Why is it all my good finds come after 11 p.m.? I’m following trails that lead to dead ends, frustration after frustration, and then, right when I say, “It’s late! Screw this, I’m going to bed!” WHAM! A find that keeps me up another hour in both excitement and searching for more trails.
Here’s my current frustration: I’m trying to find the original name of my great-grandfather. Family stories have his last name as Braslowski. Misha Braslowski came to the U.S., moved to Michigan to work in the auto industry. He did well there as he spoke Russian, Yiddish, and English, and he translated for the union boss. The union boss told him he wouldn’t get far with the name Braslowski and that he should change it to Brown. So Misha Braslowski became Max Brown. He soon left the auto industry–the fumes were too much for him, making him ill–so he moved to New York where he worked in a hand laundry.
Only I haven’t been able to find any evidence to substantiate this story. The story, at this point, is family myth. He traveled to the U.S. on the name Marcus Bractowski (which could be merely an error in transcription; he says “Braslowski,” the ticketing agent hears “Bractowski”). I can find no records of his family in Odessa. He seem to have magically been reborn in the U.S. as Max Brown. So my task is to find his name.
One of the greatest strategies one has in genealogy is the sideways search. Max had three sisters who came to the U.S. (out of approximately seven siblings). Two were married in Odessa, so their manifests won’t give anything away. I haven’t been able to find the manifest for the third. But I thought to search on the generation below, because you never know what will give away a name. Because Max’s sister Sarah was married in the Old Country, when her daughters were asked for mother’s maiden name, they might have given the original name (this is often asked for on marriage certificates, death certificates, etc.).
So I searched on the kids. And found a complete story that I absolutely wasn’t expecting. For Sarah’s kids, I found (at about 11:45 p.m.) this document from 1911 from the New York Hebrew Orphans Asylum:
In case you can’t read that, it lists all three girls, that they were born in Odessa, and their dates of birth. It says their father, Jacob, born in 1867, was a shirt presser earning $15 a week. Their mother, Max’s sister Sarah, was born in 1873, and she was a charwoman earning $3 a week. They lived in three rooms on East 10th Street and their rent was $11 a month. But the remarks are what complete the story:
Man left home 7 months ago and his whereabouts are unknown. Woman is sick internally and will enter a hospital. She appears very weak. Woman’s sister Lena Bronfein, 102 Norfolk Street, husband second-clothing, $12 a week; 1 child. She is unable to assist. WHC [unclear: farmerly?] assisted with rent. She has not received allowances this month.
Then it notes that the children were admitted to the orphanage (in upper right hand corner). I took another look at the records I had for Sarah. I had been confused, because she was listed with just her kids in 1920, with her kids and husband in 1930, and as a widow living with her sister Lena in 1940. But a closer look at the 1930 census shows that Jacob is listed with the parenthetical “(ab).” Jacob was absent. He took off in 1911 and never came back.
So while I am no closer to determining my great-grandfather’s last name, I have an entirely new story to pursue. I’ll start with their arrival in April of 1906. And I’ll pursue that route while simultaneously making up the rest of the story. Because all this new information has me going in a “what if” direction that fuels my fiction. The fiction and the family history never cross–my family history is absolute nonfiction and my writing is absolute fiction–but they do fuel each other.
Off to the records!
Jacob and Sarah were also Browns?
Sarah was born a Braslowski (or whatever) and married Jacob Kaufman in Odessa (or rather, I presume Odessa, as that’s where I believe Max is from and it’s where her three kids were from), and therefore became Sarah Kaufman. But I’m hoping to find a marriage record for one of the three girls, because those require mom’s maiden names (as do death records). Because she was never actually a “Brown” in this country, I’m hoping that Sarah’s maiden name will be listed as the original name. However, I have found that often folks just change the name for the previous generation. My family on the other side *also* changed names to Brown (Yetta changed from Daragoi to Brown, along with her siblings), and the name for her father was listed on a few American records as Henoch Brown, even though he never came and never changed it. But it is another strategy to try and parse out information. Does that make sense?
But how come they are listed as Browns on this document? Shouldn’t they be Kaufmans?
I mean, the girls are listed as Kaufmans, but Sarah herself is listed with Brown being her maiden name?
Because the kids are listed as “Kaufman” at the top that’s the presumed last name of the father. You’ll notice next to “Mother” is reads “(Maiden),” so it’s asking for her maiden name. Sarah Brown is her maiden name, which of course it isn’t. It’s Sarah Bra-something-sky. And that’s what I’m trying to find out! π
So who would whoever filled this form out put down Brown as Sarah’s maiden name?
Correct. But what is written on one document is not necessarily indicative of what is on other documents. So I persist in looking for those other documents.
Just want to tell you that I am enjoying these posts about your ancestry. I love this kind of stuff! My grandma used to tell my stories all the time before she passed away (I wish I would’ve written some of it down). The journey of finding out where we come from is so interesting! Thanks for sharing yours π
Angela, glad you’re enjoying the blog! Now I’m going to sound preachy: Write down everything you DO remember your grandmother telling you NOW! The stories will only fade more and anything you get down is a treasure for future generations… and it will give them a basis to start their own family research. π
I meant to say *why* would whoever filled this form out put down Brown as Sarahβs maiden name? Who could’ve filled it out? That somebody knew of her brother becoming Brown by that time and used the same name?
I think it was because her other family was “Brown.” Her sister, Lena Bronfein, changed her name to Brown before she married. By 1911, my great-grandfather Max was in the U.S. (albeit living in Michigan at the time, which is probably why he was not listed as a possible helper) and his last name was “Brown.” So she probably just picked that as her maiden name. People did things very randomly!
re: WHC
I’m guessing it’s probably UHC: United Hebrew Charities.
From the Jewish Virtual Library’s page on New York City (under “Communal Life”): “The United Hebrew Charities (UHC; formed in 1874 by six philanthropic societies)…opened a bureau [in 1911] to meet the problems of family desertion….” There’s also information about the Hebrew Orphan Asylum on the same page: .
Looks like the URL didn’t show up. Here it is again:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0015_0_14806.html
Thank you so much, Daniel! It hadn’t occurred to me that that could be a “U,” but looking at it again, I’m sure you’re right (and another reason it’s so great to have many eyes helping out). Fascinating that they helped in cases of desertion. This will all go into my notes! Thanks again.
You’re very welcome. I would never have thought about the possibility of “WHC” being a charitable organization were it not for Irving Howe. I’m in the middle of his wonderful book WORLD OF OUR FATHERS: THE JOURNEY OF EAST EUROPEAN JEWS TO AMERICA AND THE LIFE THEY FOUND AND MADE. In it, Howe writes about the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), another charitable organization that helped recent arrivals. This led me to think that the WHC/UHC might be something similar.