Thoughts on Geni and Relationships to Celebrities

 Five years ago I made fun of Geni's twisted relationship finder that determined how William Shatner was 'related' to Leonard Nimoy.

A month ago, I uploaded portions of my family tree data to Geni, and have been playing with it for the past month. I still find what they term an "in-law relationship" to be rather silly at times. For example, Ruth Bader Ginsberg is my first cousin twice removed's wife's niece's husband's second cousin once removed. Can you follow that?

George Washington is my "fifth great uncle's great uncle's wife's niece's 2nd husband." Neither of these are as tortuous as Kirk and Spock's relationship above, though neither is a blood relationship. The George Washington connection goes through the ancestry of my fourth great grandmother, Sarah Showers Van Every. I have not confirmed all of the steps. I do know that I have a much less tortuous in-law relationship to our first President, but I didn't upload the data in my family tree for a cousin, so Geni doesn't tell me about it. George Washington's father is an ancestor of some first cousins, through one of his half-siblings. 

If one can confirm ancestry to Colonial Americans, which I can, in a lot of cases connections to European royalty have been traced by others. Whether these connections are all accurate and truthful is open to question at times. As I did with Ancestry's discontinued We're Related App, I use the information it provides for my 'new' ancestors as a basis to research, and I essentially trust the ancestry done for the famous celebrities. 

Geni makes it easy to search for the closest in-law and closest blood relationship paths of pretty much any public figure. (I do have a fourth cousin who is fairly well-known, but who isn't on the Geni website. I didn't upload his data to the site, and don't plan to. My second cousin twice removed, David "Jay and the Americans Black" Blatt isn't on the website either. As long as he is living, I won't be the one to enter his data, and if I did, I'd mark it as private.) I have discovered that I am 90th+ cousins with a few celebrities. How is that possible?

Well, those royal families had their ancestries traced back to the Bible. Some people trust those ancestries. So Abraham the Patriarch is my shared ancestor for a few. Intriguingly, Isaac is a great...great-uncle. I have not been able to trace my Jewish ancestral lines far enough back. And while I thought the Royals traced their ancestry back to King David, apparently my Royal ancestors did not, and their line to Abraham is through Ishmael. To connect with Isaac, a lot of Jewish lines go through Rashi. Rashi's Biblical descent is missing a few generations. 22 generations, traditionally. That's a lot of generations to skip, and trust, based on Tradition. Traditionally, my great grandfather was a Cohen, and thus a direct descendant of Aaron, Moses's brother. That's skipping a lot more generations, but the tradition is equally acceptable to my mind.

While seeing the connections to famous people still fascinates me at times, I hope to use the blood relationships it provides to actually help research/confirm some of my own ancestral lines a little further than I have.

The Three Sisters of Selig Dudelczak Feinstein

 Back in 2018 I found the obituaries of my 2nd great grandfather's sisters - Sylvia Dudelczak Blufston Babchick, Lottie Dudelczak Getz Goldstein, and Rebecca Dudelczak Portnoy. While I had found photos of some of the gravestones online, I didn't have a chance to visit the cemetery to look for them myself, until today.

When I looked up online the locations of the sisters' graves, I learned they were all in the same numbered section of the cemetery, but that's all I knew. I wondered how close they would be to each other.

This close. 

All three were married, but none of their husbands are buried next to them.

Here lies Woman, Baila, daughter of R. Shmuel Zvi, Portnoy...

Ylota, daughter of R. Shmuel Zvi...

Shprintze, daughter of R. Shmuel Zvi...

I did find Sylvia/Shprintze's husband. 

I was under the impression that Sylvia had two husbands. A Jacob Babchik and a Jacob Blufston. Her death certificate records her name at death as Sylvia Babchik. Her obituary states Sylvia Blufston Babchik, and lists her children with the surname Blufston. Jacob's death certificate lists his name as Jacob Babchik, and his father as Wulf Babchik.

His tombstone has the additional surname of Blufston on it. I guess there is a small chance his children put their father's surname on their step-father's tombstone - which would be highly irregular. It makes more sense that there is only one husband, and at some point he changed his surname from Blufston to Babchik, and his wife followed suit, but not the children. Why did he change his name? That is not what I would consider an Americanization of an Eastern European surname.

Yakov Meyer, son of Zev Babchik...

(Zev is Hebrew, and Wulf is Yiddish. They are the same name.)

Ancestral photographs

It's been a long while since I've been able to add a photograph to my ancestral montages below. It's exciting to be able to do so.

Left to Right: Grandfather, Melvin Newmark; Great Grandfather, Barney Newmark; Great Grandfather Herman Feinstein; Great Great Grandfather, Samuel Newmark; Great Great Grandfather, Moshe Leyb Cruvant; Great Great Grandfather, Morris Blatt; Grandfather, Martin Deutsch; Great Grandfather, Melvin Van Every; Great Grandfather, Samuel Deutsch; Great Great Grandfather, Samuel Van Every; Great Great Grandfather, Israel Lichtman [2 grandfathers, 4 great grandfathers, 5 great great grandfathers]

I have three un-photographed great great grandfathers. 

1. Ebenezer Denyer died in 1872, so I doubt I will find a photo of him.
2. I might have a photograph of Abraham Deutsch. This photograph was originally found in the same folder as the one of Israel and Sarah Lichtman. It would make logical sense if they were the other set of my maternal grandparents' parents. But there is no way I can make that assumption. 
3. The remaining un-photographed great great grandfather is Selig Dudelczak Feinstein. He died in 1915, so it is conceivable that there is a photograph out there in some cousin's archives.

Left to Right: Grandmother, Myrtle Van Every Deutsch; Great Grandmother Margaret Denyer Van Every; Great Grandmother, Helen Lichtman Deutsch; Great Grandmother, Bertha Cruvant Newmark; Great Great Grandmother Minnie Mojsabovsky Cruvant; Great Great Grandmother, Rose Cantkert Newmark; Great Grandmother, Annie Blatt Feinstein; Grandmother Belle "Sissie" Feinstein Newmark [2 grandmothers, 4 great grandmothers, 2 great great grandmothers]

I have 6 un-photographed great great grandmothers. 

1. Chaia Bela Boksern Blatt died in 1892 in Poland. 
2. Sarah Weiss Deutsch may be in the same photograph I link to above which might contain Abraham Deutsch. 
3. Israel Lichtman's first wife, Betty Adler, probably died in the early 1880s.
4. Abigail Stuart Van Every died in 1866. 
5. Sarah Hartley Denyer died in 1898. There is a photograph of her grandchildren from the 1890s, but I doubt I will find a photograph of her.
6. Annie Perlik Feinstein died in 1932. If I am going to find another female ancestor's photograph, hers is the most likely. I feel a photograph has to be hiding somewhere in some cousin's archives. 

There are a handful of ancestors who might have had portraits done of them. So far I have not found any.

Israel and Sarah Lichtman - 1915

 

I posted the below photo in 2009 as an Unidentified Family phOto. Going through some family folders, the image was used on a family reunion packet back in 1992, and the photo was identified as Israel and Sarah Lichtman, 1915, Austria-Hungary. 

Israel was my 2nd great grandfather, and Sarah Jonas Lichtman was his second wife. (My 2nd great grandmother was his first wife, Betty Adler.) I have no other photographs of Israel to compare, so I will just accept the identification from the family reunion packet. Especially since there was a date given, with no indication that it was an estimate, the information probably came from the back of the original.

My Great grandparents (Samuel and Helen Lichtman Deutsch) immigrated to the US in 1912 and 1913, so this photograph was apparently taken after they had left.

Belle Wyman Korn and Cary Grant - 1972

Belle Wyman Korn (1914-2015) was my grandmother's first cousin. They were the same age, and were best of friends. The Wymans moved to California in the 1930s, and this is Belle at a pool in 1972. That is Cary Grant standing next to her. I am told that it was at Charlie (Kewpie) Rich’s estate. (Charlie Rich and Belle’s brother, Sid Wyman, were co-owners of the Las Vegas Dunes hotel.) For comparison, I've included a photograph I found online of Grant and Ingrid Bergman from 1972. It's definitely him.

 

Two Affidavits of Birth - One Person - Two Dates

My maternal grandmother, Myrtle Vanevery Deutsch, had her sister sign an affidavit of birth for her twice. In 1942, and again in 1945.

In 1942 my grandmother was living in Clayton, Missouri (part of St. Louis County). In 1945 she was in West Palm Beach, Florida. In 1945 my grandfather was returning to the states after serving in Africa and the Middle East during WWII. My grandmother took the kids to Florida to join him for the remainder of the war.

In 1942 my great aunt declared my grandmother was born on March 21, 1900. In 1945 she declared my grandmother was born on March 21, 1905. In both she states she was present at the birth. She provides several more details in 1942, such as the attending physician. In 1945 she simply states she was present. (I suspect she wasn't all too happy about filling out the affidavit in 1945, but was willing to do it for her sister. I suspect my grandmother was looking for a job and wanted to be five years younger.)

There is no question as to which is the correct affidavit. My grandmother is on the 1900 census, and is mentioned in the testimony given to the Dawes Commission in 1901 on the family's alleged Choctaw ancestry.

I have had a copy of the 1945 affidavit in my records for several years, having uncovered it in some folders at my parent's house over a decade ago. My parents gave me 20 boxes of family photos and documents this week, and in one I found the 1942 affidavit.

Update: I’ve been given another explanation for the second affidavit. My grandmother didn’t want anyone at the army base to know she was 7 years older than my grandfather. 

Days of Love - 2020

Tu b'Av is a relatively obscure Jewish holiday that falls on the fifteenth day of the month of Av (sundown Tuesday Aug 4 to sundown Wednesday Aug 5 this year).

The fifteenth day of each month on the Hebrew calendar falls on a full moon, and the holiday was observed as a sort of fertility festival during the period of the Second Temple. After the destruction of the Second Temple, it was forgotten for the most part in the Diaspora, only to be revived in modern times as a Jewish alternative to St. Valentine's Day.

To some, St. Valentine's Day, or Tu B'Av, may feel manufactured for greeting card companies, florists, and chocolatiers. However, most couples have their own personal "Days of Love." Whether the annual date commemorates a first date, an engagement, a marriage, or another anniversary, it's significant only to the individual couple. The memories connected with these dates are often stronger than the ones associated with the annual religious or societal holidays. Still, any reason for two people to celebrate their love for one another is a good reason.

To A Lady
by Victor Hugo,
From Les Feuilles D'Automne

Child, were I king, I'd yield my royal rule,
     My chariot, sceptre, vassal-service due,
My crown, my porphyry-basined waters cool,
My fleets, whereto the sea is but a pool,
     For a glance from you!

Love, were I God, the earth and its heaving airs,
     Angels, the demons abject under me,
Vast chaos with its teeming womby lairs,
Time, space, all would I give--aye, upper spheres,
     For a kiss from thee!

translation by Thomas Hardy
photogravure by Goupil et Cie, from a drawing by Deveria, appears in a collection of Hugo's poetry published by Estes and Lauriat in the late 1800s.

1913 Benton Basketball Team - Robert Lee Gober - Genealogy and Algebra

Robert Lee Gober (1895-1971) is on the far left in the photograph below, holding the basketball. He is my wife's great grandfather. Benton is the County Seat for Scott County, in Southeastern Missouri. 

Born in 1895, Robert Lee Gober would have been 18 in 1913. We know as an adult he was 6'4" tall, though we do not know if he had stopped growing by the time of this photograph. I don't know the identities of any of the other young men, but I was curious how much they varied in height. Let's assume he was 6'4" tall. Can we estimate the height of the shortest teammate? Definitely. 

Examining the photograph in my photo-editor, RL Gober is 1,775 pixels in height, and the shortest teammate is 1,515. (I measured from the top of the head to the bottom of the foot, choosing the back foot for both individuals)

76 inches / 1775 pixels = X inches / 1,515 pixels

Solving for X, he is 64.87 inches tall. Or 5'5. Almost a full foot shorter than Robert.

Naturally, there is some room for error in how I calculated the pixels.

(You didn't realize algebra would come in handy for genealogy, did you?)

Memorial Day Weekend 2020

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

My grandfather also had a second cousin, Arnold Kruvant, who was killed in action during the D-Day invasion.

Ancestry’s Indexing of Newspapers.com Obituaries

Here’s a research tip that probably should go without saying, but sometimes as humans we get tired or sloppy, and forget. Indexes made by humans have errors in them. Indexes made by computers do too. Perhaps more.

Ancestry’s indexing of their obituaries from Newspapers.com should not be trusted without looking at the actual obituary. A computer has done the indexing, and not a human. The algorithms are good, but not perfect. This is a great illustration. Patrick Swayze never resided in a town called “Ghost,” and he didn’t marry “Jennifer Grey.” While these mistakes are humorous, and obvious to any fan of the actor, consider what other mistakes the computer algorithms may be making with the obituaries of those in your tree. (I have distant Swayze ancestors, and Patrick is possibly a 9th cousin.)

MyHeritage InColor App

Through April 22nd, MyHeritage is making their new InColor app, free for everyone to use for an unlimited number of photographs. You need to create an account (which is free), but then you can upload as many black and white photos as you wish and see what they look like in color.

Of course, I wanted this 1947 photograph of my paternal great grandparents in Miami. The story goes that they had enough difficulty with Miami hotels, as they were Jewish, but as their vacation lengthened, their difficulties grew, because my great grandfather Herman Feinstein had a very dark tan.

Here is my maternal grandmother at the Grand Canyon in 1925 - age 25.

And my paternal grandparents on their honeymoon. My grandfather's leg illustrates that the inColor app sometimes has difficulty with parts of photographs that are in shadow. But I really don't mind the small colorization errors. The results overall are outstanding.

Here are my maternal great grandparents Samuel and Helen Lichtman Deutsch, and all their children, early 1920s. 

(Their youngest was born in 1914.)

Tombstone Tuesday - Andrew David Van Every

Andrew David Van Every (1795-1873)

St. George Baptist Cemetery, Brant County, Ontario

My third great grandfather

My only maternal Van Every ancestor who lived his entire life in Canada. His father, David Van Every, a United Empire Loyalist, fled the colonies after the Revolution. His son, Samuel Andrew Van Every, immigrated back to the United States.

(Image source: Find a Grave, with permission)

Amanuensis Monday: Declaration of Intent for Jacob Perlik

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them.

Today I transcribe a Declaration of Intention completed by Jacob Perlik, a brother of my second great grandmother, Annie Perlik Feinstein.

No. 86276 

US DEPARTMENT OF LABOR NATURALIZATION SERVICE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DECLARATION OF INTENTION

Invalid for all purposes seven years after the date hereof

State of Illinois County of Cook In the Circuit Court of Cook County

I, Jacob Perlik, aged 41 years, occupation Carpenter do declare on oath that my person description is: Color white, complexion Ruddy, height 5 feet 9 inches, weight 176 pounds, color of hair Black, color of eyes Brown, other visible distinctive marks None.

I was born in Zdobietzen, Russia on the 12th day of April, anno Domini 1879. I now reside at 1438 So. Turner Ave, Chicago, Ill.

I emigrated to the United States of America from Quebec, Canada on the Canadian Pacific R.R.; my last foreign residence was Russia; I am married; the name of my wife is Bessie; she was born at Russia and now resides at With me.

It is my bona fide intention to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly to THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT OF RUSSIA, of whom I am now a subject; I arrived at the port of Detroit, in the State of Michigan, on or about the 12 day of May, anno Domini 1905.

I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy; and it is my intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States of America and to permanently reside therein; SO HELP ME GOD.

Jacob Perlik

Subscribed and sworn before me in the office of the Clerk of said Court At Chicago, Ill, this 10 day of April anno Domini 1918

August W Miller Clerk of the Circuit Court
By G, Sienneschen, Deputy Clerk

---

Notes:

1) You may note that while I underlined all handwritten text, 'White' after 'Color" is not underlined. That is because if you look at the image, it is not handwritten. It is part of the typed form. Non-whites could naturalize after the Naturalization Act of 1870, so Non-white individuals declaring their intention to become naturalized either received a different form, or had to cross White out.

2) We're not exactly sure what town in Russia Jacob came from. There is no town named Zdobietzen. But it could be Dobryzn or Szczebrzeszyn.

Poetry Friday: The Influenza, 1890 - Winston Churchill

The Influenza, 1890 - Winston Churchill, age 15


Oh how shall I its deeds recount
Or measure the untold amount
Of ills that it has done?
From China's bright celestial land
E'en to Arabia's thirsty sand
It journeyed with the sun.

O'er miles of bleak Siberia's plains
Where Russian exiles toil in chains
It moved with noiseless tread;
And as it slowly glided by
There followed it across the sky
The spirits of the dead.

The Ural peaks by it were scaled
And every bar and barrier failed
To turn it from its way;
Slowly and surely on it came,
Heralded by its awful fame,
Increasing day by day.

On Moscow's fair and famous town
Where fell the first Napoleon's crown
It made a direful swoop;
The rich, the poor, the high, the low
Alike the various symptoms know,
Alike before it droop.

Nor adverse winds, nor floods of rain
Might stay the thrice-accursed bane;
And with unsparing hand,
Impartial, cruel and severe
It travelled on allied with fear
And smote the fatherland.

Fair Alsace and forlorn Lorraine,
The cause of bitterness and pain
In many a Gaelic breast,
Receive the vile, insatiate scourge,
And from their towns with it emerge
And never stay nor rest.

And now Europa groans aloud,
And 'neath the heavy thunder-cloud
Hushed is both song and dance;
The germs of illness wend their way
To westward each succeeding day
And enter merry France.

Fair land of Gaul, thy patriots brave
Who fear not death and scorn the grave
Cannot this foe oppose,
Whose loathsome hand and cruel sting,
Whose poisonous breath and blighted wing
Full well thy cities know.

In Calais port the illness stays,
As did the French in former days,
To threaten Freedom's isle;
But now no Nelson could o'erthrow
This cruel, unconquerable foe,
Nor save us from its guile.

Yet Father Neptune strove right well
To moderate this plague of Hell,
And thwart it in its course;
And though it passed the streak of brine
And penetrated this thin line,
It came with broken force.

For though it ravaged far and wide
Both village, town and countryside,
Its power to kill was o'er;
And with the favouring winds of Spring
(Blest is the time of which I sing)
It left our native shore.

God shield our Empire from the might
Of war or famine, plague or blight
And all the power of Hell,
And keep it ever in the hands
Of those who fought 'gainst other lands,
Who fought and conquered well.

Source

Surname Saturday: Mojsabovsky or Mezhibovsky

Back in 2012 for a Surname Saturday I wrote about the Surname Mojsabovsky

I wrote I didn’t know the etymology of the name, or exactly how to spell it. With a lot of ancestral surnames I’ve learned spelling is often phonetic, and this is especially true with names of Hebrew or Yiddish origin. Since these languages use a different alphabet than English, names go through a ‘transliteration’ that doesn’t have set rules.

I’ve recently come across a surname that may be what I was searching for: Mezhibovsky. There are a handful of hits with the surname on Google, as well as in the JewishGen databases. It’s about as common as my ancestral surname, Cruvant, but it does exist. And, like ‘Cruvant,’ it seems to be a location-based surname, referencing the town Mezhybozhe/Medzhybizh in the Western Ukraine. (Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire, Alexander Beider). The town is considered the birthplace of the Hasidic movement, as the movement’s founder, the Baal Shem Tov, lived there from 1742-1760. The Hasidic movement definitely spread to Lithuania where my second great grandmother Minnie married Moshe Leyb Cruvant. Whether Minnie’s family was originally from Mezhybozhe, is uncertain, but an intriguing possibility.

Where were my ancestors during the 1918 Spanish Flu Epidemic

Recent news stories have compared the reaction in 1918 by the cities of St. Louis and Philadelphia to the Spanish Flu. This got me wondering which of my ancestors were alive in 1918, where they were, how old they were, and what the local reactions were.

Grandparents
My paternal grandfather, Melvin Newmark - St. Louis - 6 years old
My paternal grandmother, Belle Feinstein - St. Louis - 4 years old
My maternal grandfather, Martin Deutsch - Chicago - 11 years old
My maternal grandmother, Myrtle Vanevery - El Paso - 18 years old

My paternal grandfather was only one year younger than my twin sons. He may have had some memories from that year. I am certain my maternal grandparents had memories. They are no longer around to ask.

Great Grandparents:
Barney and Bertha Cruvant Newmark - St. Louis - Both 32 years old
Herman and Annie Blatt Feinstein - St. Louis - 32 and 28 years old
Samuel and Helen Lichtman Deutsch - Chicago - 57 and 37 years old
Melvin and Margaret Denyer Vanevery - El Paso - 55 and 50 years old

Great Great Grandparents
Samuel and Rose Cantkert Newmark - St. Louis - 56 and 53 years old
Minnie Mojsabovsky Cruvant - St. Louis - 55 years old
Anna Perlik Feinstein - St. Louis - 50 years old
Morris Blatt - St. Louis - 56 years old

Great Great Great Grandparents
I am not aware of any third great grandparents who were still alive. If there were any, they were in Poland, Russia. or Transylvania.

There were no Spanish Flu related deaths among my ancestors or their immediate families.

The Wives of Uncle Sam

Back in 2008 I wrote about the FBI file for my great uncle, Samuel "Stanford" Ophan Van Every

A wife of his had written the following in July 1918

War Department
Information Bureau
Washington, DC

Gentlemen: I was married to S.O Van Every, March 20, 1917 in Jacksonville Fla., my husband gave his age then as 28 but on June 5th of last year he very suddenly grew to be 32 he did not register for the draft ... Mr. Van Every deserted me last December in Little Rock Ark. when he went to Oroville Calif. and Martinez, Calif. and became engaged to another ... Mr. Van Every I learn has been married before he married me but had not a divorce.

I would like to know where I stand...He is a native of Texas, his parents live in Fabens, Texas ... Before the war he was pro-German.

Very Truly
Mrs. SO Van Every

The FBI file also indicated that an agent visited the parents of my great uncle, and evidence was provided that Samuel was actually 32 years old. His wife had been the one lied to, and not the government, so the government was fine with that. The FBI apparently also wasn't interested in investigating the accusations of bigamy. (There was a war; their focus was elsewhere, perhaps.)

By 2010 I had answered most of my questions about the FBI file. With a few exceptions.

1) I had names, and dates of marriage for wife #1, and the author of the above letter, but no evidence of divorces

2) I had no name for the woman he allegedly became engaged to in 1918. And I didn't know if they actually got married. Half of that has changed.

Below is a timeline with the information I now have.

• Jan 15, 1886 - Birth, San Marcos, Texas
• Jan 22, 1906 - Marriage to Esther Dahlin, Travis, Texas
• Aug 1, 1906 - Birth of Son, Everett Vanevery
• June 1, 1910 - Divorce filed

• 1911-1916 - Marriage to Elsa/Elsie Diebel
• 1914-1917 - Death of Elsa/Elsie Diebel

Several un-sourced online family trees state the marriage occurred in 1916, and Elsa died in 1917.
There is a tombstone in Goliad, Texas, for an Elsa D. Vanevery, and it says she died on May 21, 1914.

Elsie's name appears in family history notes of one of Samuel's sisters, so I am sure she was at one time married to Samuel. I'm just not certain about the dates. If the tombstone is hers, the marriage obviously occurred prior to May 1914. My grandmother's first husband, Alfred "Jack" Connevey, was a boarder of the Diebels in the 1910 census, so I would like to find out more about Elsie.

• March 20, 1917 - Marriage to Amy Johnston, Jacksonville, Duval, FL
• April 14, 1918  - ex-wife Esther Dahlin marries Charles Haynie
• June 4, 1918 - Engagement to Blanche Shuttler, Oroville, Texas (this is the newest information. Newspaper clippings below)
• July 1918 - Amy Johnston writes to the War Department
• Feb 1920 - Blanche Shuttler and "Mr. Van Every" are attendants at another wedding in Oakland, CA.
• April 1, 1924 - son Everett drowns in Barton Creek, Travis, TX
• 1930 Census - Samuel is living in Kansas City, Missouri, and allegedly has a wife named, Myrtle. His sister, Myrtle (my grandmother) may have visited her brother enough that a landlord, or neighbor, may have provided inaccurate information.
• Sept 18, 1933 - He is listed as a widow on his death certificate. The informant was my grandmother.

Wed, Jun 5, 1918 – 6 · The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California) · Newspapers.comFeb 27, 1920, Le Mars Semi Weekly Sentinel, (Le Mars, Iowa)


Further Notes:

1) Enough time elapses between June of 1918 and Feb 1920 that it isn't clear if my great uncle married Blanche Shuttler, and then they divorced, or if they were never married. It is possible that the letter Amy Johnston Van Every wrote to the War Department stopped the marriage from happening. It does make me wonder whether Blanche and my great uncle remained friends, and how tense the situation was when they were both attendants at another wedding in 1920.

2) As to Amy Johnston Van Every’s charges of bigamy, if Elsa/Elsie Diebel died before Samuel married Amy, he appears to be exonerated. Which is the case, if the tombstone is for Elsa, which I suspect it is. Samuel was married twice before Amy; one marriage ended in divorce, and the other in death. The 1918 engagement doesn't appear to have been followed by a marriage. Unless there is yet another wife that I have not uncovered.

Amanuensis Monday: The Petition for Naturalization of Herman Deutsch - 1927

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them.

Today I transcribe a Petition for Naturalization completed by Herman Deutsch, a first cousin of my maternal grandfather, Martin Deutsch.

---

United States of America
PETITION FOR NATURALIZATION

To the Honorable the District Court of the United States, Northern District of Illinois:

The petition of Herman Deutsch, hereby filed, respectfully showeth:

First: My place of residence is 1251 Irving Ave., Chicago, Illinois.

Second: My occupation is Upholsterer.

Third. I was born on the 7th day of April, anno Domini 1895, at Bucium, Roumania.

Fourth. I emigrated to the United States from Liverpool, England, on or about the 1st day of March
anno Domini 1921, and arrived in the United States at the port of New York, on the 11th day of March anno Domini 1921 on the vessel Imperator.

Fifth. I declared my intention to become a citizen of the United States on the 29th day of May, anno Domini 1922 at Chicago, Ill. In the Superior Court of Cook County.

Sixth. I am married. My wife’s name is Dora; she was born on the 1st day of May, anno Domini 1893 At Roumania, and now resides at with me, Chicago, Illinois. I have 5 children, and the name, date and place of birth, and place of residence of each of said children is as follows:

Sarah, born 29th July 1914 in Roumania
Sollie, born 22nd June 1916 “
Pearl, born 2nd June 1921 Chicago
Albert, born 31st December 1922 “
Lillian, born 21st May 1924 “
Reside in Chicago, Ill

Seventh. ….. renounce absolutely and forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly to Ferdinand I, King of Roumania, of whom at this time I am a subject, and it is my intention to reside permanently in the United States

Eighth. I am able to speak the English language

Ninth. I have resided continuously in the United States of America for the term of five years at least immediately preceding the date of this petition, to wit, since the 11th day of March, anno Domini, 1921, and in the State of Illinois, continuously next preceding the date of this petition, since the 13 day of March, anno Domini 1921, being a residence within this State of at least one year next preceding the date of this petition.

Tenth. I have not heretofore made petition for citizenship at any court.

Signature – Herman Deutsch

Declaration of Intention # 14316 and Certificate of Arrival from Department of Labor filed this 21st day of April, 1927.

Affidavits of Petitioner and Witnesses

Witnesses:
Abraham Glick, occupation Tailor, resideing at 1452 Western Ave., Chicago Illinois
And Joseph Schwartzman, occupation Unemployed, residing at 1215 Irving Ave., Chicago Illinois

Subscribed and sworn to before me by the above named petitioner and witnesses in the offices of the Clerk of said Court at Chicago, Ill, this 21st day of April, anno Domini 1927

---

Notes:

1. Starting in 1922 women had to start filling for Naturalization separately from the husbands, so there is a corresponding petition filled out for Dora (Diamant) Deutsch dated in 1929.

2. The passenger manifest indicates Herman's brother, Joseph, as the contact in America to which they were headed. Until finding the manifest, I wasn't positive Herman was Joseph's brother. I knew he was related, and my grandfather and siblings recalled him as the brother of Joseph in a tape recording they made in the 1970s, but memories of family relationships can be imprecise at times. But due to the petition and manifest I can definitively place him in the tree.

3. Bucium is also the birthplace of my great grandfather, Samuel Deutsch. Though it was part of Hungary at the time of the births for both Samuel and Herman. The border-changing is part of the reason I stick with "Transylvanian" when describing that part of my ancestry.

4. For some reason Sollie is listed on the Passenger Manifest as Bela, and identified as a daughter. I suspect it was a clerical error in reading the information from their Passport Book. I have the passport book my great grandfather's family traveled under in 1913, and I'm sure it was similar. I suspect they would show the book to the ship authorities, who would then transcribe the information.

5. I do not yet know if the witnesses are relatives or friends.

Mineral Wells Texas - What Were Morris & Mollie Blatt Doing There?

Back in 1987, my paternal grandmother was interviewed, and she stated that her mother, Anna Blatt Feinstein, first arrived in the United States in Mineral Wells, Texas. In 2010, when I transcribed the interview, I knew there had to be some story behind this, as no one comes up with the town Mineral Wells, Texas out of thin air.

However

• My great grandmother, Anna, was born in 1890, in Poland.
• In 1893 my great great grandfather Moshe "Morris" Blatt married his second wife, Mollie, in St. Louis.
• In 1898 their first child, Henry, was born, in St. Louis
• In 1900 they, and his daughters from his first marriage, Anna and Blanche, are all recorded in St. Louis
• In 1903 Morris and Mollie's second child, Pearl was born, in St. Louis
• In the 1910 census they are all still recorded in St. Louis.

So I was left wondering.

Below is a page from the 1907 Mineral Wells, Texas City Directory

There is a Moses (and Mallie) Blatt
And in the next line there is an Annie.

Moses is a tailor, which matches my 2nd great grandfather's profession.

In 1909 Moses and Mallie were still in Mineral Wells, though Annie doesn't appear in that city directory.

City directories prior to 1907 currently aren’t available online.

So, while these could be different Blatts, it is likely I have confirmed they did spend some time in that city, and have an approximate time-span.

But why did they move to Mineral Wells, Texas, and why did they return to St. Louis? Will I ever know?

I will also note I still have not found my great grandmother's immigration records. So it is possible that at some point in time between 1890 and 1900 she did immigrate to the US through Texas, with other relatives perhaps, met up with her father in St. Louis, and then returned briefly around 1907.

Possible record sources for further research might include researching the community to see if there were any synagogues in or near Mineral Wells at the time and seeing if any membership records still exist.

Wordless Wednesday: Advertising Slogans

My second great grandfather, Selig Feinstein, and my great grandfather, Herman M Feinstein, may not have been the best at coming up with advertising slogans for their laundry.

Royal Laundry Advertisement Fri, Aug 26, 1910 – 1 · The Jewish Voice (St. Louis, Missouri) · Newspapers.com