Friday, October 29, 2021

Genealogy Blog as ... Bait

We genealogy bloggers often talk about blogs being cousin bait, meaning that relatives (known and unknown) search their ancestors' names on the Internet and our blog posts appear in the search results. They connect with the blogger and family history information is excitedly shared.

Well, blogs can be "bait" for those who may not be relatives but may have something of interest to share with us.

Years ago, I blogged about my husband's great-uncle Sam Handler, who ran several businesses in Cleveland, Ohio, over the years. At Workday Wednesday ~ Sam Handler, I shared what I had found in census records and city directories: he had run two different beverage companies during his many years in Cleveland.

At A Second Cousin Contacted Me, I shared my excitement about having a second cousin of my husband find my blog post about his grandfather, Sam Handler.

Sam died in California after moving there with his daughter and son-in-law.

This week, I received a package (actually mailed to the business address of the local historical society where I volunteer) with a bottle in it.

The following photographs are courtesy of my husband (and his light box):

Friday, July 2, 2021

Moved to a New Email Platform

I changed my email distribution method in May (before my Blogiversary post) because Feedburner (previously included with Blogger) is no longer emailing blog posts starting this month.

I moved my email list from Feedburner to Follow.it. Please be sure to confirm that you wish to continue receiving emails even though I haven't been blogging much. (Apologies for the duplicate message to those of you who confirmed your subscription after my Blogiversary post.)

One of these days when something new is discovered (or rediscovered), I may get inspired to share my success here and you won't want to miss it!

Follow.it should also be sending my posts to those who follow me via RSS so that shouldn't change (I hope, and that is one thing I'm checking).

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Ten Years Blogging!

 

I guess I have run out of steam on my blogging. You can read about my educational experiences during this past year at my other blog, From Maine to Kentucky, which I started several weeks before this blog in 2011.

During the past year, I have not been actively researching my husband's family, except to do some "reverse genealogy" to identify descendants of his great-grandparents and (some) second great grandparents. 

These now-identified second and third cousins help me to know how some of his closer DNA matches are related to him. Because this research involves living people, I won't share that research publicly.

As I come across interesting records or stories in my husband's genealogy, I will share them here.

Thank you for continuing to follow my blog.

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Wedding Wednesday ~ Morris Goldstein and Rose Levitt in 1922

I requested some vital records from the New Jersey Archives earlier this year for some of my ancestors and decided that I should request my husband's maternal grandparents' marriage license. It did take over two months, but that was fine with me.

New Jersey Bureau of Vital Statistics, Marriage Certificate no. 786 (26 August 1922) for Morris Goldstein and Rose Levitt; New Jersey Archives, Trenton, NJ.

Morris Goldstein and Rose Levitt married on 26 August 1922, in Woodbine, Cape May County, New Jersey... at 10 P.M. (A perpetual calendar tells me that August 26 that year was a Saturday, Shabbat, so they had to wait until after sundown to marry. However, Wolfram Alpha tells me that sunset was at 7:40 P.M. that day, so it's interesting that they married so late in the evening.)

The Groom's information was entered where the Bride's information was supposed to be entered and vice-versa, so I'm not transcribing this exactly as written:

The bride lived in Woodbine, New Jersey and was born there 21 years before. Her father was Max (Levitt) and her mother was named as Gertrude Segal. (I have found record for her under the names Golda, Goldie, Golde, and Gussie, but never Gertrude; my mother-in-law had never heard that name for her grandmother before.)

The groom lived in New York City (I think that says #9 2nd Ave). He was born 24 years before, in Yosse (Iași), Romania. His parents were Isaac Goldstein and Shary (?) Moskowitz. (Two other records I have give her name as Scheiba and Sarah; my mother-in-law remembers her name as Sheva.)

D. Sussman was Don Sussman, the Rabbi at the synagogue (1920 U.S. census for Woodbine) who officiated at the ceremony.

I think there are two witnesses: H. Jaffe was Harris Joffe in the 1920 U.S. census and I can't read the other name - let me know if you can!

Morris's parents never came to America; can you imagine having to send a letter home to Romania letting your family know about your marriage? So different from today.