JEWISH ASHKENAZIM GENEALOGY : NAME CHANGES and OTHER UNIQUE CHALLENGES

Jews have come to America since Colonial Times but in general most of those from Europe came during the Industrial Revolution from Central and Eastern Europe, that Great Immigration period from about 1880 - 1920.  So for American Jews, the genealogy research starts with American records as it would for any other American.

Because of intermarriage between Jews and Christians there are Americans today who might not identify as Jewish or who acknowledge a Jewish ancestor - with many rumors of Jewishness as well - who do Holocaust Genealogy.

There are some special considerations in Jewish genealogy that make it a bit more difficult and that is dealing with Hebrew alphabet and translation, Yiddish language,  naming conventions, and informal name changes.

I've stated it elsewhere on this blog but that officials at Ellis Island changed the names of immigrants coming through is a myth. They had no authority to do that and were also dealing with hundreds of incoming every time a steamship came into the port in New York. It's likely that sometimes an immigrant's name was written down phonetically but that's not the same as an authority changing a person's name.

However Jewish immigrants DID sometimes change their names, sometimes to a German version from a Polish or Russian one - since German Jews had an easier time of assimilation, sometimes to an English or American name, sometimes to make the name easier to spell or pronounce. These name changes were rarely done formally and legally.  In many cases people were known by their Hebrew or Polish or other ethnic surname as well as their new name.

My suggestion is to do the usual genealogy research and perhaps on a marriage or a draft registration or other document the name change will be revealed.  Find the marriage record kept at the temple, not just the civil one. Have tombstones translated and get the cemetery record as well as the death record. Remember that if something comes right up on a database that's a blessing but books, microfilms, newspapers, and writing to archives may still be necessary. 

C 2024 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

C Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

ABORTION and DEATH CERTIFICATES - NEW YORK 1970's

No doubt that abortion is a very difficult and controversial subject.

I recently became aware that in New York, in the 1970's, when "late" abortions were performed at about 20 weeks pregnant, women who delivered a dead fetus after a saline abortion had to sign a death certificate. This seems so very invasive of a personal medical issue that I hope these are sealed.

I would like to hear from  you if you know more about this.

THE ORPHAN TRAINS : ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

THE ORPHAN TRAINS : ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

In 1853, a minister named Charles Loring Brace, decided to address the urgent problem of immigrant children who were homeless, on the street, or living in deplorable conditions.  This film doesn't say it, but these children were not just begging, or singing for donations.  Many of them probably were being used for sex or sex trafficked.   Many of them were orphans or the children of unmarried women.  His Children's Aid Society moved 150,000 of these children to the Midwest, usually to farms, between the years of 1854 and 1929.  Some of the people who were moved to homes this way were still alive to testify for this documentary film.  Overall the film presents both sides.  Stories of a child who was worked to death like a slave and lived in fear, children who became the beloved adoptees by excellent parents. Children who stayed in one place and came to appreciate that they had been given a chance that saved them.  Others who moved from one place to another, who were hard to place. Other charities followed this example of placing children who had no real home to go to.

While watching this film, I couldn't help but think of all the children today who are awaiting foster homes or adoption or who are homeless and living in vehicles or motel rooms. Today I do not think this system of putting children on trains, having them get off at a stop, being chosen or rejected, and then putting them back on to another town until someone wanted them would be allowed.

PBS ORPHAN TRAIN SITE

Are you researching to find more out about someone who did or may have been adopted this way?  My advice is to find that person on a census at as young an age as possible.  Then inquire at the county they lived in to find out if any legal adoption was necessary.  I've found that adoption was often not a legal or formal procedure and the text to this program suggests that.  However, the Childrens Aid Society did ask any locatable parent to sign paperwork in which they agreed not to contact the child or interfere in their life, until they were an adult.

CHILDRENS AID SOCIETY NEW YORK  still in existence. 

CASTLE GARDEN Searchable Database has ended... BUT OTHER DATABASES HAVE THE INFORMATION NEEDED

Before there was Ellis Island there was CASTLE GARDEN and while there was Ellis there was Castle Garden too. Ellis Island was the checking point for steerage only passengers. A better ticket? Castle Garden, the first stop a ship made to let off passengers. Now, a searchable database!

***

Just a note Nov 2022.  My understanding is that this web site has ended but the passenger lists are searchable now via FamilySearch and Ancestry TM genealogy databases.

February 2023 ....  Yes,  the site is no longer.

Just a note to remember that there were other ports in operation.

THE MONIED METROPOLIS by SVEN BECKERT : ANCESTRY WORSHIP BOOK REVIEW

The MONIED METROPOLIS
New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie 1850-1896
by Sven Beckert of Harvard University C 2001
Cambridge University Press


America as a "classless" society? Only perhaps, compared to the Old World. For by the mid 1800's class was very much forming in America, and the rich elite of New York set the tone for who was who, as the merchant class rose to meet the Old Families. Sexism? The role of women was to enhance their families lives, and create the refuge away from the business world, to create society and culture in their time.

(On page 39) "Beyond these distinct gender roles, merchants defined their shared world by the design of the family dwelling. Its layout served to create the illusion of a sphere removed from the harsh realities of the market - a world in which "gentlemen" could recover from the world of exchange. Thick carpets, heavy curtains, and ornate wallpaper insulated the abode from the outside world, offering a physical retreat from the noises, odors and visual blur of the metropolis. Portraits of living or deceased family members lined its walls, denoting continuity, tradition, and stability...."

(On page 40) ... 1855, the average upper class New York household (assessed to have more than $10,000 in wages paid), had only 2.3 servants. (Servants who appear on census records are usually LIVE IN servants by the way!)

The women were leading the way when it came to entertainments and charities. And raising their children to Upper Crust manners and norms.

(On page 154) "Nothing quite expressed the confidence of the city's merchants, industrialists, and bankers better than the blossoming of social life among the economic elite's wealthiest ranks after the Civil War. in a distinct departure from the antebellum years, social events of this select and powerful group became more elaborate and more public than ever before. The social season following the war - one historian has estimated - saw 600 balls, and the amount spent on dresses and jewelry for these affairs ran to about $7 million."

This was the advent of the society column and reporters! Flaunting wealth became acceptable. Money started to speak up for those who earned it! And the broke aristocrats of the Old World were happy to trade titles for the income of a newly rich American bride or groom. And so came the day when the Churchill family of England demanded more of a dowry from the Jerome's of New York... Yes Winston Churchill's mother, Jenny, was an American (from prior reading I learned she was part Native American!)

If you love studies of the American Class System as I do, this book is a must read for you!

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