Hello cousins. Hope you are staying safe and finding genealogical gems.

My grandfather had 2 brothers who came to him through Ellis Island. I
can't seem to find anything on them after their arrival.

1. There was a "Jajgl" Blitz arr 31 July 1906 age 20, going to his
brother, my grandfather, Morris Blitz at 336 Houston St., on the Lower
East Side of NY. I have that address confirmed from the 1905 census
and the birth certificates of 3 of his children 1902, 1904, and 1907.
So "Jajgl" would have been born around 1886. (I calculate my
grandfather's birth at around 1875.)

What "Jajgl" really was keeps me up at night. Yankel? There are too
many possibilities.

I went through the 1910 NY census and came up with 2 Joseph Blitzes
who might be possibilities. Both of their headstones show father
"Moshe." My grandfather's headstone shows father "Mordechai." So I
have tentatively eliminated them. I haven't found anything else on the
1910 census that looks like a good bet.

2. Another brother, Schulem Blitz, arrived 8/28/13, going to brother
Morris Bitz at 532 "Block" Ave. Anyone from Brooklyn, NY will tell you
that's Blake Ave., and my mother always said that by the time she was
born (March 1914) her family had moved from the Lower East Side and
was living on Blake Avenue. He left behind a wife, Gittel. I calculate
his DOB as around 1875. Pretty close to my grandfather's age, then. I
have not found any record of Gittel's arrival.

We are from Zurawno, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
when my grandparents were born.

I know from his headstone that my grandfather's father was Mordechai.
My grandfather (Moshe/Morris Blitz) died in 1928, somewhere between
the age of 52 and 57, and if there was an obit that would have listed
relatives, I haven't found it.

In my fruitless searches, I have found a Samuel Blitz dob 1867, but Hungarian.
A Samuel Blitz dob 1867 dod 1932 cert 4094, Bronx.
A Samuel Blitz dob 1880 dod 1922 cert 28292 Manhattan.
I'm wondering if I should go after the deaths of "random" Samuels
Blitz, and if there's a better way to go about it than ordering the
death certs.

I also found a Gittel Spitzer, daughter of Solomon and Gittel Blitz of
**Russia,** so maybe not likely; she died 4/1/23 in Los Angeles, wife
of Abraham Spitzer.

I keep bumping up against a naturalization for a Schulim Seinwel
Blitz, but I've ruled him out because the dates are too far off.

I speculate that after my grandfather's death in 1928, my grandmother
didn't have much to do with my grandfather's brothers. There doesn't
seem to be any family memory.

Also, perhaps intriguing and perhaps a McGuffin, there was a Blitz
(probably first name Aaron - it's difficult to read) who lived
practically around the corner from us and who witnessed my Aunt's
marriage cert in 1928. I have traced the putative Aaron Blitz back as
far as his father, Naftali, who probably would have been born in the
1870s (because Aaron was born circa 1891). Am trying to track his
descendants but so far nothing sounds remotely familiar. Perhaps Aaron
was my grandfather's cousin or nephew.

So I'm worn out, possibly missing stuff, possibly not seeing the
forest for the trees, and groping for a systematic way to attack the
problems of Schulem and "Jajgl."

Thoughts? Do any of you happen to be my cousin?

B'shalom
Wendy Griswold
Searching: BLITZ, PFEIFFER, FEIFER, ROTHMAN: Zurawno and environs;
USA, Argentina, Uruguay, Israel, Canada
DWASS/DAVIS: Ekaterinoslaw (Dniepro)
WENZELBERG (any spelling), Nowy Sacz area
--
Diane Jacobs, Somerset, New Jersey