How Did Sam Schwartz Meet His Second Wife?

 
On January 12, 1945, my great uncle Samuel Schwartz (1883-1954) married his second wife, Margaret Lazar Simon (1894-1976). Both had been born in Hungary, and both were widowed in 1940, just weeks apart. Sam was the older brother of my maternal grandpa, Theodore Schwartz.

I wondered how Sam and Margaret met each other. My Schwartz family didn't know much about her except they told me when Sam died suddenly, Margaret didn't hand any Schwartz heirlooms or photos over to his family. Nothing at all, according to Sam's two grandchildren, who were very disappointed.

By looking at the address where each was enumerated in the 1940 US Census, I can clearly see that Margaret and Sam were neighbors in Queens, New York. They lived in apartment buildings literally right around the corner from each other. Map above shows a two minute walk from one building to the other.

Margaret's apartment building was a six-story brick structure seen in the New York City tax photos here. Sam's apartment building can be seen in same database here.

So I imagine that Sam met Margaret in the neighborhood, or perhaps in a local store, etc. Later they moved to what was called a "private house" in New York-ese: not an apartment but a one- or two-family home. 

Thinking of Sam and Margaret on this anniversary of their marriage in 1945. 

Newly Indexed Records Reveal Surname of Sam's Second Wife

MyHeritage just announced a major, newly indexed collection of New York City vital records from 1866 on. Read about it here! In fact, if you're researching a NYC marriage from 1908 on, you may be lucky enough to discover not just the marriage certificate but also the affidavit for license to marry--which includes extra info such as bride/groom occupation. First-hand info from our ancestors, often in their own handwriting!

My Farkas, Schwartz and Mahler families all came to the Big Apple from Eastern Europe, so I headed over to search the NYC marriage database to try to break through a brick wall in my Schwartz tree. 

I never could find the maiden name of my great uncle Samuel Schwartz's second wife. I entered Sam's first and last name, indicated to "match name exactly" because this was how he spelled his name, entered his year of birth, place of birth, and the marriage place as Queens, NY. Then I clicked to search. If no decent results had been returned, I would have unclicked "match name" and tried variations. But no need in this case.

Above, the very first result in MyHeritage's listing. Amazingly, this is MY great uncle Sam, born on the 4th of July in 1883 in Hungary. And now I know a lot more about his second wife Margaret, because the bride and groom filled out pages of paperwork for their January, 1945 marriage. Let me show you their affidavit for license to marry:

Margaret's maiden name was Lazar, and her first husband was David Simon, who died in 1940. This document shows Margaret's current address, birth place, parents' names, all in her own writing. Same for my great uncle Sam, but nothing new since I already had his details and his signature from other documents--except the license date and wedding date!

Now, thanks to MyHeritage, I'm able to flesh out Margaret's branch of the family tree to document her full name and family relationships for future generations. 

Bottom line: New documents become available online all the time...different genealogy websites index differently...never give up!