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Re: "His name was changed at Ellis Island" #names

Michele Lock
 

I have an example of how a first name got changed during the journey from Lithuania to the US, which likely could also happen to a surname.

I was looking into the couple Abram and Rose Schiffman, who came here about 1891 and whose children were all born here in the US, and who came from Lithuania, but where I didn't know. So, I was looking for a young couple, likely in their 20s, no children. And I quickly found an Abram and Therese Schiffman from Schalen (Siauliai) coming from Hamburg to NY, early 1892. What puzzled me was the name Therese, which I haven't seen before for a Jewish woman from Eastern Europe. Maybe this was the couple I was looking for, maybe not. 

Luckily, I have a photo of the couple's gravestone here in the US, which shows Rose's Yiddish name as Etta Reiza. I believe what happened is when either the tickets were purchased or when the couple arrived at the ship in Hamburg, that when her name was pronounced, the clerk only heard 'Ta Reiza', and he missed the 'Et' part. So, her name sounded like 'Therese', and was written down that way. She and her husband must have been confused during their journey and at Ellis Island why her first name was suddenly Therese, which to them would have sounded like 'Ta Reiza'. or possible 'Ta Reiz'. Perhaps this had an effect on her going by 'Rose', here in the US.

But still, I also believe that immigration officials here in the US did not change names. Mistakes/Mis-hearings/Miss-spellings would have happened at other times, either when the tickets were purchases her in the US or Europe, or when they arrived at the German ports and gave their names to the ship clerks.

I have a great aunt Mollie (Yiddish name Malke), who traveled here to Philadelphia under the name 'Mary Lack'. I was puzzled by this until I found her older brother here in the US had purchased her ticket, and must have given the clerk the name 'Mary'. She must have been very confused as to why she kept being called by Mary during her trip. 


Michele Lock
Alexandria, VA

Searching for:
Olitsky - Alytus, Lith.
Leybman/Leapman/Lippman - Dotnuva, Lith.
Lock/Lak/Lack - Zagare/Gruzd, Lith.
Kolon/Kalen/Colon - Joniskis/Zagare, Lith.
Re: Name Variations (was: "His name was changed at Ellis Island") #names

Debby Gincig Painter
 

Many times people used a last name for years but since it was never legal changed, their birth last name was used on official documents and gravestones.
How to determine Warsaw street address? #warsaw

Elizabeth Jackson
 

If a Warsaw house number is indicated as "1101" in 1865, is there a way to determine where it was located?
Does anyone know where Nishene Russia is? #poland #russia

kfhgw@...
 

I've found the Nationalization papers for a relative, Philip Levine in Texas, and in them he states he is from Nishene, Russia (papers will filled out in 1943).  I have his Uncle saying he was from Warsaw Poland and many other family members stating Poland, Russia and Russia.  I know borders changed a lot through the beginning of the 20th century.  I've tried to find Nishene on JewishGen, thinking it was in Poland but I get like 11 hits in the "sounds Like" search.  One town, Nadarzyn, is 13 miles SW of Warsaw, so maybe that's a possibility.  Just want to know if anyone else has seen this town name and maybe where it is located?

Karen
Re: "His name was changed at Ellis Island" #names

Bob Bloomberg
 

Once again, a perfect, flawless system.  I am surprised we haven't copied it in other places. Just think: Any errors occurred before the immigrant arrived.  All immigrants had name tags that corresponded exactly with the manifest, which was clearly legible.  No one was rushed, harried, or bored. I am truly impressed.
Re: Lincoln Brigade and Spanish Civil War #usa

erikagottfried53@...
 

Not sure why Ken Ryesky had trouble getting access to the ALBA Archives. The vast ALBA collections at the Tamiment Library at New York University are, and always have been, open to everybody, but one needs to register and make an appointment in advance and also request the materials wanted in advance.  These materials can be pinpointed by consulting the online guides to the collections (here is a link to a list, although it may not be absolutely conclusive:  https://specialcollections.library.nyu.edu/search/catalog?utf8=✓&f%5Brepository_sim%5D%5B%5D=tamwag&op=AND&all_fields=&unittitle_teim=&unitid_teim=ALBA&collection_teim=&f_inclusive%5Brepository_sim%5D%5B%5D=tamwag&sort=score+desc&search_field=advanced&commit=Search , as well as the overall description of the collections (https://guides.nyu.edu/c.php?g=276867&p=5445937 ) mentioned by Ken.  
 
The records are very rich and include the files on individuals from the Comintern Archives in Moscow (on microfilm). In addition to the ALBA collections themselves, the Library holds myriad additional related collections and materials, so it’s a good idea to also get in touch with Shannon O’Neill (smo224@...), the current Curator for the Tamiment Library (and also for the Robert F. Wagner Labort Archives), before visiting so that she can help guide you to these materials. 

ALBA the organization (which, confusingly, is not the same as the actual Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives that reside at Tamiment) has a searchable database (  https://alba-valb.org/volunteer-database/ ) of North American volunteers. 

Erika Gottfried
Teaneck, New Jersey
Re: Origin of the name LAJOUS #france

JPmiaou@...
 

The Hungarian name Lajos never has a 'u' in it, so given that this is in France, I highly doubt that the surname has anything to do with Ludovicus. Since it's in France, I would parse it as La- "the" and -jous (which according to Bernard Flam's post above may have something to do with "below", either literally or figuratively).

Julia
. /\ /\
.>*.*<
Re: "His name was changed at Ellis Island" #names

Bob Bloomberg
 

I did not say that anyone wrote a name down.  What I said was that people make mistakes, especially when overwhelmed, over worked  and maybe not paying strict attention.  Name tag or no, manifest or no, questions or no, mistakes were made, and names INADVERTENTLY were changed.  You might want to read Dahn Cukier's response.
 
What I don't understand is why people blame the discrepancies on points of embarkation, faulty manifests, whatever, but NEVER at Ellis Island.
Hebrew record, is Fani Taub here? #hungary

emmabcole@...
 

I am looking for the birth record of Fani Taub, born in Altofen, Budapest in 1812. Please can someone let me know if she is on the record linked below, I can't read Hebrew unfortunately, and I can only see male names on Family Search. Thank you so much for your help!

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9398-9TYF-J?i=7&cat=292459
Re: Two death Dates On Lithuanian Data Base #lithuania #general

Elise Cundiff
 

In one branch of my family, two names (Itzik and Yehuda) alternated through several generation - so I have 3 of each identical name just in that direct line, plus others from uncles and nephews.    It could be that one of yours is a father or uncle, the other is a son or nephew or cousin 
Slonim Yiskor Book #yizkorbooks

Alan Tapper
 

Does anyone know where I might purchase the SLONIM yiskor book in English?

Alan Tapper. Sabaalan@...
MENDELOWITZ family in Slonim #belarus

Alan Tapper
 

My MENDELOWITZ family has lived in and around Slonim for over 200 years.  Am looking for historical pictures of what life was like.  Can you help me?
Sabaalan@.... Alan Tapper
Re: Looking to hire private researcher in Przemyśl (or nearby) #poland #general

fjs@...
 

I have used Krzysztof Malczewski (krystek@...) mob +48 601 330393 many times with great satisfaction.

Best Regards,

Frank Swartz
Re: #belarus #hungary #holocaust #belarus #hungary #holocaust

fjs@...
 

I think you are actually referring to Orsha where, according to Avraham Shifrin, there were six labour camps until at least 1967.
Re: Nowe Miasto to Ulanow to Vienna #austria-czech

Mjacobsfr@...
 

Thank you for this information. I agree that this seems to be the most likely Ulanow. I will try to investigate further.
Best regards,
Maggie Jacobs
Re: Looking for "State of Rapena" or "Liabin" in Russian Poland #poland

genealogyjew@...
 

The original place names cannot be definitely determined from these faulty transcriptions of probably verbal reports
I can imagine that the second one may refer to Lublin, a large city, and the first, for example to Rava-Ruska. The two places are not too far apart.
Re: Translation request - Polish to English #translation #poland

genealogyjew@...
 

Etta Laia (Rud(a)), 18
Dawid Mordka K., 20, lives with parents at house 1101
child born 13 (25) Aug 1865

[It may be very reasonable to post such requests also on ViewMate]
Re: Two death Dates On Lithuanian Data Base #lithuania #general

genealogyjew@...
 

I do not see why they have to be the same person but it's hard to make final conclusion based on a brief summary of another person.
Examination of the images of the actual documents would give more information.
Do you know any personal details of your relative?
Re: "His name was changed at Ellis Island" #names

Joel Weintraub
 

Bob, you are getting hung up on the manifest and any variations of immigrant names on it.  That to me is not what the Ellis Island Name Change Belief is really about. I look at it as: the immigrant comes to Ellis Island with one family name, and because of intentional or unintentional decisions by the authorities at the Immigration Station, including an effort to Americanize immigrant  names or a level of miscommunication or insensitivity by the Inspectors, leaves Ellis Island with a very different (legal) surname which may have no correlation with the original name, and immediately uses that name in the United States.  So we get stories that Leib Nochomovsky is told by inspectors at Ellis Island that Jews in the U.S. are either Levine or Cohen, and he comes out Louis Levine.  Or Walachinsky at Ellis Island is told he is an American now, and his name is halved by the inspector to Wallace.  These sorts of stories imply or state that the U.S. authorities are writing the name down.  Down on what?  So they mispronounce the immigrants name.... does that translate to some official name change document the immigrant gets?   With my New York accent, I must have changed a lot of my students (and others)  names, right?   But let’s take an extreme made-up  hypothetical case and ask who has in the eyes of the law changed the name.   Say one of the Immigration inspectors is a practical joker and changes one immigrant’s name a day.  Nothing is written down.  No paperwork is given the immigrant that his name is changed.  The immigrant  goes into the U.S. and immediately lives for a number of years with the new name.  Most states have laws that state if you use a surname for a period of  time, it’s your name unless you were committing fraud (try to do that today to get a driver’s license!).  So who changed legally the name of this hapless immigrant.... the joker at Ellis Island or the immigrant?  It was the action of the immigrant that legally changed his name, not the inspector who had no legal powers to do so.  The immigrant’s  impressions of what happened at Ellis Island wouldn’t count in a court of law, would it?   It often boils down to how broad a definition you have about what it means to change a name, and just semantics.  I and I think most genealogists (but not all) have a narrow definition of the name change legend, which started decades after the heyday of Ellis Island. 
Joel Weintraub


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Joel Weintraub
Dana Point, CA
Re: USA passport research #usa

Sherri Bobish
 


Hi Barbara,

United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925


https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2185145

Regards,

Sherri Bobish
Princeton, NJ
11901 - 11920 of 658010