Discovering the Short Life of Augusta Sarah Markell

Julius Markell (1882-1966) was one of four Markell brothers, in-laws to my father's Mahler family. Depending on the source, Julius was born in Russia on September 1st of 1882 or in 1883. 

First family

Julius worked as a plasterer when in his 20s, which somehow brought him to the West Coast of the United States, where he married Ella Lebowitz (1884-1965). 

Ella and Julius had a daughter together in 1908, and the family soon moved to Boston and then to Pittsburgh, where Ella filed for divorce in 1915. The legal proceedings dragged on for years. Meanwhile Julius took off to Brooklyn, New York to work in doll manufacturing. His naturalization, dated April 1920 in Brooklyn, indicated his wife Ella and daughter Ruth were living in Pittsburgh.

Second family

By 1921, Julius was apparently divorced and he had moved on to yet another occupation (theater manager) in a new location (Pittsfield, Massachusetts). On May 31, 1921, the City Clerk of Pittsfield performed the wedding ceremony for Julius and his second wife, Tillie Sacks. By 1923, the couple had moved back to Brooklyn, where Julius was again working as a plasterer.

New news: Revisiting my research last week, I did an online search for both the husband and wife's names together. The fifth result from that search was a Find a Grave memorial that was created on May 29, 2025, so only newly visible. I used the info on that memorial to search FamilySearch for the baby girl's original birth and death records, which popped up immediately.

Sad to say, I learned that little Augusta Sarah Markell was born on March 28, 1922 in Pittsfield (as shown on the birth cert at top) and died just one month and seven days later, on May 5, 1922, due to accidental burns of her toes. Heartbreaking. I can't even imagine how the parents felt.

Happily, the couple's second child, William, was born in March of 1923 in Brooklyn, NY--just about a year from the day their first child was born in Pittsfield. I don't know whether anyone ever spoke of Augusta in later years, but she is now on my family trees to be remembered for the future. 

Mystery Monday: More Pieces of the Markell Puzzle

My Markell quest began more than 3 years ago, when I was researching the family of great-uncle Joseph Markell (1894-1975). He married Mary Mahler (1896-1979), my father's aunt and one of the two matchmaker aunts responsible for introducing my father to my mother. No wonder I'm so interested in the Markell family!

Two Markell men married two Lebowitz sisters. One of those Markell men was Joseph Markell's father, Barna Barnhart "Barney" Markell. But was the other, Julius Markell, a sibling or a cousin? My research strongly suggests that Julius and Barna were the sons of Alchanan Abraham Hyman Markell, of Vilna, Lithuania (usually called "Russia" on documents of the period).

Julius came to America before 1907, when I found him in the city directory of San Francisco, working as a plasterer. In 1908, he married Ella Lebowitz (1884-1965) in Washington state, and they had a daughter, Ruth, before the couple moved back east. Some time around 1920, they separated and divorced (I'm still searching for that record).

Julius then married Tillie and they had one child, William Markell (1923-2009). Until now, I couldn't locate a marriage record for Tillie and Julius, or proof that William was their son.

Today, after a lengthy wait for William's original Social Security application document (I had to appeal the original "redacted version" due to the 120 year rule), I received the document (at left) showing his parents' names as Julius Markell and Tillie Sachs [sic]!

With that maiden name in mind, I returned to the hunt for Julius and Tillie's marriage record--and found it in an index of Massachusetts marriages, as shown above. To double-check, I searched the index for "Tillie Sachs" and found Tillie Sacks in the same volume and the same page. Now I've proven that Julius and Tillie are William's parents, and another piece of the Markell puzzle is in place.

Julius and his brother Barney aren't direct ancestors of mine. Barney is actually the father-in-law of my great-aunt Mary Mahler. But I love solving genealogy mysteries, I have Markell cousins, and the Markell family has an interesting background (early owners of a theater in Massachusetts, for example--see directory excerpt from Adams, MA, at right).

Knowing about the theater, I can imagine that's one reason why Julius and Tillie were married in Pittsfield (in the same county as the theater).  How this couple got to Brooklyn, where their son William was born and raised, I don't know--yet.

UPDATE: I called Pittsfield's City Clerk and learned that Julius and Tillie were married on May 31, 1921. I'm arranging to get their marriage license info and will write up what I learn!