I maintain that it is not helpful to the original poster to encourage him to think a name change happened at Ellis Island. It will make it more difficult for him to locate early US records for his family before the name change occurred, make it more difficult for him to locate other family members in the US who did not change their surname, make it more difficult for him to find the correct ship manifests, and make it more difficult to find records of his forebears on Jewishgen.

Article on Jewishgen about myth of name change by US immigration officials:
https://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/ellismythnames.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAw8OeBhCeARIsAGxWtUxycZJtjUfIlFZV8qHCXQdG7I3EFlqeKLHUZZXjSu07aI42GRoH3_kaAgfIEALw_wcB

And from the Times of Israel:
https://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/ellismythnames.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAw8OeBhCeARIsAGxWtUxycZJtjUfIlFZV8qHCXQdG7I3EFlqeKLHUZZXjSu07aI42GRoH3_kaAgfIEALw_wcB

--
Michele Lock

Lak/Lok/Liak/Lock and Kalon/Kolon in Zagare/Joniskis/Gruzdziai, Lithuania
Lak/Lok/Liak/Lock in Plunge/Telsiai in Lithuania
Rabinowitz in Papile, Lithuania and Riga, Latvia
Trisinsky/Trushinsky/Sturisky and Leybman in Dotnuva, Lithuania
Olitsky in Alytus, Suwalki, Poland/Lithuania
Gutman/Goodman in Czestochowa, Poland
Lavine/Lev/Lew in Trenton, New Jersey and Lida/Vilna gub., Belarus

On Tue, Jan 24, 2023 at 04:37 PM, <jbonline1111@...> wrote:

I know how my family names--both sides --were changed, though why for only one of them. My father's last name was Slonimsky, eventually he and his brothers changed it to Sloan for business reasons. My mother's family name was Zlates on her birth certificate. I've seen this name in searches too. Later the spelling was anglicized. 

A further note: one does not have to be present to learn history and how things were done. There are articles on JewishGen and elsewhere explaining that families did not change their names at Ellis Island, by and large. 

In this particular case, Waterstone being a direct translation of Wasserstein, the explanation is probably that the family anglicized the name. Note that Wasserstein would be pronounced as Vassershtein.
--
Barbara Sloan
Conway, SC

 Thank you. There was active encouragement to anglicize names of Eastern European immigrants in USA as well as Great Britain. I took exception to global statement of certainty that it was not due to influence of immigration officials since I know that that is not the case, hence my comment about being there. I just don't want author of query to believe his ancestors changed name to avoid family connection unless that is passed down in his family. Feigie Teichman

I know how my family names--both sides --were changed, though why for only one of them. My father's last name was Slonimsky, eventually he and his brothers changed it to Sloan for business reasons. My mother's family name was Zlates on her birth certificate. I've seen this name in searches too. Later the spelling was anglicized. 

A further note: one does not have to be present to learn history and how things were done. There are articles on JewishGen and elsewhere explaining that families did not change their names at Ellis Island, by and large. 

In this particular case, Waterstone being a direct translation of Wasserstein, the explanation is probably that the family anglicized the name. Note that Wasserstein would be pronounced as Vassershtein.
--
Barbara Sloan
Conway, SC

On Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 09:33 PM, Michele Lock wrote:

Immigrants did not change their names because US immigration officials could not pronounce the surnames. This is a myth. US immigration officials had to speak more than one language for their work, plus there would be interpreters present in the immigration halls to translate if needed.

After their arrivals, immigrants changed their surnames for a variety of reasons. One of the major reasons was to sound more American, hence the Anglicization of surnames from the Yiddish to the direct English equivalents. I agree with the above posters, that the original name was probably Wasserstein (and all of its spelling variants).
--
Michele Lock

Lak/Lok/Liak/Lock and Kalon/Kolon in Zagare/Joniskis/Gruzdziai, Lithuania
Lak/Lok/Liak/Lock in Plunge/Telsiai in Lithuania
Rabinowitz in Papile, Lithuania and Riga, Latvia
Trisinsky/Trushinsky/Sturisky and Leybman in Dotnuva, Lithuania
Olitsky in Alytus, Suwalki, Poland/Lithuania
Gutman/Goodman in Czestochowa, Poland
Lavine/Lev/Lew in Trenton, New Jersey and Lida/Vilna gub., Belarus

 You can call it what you like, but you were not there. Perhaps it was then the immigrant phenomenon, perhaps it was a desire to help Jews in future as Americans, perhaps it was antisemitic, or perhaps the myth was true, there are many many family documentations that their names were changed not at their request at Ellis Island. I would not discount all these families word. Feigie Teichman

Immigrants did not change their names because US immigration officials could not pronounce the surnames. This is a myth. US immigration officials had to speak more than one language for their work, plus there would be interpreters present in the immigration halls to translate if needed.

After their arrivals, immigrants changed their surnames for a variety of reasons. One of the major reasons was to sound more American, hence the Anglicization of surnames from the Yiddish to the direct English equivalents. I agree with the above posters, that the original name was probably Wasserstein (and all of its spelling variants).
--
Michele Lock

Lak/Lok/Liak/Lock and Kalon/Kolon in Zagare/Joniskis/Gruzdziai, Lithuania
Lak/Lok/Liak/Lock in Plunge/Telsiai in Lithuania
Rabinowitz in Papile, Lithuania and Riga, Latvia
Trisinsky/Trushinsky/Sturisky and Leybman in Dotnuva, Lithuania
Olitsky in Alytus, Suwalki, Poland/Lithuania
Gutman/Goodman in Czestochowa, Poland
Lavine/Lev/Lew in Trenton, New Jersey and Lida/Vilna gub., Belarus

I share in your thinking on souls who have had no kaddish said for them. Waterstone is Vasser meaning water, and Shtein meaning stone. Usual transliteration of name was done by immigrants. Many changed names because immigration officials could not pronounce them. Feigie Teichman

Hi Bob,

I find it interesting that their daughter Belle's 1898 birth record indicates Samuel WATERSTONE was born in Berlin, Germany. 

On the 1910 census Simon WATERSTONE's place of birth is given as Germany, but both his parents' birthplace is given as Russia.

If that info is accurate than you may want to search for his birth in Germany.

Although, there is a 1902 birth (probably Bernard) where Simon's birthplace is given as Russia.  

You'll see how Eva's maiden surname gets transcribed in various ways.  It can be difficult to find what is true, or not.  Take a look at Meyer's 1909 birth record and see how the names are transcribed oddly!

Is Simon's Hebrew first name on his tombstone?  Is Simon's father's name on his tombstone?

I hope the info below is helpful,  Sherri Bobish
https://archive.wvculture.org/vrr/va_bcdetail.aspx?Id=2808207

Name:	Belle Waterstone Note: By Affidavit; Reported byr Dr. O. J./Henderson
Birth Date:	19 Sep 1898
Birth Place:	Montgomery, West Virginia
Sex:	Female
Mother:	Eva Simous
Mother's Age:	25y
Mother's Birth Place:	Poland
Father:	Samuel Waterstone Note: Jeweler
Father's Age:
Father's Birth Place:	Berlin, Ger
https://archive.wvculture.org/vrr/va_bcdetail.aspx?Id=2810892
Name: Waterstone Note: Reported by W. N./Klose M.D. Birth Date: 21 Apr 1902 Birth Place: Montgomery, West Virginia Sex: Male Mother: Eva Simmon Mother's Age: 30y Mother's Birth Place:   Father: S. Waterstone Note: Jeweller Father's Age:   Father's Birth Place: Russia
https://archive.wvculture.org/vrr/va_bcdetail.aspx?Id=3280076 Name: Mayo Lacefield Waterstone Birth Date: 17 Dec 1909 Birth Place: Montgomery, Fayette, West Virginia Sex: Male Mother: Eva Rebecca Walker Mother's Age:   Mother's Birth Place:   Father: Simon Waterstone

The original surname is probably Wasserstein converted to Waterstone in English.
JewishGen and LitvakSig databases have a few Wasserstein records from Kaunas.

Jean-Pierre Stroweis
Jerusalem