Treasure Trove

 

    I liken the researching of family history to hunting for hidden treasure. Pirates buried their loot in out of the way places and drew crude maps with cryptic-al clues so that only they could retrieve their gold. Many times in genealogy we search for ancestors only to find that the clues provided are vague at best. People changed names, both first and last, and family lore is replete with wrong birth dates, dates of arrival, and misidentified relatives. Census takers misspelled names and their cursive was impossible to decipher. Occasionally, you are lucky enough to unearth a treasure chest that fills your tree with new family members, along with their stories and documents to solidify that branch. This treasure chest could be a box of photographs hidden in a grandparent’s attic or an interview with a long lost uncle. It could be a misplaced box of documents you finally found in your garage or a message from an Ancestry.com member who matches at second cousin level. I’ve been doing this genealogy thing for about 3 years now and have unearthed some valuables on a couple of occasions. 

 

     We recently visited our children in Philadelphia. We stayed with our son and while looking through his closet we came across a shoe box that is filled with documents pertaining to my wife’s family. It seems that four days before we moved to Florida our son had purchased a condo and all of his stuff to be moved was staged on one side of the living room while ours was on the other. Somehow this box got moved to the wrong address. The contents of the box included a handwritten guest list from our wedding, Philip Snyder’s (Arlene’s grandfather) social security card, and a handwritten receipt to a Miss Baker (should have been Becker) for the deposit on a flat on the 3rd floor of 1448 5th Ave in New York. The amount was two dollars. Rachel Becker was Arlene’s paternal grandmother. The receipt was dated August 22, 1901 and Rachel was married to Louis Cohen 9 days later. The box also included John Carlton’s (Arlene’s father) resume and some paperwork from when he worked as an engineer at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The death certificate and last will and testament of Anna Becker were also there. Anna was Arlene’s great grandmother.

     My grandparents, Louis and Tillie Levine Lived in Levittown, PA for a short time with their daughter Helen and her husband, Murray Ringold. Tillie died in 1976 and Louis lived there for a few more years before moving into my parents’ house in Erie, PA. While Louis was in Levittown my uncle Murray and my cousin Steve interviewed him about his life in Europe and how he came to America. He also talked about his life here in the USA, how and when he met his wife, and what he did to provide for his family. Aunt Ruth, who was an administrative assistant transcribed these interviews. I can't seem to attach the interview but if you are interested in reading it let me know and I will send it to you. This was the mother lode for me. I have gleaned so much information from these pages that I can’t begin to tell you how much it has helped me. Every time I read them I find another clue. 

 

     Aunt Ruth was my genealogy buddy. I used to take the train into center city Philadelphia once a month to research our family history. She had been researching on her own for years and had started well before the internet made it a simpler process. She had a large file folder filled with documents and pictures. Ruth passed away in March of 2020. Last September when we were in Philly for a visit, I helped my cousin Judy clean out her apartment and I was able to take over management of those documents. I found that we had independently come to the same conclusions on the whereabouts of family members in the census and on ship manifests.

  When I submitted my DNA sample to Ancestry I expected a few surprises when I received my results. Two people came up as second cousin matches and I had no idea who they were. I sent a message to one and it turns out to be my cousin Deb who lives in Buffalo, NY. Her grandfather, Carl Pasternak and my grandmother, Rachel Pasternak were bother and sister. The other high match I had was somebody named Todd. I didn’t recognize the last name but I eventually found out he is the grandson of Molly Citron nee Boxinbaum. She was the sister of my maternal grandfather, Morris Boxinbaum. I also connected with a third cousin on my father’s side. The DNA evidence was compelling but we did not have enough documented evidence like birth certificates, ship manifests, or census reports to be certain we were related. I documented this search in a post in October. We concluded it to be a real connection when another DNA match made it impossible to ignore. 

     The problem with DNA among Ashkenazie Jews is endogamy. Jewish populations in eastern Europe stayed close together and the same families married into each other. First and second cousin marriages were not uncommon. This makes it look like we are all related at a closer level than what we really are. Endogamy is the fool’s gold of the genealogical treasure hunt. 

     Where will I find my next cache of data, pictures, and documents to embellish my family tree? Who knows? I do have one that I am ready to explore. We have a shoebox full of letters that were written between my parents shortly after they met and until they were married. I haven’t read them yet. It almost seems creepy to examine the intimate thoughts of two young people in love. Especially my own Mother and Father.