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".

Having an idea of the family group, I looked for Rachel Segal in census records and found her as wife of William Seigel in Dennis Township in 1900, on the page just following Samuel Seigel, Rachel's father. I'm sure I must have looked at this family in the past, but I didn't know how the names figured into the greater family at the time.

1900 U.S. Federal Census, Dennis, Cape May County, New Jersey; Roll: T623_960;
Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 113; Record for William Seigel.

William, born in September 1869 (only five years younger than indicated in the passenger lists), was a Tailor in the factory, as so many of his neighbors in Woodbine were. He arrived in 1891 and was a naturalized citizen. His wife Rachel was born in October 1870, only four years younger than indicated in the passenger lists. The census tells me that they had been married for 14 years (married about 1886) and that she was the mother of 5 children, 3 of whom were still living. My mother-in-law only remembers three children: Rose, Bessie and Itzik. They are in this census as Rosa, born in November 1887, in Russia, Bessie, born in May 1893, in New Jersey, and Isaac, born in December 1899, in New Jersey.

In 1910, they are still in Woodbine.

1910 U.S. Federal Census, Dennis, Cape May County, New Jersey; Roll: Txxx;
Page: xx; Enumeration District: xx; Record for William Seigel.

It looks like Rachel had another child since 1900 who didn't survive.

Matrilineal 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.