Meyer & Tillie Mahler's story

Was my great-grandpa Meyer Elias Mahler (1856?-1910) part of the famed Luria family?

Gravestones of Meyer Elias Mahler and Tillie Rose Jacobs Mahler

He was a tailor from Latvia, and he married Tillie Rose Jacobs  in 1880ish.*

Meyer came to America in 1885, and wife Tillie followed in 1886. Great-grandpa Meyer took the oath of citizenship to fulfill his dream of being a  naturalized US citizen in 1900, just a decade before he died. 

(See below for blog posts about Tillie and the Jacobs family.)

*Update: Thanks to Lara Diamond, I now know from records in Riga, Latvia, that Meyer had a first marriage before Tillie, to Gita, but was divorced in 1877 (reason: they quarreled). 

Children of Meyer Elias Mahler and Tillie Rose Jacobs Mahler:

David Mahler, Henrietta Mahler, Morris Mahler, Sarah Mahler, 

Ida Mahler, Dora Mahler, Mary Mahler*
(also in circa 1900 family portrait above: Tillie's mother, Rachel Shuham Jacobs,
seated at center)

Meyer's background is especially intriguing because his death certificate shows his mother as Hinde Luria of Kovno. So far, the Luria family genealogist hasn't found a definite connection, but the translation of Meyer's headstone indicates another connection:

Here lies the very distinguished man, heir stretching back to the author of the sefer "Kanaf Ranannim," R' Meir Eliyahu son of R' Dovid Akiva, born in 5616, died 3 Shvat 5670.

Here is a link to my virtual cemetery on Find a Grave for the Mahler family (married into the Burk family).

Here are my posts about Meyer and family, starting in 2008:

• Which ship did Meyer arrive on? (I'm still researching ships that arrived in New York City on the date Meyer told US authorities he came, May 27, 1885.)
• Meyer Mahler, d. 1910 (his death certificate).
• Meyer and Tillie's gravestones (and more about the Luria connection)
• Visiting Meyer and Tillie's graves (with closeup photos)
• What was going on in the world when Meyer came to NYC in 1885 (background about international, national, and local doings that shaped Meyer's world)
• Meyer Mahler becomes a citizen (in 1900)
• Meyer's grandson Sidney Burk crosses borders 
• Identifying the Mahler family portrait, taken in the 1900s 
• Meyer Mahler didn't pass the Statue of Liberty on his way to NYC but his wife and children did. 
• Tillie Mahler wore a photo pin showing herself and her husband in a photo circa 1900 (taken at the same time as the family photo above) 
• David Mahler (my great uncle) had a tattoo. Who knew? He was a bit of a black sheep. And a wanderer.
• David Mahler appeared in Essex Market Police Court in 1897.
• Dora Mahler, daughter of Henrietta & Meyer, was born when?
• Learning that Tillie and Meyer Mahler seem to have had a son who died at age 3 in 1894. Still looking for a baby born and died most likely in Latvia.
• Yes, Wolf Mahler was Tillie and Meyer's son, and he was born in Sept. 1890. Another baby, Sundel, was born and died in 1901.
• Mahler weddings in the month of June.
• Using books about the Bronx to understand context of Mahler family's choice of apartments.
• Henrietta Mahler Burk's bite-sized bio posted on WikiTree, FindaGrave, and MyHeritage and on FamSearch. Adding brief sources to her bio. 
• Mary Mahler's husband Louis Volk served in WWI. I memorialized his service on Fold3 and other sites in advance of Memorial Day 2021.
• A recent ancestor coloring book features a 1936 photo of Henrietta Mahler Burk and Isaac Burk.
• Mary Mahler was born on July 11, 1896, I discovered by obtaining her birth cert for free.

Now for a few links to posts about Tillie Rose Jacobs and her brother, Joe Jacobs:

• Seeking Tillie's siblings (my early post). I know now that she had one brother, Joe Jacob (or Jacobs??) who married Eva Michalovsky.
• Great-grandma Tillie died at 99. Or so we think, since she was cagey about her age, fooling her family into giving her a 100th birthday party early, according to fam legend. 2023 update: The 1950 US Census showed her age as 100 years old, certainly not true.
• Tillie and some of her children lived at 2347 Morris Avenue in the Bronx, according to the 1925 NY Census--the same building where her daughter Ida and son-in-law Louis Volk lived.
• Joe Jacobs--where and when did he die? Joe Jacobs' naturalization papers show little info about his life.
• Rachel Shuham Jacobs was a granny of 13 kids. 
• "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells the Story?" Which story would Tillie Rose Jacobs tell?
• In the Meyer Mahler apartment in NYC was Nellie Block--not a Mahler but the sister of the man who married a Mahler daughter. Nellie was my great aunt on my father's side. I'm still searching for her immigration records. (2023)
• The no-longer-forgotten Mahler babies I found by reading the clues in the Census.
• Creating a virtual cemetery on Find a Grave to have all Mahler and Burk burials on one page, clickable and easy access for descendants.
• My experiment enhancing, colorizing, and animating a favorite photo of Tillie Rose Mahler Jacobs. 
• Finding the marriage license of Sarah Sadie Mahler, for free!

Tillie and Joe's mother was Rachel Jacob(s). So far, I haven't learned her actual birth date. In 1900, the census shows Rachel living with Tillie and Meyer and their family at 88 Christie Street, in New York City's Lower East Side. The census says she had 2 children, both living (that would be Tillie and her brother Joe). But then again, the census says Rachel was born in 1849 and this would be unlikely, given Tillie's age. Rachel's maiden name was Shuham. Interestingly, Joe Jacob and his wife Eve and their children also lived in the same tenement building in 1900.

*Mary Mahler turns out to be pivotal to my branch of the family tree, because she and her husband, Joseph Markell, worked with my mother's aunt, Rose Farkas Freedman, to introduce my mom to my dad. Read all about it here. One of Rose's sons has confirmed that Mary and Rose were best friends, so the story is undoubtedly true.

Posts about Markell:

• Barney, Esther, and Rose Markell - and the Atlas Theater.
• Two Lebowitz sisters marry Markell men.
• Joseph A. Markell goes to sea after father Barney remarries.
• Fannie Lebowitz, Rose Markell's mom. 
• Rose Lebowitz Markell rests in peace in Brooklyn, NY. 
• Ella Markell's death cert. 
• Barney's brother Julius Markell married Tillie Sacks in Pittsfield, MA.
• Barney Markell had many names.
• Brothers Barney, Philip, Samuel, Julius in newspapers.