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So I'm at a bit of a brick wall.
My Great-Grandfather, Abraham, and his wife, Sarah, spoke Yiddish, came from Russia, and lived in New York from about the turn of the last century on. He was a tailor, she was a housewife. Do you have ANY idea how many couples that description fits? Even better, once they started having kids, while they were sensible enough to give them nice, strong names, they were somewhat haphazard about how they spelt them from one Census to the next. Bess became Bessie, but my father says she was actually Betty. Edward Ferdinand is listed here and there as Edward F., and as Eddie. Florence, the eldest, I just can't find at all. And Abraham himself seems to show up as Abe-- or at least that's what I'm hoping, as I just can't find him at all in the 1900 Census.
The 1930 Census I found lists an Abraham and Sarah living alone in Brooklyn. I thought at first that was them-- he's a tailor, she's a housewife-- but if it IS them, the date of birth and immigration is about 15 years off. And though they said in 1910 and 1920 they were from Russia, the couple in 1930 says Poland. That, of course, is perfectly understandable, as that particular region was rather volatile. But it is rather confusing. And of course, one has to factor in the handwriting and listening skills of the Census taker. And the tendency of some facts to become fluid over the years, deliberately or otherwise.
And of course, this is the one ancestor I started this whole thing specifically to find. Ironically, that's because I'm trying to find who he was before he was a Cohen, which will be a HUGE wrench in the works. But I can't get anywhere until I get more information. And it's just not easy.
My Great-Grandfather, Abraham, and his wife, Sarah, spoke Yiddish, came from Russia, and lived in New York from about the turn of the last century on. He was a tailor, she was a housewife. Do you have ANY idea how many couples that description fits? Even better, once they started having kids, while they were sensible enough to give them nice, strong names, they were somewhat haphazard about how they spelt them from one Census to the next. Bess became Bessie, but my father says she was actually Betty. Edward Ferdinand is listed here and there as Edward F., and as Eddie. Florence, the eldest, I just can't find at all. And Abraham himself seems to show up as Abe-- or at least that's what I'm hoping, as I just can't find him at all in the 1900 Census.
The 1930 Census I found lists an Abraham and Sarah living alone in Brooklyn. I thought at first that was them-- he's a tailor, she's a housewife-- but if it IS them, the date of birth and immigration is about 15 years off. And though they said in 1910 and 1920 they were from Russia, the couple in 1930 says Poland. That, of course, is perfectly understandable, as that particular region was rather volatile. But it is rather confusing. And of course, one has to factor in the handwriting and listening skills of the Census taker. And the tendency of some facts to become fluid over the years, deliberately or otherwise.
And of course, this is the one ancestor I started this whole thing specifically to find. Ironically, that's because I'm trying to find who he was before he was a Cohen, which will be a HUGE wrench in the works. But I can't get anywhere until I get more information. And it's just not easy.