Wordless Wednesday: Searching the NYPL Digital Gallery

Hotel McAlpin, where Mom & Dad were married.

Today I'm having fun searching through the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery in search of old photos of places where my relatives and ancestors stayed and played in New York City.

Here are a few blasts from the past from the Schwartz and Burk branches of my family tree.

Steel Pier at Atlantic City, where Mom & Dad honeymooned

Castle Garden, where many of my ancestors entered New York City

Ellis Island, where other ancestors entered New York City

Savoy Plaza Hotel (right), where Dad had his business

 

 

Family Friends Friday: Mary and Rose, Matchmakers

Family legend has it that my father, Harold Burk, was introduced to my mother, Daisy Schwartz, by two of their aunts.

I've known for some time that Mary Mahler Markell (Harold's aunt) was his side's match-making aunt. But who was the aunt on my mother's side?

Now I have the answer. In scanning hundreds (yes, hundreds) of minutes of meetings of the Farkas Family Tree, founded by my grandma Hermina Farkas Schwartz and her 10 siblings, I see that "Mr. & Mrs. Markell" and sometimes "Mr. & Mrs. Joe Markell" are frequent visitors--but only when the family gathers at the home of Rose Farkas Freedman and her husband George.

I looked up the addresses of the Markells and the Freedmans in the 1940 Census. This map shows the five-minute walk between the home of Joe & Mary and the home of George & Rose.

One of Rose's sons has confirmed that Mary was a close friend of Rose. I suspect that Mary and Rose cooked up a plan to introduce my father to my mother. Harold had just gotten out of the army and was an eligible bachelor. Daisy was dreaming of meeting the right man and settling down to have a family. The aunts got them together and in less than 3 months, Mom and Dad were engaged. Thanks to this family friendship, my future was assured!

Wordless Wedding Wednesday: What Are Mom and Dad Reading at Their Wedding?

Well, telegrams, of course! Any friend or relative who couldn't be there would spend a quarter or so to send a telegram congratulating the happy couple. And so after the noontime wedding ceremony, Mom (Daisy Schwartz) and Dad (Harold Burk) took a moment during the reception to read telegrams from loved ones around the country.

This is a Wordless Wednesday because none of those Wedding telegrams survived...

Tuesday's Tip: Discuss Conflicting Info with Relatives

Paula Schwartz

This photo sent shivers up my spine and I had to share why.

Five years ago, I found my maternal grandfather's sister Paula Schwartz listed in the Yad Vashem central database of Holocaust victims, names submitted by relatives or neighbors so that victims would be remembered.

The "testimony" page, below, shows that Paula was the daughter of Herman and Hana (Simonowitz) Schwartz. The person who submitted the testimony in 1996 is Viola Schwartz W____r--Paula's daughter. (See my Schwartz ancestor landing page for more info.)

My newfound cousin from Philly questioned me about Viola W___. Why? Because on cards and photos sent to my grandpa, Paula Schwartz's daughter is named Ibolyka, which is often translated as Violet. I thought we were looking for a survivor named Violet W___, even though the testimony is signed by Viola ___.

My Philly Cuz urged me to rethink the Violet/Viola discrepancy. I went back to the testimony page to see whether any more info had been added since I last looked in 2008. The answer is yes.

Now there's a photo uploaded next to the testimony--the photo I show in this post. You can compare with the two ladies in hats at the center top of my blog's masthead. It's undoubtedly OUR family's Paula Schwartz!

This photo wasn't available online in 2008. And not long afterward, we found this survivor. Sadly, she confirmed that many Schwartz ancestors who remained in Ungvar did not survive the Holocaust. 

Workday Wednesday: The Family Pitches in for the War Effort

During 1943, my family was doing a lot to fight WWII. Not quite single-handedly, of course, but they were in the service AND in defense industries. For example, my Auntie Dorothy Schwartz, shown above, was a WAC and during 1943, her service training took her to Daytona Beach, FL, Ft. Oglethorpe, GA, Camp Polk, LA, and Ft. Devens, MA. She ended the year in Scotland.

Dorothy's first cousins were in the Army Air Corps, in the Army, and stationed around the country and around the world. Family members visited sons, daughters, and siblings whenever they could. The family regularly bought War Bonds (and those who had stores, including my grandparents Teddy Schwartz and Minnie Farkas, also sold War Bonds to customers). One of my great-aunts was also a "Rosie the Riveter," working at an aircraft factory during the war.

To lighten the mood, the family's newsletter of 1943 doings says that the military members of the family "still have time to gain one of these titles: Corporal Punishment, Major Calamity or General Nuisance."

In 1944, according to family tree newsletters, Sgt. Dorothy Schwartz was temporarily assigned to Oxford, England for a week's training at Oxford U. By 1945, Sgt. Schwartz was in Belgium and she wrote about celebrating V-E Day.

Meanwhile, my father Harold Burk (left) and his brother, Sidney Burk (the taller brother), were in Europe with the U.S. Army. Harold was with the Signal Corps, in a support role behind the lines in the European theater.

Harold and Sidney were in Europe on assignment when their father, Isaac Burk, died suddenly of a heart attack in 1943. They weren't able to return for the funeral, which must have made things even sadder for their mother, Henrietta Mahler Burk.

Holocaust Remembrance Day: The Schwartz Family of Ungvar

Sad to say, the Holocaust wiped out most of the family that my grandpa Teddy Schwartz left behind in Ungvar, Hungary (briefly part of Czechoslovakia, then Russia, and now Uzhorod, Ukraine). This post is in remembrance of my family and others who were Holocaust victims.


Teddy lost his mother, Hani Simonowitz Schwartz (at left) in the Holocaust (UPDATE: She died a few years earlier). His father, Herman Schwartz, had died many years earlier.

Also, two sisters, Paula and Etel Schwartz were killed in the Holocaust. At right, Paula and her daughter Violet (who survived and later submitted Paula's name to the list of Holocaust victims). Possibly some nieces or nephews also perished.


In 1977, my mother (Daisy Schwartz Burk) wrote down what she knew about her father Teddy's family, more than a decade after he had died. Here's what she wrote:

"He came from peasant people in Czechoslovakia and never spoke about his home life. He came here at 13*. He was always silent about who staked him and how he got here, except that steerage was the most common method; neither he nor Mom (Hermina Farkas Schwartz) ever elaborated on the ocean voyage but it must've been sufficiently unpleasant for them to never to have unlocked their lips over it.

"Anyway, he lived as a boarder with a Hungarian family on the Lower East Side [of New York City] as many others did, and worked as a runner for the steamship lines and then he tried to be an insurance salesman and finally started a small grocery business--the first couple failed.

"The letters from Europe [from Ungvar] I remember asked for money constantly.  They all thought we lived in the lap of luxury here; and he always sent money home. Just before WWII he stopped hearing and never head again; later he learned his family was wiped out. His brother and sister had come here also**, but the exact timing I don't know."

*Actually, Teddy was 14 (nearly 15) when he arrived on the S.S. Moltke from Hamburg on March 20, 1902. He was shown on the manifest as Tivador Schwartz from Ungvar, along with this note: "Passage paid for by father, 14 years old, student." Below, a photo of the S.S. Moltke showing steerage passengers readying for the landing in New York City.

**Mom didn't realize that Teddy had helped both his older brother Sam and his baby sister Mary come to New York. Nor did she remember that both had kids and grandkids--and those grandkids are my 2d cousins, who I've come to know thanks to genealogy research.

Wishful Wednesday: Meeting the Kossuth Ferenc Society

How I wish I could have seen my Farkas and Schwartz ancestors at a meeting of the Kossuth Ferenc Hungarian Literary Sick and Benevolent Society, founded in New York City in 1904. Above, a photo from the group's fifth anniversary jubilee. My great-uncle Sandor (Alex) Farkas (born in Berehovo, Hungary) was one of the founders, and great-uncle Bertalan (Albert) Farkas was a long-time leader! They are in the picture, along with other relatives (see below). This society reached its peak in 1924, when it had more than 600 members.

The Kossuth family (father Lajos and son Ferenc, for whom the society was named) were leaders of the Hungarian independence movement. According to a Fulbright scholar's research (this link leads to an explanatory pdf), the founders of the society asked permission to use his name (and apparently his likeness, shown above in a chair at the very center of the photo).

The society's goals were to establish a library and reading room; raise money for charitable purposes, especially to help new immigrants; and sponsor sports or other special events. The society also participated in March 15th celebrations every year, remembering the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

Hermina Farkas, 1909

The photographer Gustav Beldegreen, who had a successful studio in New York City's Lower East Side, was obviously a big supporter of the society. He produced the big photo above, along with individual portraits of the members that are included as cameos.

At left, my future grandma Hermina Farkas as she appeared in 1909, in the big photo above. She was born in Berehovo, like her brother Sandor. Two years after this photo was taken, she married grandpa Theodore Schwartz (born in Ungvar, then part of Hungary and now known as Uzhorod, Ukraine).

Also here's a photo of the Kossuth statue that was erected in 1928 New York City (along Riverside Drive) to honor this leader of Hungarian independence.

From the Kossuth Ferenc Society booklet, spelled as in the original and in the order it appeared, I want to include the complete Tagok névsora (list of members): 

Altman, Sándor

Altman, Rosie

Altman, Bertha

Altman, Malvin

Aurbach, Emma

Ábraham, Isidor

Bleich, Ármin

Blau, Sámuel

Blau, Sámuelné

Berman, Dezsö

Burger, Jenö

Burger, Miksa

Burger, Géza

Burger, Lajos

Burger, Rosie

Burger, Harry

Braun, Ferencz 

Braunstein, Jenö

Böhm, Máli

Berkowitz, Márton

Berkowitz, Sadie

Beldegreen, Gusztáv (the photographer/printer)

Braun, Jakab

Brummel, Frida

Berger, Pepi

Berger, Isidor

Breuer, Márton

Cohn, Sarah

Davidowitz, Jenö

Deutsch, Dezsö

Deutsch, Samu

Deutsch, Ferencz

Diamand, Ignátz

Eichler, Hermina

Ehrenfeld, Bella

Farkas, Sándor  (my family!)

Farkas, Bertalan (my family!)

Farkas, Hermina (my family!) 
Friedman, Jenö

Friedman, Adolf

Friedman, Isidor

Friedman, Annie

Feldman, Herman

Fischer, Sarah

Fischer, Rosie I

Fischer, Rosie II

Fischer, Jenö

Fischer, Harry

Fischer, Julia

Funk, Deszö

Fried, Sámuel

Frank, Mihály

Fábián, Jenö

Fábián, Jenöné

Greenberger, Bertha

Greenberger, Max

Green, Malvin

Green, Cili

Green, Herman

Goldstein, Lina

Goldstein, Márton

Greenfeld, Irén

Greenfeld, Bertha

Greenfeld, Sámuel

Gross, Isidor

Gross, Etel

Gross, Ida

Gross, Jenö

Gross, Márton

Grossman, Jenö

Grossman, Etel

Grossman, Annie

Gerendási, Béla

Gerendási, Márton

Gottlieb, Julius

Grünwald, Albert

Goldstein, Giza

Greenstein, Vilmos

Gellért, Ármin

Gellért, Miksa

Gewirtz, Jenö

Greenbaum, Dávid

Gáspár, Anna

Grünwald, Selma

Hohenberg, Bérnat dr.

Hochheiser, Dóra

Hirschfeld, Jenö

Herskowitz, Máli

Hartman, Ármin

Horowitz, Fáni

Hartman, Wm. L. dr.

Jäger, Sadie

Jungreis, Antal

Klein, Jenö I

Klein, Jenö II

Klein, Jenö III

Klein, Jenöné

Klein, Szerén

Klein, Lajos

Klein, Isidor I

Klein, Isidor II

Klein, Máli

Klein, Bernath

Klein, Vilmos

Klein, Ida

Klein, Regina

Klein, Helen

Klein, Róza

Klein, Mór

Katz, Bertha

Kornfeld, Heinrich

Kraus, Hermina

Kraus, Bernath

Kallisch, Teréz

Kellner, Árpád

Katz, Ida

Kestenbaum, Jack

Klausner, Sam

Kraus, Matild

Lehner, Etel

Leffkowitz, Rosie I

Leffkowitz, Rosie II

Leffkowitz, Helén

Lessauer, Sam

Lebowitz, Max

Lax, Harrz

Leggmar, Sarah

Markowitz, Herman

Markowitz, Hermanné

Markowitz, Isidor

Mayer, Adolf

Miesels, Sam

Moor, Max dr.

Neuman, Vilmos

Oppman, Gizella

Rendler, Annie

Rosner, Dávid

Reschowsky, Lajos

Rosenfeld, Fülöp

Roth, Helén

Roth, Margit

Rosenzweig, Boriska

Radóczy, Irma

Rosner, Bertha

Singer, Szerén

Schwartz, Nathan

Schwartz, Nathanné

Schwartz, Isidor

Schwartz, Theodor (my family!)

Schwartz, Malvin

Schwartz, Alex

Saffran, Bertha

Schwartz, Szerén

Schwartz, Bernath I

Schwartz, Bernath II

Strauss, Eszti

Smidt, József

Schwartz, Eszti

Schönwald, Emma

Schönwald, Rosie

Schwartz, Sam (my family!)

Spitzer, Vilmos

Saffir, Rosie

Süsskind, Pinkusz

Spitz, Áron

Stark, Miksa

Schwartz, Marie (actually MARY, my family!)

Schreiber, J.H. dr.

Selymes, Ferencz

Schwartz, Sarah

Stark, Sándor

Salamon, Rosie

Schwartz, Bertha

Schwartz, Sadie

Schwartz, Hannah

Staub, Matild

Spiro, Annie

Steuer, Paulin

Steuer, Jolán

Tresenfeld, Rosie

Tresenfeld, Ármin

Wolf, Adolf

Weitzner, Janka

Weitzner, József

Wolitzer, Sándor

Weiss, Dávid

Weiss, Harry

Weiss, Sámuel dr.

Weiss, Max

Weiss, Helén

Weiss, Feri

Weiss, Bernath

Weiss, Piroska

Weiss, Sam

Weiss, Margit

Weiss, Ida

Williger, Helén

Weltman, Ernö

Wellner, Henry

Weinreb, Márton

Zimmerman, Harry

Matrilineal Monday: Daisy's Violets on Velvet

My mother, Daisy Schwartz Burk, enjoyed crochet, crewel, needlepoint, and embroidery.

Here's a crewel piece Mom did on black velvet fabric. This has been in the family for about 60 years, and the colors remain beautifully vibrant. Now it's Sis's turn to enjoy it in her house. She's going to have it reframed and include a note about who made it and when.

Hermina Farkas Schwartz, my grandma and Daisy's mother, was a talented seamstress who helped to support her parents and siblings by working in a tie factory when the family came to New York City from their native Hungary. Grandma (known as "Minnie" to her sibs) sewed most of her niece's and nephew's clothing as well. We grandkids still remember playing with her treadle sewing machine when we were tiny tots, opening the little cubbyholes in the cabinet and taking out the extra belts and accessories. I still have some of Grandma's hand-embroidered linens, which I treasure.

Grandma's and Mom's love of the needle has been passed down through the family, and the next generation also enjoys embroidering and crocheting the heirlooms of tomorrow.

Sibling Saturday: Schwartz Sis & Child in Ungvar

This lovely lady is possibly Etel or Paula Schwartz, both of whom were younger sisters of my grandpa Tivador/Theodore/Teddy Schwartz.

When Teddy, his older brother Sam, and their baby sister Mary Schwartz all left for America, sisters Etel and Paula stayed behind in Ungvar, Hungary.

Later called Uzhorod, this small city formed part of Czechoslovakia after WWI. And before Uzhorod became part of Russia, the photo on the left was taken and sent to my grandpa Teddy in New York City.

The reverse side of this lady in profile has the wording shown below left. The date appears to be March 24, 1929--84 years ago tomorrow.

The circular stamp is the name of the photo studio in Uzhorod, Ungvar.

Szeretettel translates from the Hungarian as "with love" or "affectionately." "Blankatol" doesn't match either Paula or Etel, but the lady looks a lot like one of the Schwartz sisters.

At right is the inscription of a baby photo from Ungvar. Again signed, "affectionately," but with a different name, "Yenaketol" perhaps, followed by Uzhorod and the same date as the lady in profile (March 24, 1929).

Also there's a sentence that refers to "Yenake" which I suspect is a nickname for the child who is shown in classic baby pose, below.

(Please, if anyone can read that final sentence in Hungarian, would you let me know?)

So the three Schwartz siblings, who lived in or near New York City after leaving Hungary, probably never saw this sister again and never met this niece or nephew.

Now, 84 years later, the photos are part of our family's genealogy research, memories of the family's Hungarian hometown of Ungvar. (By the way, when asked where he came from, grandpa Teddy would tell me, "Czechoslovakia.")

Thankful Thursday: Philly Cousin Found Me!

Welcome, cousin! A 2d cousin from my Schwartz side connected with me this week, thanks to my Ancestry tree and this blog.

Grand-aunt Mary and Grand-uncle Edward

She's the granddaughter of Mary Schwartz, the youngest of the Schwartz siblings who left their home town of Ungvar, Hungary to journey to New York City.

Thank you to my Philly cuz for the photo (left) of Mary and her husband Edward, a lovely photo I'd never seen!

Mary was my grandpa Teddy's baby sister. Teddy (original name: Tivador) came to New York in 1902, followed by his older brother Sam (original name: Simon) in 1904. The two brothers pooled their money to bring Mary to America in 1906.

Etel and Paula Schwartz

Alas, the two remaining Schwartz siblings (shown right, Etel and Paula) never joined the rest of the family in New York, nor did Hana Simonowitz Schwartz, the matriarch. None survived WWII, sorry to say.

On the bright side, my Philly cuz and I are having fun getting caught up on decades of family news and doing a little more research together on our ancestors. Philly, here we come!

Workday Wednesday: What the Men Were Doing

Home built by James Edgar Wood

 

 

 

My husband's male ancestors (Wood, McClure, Steiner) were often carpenters or did other skilled work with their hands.

• Thomas Haskell Wood and seven of his sons (William H., Alfred O., Francis E., Charles A., Marion E., James E., and Robert O.) were carpenters, machinists, or painters in the early 20th century. Hubby's father (Edgar J. Wood, an insurance adjuster) tells of his father James building a home and moving the family into it while finishing the interior and starting to build a new house...then moving the family into the next new house after selling the previous house...and on and on.
• Thomas H. Wood's father Elihu Wood (late 1800s) was the captain of a merchant ship, and his father William was a glazier. Further back in the Wood line were more captains.
• Edward George Steiner was a carpenter. I'm still tracing his brothers.
• Brice Larimer McClure (early 20th century) and his father, William Madison McClure, were both machinists. Further back in the McClure line were several generations of farmers.

Other male ancestors had other occupations: Brice S. Larimer was a railroad station agent but his parents/grandparents were farmers. Joseph W. Rinehart was a farmer. In the Slatter family were cooks, laborers, and wallpaper cleaners (and, later, bandmasters in Canada). Shehen ancestors (1800s-1900s) were laborers and bricklayers in Ireland and England.

The male ancestors in my family (Burk, Mahler, Farkas, Schwartz) came from Eastern Europe and chose occupations with "low barriers to entry" in the United States--meaning you needed a skill and maybe a few tools.

• Isaac Burk was a cabinetmaker, highly skilled it seems because he worked continuously in Canada and the United States from the early 1900s onward.
• Meyer E. Mahler was a tailor in the late 1800s/early 1900s. My cousin Lois has his cutting shears!
• Moritz Farkas was a farmer in his native Hungary but in New York City he became a sometime peddler and a sometime presser, ironing clothing in the Lower East Side's factories at the turn of the century and later.
• Teddy Schwartz was an interpreter at Ellis Island after he arrived from Hungary, and then worked as a runner for the steamship lines. He briefly sold insurance before opening a grocery store in the Bronx.

Those Places Thursday: The Bronx

The Bronx was where my grandparents brought up their children and where my parents (Harold Burk and Daisy Schwartz) settled with my sisters and me.

Teddy's Dairy (owned by Grandpa Theodore Schwartz and Grandma Hermina Farkas) was in several locations around Fox Street and Beck Street in Bronx, NY.




Above, Teddy behind the counter. At right, Teddy and his assistant John in front of Teddy's Dairy, 1934. John eventually bought the business from Teddy.

The Bronx has a legendary mystique worldwide, it seems . . . in Japan, as well.

When hubby, Sis, friend Laurie, and I were in Kyoto in 2007, we passed a bar entrance named for our hometown.

Left, a photo of us waiting for The Bronx to open :)

We also went to a baseball game where Marc Jason Kroon, a star relief pitcher from the Bronx who made it big in Japan, saved the game for the Yokohama Bay Stars.

Right, I'm helping Marc get his pitch ready. He was driven to the mound in a brand-new tricked-out Toyota and treated to cheers from the Yokohama fans before striking out the Yakult Swallows to earn yet another win.

Matrilineal Monday: 1920s School Days in the Bronx

Late in 1984, my aunt Dorothy Schwartz wrote my sis a letter enclosing a newspaper article about her alma mater P.S. 62 at 660 Fox Street, which at the time was "an island of stability in a crumbling neighborhood" of the Bronx, according to the New York Times. P.S. 62 served students in K-4 in 1984 and K-5 today (left), but then it had one of the highest student turnover rates in the city.

My aunt's comments:

P.S. 62 was the elementary school we attended, only then it ran to the 6th grade. I never knew the area was in the South Bronx; I did know it had been renamed Fort Apache. To me, the South Bronx was below 149th St.!

Auntie Dorothy, her twin Daisy (my mom), and their older brother Fred were born in the apartment building across the street from P.S. 62, at 651 Fox Street. Their parents, Minnie Farkas Schwartz and Teddy Schwartz, moved every few years during the 1920s, but always stayed in the neighborhood.

My aunt remembers that after 651 Fox, they lived on Leggett Ave., a few steps away from Teddy's Dairy (my Grandpa's grocery store), which today is a hop, skip, and jump from Bruckner Blvd. Later, the family moved to 712 Fox Street. Finally, they settled at 672 Beck Street, around the corner from Teddy's Dairy store, where they stayed for many years until everyone was grown and my grandparents retired.

Now for some class photos of Daisy and Dorothy at P.S. 62 during the 1920s. Sorry, no notes about which twin is which. Note that the kindergarten class, in a photo taken around Halloween, has more than 30 students. Looking at the other photos, the classes are even larger!

Kindergarten: Daisy and Dorothy are in identical outfits and haircuts with bangs, center of 2d row, with a jack o'lantern between them

Second grade: Daisy and Dorothy at left of center, in matching outfits and haircuts again. Poster at far right is for American Junior Red Cross.

The twins were apparently separated during fourth grade. This is class 413--the twin is in closeup, below.

Dorothy or Daisy in class 413

Class 407, with the other Schwartz twin (along left wall, see closeup below).

Daisy or Dorothy in class 407

Genealogy by the States: My Connecticut Connection

Connecticut is the topic of week #5 of Genealogy by the States, by Jim Sanders of Hidden Genealogy Nuggets. And here's where I get to talk about teaming up with honorary* cousin Art to track down Gelbman ancestors in Bridgeport. Before I connected with Art via Ancestry message boards, I hadn't even suspected that my family had any Connecticut connection.

Main Street in Bridgeport, circa 1909

Art is descended from a relative of Anna Gelbman (1886-1940), who married my great-uncle Samuel Schwartz (1883-1954). Thanks to Art's information about the Gelbmans living in Bridgeport, Connecticut, I got a copy of Anna and Sam's marriage license 100 years to the month after they were wed at Bridgeport's "Cherry Street Synagogue" (actually Ahavath Achim) in October, 1909, a week after Sam became a citizen. Later, I learned that Sam was named Simon when he came to America in January 1904--why he changed it upon arrival, I don't know.

With Sam and Anna's license in my hands, I visited the Bridgeport Public Library to check city directories that weren't available online. Now I was able to track Sam through the years he lived in Bridgeport:

• In 1906, Sam Schwartz was a vegetable peddler living at 279 Lewis.
• In 1907-8, Sam was a vegetable peddler living at 179 Lewis (typos might account for different addresses in '06 and '07?).
• In 1908-9, Sam Schwartz was a printer rooming at 316 South Avenue.
• In 1910, the Census showed him as naturalized, born in Hungary-Magyar, occupation of printer. The city directory showed the couple living at 95 Clinton Ave.

Anna's Gelbman family lived at 71 Wordin Avenue for many years, not far from the newly-wed Schwartz couple and a short walk from the field in central Bridgeport where P.T. Barnum wintered his circus, animals and all (see photo above). Today, the area around the former Gelbman house is a highway.

Sometime between 1910 and 1915, Sam and Anna moved to New York City. Ultimately he became the self-employed proprietor of a grocery store--the same work that Sam's younger brother Teddy (my grandpa) went into. Coincidence? I think not! Given Sam's early background as a vegetable peddler, he may have influenced his older brother's business decision, not the other way around.

One reason to blog on these state topics is to bring fresh eyes to my research. In this case, I realized I don't have Sam's movements in 1905, when he could have been in the New York State census. Nor do I have Sam's brother Theodore's 1905/1910 census records. So far, no luck on these, but I'll be searching!


*Honorary because we're not directly related but have helped each other climb our family trees over the years!

Wordless Wednesday: Photos from Hungary, 1924

My maternal grandfather Theodore (originally Tivador) Schwartz came from Uzhorod (Ungvar), Hungary.

Among the photos passed down to me is the photo of a couple dressed up and posed at the photographer's studio (at left). It has a date of 1924 on the back.

Who are they?? I now know, in 2022, that this couple are from my Schwartz family and most likely did NOT survive the Holocaust. 

Etel and Paula Schwartz, two sisters of my grandpa, are shown at right in about 1910-1915, photographed in a different studio in Ungvar and clearly much younger.

For comparison, Paula Schwartz is shown at left, with her daughter Ibolyka (Violet), in 1930.

This is my Wordless Wednesday mystery...

Wedding Wednesday: Hi Mom!

Hermina Schwartz with twin daughters Dorothy (center) and Daisy (right, the bride, my Mom!)

Mom's birthday would have been this week, and her wedding anniversary was at the end of November. Today I'm saying "Hi Mom" with this quick photo post of her late-1940s wedding. Above, Daisy Burk gets ready for the ceremony with the help of her twin sister Dorothy Schwartz and their mother, Hermina Farkas Schwartz.

Here's Mom with her father, Theodore Schwartz, in the ballroom of the Hotel McAlpin in New York City, then a fashionable place to hold a wedding.

My father's Mahler family gathered for a group portrait after the ceremony. Just to the right of Mom is Dad, Harold Burk, and his mother, Henrietta Mahler Burk (in the hat). Dad's younger brother is at far right of the second row, and his two sisters are the ladies in the center/right of the top row, at either side of the gentleman with the mustache.

Hi Mom!

Thanksgivings Past...lots to be thankful for

Way back in 1956, the Farkas Family Tree met for a combination masquerade party and Thanksgiving dinner at the Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan. My maternal grandparents, Hermina Farkas Schwartz and Theodore Schwartz, were there, along with their three children (Daisy Schwartz Burk--that's my Mom--plus her twin Dorothy and their older brother Fred). And of course the rest of the Farkas siblings, in-laws, and grandchildren. Lots of fun!

Nearly 20 years later, Sis and her husband hosted Thanksgiving with Mom at their apartment in Riverdale (the ritzy section of the Bronx). 

Happy Thanksgiving to my extended family, especially my cousins found through genealogy and the cousins I have yet to meet from distant parts of the family trees I'm researching!

Sentimental Sunday: Dusty box? Genealogy gold!

In Sis's basement to look for Christmas stuff, we noticed a nondescript, dusty box sitting on the shelf. Curious, we lifted the lid. Family history gold!

Inside were Sis's elementary school report cards, diplomas from grade school/junior high/high school, her P.S. 103 autograph book (like mine but with her graduation corsage pressed inside!), complete programs from our graduations, and many other childhood artifacts. Also some ephemera like a ticket to her high school graduation, held at the then-elegant Paradise Theater in the Bronx, and a stack of college newspapers featuring the sorority she started at Lehman College (more in a later post).

The box held other treasures, including a certificate issued by Lebanon Hospital (now Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center), where Sis and I were born just before 6 pm, on a cold Wednesday afternoon in February [no dates, please].

The map at right shows that Lebanon Hospital is located on the Grand Concourse, once a ritzy area of the Bronx and a 30-minute cab ride away from where Daisy Schwartz Burk and her husband Harold Burk were living in the Northeast Bronx.

For years, Sis and I would gather around Mom as she worked in the kitchen and ask her to tell "The Hospital Story." She told it something like this: "We had no idea that twins were on the way. After Dad took me to the hospital, he sat in the waiting room, holding a roll of dimes for phone calls to tell the family whether the baby was a boy or a girl. After the first baby [that's me!] was born, the staff was about to give Dad the news when the doctor began delivering the surprise second baby [Sis!], just two minutes later. As soon as Dad found out, he pumped dime after dime into the pay phone calling relatives to tell them about the twins! You girls had to stay in heated cribs at the hospital for a few days until you weighed 5 lbs each; only then you were allowed to go home with us."