The Mystery of the Third Son

"Immigrants: we get the job done" -- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

According to my aunt, Mikhail and Sarah Gittelman of David-Gorodok had six sons. She didn't know the third son's name, but she knew that he had three daughters: Fanny, Esther and Lena. She also knew that Fanny had a daughter named Miriam and a son named Seymour. Esther had a son, and Lena had a son named Stuart.

I set out to look for a girl named Miriam whose mother was named Fanny and who had a brother named Seymour. You can imagine my excitement when I discovered Miriam Posner. In 1930, Miriam Posner and her younger brother Seymour were living in the Bronx with their parents, Nathan and Fannie Posner, and Fannie's mother, Rebecca Gittleman. My excitement grew when I discovered that Fannie had two younger sisters, Esther and Lena! Then doubt began to creep in. Rebecca's husband's name was Selman, a form of Solomon. This seemed odd, because Mikhail and Sarah's fourth son was named Solomon. Rebecca's husband also seemed to have been too old to fit in with the (admittedly vague) ages of the rest of Mikhail and Sarah's sons. Finally, Selman, Rebecca, Fanny, Esther and Lena all immigrated from Ekaterinoslav. None of them were born in David-Gorodok.

I'll tell the story as I've managed to figure it out, and you can make up your own mind. If these people aren't my family, I'm sure they're someone's family.

According to his Ellis Island passenger manifest, Selman Gittelmann was born either in 1854 or 1859 - the second digit of his age is unclear. He gave his place of birth as Slowerno. My best guess for this is Sloveni in the Mogilev gubernia. This based largely on the passenger manifest for the Belinskaja family, who immigrated six months after Selman from the same port on a ship run by the same line. The two passenger manifests appear to be written in the same handwriting. The Belinskajas' home contact was a friend in "Slower" in the Mogilev gubernia. "Slower" appears to my eye to look exactly the same as the first two syllables of Slowerno.

Sometime before 1890-1892, Selman married Rivka. Rivka was born in 1865-1870 in "Chabny," which as far as I can tell refers to Khabno (Yiddish: Chabne) in the Kiev gubernia. I have three sources for Rivka's birth name. The one I'm most sure of says Awersh, the second most sure one says Lewin and the least sure one says Kuptan.

By 1912 Selman, Rivka and at least five of their children were living in Ekaterinoslav. This could indicate not only the city (now Dnipropetrovsk) on the Dnieper River but also the Ekaterinoslav gubernia.

I initially interpreted Selman's and Rivka's birthplaces to indicate that Selman had travelled from Sloveni to Khabno, where he met and married Rivka. Then at some later point (I hypothesized) the family travelled from Khabno to Ekaterinoslav. The main reason this scenario appealed to me is that when Rivka immigrated, she did so in the company of her daughter Freide (Fannie). On the passenger manifest, Rivka's birthplace is given as Chabny. Freide's, immediately below, is indicated as a horizontal line. I took this to mean that she too was born in Chabny before the family moved south. However, Freide's marriage record says that she was born in Ekaterinoslav.

Renee Steinig drew my attention to the Jewish agricultural colonies in the Russian Empire. Generally speaking, Jews in the Russian Empire were not allowed to own land. Migration to the colonies allowed them to purchase land at reduced prices, as well as to receive tax abatements and exemptions from military service. While the first colonies were founded in 1806 in the Kherson gubernia, colonies weren't founded in the Ekaterinoslav gubernia until 1846. Colonization ceased entirely in 1866.

What this means for Selman and Rivka is that they would have had to migrate to Ekaterinoslav as children, presumably with their families. They would have met and married there, and all of their children would have been born there.

Between 1912 and 1913, Selman, Rivka, Freide, Esther and Bassia immigrated to the States. All them travelled 1,512 km to sail from Libau (Liepāja), a Baltic Sea port in what's now Latvia.

Rivka and Freide were the first two to sail, arriving in NYC on 16 Sep 1912, aboard the SS Czar. Rivka described her occupation as housewife, while 19-year-old Freide was working as a milliner. They listed Esther as their home contact in Ekatineroslav. Their contact in NYC was Rivka's son-in-law M (or N or A) Rosenblatt at 334 East 100th Street. (I've had no luck tracking down Mr Rosenblatt.)

Esther and Bassia arrived in NYC on 19 Feb 1913, aboard the SS Kursk. Both described themselves as tailoresses. Their home contact was their sister, G Uretzky in Ekaterinoslav. Their contact in NYC was their mother, c/o Kaplan at 224 East 98th Street. Both girls - they were 16 and 14 years old, respectively - gave their birthplace as "Philip Feld." The only town with this name I was able to find is Philipfeld, a German settlement on the banks of the Volga, far east of the Pale of Settlement where Jews were allowed to live. However, the Russian Empire also recruited Germans for agricultural settlements in the Ekaterinoslav gubernia. "-feld" (-field) was a common place name element among these settlements, and one was named Billersfeld. Billersfeld is now called Oleksandrivka. It's about 19 km ENE of the centre of Dniepropetrovsk (formerly Ekaterinoslav), although one has to cross both the Dnieper and Samara Rivers to get there.

Hadassa Rachel Birman was born in "the village of Belerfeld not far from Ekaterinoslav" (possibly the same place as Billersfeld?) in 1876. She writes of travelling to Ekaterinoslav as a young woman to access the Hebrew library there. After she and her husband married in 1900, they moved to Ekaterinoslav itself. So we know that Jews could be born and live in villages with German names, and we also know that they could move into the city.

Selman was the last to arrive in NYC on 12 Dec 1913, aboard the SS Russia. His occupation was merchant. His home contact was his daughter, Olga(?) Czimarky(?) in Ekaterinoslav. His contact in NYC was his wife Rivka at 234 East 99th Street.

By 1915, the family had fine new "American" names: Sam, Becky, Fannie, Esther and Lena.

Selman/Sam died between 1915 and 1920. He may or may not be the Solomon Gittelman, age 60, who died 01 Aug 1918, in Manhattan. This Solomon was buried in the Minsker Independent Old Men Benevolent Association section of the Montefiore Cemetery. What's interesting for our purposes is that his parents' were not Mikhail and Sarah but rather Ezekial and Bella.

Whether or not Selman/Sam is the Solomon who died in 1918, Rivka/Rebecca was definitely widowed by 1920. She was living with Esther and Lena at 51-53 East 98th Street in Manhattan. Both Esther and Lena were working as dressmakers. The three women were still living together at this address as of the 1925 NY State Census, on which they were enumerated as "Guetterman."

But where was Fannie? Fannie had married Nathan Posner on 09 Mar 1917. Nathan was the son of Morris Posner and Jennie Staros, born in 1886-1887 in Gomel in the Mogilev gubernia. The couples' marriage record gives Fannie's parents' names as "Soloman Gettlman" and Rebecca Awersh. At the time that Nathan registered for the WWI draft a month and a half later, he and Fannie were living at 51 East 98th Street. Nathan reported that he works as a paper hanger and supports both his wife and mother-in-law.

As of 1920, the Posners were still living at 51-53 East 98th Street. This doesn't mean that they were living with Rebecca and Fannie's younger sisters. The Posners are household 133 on the census record. The Gittelmans are household 144. It was apparently a large building, a crowded building or possibly both. By then the Posners had a daughter, Miriam, born 1918-1919.

In the 1925 New York State Census the Posners were still living in the same building but were enumerated immediately before the "Guettermans." Fannie and Nathan had had a son born on 01 May 1925. He's listed on the 1925 census as Sol but as Seymour in later records.

Between 1925 and 1930, the Posners moved to the Bronx. In 1930 they were living at 3569 DeKalb Avenue, and Rebecca was living with them. Nathan was working as an automobile supply salesman. The Posners were still living at this address on 23 Oct 1929 when Fannie served as one of the witnesses on Harry Gittelman's citizenship petition.

At some point in the next six months the Posners moved to 3428 DeKalb Avenue, where they were enumerated on the 1940 US Census. Rebecca was no longer living with them. Nathan was still working as an automobile supply salesman, while Miriam was working as a saleslady in a department store. Nathan and Fannie were still at the same address in 1942.

I know from comments made by Seymour Posner in later years that Nathan predeceased Fannie. There's a Nathan Posner who died in the Bronx 19 Jul 1946, at the age of 59, which would have been right for "our" Nathan. He's buried in the Plotzker section of the Mount Lebanon Cemetery. However, there's also a Nathan and Fannie Posner who are buried in adjoining graves in the Workmen's Circle section of the Mount Hebron Cemetery. He passed away 19 Jul 1950; she, on 01 Jan 1954. The records I have for this couple don't show ages at death.

Remember Esther, last seen in 1920 living with her mother Rebecca and sister Lena? I'm fairly sure that "our" Esther is the Esther Gittelman who married Ralph Kashin 28 Jun 1925. The only detail that would lead me to question this is that according to the marriage record, Esther's parents' names were Solomon Gittleman and Rebbeka Lewin rather than Rebbeka Awersh. Ralph was born in Białystok (now in Poland, previously in Russia) in 1889-1891, the son of Lew Kashin and Fanny Goldberg. The young couple had a son named Seymour born on 10 Apr 1926.

By 1930 the family was living in the Bronx at 3475-3477 Knox Place. Ralph owned a restaurant. At some point between 1930 and 1935, the family had moved to 3569 DeKalb Avenue where Esther's sister and brother-in-law, Fannie and Nathan Posner, were also living. (The Posners moved a bit down the street after 1935.)

By 1940 things had changed. Esther was not enumerated with her family but rather at the "Rockland State Hospital (Mental)" in Orangetown, Rockland County. Ralph's restaurant had apparently failed to weather the Depression, as he was working as a cloak operator. When Ralph registered for the WWII draft in 1942, he listed Esther as his contact, giving her address as 3569 DeKalb Avenue. It would be nice to think that this indicated she was recovered enough to return home. Meanwhile Seymour enlisted in the army on 30 Jun 1944, after his first year of college.

Esther appears to have passed away in or before 1953. The Yonkers Herald Statesman published 04 Sep 1953, announcing the marriage that day of Barbara Jacobs and Seymour Kashin, describes the bride as the "daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Jacobs" but the groom as the "son of Ralph Kashin."

I lose Lena after 1925, when she's living in Manhattan with her mother and sister Esther. Or do I? My aunt described Lena only as having a son named Stuart who had two sons of his own and lived in New York.

On 10 Feb 1927 Harry Gilbert married Beatrice Gittelman in Manhattan. Harry had been born 05 Nov 1893 in Vekshne in the Kovno gubernia (now Viekšniai, Lithuania), the son of Samuel Gittelman and Rose Peels (per the marriage record). Beatrice was born in Russia in or about 1902 (her US Social Security Death Index record says 21 Dec 1899), the daughter of Solomon Gittelman and "Rifkin Kuptan." According to the 1930 census, Harry immigrated in 1912 and Beatrice, in 1913.

Here's the thing: I have no records for Beatrice Gittelman or B-anything Gittelman born in Russia 1899-1902 living in New York in the 1920 US Census or the 1915 or 1925 New York State Censuses. Beatrice seems to appear out of nowhere right around the time that Lena - who immigrated as Bassia in 1913 - disappears.

As of 1930, Harry and Beatrice were living at 3515 Rochambeau Avenue in the Bronx. Harry was working as a salesman of teas. (He and his older brother George both worked for U & J Lenson.)

At some point before 1935, they moved to Brooklyn. In 1940 they were enumerated at 1126 East 51st Street in Brooklyn, along with their five-year-old son Stuart and Beatrice's mother Rebecca, who had been born in Russia in or about 1865. Is this Fannie, Esther and Lena's mother Rebecca, last seen living with Fannie and Nathan Posner in 1930?

I have no solid evidence linking Bassia/Lena Gittelman to Beatrice Gittelman Gilbert. However, I haven't found anything that conclusively disproves it either. Sure, Rivka/Rebecca's last name on Beatrice's marriage record (Kuptan) doesn't match either of the two different last names on Fannie's and Esther's marriage records (Awersh and Lewin, respectively). But since Fannie's and Esther's records don't agree either, all that this tells me is that there was a lot of confusion about their mother's last name at birth.

I don't have any further information on Rebecca or Stuart, who would have been born in or around 1935. I know that Harry and Beatrice were living at the same address in 1942. I also know that they moved back to the Bronx at some point. Beatrice died there 15 Jul 1981 and Harry, on 13 Apr 1988. They're buried in neighbouring graves in the Littauer Young Men's section of the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens.

So, are Selman, Rivka and their daughters the Gittelmans that my aunt described or not? Some problems are obvious:

There's also one more problem that's perhaps less obvious: Selman is too old. All of his records indicate that he was born 1854-1859. The only son of Mikhail and Sarah for whom we have a year of birth is their sixth and youngest, Nathan. He was born in 1878-1880, 19-26 years after Selman. If Selman had been the oldest of the six sons, this wouldn't be unusual at all. But he's supposedly the third. The only way this would work biologically would be if Sarah had three sons all pretty close together while she was fairly young, then had three more over the next couple of decades. That seems unusual.

Furthermore, the oldest child of Mikhail and Sarah's oldest son, Lazar, was Herschel, born in 1900-1901. If Lazar was born before 1854-1859 - which he'd have to be if he were Selman's older brother - why did he wait until he was 41-47 to have his first child? That would only make sense if he either put off getting married or married twice, with no children from his first marriage.

The third hypothesis is my personal favourite because if it's true, it's gotten us back another generation. If Selman is the Solomon who died in 1918 and Selman and Mikhail are brothers, then Mikhail's previously unknown parents are Ezekial and Bella. The third hypothesis also suggests that the family originated in or around Sloveni in the Mogilev gubernia. It's possible that Ezekial and Bella migrated to Ekaterinoslav with young Selman before 1866. If Mikhail was older than Selman - say, born around 1850 or so - then he may have been already married and settled, possibly in either Sloveni or David-Gorodok. That makes sense, because it suggests that Mikhail's oldest son Lazar was born when he was about 25, and then Lazar's oldest son Herschel was also born when Lazar was about 25.

Fanny's daughter Miriam Posner married Jonas Katz. She passed away 27 Nov 2010, in Deerfield Beach, Florida. She was survived by two daughters, Barbara and Nancy, and a grandson, Jason.

A full biography of Fanny's son Seymour Posner is available at https://socialarchive.iath.virginia.edu/ark:/99166/w6nw3tcp. His impressive career included serving in the New York State Assembly as a representative for the South Bronx from 1964 to 1978. One of the bills he sponsored guaranteed minimum wage protection and bargaining rights for household and home-care workers. Reporting on the bill, the Rome Daily Sentinel published 28 May 1976, quotes Assemblyman Posner as saying that "he had been concerned about the rights of domestics since his boyhood, when his widowed mother worked as a maid."

Nice quote, but "boyhood" is a bit of an exaggeration. Seymour was already 17 years old when his father registered for the WWII draft in 1942. In fact, Seymour himself enlisted in 1942 and served in the 3rd Infantry Regiment in France and Germany.

Seymour Posner passed away at his home in Brooklyn 01 Nov 1988. Besides his sister Miriam, he was survived by his wife, Ann, and a daughter, Naomi.

As mentioned above, Esther's son Seymour Kashin married Barbara Jacobs 04 Sep 1953. An article in the Yonkers Herald Statesman published 14 Jul 1965, mentions that the couple have three children: Edward Marc born 1955, Sandra Amy born 1959 and Glen Evan born in September 1963. The article is entitled, "Yonkers Traffic Expert Tackles New York Rush Hour." In fact, Seymour Kashin had a notable career as an urban transportation consultant, with a particular interest in using mass transit to alleviate traffic bottlenecks.

Like his cousin Seymour Posner, Seymour Kashin had served in WWII, although in Guam rather than in Europe. He passed away 07 June 2007, and was buried in the Calverton National Cemetery, a military cemetery on Long Island. The biography published in the ERA Bulletin 2007-08 (ERA stands for Electric Railroaders' Association) is available at https://issuu.com/erausa/docs/2007-08-bulletin-unabridged/8.

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In memory of Janet A Werner, 1931-2015