Tombstone Tuesday ~ William and Rachel Siegel

Rachel (Segal) Siegel was the older sister of Gussie or Golda (Segal) Levitt, my husband's great-grandmother. Rachel and her husband, William, are buried at Montefiore Cemetery, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.

One side of their gravestone is in English:

I am surprised to see 1869 as birth year for both of them, because usually when the birth year of immigrant parents is not known for sure, it is usually not mentioned on the gravestone. I'm sure it was a guess, as I have seven different sources providing a birth year for Rachel from 1866 to 1873 and eight different sources providing a birth year from 1864 to 1871 for William.

The other side of their gravestone is in Hebrew:

The Hebrew on the left is for William: Zev son of Reb Yitzhak / Died 28 Adar 5701 [Zev is Hebrew for Wolf, which is what he was known as earlier in his life.]
Rachel daughter of Reb Simcha / Died 8 Adar 5709 [See her father's all-Hebrew gravestone here.]

View Rachel's FindAGrave memorial and William's FindAGrave memorial.

Photos courtesy of FindAGrave.com volunteer, Charles Zar.

Tuesday's Tip ~ View Next Page (for Inquest Results)

In July, I shared the Pennsylvania death certificate for a great uncle of my husband, William Siegel.

In a recent "conversation" with the FindAGrave.com volunteer who took a photo of his gravestone, when he asked if I had the death certificate, I replied that yes, I did, but it didn't show the cause of death, and the family story was that he was hit by a car on his way to synagogue. He replied and let me know that, yes, this was the cause of death and all I had to do was click on the next image arrow at the website.

So, today's tip is to remember to View the Next Page in a series of images, especially if you have a question about the initial image you have located.

Here is the original death certificate that I shared in July.

When I clicked on the right arrow at the bottom of the image (in Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1944, at Ancestry.com), I get the following image:

The following are the details of the inquest on the second death certificate (handwritten (or stamped) items in blue):

Name: William Siegal
Residence: 1610 N. 52nd St, Philadelphia
17. I hereby certify that an inquest was held upon the body of the above named deceased on the APR 19, 1941 day of ____ 193__; that the jury rendered a verdict giving the cause of death as follows: Fracture of femur, Pulmonary embolism
Other contributory causes of importance: struck by auto

23. If death was due to external causes (violence), fill in also the following:
Accident, suicide, or homicide? accid[ent]  Date of injury: 3/12, 1941
Where did injury occur? Phila.
Specify whether injury occurred in industry, in home, or in public place:
bet 1707-09 N. 52nd St
Manner of injury: Fract[ure]
Nature of injury: auto

So it looks like he was hit by a car just down the street from where he lived on March 12, 1941. This was a Wednesday and the 13th of Adar in the Jewish calendar. The joyous Jewish holiday of Purim (the 14th of Adar) started at sundown that day. It must not have been very joyous for the Siegel family for their 73-year-old (or 75-year-old) father to break his leg, and then have him die two weeks later.

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Litwin Family in Oheb Shalom Cemetery

Sophie (Lewites) Litwin and her husband, Samuel Litwin, are buried at Oheb Shalom Cemetery, in Hillside, New Jersey. I got a chance to briefly visit during our annual summer drive to visit family in southern New Jersey. We found the burial plot just as the rain started.

The Litwin family plot has four burials.

Husband and Father
Samuel Litwin
1872-1935

Wife and Mother
Sophie Litwin
1875-1958

Husband and Father
Grandfather
David M. Litwin
1896-1972

Wife and Mother
Grandmother
Minna Krasner Litwin
1898-1988

Sophie was a sister of Emanuel Levitas (who is buried on Staten Island, NY) and Max Levitt (who is buried in Woodbine, NJ). I wrote about Assemblyman David Litwin here.

Interesting to note that these gravestones do not include any Hebrew. This is the first Jewish cemetery that I have visited that had many gravestones without Hebrew inscriptions.

Sunday's Obituary ~ Samuel Litwin, 1935

Samuel Litwin was my mother-in-law's uncle. (His wife was "Tante Sophie," Sophie Lewites. Max Levitt, Sophie's brother and my mother-in-law's grandfather, died earlier that year, in May.)

My mother-in-law remembers the family attending Samuel's funeral in 1935, but she and her brother remained at the house when the adults attended the funeral service. She remembers being served lunch by a maid or housekeeper, who didn't understand what she and her brother said in response to the question "what part of the chicken do you want to eat?" and they answered "pulka" which is Yiddish for thigh or leg of the chicken.

Obituary for Samuel Litwin, November 29, 1935, Jewish Chronicle, www.GenealogyBank.com.

Samuel Litwin Dies
  Funeral services were held Monday for Samuel Litwin, father of former Assemblyman David M. Litwin, who died Saturday [November 23, 1935] at his home, 53 Girard Place. Rabbi Julius Silberfeld of Congregation B'nai Abraham officiated. Interment was in Oheb Shalom Cemetery.
  Mr. Litwin was born in Russia 63 years ago. He came to this country fifty-three years ago with his parents. He was educated in the public schools. For the last thirty years he had been in the real estate and insurance business in Newark. He was a grocer and butcher in Harrison for fifteen years prior to that time.
  He was a trustee of Congregation B'nai Abraham. He was president of two building and loan associations, treasurer of two others and a director in four other associations. He was a member of several fraternal organizations.
  Besides his son he is survived by his wife, Mrs. Sophie Litwin, and two other children, Moe A. Litwin and Mrs. Jeanette Picker, both of this city.

Unveiling of stone of Samuel Litwin, October 30, 1936, Jewish Chronicle, www.GenealogyBank.com.

LITWIN - The unveiling of the monument in memory of the late Samuel Litwin, beloved husband of Sophie Litwin and devoted father of Jeanette G. Picker, Moe A. and David M. Litwin, will take place Sunday, November 1, [1936] at 2:30 P.M., at Oheb Sholom Cemtery, North Broad Street, Hillside. Relatives and friends are cordially invited to attend. In case of rain the unveiling will be postponed to the following Sunday.

I don't know if my mother-in-law attended the unveiling, but perhaps her mother did.

I find it interesting that there is no mention of Sophie's maiden name.