Honoring Immigrant Great-Grandpa Moritz for Father's Day

For Father's Day, I'm remembering the patriarch of the Farkas family tree in America. 

My great-grandpa Moritz Farkas (1857-1936) left Hungary in August of 1899, disembarking and remaining in New York City. The catalyst for this journey was a devastating hail storm that wiped out his crops and left him deeply in debt. 

After Moritz established himself in the Big Apple, his wife Leni Kunstler Farkas (1865-1938) joined him in 1900. Their first eight children followed them through Ellis Island within the next two years. (My grandma Hermina was their second oldest child.) Moritz and Leni expanded their family with three more children in New York City.  

To honor these immigrant ancestors, one of my great uncles paid for "The Moritz Farkas Family" to be inscribed on the Ellis Island Wall of Honor, panel 132 (image at top). 

At right is the photo of Moritz now on his memorial page on Find a Grave. I digitally put his name on the photo and included the attribution "Courtesy Farkas family."

Of course Moritz and Leni will make an appearance in my next family history photo book, about my maternal grandparents, Hermina Farkas and Theodore Schwartz. 

Happy Father's Day, great-grandpa Moritz. I was born long after you passed away, so sadly, I couldn't get to know you . . . but I know that without your decision to sail to New York City in 1899, I wouldn't be here today. You are remembered with great affection.

Honoring Grandpa Isaac, My Genealogy Inspiration

For Father's Day 2021, it is my pleasure to pay tribute to immigrant Grandpa Isaac Burk (1882-1943), who lived and died before my time.

How I wish I could tell him that he's the reason I became addicted to genealogy in the first place.

Isaac Burk, my inspiration

In 1998, the genealogist of my mother's side of the family asked me about my father and his parents, Isaac and Henrietta. She taught me, by example, how important it is to include in-laws on the family tree.

Sadly, I knew almost nothing about Isaac, nor had I even seen a photo of him. I knew precious little about his wife, Grandma Henrietta Mahler Burk (1881-1954), although I did recognize her in a couple of old family photos. 

Isaac's story proved elusive. It took five years of spare-time research to discover where, when, and why he died. The seemingly endless search became my inspiration for filling out branches on my family tree and that of my husband.

Hint, hint

After years of library research and by-mail requests for fruitless searches of New York City and state death records, I actually picked up the phone to call a Big Apple office. I knew where Isaac was buried by then, but not where he died and what caused his death. I threw myself on the mercy of the kindly clerk who answered the phone.

The clerk, in low tones, offered a completely unofficial, totally off-the-record hint to look beyond New York. The hush-hush suggestion was to, um, maybe consider, possibly, say, a place sorta like Washington, D. C. What?!

As a result of this hint, I was able to obtain Isaac's death cert. It turned out Isaac had died in Washington and his body was transported to New York for the funeral, generating paperwork that the clerk could view (but I couldn't see). Another lesson learned: sometimes it's a good idea to call and politely ask for help.

The hunt for Grandpa Isaac's history opened the door to decades of genealogy fun, finding many more ancestors and connecting with wonderful cousins along the way.

Thank you, Grandpa Isaac, for inspiring me. You are remembered with affection on Father's Day, 2021. My Sis and I have also paid to add you and Grandma Henrietta to the Ellis Island Immigrant Wall of Honor, as shown above, to keep your names alive for many generations to come.

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Father's Day is the week 24 prompt for Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenge.

Honoring Ancestors on Ellis Island

My great-grandparents, Moritz Farkas and Leni Kunstler Farkas, came to America from Hungary at the turn of the 20th century. Both entered through Ellis Island. 

All four of my grandparents were immigrants. Three came through Ellis Island and one sailed from England to Canada and then crossed into the United States. All made the difficult decision to leave everything they knew and forge a new life in a land they'd never seen.

A Memorable Visit to See Ancestral Name

Nearly 25 years ago, Sis and I joined several cousins on a visit to Ellis Island. We knew that one of our cousins had donated to have "The Moritz Farkas Family" inscribed on an early part of the Wall of Honor erected at Ellis Island, as a monument to immigrants.

It was emotional to see the family name on the wall and think about these ancestors' hopes, dreams, and realities. It felt wonderful knowing these ancestors were memorialized in a place so important to the arc of their lives (and ours). And that we could visit this memorial, which will stand for many years!

Ellis Island Wall of Honor

Late in 2019, Sis and I decided to honor our four immigrant grandparents by donating to have their names inscribed on the Wall of Honor. We memorialized the married couple of Theodore and Hermina Farkas Schwartz (as shown above) and the married couple of Isaac and Henrietta Mahler Burk. 

Their names were added to the wall last year! Although we haven't yet had an opportunity to visit Ellis Island, a website search of the Wall of Honor shows who they are, where they came from, and who made the donation.

We are delighted to have this tangible, enduring memorial to the courage and determination of our immigrant ancestors, the journey-takers who made our lives possible. 

Revisiting the Farkas Cousins' Visit to Ellis Island, 1996

My sister, my hubby, and I joined several cousins for a visit to Ellis Island in October 1996. It was a day to remember!

(You can see the Twin Towers behind us here and at far left in the photo below.)

Moritz Farkas, my great-grandpa, arrived at Ellis Island in May 1899. His wife Leni Kunstler Farkas arrived at Ellis Island in November 1900. An earlier generation put their names on the Wall of Honor.

Moritz and Leni's children, born in Hungary where the family originated, arrived in two waves: The first (including my grandma Hermina Farkas) landed at Ellis Island in November 1901; the second landed in April 1903.

After touring the main building of Ellis Island, we cousins walked the grounds and found the names of our Farkas ancestors on the immigrants' wall.

Thanks to Cousin Betty, who spent 25+ years researching the Farkas family, we know a lot about this branch of the family tree.

2022 update: My twin and I have paid to put the names of four immigrant grandparents on the Ellis Island Wall of Honor: Theodore Schwartz and his wife, Hermina Farkas Schwartz, plus Isaac Burk and his wife, Henrietta Mahler Burk.