Bella Nagel and Sol Richman

Sol Richman was the brother of Grunia "Jennie" Reichmann/Richman Gittelman. He was born in or about 1906, which would make him 20-24 years younger than Grunia. Presumably he was born in Turov and his mother was Hanie Reichmann.

The only reason I know about Sol is that in 1930, he was living with Jennie and Nathan at 15456 Petoskey Avenue in Detroit. According to the census records, he immigrated in 1923. He was working as a building painter.

Jennie's brother Sol may or may not be the Sol Richman who married Bella Nagel sometime between 1930 and 1933. Bella was born in 1910-1911 in Russia or Poland, the daughter of Hyman and Sophie Nagel. She and Sol had two daughters, Anita Marilyn born 1932-1933 and Lillian born 1938. As of 1940 the family was living at 1968 Grand Avenue in Detroit. Sol was working as a painter.

Anita married Herbert Edward Polinsky in Los Angeles on November 3, 1951. Lillian married Michael Kalmus in Los Angeles in June 23, 1956. However, I don't know if Sol and Bella had moved out to Los Angeles as well.

Sol's immigration story

I had quite a time trying to find Sol's immigration records. The closest match I've been able to find is Srul Rajchman, who arrived in NYC on August 21, 1923, aboard the SS American Legion out of Buenos Aires. According to his passenger manifest, Srul was born in or about 1905 in Pinsk, 131 km west of Turov. He gave his occupation as carpenter. He was going to meet his brother Max Rajchman at 961 Maple Avenue in Detroit. This address would be a more helpful clue if it existed, which it didn't, neither before nor after the reassignment of Detroit building numbers effective January 1, 1921.

Note the year of Srul's arrival. It's two years after Grunia/Jennie arrived with her children. More importantly, it's two years after the US Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, which set immigration quotas based on the percentages of each nationality in the US population as recorded in the 1910 Census and thus limited immigration from eastern and southern Europe. The law included the specification that "in the enforcement of this Act preference shall be given so far as possible to the wives, parents, brothers, sisters, children under eighteen years of age, and fiancées, (1) of citizens of the United States, (2) of aliens now in the United States who have applied for citizenship in the manner provided by law..."

As a result of the Emergency Quota Act, Jennie's husband's nephew Herschel "Harry" Gittelman found it necessary to immigrate to the States by way of Buenos Aires. Srul Rajchman apparently did the same.

If Srul is Jennie's brother Sol, then Max is also Jennie's brother. So who's Max? Things got even more interesting when I discovered a WWI draft registration record for Max Richman, born March 25, 1895, in "Turoff, Russia." He was single and lived at 48 Leland, Detroit. However, I couldn't find an immigration record for Max, a 1920 US Census record or a WWII draft registration record.

I did find a Max Rickman in Detroit in the 1930 US Census. He was born in Russia in or about 1898, had immigrated in 1914 and had married Annette Friedman a year or so before the census was taken. In 1940 they were living with her parents, Herman and Rebecca Friedman, at 370 Elmhurst. Max was working as salesman for an auto company. Note that Annette was born in Michigan in or about 1908. If Max Rickman is Max Richman born in Turoff, he may have knocked a few years off his age to downplay the age difference between them.

Note that I have no solid evidence that Bella's husband Sol is Jennie's brother Sol and that either (or neither) of them is Srul Rajchmann. I also have no solid evidence that Srul's brother Max Rajchmann is Max Richman born in 1895 in Turov and/or Annette's husband Max Rickman.