stamped ADMITTED.  That indicates that Mendel was held for some reason and potentially could have been deported, but that the authorities decided to admit him.   If there's an ADMITTED, an X, or an SI next to someone's name, you want to look for a page about that detention.  Usually I have found them after all the regular pages for the ship manifest, but sometimes they were microfilmed at the beginning.

I did find the page with Mendel on it.  It is titled Record of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry.  Sometimes you can find these online by searching in the index for the database, but sometimes the passenger's name is spelled differently on the two pages.  If the index doesn't find your person, look at the top of the passenger list for a large, handwritten number.  On this page, it's in the upper right and is called List, and it's number 1.  Then find the detention pages and look through them manually for your person's name and that number, which will be under Group.  (I do not know why it's called List on one page and Group on the other.)  Sometimes not all of the detention pages survived, so on occasion you might not find your person at all.

1906 Gneisenau Record of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry

Below the page title it shows that this is for the S.S. Gneisenau (N.G.L.), which stands for North German Lloyd.  (This Gneisenau is not any of the ones with pages on Wikipedia, but I did find information about it on GGArchives.com.)  The official arrival date of the ship into New York was April 15, but this page shows the detainees' arrival as April 17.  I have read that sometimes steerage passengers were deboarded later than other passengers.  I don't know if they were held on the ship those extra two days or maybe somewhere else.

The columns on this page are different from the regular passenger list.  The first column, which has no header, is the passenger's age and sex.  For Mendel this is 46 and m.  Next is the number of the passenger on this page, which for Mendel is 25.  Then is the passenger's name:  Brainin, Mendel.

The next three columns correspond to information from the main passenger list:  Group number, line number, and number of people in the party.  For Mendel these are 1, 25 again (a coincidence?), and 1.

The next column is the Cause of Detention, which is the same for every person on this page:  LPC, or "Likely Public Charge."  This means that when the passenger was being checked in, someone thought he wasn't going to be able to support himself and was going to end up being supported by the government.  Single women, women with children, and young people without trades were routinely held as LPC.

Mendel wasn't very old and did have a trade, so it was a little surprising that he was listed with this reason.  But some people have additional information in this field, and Mendel is one of those.  The additional comment is "Dr. Cert."  Maybe he looked frail or ill.

Next is the column for Inspector, and the name is Bechtel.  I noticed that Bechtel was the inspector for the person two lines above Mendel, who also had a comment of "Dr. Cert."  Maybe Bechtel was assigned to those specifically.

Next there are several columns under Actions of the Board of Special Inquiry.  This section has three subheads:  Dep. Excl. [Deportable Excludable], Rehearing, and Admitted.  Each of these also has subheads.  All three have Date, Page, and Sec'y [Secretary].  Admitted has a fourth, Time.  Most people on the page were admitted, including Mendel.  The only thing I can read for his line is the date, 4/24, which is written in the page column.  The other writing there is too light for me to interpret.

The two sections after Actions are Departmental and Executive Orders, with subheads of Date, Record No., and Orders; and Deported, with subheads of Date, Ship, and Officer.  Only one person on this page appears to have been deported.  I'm glad it wasn't Mendel.

The last section is Meals, with subheads of Breakfast, Dinner, and Supper.  The more meals, the longer the person was held.  The arrival date on the page is April 17, and the date given for Mendel's hearing is April 24.  His meal numbers are 7 breakfasts, 8 dinners, and 7 suppers.  That almost adds up right.  I wonder why or how he apparently had two dinners in one day.

Going through this form has made me realize that I have never requested a search for Mendel's Special Inquiry records.  I have read many times that most Special Inquiry hearing files did not survive, but that means that some did (such as that of actress Lea Michele's great-grandmother, as discussed on an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?).  And if I don't ask, I'll never know if Mendel's is one of the surviving files.  I think I need to add that to my (long) list of things to do.

As I wrote above, the Special Inquiry page indicates that Mendel arrived on April 17, 1906.  Coincidentally, April 17 is the day now celebrated as Ellis Island Family History Day!  That date was chosen because one year after Mendel came to this country, on April 17, 1907, the busiest day in the history of Ellis Island apparently took place, with 11,747 people passing through.  The day has been celebrated since 2001, when Ellis Island launched online access to passenger lists of people going through the immigration station.

Welcome to America, Mr. Gorodetsky and Sons!

1914 passenger list for Wigdor, Chaim, and Moische Gorodetky (first page)

February 19, 1914 (111 years ago!) is the date on which my great-great-grandfather Wigdor Gorodetsky and his two youngest sons, Chaim and Moishe, arrived in New York on the Nieuw Amsterdam, a ship of the Holland-America Line.  I'm going to look at every piece of information about them on the passenger list for their trip, which I have found.

They traveled in steerage.  They are on lines 6, 7, and 8 of the passenger list.  The first page shows that they departed from Rotterdam, the Netherlands on February 7, so the trip took almost two weeks.

Their names are written as Wigdor, Chaim, and Moische Gorodetky (someone apparently lost the "s").  Wigdor is 46, Chaim is 11, and Moische is 5, and Chaim and Moische are noted as being Wigdor's "Sons" in handwriting that is lighter than that on the rest of the page.  From his 1888 marriage record, I have estimated Wigdor's birth year as around 1863, whereas an age of 46 in 1914 would have him born around 1868.  He might have "youthened" himself for the trip, so as not to appear too old (maybe rumor said that being 50 or older might make you seem too old to be able to work?), or he might not have known how old he really was.

I have previously found the Russian birth records for Chaim and Moishe.  Chaim was born November 16, 1899, so he was actually 14 years old.  I'm not sure how beneficial it would be at his age to have fudged those three years, or again they might not have kept accurate track of his age.  Moishe was born November 13, 1908, so he really was 5 years old!  After looking at so many census records over the years, the younger someone is, the more accurate the reported age often is, so maybe that's why his age is correct.

They're all noted as male.  Wigdor is married, and the boys are single.  Wigdor was a furrier, while the two boys had no occupation.  Chaim could read and write (in Russian?  Hebrew?), while neither Wigdor nor Moishe could.  They are all listed as Russian subjects and of the Hebrew race, meaning they were Jewish, and their last residence was Kishinew (Kishinev), Russia (now Chisinau, Modolva).

For Moishe, in the columns for marital status, occupation, and ability to read and write, above the answers to those questions is some additional handwriting in heavy black ink:  2-479123 (505) 11/16/36.  Then two columns to the right appears "Rech 4/17/39."  I am pretty sure the 1936 date points to a Certificate of Arrival being generated when Moishe (by then known as Morris) applied to become a naturalized citizen by filing a Declaration of Intention, and the 1939 date was when he filed his petition.  I have copies of his naturalization paperwork (which I can't find right now); he became a citizen on June 4, 1940.

No similar notations for Wigdor and Chaim indicate they probably did not become U.S. citizens.  I do know I haven't found any naturalization paperwork so far for either one.

The name and address of the nearest relative where they had departed from were Wigdor's wife, Surki Gorodetsky (they found the "s"!) in Kishinew, Bess, which is short for Besserabia, the gubernia (province) in which Kishinev was.  There might actually be an address written, but I'm not sure what it says.  My best guess is Sessiona Pilenetz 7.  For all I know, it might not be an address.  Any takers?

Surki is Sura Galperin, my great-great-grandfather's second wife.  While the passenger list says that Surki is Chaim and Moishe's mother, she was actually their stepmother.  I have found an index entry for their marriage, which took place May 26, 1911 in Kishinev, but I don't have the complete marriage record.  My great-great-grandmother Esther Leah Schneiderman died December 8, 1908, less than a month after Moishe was born.  (The death record says the cause of death has something to do with blood.)

And that's everything on the first page!

The second page of the passenger list has "pecXam" to the left of the number 6, which is Wigdor.  The person two lines above Wigdor has "SpecXam."  I am interpreting both to mean Special Examination (Inquiry).  I looked through all five Special Inquiry pages for this sailing of the Nieuw Amsterdam that are online at FamilySearch.org, but I didn't see his name.  I also checked the five pages for Detained Aliens and didn't find him.  When I looked again at the first page, however, I noticed that the person on line 5, Menasche Biczowsky, is marked SI and deported, but there is no notation on that page for Wigdor.  In addition, Mr. Biczowsky does appear on the list of aliens held for Special Inquiry.  I think the notation by Wigdor on the second page is misplaced and was intended for the person on line 5.

The final destination for all three is New York, and they're marked as having a ticket to that destination, which is conveniently where the ship docked and where they offboarded.  Their passage was paid by Wigdor's son and Chaim and Moishe's brother (probably Joine, the person they are coming to meet here).  For the question of whether they are in possession of $50 and if less than that how much, $15 is noted by Wigdor's name and nothing by the two boys.

The number 13 and a mark around it are written under the $15.  Two lines above Wigdor is the number 35, and two lines below Moishe is 43.  Similarly, other numbers are written in the same column on the page.  I don't know what these are for.

The two columns asking whether the passengers have ever been in the United States before and when have a short dash for almost everyone on the page, including Wigdor and the boys, indicating none of them had.  On Wigdor's line is handwriting in a lighter ink that I don't understand.  It looks like a word and then the numeral 2.  The "word" almost looks like "dau &", but there's no girl, so that doesn't make sense (more on this below).

Next come the name and address of the relative or friend the passengers are going to join, where it says "son[s] Joine Gorodetsky c/o M [?] Brainin 1651 Madison Ave. N York."  Joine is my great-grandfather.  He is indeed Wigdor's son, and on the line below is written "brother", as he is Chaim and Moishe's brother.  M Brainin is my great-great-grandfather Mendel Hertz Brainin, father of Sarah Libby Brainin, who married Joine on April 4, 1914, less than two months after Wigdor arrived.  Joine was a boarder in the Brainin household, and that's how he met Sarah.

The [s] after the word son is confusing.  It's in the same lighter writing as "dau & 2."  Was it intended to make the word "son" plural, which is what it seems to have done?  Maybe the word I'm reading as "dau" is referring to Wigdor, and it's saying "& 2 sons" for Chaim and Moishe?  I noticed that the lighter handwriting for this looks similar to the word "Sons" on the first page.  In that case, "dau" must be something else and I just can't read it.

The next six columns are ditto marks for all three of my relatives (and for everyone on the page except the person on the first line), indicating that they are not prisoners, beggars, insane, anarchists, polygamists, coming on a work scheme, or crippled and that they are in good health.  Wigdor is 5'4"; no height is listed for the two boys.  All of them are marked as having fair complexion, brown hair and eyes, and no identifying marks.  All three were born in Russia.  Wigdor was born in Kamenetz, which would be Kamenets Podolsky, now in Ukraine; both boys were born in Kishinew.

A large block of handwriting in heavy ink goes at an angle across many lines, including the ones for Wigdor, Chaim,and Moishe.  It mentions certs, likely meaning certificates; two dates; and Scranton.  Three passengers were going to Scranton (the three lines after Moishe), so I think it's related to them and not to my relatives or anyone else on the page.

1914 passenger list for Wigdor, Chaim, and Moische Gorodetky (second page)

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your Most Frustrating Brick Wall Problem

I was driving home from Klamath Falls last night after teaching a four-course seminar there during the day.  I didn't get home until midnight and pretty much collapsed right after I got home anyway, so I was unable to post my response to this week's challenge from Randy Seaver in Saturday Night Genealogy Fun until now:

Here is your assignment, if you choose to play along (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music, please!):

(1) What is your most frustrating brick wall problem?  Tell us what you want to know and what you have found to date.

(2) Share your genealogy brick wall problem in your own blog post or on Facebook, and leave a link to it in the comments.


I have two very frustrating research problems:  determining who the biological father of my paternal grandfather was (which I have posted about several times) and finding my great-great-grandmother immigrating with three small children to the United States.  By my definition, neither is a "brick wall", because I haven't exhausted every possible avenue of research yet, but I'm pretty close to that on the latter, so I'll write about it.

My Brainin family came to the United States in a chain migration, as was common with immigrant families.  The first one to show up was the oldest child in the family, Nachman (later Max), who arrived in New York Harbor on August 21, 1904 aboard the S.S. New York.  He said he was coming to his cousin H. Weinstein, whom I have not yet identified (and no one in the family knows of any Weinstein cousins).

Next came Chase (Lena), Sora (Sarah), and Dovid (David) on the Caronia on August 2, 1905, also into New York.  They were the next oldest children.  Sarah is my great-grandmother.  Per the passenger list, their fares were paid for by their brother, which should be Max, and they were going to their sister Sophie Rosen.  I know of no sister in the family named Sophie, and that wasn't Max's wife's name, but I'm sure it's the correct family because the rest of the information matches, plus the numbers written above Sarah's name on the page correspond with her naturalization file, which I have obtained.  Lena, Sarah, and David were detained for special inquiry because they were two single women and a young, unskilled man.  They were held for two days as likely public charges based on the number of meals they ate and were admitted on August 3, but the 1905 form unfortunately does not include the name of the person who picked them up.

The next family member I found on a passenger list is my great-great-grandfather Mendel Hertz Brainin  (he went by Morris and Max in the United States).  He arrived on April 17, 1906 on the Gneisenau, also into New York.  He was going to Max, and his son paid for his ticket.  The passenger list has a notation about a "Dr Cert", and he was held for special inquiry as a likely public charge.  He was there about seven days and was admitted on August 24, again with no note of who picked him up.

And in 1910 the entire family appears in the United States federal census:  Max (Mendel), Rose, Lena, Sarah, David, William, Bessie, and Benjamin at 236 East 103rd Street, Manhattan, and Max (Nachman) and his new wife and son, Nellie and Sidney, at 101 West(?) 94th Street, also in Manhattan.

"Wait a minute!," I can hear you say.  "You didn't tell us when Rose, William, Bessie, and Benjamin came to the U.S.!"

Yup, and that's my frustrating research problem.  I still haven't found them.

Seriously, how can anyone lose a woman and three young children?  That's four people who should be together on a passenger list somewhere.

But it's true.  I can't find them.

I know all of their Jewish (Yiddish) names.  Rose was Ruchel Dwojre, maiden name Jaffe.  William was Velvel, Bessie was Pesche, and Benjamin was Binyamin.  Ruchel Dwojre was born about 1866–1871 in the Russian Empire, Velvel was born about 1891, Pesche about 1892–1895, and Binyamin about 1896.  So I know the names and approximate ages to look for on the passenger lists.  Still no luck.

Since Chase, Sora, and Dovid came relatively soon after Nachman, I'm pretty sure they were the second set of arrivals.  I don't know whether Ruchel and the youngest children arrived before or after Mendel.  It's common both ways, for the father to come last or for the wife and youngest children to come last.  But I know that they had arrived by 1910 because they appear in the census, so sometime between 1904 (after Nachman's arrival) and 1910.

My beginning hypothesis was that they had come into New York, as did all other family members, so I focused my searches there.  When discussing this once with my grandmother, she said that she remembered her grandmother saying something about coming into Watertown, which led me to research Boston records.  I later discovered that there is a Watertown, New York which was a border crossing, so I searched Canadian border crossing records.

I have looked for Ruchel and the children in the Ancestry New York passenger record collection; the Ellis Island database, using the Steve Morse interface; microfilmed Ellis Island index cards at the Family History Library; the Ancestry Boston passenger record collection; the Ancestry Canadian border crossing collection; and the FindMyPast outbound UK passenger list collection.  I have searched using only their Jewish given names and have looked under Brainin and Jaffe.  I have found no one who even closely approximates them.

I recently discovered that Binyamin (Benjamin) filed a Declaration of Intention to become a citizen, when my cousin (his granddaughter) suddenly told me she had a copy of the declaration.  On that, he stated that he had left Europe from Libau on the Coronia and had arrived in New York on September 15, 1906.  I did not find the ship arriving in New York on that date.  I have searched that ship’s passenger lists for other dates in 1906 on Ancestry and through Steve Morse’s site, but not exhaustively.

William said on his World War I draft registration that he was a naturalized citizen.  Willie was in the Army, and he likely had a fast-tracked military naturalization (such as his brother David had), which has almost no details; these naturalization documents often lack information such as the date and ship of arrival into the United States.  I did, however, request a USCIS index search to see if they could find his naturalization file.  I submitted the request in 2016 but never received the results.  When I checked the tracking system today, however, it said that the search was completed in 2017.  So I have just now sent a request for another copy of the search results.

I have one remaining clue I have not yet pursued.  On the 1910 census, there is a note that Max (Mendel) had filed naturalization papers, i.e., had made a Declaration of Intention to become a citizen.  I have not yet pursued this, because I strongly suspect the search will not be profitable and because it currently costs $65 to request an index search from USCIS.  In the 1920 census Morris/Mendel (who died before the 1930 census was taken) was listed as an alien, not as having filed papers.  It was common for older immigrants not to become naturalized citizens.  But there are discrepancies in other information on the 1920 census:  It says everyone in the family — Morris, Rose, Lena, Dave, and Willie — arrived in 1904.  I know Morris came in 1906; of course, I still haven't found Rose and Willie, so I don't know when they arrived.  It also says that Dave became a citizen in 1907 and Willie did in 1909.  I have Dave's naturalization papers, and he became a citizen in 1918.  So it is possible that Mendel did file papers, as the 1910 census states, and that the information on the 1920 is incorrect.  But right now I don't have the extra $65 to cough up for that search.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your Known Immigrant Ancestor Time Span

It's time for another family history challenge from Randy Seaver for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun!

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music, please!):

(1) Reader Doug Greenhill suggested this challenge:  "What is the time span between your first known immigrant ancestor to your last known immigrant ancestor?"

(2) Tell us in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a status line on Facebook.  Leave a comment with a link to your blog post if you write one.

Of course, since I am out of town and don't have access to my family tree database, this week's challenge involves details from said database.  I knew it would happen.  But I can make estimates.

My most recent known immigrant ancestors were my great-great-grandparents Gershon Itzhak Nowicki and Dobra (Yelsky) Nowicki, who arrived in the United States on August 22, 1922.  They came on the S.S. Laconia, which docked in New York City.

My earliest confirmed immigrant ancestor is from the Gaunt(t) family.  It's someone who came in the 1600's, but I don't remember his name or what year he came.  Because I can't look up the information right now, I can push his arrival to the very end of the century, to 1699.

That makes the interval 1699 to 1922, for a total of 223 years.

I'm supposed to descend from someone who came on the Mayflower in 1620.  If accurate, that would make my time span 302 years.

===

Observant readers may have noticed that I slightly modifed the phrasing for this challenge.  At least Randy, if not Doug Greenhill also, used "direct ancestor."  Being an editor, this phrase drives me crazy.  An ancestor is someone from whom you descend.  "Direct ancestor" is redundant, because there is no such thing as an indirect ancestor.  If it isn't a direct line, the person isn't an ancestor but is a collateral relative.  Similarly, there is no such thing as an "indirect descendant."  Either someone is a descendant or is not.

I tried searching for links online to back me up on this and found an interesting situation.  It appears that at one point Dick Eastman denigrated this incorrect grammatical use of direct and indirect descendant, because there's a link on an old Facebook post to a 2012 post on his blog (I include the image for those who don't use Facebook):

But when I clicked on the link in the post to Eastman's blog, https://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2011/04/what-is-an-indirect-descendant.html, the result was "Something's Missing / The content you're looking for doesn't exist at this address.  Continue browsing, or try searching for your content using the form below."

So I did try searching for the content on the form.  And the phrase "indirect descendant" no longer appears on the site.  "Direct ancestor" and "direct descendant" show up several times each, but in other posts, the text in some of them apparently copied from press releases and some in posts written by Eastman himself.  So what it looks like is that now that he has decided the phrases are ok to use, he deleted the one post that attacked them.  Or did I miss something?

Back to California — For Genealogy, of Course!

I haven't even been in Portland for three entire weeks, but I've already taken two day trips to California.  What could make me do that?  Genealogy!

Both trips were to give talks that had been scheduled before my move out of state.  The first was a presentation to the Contra Costa County Genealogical Society (CCCGS) last week on Thursday.  I flew to Oakland (via Ontario!) and took BART out to Concord, where Martha Whittaker graciously picked me up and took me to the premeeting group dinner, and from there Lisa Gorrell drove me to the meeting.  It was gratifying to see that the room was full for my presentation about using resources compiled for Jewish research to help research non-Jewish ancestors.  I was very glad that everyone appeared to enjoy the talk and several people came up to say they learned a lot.

The second trip was today (Tuesday), to the Santa Clara County Historical and Genealogical Society (SCCHGS).  This time I flew into San Jose, where Linda Sanders met me and took me to the Santa Clara City Library.  The topic was immigration and naturalization records, and the room was again full of genealogists.  I took up all the time allotted and had to leave a couple of questions unanswered because librarian Mary Boyle wanted to make sure I got to the airport on time for my return flight.  This talk also went well, and Mary said everyone appreciated the information.

I am grateful to CCCGS and SCCHGS for inviting me to be a speaker and then keeping me on the schedule after I moved.  Thank you both for your support, and I really enjoyed both presentations.  I hope I'm able to visit again soon.

IAJGS Conference, Days 5 and 6 and Going Home

The IAJGS conference runs longer than most genealogy conferences, so as you get toward the end you might not have quite as much energy as at the beginning.  On Thursday morning, the fifth day, I wanted to go to the Leadership Series session on membership database solutions, as the topic has come up at our board meetings for the past couple of years.  I really did.  But it was at 7:00 a.m., and I was up until 6:00 a.m. working on that day's presentation.

See, on Wednesday night I was going over the PowerPoint file for my Thursday talk, and then the computer rebelled.  It said it couldn't save the file.  I tried save as.  I tried again to save it directly.  The computer was adamant — nope, not happening; sorry, unable to comply.  After trying everything in my rather limited arsenal, I finally had to concede defeat.  And then I had to reconstruct the presentation from scratch, without the benefit of the graphics that were on my home computer.  I tried to remember what the original slides had said and made do with what I could download from Ancestry and other sites.  Around 6:00 I was too bleary-eyed to focus, so I gave up and fell asleep.

I knew I wouldn't make it to the database session (I hope they make the information available to societies later), and being awake in time for the 8:15 talk about Jewish settlement in the Caribbean didn't sound realistic, but I thought I had a chance of going to the Professional Genealogists Birds of a Feather get-together at 9:45.  I slept through my alarm.  So much for that idea.

I finally did wake up, in time to go to Dana Cohen Sprott's session on the "Lost Jews of St. Maarten."  She first gave a broad overview of Jewish settlement on several Caribbean islands (after pointing out multiple times that the correct pronunciation has the emphasis on the third, not the second, syllable) and then focused a little more on St. Maarten (where she lives) and on the "dead man found behind the Radio Shack."  Apparently a body was discovered behind what was at the time a Radio Shack but what previously was a Jewish burial ground (see page 10 of the "WeekEnder" section of the October 30, 2010 issue of The Daily Herald for more details).  Dana has been researching the Jewish presence in the Caribbean for several years.  It was an entertaining and informative talk.

For lunch Mark Fearer and I had a very small ProGen get-together (if any other ProGen alumni were at the conference, they didn't own up to it).  We had a lively discussion covering many professional genealogy topics, which helped make up for the fact that I missed the BoF meeting.

The first session of the afternoon was the reconstructed presentation, which was about my research on two Colonial Jews, Daniel Joseph of Virginia and Israel Joseph of South Carolina (the first Colonial research I ever did!).  I told everyone up front what had happened to the file and apologized for the situation, then gamely went on to give the talk.  Lucky for me, everyone was very understanding.  My most recent research results (learned only a couple of weeks before the conference) actually ended up running contrary to my original hypothesis, so I opened it up to suggestions from the audience on possible future avenues to pursue.  I received some very helpful ideas I'll be looking at, including checking with the American Jewish Archives to see if there might be original research notes from when Rabbi Malcolm Stern wrote his book on First American Jewish Families.

Since Thursday was the last day the ProQuest databases would be available, I bypassed the rest of the afternoon sessions and spent the next two hours looking for articles about family members in newspapers.  I was particularly successful with Schumeister cousins appearing in the Minneapolis Star and Tribune collection.  I have about 40 articles with lots of information on those relatives.  And I have copies of my cousin's and my sister-in-law's doctoral dissertations thanks to ProQuest!

I rounded out the afternoon with a mentor session that someone had even signed up for ahead of time.  The same woman who solved a brick wall because of information in my Sunday talk came back for more.  She's trying to determine where an ancestor came from.  I gave her lots of homework and resources to check out.  After that I hung around to enjoy the prebanquet reception (all vegetarian, but probably not kosher) and socialized with several friends before heading back to my room to collapse.

Friday is always the "afterthought" day of the conference.  It's only half a day, and a lot of attendees leave late Thursday or early Friday.  Given that, I was pleasantly surprised to see a good turnout for my 8:15 talk (someone really had it in for me at this conference with early time slots), which was on immigration and naturalization records.  Even the illustrious Hal Bookbinder was there (I think he enjoyed it).  The bad news was that the air conditioning appeared to be off, either because the conference organizers had decided to economize or the hotel saw fit to cut it off early.  I was not amused.

The same a/c problem reared its ugly head when I tried to enjoy Mark Fearer's talk on Jewish immigration to Texas.  While I didn't have a choice about staying in the room for my own talk, I did for Mark's, and sadly I had to abandon it in favor of the resource room, where the air condioning was still going strong.  Since I was there, I took advantage of the databases still available and focused on JewishData.com.  I found photographs of several tombstones for my friend's family.  I also tried to search on the Israel Genealogy Research Association site, but the entire site was down, which was very disappointing.

And that was it!  Poof, the conference was over!  Then it was just a matter of checking out of the hotel, waiting for the airport shuttle, and flying home.  As usual, overall it was a good conference, and I learned lots of new things.  There are always some duds, but they were definitely outweighed by the many informative talks, and it was great to see so many of my genealogy friends and colleagues in person.  Plus I had the opportunity to participate in the first annual membership recruitment drive of the Antarctica Jewish Genealogical Society!  I'm glad I was able to attend this year.  I wish I could go to Warsaw in 2018, but I suspect that won't be practical for me, so I'll focus on Cleveland in 2019 instead.

Representatives of the Antarctica Jewish Genealogical Society,
just before the keynote presentation on Sunday, July 23, 2017

My commentary on days 1 and 2 of the conference is here, and that for days 3 and 4 is here.

What's that, girl? Timmy fell down the well?

Lassie was always ready to help, wasn't she?  But she probably wouldn't have been able to do much to assist with the below projects.  Maybe you can?  The first three are a little more time-sensitive than the others, but it's a long list this time with plenty of options.

Neoklis Girihidis in 1943

When he was a teenager, Neoklis Girihidis saved the lives of 17 Jewish Greek boys from Thessaloniki (Salonika) by guiding them to guerrilla fighters in the mountains and allowing them to escape from the Nazis.  Now, more than 70 years later, he is trying to find out what happened to those boys.  He would like to connect with at least one of them before he dies; he is currently 88 years old.  A story with more details is online.

Please share this story.  It is probably the only way to find the children Mr. Girihidis saved, if any of them is still alive today.  If you have any information on any of the boys, please send a message to sofiachristoforidou@yahoo.gr.

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Two Irish sisters are looking for their mother, who may have immigrated to the United States in the 1960's, possibly to Chicago.  She may have moved because she had two aunts who were living here.  Details about the family's story were published on Irish Central.  The sisters are being assisted in their search by Finders International, which welcomes any information about the mother.

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Dr. Charles Foy of Eastern Illinois University is conducting research for a book on black dockyard workers and longshoremen.  The book will include a chapter on the San Francisco Bay area from 1934 to 1969.  Dr. Foy will be in the Bay Area from July 25 to August 5 this year and would like to interview black dockyard workers and longshoremen or their family members.  Dr. Foy can also arrange to do interviews at other times, either by phone or Skype.  He can be contacted at crfoy@eiu.edu or (347) 200-9893.

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Eduardo Propper de Callejón

The Spanish diplomat Eduardo Propper de Callejón is remembered for having facilitated the escape of thousands of Jews from occupied France during World War II by issuing more than 1,000 visas in Bordeaux in June 1940.  For his efforts, he received the Righteous Among the Nations designation from Yad Vashem in 2008.

The official list of the visas somehow "disappeared" in 1941.  Felipe Propper de Callejón, son of Eduardo, has asked for assistance in locating a visa or travel document issued by his father.  He has never seen one.

Karen Franklin, Director of Family Research at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York, is trying to help Mr. Propper de Callejón.  If you are in possession of one of the visas or travel documents, or know where one can be found, please contact Ms. Franklin.

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Béla Guttmann in 1953

David Bolchover, a writer based in London, is currently working on a biography of soccer coach Béla Guttmann (1899 Budapest–1981 Vienna), a Holocaust survivor whose team won the European Cup in the early 1960's.  Mr. Bolchover would appreciate hearing from anyone who can help answer several questions about Gutmann, or suggest avenues for research:

• Where was he from 1939–1943?  Gutmann was in Budapest in 1939, in 1944 was hiding in Ujpest, and then was in a labor camp in Budapest.  He was probably also in or near Budapest in the intervening years, but that is not known for sure.  Some commentators have suggested he was in Switzerland, but no evidence has been found to support that conclusion.

• When and where were Guttmann and Mariann Moldovan, who met in Ujpest in 1939, married?  Biographical sources say 1942, but she was a non-Jew and intermarriage was against the law in Hungary from August 1941.

• Where did his father, (Moshe) Abraham Guttmann, die?  He was born in Tiszaújhely about 1866–1867 and was alive at the outbreak of World War II but simply disappeared.

• Did his brother Armin Guttmann (1893 Budapest–1945 Buchenwald) have a wife and children?  If so, what happened to them?

• When did Guttmann become an Austrian citizen?  (Bolchover thinks it was in the 1950's and has submitted a request to the Austrian authorities regarding this, so he may find out the answer himself.)

• When was Mariann Moldovan born?  Her father was Pal Moldovan.  She lived in Ujpest before the war and died in 1997 in Vienna.

• Who, if anyone, inherited the estate when Mariann died?

Please send any information or leads to David Bolchover.

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During World War I, a married couple in Vignacourt, France, Louis and Antoinette Thuillier, took more than 4,000 photographs of Allied soldiers who were billeted in the area.  Due to circumstances related to the war and the family the glass negatives lay ignored and forgotten for decades, but they survived and there is now a project to try to identify British soldiers in the photos.  Read about the "Lost Tommies" project and look at the photographs, conveniently posted on Facebook and available to everyone.  If you can identify anyone, instructions on how to send the information is included in the article about the project.

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The next request for assistance is again related to the United Kingdom and a war, but this one is for World War II.  The new International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC), being built to honor those who served in Bomber Command, has sent out an appeal for letters, photographs, and oral testimonies of Caribbean and West African crew members, which will be included in the center's digital archive.  An article about the search for information about these black war heroes gives some background about the IBCC and information on who to contact to send materials.

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A new site, the USAF Basic Military Training Flight Photograph Project, aims to collect copies of the approximately 119,000 U.S. Air Force basic training photographs from the creation of the modern Air Force in 1947 to the present day.  The collection currently includes photos from all bases that conducted USAF basic training, including Lackland (Texas), Parks (California), Sampson (New York), and Sheppard (Texas).  The intent is to include USAF basic training that was conducted overseas.  The site also has a "Memories" section, where people can post their comments about basic training.

In addition to the photos that are currently being processed, the project is looking for donations from former airmen and their family members.  Instructions on how to send electronic or print copies can be found in a light-hearted article about the project.

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Richard Ayer tugboat

The San Francisco Maritime Museum is currently working on the restoration of a New Deal mural in the museum. You can help if you have any photographs of the building's interior taken prior to 1976 showing the Richard Ayer murals.  These photos will be useful in reconstructing the painted-over images which featured his abstract nautical themes with fish, ship parts, and relief designs.  Some clues even came from a home movie of the 20th anniversary get-together of the UC Berkeley 1919 graduating class!  If your personal archives show even a glimpse of any of the rooms, please contact National Park Service Historical Architect Todd Bloch.

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The New York Public Library has another crowdsourcing project.  This time it's transcripts from the library's Community Oral History Project.  The project includes narratives focused on Greenwich Village, Harlem, SoHo, Upper East Side, veterans, Latinos, and more.  Volunteers are sought to go through computer-generated transcripts of the oral narratives and make corrections.

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Aufbau, founded in 1934 in New York City, is a journal focused on German-speaking Jews around the world.  During its history it has included announcements about births, marriages, deaths, and other events, including many related to the Holocaust.  The Aufbau Indexing Project is a volunteer effort to create a free every-name searchable index so that genealogists and other researchers may more easily find the names they are seeking.  While you need to know how to use a spreadsheet, knowledge of German is not required.

Aufbau itself is also available free online.  Digitized issues for 1941–1950 are on Rootsweb, and for 1934–2004 at the Internet Archive.

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If oral histories and newspaper announcements sound boring to you, how about decoding Civil War telegrams?  This is another crowdsourced project.  Almost 16,000 top-secret telegrams saved from military communications during the Civil War were saved and are now held by the Huntington Library, along with the cipher books to crack them.  The project page has all the information you need to get started.

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The Washington Post has launched a crowdsourced black history project on Tumblr, somewhat in conjunction with the anticipated opening of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in September 2016.  While the opening of the museum is national news, not everyone will be able to attend, and the "Historically Black" Tumblr project creates an opportunity for people to participate in another way.

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A man in Newfoundland, Canada and a jewelry store owner are trying to find out who the lovely woman is in a photo in a locket.  Was she a soldier's sweetheart?

The locket was among the personal effects returned to the family after Sergeant Charles Reid died during the Battle of Beaumont Hamel in World War I.  It came in a box from a jeweler in Oban, Scotland.  The store is still in business, but its records don't go back to 1916.

A CBC article has more details about the locket and the family.  If anyone recognizes the woman or has any information which might help in the search, send a message to the e-mail address given in the article.

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Molly Marcus, a doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology at Chestnut Hill College, is looking for transracial adoptees that fit all of the following descriptors to share their experiences by participating in an in-person or phone interview:

• 25–35 years old
• Hispanic/Latino (defined as "a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race")
• Adopted by white parents by the age of 2, in a closed adoption
• No contact with birth relatives prior to the age of 21

The interview will take approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours to complete.  It will be audio recorded and transcribed.  To ensure confidentiality, all transcriptions and materials will be stored in a locked cabinet accessible only to the researcher.  Identifying information will be kept separate from interview materials, and fictitious names will be used to protect the identities of all participants.

The study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Chestnut Hill College.  The chairman of the IRB is Dr. Kenneth Soprano, whose e-mail address is irb@chc.edu.  He can also be reached by phone at (215) 248-7038.

If you meet the above criteria and are interested in participating in this study, contact Molly Marcus at MarcusM@chc.edu or (215) 821-8022.  If you know of other individuals who may fit these criteria, please share this information with them to spread the word.

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Pepperdine University’s Culture and Trauma Research Lab is seeking participants who are descendants of European immigrants who emigrated after World War II for an important psychological study on generations.  Participation involves the completion of an online survey which will take about 15–20 minutes.  Individuals may be eligible if:

• They are 18 years of age or older and
• Their parent or grandparent emigrated from Germany, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia (formerly known as Czechoslovakia), Austria, Hungary, or Romania between 1945–1952

This study will create a more robust understanding of the long-term impact of specific immigration factors.  Participation in the study is voluntary and confidential.  Each participant will receive a $10.00 Amazon or Starbucks gift card for completion of the survey.  This study is being conducted under the auspices of Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis.

If you have any questions or would like more information on the study, contact the principal investigator, Melissa Duguay, at Melissa.Duguay@pepperdine.edu or (818) 971-9877, or Mia Singer at mjsinger@pepperdine.edu.

If you are able to send out a news blast about the study, post information on your social media pages, or distribute flyers, please let them know.

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The JewishGen Yizkor Books in Print Project is looking for Yiddish speakers who are at least mildly proficient with using MS Word and have about 2 to 3 hours a week available to devote to a project that publishes translations of memorial books (Blach Buchs) of destroyed Jewish communities of Eastern Europe.  The project needs help with translating captions of images and placing them into newly translated books using MS Word in preparation for publishing.  People fluent in Yiddish with knowledge of Word would be very helpful to the project to facilitate the ability to publish books more quickly.  All work on the project is done by volunteers.

The original books were written in the 1950's–1970's, mostly in Yiddish and some in Hebrew, by survivors and former residents of the towns.  The Yizkor Books in Print Project has already published 46 books.  See http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/ybip.html for a listing of currently available books.

Books are sold at very low prices to enable this unique literature that captures the intimate history of the shtetlach to be available to as many people as possible.  The project is part of JewishGen.org, the primary online source of Jewish genealogical information, and is not-for-profit.

If you can help in any way please contact Joel Alpert, the project coordinator, at joel.alpert@uwalumni.com.

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Donna Gilligan is a museum archaeologist and material culture historian now working on a Master's thesis on the topic of the visual and material culture of the Irish women's suffrage movement.  The year 2018 will mark the centenary of the first time any women were granted the national vote in Ireland.

As part of Gilligan's research, she is attempting to trace and record information and images on the Irish suffrage movement.  She is appealing to people who hold or know of such objects to contact her with details.  If you have any information or inquiries relating to Irish women's suffrage, contact Gilligan at donnapgilligan@gmail.com.

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Harald Hadrada on window

An online archive of Norse and Viking culture is in development, funded by the Irish Research Council, and contributions are being sought.  While it's likely that the majority will come from museums and other such institutions, individuals are invited to contribute items also.

"Do you happen to have any Viking-related material lying around the house?  Maybe a helmet or two, or a sword or dagger?  Perhaps there’s a longboat buried in your garden.  If so, or even if you have something a lot less dramatic to offer, you should get in touch with the World-Tree Project, which is being launched today by UCC’s school of English with the objective of creating the world’s largest online archive for the teaching and study of Norse and Viking cultures."  Also acceptable are translations of Norse poetry, films of Viking reenactments, and original artwork.

Read about the background of the project, then visit the World-Tree Project to see what's there so far and how you can add to the collection.

"Who Do You Think You Are?" - Lea Michele

It was not supposed to take me this long to write my commentary on the Lea Michele episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, but the fates conspired against me.  I didn't know I had so many deadlines hitting at the same time when the episode aired.  Then, when it was time to head down to Southern California for Jamboree, I discovered the last day that the episode was available on demand was June 5, the last day of the conference.  I'm lucky the friend I stayed with had on demand with her cable, and she watched it with me.  And now it's taken me the rest of the month to finish writing about it!  Of course, if I weren't obsessive-compulsive (almost a required trait for genealogists), I would have just written it off.

So.  The teaser for the episode about Lea Michele, the final episode of this season, said that she would uncover a story of love but also about an ancestor who faced devastating loss.  She would unravel secrets of her Jewish lineage for the first time and reunite family members after decades of separation.

Lea Michele was born in New York City (actually The Bronx) and is an actress who grew up on stage, with a Broadway debut at 8 years old in Les Misérables.  She is now known for her performance as the character of Rachel Berry on Glee and has legions of fans worldwide.  She has written two best-selling books and released a solo singing album in 2014.  She now appears in Scream Queens, a horror-comedy series on Fox.  Although she lives in Los Angeles, since she was born in New York, she decides (was told) to start her research there.  (Surprisingly, the entire episode takes place in New York.)

Lea begins by talking about her parents, Mark David Sarfati and Edith Thomasina (Porcelli), both of whom are from The Bronx.  Lea is an only child; her father is Jewish, and her mother is Roman Catholic.  She was raised Catholic and doesn't have a lot of information about her father's side of the family.  He spent a lot of time "being Italian" with her mother's family.  While Lea loves her Italian family, she thinks it would be nice to stop and figure out stuff about her father's side.  (And nothing else is said about her mother for the entire episode.)

Lea knew her grandparents, Albert ("Poppy") and Celia ("Nana") Sarfati.  Celia died in early 2009.  As nothing is said about Albert having passed away, we have to assume he is still alive, but no explanation is given for why Lea doesn't try talking to him.  (He could be senile, he might not like talking about family, or they might have decided to follow Celia's family and any conversation with him became irrelevant.)  Albert and Celia retired to Florida when Lea was young and she didn't see them much.  Not much was said about family history.

Lea does know that her father's family is Sephardic, meaning that they were Jews who lived in Spain until they were kicked out (in 1492, by Ferdinand and Isabella, also known for funding Columbus' voyage to the New World).  When the Jews left Spain they scattered to other locations.  Lea is unsure where her ancestors lived:  Greece?  Turkey?  Israel?  She wants clarity on where they came from and wants to share what she learns with her father, let him enjoy this experience also.  She starts by going to visit her father to ask him what he knows about his grandparents:  where they were from, what they did in the U.S.

We see Lea cross a street to go to her father's place, which has no identifying information on the outside.  Inside it looks like a loft, and painted on a wall is "Zero Otto Nove", which translates to 089.  He says he's looking forward to learning more about his family.  His father was Albert, who married Celia, who also went by Sylvia.  Celia's parents were Morris and Bessie Veissy, whom he thinks were from Greece or Israel.  (Um, Israel didn't exist until 1948, guy.  Maybe you mean Palestine?)  He knows their names but not really where they were from or what they did for a living.  (Almost the same words that Lea used earlier.  It couldn't be scripted, could it?)

Sarfati has some photos to show Lea.  One is of Celia with her parents, Bessie and Morris.  Lea tells her father he looks like Morris, who died before Sarfati was born.  There's also a wedding photo of Morris and Bessie, in which they look pretty fancy.  Sarfati thinks Bessie's original name was Bonita and that his sister was named for her.  Lea teases her father that when she finds information about the family that he's going to cry, which he denies.

Since we don't have an Ancestry ProGenealogist shill in this episode, Sarfati is the one who prompts Lea to go online to Ancestry.com to look for information (7 minutes into the episode!).  Lea brought an iPad, and they connect immediately.  Sarfati suggests they look at censuses first and cues Lea on what to do.  (So does he actually use Ancestry himself, or was this also [semi]scripted?  If it was scripted, he acted a lot more natural than most family members do on this show.)  Lea goes to the main census search page and enters Morris Veissy with a spouse named Bessie, with exact match turned off.  Their top three results are for the correct people in the 1930 U.S. census, the 1925 New York State census, and the 1940 census (which is exactly what I get with the same search, but the weird thing is that 1930, where the last name is spelled "Vaisha", comes up first).  Sarfati tells Lea to start with 1940 and go backward in time.  (He had to have been coached.)

The 1940 census shows the family name as Veissy and Morris and Bessie being from Turkey.  Sarfati's mother was enumerated as Celia, and he notes that she was 15 years old, so born in 1925.  The 1930 census shows the family as Morris, Bessie, and Sylvia Vaisha, and Morris and Bessie as being from Greece (but with a native language of Spanish, which neither Sarfati nor Lea comments on).  They start trying to figure this out:  Maybe they were born in Greece and moved to Turkey?  The census indicates that Morris arrived in the U.S. in 1917 and Bessie came in 1919.  This also generates questions:  They didn't come together?  Maybe Morris came and then sent for Bessie?  The 1925 New York State census has them as Morris, Bessie, and Sylvia Veissey, and this time Morris and Bessie again said they were from Turkey.  Sarfati and Lea are very confused now.  This census also shows the disparity in the years the two immigrated to the U.S., but this time it merits no mention.

United States 1940 Federal Population Census, Administrative District 2, Bronx Borough,
Bronx County, New York, April 8, 1940, Enumeration District 3-187, page 5A, lines 6–8

United States 1930 Federal Population Census, Administrative District 4(?), New York City,
New York County, New York, April 17, 1930, Enumeration District 31-123, page 12A, lines 22–24

New York State 1925 Census, Block 2, Election District 26, Assembly District 4, New York City,
New York County, New York, June 1, 1925, page 36, lines 10–12

After the censuses don't give a clear answer, Sarfati says that they probably landed at Ellis Island, which has more records beyond the census, so Lea should go there and try to find them (except Ancestry has all the Ellis Island passenger lists).  And after both of them had said that they wanted to know what the family did for a living, they didn't discuss that at all, but Morris had a candy stand in 1925 and was a ladies' clothing presser (working in the garment industry) in 1930 and 1940.

As she leaves her father's building, Lea talks about how excited he was and how he was jumping in and pressing the computer keys.  Now she is going to Ellis Island, to which she has never been.  She wants to clarify the confusion between Turkey and Greece and also why her great-grandmother came two years after her great-grandfather.  Did she meet him here, in the U.S.?  Did he send for her?  (If this were the biggest mystery in my family history, I would be so well off!)

At Ellis Island Lea meets with Catherine A. Daly, credited as Director, Family History Center.  (I thought that meant an LDS Family History Center, but apparently it is the "American Family Immigration History Center" at Ellis Island.)  Lea gives Daly a short summary of the information she knows, and Daly pulls out an oversized printout of a passenger list from May 30, 1918 showing Benouta Veissi's arrival in New York.

SS Giuseppe Verdi, arrival New York May 30, 1918, page 131, line 1

Benouta Veissi departed Genova, Italy on the Giuseppe Verdi and arrived in New York.  Daly explains to Lea that "ge-NO-va" is "what we call now Genoa in Italy."  (No, actually, the name in Italian was and is "GE-no-va."  Only English speakers call it Genoa.)  During World War I, people traveling from Greece and Turkey had to find safe ports from which to travel; Genova was one of those ports.

Benouta was 28 years old and widowed, which blows Lea away:  "Wow, no one ever knew about that! . . . I mean, my father never mentioned that before."  She astutely asks whether that means Benouta had a "younger" (i.e., earlier) marriage in her own country.  She also notices that the passenger list says that Benouta was from Greece and comments that the census had said Turkey.  Daly explains that the Turkish (or Ottoman) Empire had controlled Salonika until Greek independence in 1912.  (She doesn't try to explain why Benouta said Turkey in 1925 and 1940, however.)

The next item that catches Lea's attention is that the passenger list says that Benouta's final destination was Montreal.  She asks Daly why it would say that, and Daly responds that Benouta must have said she was going to Montreal.  (Oh, that was helpful.)  Lea is confused, of course, because Benouta settled in New York, not in Canada.  Then she sees that Benouta said she was going to join her bridegroom, Moise Veisse, in Montreal.  Who was Moise?  That was Morris' Jewish name, so she was going to meet Morris.  Daly tells Lea that "people of the Jewish faith" used their Hebrew names on passenger lists.  (What she didn't say is that they used the names that were on their identification papers, and for many of them, the names were Yiddish, not Hebrew.  The name Moise is close to Moises, Spanish for Moses, and is probably a Ladino name, not Hebrew.  Wherever Jews immigrated, they tended to change their names to fit in, as did many other immigrants.)

Lea tries to parse what she has learned:  Benouta left Genova, coming from Greece, which used to be Turkey, and said she was going to Montreal to meet Moise, her fiancé.  Yup, sounds right!

Now Lea focuses on the fact that Benouta's last name is the same as Moise's.  Were they from the same family?  Daly says maybe.  (The other possibility, since Benouta was a widow, is that Moise and her late husband were from the same family.)

The passenger list has columns for read and write, and the "no" in each column for Benouta are circled.  Daly clarifies that means she could not read or write in her own language and adds that in 1917 the U.S. Congress passed an act requiring that immigrants had to be able to read and write to be allowed in the country.

The next piece of bad news on Benouta's passenger list is the "SI" on the far left of the first page.  Daly tells Lea "that says" Special Inquiry, but of course it is actually an abbreviation.  Benouta was held at Ellis Island for further investigation and inquiry into her immigration.  So what was it like to be held at Ellis Island?  Daly tells Lea that a ranger can take her through the experiences of a detained immigrant.

Ellis Island Ranger Danelle Simonelli shows Lea the refurbished "Dormitory Room."  It is one of twelve dorm rooms that existed during the immigration period.  Three tiers of bunks would have accommodated twenty-seven people in the room.  They were held until their hearings, where it was determined what would happen next.

The two women next visit the hearing room, which has also been refurbished.  Simonelli points out that Benouta would have sat on the long bench waiting for her turn to face the Board of Special Inquiry, consisting of three inspectors.  An interpreter would have been provided for her, and there might have been witnesses.  She would have been questioned back and forth, and the board would decide whether to allow her in or not.  Only a small percentage were not permitted entry.

SS Giuseppe Verdi, arrival New York May 30, 1918, Special Inquiry page

The Special Inquiry page from Benouta's passenger list is not shown during the episode, but it details that her hearing was on June 1 and that she was sent to Gloucester City on June 24 at 11:00 a.m.

Leaving Ellis Island behind her, Lea talks about how it was a place of hope and dreams, but sadness also.  Her great-grandmother was detained, which must have been scary.  She could have been sent back.  She couldn't speak the language and was all alone with no family.  It's heartbreaking for Lea to think about.

Lea's next location is not identified.  It is a multistory building somewhere in New York City.  She meets immigration historian Vincent Cannato of the University of Massachusetts at Boston.  He tells Lea that he has more than 50 documents relating to Benouta's special inquiry.  (Considering the small number of special inquiry cases for which the documentation was kept by the government, this is an incredibly lucky find.  I wonder if the WDYTYA researchers have been trolling through the surviving files, looking for someone connected to a celebrity, just so they could have a scene like this.)  Even though Cannato says the hearing was within a day of Benouta's arrival, it was actually two days later.

Below is all of the hearing that I was able to get by watching (and rewatching!) the scenes where the transcripts of Benouta's hearing were shown.  I wasn't able to get everything; the gaps are denoted by "[missing text]".  Most of this was not read on air, and what was read wasn't always in the order in which it appears in the papers.

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

188 Omm                                                                               Before a
Names of Aliens:                                                                   Board of Special Inquiry
Veissi, Benouta 28f                                                                held at
Greece Hebrew                                                                      Ellis Isl, NY Harbor, N. Y.
SI 13 New                                                                              This June 1, 1918, 240 p.m.,
II Cabin                                                                                  Present: Insps. Toner (Chmn)
                                                                                                 Burke & Dobler:
SS G. Verdi, Ital Trans, 5/30/18
Unable to Read 4/3603
Insps Newburn & McGovern
Ticket and $40 to intended husband.
to ELLIS ISLAND June 1, 1918 1045 a.m.
(Interpreter Talabao)
ALIEN sworn by Insp. Toner testified:

Name and age as above; travelling alone; born in Saloniki, Greece, where I always lived, where I have my sister Ester in good health; single ; I can read a little (UNABLE TO READ TEST 5/3607, Hebrew) I arrived on the Giuseppe Verdi from Genoa; intended husband's brother, Samuel Veissi, who is my first cousin also, paid my passage; seamstress; never in the United States; going to intended husband and my first cousin, Morris VEISSI, 233 Burnett St., New Brunswick, N. J.  Shows $44 [missing text] a ticket to Montreal, Canada.

Q Is your intended husband a resident of Montreal? A No, of the United States.

Q Then why have you a ticket to Montreal?  A Because I could not read, the company's agent told me to [missing text] to Canada; said it was best for me to go there.

Q Have you any friends or relatives in Canada?  A No.

Q Have you a passport?  A Yes.  (shows passport No. 4 by Greek Government issued at Saloniki Jan. 5, 1918 bearing her photograph and "seen" by the American Vice Concul at Saloniki, Jan. 30, 1918, No. 16, and amended at Saloniki "sailing and date named impossible and amended for steamer sailing Feb. 25, 1918," signed by American Vice Consul.  Also declaration No. 16, on form 228, issued at Saloniki Jan. 29, 1918, bearing alien's photograph and following footnote:  "Illiterate but going to join husband to be."  Date of sailing and ship unknown on account of local military and post regulations".  H. F. R. American Consul)

Q Is this your signature before the American Consul in Saloniki?  A Yes.

Q Have you relatives in the United States?  A No.

Q Or Canada?  A No.

Q How long is your intended husband in this country?  A Two years.

Q Has he ever been married?  A No.

Q Have you ever been married?  A Yes I was married to my intended husband's brother, Elia, but he is dead.

Q Did you have any children?  A No.

Q Where did your husband die?  A In Saloniki?

Q What was the cause of his death?  A He was sick but three days and died.

Q Did your intended husband's brother send you the money or ticket for your passage?  A His brother in Saloniki gave me the money.

Q How much money did he give you?  A I don't remember.

Q Did you purchase your ticket yourself?  A My intended husband's brother did that in Saloniki.

Q What did he pay for the ticket?  A I do not know.

Q Have you a contract from the ship?  A Yes.  (submits contract No. 354 showing cost of [missing text] 550[?] lires[?] from

[missing text ] A The American Consul asked me and I told him [missing text] not.

Q Is there any legal reason why you could not be married to this young man?  A No.


WITNESS sworn by Insp. Toner, testified, in English

Q What is your name?  A Morris Veissi, 146 Burn[ett] New Brunswick, N. J.

Q Did you ever live in Canada?  A No, but I had intentions of going there.

Q How long have you been in the United States?  A [missing text]

Q Who do you call for?  A My intended wife (names)

Q Has she ever been married?  A Yes, she was married to my brother Elia.

Q Where is he?  A Dead.

Q Where did he die?  A In Saloniki, 2 years ago

Q Who paid her passage?  A I sent the money to [missing text] ticket for her in Saloniki. [missing text] –s the ticket was purchased in [missing text] .  The agent in Saloniki transferred [missing text] ticket to Genoa.

Q How much did the passage cost from Genoa to New York?  A I do not know.

Q How are you employed?  A By the Mitchell Tire Company getting $25 a week.

Q Have you steady work?  A Yes.

Q Have you any savings in the bank or elsewhere?  A Yes (shows $400)

Q Have you money in the bank?  A No.

Q Have you ever been married?  A No.

Q When did you expect to be married?  A Today.

Q Is there any legal reason why you and she could not be married?  A No

Q Has she any relatives in the United States?  A No.

Q Has she relatives in the United States?  A No.

Q Or in Canada?  A No.

Q She has a railroad order from New York to Canada.  Do you know why she is in possession of that?  A I wrote them I intended to go to Canada.

Q Was it because she was unable to read that that arrangement was made?  A Yes.

Q How old are you?  A Twenty-six.


TO ALIEN

Q Being unable to read, the board denies you permission to enter the United States.  Have you any further statement to make?  A Do as you please.

(Passenger agent of the SS Giuseppe Verdi advises that the cost of 2nd cabin passage from Genoa to New York is $75 plus head tax)

The alien is UNANIMOUSLY EXCLUDED AS A PERSON UNABLE TO READ.  EXCLUDED AND ORDERED DEPORTED.

TO ALIEN:

You are entitled under the law to an appeal from the decision of the board denying you the right to land to the Secretary of Labor at Washington for a review by him of such decision.  If deported it will be in the same [cabin?] and at the expense of the steamship company.  You are entitled to a refund of the money paid for passage [missing text]

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

As Cannato and Lea begin going through the pages, Lea notices at the beginning where it says "where I always lived" and is surprised that it seems to be Benouta speaking.  Cannato explains that there was an interpreter but they were Benouta's words.

Lea is surprised and a little shocked to learn that Benouta's first husband, Elia, was Morris' brother.  Cannato tells her it was not uncommon for a Jewish man to marry his brother's widow.  (We don't know if it bothered her that Benouta and Morris, and Benouta and Elia for that matter, were first cousins, because the sections about that were not read on air.  But it does mean that, in answer to her earlier question to Catherine Daly about whether Morris and Benouta might be related, yes, they were.)

The narrator steps in with one of his few informational interludes in this episode to tell us that according to Torah law, the brother of a deceased man is supposed to marry the widow.  This Jewish tradition is called yibbum.

Cannato and Lea discuss why Benouta would have said she was going to Canada.  Because Benouta could not read or write, she was likely to be excluded from immigrating to the U.S.  The shipping company agent suggested Canada as an alternative destination.  Cannato did not explain that the company would be obligated to pay for Benouta's return passage to Europe (although this information appears in the transcript), and the agent was trying to prevent that from happening.  They comment on the fact that Morris said he was thinking about going to Canada, which was just going along with Benouta's story.

Lea is touched by Morris' response of "today" for when he and Benouta were supposed to have been married.  Obviously, their wedding plans had been derailed for a while.

Of course, Lea is upset when she reads that Benouta was denied admission.  Cannato says it may seem harsh, but it was the law.

The narrator pops in again and says that immigrants during World War I faced strong attitudes against foreigners.  People who could not read or write were deemed undesirable and a financial burden on the government.  Immigrants who failed the tests, however, were stuck at Ellis Island because of the war.

In 1919 Morris wrote a letter asking for assistance with Benouta's case:

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Morris Veissy,

c/o Joseph Beja,

134 West 38th St.

New York Aug. 14, 1919.

Burreau of Immigration,
Department of Labor,
Washington, D.C.

Sir; —

The undersigned a declarant, having brought my fiancé Benouta Veissy to America in April 1917 from Salonica Greece, has been excluded by the Department of Labor on account of illiteracy and interned Glucester, N. Jersey.

She was admitted to this country temporarily on the day of the 16th of November 1918, on the condition to be deported at convenience.

I take the liberty of laying the bare facts of the situation before you.

On account of the two wars in the Balkans a terrible misery is existing throughout that vicinity, and the big fire of Aug.18, 1917 which destroyed the greatest part of the city of Salonica, has doubledits sorrows, and made for any human being unfit to live.

The only protection wich my fiancé has over there is a suffering old widow mother without any living means.  Therefore sir, you can picture what may be the future of this young lady if she is deported.

Personally, I'am fairly well financially fixed, and am in the position to marry her, and also to take care of her as well.  So I appeal to the noble and human heart of the American Government to permit her to reside forever in this country.

In the hope of a favorable reply, I remain,

Faithfully yours

Morris Veissy [signature]

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

People being held at Ellis Island had been moved to Gloucester, New Jersey when the island was used for war purposes.  Benouta was one of those paroled to Gloucester, but she was still subject to deportation.  She was sent to New Jersey in November 1918 and was still there when Morris wrote his letter, in August 1919.  Lea is moved by Morris' letter and how well spoken he was, which reminds her of her father.

Morris was making the point that Benouta would not be a public charge, as he would take care of her.  He wanted her to be allowed in as a resident, to remove the shadow of deportation.  The government, however, didn't seem inclined to do so, based on a letter written about the time of Benouta's parole to New Jersey.

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

U.S. Department of Labor                                                                                             November 16, 1918

Commissioner-General of Immigration
Washington, D. C.

Pursuant to the instructions contained in Bureau letter of the 6th instant, No. 54334/344, and Department telegram of November 15, we have taken such steps as are possible to comply with the terms of Rule 17-A, as to the temporary landing of the alien Benouta Voussi, who arrived on the "Giuseppe Verdi", May 30, 1918 and was excluded as unable to read.  The alien's signed statement and that of the sponsor named by her, Morris Veissy, are transmitted herewith.

A reference to your record will show that the sponsor is the man whom the alien intended to marry, and while it has been impressed upon him that such marriage should not occur, and he has stated that he understands that this action should not be taken, if it is consummated, I know of no action the Department can take in the matter without inflicting considerable hardship upon the persons concerned, and I doubt that deportation could be effected legally inasmuch as she would then be the wife of a bona fide resident of the United States.

In view of this situation, which may have escaped the Bureau's notice at the time the decision was rendered, I have — [the continuation of the letter was not shown on air]

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

So the government had been putting pressure on Morris not to marry Benouta, because they figured they wouldn't be able to deport her if she was married.  Wait, that's all it was going to take to prevent her deportation?  Well, then, let's take care of that, shall we?  And Cannato shows Lea a memo from 1920, almost two years after Benouta first arrived in New York.

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

January 14, 2910

No. 54334/344
Ellis Island.

In re BENOUTA VEISEY.

SUPPLEMENTAL MEMORANDUM

for THE ACTING SECRETARY:

Under date of June 14, 1918, the Department directed the deportation of this illiterate alien.  However, deportation was not effected owing to war conditions.  Under date of October 11, 1918, the Department directed that she be released temporarily under the provisions of Rule 17-A.  The record shows that shortly after her parole deposits stopped coming and an investigation was made with the result that it was learned that the alien has married.  The husband has declared his intention of becoming a citizen.  The request is made that the deposits be returned.

The Department has to recommend that, in view of the alien's marriage, her admission be made permanent, and following recommendation, it is believed that the deposit should be returned to the alien.

Assistant Commissioner-General

[signature]

Approved:
[signature]

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

So Morris decided to take matters into his own hands.  Maybe he heard that the government wouldn't deport her if she were married.  Cannato didn't explain the deposits referred to in the memorandum, unfortunately, because I was curious about them.  Lea mentions the wedding photo that her father has, and now it's clear just how important that marriage was.  To complete the information, Cannato also gives Lea a copy of the marriage license.  Morris Veissy and Benuta Cohenka, both born in Greece, were married on October 17, 1919 in New York City.  Morris' parents were listed as Joseph and Dora Veissy; Benuta's parents were Isaac Cohenka and Miriam Aramia.  (Since Benouta said that she and Morris were first cousins, was Dora's maiden name Cohenka or Aramia?)  Both Morris and Benuta were living at 83 Stanton Street.

Cannato tells Lea that if she wants to find more, she should go to the Center for Jewish History.  Lea thanks him and gets up from the table, then says, "I'm gonna take this with me if that's ok," as she picks up the papers, which is very polite of her.

As she goes across town to the center, Lea talks about how Benouta had problems at Ellis Island but got over the hurdles.  She loves how intelligent, determined, and strong Morris and Benouta were.

As she arrives at the Center for Jewish History, Lea talks about how Benouta had the American dream, but what about her mother in Greece?  Inside she meets Dr. Devin Naar, professor of Sephardic Studies at the University of Washington (and keynote speaker for this year's IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy!).  He tells Lea that his father was also from Salonika, then takes out a map of the Ottoman Empire, dated 1300–1923.  He explains that their relatives lived for 400 years under Turkish rule in Salonika, until Greece gained its independence in 1912.

Naar goes into a little history, talking about how the Sephardic Jews came from Spain after they were expelled in 1492.  They went throughout the Mediterranean, and the majority settled in the Ottoman Empire.  By the early 1500's, half of Salonika's residents were Spanish-speaking Jews.

Lea asks about the 1917 fire in Salonika and what happened to people.  Naar explains that it was a catastrophe — the center of the city, where most of the Jewish population lived, was devastated.  About 75,000 residents were left homeless, and more than 50,000 of them were Jewish.  But how did the fire affect Lea's family members?  Naar says he has a document that will tell her about that.

Aerial photograph of Salonika during the 1917 fire

What he pulls out is actually a heavy book, which he says is a census conducted of the Jewish community after the fire.  (I wonder if this book is actually in the holdings of the Center.  I tried searching the catalog, but I couldn't quite understand the results.)  He turns to a page and points out family #685, but of course the writing is all in Greek.  Conveniently, he has a separate sheet with a translation of the entries.  The family members listed are:

Isaac Shemtov Couenca, age 50, stevedore
6 Queen Olga Street
victim of fire:  yes
died September 1918

wife Miriam, 50 years old, given milk
son David, 18 years old, work boy/servant, given milk
son Mair, 15 years old, given milk
daughter Clara, 19 years old

Isaac being listed as a victim of the fire means that he had some sort of property damage.  Naar says that Isaac's death in 1918 was unrelated to the fire.

Lea realizes that Miriam is her great-great-grandmother and that David, Mair, and Clara are Benouta's siblings.  She asks about Ester, the sister Benuta mentioned in her Special Inquiry interview.  Naar says that if she married before the fire, she would have been registered with her husband.

Lea then takes stock of the family's situation.  With Isaac dead, Miriam would have been left with three children.  How can she find out more about what happened to them?

Naar does not say directly that there was little chance of them having survived World War II, but he details what would have happened if they had stayed in Greece.  After the Nazis occupied Greece, they started deporting Jews to Auschwitz in March 1943.  Eighteen or nineteen trains left from Salonika.  Almost all Jews in Greece died during the Holocaust, about 50,000 from Salonika alone.

After that, Naar tells Lea that to learn more she should go to the Lower East Side, to a synagogue there, Kehila Kedosha Janina.  (What he doesn't say, at least not in what we saw on air, is that this is a well known synagogue of the Romaniote Jews of Greece, who are neither Sephardic nor Ashkenazi.  I recognized the name immediately, and the view of the synagogue from the front confirmed it.  I guess they chose it because of the connection to Greece.)

Lea is a little somber as she goes to the synagogue.  She thinks about Isaac and Miriam having died and the devastation to the Jewish community.  It's sad for her to think about the destruction of the rich Jewish culture in Greece.  Now she's hesitant:  She's aware of the reality of what happened to Jews during World War II, but she wants to know what happened to her family members.  She feels more connected to her Jewish roots than she has before, all because of this research.  She's even figured out the references to Greece and Turkey, and she knows about Spain and that there's no one from Israel.

Inside the synagogue, Lea is approached by a woman who introduces herself as Kochava Mordichai from Israel (of course).  Lea pauses for a moment, then you can see the recognition flash across her face and she exclaims, "Wait!  I know that name!"  Kochi (nickname for Kochava) is a cousin!  Lea's father, Mark Sarfati, met Kochi several years ago.  (And the producers decided Kochi's accent was too difficult for Americans to understand, and she is subtitled throughout this segment.)

Lea asks Kochi how they're related.  Kochi's father was Moshe Yosef Mordichai, who was the son of Estreya.  Estreya is Ladino for Ester; she was Benouta's sister.  (So Kochi and Sarfati are second cousins, and Lea is Kochi's second cousin once removed.)

Kochi shows Lea a Yad Vashem Page of Testimony for Miriam Couenca.  It includes a photograph, and Lea is smiling and happy as she looks at the page; she doesn't realize the reason the page exists is because someone submitted information about Miriam having perished during the Holocaust.  Kochi explains the purpose of the form as they read over the information:  Miriam was 72 years old, born in Saloniki, and died in Auschwitz.  The person who submitted the form was Moshe Mordichai, Kochi's father.  (Miriam's form is unfortunately not on the Yad Vashem site, although a transcription of information from a different source is there.  I would hate to think that the Pages of Testimony for this family are not available on the site simply because a celebrity is related to them.  Considering the large number of Couencas in Thessaloniki in the database, I'm sure several other people are related to them also.)

Kochi says that her father, Moshe, was the only member of the family to survive.  All the other family members died in Auschwitz.  (Nothing is said about whether Moshe was also in Auschwitz or when he left Europe.)   He died about 14 years ago, around 2000.

Lea thinks that Miriam's eyes look like Sarfati's.  She says her father is going to be excited about all this.  Kochi says the last time they saw each other was in 1984, which was before Lea was born.  He's coming to the synagogue now, and they'll get to meet again.

When Sarfati arrives, at first he sees only Lea.  She catches him up on a bunch of the research and tells him how excited she was to visit places her great-grandparents had been.  She feels closer to them now and feels connected to where she came from.  She tells him all about the struggle to keep Benouta in the country and what a great love story it is.  Sarfati says he's a little emotional but refuses to admit that he's crying, as Lea predicted he would.

Then Lea goes on about the unique culture she has inherited from her father's side of the family.  Now she knows her ancestors weren't from all over the map but were from a specific place:  Salonika.  She tells Sarfati that someone is there who can teach them more about their family history, and Kochi walks in.  Sarfati recognizes her right away, and they have a lovely reunion.

In the wrap-up, Lea talks about the devastating reality of what happened to her family.  It was a horrible end to the story to learn almost everyone died in Auschwitz, but comforting to hear about it from a relative.  She wonders why none of this was talked about before.  She feels very Jewish now and tells her father to stop acting Italian; he of course says, "I'm not acting Italian!"  Now she has knowledge about her Jewish ancestry to back up her feelings and can't wait for someone to ask her what she is.  The episode closes with Lea, Sarfati, and Kochi raising glasses in a toast to cries of "L'chaim" and "Salute."