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

No comments:

Post a Comment