On the Trail of My Most Wanted Paternal Ancestors: Necke and Hinda

My paternal Chazan cousins in Manchester, England are DNA matches with me, and we also have evidence of close family relationships via photos and letters exchanged by our ancestors in the 1930s/40s/50s. 

But we don't know how, exactly, their matriarch Hinda Mitav Chazan (1864-1940)  is related to my paternal matriarch Necke Gelle (Mitav?) Shuham Burk (no dates). These names are at the top of the "most wanted" list of ancestors we have in common.

Our hypothesis is: Hinda (pictured at left) and Necke were sisters or possibly half-sisters.

Hinda's gravestone shows her as the daughter of Tzvi Hersh, a name that was passed down multiple times in the Chazan and Burk branches of the tree. Tentatively I've added that as Necke Gelle's father's name on my tree, but it's nowhere near proven. 

Last week, a Chazan cousin and I received an answer from a query we both sent to someone via JewishGen.org a few months ago. We were given access to a private tree and have been comparing those names to what we know--with the result that we have more descendants to research! Possibly one of these previously unknown descendants might have a clue to our earlier ancestors. And of course we are sharing what we know with this new cousin connection.

I'm grateful that this cousin in England is deeply interested, forever curious, and quite relentless about pursuing our mutual "most wanted" ancestors.

"Most" is this week's #52Ancestors genealogy prompt from Amy Johnson Crow.