Sunday, May 29, 2016

How to Vet Your In-Laws -- And the Power of Genealogical Collaboration

(I'm giving two talks next Sunday at the Ontario Genealogical Society's conference--hope to see some of you there!)

Most of my posts lay out facts that I'm confident about given my research.  This one will be more of an "I think" kind of post, rather than "I know."  And if anyone has any ideas to be able to get this to the "I know" level, please comment on this post!

I've already discussed my great-great-great grandparents, Baruch Tzvi/Hirsch and Malka (nee Vizel) Fuchs of Felso-Neresnicze (today's Novoselytsya).  Malka's parents were Eizik-Yehudah and Eidel Fuchs of Kryva (then Nagy-Kirva); Baruch Tzvi's were Gershon and Toba-Rivka Fuchs of Novoselytsya (then Felso-Neresniczse).

There was another Vizel/Fuchs couple in Novoselytsya as well.
Birth Record for David Fux's 1849 Birth--Registered in 1909

David Fux self-registered his birth in 1909, saying that he had been born around 1849 to Mendel Fux and Etya Viezal. As shown earlier, I'm pretty sure (although not 100% confident) that Baruch Hirsch and Mendel were brothers.  But is there a connection between Malka and Etya?

A woman named Etya daughter of Yitzchak Yehudah is buried in the Novoselytsya cemetery.  Her date of death was given as 21 Av 5615, which was August 5, 1855.  There are no death records for this time period from Novoselytysa, so I can't match this stone to a surname on a death record.

However, Etya's husband Mendel married another woman and they had children soon after this Etya's death.
Birth record for Etye Fux, 1863
(Baruch) Hers and Malko Wizel had a daughter Etya in 1863. As this was their first daughter (that I know of) after 1855, it's possible that baby Etya was named for the woman buried here.


Since Etya's father on the tombstone is given as Yitzchak Yehudah (Eizik Yehudah), it gives further credence to the hypothesis that Etya was Malka's sister.

Several hypotheses here, but it looks like two brothers married two sisters.  The first couple to marry were likely Mendel and Etya (born about 1823 and 1825, respectively) since both Baruch Hersh and Malka were born about 1830.  So when it was time for Baruch Hersh and Malka to marry, they would have known about the other's family quite well.  Nothing like marrying your brother- or sister-in-law to know lots about your in-laws before even getting married!
Connections as I think they should be

Lots of maybes here, which I don't like, but I'm hoping to find some more pieces of evidence.  And sometimes my writing things up helps figure that out, but other times readers help with ideas.  And that sort of genealogical collaboration can open new avenues.  Israel Pickholtz posted today about how some of the records I got to research my own family may help him trace his family back further.  So who has any ideas to help me?  I'm begging here, people! :)

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