I'm a big fan of scrutinizing address books handed down from ancestors in the tree. Especially since my maternal family tree has three men named Joseph Roth, it's been a challenge to determine who's descended from which Joseph and what the relationships are between the Roth branches. My connection is through a sibling of my great-grandmother who married a brother of Joseph Roth.
Above, a snippet from the neatly printed loose-leaf address book of Joseph Roth (1858-1945), who was married to Julia Gutfried (1862-1937, name Americanized by others in the family as Goodfried). The book was handed down to a granddaughter who very kindly allowed me to scan and analyze the contents.
Matching names to the tree
I've worked my way through nearly all of this address book, matching the names and addresses to this Joseph Roth's children and grandchildren. This entry for Howard Weinberg initially puzzled me, especially the notation "private."
But I was also missing a spouse for Joseph Roth's granddaughter Vivian Ruth Rethy (1917-1991). Could Howard be Vivian's husband? Bear in mind, the address book didn't get handed down in Vivian's line, it was from one of the other Joseph Roth men in the tree 😉.
At the back of the address book was a list of names and dates. They were birth dates of Joseph's children, their spouses/children, and some in-laws. I matched "Vivian Weinberg" with her birthdate, and below her name was "Howerd __" meaning same surname as Vivian.
Creatively spelled given name, but now I had a good hypothesis. I researched Howard Weinberg with the birth date in the phone book, and in conjunction with Vivian's name. I quickly found their marriage record and Census documents with street address, etc.
Occupation and address matches
Also I found Howard's WWII draft registration from 1940, showing his occupation as an optician. Continuing my search, I came up with a New York City phone book entry for an optometrist/optician in Manhattan, with both business and residence address/phone numbers.
These street addresses and phone numbers are an exact match for the address book kept by Joseph Roth, grandfather of Howard's wife. A bit more research and I had an obit for Howard Leonard Weinberg (1916-1985) who had retired from the Big Apple to Palm Beach, Florida. I'll do descendancy research to try to trace Howard and Vivian's two children. With luck, more cousin connections are in my future.
Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy prompt for this week in her #52Ancestors series is "Handed Down."
