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.