Moskowitz Cousins in Census Records

As I have written before, my mother-in-law, "A", has enjoyed sharing family memories with me and I have been able to use her memories to find out a little bit more about these families in online records.

Her father's mother was Sheva Moskowitz. I first found reference to Sarah Moskowitz on Morris Goldstein's death certificate. (Sarah is an Americanized version of the name Sheva.) I'm not sure if Sheva ever immigrated from Romania to America, though three of her children did (Max, Anna, and Morris Goldstein). Sheva's brother was known to "A" as great uncle Morris Moskowitz. I had the name in my Family Tree Maker genealogy program for quite a while, but had never done much research on him. Recently, I asked about him and heard the following stories.

"A" grew up in Woodbine, New Jersey, but had plenty of relatives who still lived in the New York City area. "A" remembers visiting Uncle Morris at his home on Long Island (likely in the late 1930's or early 1940's). She remembers that he had a dry goods store on Long Island and that he was very successful. He was a tall, thin man with a very kind wife. They had three daughters, but she couldn't remember their names. One daughter married a very nice man who practiced law. Another daughter married a man with the surname Mann, and the third daughter married after the war, but she couldn't remember his name. She does remember visiting Radio City Music Hall with this cousin and her boyfriend (or husband) when her brother Stanley returned from his war service.

In his later years, great Uncle Morris lost his eyesight, possibly due to diabetes, she thinks. In his apartment, he had a string to guide him from his bedroom to his living room to his kitchen. At this time, he spent most of his time in his apartment, as he was too ashamed to be seen in public, where he would be recognized by many former customers and he wouldn't be able to recognize them, due to his blindness. She doesn't remember exactly when he died, but believes it was in the early to mid 1950's.

"A" remembers that she drove to Long Island to visit the family after she got her driver's license (early to mid 1940's), but doesn't remember this family ever visiting her family in New Jersey.

With this information, I started searching census records on ancestry.com.

One Blogging Year into this Journey

I started this blog one year ago as a separate blog from my first one (From Maine to Kentucky), because researching my husband's ancestors is quite different from researching mine. During this year, in addition to being able to share family information based on research I had done over the past several years, I also was able to share documents, photographs, and stories newly discovered this year.

Through Blogger, I am able to view some basic statistics about which of my posts are most often viewed.

The top five blog posts by number of views are:

1. Amanuensis Monday ~ Max Levitt's Death Certificate - I'm not sure why this is the most popular of the posts. Although this document provided me with a father's name, the mother's name is "unknown."
2. Military Monday ~ WWII brothers die in action - This doesn't surprise me. Stories of brothers dying in any war are poignant and I'm glad that I am able to keep these men's memories alive.
3. Tuesday's Tip: Passenger Lists... - This was number one for quite awhile. This is a post where I made discoveries as I wrote because I was analyzing the documents so closely. I feel that it is a good example of what you can find when you analyze passenger lists very closely.
4. Tombstone Tuesday ~ Woodbine Brotherhood Cemetery (Part 2) - This is the second of three posts I wrote about family members buried in a small Jewish cemetery in New Jersey. I'll venture a guess that this one is more popular than the others because of the additional Hebrew on these stones for which I was able to obtain a translation.
5. Josef Handler's Naturalization papers - This shows what a treasure naturalization papers can be. I was thrilled to find digitized naturalization papers at Fold3 for my husband's grandfather which included birth dates for his older siblings.

Although I was hoping to post once a week (on average), this is the 46th post of my first year, so I didn't quite keep up that pace. I hope to continue at a pace of about one post a week.

Thanks to geneabloggers in general and Geneabloggers, the website, for the support and encouragement to share family stories for my husband's family and others to enjoy. Thank you to the distant cousins who have reached out to me and shared what they could. And thank you to those of you who continue to read my blog; I hope you've been enjoying it and continue to read it!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Off to War

This is a snapshot of my father-in-law with his sisters, Margaret and Belle, likely just before he headed to Army training for World War II in April 1943. One older brother, Alfred, enlisted in May 1941, and another older brother, Louis, enlisted in November 1942. I shared snapshots of them on Memorial Day.

Memorial Day ~ Remember the Handler brothers

Two of my husband's uncles died serving their country during World War II. Until recently, I had only seen their official military portraits, which I posted when I wrote about their service, and one formal family portrait.

With my recent acquisition of a shopping bag full of old Handler family photographs, I am able to see snapshots of my husband's uncles, showing them in their daily life before going off to war.

Alfred was born on August 10, 1919, in Akron, Ohio, during the time that his father, Joseph, was becoming a naturalized citizen. His name and birthdate are noted on Joseph's naturalization papers. He married Rebecca <unknown> at some time during the war. I'm still trying to find details about his marriage and his wife.

Louis was born on July 3, 1921, in Akron, Ohio. I found his birth date on his marriage record. He attended college for a couple of years before enlisting in the Army. He married Isabelle Brustein on September 2, 1943. He died less than a year later, before his son was born.

I have also shared what I found out about the Handler family in the 1940 US Census.

Memorial Day is a time to remember those who fought and gave their lives for our country.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Hollanders in Hungary

Holländer relatives in Bonyhád, Hungary

Photographer imprint

Here is another photograph from my husband's late aunt's collection. Family members believe that the woman on the left is Lena (Holländer) Handler's mother, Anna (Honenváld) Holländer. I'm guessing that the woman standing next to Anna might be a daughter, therefore one of Lena's sisters. Could the man on the right be Lena's father, Samuel Hollander (born 1863)?

August 2013: I got to discuss this photograph with an expert.

I'm not sure when this was taken and I am hoping to do more research in the Hungary Civil Registration records to find more information on the Hungarian branch of the family.