Obituary ~ Anita Goldstein Handler (1927-2024)

Anita Handler, photo taken by her son, Steven

HANDLER, ANITA (GOLDSTEIN) - age 97, passed away on September 11 at home in Northfield, New Jersey. Anita was born in Manhattan, New York, on February 23, 1927. Her family moved to Woodbine, Cape May County, New Jersey, when she was a baby. After graduating from Millville High School, she worked as a bookkeeper and dry cleaner in Woodbine.

In 1951, she went to a dance at the Jewish Community Center in Atlantic City and it was there that she met the love of her life, Harry Handler. They were married on January 27, 1952, at the brand-new Breakers Hotel in Atlantic City.

As was customary in Anita's generation, she became a homemaker. Taking care of her four boys was the joy of her life. She had plenty of help raising the boys: Bubbie Rose and Pop-Pop Morris sold their house in Woodbine and moved into their daughter's house in Ventnor, New Jersey.

After her children were grown, she worked for the State of New Jersey at the Unemployment Office in Atlantic City. She had in abundance what was needed: a love for her fellow human being and extraordinary compassion. Anita knew the complicated system well and told the applicants in simple, step-by-step terms how to navigate the frustrating red tape of government.

Anita was predeceased by her parents Morris and Rose Goldstein, husband Harry Handler (64 years married), brother Stanley Goldstein, and sister-in-law Betty Goldstein.

Surviving are sons Joseph Handler (Jodi), Mark Handler (Linda), Alan Handler (Michelle), Steven Handler (Elizabeth); grandchildren Melanie Handler Caruso (Chris), Kenneth Handler (Sarah), Rachel Handler (Grant), Jesse Handler (Lea), Daniel Handler, David Handler, Matthew Handler (Allie); and two great grandchildren.

Graveside services were held on September 12 at the Woodbine Brotherhood Cemetery, in Woodbine, New Jersey.

Stories From the 1950 Census ~ Uncle Stanley in Philadelphia

At first, we didn't know exactly where Uncle Stanley lived when the 1950 federal census enumeration took place. It could have been Philadelphia or New Jersey.

Stanley's sister, my mother-in-law, was able to remember the street name which helped me identify the enumeration district where I paged through looking for her brother.

Stanley and his English bride, Betty, were living at 26 Robinson Street, Philadelphia, next to a cousin of his mother's, Albert Nappen. 

Albert's father was Barnett Napadensky and his mother was Hannah Segal. I have shared their family information from earlier censuses at Napadensky Family becomes Nappen Family.

Stanley served in WWII in Europe and met his wife, Betty, while recovering in England from injuries. They married in England in December 1945.

Stories From the Census ~ Bubbie Lena in 1950

I have not had any luck finding my late father-in-law, Harry Handler, in the 1950 census. It is believed that he had moved from his hometown of Akron, Ohio, to live in the Atlantic City, New Jersey, area where his oldest brother, Arthur had moved in the late 1930s. But I can't find Uncle Arthur and his family either.

In 1940, Harry was living with his parents and other siblings in Akron, and Arthur, his wife, and two daughters, were living in Ventnor, New Jersey.

I thought perhaps Harry had returned to Akron, and I easily found Harry's mother, known to my husband as Bubbie Lena, living, as expected, at 557 Rhodes Avenue, in Akron. Harry was not living with her.

1950 U.S. census, Summit County, Ohio, Akron, ED 89-141, sheet 8, line 3, household 76 (Lena Handler); U.S. National Archives, 1950 Census (https://1950census.archives.gov/search/).

Lena lived in apartment 2 in this building. She was a 59-year-old Hungarian-born widow and a naturalized citizen. The "H" in column 15, asking what she did in the past week, indicated that she was keeping house.

She was one of five on the page asked the supplemental questions, which in her case, provided some interesting information.

Stories From the Census ~ One Goldstein Family in 1950

My husband's mother and grandparents were relatively easy to find in the recently-released 1950 U.S. census because I knew exactly where they lived: Woodbine, Cape May County, New Jersey.

They had been living there since just before 1930 and I have previously shared this family's 1930 and 1940 census records.

The Goldstein family lived at 517 Jackson Avenue in Woodbine. Morris was 53 years old, born in Romania and was a naturalized citizen. His occupation was "Examining Coats" at a Mens Garment Factory.  He spent 40 hours working during the prior week.

Rose, age 48 and born in New Jersey, reported that in the last week, most of her work was "H" indicating housekeeping. The following columns tell us that she didn't work outside the home in the prior week, but she was looking for work and her usual occupation was "Trims hats" in a Hat Factory.

23-year-old Anita, born in New York, had worked 40 hours the previous week as a Bookkeeper in a Hat Factory, which is a story she has shared with the family.

1950 U.S. census, Cape May County, New Jersey, Woodbine, ED 5-49, sheet 25, lines 11-13, household 223 (Morris Goldstein family); U.S. National Archives, 1950 Census (https://1950census.archives.gov/search/).

You might notice numerical codes written in on the right-hand-columns. These were added later. The Steve Morse website has a page, Deciphering Occupation Codes, which can help you determine what these numbers mean. (If the occupation or industry is illegible, this tactic might help you identify what your relative did for work!) 

For both Rose and Morris:

Occupation Code of 690 represented "Operatives and kindred workers (n.e.c.)" [not elsewhere classified]

Industry Code of 448 represented "Apparel and accessories"

Class Code of 1 represented "Working for private employer (P)"

For Anita, who worked as a Bookkeeper in a Hat Factory, her Occupation Code of 310 represented "Bookkeepers".

Rose was asked additional sample questions. As the third respondent on this page to be asked the supplemental questions, hers are the third response below. She reported that both her parents were born in Russia and that she completed 8th grade.

Rose worked 15 weeks during 1949 and made $500. In response to "how much money did he receive from interest, dividends, veteran's allowances, pensions, rents or other income," it looks like she reported something, then reported "None." However, I believe that Rose owned additional property in Woodbine and collected rents. Perhaps she didn't want to share that information with the census taker.

In 1949, the relatives in this household earned $2,500 working for wages or salary. I'm sure it helped that Anita was working full-time.

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):

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!

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.

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.

Happy 9th Blogiversary!

I have been blogging at A Jewish Genealogy Journey for nine years, but sadly, not very much in the past year.

The few posts that I wrote this year actually didn't involve much writing! I shared several photographs from my mother-in-law's Romanian-Israeli family. I had a brief email conversation with a relative in Israel who is my husband's fourth closest DNA match at AncestryDNA sharing 184 cM, which is a lot of shared DNA, even in an endogamous Ashkenazic Jewish population.

I hope he sees this message and gets back to me - his mother recognized some of the names from my 1960s snapshots from Israel and I would love to confirm the relationship.

I can report that I have done my best to identify all of the descendants of my husband's great-grandparents; that is, all of his second cousins. This helped me identify a second cousin match at AncestryDNA with 228 cM of shared DNA, even though my mother-in-law had never heard of the name.

The Oceanic from Ancestry.com.
Passenger Ships and Images [database on-line].

I am working on a series of posts about Moritz / Morris Stern, a cousin who met Josef Handler when he arrived in New York in April 1910. There may not be records to confirm his cousin relationship to Josef, but they likely are cousins: Josef's grandmother was a Stern.

For those of you still reading my blog, thank you! I will try to post a little more often in the coming year.

Morris Stern's Immigration

Morris Stern, the man that my husband's grandfather, Josef Handler, indicated on his passenger list as his cousin, himself had arrived in America about 15 months before Josef. The 1910 census reported that he had immigrated in 1909.

I easily found the passenger manifest for Moritz Stern, arriving in January 1909, and this handwriting is much better than most!

Manifest for Moritz Stern, age 34 (line 7), arriving in New York 9 January 1909 on the S. S. La Savoie; "New York, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1957," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 May 2020).

Detail from line 7 for Moritz Stern:

Moritz Stern, age 34 [born about 1875], was married, and his occupation was baker. He was able to read and write and he was from "Ungary" [Hungary] and of the "Hebrew" race. His last permanent residence was Ilok, Hungary. His closest relative in Hungary was his wife, Sidonia Stern, and his final destination was New York.

Moritz didn't appear to be traveling with anyone: there are no others from Hungary on this list.

And since this is after September 1906, when much more information was required, there is a next page and here is the information for Moritz from the following page:

Moritz had a ticket to his final destination and paid for his own passage. He was in possession of $12 (though $50 was crossed out). He had never been in the U.S. before and was on his way to join a friend, Simon Broder, at 105 E. 3rd Street, New York. The remaining columns full of ditto marks basically indicate that he was a responsible person and in good health. He was 5'4" with brown hair and brown eyes.

He reported that he was born in Ilok, Hungary, where Josef Handler was from.

Another interesting observation is that on his passenger list, Josef reported that his occupation was baker. The family story is that he was a delivery driver for a bakery, so perhaps he did that for his cousin Moritz before he immigrated to America.

Cousin Morris Stern in 1910

So who was the cousin whom Josef Handler was going to meet when he arrived from Hungary on April 14, 1910?

Morris Stern, of 193 East 3rd Street was enumerated on April 25, 1910, at 191-3 Third Street in Manhattan, New York, New York.

1910 U.S. Census, New York County, New York, population schedule, Manhattan Ward 17, enumeration district 919, sheet XVIIIA, dwelling 38, family 470, Morris Stern; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 April 2020); citing NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 1033.

Detail from above census record.

Josef Handler Passenger List

One of my very early blog posts was about finding my husband's Handler grandparents on passenger lists in the 1910s. (It's one of my favorite posts: Tuesday's Tip ~ Passenger Lists and Following Up on Family Stories.)

The Oceanic from Ancestry.com. Passenger Ships and Images [database on-line].

Josef Händler arrived in New York City on the Oceanic on April 14, 1910, which sailed from Southampton, England on April 6, 1910. I noted at the time the importance of looking at the second page of the passenger list, but only more recently did I figure out the name of the relative who was meeting him in New York.

Ancestry.com, New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Year: 1910, Microfilm: T715_1453, Page: 82, Line: 14, record for Josef Handler.

Josef Händler, age 26, with the occupation of baker [family story said he was a baker's delivery driver], was able to read and write. His nationality was Hungary and his "race or people" was Hebrew. He last lived in Ilok, Hungary, and his nearest relative was [his wife] Lina Händler, of Ilok Hungary. His final destination was New York.

The details from the next page:

Page 2 of Josef Handler's passenger list record

Josef had a ticket to his final destination, paid for his passage, and had $15 with him. He had not been in the U.S. before and he was going to join his cousin Morris Stern, 193 East 3 St, New York. He had never been in prison or an almshouse, was not a polygamist nor an anarchist, and his mental and physical health was good and he was not deformed or crippled. He was 5' 9" tall with brown hair and brown eyes.

At the time, I thought the cousin's name was Morris Levin and I noted that I should try to find out who he was. Well, it's Morris Stern, which makes sense because his maternal grandmother was Anna Stern. (See his mother's second marriage record at Great-Grandmother Handler Married Twice.)

Jacob Reisner Family in 1930

I have recently been spending time researching the descendants of Rose (Levitt) Goldstein's half-sister, Rebecca (Levitt) Reisner. I do this to help me possibly identify second cousin and third cousin DNA matches if they don't happen to reply to my messages.

Rebecca Levitt arrived in America in 1891 or 1892 and was living in New Jersey by 1900 with her father, Max Levitt, and his second wife, Goldie Segal. See Levitts in Woodbine for several early census records and Jacob Reisner in the Census, 1910-1920 for the Reisner family.

Jacob Reisner, after living in New Jersey in 1910 as a boarder in the Levitt household, moved to New York City by 1911, where he and Rebecca married. However, in 1921, according to Jacob's obituary, they moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, where their growing family was living at 14 Hollywood Street in 1930.

1930 U.S. census, Hampden County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Springfield, Ward 6, enumeration district 84, sheet 10A, dwelling 116, family 178, Jacob N. Reisner; image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 16 January 2020); citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 911.

Following are closeup images of the Reisner family, which is the second-to-bottom family on the page.

Wedding Wednesday ~ Suzi and Sigi 1952

Another wedding photo from my mother-in-law's collection of photos from her Romanian father's side of the family.

The back of the photograph includes my mother-in-law's note "Cousin Israel" indicating that this was one of her cousins who went to Israel from Romania.

The translation of the Romanian on the right is from Theo Rafael in the Genealogical Translations group on Facebook. (Thank you Theo!)

We offer you (plural) with much love and pleasure this photo from our part.
Suzi and Sigi
3 November 1952

The photographer's stamp reads:

Photo Kleinman, Haifa, 62 Jaffa street, 4 July 1952

This suggests that this cousin was married in July 1952 and sent the note to my mother-in-law's family in November 1952. If you think you know who Suzi and Sigi are, please let me know in the comments or send me a message via the contact me form on the left.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Unknown Wedding Couple

Another image of unidentified people from my mother-in-law's collection that she believes is from her Romanian side (Goldstein, a.k.a. Yancu from Iasi, Romania).

It looks like a wedding photo (bride in white, with a veil, groom in a suit with white bow tie and top hat), but they look so serious.

Could this be in the early 1930s and times were tough? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. 

Unfortunately, the photo appears to have been cropped and the back doesn't provide much information at all, except that it's more likely Romanian than Hebrew or Yiddish.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Family From Iasi Romania

This photograph was taken in Iasi, Romania, according to the stamp on the back. Could this be a mother, father, and their daughter?

My penciled notation reads: "oldest Goldstein cousin in Romania" which is what my mother-in-law told me. However, the surname of the family would not have been Goldstein, as only the siblings who came to America took that surname.

I don't know any more about the family in Romania except that the surnames might have been Iancu or Moskowitz (the surnames of my husband's great-grandparents).

If you think you know this family, please leave a comment or send me an email.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Flona of Romania

The handwriting on the back of these photos identifies the woman, but it is unclear what her name is.

The first photograph is about 3" x 5" and there doesn't appear to be a date.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Romanian Couple Betty and Izu 1951

Last week I shared a photo of Betty and Izu from 1937.

Here is another one from fourteen years later. This one is a 2" x 3" snapshot.

The left is Romanian [thank you to Theo Rafael in the Genealogical Translations Group]:

To the parents
With all our longing
From Izu Beti Marcel
Buc [bucharest] 27 February 1951

The right (sideways) is Yiddish [thank you to Esther Chanie Dushinsky in the Genealogical Translations Group]:

This is my oldest daughter and her husband and one child from Romania.

If you have an additional comment about the translation or you know who this family is, please let me know!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Romanian Couple Betty and Izu 1937

From my mother-in-law's collection, from her father, Morris Goldstein, as he was from Romania.

Thanks to Toth Levente at the Jewish Genealogy Portal on Facebook for the following translation:

To our parent with pleasure Betty and Izu. Iancu Zeilig's family in Negrești

Negrești is about 24 miles south of Iași, where the Goldstein / Yancu family was reportedly from.

If you have an additional comment about the translation or you know who these people are, please let me know!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Yitzchak and Sheva and Sons

I have connected with a cousin of my husband's in Israel which has inspired me to share more of the photos from that branch of the Goldstein / Yancu side of the family.

This is the oldest photograph in my collection from that side of the family.

The family story is that this is Yitzchak Yancu and his wife, Sheva Moskowitz and two brothers of my husband's grandfather, Morris Goldstein. They remained in Romania when Morris followed his brother Max to New York City in 1914, after having changed his surname from Yancu to Goldstein.

There is nothing on the back of the photo to identify which brothers these were.

Morris never returned to Romania and this photograph has been treasured over the years.