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.

Great Uncle David Levitt of Philadelphia

My husband's great-grandfather, Max Levitt (1857-1935), married twice. I believe the name of his first wife was Adele Willer. (Hadel Willer on her daughter Rebecca's NYC marriage record.) There are two granddaughters who were named Adele, daughters of their son David Levitt and their daughter Rebecca (Levitt) Reisner. It is thought that Adele died either on the boat coming over to America, or before the family left Galicia for America. Max's second wife was Golda (also known as Gussie) Segal, from whom my husband is descended.

This can get confusing so I just set up a very simple tree for Max and his first wife, Adele, and their two children I know who had children: David and Rebecca.

David had three daughters with his first wife, and one daughter with his second wife.

Rebecca married Jacob Reisner and had seven children with him. I have blogged about this family before. See Jacob's and Rebecca's marriage license. See Jacob Reisner's obituary. See their tombstone.

I recently had contact from someone whose mother is second cousin to my husband, descended from David Levitt and his second wife, whom I found as Yetta Cornfield (Philadelphia Marriage Index), though he knows her as Henrietta. His grandmother is recently-deceased Shirley Mae Levitt in the tree above.

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Jacob and Rebecca Reisner

Rebecca (Levitt) Reisner and Jacob Reisner are buried in B'nai Jacob Cemetery in West Springfield, Massachusetts. They both have memorials at FindAGrave (Rebecca and Jacob).

For the translation, I used JewishGen's Reading Hebrew Tombstones, Steve Morse's Deciphering Hebrew Tombstone Dates in One Step, my rudimentary knowledge of Hebrew, and some help from the Tracing the Tribe Facebook page:

Here lies the woman Rivka

daughter of the worthy Mordecai

Died on 13 Adar 5722

May her soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life

Beloved Wife

And Mother

Rebecca

Died Feb. 16, 1962

Here lies worthy Jacob Nathan

Son of Mendel

Died on 26 Tamuz 5725

May

Beloved Husband

and Father

Jacob

Died July 26, 1965

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun ~ My Best Recent Genea-Prize

Randy Seaver of the Genea-Musings blog issues a weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge and this week it is a timely one.

1) Did you do some genealogy research during August 2014? Did you find a great record or story pertaining to an ancestor or family member?

2) Tell us about the BEST genea-prize ("record") you found during August 2014. What was it, where did you find it, and how does it help advance your research?

3) Share your genea-prize in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post.

4) NOTE: If you didn't find one in August, tell us about a recent genea-prize from another month.

In August, I did lots of research, some of which was on Jacob Reisner, an uncle of my mother-in-law's. His wife was Rebecca Levitt, daughter of Max Levitt, my mother-in-law's grandfather. As I have noted before, I am trying to find where Max came from; just about all sources note simply "Austria," which in the pre-World War I era, referred to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a large area.

Last week, after sharing the World War I Draft Card for Jacob Reisner at the Tracing the Tribe Facebook group, one very kind reader emailed me with lots of information that he found about the Reisner family, showing that they were from Horodenka, a town in Galicia, a province in the pre-WWI Austrian Empire. When I emailed back, I thanked him and commented that I have been researching Jacob Reisner because I was hoping it would lead me to where his wife's family was from. He soon got back to me with information from an index at JRI-Poland, which I had never thought to explore since there had never been mention in the family that anyone was from Poland.

It looks like Max Levitt was from Husiatyn, Galicia, Austrian Empire.

My best recent genea-prize is finding the FREE website, JRI-Poland, and learning how to explore it.

This site, which I had heard of before, but never explored, will advance my research on the Levitas branch of my husband's ancestry. I will be sharing what I found at this resource in upcoming blog posts.

I thank Stephan Parnes for taking the time to explore records for the Reisner family and the Levitt/Levitas/Lewites family at JRI-Poland and for sharing them with me.

Military Monday ~ Jacob Reisner World War I Draft Card

Ancestry.com, U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005), www.ancestry.com, Database online.
Registration Location: Kings County, New York; Roll: 1754613; Draft Board: 80. Record for Jacob Reisner.

When I first found this record, I wasn't sure that it belonged to the Jacob Reisner who married into the Levitt family, whose origins in "Austria" have eluded me for years. However, I more recently found Jacob's 1965 obituary, which noted that he had worked for Asinof and Sons Co. for many years, in New York and in Springfield. The occupation for Jacob Reisner here is as a Tailor for Essenoff + Sons at 37 Broome St. N.Y.

He claims exemption from service because he needs to support his family, his wife and three children.

The back of his card indicates that he was tall, of medium build, with blue eyes and brown hair.

In June 1917, Jacob Reisner is living at 74 Louisiana Avenue in Brooklyn. He has declared his intention to become a citizen and this record tells me that he reports his birth as January 12, 1890, in Kolamayer, Bucave, Austria. (At least that's what it looks like to me.)

However, I am not having any luck finding this place in JewishGen's Community Search or the Gazetteer. Anyone have any ideas?

UPDATE: Thank you to the Tracing the Tribe Facebook Group members (several of them), who let me know that this is Kolomea or Kolomyya, in present-day Western Ukraine. In the late 1800s and very early 1900s, this community was considered part of Galicia, within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Sunday's Obituary ~ Jacob Reisner

Springfield Union, Springfield, Massachusetts, online images (www.genealogybank.com).
July 27, 1965, p. 14, col. 5. Jacob Reisner obituary.

Jacob Reisner, 75, of 98 1/2 Fort Pleasant Ave. died Monday in Wesson Memorial Hospital following a brief illness. He was born in Austria, son of the late Mendel and Rachel Reisner, and came to this country in 1905. He lived in New York City until 1921, when he moved to this city with his late wife, the former Rebecca Levitt, who died Feb. 16, 1962.. He had been general foreman for Asinof and Sons Co. both in New York and later in Chicopee until 1934. He later operated a grocery store on Fort Pleasant Ave. for many years until 11 years ago. He was a member of B'nai Jacob Synagogue, Maccabean Lodge, Knights of Pythias No. 23 and Springfield Jewish Home for the Aged. He leaves three sons, Atty. Samuel and Joseph, both of this city, and Harold of West Hartford, Conn.; two daughters, Mrs. Adele Levitt and Mrs. Roselle Lewis, both of Longmeadow; two brothers, Benjamin and Alex, both of Brooklyn, N.Y.; nine grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. The funeral will be held today at 2 p.m. at Harold R. Aschey Memorial Chapel. Rabbi Moses D. Sheinkopf and Cantor Herman Abramson will officiate. Burial will be in B'nai Jacob Cemetery, West Springfield. Memorial week will be observed at the home of his son, Atty. Reisner at 27 Bronson Ter.

A couple of observations:
(1) There is no mention of the two daughters who pre-deceased him. See Reisner Twins.
(2) There is mention of the move from New York City to Springfield in 1921, which helps confirm my theory that they moved from Manhattan soon after the death of their infant daughter.
(3) The reference to working for "Asinof and Sons Co. both in New York and later in Chicopee" helps confirm the World War I Draft Card that I thought was for him, which mentions that he worked as a tailor for Essenoff & Sons.

Jacob Reisner in the Census 1910-1920

My mother-in-law's mother, Rose (Levitt) Goldstein, was one of four children of Max Levitt (1858-1935) and Golda Segal (1869-1952). I shared census records for her family from 1900-1930 early on in this blog.

Rose also had three or four older half-siblings, children of Max Levitt and his first wife, Adele, who died before the family came to America:

Manuel Levitt: He was supposedly born about 1883 in Russia and "ran away" when told the family would be going from New York City to Woodbine, New Jersey. I have found no evidence to support this story. Interestingly enough, I found that Max Levitt's brother's name was Emanuel Levitas and he remained in New York.

Minnie Levitt: She was born June 1887 in Russia according to the 1900 census. I have found no more information about her.

Rebecca Levitt: She was born about 1889 in Russia and was the one cousin whose family kept in touch with her younger half-siblings.

David Levitt: I have several conflicting birth dates (and birth places) for him, ranging from 1885-1891, in Austria, Russia, New York or New Jersey.

I have found some basic information about Rebecca Levitt.

Jacob Reisner's Passenger List, 1905

I believe I have found the passenger list that shows when Jacob Reisner arrived in the United States. At Ancestry.com, I searched in the New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, for Jacob Reisner, born about 1888 in Austria (date and place from his marriage license). (I also have a middle initial of N from other sources.)

The result shows Jankew N. Reisner on a List of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry.

Ancestry.com, New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), Ancestry.com, Database online. Year: 1905; Microfilm serial: T715; Microfilm roll: T715_534;
Ship: Zeeland, List: Special Inquiry, Line: 21; Image number: 180 of 990. Record for Jankew [Jacob] N. Reisner.

I have marked this image to draw your eye to certain items on this page. First of all, he arrived on the S. S. Zeeland on February 7, 1905, at 10 AM, from Antwerp.

(1) Jankew N. Reisner appears on line 21 here. To the left of the line number 21 is 16, which is his age. I am making an educated guess that this is Jacob N. Reisner who later married into the Levitt family. To the right of his name is A9, which represents that he appears on manifest A, line 9. I was able to use this information to find the original passenger list, which is NOT currently indexed. Note the young man listed below him, Uscher Sumer, also age 16. His name appears just below Jankew's on the original passenger list and he was also held for special inquiry.

(2) Cause of Detention is L.P.C. which represents "Likely Public Charge" which means he could be excluded as one who might become a burden on the public. This was part of the immigration law at the time.

(3) The scribble here is simply the initials or name of the initial inspector who made the L.P.C. determination and decided he needed to go before the board of special inquiry.

(4) 2/7 represents the date that Jankew [Jacob] had his hearing. 4 is the page number of the recorder's book where his information was recorded. (Unfortunately, most of these records have been destroyed.) It looks like his hearing was at 3:47 in the afternoon. (Uscher Sumer had his hearing at 4:00.)

(5) The numbers in the right columns indicate the number of meals provided (at a cost to the shipping company). It looks like Jankew (and his friend) got just one meal, lunch, before heading to his destination in New York City.

The man on the list above him left on the S.S. Zeeland when it left New York on February 10. This would have been at the expense of the shipping company.

Wedding Wednesday ~ Jacob Reisner and Rebecca Levitt

Rebecca Levitt is a half-sister of my husband's grandmother, Rose. I recently acquired her marriage license via the Family History Library photoduplication services. I am trying to explore every avenue to try to figure out where the Levitt family was originally from.

New York, New York, Manhattan Marriages, FHL Microfilm 1613232, Certificate No. 19430.
Jacob Reisner and Rebecca Levitt, August 12, 1911.; Family History Library microfilm.

• Groom, Jacob Reisner and bride, Rebecca Levitt.
• Both lived at 131 Ridge Str. in New York City.
• He is 23 years old (born about 1888); she is 21 years old (born about 1890). I actually have a variety of birth dates for both of them, but these are within the range.
• They are both single (not widowed or divorced) and his occupation is Tailor (which matches all the other records I find for him). This is the first marriage for both of them.
• Both list their birth places as Austrya (Austria). This is one of those instances that I wish they listed a specific city or town, or at least a district or county!
• Jacob lists his parents as Max Reisner and Rechil Silber (note the "Levitt" that is crossed out.)
• Rebecca lists her parents as Manuel Levitt (this should be Max Levitt) and Hudel [?] Willer. This gives me a surname for her mother. All I had known was that her mother's name was Adele and that she died before her father, Max, immigrated to America with his children.
• They were married on August 12, 1911, at 106 Foursyth [Forsyth] Str. by J. Marcus Skhiller, of 177 Norfolk Str.

On the back of the license, we get to see Jacob's and Rebecca's signatures, as well as the signatures of the witnesses, Abraham Reisner and Sam Prufer [?], whom I have not researched.

Sympathy Saturday ~ Reisner Twins

I would like to take this opportunity to remember twin sisters, one of whom died due to being born prematurely and the other who died as a teenager.

These girls were first cousins to my mother-in-law.

Manhattan (New York City) Death Certificates, 1919-1948. Certificate no. 1066 (1921), Sarah Reisner,
FHL Microfilm 2027054, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Sarah Reisner died on January 11, 1921, after having been born on January 9, 1921, to Jacob Reisner and Rebecca (Levitt) Reisner (half-sister to Rose (Levitt) Goldstein). The ONLY reason I knew to look for this death certificate is, again, thanks to the wonderful memory of my mother-in-law, who told me that her sister, Naomi Reisner, had a twin who died as a baby.

Photograph of Naomi Reisner
Courtesy: Jeff Kontoff

Sadly, Naomi Reisner died a couple of weeks before her 17th birthday, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

See Naomi's FindAGrave memorial here. Although her gravestone indicates that she died at 17 years old, she was actually just two weeks shy of her 17th birthday.

And Naomi's stone includes a photograph of her.

Thank you to Find A Grave volunteer, Jeff Kontoff, for all his work in the Jewish Cemeteries of West Springfield, and for giving permission to share this photograph here.

Tombstone Tuesday and Genealogy Serendipity

Last month, my husband and I decided to fulfill one of my own longtime Find A Grave photo requests and we drove to a group of Jewish cemeteries in West Springfield, Massachusetts from our home in eastern Massachusetts.

I knew that Great Uncle Eddie Levitt and wife, Great Aunt Adele (Reisner) Levitt were buried in Beth El Cemetery in West Springfield. The Find A Grave page for Beth El Cemetery includes a map which notes that there are four Jewish cemeteries on Kings Highway in West Springfield: Beth El (in two sections), B'nai Jacob, Kodimoh, and Beth Israel.

I parked my car in a rather central location near a small building, and a man approached asking if he could help us. It turned out he worked for a vault company and was there to prepare a vault and assist with a burial later in the day.

Well, I explained about Find A Grave and that we were looking for the gravestones for Edward and Adele Levitt and he was the one to walk ahead and let us know where it was.