Surname Saturday ~ Segal (or Siegel) of Ukraine and New Jersey

I am using the Surname Saturday prompt to review the ancestral lines for my husband's family.

The surname Segal is another name that is spelled in many different ways in different records. I have found Segal, Segel, Siegel, Seigel, and Seigle (which some descendants still use today). To make it easier, I will use just Segal in this post.

The earliest ancestor I know the name of is Israel Segal, which is the name listed on his son's death certificate. The Hebrew on his son's tombstone (image below) at Tifereth Israel Cemetery in Woodbine, New Jersey, lists his name as Yehuda.

All I know of Yehuda / Israel is that he had a son, Simche, and a daughter, Henda. (See Connecting With a Segal Cousin for that information!)

Photo courtesy L. Seigle,
via R. Seigle, Jerusalem

Generation 2: Simche Segal was born in Russia, according to records, sometime in the 1840s. More specifically, his 1891 passenger list indicates that he was from Zhytomyr, Ukraine. He immigrated with his second wife, a baby, and an extended family including four children from his first marriage.

According to this passenger list, Simche was a farmer and he settled in Woodbine, New Jersey, an agricultural community, soon after arriving in America.

His 1899 naturalization papers from Cape May County, New Jersey, list his occupation as butcher, as does the 1900 U.S. Federal Census (where he is named as Samuel).

By 1910, Samuel's occupation is "Peddler, Junk" in the U.S. Census, and he is living in Holly Beach, New Jersey. Samuel died on July 7, 1919, in Wildwood, New Jersey, with his occupation listed as "Junk Dealer." As I noted above, he is buried in Tifereth Israel Cemetery in Woodbine, the older, smaller Jewish cemetery in town.

He had four children with his first wife, whom I believe was named Rose: Rachel, Golda, Hannah, and Eddie. He had three children with his second wife, known as Blume but found in most records as Rebecca: Lena, Lewis, and a son who was Israel in early records but later known as Edward, after his older brother died.

Generation 3: Golda Segal (about 1869-1952), who was also known as Gussie. She married Max Levitt on October 26, 1898 (see their ketubah), and had four children. I shared their census records here. Her death certificate can be found here.

Generation 4: Rose Levitt (1902-1995).

Generation 5: My mother-in-law.

Generation 6: My husband.