Family History by Sid

       My parents met on a blind date. Dad was convinced he met his future wife and wrote a letter to his brother Bernie, telling him so. When he brought Minnie to Erie to meet his family he warned her that he came from a big family so she shouldn’t be intimidated. Minnie’s response was “Hold my beer.” I actually don’t remember ever seeing my mother drink a beer but her point was that her family was pretty large itself.        Minnie’s mother, Ruchel Boxinbaum nee Pasternak was the oldest of 12 siblings. Rachel, Rebecca, Jenny, Jacob, Sarah, Joe, Yetta, Carl, Samuel, Miriam, Bena, and Goldie were the pride and joy of Moshe and Bailah Pasternak. They were all born in Poland and most of them emigrated into Canada. Last Sunday, descendants of these 12 siblings held a Zoom Hanukah candle lighting. 20 people chimed in representing 8 of the 12 aforementioned Pasternaks. Participants were in Florida, Toronto, California, Colorado, Buffalo, a...

         When our ancestors immigrated to America they needed to find jobs in their new country. Many of them relied on their job skills from the old country. I’ve perused many passenger lists and manifests and occupations like dressmaker, tailor, and shoemaker were prevalent. Merchant and laborer were also commonly listed. There wasn’t much diversity in the types of work people did. Political and economic conditions in Europe forced the Jews to become laborers or artisans. America provided a much broader scope of opportunities and the immigrants filled those positions.         My grandfather, Louis Levine listed shoemaker as his occupation in Europe. Here is his ship manifest He is on line 28 as Leiser Lewin .       All of the subsequent census reports list him as a merchant or proprietor of a business. I know that he had owned hardware stores and used clothing stores but he also dabbled in real estate develop...

       Last Wednesday was Veteran’s Day in the United States. It is a day when we honor all of those who served in the military, remember those who have died, and show our support to those who still wear the uniform. I have over 1500 names on my family tree and several people served their respective countries during peacetime and wartime.       Not all served in the armed forces. My father’s brother, Bernie was an Aeronautical Engineer at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. He worked there through WWII and afterwards contributing to the development of the automatic pilot and involvement in several projects for NASA. My father in law, Jack Carlton was an engineer and worked in the Philadelphia Naval Yards. He was on the team that produced the New Jersey class battleships.        My cousins, Devra and Shira grew up in Israel and both of them served their time in the Israeli Army. Shira was a lieutenant in military i...

       I have been very fortunate to have grown up in a wonderful loving family. My aunts and uncles were surrogate parents and I treated my first cousins like siblings. However, there have been and still are many people in my life that were not at all genetically related but remain as close to me as my own blood relatives.   Arlene and I moved to Florida just over a year ago. The first two weeks of October 2019 were crazy with all of the packing, showing the house, and making arrangements to move. The Jewish High Holidays presented themselves during that fortnight and even though we had no time and all of our dishes were packed we still managed to have a Rosh Hoshanah dinner for what we like to call our Orphan family. The participants were as follows;  Aaron and his son Ari. Aaron is our Godson and his parents are very close friends of ours.   Rachel and her father, Sam. Rachel went to high school with Arlene and they reconnected...

        DNA matching has become a very important tool in genealogical research. The unit of measure is the centimorgan (cM.) The more centimorgans you match the closer related you are. It is not that simple. You also have to consider how many different segments you match and if the locations are the same. The length of the matching segments is also a critical issue. Most Ashkenazi Jews share a small amount of DNA due to the fact that they married within their communities. It wasn’t unusual for two first cousins to marry each other.         DNA matching coupled with documented relationships can certainly establish that a connection is valid. Sometimes there are no documents to peruse but the DNA evidence is so strong that it must be so. I was recently able to decree that Beny Levin of Ft. Worth, Texas is my third cousin. I actually have addressed this relationship in earlier posts but I finally uncovered some additional DNA...

       Earlier this month we ventured north to Philadelphia to visit our kids and some friends. It was close to a year since we moved to Florida and Covid-19 made it impossible to get together any earlier. In addition to spending time with family and friends we also attended to some important family business. We had an unveiling for Arlene’s mother, Gertrude Carlton. We helped my cousin Judy clean out our Aunt Ruth’s apartment. It was the first opportunity to get into her apartment since her death in March. Memories were triggered while dealing with these affairs and I realized that whenever I search through the names on my family tree I often remember charming and humorous stories of those who have passed on. Here are some of my favorites.        My Aunt Rose Kremer nee Boxinbaum was my mother’s sister and a devout Cokaholic. She probably drank 4 cans of Coca Cola a day. In 1985 the Coca Cola Company changed the 90 year old formula f...

        There is a sad truth to the family histories of most Ashkenazi Jews. One or more ancestors perished in the Holocaust. Any family tree that has multiple people dying in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s in countries like Poland, Germany, Lithuania, and Hungary reflects the tragedy of man’s inhumanity to man. My family tree is no exception.        My father’s mother came from Eishoshok, a town in Lithuania about 45 miles south of Vilna. Eishoshok was a center of Jewish learning and many yeshivot were located there. In September of 1941 the Nazis arrived and massacred 4000 Jews and among them, several of my relatives. Some people escaped. Leon Kahn, my grandmother’s first cousin was a witness to the murders and stole away from Eishoshok with members of his family. He was the only one who survived. His experiences are chronicled in the book “No Time to Mourn.” There are pictures of some of my family members that wer...

       Schwartz is a very common Jewish surname. It means black in German and Yiddish. There are not a lot of famous Schwartzes out there. Stephan Schwartz is an American lyricist and composer. Godspell, Pippin, and Wicked are among his most famous works. Jim Schwartz is the defensive coordinator for my Philadelphia Eagles. Allison Schwartz is a former congresswoman from my district in Pennsylvania. Mel Brooks used the line “May the Schwartz be with you” in his classic Star Wars parody, Spaceballs. None of these people are related to me or appear in my family tree. There are however, 20 people with the last name Schwartz that do make an appearance.                                                   Arlene’s great grandmother, Rose Rodman nee K...