Obituaries and Detective Work

While trying to find the birth records of Shirley Levine Handelman’s children from her first marriage, I found her father’s obituary details. This didn’t give me his actual obituary, but it did list Shirley and her husband, along with 15 other people. The grandchildren were listed, but without last names. This made it difficult to know who the actual grandchild and who were their spouses.

This was helpful. It gave me the names of Shirley’s grandparents: Abraham Levine and Celia Pollack Levine. This also listed Shirley’s sister and brother-in-law. Shirley’s mother was listed as an unknown. I knew her name because of Shirley’s marriage certificate to Frederick J Lewis.

I was able to figure out that Brian and Corrin were married and so were Jules and Dana and Shayne and Annie. I also figured out that Aaron must have still been single at the time his maternal grandfather died. Now that I had first names of Samuel Levine’s grandchildren, I could start my search for birth records.

I know that Shirley and Frederick had two sons, so this was a big help. I did check both last names, since I don’t know which last name the boys grew up with. I actually started with Shayne, so I got lucky real fast. I found that Shayne lived in Virginia Beach in 1993. This also gave me his date of birth which led me to his birth record. I then went to see if I could find out where Aaron lived. I recognized one of the addresses – it was the same as Shayne! They must be related! I found Frederick and Shirley’s son’s! So glad I started at the bottom of the list of grandchildren.

Well, not so fast. I found out their names and were they were in 1993. I did find both of their birth records. I did find Shayne’s Nevada marriage record, so I got his wife Annie’s full name. I just found a listing for Shayne in St. Augustine, Florida. One of the people listed with this record has his mother, so I know I found the right Shayne! I just found him on Facebook and hope he will reply.

More family lines I still need to check for descendants. I still don't know if Hymie or Max Pollay ever married or had children. I know Mildred married Cookie Leibowitz, thank to my new found cousin. I know they had a son Jeffrey and a daughter - name unknown.

Unfortunately, the Forman's don't have a lot of descendants to try to track down. Only Tess and Henry married. I haven't been able to find out more on Henry. I do know that Tess and Sam Berson had one daughter, Marilyn. I also know that Marilyn Berson married Carl Steinberg, but don't know if they had any children.

Also the Krantz family - I have no information as to if Charles, Evelyn or Ruth married. This means I don't know if this branch of the family ended here or if it continued. The search continues…

Deaths, Divorce and Name Changes

I recently heard that distant cousins had been adopted by their mother’s new husband. They were given his last name, forbidden to have contact with their paternal uncle because he “married out”. I also remember a Steuer cousin and his parents divorced. His mother changed her last name and her son’s last name from her ex-husband’s name, Isaacson, to Ives.

This made me think about all those other cousins I have been trying to find. I put on my Sherlock’s hat and started to dig! Another name change, but this time, his father had died. I don’t know if this was something common in the 1940’s, in both divorced and death of a husband. I can understand the adoption of children by the new husband when the father of the children died, but not when the parents got divorced. I also know many children still kept their father’s last name after he died or their parents got divorced.

I decided to take another look at my dead ends and I did find that Frederick Rudnick disappeared after his birth record because his last name was changed. Frederick’s father, Max Rudnick died in 1942. Millie Rudnick married again in 1945. I discovered that Frederick J Lewis got married and listed on his marriage certificate his mother as Mildred Zucker (her maiden name) and his father was listed as Charles Lewis, not Max Rudnick. I didn’t find any adoption record, but I assume since he was only about 3 years old when his mother married Charles, that he adopted Frederick.

This led me to discover that Frederick married Shirley May Levine on 28 Jan 1967 in Norfolk, VA. Frederick and Shirley had two children and separated on 19 Aug 1978. I'm now trying to find their children. I don't know if they have the last name of Lewis or Handelsman. 

Mollie Zucker Howard

Mollie Zucker Howard's children and grandchildren are still missing in action, as are her brother's, Wilton Zucker, children and grandchildren. I do know both of Wilton's sons were into sports. I'm also still trying to find Wilton Streicher's son and family.

Hoping that Goldie Streicher's grandson will be able to shed some light on other family I haven't been able to find. Maybe he can even identify some unknowns in old photos. 

Week Filled With Old Photos

I’ve had such a wonderful week! A new Laber cousin saw my blog and contacted me about a week ago. It started with just knowing that her mother was Mae Wosnitzer and her grandmother was Minnie Laber Wosnitzer.

We’ve been sending many emails a day to each other. I’m so excited! I learned that they called her mom “Mazie”.  I also learned that Minnie and Irving Wosnitzer got divorced when Mae was a teen. I struck gold! My new cousin has a treasure trove of old family photos. These photos have helped me to identify some of the unidentified family members in the 1942 seder photo I have.

 

1942 Laber Family Seder

Samuel Laber

One of the unidentified photos was identified by another cousin I sent it to and it is her grandfather, Samuel Laber. I also learned that he had Parkinson’s disease. I then learned that Minnie Laber Wosnitzer also had Parkinson’s disease. According to the Mayo Clinic: Researchers have identified specific genetic mutations that can cause Parkinson's disease, but these are uncommon except in rare cases with many family members affected by Parkinson's disease. It is not always easy to determine whether a condition in a family is inherited. Some disorders that affect multiple family members are caused by gene mutations, which can be inherited (passed down from parent to child). Other conditions that appear to run in families are not caused by mutations in single genes. Instead, environmental factors such as dietary habits or a combination of genetic and environmental factors are responsible for these disorders. Not sure which applies to my Laber family.

I also learned that William Streicher was called Hilloh. In addition to that, I learned Hilloh & Goldie’s daughter’s married names: Marilyn Streicher Ackerman and Merlie Streicher Winnick. This is a photo (to the right) of Toby Binder Laber, Rose Laber Streicher, boy, Hilloh Streicher and his wife Goldie Streicher.

 

Harry, January 1940

Harry Leiber (as he spelled it) was the youngest of Max and Toby Laber's children. He was a  bachelor.  Harry was in the military from 23 Jul 1942 until he was discharged on 30 Aug 1943. Harry moved to Florida in 1973 and died 23 Dec 1984.

Wilton & mom Rose Streicher

Rose Laber married Samuel Streicher, the brother of William"Hilloh". They had two sons, Wilton (born 17 Oct 1909) and Marcey (born ca 1916). Wilton was a runner at Wall Street. Wilton died in November 1966 and is buried at Union Field Cemetery, Ridgewood, Queens County, New York.

Rachel Laber married Benjamin Pollay on the 18th of December 1915. She was known by her family as "Ray". They had three children: Hyman "Hymie", Max "Maxie" and Mildred "Millie". Millie married Cookie Leibowitz. Benjamin was born in Minsk, was a shoemaker and died at the age of 68 on 07 Mar 1955. Ray was just one month shy of being 80 years old when she died, 17 Feb 1973.

Max Pollay

To my surprise, this morning I received more old family photos and this one was labelled Minnie and man. This man is my grandpa, Max Steuer! My grandpa is one of several Max Steuers in the family. He was an attorney, just as his father's famous cousin, Max D Steuer. Minnie Laber Wosnitzer was my great-grandma Ida Laber Steuer's half-sister. Mom never got to know her Laber family since they moved from Cedarhurst, Long Island to Miami Beach when she was just a young girl due to my grandpa's health. This photo of him with his aunt Minnie is one I never saw before this morning!

Here is a nice photo of four of the Laber sisters from Max and Toby.

Hannah, Minnie, Rose & Goldie

One of Hannah Laber Zucker's daughter's, Mildred was called Millie. She married Max Rudnick before 1940 and one son with him, Frederick Joseph. Frederick was born in 1942. Millie married again on 10 Jan 1945 to Charles Lewis. She separated from her second husband on 24 Mar 1959 and was divorced from Charles on 01 Aug 1960 in Norfolk, Virginia. 

Jenny & Willie

Henry William

Willie and Jenny Laber had two sons, Sidney and Henry William. Sidney married Mary Brophy about 1935. Sidney and Mary had two sons, Gerald and Jack. Henry was in the army from 26 Dec 1941 to 14 Aug 1942. While he was stationed in Germany, he married Eugenie Jedrasiak. They had two children: Jeanne and Stanley Jordan. Henry divorced Eugenie on 01 Jun 1982. Henry married Elvira Nordin on 04 Sep 1982.

Here is Eveyln Krantz, the daughter of Max and Blema "Bertha" Laber Krantz.Max and Bertha were first cousins. They had four children, Bertha, Charles, Evelyn and Ruth. Their daughter Bertha died when she 16 years old from accidental scalding with boiling water.

Evelyn Krantz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been a wonderful week!