Military Monday ~ Morris Goldstein in WWI

Following is the (June 5, 1918) World War I Draft Registration Card for Morris Goldstein, my husband's grandfather. I know that this is "my" Morris Goldstein because the birthday (April 20, 1897) is what is remembered by family members; the birthplace is Yassy, Romania; his citizenship is of Romania; and his workplace (no. 8 below) and residence (no. 9 below) are with his brother, Max Goldstein at 138 Forsyth, NYC, NY. (See his passenger list for confirmation of some of this information.)

World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [Ancestry.com database on-line]. Original data: World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Registration Location:  New York County, New York; Roll: 1765855; Draft Board: 108. Record for Morris Goldstein

This confirms what my mother-in-law remembers, which is that her father served in World War I, but only for a brief time. The draft card shows that he registered for the draft in June 1918. The "Great War" ended less than six months later, in November 1918. I have not been able to find "my" Morris Goldstein in naturalization indexes for New York, but it's possible that he was naturalized as a soldier. Another task for my genealogy "to-do" list.

January 2014 Update: I found a bit more about Morris Goldstein's World War I service.

Military Monday is a daily blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers, the genealogy community’s resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.

Passenger List for Morris Goldstein and his sister

Morris Goldstein was my husband's maternal grandfather (his Pop-pop). He came to the United States from Romania in July 1914, leaving Rotterdam, Netherlands on July 25, 1914, and arriving in New York City on August 3, 1914, on the ship S.S. Rotterdam. Knowing his Hebrew name was Moische certainly helped me find him on this passenger list. Below, I have transcribed the information in the passenger list with the handwritten parts underlined.

Ancestry.com. New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957. Arrival Date:  August 3, 1914;
Microfilm Roll:  T715_2356; Page Number:  68; Line:  13. Record for Moische Goldstein.

Family Name: Goldstein
Given Name: Moische
Age: 17
Sex: "   [ditto from above: Male]
Married or Singer: S   [single]
Calling or Occupation: Taylor
Able to Read / Write: Yes
Nationality (Country of which citizen or subject): Rumania
Race or People: " [ditto from above: Hebrew]
Last Permanent Residence (Country / City or Town): Rumania / Yassy

The name and complete address of nearest relative or friend in country whence alien came:
Father Itzik Goldstein
Stradă Ruksanska Yassy  [I think]

The second part of page 68 of the passenger list has additional information.

Ancestry.com. New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957. Arrival Date:  August 3, 1914;
Microfilm Roll:  T715_2356; Page Number:  68; Line:  13. Record for Moische Goldstein.

Final Destination (State / City or Town): NY / New York
Whether holding a ticket to such final destination: -
By whom was passage paid? brother
Whether in possession of $50 and if less, how much? 0
Whether ever before in the United States: "   [ditto from above: No]
Whether going to join a relative or friend and if so, what relative or friend, and his name and complete address: brother: Max Goldstein, 130 Forsyth St., New York
Additional columns not shown above indicate that Moische was 5'6" tall, fair complexion, brown hair, grey eyes and no marks of identification.

His sister, Anna Goldstein, arrived on the same ship, but was listed on a different page.

Matrilineal Monday: Rachel Segal Seigel

Family stories tell me that Simche/Samuel Segal came to America after his first wife died, with three daughters (Golda, Rachel and Hannah) and one son (Eddie or Itzik). (See a photograph of the four adult children.)

There were two passenger lists (Hamburg to Glasgow, Glasgow to New York) showing Simche and his second wife grouped with Golde (age 22), Hinde (age 19), Itzig (age 17), and infant, Lea (presumably Simche's children.)

Listed with them in the Hamburg to Glasgow list are Wolf (age 27), Rachel (age 25), Reisel (infant), Mayer (age 26), Freide (age 25), Aron (age 4), and Basse (infant). Wolf, Rachel, and Reisel are not listed with Simche's family in the Glasgow to New York list, but are on the same page, listed with another Segal family which I have not placed as a relation to Simche.

In a conversation with my mother-in-law, I asked if she remembered a "Wolf Segal." She didn't know that name. I then asked if she remembered who her great aunt Rachel Segal married and was she married in Russia or America? All of a sudden, she remembered, that yes, Rachel married a Segal, and she remembered him as Uncle Velvul!

A quick Internet search, and I found that Velvul is Yiddish for "little wolf".

More on the Simche Segal Family

After writing about Simka (Samuel) Segal in the 1895 New Jersey State Census and 1910 Federal Census and finding him as Simche Siegel in International Passenger Lists arriving in 1891, I continued digging for more records of him and his descendants in New Jersey.

There were two passenger lists (Hamburg to Glasgow and Glasgow to New York) and the Siegel families were grouped differently on the two lists. This helped a little bit in tracking the family units after they reached America.

Using a strategy of searching for children when unsure of the parents' names, I searched for Lena Segal and found the family in the 1900 U.S. Census in Dennis Township, in the section which in 1903 became the Borough of Woodbine.

Tuesday's Tip ~ Another Interview Strategy

I have interviewed my mother-in-law ("A") many times over the years and listened to lots of wonderful stories of immigrant ancestors and extended family in the U.S. I have taken copious notes. I also had the opportunity to know A's mother, Rose (click here to see Rose's gravestone) and interviewed her a few times before she died in 1996.

Experienced genealogists know that one strategy to use when interviewing older relatives about about their family is to show them a picture of someone and ask them to tell you about that person. Because I only see A once or twice a year, but speak with her often, it's nice to have another memory prompt to get her talking and remembering other family groups that we have not discussed much.

Recently, I have been sharing new discoveries with A, by phone, about her Segal ancestors.

When my husband and I speak with A weekly (using the speakerphone on my husband's iPhone), I have gotten in the habit of having Ancestry.com open. I find that when I talk about what I have found and ask her if she remembers a name or how many children were in a relative's family, she tells me what she remembers and, as well as taking notes, I search in Ancestry and see what comes up. As I read a family group of names and a location from a census record to her, she is able to confirm that this is the right family and this often triggers additional memories about how many children this cousin had or about the job that another cousin had.

She is as excited as I am when I find a record in Ancestry and I tell her something about a family member that she didn't know!

Using this strategy, I have been able to identify the extended Seigel/Segal family that I found in passenger lists. Upcoming posts will be about the different Seigel aunts, uncles and cousins. I will also work on the Levitt (or Levitas) side of the family based on a more recent conversation about a great aunt that I previously knew very little about.

I am grateful to A for being genuinely interested in what I'm finding!

Tuesday's Tip is a daily blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers, the genealogy community’s resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.