I would like to hear >from anyone with experience in contacting a descendant
when there has been a divorce in the family. I have had all positive
experiences with contacting distant cousins but feel uncertain about making
this contact and if so how to broach the subject. I will try to sketch the
situation as briefly as possible. Working on my gg-uncle's family I had
posted on Jewishgen a request for help in locating Gustave, Jessie (nee
CAMINSKY) and son Sanford SCHWARTZBAUM. I received a lot of help >from a
wonderful Jewishgenner who located Jessie and Sanford. Jessie and Gus had
divorced and she remarried. The man she remarried died within a few years
and Jessie and Sanford (and Jessie's mother) moved to Hollywood where
Jessie's brother, Irving, had gone as a teen and by the 1930s had become
well known. He had changed his last name to CUMMINGS. Sanford also changed
his last name to Cummings.

I recently ordered an obit for Sanford and I am fairly certain I have the
right person. I have located one of his daughters and want to call her to
verify that I am still on the right track.

My two concerns are 1) that she does not know her father's real last name -
he was about 8 yrs old when the divorce occurred. He not only did not keep
his father's name, he also did not keep the stepfather's name (used in 1930
census and who was Jewish) and his mother's maiden name was given as
CUMMINGS rather than CAMINSKY in her obit - even her mother began to use
Cummings. Apparently they Americanized the name or began using it when
Irving became well known. This would be no secret to her - the information
is available on the internet.

2) In the obit he is Roman Catholic so he would have converted at some point
if I have the right person

I am very excited to have finally made a breakthrough in this part of the
family. But I am not sure how to approach this. Interestingly, my own story
is similar. I found out my father's real name (Schwarzbaum) when he died -
he had used his stepfather's name and had converted to the Episcopal church.

Carolyn Lea
Ohio
clea@...
ID# 152314

Researching: SCHWARZBAUM/SCHWARTZBAUM > Posen>New York and Savannah, Georgia
ROTHSCHILD/ROTHCHILD> Prussia> Darien and Savannah, Georgia
BASCH>Prussia>Savannah, Georgia LEVISON> Prussia> Brunswick and Savannah,
Georgia OPPENHEIM > Savannah, Georgia WEINBERG > Georgia