Author: Harlan Landes
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The Landes cousin who may or may not have existed
One of the first mysteries I encountered when first starting my research into my family history has still not been solved. Maybe you can help by looking at the facts and sharing your thoughts, interpreting the incomplete documentation, or seeing if you find something I’ve missed.
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Yeruslavitz family history
The Yeruslavitz family migrated from Romania to Canada and to various locations throughout the United States.
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Ancestry DNA finally comes through with the discovery of Steckler cousins
Thanks to Ancestry.com DNA matches, artful sleuthing on FamilySearch, and a bit of luck, I’ve discovered dozens of “new” cousins, descendants of my third great grandparents, Wolf Steckler and Pearl.
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The Complete Visual Guide to Jewish Headstones
Jewish headstones in cemeteries can provide a large number of clues for researchers of family history and genealogy. Here’s an explanation of everything you might encounter.
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Catching up with the Sturmwalds
Years ago I struggled with conflicting information about second great grandmother, Eliza Sturmwald Lustig, and the name of her mother. On Eliza’s death certificate, her mother is listed as Charlotte Newmann. On her marriage certificate, the name of Eliza’s mother appears to be Janetta Shyck. After some time thinking about it, with no other information…
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Berman family history
The Berman family emigrated from Odessa, destined for the United States, at the beginning of the twentieth century.
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New York City marriage affidavits and licenses
Order marriage licenses and affidavits from New York City, not just marriage certificates using new online indexes.
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The Slawitz family: Feige Slawitz Berman and Chaia Sarah Slawitz Stein
Confirmed! My third great grandmother Feige Slawitz Berman had a sister, Chaia Sarah Slawitz Stein.
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Revisiting Feige Berman, my third great grandmother
The headstone for my third great grandmother, Feige Berman, raised more questions than it answered. I’m still working on this three years later.
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Anna, my great grandmother, finally found.
After several years, I’ve finally been able to put the pieces together and find my great grandmother.
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Another name change discovered: Nachamin/Neckameyer
The Neckameyer name was originally Nachamin, as I’ve discovered by reconsidering what I thought was an engraving mistake and with the help of new FamilySearch indices.
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Fan Hayes Yeruslavitz Brooks
I met with a distant relative today and discovered more information about Fanny Hayes Yeruslavitz, my first cousin three times removed. New photos, too.
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Wolf Neckameyer, tailor in Mahattan
Calls, emails, and visits with descendants of Wolf Neckameyer have helped fill in more details about the family.
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Celia Neckameyer Walcoff found, but without her sister Anna
Beth El Cemetery in Paramus, New Jersey is the home of Celia Neckameyer Walcoff and her husband George.
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Berman home movies
From the 1940s through the 1970s, Aaron (Al) Berman recorded home movies on 8mm film.
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FamilyTreeDNA’s My Origins offers a glimpse of geographic ancestry
The new admixture analysis at FanilyTreeDNA offers customers a glimpse into geographic genetic history, but is there any use to this information?
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Landes immigration map
This map shows the important locations — residences and ports — for my Landes ancestors through my second great grandfather.
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National Library Week: Free access to ProQuest’s obituary database
All this week, ProQuest is offering free access to its extensive obituary and death notice database. Here’s what I found.
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The Brooklyn Daily Eagle archives are available for free
The Brooklyn Public Library and Newspapers.com are working together to provide the Brooklyn Daily Eagle archives online.
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Obituary for Moses Landes, 1926
The Canadian Jewish Review, with a “society” section that was the social media of its day, published a death notice for my second great grandfather.
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Death certificate for my great grandmother: VitalChek orders
I received the death certificate for my great grandmother from New York City via VitalChek.
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Reverse research: A technique for finding missing pieces
Using a “research tree” helps organize records pertaining to potential relatives when looking for missing pieces.
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From Hirschenbein to Hirsch and back again
The Hirschenbein family, cousins of my mother’s family, changed their name to Hirsch. With this new information, I can learn more.
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Ancestry.com adds 14 million New York records to database
Indexes to New York City births, marriages, and deaths are now available on Ancestry.com, as are the 1855 and 1875 New York state census records.
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The Aaron Berman recordings
Recordings from the early 1950s show the Berman family having lots of fun around the piano.
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More immigration and education details about Joseph Landes
The latest discovery involves departure and arrival information for my great grandfather, who traveled from Hamburg to New York on the ship Palatia in 1899.
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Landes family in the Canadian Census of 1921
Martin Landes and his family appears in the Canadian Census of 1921, but the listing doesn’t solve a mystery.
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Birth records from Czecze don’t include Joseph Lustig
I couldn’t find Joseph (Ruben) Lustig while browsing a microfilm of synagogue records from Czecze (Cece), Hungary, but I did later find a potential cousin.
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Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org working together
Ancestry.com announced the company will be investing $60 million in improving records from FamilySearch.org.
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With new Iași records on JewishGen, I found my ancestors
It looks like volunteers in Romania and over the world have helped me uncover information about my ancestors’ marriage — and information for thousands of others as well.
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The Landes Pharmacy and Joseph Landes in Bacău
For more than fifty years, at least two generations of Landeses were involved with the pharmacy trade.
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Preparing stories to engage family in history
Storytelling is a powerful tool for increasing your family’s interest in your research. But what stories have I been able to uncover so far?
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View the family tree without paying a membership fee
Family members can now view the entire family tree online without creating an account on Ancestry.com or dealing with the company’s incessant advertisements.
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Thanks to Google Books, I’ve discovered relatives in the Holocaust
Babette Sturmwald is a newly discovered cousin. Her husband and one of her four daughters perished in the Holocaust.
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Second-guessing information assumed to be correct led to a breakthrough
A marriage certificate for Joseph Lustig and Sadie Isaacs proves a memory to be incorrect.
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FamilyTreeDNA mitochondrial DNA results
My FamilyTreeDNA mitochondrial DNA results are in. The test has identified my haplogroup subclade as K2a2a1.
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Landes family history
Moses Landes married Bertha “Brauna” Yaruslavitz in Iași, Romania in 1875, and by the turn of the century the entire Landes family had immigrated to North America by way of England.
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FamilyTreeDNA Family Finder results
FamilyTreeDNA’s Family Finder suggests I have two close matches and hundreds of distant relatives.
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The Landes immigration to Canada
Immigration records newly available online point to more information about my second great grandparents’ arrival in North America.
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Updated spellings after new information
Talking to a cousin provided some clarity around my second great grandmother’s maiden name — Kashowitz, not Rashowitz or Rochaurtz. I’ve also standardized the spelling of another popular surname throughout the tree.
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My fourth great grandfather, Israel Loew Sturmwald, and his descendants
Working together with a distant potential cousin, I’m finding more clues about the Sturmwald branch of my family.
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Rabbi Ezriel Yosef Yehuda in Russia
The recently reset and repointed headstone for Feige Berman provides a clue about her father from Russia.
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Sometimes the clues fall into place
Reviewing documentation I received months ago helped me make a new connection. Pay attention to the small details.
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Discovered cousins in the Lepianski branch: the Ratzken family
Searching for one set of potential cousins revealed more blood relatives, descended from my second great grandparents, Shloma Lepianski and Rochel Shai Lepianski.
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Kerstman family photographs
These photographs of the Kerstman family are courtesy of Joel Landes and Shari Berman Landes.
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Landes family photographs, page 2
These photographs of the Landes family are courtesy of Joel Landes and Shari Berman Landes.
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Herman family photographs
These photographs of the Herman family are courtesy of Shari Berman Landes.
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Klein family photographs
These photographs of the Klein family are courtesy of Shari Berman Landes.
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Berman family photographs
These photographs of the Berman family were provided by Shari Berman Landes and Joel Landes.
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Landes family photographs
These photographs are courtesy of Joel Landes, Paul Landes and Shari Berman Landes.
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Can you identify these photographs?
These photographs came to be from Naomi Paltiel Lowi via Bob Paltiel. Can you help identify these women?
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Adventures in Brooklyn: streets and cemeteries
A visit to Brooklyn and other stops in New York allowed me to visit more relatives and document grave sites for my family tree — and a surprise.
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Collaborative family tree-building with Geni
The online application Geni allows family historians to collaborate with strangers on shared tree branches and might provide clues for further research.
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FamilyTreeDNA offers some insight
FamilyTreeDNA reveals my membership in haplogroup G2c through testing Y chromosome DNA.
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Naturalization documents received for Paulina (Pearl) Landes
The naturalization documents for Pearl Landes answer a question about her children.
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Meeting my second great grandparents, Moses and Bertha
I visited the grave sites of my relatives throughout New York, from Queens to Long Island, asking questions and documenting with photographs.
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AncestryDNA results mildly interesting
The results of my AncestryDNA test pointed to a surprising component of my genetics, but where can I go from here?
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My grandmother’s baby sister, Sophie Kerstman
Isadore and Anna Kerstman gave birth to a daughter, Sophie, who died at the age of 19 days.
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Looking closer at handwriting solves a mystery
The birth record I attributed to a mystery “Track” Landes is probably attributable to Irwin Landes. Bad indexing led to a bad assumption.
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The two marriages of Fannie Landes
Fannie Landes first married Albert Paltiel, then married Adolph Goldenberg after Albert died. The two marriage certificates expand the family tree but don’t definitively answer questions about Fannie’s mother, Bertha.
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Celia Neckameyer and George Walcoff
Celia Neckameyer is a newly-discovered relative, if census records are to be believed. Here is some information about her family.
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Bertha Jereslawitz Landes’s death certificate
The latest of three death certificates I’ve received in the mail is the least conclusive, yet I am inclined to consider some of the facts accurate enough to include this death certificate for Bertha Landes.
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Is this the real Joseph Lustig?
Just like I had difficulty reconciling Eliza Strumwald Lustig’s death certificates with the facts I considered to be true, I now have the same concerns about this death certificate for Joseph Lustig.
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The Lepianskis in Lithuania
Just days ago I had little information about my great grandmother. Now, I know about her entire family in Lithuania.
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Eliza Sturmwald Lustig’s death certificate
With every new document I receive, there are more questions, and Eliza’s death certificate is no exception.
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Anna Lipansky Kerstman’s naturalization papers provide new clues
With Anna’s naturalization documents from the National Archives, I’m a step closer to uncovering her family’s past in Lithuania.
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Reach out to relatives to reconnect and discuss family history
I spoke with my great aunt (or grand aunt — the terminology can be confusing — my mother’s mother’s sister) over the phone a few days ago, and by asking a few specific questions I was able to correct some errors and fill some holes in the family tree.
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Pearl Kerstman Rosenberg and her descendants
Another family’s own research provides stories about my relaitves and starting points for my own research.
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Autosomal DNA analysis
Ancestry.com now offers autosomal DNA testing for geogenealogy and finding relatives.
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Death records: Joseph and Moses Landes
The death certificates for my great grandfather and second great grandfather fill in holes in my tree.
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Who are the Neckameyers?
When I began my research, I didn’t know my maternal grandfather’s mother’s name. Now I know more about her family.
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Sorting out the Herman kids
Personal stories from my close relatives leave many questions about my maternal grandmother’s family.
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Naturalization: Moses Landes
On Fold3, I discovered naturalization papers for my second great grandfather which otherwise would need to have been ordered from the National Archives.
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Marriage certificate: Joseph Landes and Sadie Lustig
The story of my family history research continues with three records I received from the New York City Department or Records.
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Marriage certificate: Wolf Neckameyer and Rose Goldfarb
The marriage certificate of Samuel Berman and Anna Neckameyer gave me the name of Anna’s parents: Wolf Neckameyer and Rebecca Rochaurtz. By the time Wolf is living in the United States with his daughter Anna (and possibly with other children — that’s a different discussion), Rebecca had passed away and he had remarried. I ordered…
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Samuel Berman’s migration to America from Odessa
Using tools on Fold3, I discovered Samuel Berman’s (my great grandfather’s) naturalization papers. Samuel declared his intention to become a citizen in 1912, and in 1916 completed his Petition for Naturalization, was informed of his approval, and signed the Oath of Allegiance. I hadn’t come across these documents in any other searches so far, including…
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Marriage certificates received: Berman/Neckameyer, Lustig/Sturmwald, and Klein/Herman
My family history research continues with the first records received from the New York City Department of Records.