Mystery Monday ~ Who Was the Father?

I have been researching my husband's paternal grandmother's family in Hungary, where the records have been microfilmed by the Family History Library. His grandmother's mother, Anna Honevald, was from Hőgyész, one of eleven children of Jacob Honevald and Marie Weisz.

Anna had an older sister, Betti. The last entry in the following image of 1878 birth records is a birth record for a child born out of wedlock:

Hőgyész, Tolna, Hungary, "Registers of Jewish births, marriages and deaths for Hőgyész (1842-1895)"
Birth no. 935. Salomon Honevald. February 20, 1878; Family History Library microfilm #642928.

Salomon was born on February 20. The mark in the column after the Hebrew indicates the baby is male. The following two columns indicate whether the birth is (ehelich) in wedlock or (unehelich) out of wedlock. You can see that Salomon has a mark in the "out of wedlock" column and the column for a father's name is blank.

The mother's name is Betti Honevald, of Hőgyész. The midwife was Regina Wimmer and the bris was 27 February.

The interesting thing about these birth records is that if a child died soon after its birth, the death date was recorded in the birth record. Salomon died on July 21, 1878.

I am able to confirm his death in this volume of 1878 death records on the same microfilm.

Hőgyész, Tolna, Hungary, "Registers of Jewish births, marriages and deaths for Hőgyész (1842-1895)"
Death no. 495. Salomon Honevald. July 21, 1878; Family History Library microfilm #642928.

The bottom entry here notes that Salomon Honevald died on July 21, 1878. The next marks note that he is male and unmarried. I'm not a reader of German or Hungarian, but I'm guessing the word in the next column (Unnfelich) means unknown or unnamed. Betti Honevald is the mother, living in Hőgyész.

Salomon died of Schwindsucht, which translates to Consumption. He was five months old, and was buried in Hőgyész cemetery.

Betti later went on to marry and have children, but there will always be a mystery as to who was the father of her firstborn son.

George Levitt and Sarah Brodsky in 1920 Philadelphia

In the 1920 U.S. Census, Uncle George Levitt was living as a boarder in the John Cromley household at 2111 S. Hicks Street in Philadelphia.

1920 U.S. Federal Census, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Roll: T625_1629; E.D.: 811; Page: 7A. Record for George Levitt.

He reported that he was 21 in the census, though he was only 19. (He also reported his age as two years older on his WWI Draft Registration Card.)

He was a retail merchant in the auto supplies business.

~~~~~~~

Sarah Brodsky, age 37, lived with her daughter, Elizabeth, age 20, at 35 Cecil Street in Philadelphia.

1920 U.S. Federal Census, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Roll: T625_1629; E.D.: 1763; Page: 11A. Record for Sarah and Elizabeth Brodsky.

She owned the home, and carried a mortgage on it. The census reports that Sarah is widowed and that they immigrated in 1905. The "Na" means that they reported that they were naturalized citizens, but they didn't become naturalized citizens until 1927.

Sarah's occupation was "Dressmaking at home" and Elizabeth's occupation was "Saleslady, Shoes."

I don't know how they met, but sometime in the 1920's (1923 according to the 1930 census), George Levitt married Elizabeth Brodsky. I shared their census record information in Uncle George in U.S. Census Records.

Sarah Brodsky's Naturalization

My mother-in-law's Uncle George Levitt (born in New Jersey) married Elizabeth Brodsky, who immigrated to the U.S. with her mother, Sarah Brodsky. I previously shared their 1930 and 1940 U.S. census information.

In 1924, Sarah Brodsky submitted her Declaration of Intention to become a citizen of the United States to the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania, U.S. Naturalization Originals, 1795-1930, Ancestry.com.
Record for Sarah Brodsky: Declaration of Intention

This declaration has lots of great information about Sarah Brodsky. She was 41 years old, born on May 5, 1883, in Balto, Russia, and a dressmaker. Her physical description notes that she had a ruddy complexion, was 5'5" tall and 175 lbs in weight with brown hair and hazel eyes.

She arrived at the port of New York from Odessa, Russia, on June 26, 1906, but doesn't know the name of the ship. I haven't found the passenger list with Sarah and daughter Elizabeth on it. Her address at this time was 35 South Cecil Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (which is where I find her and daughter, Elizabeth, in the 1920 U.S. Census).

Note that the signature of the declarant is in Hebrew.