My Great-Great-Great Grandmother's Grave

I have only one great-great-great grandparent who ever came to America, Mira Alpern Lefand Marienhoff.  Her death certificate from Pittsburgh says that she died in Pittsburgh in April 1913, less than seven years after coming to America.  The certificate notes that she was buried in "White Hall."  What was then known as Whitehall Cemetery is now divided into Beth Abraham, Shaare Zedeck and Shaare Torah cemeteries in the Carrick section of Pittsburgh.

Mira had children buried in Beth Abraham and Shaare Zedeck.  When I was in Pittsburgh a few years ago, I spent hours going through these very large cemeteries trying to find Mira's grave, but I never found it.  Pittsburgh's Jewish cemeteries seem relatively well-indexed on JOWBR, but she was not listed there.  I assumed that perhaps as new immigrants, her family was unable to afford any sort of gravestone for her.

Just in case, I put up a request on FindAGrave, in hopes that someone would enable a miracle.  And that miracle has occurred.

Grave of Mira Alpern Lefand Marienhoff!

Colwell Coincidence

My sister grew up in Baltimore; her father grew up in Baltimore and her mother grew up in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.

My brother-in-law grew up in Monsey, New York; his father grew up in Monsey and his mother grew up in Columbus, Ohio.

There's no reason to think their families would have had any previous connection.

My sister and brother-in-law now live in Baltimore with their 4 children.  I've done some research on my brother-in-law's side of the tree for those 4 children.  And it turns out that these two families may have known one another a century ago.

"Yallen" Family; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; 1910 Federal Census

Where Did Yankel Marienhoff Go?

I've been tracing the children of my great-great-great grandmother Mira Halpern Lefand Marienhoff for years.  I had the birth records for a set of twins born to Mira and her second husband, Yitzchok Marienhoff; Yaakov/Yankel and Chava Marienhoff were born in Nezhin on July 1, 1887.

Birth of Yaakov and Chava Marienhoff

Finding Liba/Elizabeth/Lizzy--Found!

Yesterday, I wrote about how I'd finally found a post-1910 mention of my great-great grandmother's half sister.  This sister emigrated to America as Liba, was enumerated in the 1910 census as Elizabeth and then was married and was enumerated in 1920 as Lizzy.  In 1920, she was married to Frank Trachtenberg, and they had two children: Margery and Edward.  And then I couldn't find them again.

I'd searched for the family using wildcards in the surname to try to find them if Trachtenberg had been horribly mis-transcribed.  I tried just searching for them as a family group without a surname as well--but I found no family with a Frank, Elizabeth/Lizzy, Margery/Marjorie and Edward/Eddie/Ted.

I'd asked for readers to help.  And Kira Dolcimascolo came through.  She pointed out that Frank and Elizabeth's grandson had posted on an Ancestry message board back in 2008.

https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.trachtenberg/6.1/mb.ashx

Finding Liba/Elizabeth/Lizzy (A Bit More Than Before)

My great-great-great grandmother Mira Halperin Lefand Marienhoff was married twice and had at least eleven children (in addition to a number of stepchildren).  Five years ago, I did a series of posts about most of those children and what I knew about them at that point.  I'd managed to trace descendants of all of Mira's children who came to America--with the exception of one.  I simply could not find any trace of Liba Marienhoff (who became Elizabeth in America) after the 1910 census, when she was living in Pittsburgh.  You can click here to see what I knew at that point (and until about a week ago).

But now I've found her--and how I did this highlights how spelling of names, especially among immigrants, was simply not important to them.  So try as many possibilities as possible to try to find your family.  Sometimes it's the key to solving a long-time mystery. 

The "Levants" and Tolchinskys in the 1910 Census, Pittsburgh, PA

When You Don't Match A Cousin

I've written many times about how I always share way more DNA with known relatives than would be expected for given relationships, which isn't a surprise since endogamy is at play.  So when I asked my newly-discovered cousin Anne (who found me via my blog) to take a DNA test, I expected that we should share quite a bit of DNA.  After all, my grandfather was her half second cousin.

Well, Anne's results came in.  We do not appear on one another's match lists on FamilyTreeDNA.  I did a one-to-one comparison on GedMatch, which did show a small shared segment:

My DNA Comparison with Anne

Harry's Granddaughter, A Blog Success

Back in October 2014 I wrote about my great-great grandmother's half brother Hirsch/Harry Marienhoff.  I had traced his descendants and believed there was only one still living, and although I had her name from her mother's obituary, I couldn't reach her.  That post ended with the words "I've tried contacting the person I think may be Catherine Anne, but I haven't received a response.  Maybe she'll eventually google herself and contact me?"  People talk about blogs being good "relative bait."  Well, it happened.

Birth Record of Hirsch (later Harry) Marienhoff, 1893

Finding Mira--Creative Search Techniques

My great-great-great grandmother was Mira Halperin Lefand Marienhoff.  Although she came to America after the death of both husbands, I've found her using her maiden name as well as both of her married names--with varying spellings--in the seven years she lived in America before her death.  She did consistently use the first name "Mary" in America.

Mira lived in Pittsburgh for her entire time in America--her ship manifest had her joining her son Louis Leiffand there, she was enumerated in Pittsburgh in the 1910 census, and her 1913 death certificate was issued in Pittsburgh.  So it would make sense that she would be listed in Pittsburgh's 1912 city directory--right?

Mira in the 1910 census on Colwell Street--using a form of her first husband's surname

The Moving Marienhoffs, Take 2

Earlier, I showed the extreme distances that Yitzchok/Isaac Marienhoff and his son Binyamin/Benoit traveled during the 19th century.  The same sort of traveling was done by Binyamin's first cousins, siblings Louis and Jules as well.

Jules Marienhoff Antwerp Police Registration, June 1892 (page 1)

My Eastern European Ancestors Stayed Put for Generations--Or Not (The Stories of Yitzchak/Isaac and Binyamin/Benoit Marienhoff)

Many people believe that their families lived in the same general area for hundreds of years.  And while that was the case for some families, I've seen significant amounts of internal-to-Europe migration.  I've already traced my Supkoff/Zubkis family from Shpikov to Kuna and potentially to Uman and Buki before that.  But those were in the same general area.

Within two generations, Yitzchok Marienhoff (my step great-great-great grandfather) and his son Binyamin moved across broad swaths of Europe--both within the enormous Russian Empire and beyond.

The first mention I have of Binyamin Marienhoff was as a 15-year-old in the 1888 poll tax census, when he was living in Nezhin with his father, step-mother (my great-great-great grandmother Mira), and some of his siblings (including some half and step).

1888 Nezhin Poll Tax Census; Binyamin is the 15-year-old; my great-great grandmother is the 17-year-old

David Marienhoff's Military Service--And Discharge

Just after I posted about David Marienhoff/Alpern, a half-brother of my great-great grandmother, a large envelope arrived in the mail.  Much to my surprise, David's military records were quite thick, even though he had been enlisted for less than a year!

I started at the end and was a bit surprised to see his discharge papers which cited "excessive stupidity and peculiar actions were noted from the time the man joined the Company...."  And it went downhill from there.

David Marienhoff, US Army Certificate of Disability for Discharge, 1911

Tracking Mira's Children: David Marienhoff/Alpern

This is the ninth in a series tracking the children of Mira Halperin Lefand Marienhoff.  You can see everything in this series to this point here.

David Marienhoff (later David Alpern) was born in Nezhin, Russian Empire to Mira and Yitzchok Marienhoff on May 20, 1885--their first child in what was a second marriage for both Mira and Yitzchok.

David Marienhoff Birth Record; Nezhin, Russian Empire; 1885

Tracking Mira's Children: Hirsch/Harry Marienhoff

This is the eighth in a series tracking the children of Mira Halperin Lefand Marienhoff.  You can see everything in this series to this point here.

 Hirsch Marienhoff was born on April 1, 1893 in Nezhin, Ukraine to Mira and Yitzchak Marienhoff.

Birth Record for Hirsch Marienhoff; Nezhin Metrical Records; 1893

He is the last (recorded) child of Yitzchok & Mira.  Hirsch spent his early childhood in Nezhin, but in 1906 he came with his mother, some of his siblings, and his nephew (who was older than Hirsch and also my great grandfather) to America.

Tracking Mira's Children: Nechama/Emma

This is the seventh in a series tracking the children of Mira Halperin Lefand Marienhoff.  You can see everything in this series to this point here.

I have no birth record for her (and none seems to have been recorded in the Nezhin records); as you will see below, her birth year based on information in records was somewhere between 1888 and 1895.

The first record I have for Nechama Marienhoff is her immigration to the United States in 1906.

Ship Manifest, Nechama Liffond (line 2), 1906

As mentioned earlier, Nechama's mother Mira switched between her two husbands' last names even after both had died.  Here, Nechama is listed as an 18-year-old (implying her birth around 1888) servant heading to her brother L. Liffond (which would have been her half-brother Louis Leiffand).  As Mira's first husband Yehoshua Zev Lefand died in 1881, Nechama would have been a daughter of Yitzchak Marienhoff.

Tracking Mira's Children: Chava/Eva

This is the fifth in a series tracking the children of Mira Halperin Lefand Marienhoff.  You can see everything in this series to this point here.

Chava Marienhoff (and her twin Yaakov) were born on July 1, 1887 in what is now Nezhin, Ukraine, to Mira and Yitzchok Marienhoff.

Birth Record for Chava & Yaakov Marienhoff; Nezhin, Ukraine; 1887

By the time the Russian Empire's 1888 Poll Tax Census was taken in 1888, Yaakov had died, but Chava is there as a one-year old living with her parents and some of her older siblings and half siblings.

Russian Empire 1888 Poll Tax Census; Chava Marienhoff is the 1-year-old

Mira Halperin Lefand Marienhoff - Ancestor Deep Dive

As mentioned earlier, Mira Halperin Lefand Marienhoff was my great-great-great grandmother.  She was born about 1848 to Yitzchok Halperin and had at least one sister, Risha (later Risha Rubenstein).  Her parents were registered in Krasne in the Vilna District--what is modern-day Krasnoye, Belarus, northwest of Minsk.  She first married Yehoshua-Zev Lefand and had at least 5 children:

• Pesha Riva (my great-great grandmother), born 1874
• Nechemia, born 1875
• Sara-Margolia, born 1876
• Mayer, born 1879
• Leib, born 1882

Leib Lefand Birth Record, Nezhin, 1882

As Yehoshua-Zev died in 1881, Leib would have been born after his father's death; Mira would have been a young widow with 5 children.

In 1883, Mira married a widower, Yitzchok Marienhoff.  Yitzchok was 14 years older than Mira.  He had at least two sons from a previous marriage:

• Michel Marienhoff's children's births are documented in the Nezhin records
• Binyamin/Benoit/Benedict Marienhoff, who later immigrated to Belgium

Marriage Record for Mira Halperin Lefand and Yitzchok Marienhoff, Nezhin, 1883

Yitzchok had moved a lot.  He was registered and was born in Goldingen, which is currently Kuldiga, Latvia.  Binyamin had been born in what is now Mokra Kalyhirka, Cherkasy, Ukraine.  And he married Mira in Nezhin, Chernigov, Ukraine.

A Lefand by any other name....

I'd mentioned earlier how I discovered a potential Liffond connection to my family, the fact that the family lived in Nezhin, and that there were Nezhin documents available on microfilm.  I ordered many of these microfilms to be sent to my local Family History Library (FHL) and started going through the records.  The FHL has most of the metrical documents (birth/marriage/divorce/death records) for Nezhin's Jewish community from the 1850s through the early 1900s.  The documents are written in Hebrew and Russian, with identical information in both languages.  At this point, the Russian looked like pretty scribbles to me, but I could read the Hebrew easily.

My great grandfather was Yitzchok Tolchinsky (later Isadore Tolchin).  I knew that his parents were Hillel and Pesha Riva.  My grandfather had always told me that Pesha Riva's maiden name was Marinoff.  I found Yitzchok's birth record from December 1889.  It had his father as being registered in Lubny and being Hillel the son of Shimon.  The mother was listed as Rivka the daughter of Yehoshua Wolf.

Yitzchok Tolchinsky's birth record, 1889

Shimon and Yehoshua Wolf were new names--my great-great-great grandfathers!  But was Rivka also Pesha Riva?  I tracked down Hillel's marriage record--and sure enough, he married a Pesha Riva early in 1889.