Family History by Sid

       Researching your family history often times surprises you. Family lore and word of mouth narratives make you think that you know the whole story but then a document appears that lets you know that you didn’t really know. Most of the time it is just a small actuality like a person’s middle name or the apartment they lived in. Sometimes it is much bigger than that and can confuse the hell out of you just when you think everything is concrete.  Tillie Cohen 1910 census 216 Henry Street   Simon Muckler 1910 census 214 Henry Street       I knew that my grandfather, Louis Levine was met at Ellis Island by his Uncle Simon Muckler. I also knew that my grandmother, Tillie Cohen lived in New York and was a machine operator in the garment industry. What I didn’t know was that Simon and Tillie lived next door to each other on Henry Street on the lower east side. I discovered this when searching for Tillie in the 1910 census. I found a T...

    Carl Akiva Pasternak        Carl Akiva Pasternak was born December 27, 1902 in Vierzbin, Poland. He was the ninth out of twelve children born to Moishe and Bailah Pasternak. Life was tenuous in Poland in the early 20th century. Russia had invaded Poland and the Jews were subject to mistreatment and beatings. Carl’s parents knew that at some time they may need to leave their home quickly and they practiced how and where they would flee to. Once, when Carl was around five years old they had to run into the woods to escape the Russian soldiers. Carl tripped on a root and sprawled forward. He had been taught to play dead if he fell and that training saved his life. A soldier saw him lying in the weeds and prodded Carl with his bayonet. Remaining motionless and not breathing made the soldier believe the lad was dead and he moved on. When the coast was clear his family came and rescued him.       As a young boy, Carl attended th...

       All families are made up of all kinds of people. Some family members are good, charitable, smart, and empathetic. Some are a little crazy but in a good way. Others are selfish and self centered. I’m sure that every family has a member that is the black sheep. The one that nobody likes or can stand being around. Stories abound about all types and we relate them to each other, close friends, and even new acquaintances. I have a few “feel good” stories about the nicer, more inspirational relatives in my tree.          Lenox Seder Plate   My mother, Minnie Levine nee Boxinbaum was a beautiful soul. She was always willing to help anybody with anything. One of her passions was literacy. It was important to her that all people should be able to read and have access to all of the information that is available to her. I remember that she used to read newspapers and text books to a blind young woman who was becoming a Nu...

  RUTH LEVINE      Ruth Levine was born on July 8, 1929 in Cranesville, PA. She was the youngest child of Louis and Tillie Levine. A year or so later, the family moved into nearby Erie, PA. Ruth was seven years younger than her twin brothers, Herman and Sam and was 12 years younger than her oldest sibling, Bernie. Ruth was the baby of the family and throughout her life her siblings and her parents always made sure she was taken care of. This is not to say, however, that she was a damsel in distress. Ruth was a strong, independent, capable woman who lived her life as she seemed fit. She fought her own battles and took responsibility for her own actions.   Family house in Cranesville       Ruth graduated from Academy High School in Erie, PA in 1947. She was named to the National Honor Society and participated on the debate team. She was also president of a student organization known as the Girl Reserves. It looked to be a club fo...

       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...

  Louis Rubin      This post is about my wife’s uncle Louis Rubin. Louis married Arlene’s aunt Fran Snyder. Louis is the first person of interest in my blog that is not a blood relative to either me or Arlene.       Louis Rubin was born in Dinwiddie, VA. on February 8th 1922. He was the oldest child of Jake and Rose Rubin and most likely was named after Jake’s father Louis. Jake and Rose owned and operated a small grocery store in Petersburg, Virginia. Lou was born shortly after Jake and Rose entered the USA and they had a daughter Syllvia who was about two and a half years younger than Lou. Jake and Rose eked out a living with their small market but Lou claimed he never knew they were poor. He had a roof over his head and never went hungry. He had clothes on his back and friends to play with. He was very content with his portion in life.        Lou went to high school in Petersburg and after he graduated attended...

       All Jews would list Israel as their ancestral home. However, when the Hebrews were expelled from their native country they settled all over the world. Most of them settled in eastern Europe and or Russia (Ashkenazie) while others made their homes in the Iberian Peninsula and north Africa (Sfardic). There also groups in Egypt, Iran, and Turkey. Centuries of being displaced makes it impossible to trace roots back to those original ancestors in the Holy Land and we now consider ourselves as descendants from these varied regions.       My family traces its roots back to Lithuania and Belarus on my father’s side and to Poland on my mother’s side. My wife’s family hailed from Eastern Europe/Russia on her mother’s side and her father’s family came from Germany and Eastern Europe.       I don’t have the names of the home cities for all of my ancestors but I do have some and will give some insight of each of these towns....