JRI-Poland Record Indexing and Morris Blatt

JRI-Poland.org (Jewish Records Indexing - Poland) is a must for anyone researching their Polish Jewish roots. Four of my 16 second great grandparents came from Poland - Samuel Newmark, Rose Cantkert, Morris Blatt, and his wife, Belle.

Not only have they indexed a lot of records, and are slowly digitizing those records and linking to the images from the index, they provide a summary of the records that are available from each town, and the status of the indexing.

As can be seen below, while they aren't done, they've done a great job indexing the available records from Losice, where my Blatt ancestors came from. Unfortunately, my great grandmother, Anna Blatt, was born in 1888, and her older sister, Blanche, in 1886. Neither year is available. I interpret that to mean that the records from those years haven't survived. If so, no amount of waiting will make them magically appear online.

That means I have to rely on the records that do exist.

1) Anna's father was Morris (Moshe) Blatt, son of Jacob or Yankiel Blatt. (Source: tombstone)
2) Moshe Blatyta, son of Yankiel Blatyta married Chaia Beila Boksern in 1885. (record indexed, and digitally available online). Chaia Beila was 16 and Moshe Blatya 22. It was the first marriage for both of them. Many other individuals with the Blatyta surname shortened it to Blatt.
3) Anna's daughter, Belle, and Blanche's daughter, Belle, were both named after their grandmother (Family history).

Family history indicated Moshe Blatt's wife was named Belle Wyman. Jokes were made because their daughter, Blanche married a Wyman. While their mother died in Poland, there wasn't enough of a generational gap to yield too much confusion. However, Chaia Beila Boksern could have had a Wyman ancestor in her family tree, which could have been conflated to mean that it was her maiden name.

4) Moshe Blatyta was born in 1862 (Record indexed). According to his death certificate, Morris Blatt was born in 1864. Both 1862 and 1864 birth records have been indexed. That doesn't mean there weren't birth records from 1864 that have been lost.

There could have been two Moshes son of Yankiel born two years apart. But absent contrary evidence, I'm leaning towards accepting that there was only one. I admit that the availability of the birth records for both Moshe and his father, Yankiel Blatyta (though not yet digitized) is an influencing factor. I'm also slightly influenced by the fact that if the relationship is correct, according to the research of another genealogist, my grandmother was second cousins with Jay Black (David Blatt) of Jay and The Americans.

Memorial Day - 2018

Below is my annual post for Memorial Day.

A post on what Memorial Day is for, besides barbecues.

The above image comes from a past version of the Memorial Day page at the US Department of Veterans Affairs, explaining that Memorial Day is a day for remembering those who died in the service of their country.  [Read the full text of the poem.]

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action. [source]

[More on the history of Memorial Day]


Unnamed Remains the Bravest Soldier - by Walt Whitman (From 'Specimen Days')

OF scenes like these, I say, who writes—whoe’er can write the story? Of many a score—aye, thousands, north and south, of unwrit heroes, unknown heroisms, incredible, impromptu, first-class desperations—who tells? No history ever—no poem sings, no music sounds, those bravest men of all—those deeds. No formal general’s report, nor book in the library, nor column in the paper, embalms the bravest, north or south, east or west. Unnamed, unknown, remain, and still remain, the bravest soldiers. Our manliest—our boys—our hardy darlings; no picture gives them. Likely, the typic one of them (standing, no doubt, for hundreds, thousands,) crawls aside to some bush-clump, or ferny tuft, on receiving his death-shot—there sheltering a little while, soaking roots, grass and soil, with red blood—the battle advances, retreats, flits from the scene, sweeps by—and there, haply with pain and suffering (yet less, far less, than is supposed,) the last lethargy winds like a serpent round him—the eyes glaze in death—none recks—perhaps the burial-squads, in truce, a week afterwards, search not the secluded spot—and there, at last, the Bravest Soldier crumbles in mother earth, unburied and unknown.

The cartoon above is by John T. McCutcheon - published circa 1900

I have many ancestors and kin who served in their nation's armed forces during war-time. I honor them on Veterans Day.

However, the closest relative who was killed in action was my grandfather's brother, my great-uncle, Mandell Newmark.

Mandell was born Jan 31, 1923. He was almost certainly named after his great-grandfather Mandell Mojsabovski. He enlisted in the army on Feb 22, 1943, and served as a Sgt. Technician Fifth Grade, in the 163rd infantry. He was killed in action on April 15, 1945. Less than a month prior to VE day

Legacy's ObitMessenger email alerts aren't completely reliable

Below on the left you see an obituary that appeared in the August 11, 2017 St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Legacy has an ObitMessenger service that is supposed to send you alerts if certain keywords show up in a specified newspaper's obituaries. You can specify up to five keywords per alert, and you can set up multiple alerts. Perfect for keeping track of obituaries with surnames of interest.

On the right is an email I received on August 12th, 2017 stating that no obituaries had appeared in the past 14 days with the specified words. (The alert is localized to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.) I have deleted the surnames from the email image that aren't applicable. I've also deleted my email address.

I don't know why the obituary wasn't found.

A search today on the website returns the obituary.
I may have to stop relying on the email service.