Shopping Saturday ~ Buy a radio at Levitt's

Levitt's Electric Service, Woodbine, New Jersey

One of my favorite photographs from my husband's family collection is of Levitt's Electric Service storefront. Unfortunately, the quality is not so great. This is a scan of a photograph of a photograph. The writing at the bottom notes that the man at the left is Artis Baker; the man standing near the door is Eddie Levitt, and the man at the right is Morton Levitt. I'm guessing this is from the early 1930's.

Morton (b. 1904) and Edward (b. 1908) Levitt were the youngest two sons of Max and Golda (Segal) Levitt (my husband's great grandparents).

Military Monday ~ WWII brothers die in action

World War II was a defining period in U.S. (and World) History. As a mother of boys, I can't imagine being a mother and sending three sons to fight!

Joseph and Lena Handler had six children, four boys and two girls. I am able to track the family from their immigration, to Joseph's naturalization in 1919, through the 1920 U.S. Federal Census to the 1930 U.S. Federal Census, in Akron, Summit County, Ohio. The three youngest sons enlisted in the U.S. Army and saw action in WWII.

Two of them did not return home.

Getting Ready for the 1940 Census

Because there won't initially be an every-name index to find ancestors in the 1940 U.S. Census when it is released in April 2012, it helps to know the Enumeration District (E.D.) of the ancestor I'm looking for. There are a couple of ways to find the 1940 Enumeration Districts of the ancestors I hope to find once the 1940 Census is released in April 2012. Thank you to Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings for his July 18 post about the availability of 1940 Census Enumeration District Maps at NARA's website. Another option is to go to Steve Morse's 1940 Census Quiz which I believe I first read about in Dick Eastman's newsletter in late June.

In 1940, my husband's father, Joseph Handler, and his family were living at either 553 or 557 Rhodes Avenue in Akron, Ohio. (553 was the address in the 1930 U.S. Census, and 557 was the address I found on Joseph Handler's 1947 death certificate.) To find the E.D., I started at the 1940 Census Quiz looking for what Enumeration District this neighborhood was in. I found this E.D. by using the One-Step Large City E.D. Finder Tool. Entering "Ohio", the city of "Akron", and the street names "Rhodes Av" and cross street "Bishop" (I got a little help from Google Maps to find the cross street), up popped the Enumeration District of 89-70. I can click on "View" under the microfilm number T1224 to see a verbal description of the E.D. where I see that this neighborhood is in Ward 3, Tract F8, Block 15.

I then went to the Archival Research Catalog of the National Archives and entered as search terms: "1940 census maps Akron Ohio". The result with the digital icon at the left brings up maps in thumbnail view. There are only eight maps for Akron, and they do not appear to include the entire city. As I looked through each of these images, I looked for Tract F8, but couldn't find it. (Image 4 has F1, F2, F4, F5, and F6.) When I searched for the county of Summit, Ohio, I did find a county map, and Akron, in general, is in the center of it.

Close-up of 1940 Enumeration District map for Summit County, Ohio

I have marked where I guess that Tract F8 is with a little help from Google Maps. I hope that ARC will update these maps and provide more-detailed maps of the southern half of Akron.

Mystery Monday ~ Levitts in Woodbine

The Levitt home on Jackson Avenue,
Woodbine, New Jersey, photographed in 2003.

As I wrote about in Those Places Thursday ~ Woodbine, New Jersey, the family of Max Levitt moved from New York City to Woodbine soon after arriving in the U.S.

In good genealogical fashion, I will work backwards from what I know to share the history of this Levitt family in Woodbine.

In the 1930 U.S. Federal Census, I find my husband's great grandparents, Max Levitt and his wife Gussie, on Jackson Avenue in Woodbine.

1930 U.S. Federal Census, Woodbine, Cape May County, New Jersey; Roll: 1325; Page: 11B; Enumeration District: 28; Record for Max Levitt.

He owns his home, worth $1,500. Max is 73 (born about 1857) and Gussie is 60 (born about 1870). They and their parents are all listed as having been born in Poland. First mystery about this family: His age at first marriage is 34 (married in about 1891) and her age at first marriage is 21 (married in about 1891). That would seem logical, except that based on family stories and earlier census records (see below), Max was married and fathered at least three children before he married Gussie. The language spoken before they came to the U.S. was Yiddish. Max immigrated in 1891; Gussie immigrated in 1890 and they are both naturalized citizens. One son lives with them, Israel [a.k.a. Eddie], born about 1910 in New Jersey, and he is a radio salesman. Another mystery is that this son sold radios, but the household did not own one.

Tuesday's Tip: Passenger Lists...

... and following up on family stories.

In my husband's family there is a story about his paternal grandmother, known to her grandchildren as Bubbie Lena, feeling homesick and wanting to return home after immigrating to America. After having followed her husband Joseph Handler to America, she returned home to Hungary with her two oldest children for a visit with her family. They ultimately returned to America with her daughter contracting polio on the return trip. She survived the bout with polio, but had a limp for the rest of her life.

To verify the story, I looked for the passenger lists.

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

First, I found the passenger list for Josef Händler. Josef arrived in New York City on the ship Oceanic on April 14, 1910. It had sailed from Southampton, England on April 6, 1910.

The image of the passenger list is below. For any of these images, you should be able to view a larger image by clicking on them.

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

Josef Händler was 26 years old (born about 1884) with an occupation of baker. My father-in-law remembers hearing that his father was not a baker, but a delivery man for a bakery. The next marks indicate that, yes, he could read and write and that his nationality is Hungary. The next column is headed "Race or People" and he is listed as "Hebrew." The following columns are "Last Permanent Residence" in which he is listed with a country of Hungary and a town that I originally thought was Jeok. (Jeok is also how it is transcribed by ancestry.com.) The following column is how I know this is "my" Josef Handler: the name and address of nearest relative in country whence alien came is wife Lina Handler, in "Jeok."  The last column indicates that his final destination is New York.

Another thing to know about passenger lists, at least at this time (1910's) is that there is a second page. The information on the second page of Josef's passenger list record shows that he arrived with $15 in his pocket and that he had not been in the U.S. before. The next column notes that he is going to join a cousin, Morris Levin (?) in New York. Another task will be to try to find this cousin!

Page 2 of Josef Handler's passenger list record

This also indicates that he was 5'9" tall, white (complexion), with brown hair and brown eyes.

All the way to the right notes that his birthplace is Ilok, Hungary, reproduced at the right. You can see why I thought for years that it read Jeok!