Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Baby Boy Gorodetsky

Miscarriage, March 12, 1902/3 Adar II 5662 (February 27, 1902 Julian calendar)

Kishinev, Bessarabia, Russian Empire

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Wordless Wednesday

 

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Baby Boy Brainin

Stillborn, January 1, 1915

Manhattan, New York County, New York

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wordless Wednesday

 Frankie, April 10, 2012–March 27, 2024

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Baby Boy Kent

Stillborn, November 26, 1975

Buried December 4, 1975, Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
Hamilton, Mercer County, New Jersey

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

Wordless Wednesday

 1919–2022

Wordless Wednesday

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: 20 Years Ago

The topic for today's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun was somewhat expected.

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

(1) Today is September 11, and the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States.  Where were you, what were you doing, and how did it affect you?

(2) Tell us in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or on Facebook.  Be sure to leave a comment with a link to your blog post on this post.

On September 11, 2001, I was working for the Seismological Society of America in El Cerrito, California, Pacific time zone.  I usually went in early, around 7:00 or 7:30 a.m.  I did not hear anything about the attacks until I was already at work, because I didn't turn on a TV in the morning.

I don't really remember, but I don't recall that anyone else who came in to the office that day (a small staff of four people, including me) knew either when they arrived.  Apparently we were a rather insular bunch.

Sometime during the morning we found out.  I think that someone outside the office told me, and I told the others.  We didn't have a TV in the office, but we were able to watch some news videos on the computers.

We didn't talk about it very much, and I don't remember us leaving the office early.  Like I said, we were rather insular.

I lived by myself, so when I got home after work I had no one to talk to other than my pets, who never were big on conversation.  I turned on the television for company.  I had seen the CNN footage several times already, so I tried to find something else to watch, even if just for a new take on the attacks.  I went through the entire line-up of channels I had available, probably 40 or 50 at the time.  Every network but two was replaying the same CNN footage.  The only two that were not were Food Network and Comedy Central.  Food Network, which is based in New York City, had posted a static slide expressing sympathy for everyone who had suffered a loss.

Comedy Central was the only network that was airing programming unrelated to the attacks.  I watched The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for the first and last time in my life.  The guests that day were John Linnell and John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants.  I watched not only because there was nothing else on but because I have actually seen them perform several times and have met them.  I learned that they have been friends with Stewart for a long time and that they apparently know each other from New Jersey (along with a friend of mine, who used to be one of the band's managers).  Or something similar to that.  I'm a little fuzzy on the details.

Somehow, on a very surreal day, it seems appropriate that I watched two guys known for their surreal lyrics and absurdist take on music.

Addendum:

People rarely write, or are asked to write, about what happened in the days following the attacks.  I remember that my brother and several of his work colleagues were in Los Angeles for a conference.  They all lived in the Washington, D.C. area.  Air travel was cancelled indefinitely, so they were told to keep themselves amused in Southern Califorina.  They went one day to Disneyland and commented that they had never seen it so empty; they were able to ride all the rides they wanted to multiple times.  As fun as that was, however, they became bored quickly and decided if they couldn't fly home, they would drive.  They found a rental car and made it across the country in an extremely short time.  I think my estimate was something like an average of around 75–80 mph for the trip.  My brother said he could neither confirm nor deny the results of my mathematical skills but did concede that they had been trading off driving shifts so as not to need to book any hotel rooms on the way back.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

 

Abraham Meckler, July 23, 1912–December 10, 1989

Today is the 102nd anniversary of the birth of my maternal grandfather.  Abraham Meckler (or possibly just Abe) was born in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York to Morris (sometimes Max) Meckler (later Mackler) and Minnie (originally Mushe) Zelda Nowicki.  I don't know the specific location because the lovely City of New York won't release birth records after 1909, even though it has been more than 100 years.  I read a statement once where someone from the city declared that as far as they were concerned, these are not public records in any way.

Meckler family in 1915 New York State census; next to last is "Abie"

From what I was told, Zadie (Yiddish for "grandfather") grew up in a very conservative, traditional Orthodox family.  The two photos I have of his grandparents bear that out, but the one photo I have of his father shows a man with short hair and no head covering.  I don't know if that photo was taken in Europe or in the United States, so maybe the photo was taken here and he became less observant once he immigrated.

I do not have nearly the number of photos of my grandfather that I do of my grandmother.  The earliest one is from his bar mitzvah, which presumably took place in 1925, when he turned 13.

Later in life Zadie had heart problems.  He contracted leukemia from a blood tranfusion he received after a heart attack.  His health slowly worsened, but he held on until he and my grandmother had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, with a big family reunion in Las Vegas, where Bubbie and Zadie had lived for many years.  He passed away about a month later.

Wordless Wednesday

My Uncle Gary

Gary Steve Meckler, February 12, 1951–July 24, 2019
Photo: Hot August Nights, Reno, Nevada, August 12, 2018

Last week, on July 24, my aunt called me to let me know that my uncle Gary had died that day.  He had been ill for some time, more than he had let on.

My mother was the oldest child, so both of her brothers were younger than she was.  Gary was the younger of the two, born seven years after his older brother and eleven years after my mother.  I asked my grandmother about that age gap once, and she admitted that Gary had been a little bit of a "surprise."

Gary's Hebrew names were Gershon Sholem.  Gershon was for his father's maternal grandfather (my great-great-grandfather), Gershon Itzhak Nowicki (Novitsky here in the United States).  Sholem is more complicated.  That was for his mother's sister-in-law's mother, Scheindel.

These are a few of my favorite memories of Gary.

My mother was close to her family, so my siblings and I grew up knowing her side of the family well.  Gary visited us several times while we lived in California.  He was kind of like an older brother for my brother, my sister, and me because the age difference wasn't that big.  He taught us to eat ketchup on our scrambled eggs and gave us the phrase, "You don't cheat fair!"

Gary even visited us while we lived in Australia.  He brought us a present, a book titled 101 Alphabets.  It was mostly alphabets in different fonts and styles, but one of the examples was the Greek alphabet.  So I learned the Greek alphabet when I was 10, because I thought it was pretty cool, and because my uncle gave us the book.  I think I still have the book.

One of my favorite photos of Gary is from when he was stationed in Vietnam with the U.S. Army.  I love snakes, and I still think this is a fantastic photo.  I don't know if Gary had a copy of this of his own, because when I posted it on my blog several years ago, he saved my digital copy and posted it to his Facebook page.

We will all miss Gary very much.

Wordless Wednesday

Bertram Lynn Sellers, Jr., December 4, 1935–May 19, 2019

Remembering Lost Family Members on Yom HaShoah

Yechail Golubchik

Yom HaShoah is the annual day of commemoration to honor and remember the Jewish victims of the Holocaust during World War II.  It is usually held on the 27th of Nisan, which this year falls on May 2.

The following is the list of my known family members who died in the Holocaust.  They are all from the Mekler/Nowicki side of my family and lived in Grodno gubernia, Russian Empire (now in Belarus).  May their memory be for a blessing.

Beile Dubiner
Eliezer Dubiner
Herschel Dubiner
Moishe Dubiner
Sore (Mekler) Dubiner
Aidel Goldsztern
Golda Goldsztern
Josef Goldsztern
Pearl (Gorfinkel) Goldsztern
Tzvi Goldsztern
Esther Golubchik
Fagel Golubchik
Lazar Golubchik
Peshe (Mekler) Golubchik
Pinchus Golubchik
Yechail Golubchik
Mirka (Nowicki) Krimelewicz
— Krimelewicz
Beile Szocherman
Chanania Szocherman
Maishe Elie Szocherman
Perel Szocherman
Raizl (Perlmutter) Szocherman
Zlate Szocherman

Lillyan E. Meckler, March 6, 1919–October 17, 2006

Today is the 100th anniversary of my maternal grandmother's birth.  Esther Lillian Gordon was born at 1575 Madison Avenue, Manhattan, New York.  She knew the address becaue that was the home of her maternal grandparents, Morris (Mendel Herz) and Rose Dorothy (Ruchel Dwojre) Brainin.  The reason she said that she and her two older brothers were born at her grandparents' home was because for her parents' first child, a boy, her mother had gone to the hospital, and the child was stillborn.  Blaming it on the hospital, my great-grandmother then had all of her children after that in her mother's home.

Brainin family (as "Brennan"), 1575 Madison Avenue, 1920 census

Bubbie (Yiddish for grandmother) told me she spoke Yiddish as her first language and that she didn't learn English until she began school.  I have her Hebrew primer.  I don't think she had a bat mitzvah, and she didn't really remember or use Hebrew later in life.

She did continue to speak Yiddish.  The only time I heard her speak Yiddish, however, other than some random words, was when she turned 80.  She had flown out to California for her birthday and was staying at my uncle's home.  Her best friend (my godmother) had come up from Southern California to help celebrate.  I was listening to them talking, and then their voices got louder, and it sounded like an argument — and suddenly I couldn't understand anything they were saying.  I was mesmerized — they were arguing in Yiddish!  It's still the only time in my life I've heard the language used in a conversation, albeit a loud one.  I wish I had been able to record it.

Wordless Wednesday

Cornelius Elmer Sellers, November 7, 1874–September 14, 1918

Laura May (Armstrong) and Cornelius Elmer Sellers

Today, September 14, 2018, is the 100th anniversary of the death of Cornelius Elmer Sellers, my great-grandfather.  None of his grandchildren knew him, because he died well before any of them was born.  This is some of the information I have learned about him through my research, none of which my family knew previously.

Elmer, as he was known, was born November 7, 1874 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Cornelius Godshalk Sellers and Catherine Fox Owen.  His father died when he was 3 years old, and his mother remarried in 1882 in Mount Holly, New Jersey, to George W. Moore.  The family appears to have stayed in the Mount Holly area from that point on.

Cornelius and Catherine Sellers had three children who died young, and George and Catherine Moore had at least two children, only one of whom survived to adulthood.  Elmer's surviving sibling was Howard Evans Moore.

On November 7, 1903, Elmer married Laura May Armstrong and accepted her 7-month-old son, my grandfather Bertram Lynn Armstrong, and raised him as his own.  They went on to have eight additional children I have documented, three of whom lived to become adults.

Elmer was in the New Jersey National Guard.  In 1905, he received a service medal for five years' service, which was reported in the Trenton Times of March 20.  After five years, he was still only a private.

Elmer registered for the World War I draft on September 2, 1918, only two days before he passed away.

Elmer's occupation was listed as plumber on his 1903 marriage record, farmer in the 1915 New Jersey state census, and ship builder on his 1918 draft registration, but I have been told that the family was always poor and never really had any money.  When Elmer died, however, the funeral home costs were more than $100.  It took me a while to figure out where the money had come from — Elmer's mother had paid for the expenses.  She outlived him by five years.

Wordless Wednesday

Mr. Noodle, November 17, 2002 – April 2, 2018