Wedding Wednesday: Great-Grand-Uncle Joe Marries Eva

Joe Jacobs and Eva Michalovsky marriage certificate, 1890

My great-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler had a brother, Joe Jacobs, and thanks to my great-aunt Ida's handwritten records of "Who's Who to Me," I found out that Joe's wife was Eva (Michalovsky). They married on March 2, 1890 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Faster than you can say "New York minute," I checked the Italian Genealogical Group's vital records index and sent to the NYC authorities for Joe and Eva's marriage certificate.

Now I'm able to confirm that Joe and Tillie's mother was Rachel Jacobs--and Tillie's maiden name was Shuham. Joe and Tillie's father was Jona Jacob, according to the cert, but other documents show the father's given names as "Julius Yainu." Whether the name was actually Jacob or Jacobs depends on which records I look at...Still, progress!

REAL progress because one of the two witnesses listed on Joe and Eva's marriage cert is "M. Mahler." That's Meyer Mahler, Tillie's husband (my great-grandpa). Woo hoo!

Now a surprise. The bride, groom, and one witness signed with X.

Presumably that means Joe, Eva, and Meyer couldn't write in English. Hmm. And who was "H. Kassel," the second witness?

By the way, Joe and Eva had five children: Flora Jacobs (b. 1890), Louis Jacobs (b. 1891), Morris Jacobs (1895), Frank Jacobs (1897), and Hilda Jacobs* (1899). Any Jacobs cousins out there? Please get in touch!

*Cuz Lois remembered that Hilda married a man with the last name of Wilner. That one name helped me trace some of her family! Thank you, cuz :)