For the last few days, I’ve been working on the Lerman family. I’ve found some obituaries, a passenger list, and some folks on the 1930 census.

The passenger list is from 1923. It’s actually a “List or Manifest of Alien Passengers Applying For Admission” to the United States from Canada. It shows:

• Lerman, Aaron 50
• Chauci, his wife 50
• Gittel, 19, daughter
• Anna, 15, daughter
• Morris, 11, son
• Elizabeth, 1, daughter

Aaron spoke Yiddish, but the columns for whether he could read or write it were left blank. His wife Chauci could neither read nor write. Gittel could read and write Yiddish. Their race was listed as “Hebrew.” They were born in Poland and heading to Chicago to be with their son, Ben. They were arriving from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Aaron was born in “Lubau” (?) and Chauci in “Rovno.”

From the information that I’ve found and put into my genealogy program so far, I created the following indented descendant chart for Aaron David Lerman. I’ll be updating the online database soon.

Anna Marie Stein's Party 1929

Anna Marie Stein's Party 1930

These first two photos are from Anna Marie’s birthday parties. I believe the family was living in Danville, Illinois during this time period. Do you recognize any of these children?

Johnnie Stein

John Stein was born in 1920. Here he is in full cowboy regalia.

Anna Marie and Edward Lewis Stein were 5 years old and 2 years 9 months old when this photo was taken.

Lois Levine Marc on her wedding day

The other photo is of Auntie Gloria on her wedding day.

Auntie Gloria on her wedding day

On Jewish Gen, I found some births for Edelbergs on a Lithuania database. I believe these are ours, so at the risk of making another wrong assumption, I’ve included them in the data.

EIDELBERG, Freida Zakhary, Shmerko
Feiga, Tevel
- 16/11/1891
- Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius - Vilna
1891
F144 2205051 / 2
-
LVIA/728/3/1444

EYDELBERG, Nison Solomon, Zakhariya
Ester, –
- 28/11/1894
11 Kislev Butrimonys
Trakai
Vilnius Bris: Abram SILMAN; Family from Minsk Butrimonys
1894
M8 2205089 / 3
221
LVIA/728/4/292

EYDELBERG, Dveyra Solomon, Zkhariya
Ester, –
- 5/1/1896
2 Shevat Butrimonys
Trakai
Vilnius Family from Vilno [Vilnius] Butrimonys
1896
F4 2205089 / 3
237
LVIA/728/4/292

EYDELBERG, Shmerko Solomon, Zkhariya
Ester, Movsha
SIROTA 1/4/1898
21 Nisan Butrimonys
Trakai
Vilnius Bris: Abram SILMAN, Gdalya BYELOUS; Family from Minsk Butrimonys
1898
M7 2205089 / 3
272
LVIA/728/4/292

I think Frieda is Max’s sister, Dveyra is his niece Dorothy Edelberg Kapetansky, and Nison and Shmerko are Dorothy’s brothers.

This takes us back another generation, as a Shmerko is listed as Zahkariya’s father.

I’m also working on trying to find out more about Rosa Edelberg, for whom I found a marriage to Nathan Lisse, and a passenger record with a sister (the name has been transcribed as “Louisa” but looks like “Tania” to me) saying that they were coming to America to be with their brother Max Edelberg.

Rose married Nathan Lisse in 1906. She died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1915. Her death certificate says her father was “Oscar Edelberg.” Zachary does not convert into “Oscar.” Instead, it is usually “Sam.” But, I could see how the informant could have said, “Zahkar” and the clerk heard “Oscar.”

Anyway, Rose and Nathan had children Reuben, Joseph, Sol, and Sarah. They were living with Nathan when he filled out his World War I Draft Registration, but in 1920 they were living in a Jewish Orphans Home. There are several references to them performing and being confirmed while living at the orphans home in The Sentinel.

Nathan appears to have lived on to 1946 and remarried. However, I have found records with two different birth dates, so I’m unsure as to whether this is actually the same man.

I also did some further research on some other Edelbergs who lived in Chicago during the same time period. They are related to Aaron Edelberg, but I don’t know yet whether Aaron has any connection to Max, so I haven’t put them in my database, though I guess I should put them in as “unrelated” people and see if there is a connection later.

I found an obituary for Charles Friedman, which said he had a brother named Chaim. I found Hyman Friedman and it turned out that I already had his daughter Carrie Friedman Berkowitz and Bertha Berkowitz Mansfield in the data. Yes, Bertha married Seymour Jacob Mansfield — her 2nd cousin.

I thought this because I never found I. C. (Isadore) or his brother Barney on a census with their father. Barney was living with his brother-in-law and sister, Henry and Ethel Krakow, in 1910. In 1920, both Isadore and Barney were living with Mr. and Mrs. Krakow. I wondered where I. C. was in 1910, but had not found him.

Recently, on FamilySearch. org, I found a Charles Friedman in the Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths 1916-1947 database:

Name: Charles Friedman
Death Date: 13 Oct 1940
Death Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Gender: Male
Age: 77
Estimated Birth Year: 1863
Birthplace: Kishinev, Russia
Father: Abraham Friedman
Father’s Birth Place: Russia
Mother: Bessie
Mother’s Birth Place: Russia
Occupation: butcher
Residence: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Spouse: Frieda
Burial Date: 14 Oct 1940
Burial Place: Chicago, Cook, Ill
Cemetery: Rosemont Park
Digital Folder Number: 4205874
Image Number: 1247
Film Number: 1953584
Volume/Page/Certificate Number: rn 28604

It said his wife’s name was Frieda and that he was born in Kishinev. Could this Charles have been I. C.’s and Barney’s father?

To find out, I went to the Cook County Clerk’s Office – Genealogy Online to search for the Charles Friedman (there were 14) who died on 13 Oct 1940. I then purchased that death certificate and downloaded it from the site.

The death certificate not only gave the same information as above in the database, but gave the informant’s name as B. C. Friedman, whose address was 6633 S. Troy St. Could B. C. Friedman have been Granduncle Barney? The address 6633 S. Troy St. rang a bell. Looking through my database, I saw it was Grampa Izzy’s address on the 1930 census. The death certificate also told me that Charles Friedman was a butcher, he died of a coronary thrombosis, his parents were Abraham and Bessie, and he was buried in Rosemont Park.

I found Charles and his second wife Fannie Friedman on the 1910 and 1930 censuses. In 1910, they had 3 children living with them: Myer Kushner, Celia Kushner, children from Fannie’s first marriage, and Isie Friedman, Charles’ son. Bingo! Isie was “I. C.” Charles was a butcher. In 1930, Charles and Fannie were living alone. Charles was a butcher with his own meat market.

I also found a census for a Charles Friedman and wife “Jannie” in 1920. It said this Charles was a salesman with his own store. The ages are correct, though, so they are probably our Charles and Fannie.

Each census, unfortunately, gives a different year of arrival in the U.S., one saying 1904, one 1908, and another 1910. Each say that naturalization is pending, but I’ve searched for Charles’ naturalization card and haven’t found it.

I’d hoped to find the naturalization card to get a more exact birth date. He was too old for both World War I and World War II draft registrations, which also could have given a birth date. He did not have a Social Security number.

With this new information, I reassessed the birth for Ovshiya Friedman that I found on JewishGen.org. The birthdate there is 1865 and the parents are Srul and Golda, which, as far as I know, are not names that translate into Abraham and Bessie. Even though Charles’ name was Shaya or Ovshiya or Osias, I don’t think this is the same guy.

I’m hoping some Chicago relatives might locate some old photos of Charles and maybe some photos of I. C., Barney, or even their siblings Ethel, Mollie, and Blema (Belle).

————

I also did more research through The Sentinel, where I found a couple of beautiful photos of brides. One of them is now in the database. It is of Lois Levine Marc.

I’ve added more to the database about the Wolach family as well.

One of the features of TMG Utility is Change Citation Parts. Mr. Cardinal came up with a set of rules that I could use on all the sources I cut-and-pasted from Family Search. Instead of having to go through each individual citation, TMG Utility found every one and at the click of a button changed all of them. Pretty neat, huh?

After that, I regenerated the database files using Second Site (also a TMG companion program created by Mr. Cardinal). I’ve uploaded those files today, complete with citations and sources.

I also added newly found information on other families. Click on the Surname Index link on the sidebar to see if anything new has been added on folks you are interested in.

Unfortunately, during this process, I decided to add Citation Details to each Source by cutting-and-pasting straight from Family Search using Safari 5. These Citations did not retain their formatting, so the results were inconsistent, and mainly double-spaced instead of single-spaced. Because of this problem, Sources are not included in the current version of data posted on the site.

I’m awaiting some information from The Master Genealogist expert and author of Second Site, John Cardinal, on how it might be possible to fix this problem using TMG Utility.

Sarah and a friend of hers made a trip last weekend to Westlawn and Rosemont cemeteries in Chicago and while they were there helped me out by taking photos of Friedman, Krakow, Mansfield, and Brooks headstones.

Grampa Izzy's headstone

"Hugs and Kisses" - Gramma T

Thank you so much, Sarah and friend, for taking these photos!

When I have more time, I’ll upload more of these photos.

UPDATE:

I recently found more information on Senon Pizana finding an obituary for Simon Pizana, who passed away in California.

1 June 2005

Received from Alan Greenberg of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Montreal the death record of Frieda Abraham Friedman:

“September 21, 1903 Frieda Abraham, wife of Osias Friedman, age 40, residence No. 13 Sombrien Street, buried in the presence of H. Simon (who was unable to write his name and made his mark instead).

Signed by M Halpern, minister of the Chevra Kadisha Synagogue”

25 May 2005

I’ve been making progress sideways and forwards on different lines, but not much progress backwards. I have added more information about living people to my data set, which I will not post here on the Internet.

A few weeks ago, I sent off to the Montreal Jewish Genealogy Society for information on Freda Abraham Fridman, who died there in 1903. She may have been my great-grandmother Frieda Auerbach Friedman.

After many years of searching, I finally found the Pizanas and Martinezes on the 1920 and 1930 censuses. The Pizanas were in Murray County, Oklahoma in 1920 and the Martinezes were in Parker County, Texas in 1930. What made the Martinezes so difficult to find was that Maximino Martinez was listed as “Maximino Martez.” To complicate things further, the census taker listed Severa only by her surname Pizana as “Piasana” and the first 2 children each as “Martinez.”

Another confusing bit of information is that they had a lodger, “John Piasana,” age 75. In 1920, John Pizana, Severa’s father, was 40, so he should have been 50 in 1930. Is this John Pizana Severa’s father or perhaps her grandfather?

I learned from the 1920 census of Murray County, Oklahoma, that Severa had brothers Clement, Senon, and Secundino. No sign of them yet anywhere on the 1930 census.

My husband’s mother remembers an uncle named Agustin. Agustin is in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas in 1930. He is 36 years old, however, which would mean that John Pizana was 14 when Agustin was born, making him more likely to be John’s brother than his son.

The elusive Hannah Hasha Greenberg turned up in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, on the 1930 census as well. She was already widowed, so I still have no information about Mr. Weinstein. Her children were Max, Frances, and Leo Weinstein.

Mr. and Mrs. M. Edelberg of 3134 Logan Boulevard, entertained at dinner last Sunday in honor of their niece and nephew, Mr. and Mrs. Lew J. Kapetan, nee Dorothy Edelberg, and their children, Phyllis and Seymour from Detroit, Mich. Mr. and Mrs.Kapetan expect to stay with Mr. and Mrs. Edelberg for a few weeks.

Miss Esther Sutcher entertained twelve guests at a theater party in honor of Dorothy Kapetan of Detroit.

I know very little about my great-grandfather Max Edelberg’s family. One of my aunts told me that he had a sister named Tonya, who lived in Windsor, Ontario. My father said that my mother used to get regular letters from Aunt Tonya.

Max Edelberg’s death certificate said that his father’s name was Zachary.

Since Dorothy’s surname was Edelberg and she was Max’s niece, she must have been the daughter of Max’s brother.

All I had to go on at first, though, was the information in The Sentinel. Lew and Dorothy were married some time before 1923, they lived in Detroit, and they had two children, Seymour and Phyllis.

Yesterday, I rode my bike to the Family History Center before going to the Interfaith Council meeting. One of the people who works there did an Ancestry.com search of the 1930 census for Lew and Dorothy Kapetan, which revealed that their last name was really Kapetansky!

1930 census for Detroit, Michigan
SD 20 ED 82-165 Sheet 2A Line 19

Kapetanksy, Louis J. Head 44 M 32 Russia Russia Russia 1906 Hauling Contractor City
Dorothy Wife 33 M 21 Russia Russia Russia 1904
Seymour A. Son S 10 Michigan Russia Russia
Phyllis A. Dau S 8 Michigan Russia Russia

When I got home later, I looked up Kapetansky on Family Search Records, which showed a marriage register entry for Louis J. Kapetansky and Dorothy Edelberg. This record revealed that Louis’ father’s first name was Joel and that his mother’s maiden name was Zlotgneho. Dorothy’s father’s first name was Salomon and her mother’s maiden name looked like Sisota. The person who transcribed the record from the written copy had deciphered it as Sistora. It looks like Sisota to me, though.

That adds a few people I didn’t know about before to the Edelberg family. Max’s brother’s name was Solomon. Max and Beatrice Rebecca must have named Gramma T’s brother after their Uncle Solomon.

Family Search also showed that Louis Kapetansky had brothers, Maurice, Max, Ben, and Herman. Marriage register entries for the brothers showed their mother’s name as Sarah Zlotehenko or Zlotchinko or Slotcheunko and their father’s first name as Joel, Joll, Yale, and Julius.

The Social Security Death Index lists Herman and his wife Celia, Dorothy, Seymour, Maurice, and Rose.

I then went to the LA County Library Databases and used America’s Newspapers to look up any recent obituaries for Kapetansky. This revealed an obituary for Seymour, who was a comedy writer.

Mr. and Mrs. M. Edelberg of 3134 Logan Boulevard, entertained at dinner last Sunday in honor of their niece and nephew, Mr. and Mrs. Lew J. Kapetan, nee Dorothy Edelberg, and their children, Phyllis and Seymour from Detroit, Mich. Mr. and Mrs.Kapetan expect to stay with Mr. and Mrs. Edelberg for a few weeks.
Miss Esther Sutcher entertained twelve guests at a theater party in honor of Dorothy Kapetan of Detroit.

August 10, 1928, Weddings:

Mrs. Jacob Adler, 2251 Thomas street, announces the marriage of her daughter, Clara, to Charles Edelberg, son of Mr. and Mrs. Max Edelberg, 3008 Armitage avenue.

June 18, 1936, Obituary:

Edelberg, Beatrice-Nee Greenberg. Dearly beloved wife of Max, fond mother of Dorothy Levine, Mary T. Friedman and Charles S. Edelberg. Funeral June 15 from Wallman’s Chapel, 3021 Fullerton Avenue, to Rosemont Park Cemetery.

May 6, 1937:

A monument will be dedicated to Beatrice Edelberg, wife of Max, mother of Dorothy Levine, Mary T. Friedman and Charles S., on Sunday, May 9, at 2 p. m. at the Rosemont Cemetery.

March 2, 1923, Social:

Mr. and Mrs. I. C. Friedman (Mary Edelberg), announce the birth of a daughter, Fern Zoe, on Thursday, February 15.

March 31, 1933, Obituary:

Wolach, Albert-6202 South Carpenter street. Age 14 years. Beloved son of Aaron and Tina, dear brother of William and Dina. Services were held Wednesday, March 22, at Albert’s Chapel, 3163 Ogden avenue. Interment Makarover cemetery.

March 4, 1927, Engagements:

Mr. and Mrs. I. Edelstein, 1252 North Oakley boulevard, announce the engagement of their daughter Dorothy, to Jack Glick, son of Mrs. S. Glick, 4726 North Central Park avenue.

August, 19, 1937, Obituary:

Brooks, Albert-Late of 315 South Central Park Avenue. Beloved husband of Eva, dear son of Charles and Bluma, brother of Joe, Seymour, Mrs. Frieda Friedman and Ethel Cheris. Funeral August 9 from Albert’s Chapel, 3163 Ogden avenue.

November 3, 1949, Obituary:

Rosen, Dr. William (optometrist)-Late of 3501 N. Ashland Ave. Beloved husband of Jean (nec Weinberg), dear father of Freya, son of Nathan and the late Faiga, fond brother of Max, Dr. Manuel. Sarah Pochis, Minnis Rosen and Lula Weisenberg. Services from Piser Memorial Chapel, 704 S. Pulaski Rd.

The next three are really special!

January 28, 1943, The Sabbath Angel, Riddle Box:

RIDDLE BOX
You made me very proud of you, Ira, David and Janice! Your answers showed me that you keep up with what is happening these days. This is the way they solved our last acrostic (December 31):
I. The first name of the Third President of our country——Thomas
2. The name of our Country————————————– United States
3. The name of an American Admiral in the Pacific———–Nimitz
4. A northern country where Americans are encamped—– Iceland
5. The mountain from which the Torah was given————-Sinai
6. One of the British Isles——————————————-Ireland
7. One of Adam’s sons———————————————Abel
Thus the first letters make TUNISIA-the name of a country where the United Nations are fighting. I bow to the winners whose full names are:-lra Stein, 4933 N. Monticello; Janice Mark (age 6), 6508 N. Bosworth Avenue; David Pochis, 4409 N. Paulina, Chicago, Ill. Splendid!

February 18, 1943, Riddle Box:

RIDDLE BOX
The Jumbled Fruit of Palestine that we had to solve on January 21 came out to this:
1. Oranges 3. Dates
2. Grapes 4. Figs
We congratulate Rosalyn Lieberman, 141 S. Central Avenue; David Pochis, 4409 Paulina Avenue; and Edward Cohen, 64B W. Sheridan Road, Chicago, Ill. I bow to them. Herbert’s address is 6446 N. Bosworth Avenue, Chicago, Ill.

February 25, 1943, The Sabbath Angel, Riddle Box:

Here’s the answer to our January 28 Acrostic.
1. The name of a great President………………………………………… L incoln
2. The river that divided the Free States from the Slave States….O hio
3. One of America’s most important cities……………………………….N ew York
4. The first name of an early President’s wife…………………………..D oIly Madison
5. The capital of Canada………………………………………………………O ttawa
6. One of our Western States-……………………………………………….N evada
The first letters, reading down, make the “name of a city that resisted the Nazis –LONDON. David Pochis had it quite right. (David lives at 4409 Paulina Street, Chicago, Ill.) And Ira Stein (4933 N. Monticello Avenue, Chicago, Ill.) was very nearly right. I think that “Ontario” is just the capital of a province, but that “Ottawa” is also capital of the whole country. — Correct me, someone, if I’ve forgotten my geography!