Herman Handler - Is He Related? [Naturalization Record]

Last week, I shared an updated version of Surname Saturday for the Handler ancestral line.

In addition to the three siblings in my husband's grandfather's generation, Joseph, Sam, and Regina, there were additional Handler relatives who immigrated to America and I'm slowly working on connecting them to my husband's family.

Many years ago, I found records for Herman Handler, who was born in Erdevik, Hungary, according to his naturalization record. How is he related to my husband? I will share documents over several blog posts which will ultimately show his relationship to my husband's father's family.

Herman Handler petition for naturalization (1912), naturalization file no. 284, U.S. District Court, Summit County, Ohio; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1987615 : viewed 30 August 2018).

A closeup of the family details shows the wonderful details that help piece together the family.

Herman Handler was born on 10 February 1882, at "Erdewick" which he reports to be in Croatia, Austria, though he probably could have reported it as in Hungary. He left from Antwerp, Belgium, on 28 December 1903, and arrived at the port of New York on 9 January 1904, on the "Vatterland" also known as the Vaderland. He was living at 278 South Main Street, in Akron, and worked as a grocer.

Herman started the naturalization process on 9 January 1905 in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, by declaring his intention to become a citizen. (Exactly a year after his arrival; he had no doubts about where he wanted to be.)

His family included wife, Sarah Handler, and son Arthur, born 3 December 1911, in Detroit, Michigan. Because of the naturalization laws of the time, Sarah and Arthur became citizens when Herman did.

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Years ago, I figured that Herman must be related to my husband's grandfather, Joseph Handler, who arrived in 1910, but I thought that I would never figure out how. Now that I have reviewed records (including several U.S. records and vital record indexes from the JewishGen Hungary Database), I can confirm how this Herman Handler is related to my husband.

To be continued...