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.
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| 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.
Seems really late for a marriage, but then again, this may have been very small and not with anyone other than the bride, groom, rabbi, and witnesses. Oh, the stories we could spin about this: Rabbi had another event before this one; the groom was delayed journeying from NYC to NJ; on and on. Have fun with this mystery!
ReplyDeleteMarian, a belated thanks for your comment. I agree that there must be a story there.
DeleteShabbat actually ends 42 minutes (and some keep 72 minutes) after sunset. And they couldn't start preparing (getting dressed, makeup, etc.) until after that time. It is unusual to have a Saturday evening wedding, especially in the summer, for this very reason!
ReplyDeleteLara, I did have a few comments on Facebook along those lines, which makes sense. Thanks for the comment
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