Travels in an Undiscovered Country

[S23] "State Census, 1895 (New Jersey)," microfilm of manuscript, 49 microfilm reels; citiing original records: New Jersey, Department of State, 1895 Census of the State of New Jersey (Microfilm and Record Unit, Trenton, New Jersey, 1962); Family History Library, Perth Amboy records are on FHL reel 888682. Some or all New Jersey state census records are apparently in the process of being placed on line as of June 2013; these records were reviewed around 2006 when they were available only on microfilm.
[S26] "New Jersey state census records, 1905," microfilm of manuscript, 43 microfilm reels; citiing original records: New Jersey, Department of State, 1905 Census of the State of New Jersey (Trenton, New Jersey); Family History Library, Perth Amboy records are on FHL reel 1688616. Some or all New Jersey state census records are apparently in the process of being placed on line as of June 2013; these records were reviewed around 2006 when they were available only on microfilm.
[S88] New Jersey (Middlesex County) Department of Health and Senior Services, death certificate 371 (9 Oct 1930), Rose Segal; Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration, Trenton.
[S93] New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, birth certificate (delayed) Form 1b V. S. (28 March 1891), Jacob Slobodien; Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration, Trenton.
[S94] New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, birth certificate (delayed) Form 1b V. S. (13 Dec 1897), Leo Slobodien; Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration, Trenton.
[S116] Danna Meshoulm, Israel, to Carl Fields, e-mail, "Hi...." (regarding Girsh Tsigelnitski, Lida Lithuania, married to Dabruska), 19 May 2008; privately held by Carl Fields, Aiken, South Carolina, Computer Files (e-mails, Genealogy, or "Gene," section of Local Folders).
[S162] Mel Comisarow, GEDCOM File on Golosoff/Komisaruk Family, sent September 3, 2007. Mel Comisarow is a descendant of a brother of the husband of Sonia Golosoff (she was a sister of Nathan Golosoff -- she was born about 1848).

The Leon Kay informaiton in the GEDCOM information i(summarizing Mel Comisarow's extensive research) is said to have been derived, in part, from several sources, including: the audio memoirs of David Nemetz of Vancouver, July 24, 1974, Jewish Historical Society of British Columbia, Provincial Archives of British Columbia reference number 3883:92; information from Ed Komisaruk, June 25, 1995; memoirs of Bill (William) Comisarow; memoirs of Esther Stein Meidler; Who's Who; and the obitiary in the 7 Oct 1960 issue of The Detroit Jewish News.
[S175] John P. Wall and Harold E. Pickersgill, Editors, History of Middlesex County New Jersey, 1664-1920 (2 Volumes) (New York and Chicago: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1921); digital images, Google, Google Book Search, (http://books.google.com : accessed by Carl Fields, February 2009). This book may appear multiple times on Google, and some appearances may include only Volume 1. The book also appears on other web sites, such as Heritage Quest

Summary paraphrase for Isadore Siegel: Medical Doctor (office at 121 Market Street, Perth Amboy). Father: Moses Siegel, grocer in Russia. Mother: Rose Siegel. Siblngs: Sophia (wife of H. Goldstein) of Perth Amboy; George (constructing engineer) of Russia; Harry (dry goods merchant @ 444 Amboy Avenue, Perth Amboy); Anna (wife of N. Galosoff) of Perth Amboy; and Constance of Newark New Jersey.

Born: 1/5/1885 in Russia. Graduate: Berlin University in 1910 as Dr of Medicine. Internship in Lying-In Hospital in New York City (1910-1911). Passed State Board July 5, 1911. Member: American Medical Association; Middlesex Medical Society; Hebrew Synagogue; Free and Accepted Masons. Married Jeanett Kramer (daughter of Abraham Kramer, dry goods merchant at 313 State Street, Perth Amboy) on July 28, 1913. Children: Ralph: May 2, 1914 and Eleanor, April 2, 1920. Hobbiy: Music, escpecially opera.
[S222] New Jersey (Middlesex County) Department of Health and Senior Services, death certificate, record number is illegible, but might be 400 (21 Sep `1926), Moses Segal; Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration, Trenton. The same day and month are listed for his birth and for his death on this death certificate. This suggests he died on his birthday. An alternative possibility is that the informant(s) knew only his age, not his exact date of birth. The birth date then could have been inferred by subtracting his age from his death date.

Agency name listed in the above source citation is current as of 2009. It may differ from older agency names on the original documents. In New Jersey, the state arhives holds original birth, marriage and death records for the period May 1848 - May 1878. As of 2009, the state archives also held microfilm copies of records of births between 1878 and 1923, and marriages and deaths between 1878 and 1940. The information listed here is based on a copy printed from microfilm at the state archives by Carol Roberts, who then provided a pdf image to Carl Fields transmitted via e-mail.
[S314] Wand's City of Perth Amboy Directory, 1910 (Woodbridge NJ: Wand Directory Co., 1910); Perth Amboy Public Library, microfilm, 196 Jefferson Street, Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Hereinafter cited as Wand's City of Perth Amboy Directory, 1910.
[S318] Fannie Slobodien, will (3 Aug 1944), Middlesex Surrogate's Office, New Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Hereinafter cited as Will of Fannie Slobodien. Includes info that residence was in Perth Amboy; two sons living: Jacob and Leo; daughter-in-law Bessie was living; son John deceased; daughter Sadye living; daughter-in-laws Anna and Blanche living; listed grandchildren were Myron, Ira, Howard, Stanley, and Madeline. Daughter Rose and her family were not mentioned. Probate process of will was started on 13 Jun 1945. Copy of will was obtained by Carol Roberts at Middlesex Surrogate's Office (or possibly at New Jersey State Archives) and mailed to Carl Fields, spring 2006, copy retained in Carl's personal family history files.
[S408] "US, Ohio, Cuyahoga County, Jewish Marriage Extracts, 1837-1934," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 20 May 2009), entry for Rose Schwartz/Rose Slobodien, 12 September 1930, Cleveland, Ohio; based on records extracted from the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Marriage Application Return Volumes, Cuyahoga County Archives, Cleveland, Ohio.
[S413] Nathan Golosoff, U. S. Citizenship and Imigration Records (USCIS) Genealogy Program (Historical Records), Alien Registration Form (AR-2), obtained by Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request (submitted August 2008), A-2336935, (25 September 1940); U. S. Department of Homeland Security, P. O. Box 648010, Lee's Summit, Missouri. This document gives place of birth as Alexandria, Katrinislovsky (Governate or Gubernia), Russia. "Alexandria" might be an alternative spelling for "Alexandrowsk," which appears as his previous residence on the immigration 1906 ship passener list. "Katrinislovsky" is likely an alternative spelling for a province more commonly spelled as "Yekaterinoslav" or "Ekaterinoslav." Birth locations for his siblings are generally listed as Krasnoselka, although an alternative possibility for both of them is Grofskoy, which was near Krasnoselka. A nearby note on locations in Lithuiana, Belarus, and Ukraine provides additional speculation about possible locatons for "Alexandrowsk." His entry in the 1915 New Jersey state census (closer to his birth year than 1940) states he was born in April 1879.
[S419] 1920 United States Census, New Jersey, Perth Amboy (ED 49), Middlesex County, p 4B (Image 93), Household 75, Constant Segal; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed by Carl Fields 2009) , based on NARA Microfilm Publication T625.
[S444] 1920 United States Census, New Jersey, Perth Amboy (ED 36), Middlesex County, p 4B (Image 654), Household 90, Joseph Slobodien (surname given as Slobsdien and Slobodian in Ancestry.com index); digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed by Carl Fields 5 April 2006) , based on NARA Microfilm Publication T625.
[S515] 1900 United States Census, New Jersey, Perth Amboy (ED 51), Middlesex County, 18B, Household 404, Joseph Slobodien; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed by Carl Fields 7 Jan 2006) , based on NARA Microfilm Publication T623.
[S583] Chaim Freedman, Eliyahu's Branches: the Descendants of the ZVilna Goan (of Blessed and Saintly Memory) and his Damily (Bergenfield, New Jersey, USA: Avotaynu, 1997); accessed via Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 12 March 2010).
[S660] From: Susan Segal (Senior Editor), The Segal Family Tree, 1848-1984 (Cambridge, MA: BAFTO International [Privately Publlished], 1984):

The information in the next several paragraphs was adapted from The Segal Family Tree ]. The "book" states that Ida Meshoulam wrote most of the "personal stories" (concerning Moses and Reisel) in the Family History with contributions from Teddy Mehaloff, David Lipton, and Miriam Lipton. Versions differ a bit, and what appears in the book is a conglomeration of them.

Moshe Leib Ziegelnietski ] was born around the year 1848 in Lithuania. He had two sisters, Fannie Slobodien and "Mrs. Epstein" ]. One account says that he had no brother, because he wore an earring to signify being an only son. This distinction may have saved him from inscription into the Russian army. ]

Moshe's father, according to legend, received a grant of land in Crimea from the Tzar after the Crimean War ]. ] ]hile still a young man, he ] returned to Northern Russia to receive an inheritance. He ] "disappeared" during a Russian winter, probably attacked and killed by highway robbers. Another account mentions that he ] had a grocery store near Odessa which had been established in 1845.

When Moshe Leib was 19 years old, he migrated to Berdjonsk (with or without the rest of his family is unclear). At the same age he married Reisel Golosoff, a year his junior.

Reisel had one brother ] and three sisters, or possibly only two ]: ] Rachel Slatkoff, of legendary charm and wit, and an older sister who migrated to Argentina long before Moshe Leib and Reisel left for the States. One of her brother's sons ] migrated to Winnipeg, Canada, and another, Nissim Golosoff, married Nuna Ziegelnietski (the fifth child of Moshe Leib and Reisel). ]

Because of the mores of the time (midnineteenth century) we can assume that, as in all good Jewish families of those times, the marriage of Moshe Leib Ziegelnietski and Reisel Golosoff was made by a "shotchen", and very good matchmaking it was. They were a harmonious, supportive couple, and that atmosphere can be perceived in their offspring who all lived peacefully and lovingly with their respective families.

They lived in Berdjonsk, Russia, near Odessa, a smart seashore resort ] with a large public park, summer concerts and a boardwalk promenade. (There are picture postcards to authenticate this). There Reisel and Moshe Leib were "in trade" in the wholesale and retail grocery business, but Moshe Leib, a deeply religious man, spent most of his time at the Beit Midrash. One sign of his religious observance was that all of his sons have names which begin with the sacred letter "yod": Yehoshua, Yehezkiel, Yisroel, and Yekutiel. ]

Moshe Leib was evidently somewhat learned in Hebrew and the Scriptures and, since his arrival in the United States, in any case, spent his time writing what he called "lexicons". He tried to find a Hebrew origin for almost all his vocabulary whether Yiddish or Russian. He wrote volumes in fine, beautiful script. (Eleanor Pavlovsky may known of their whereabouts ]).

With tongue in cheek, his ] sons claimed that Reisel was happy to see him so occupied. First of all, it was a feather in a woman’s cap to have a scholarly husband, and secondly, it seems that every time Moshe Leib tried his hand at a business venture it failed. So Reisel was happy to have the monopoly.

Ida's version of Moshe Leib's scholarly career is as follows: "His sons humored him in his old age in regard to his writing and made many attempts to have his books published. I recall many family meetings among my father, Isadore and Constant who were all even prepared to invest in the cost of publication. Evidently no takers. Either too erudite or not enough. From his sons" attitude I fear the latter."

Teddy’s version: "After twenty years of work, the writings of Moshe Leib were rejected by the publishers because he wrote on both sides of the paper." (David added that "this was obviously an excuse for other reasons"). Teddy went on to say that "this did not stop him from cutting up wrapping paper and binding them into a book (according to Ida, Moshe Leib was a bookbinder by hobby). He then began the process of recopying the whole thing."

In 1906, pogroms broke out in their vicinity. According to David, Moshe Leib immediately pulled all of the money from his cash register, and the family fled that night. All household possessions were left for the Cossacks and Crimean Nationals. Moshe's brother in law owned a lumber yard in Berdjonsk, and that family fled too. In Germany, they sought steamship passage to America, While waiting for their visas, the family stayed with Isadore who was in medical school in Berlin. They may have embarked from Hamburg, Germany ], and arrived in New York City ]. According to Ida, they did not arrive at Ellis Island because they were not steerage passengers (so named because it was above the engines -- hot and noisy); she said there is much evidence that the Ziegelnietski family was middle or upper-middle class ]. ]

The family settled in Perth Amboy, New Jersey where Moshe Leib's sister, Fannie Slobodien ], was established and comfortable. Their first business venture, buying a big tenement house in Perth Amboy, failed. After this, Reisel took up her old ways and opened a general store on Hall Avenue ]. They lived modestly, but always in a decent, hospitable home. They retired around 1915.

Ida: "When one reflects on the accomplishments of Reisel, she must have been a shrewd businesswoman for their standard of living was upper-middle class. Most of their children received professional educations: two engineers, a doctor, and a ''gymnasium-educated" daughter. Reisel raised two nieces in Russia ], three grandchildren in America ], and seven children of her own, making a grand total of twelve children. ]

"But in retrospect it is hard for me to see Reisel as "the businesswoman". She was always the essence of sweetness and modesty. She never changed her manners to try to become Americanized. She wore stiff taffeta skirts with three petticoats, silk shirtwaists, and her beautiful thick auburn hair was always covered with a silk lace shawl - black for daily wear and sparkling white for the High Holidays. Her background must have been a good family for at a time when females were not educated, she and her sister Rachel ] could read the Siddur. I recall being proud, when visiting her in the women's section of the synagogue, that she and her sister were amongst the very few older women who could read the prayers."

Miriam: "I remember Zeda (Grandfather) as an elderly man with a beard who was very scholarly. Baba (Grandmother) I remember as a kindly elderly lady who called me “Miriamka". I had the impression that her time was spent visiting her children and grandchildren".

Moshe Leib died in 1926, and Reisel in 1935. They lie beneath massive granite headstones engraved in Hebrew in a Jewish cemetery on Woodbridge Avenue ], Woodbridge, New Jersey. ]

Some of the address changes in the 1914-1916 era in the main narrative may have been due to typographical errors and differences in the timing of data collection and publication in the city directory, rather than actual changes in residences.
[S730] 1940 U. S. Census, Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, New Jersey, population schedule, Enumeration District 12-129, page 3B, Line 75, Household 60 (visited 3 April 1940), Rose Skatkoff -- informant was not indicated; digital image, National Archives 1940 Census, Official 1940 Census Website (http://1940census.archives.gov : accessed by Carl Fields August 2012), citing National Archives microfilm publication T627, roll 2362, image 418.
[S731] 1940 U. S. Census, Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, New Jersey, population schedule, Enumeration District 12-92, page 5A, Line 14, Household 88 (visited 10 April 1940), Constant Segal -- informant was Anna Segal; digital image, National Archives 1940 Census, Official 1940 Census Website (http://1940census.archives.gov : accessed by Carl Fields August 2012), citing National Archives microfilm publication T627, roll 2361, image 58.
[S737] 1940 U. S. Census, Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, New Jersey, population schedule, Enumeration District 12-90, page 6A, Line 19, Household 102 (visited 12 April 1940), Leo Slobodien -- informant was Howard Slobodien, a son; digital image, National Archives 1940 Census, Official 1940 Census Website (http://1940census.archives.gov : accessed by Carl Fields August 2012), citing National Archives microfilm publication T627, roll 2361, image 16.
[S755] "California Death Index, 1940-1997 ," database Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 4 Feb 2012), George Siegel, 24 Dec 1946, Los Angeles County; based on "California Death Index, 1940-1997," State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics, Sacramento.
[S1027] Zaporizhia is on the Dneiper River. Additional informaition about the city is at (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaporizhia : accessed 12 Aug 2013), as well as many other places.
[S1035] Moses Segal grave marker, Congregation Shari Tephalo/Congregation Beth Mordecai/Hebrew Progressive Cemeteries, Florida Grove Road, Perth Amboy, New Jersey; read by Carl Fields, approx 2006.

There are three adjacent Jewish cemeteries at this location, some of which have had more than one name during their history (so the current name may not correspond to the name on, say, an older death certificate and burial record). The three cemeteries have separate gates and exterior wall designs (for the walls facing Florida Grove Road), but once inside a gate, there are (as of 2013) no internal barriers separating one cemetery from the others. Thus, in some cases, it is unclear which of the three cemeteries a specific grave "belongs" to. The three cemeteries appear to be inside the current (2013) city limits of Perth Amboy. However, they are probably close to a city limit and may be in an adjacent municipality. It is likely they were outside the Perth Amboy city limits (possibly in Woodbridge Township) at the time of the earliest burials. Also, the street name (Florida Grove Road in 2013) may have been different in a earlier era (e.g., circa1920s). The southwest corner of the cluster of three adjacent cemeteries is at the northwest corner of the intersection of Florida Grove Road and Bingle Street.

At least one of these three cemeteries (Congregation Shari Tephalo Cemetery) is maintained by Friends for Preservation of Middlesex County Jewish Cemeteries, Inc.; P. O. Box 306; Moorestown, NJ 08057; phone: 856-222-1418; (http://www.friendsofjewishcemeteries.org : accessed 25 July 2013). This organization was formed around 2005 and focuses on maintaining landscaping, etc. They probably have access to few, if any, burial records.
[S1041] Nathan Golosoff grave marker, Congregation Shari Tephalo/Congregation Beth Mordecai/Hebrew Progressive Cemeteries, Florida Grove Road, Perth Amboy, New Jersey; read by Carl Fields, approx 2006.

There are three adjacent Jewish cemeteries at this location, some of which have had more than one name during their history (so the current name may not correspond to the name on, say, an older death certificate and burial record). The three cemeteries have separate gates and exterior wall designs (for the walls facing Florida Grove Road), but once inside a gate, there are (as of 2013) no internal barriers separating one cemetery from the others. Thus, in some cases, it is unclear which of the three cemeteries a specific grave "belongs" to. The three cemeteries appear to be inside the current (2013) city limits of Perth Amboy. However, they are probably close to a city limit and may be in an adjacent municipality. It is likely they were outside the Perth Amboy city limits (possibly in Woodbridge Township) at the time of the earliest burials. Also, the street name (Florida Grove Road in 2013) may have been different in a earlier era (e.g., circa1920s). The southwest corner of the cluster of three adjacent cemeteries is at the northwest corner of the intersection of Florida Grove Road and Bingle Street.

At least one of these three cemeteries (Congregation Shari Tephalo Cemetery) is maintained by Friends for Preservation of Middlesex County Jewish Cemeteries, Inc.; P. O. Box 306; Moorestown, NJ 08057; phone: 856-222-1418; (http://www.friendsofjewishcemeteries.org : accessed 25 July 2013). This organization was formed around 2005 and focuses on maintaining landscaping, etc. They probably have access to few, if any, burial records.
[S1125] New Jersey (Middlesex County) Bureau of Vital Statistics) Department of Health and Senior Services (original issue: State Department of Health, death certificate, Middlesex County Registered No. 201, (20 May 1945),Fannie Slobodien; Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration, Trenton.
[S1126] New Jersey (Middlesex County) Department of Health and Senior Services (original issue: State Department of Health), death certificate, State File Number 33474, (12 Sept 1949),Harry Segal; Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration, Trenton. There is a second number at the top of the form: 773. This might be a Middlesex County file number of some type.
[S1127] New Jersey (Middlesex County) Bureau of Vital Statistics) Department of Health and Senior Services (original issue: State Department of Health, death certificate, Middlesex County Registered No. 358, (18 Oct 1942),Rose Slatkoff; Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration, Trenton.
[S1176] "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 11 Sept 2013), manifest, Neckar, 27 Aug 1912, manifest page 26, Lines 11 and 12, and page 38, Lines 27 and 28, Zlatkowska Family (Ruchel Yetta Sarah and Samuel); based on National Archives microfilm publications M237 and T715; this information is from NARA T715 microfilm roll 1912.

Ship is Neckar, sailed from Bremen on August 15, 1912, apparently arrived New York on August 26, but passengers may not have been processed at Ellis Island until 27 August. Members of the family were somehow listed on two separate pages of the manifest: Ruchel and Yetta on what Ancestry calls pages 26 and 27 (handwritten sheet 1 -- probably the first sheet where steerage passengers were listed), and Sarah and Sameil on what Ancestry calls pages 38 and 39 (handwritten sheet 6 -- the information for each passenger was spread out over 2 pages, both with the same handwritten manifest page number).

Passengers include Ruchel (age 52, widow, occupation: seller, 4 ft 11 in, hair: gray, eyes: brown), Yetta (age 25, single, seller, 5 ft, 1 in, hair: black, eyes: brown), Sarah (20, single, laborer?, 5 ft 1 in, hair: brown, eyes: brown), and Samuel (14, single, no occupation,4 ft 11 in, hair: brown, eyes: brown). Ruchel is listed as being unable to read and write, but the other are listed as able to. All are listed as follows: Hebrew; last permanent residence: Berdianski; born in Berdianski; contact in home country: , apparently Ruchel's brother, Kaje Faraurnos(?) who lived in Taurdia Gubernia, Russia; traveling to Perth Amboy, New Jersey; contact at destination: (Ruchel's) brother-in-law, Segal, Moshy (?), Perth Amboy, Hall Avenue 293; ticket purchased by (Ruchel's) brother-in-law; born in Berdianski. The amount of money the family had is diffcult to decipher, but it could be $5.

The Ancestry transcriber took the surname for Ruchel and Yetta to be Zlatkowska and the surname for Sarah and Samuel to be Zlotkowska. Ancestry transcribed Ruchel's first name as Ruchel.

Portions of this passenger list were also transcribed by the Ellis Island organization (http://ellisisland.org). These were accessed via the Steven Morse One-Step web site (http://stevemorse.org/ellis2/ellisgold.html). The Ellis Island transcriptions of the surnames are the same as Ancestry.com. Ellis Island picked up what seems to be the correct spelling of Ruchel. However, Ellis Island transcribed the name of their town of residence prior to leaving Russia as Peridiawski and Bordiansk.

The following paragarphs provide some information about the ship (adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Neckar_%281901%29: accessed 11 Sept 2013). Neckar was launched on 8 December 1900 at Geestemünde, Germany, by J.C. Tecklenborg; and was owned and operated by North German Lloyd. In the North Atlantic at the outbreak of World War I in the summer of 1914, the passenger and freight liner sought sanctuary at the neutral port, Baltimore, Maryland—lest she fall prey to the warships of the Royal Navy—and was interned, ostensibly for the duration of the conflict.

When the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, American customs agents seized the ship. She was transferred to the Navy by the United States Shipping Board on 12 July 1917; converted for naval service as a troop transport at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia; renamed Antigone on 1 September 1917; and placed in commission on 5 September 1917, Comdr. Joseph R. Defrees in command.

Antigone was assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force, Atlantic Fleet, on 14 September, and she departed Norfolk on 29 November. After coaling and completing sea trials, she proceeded to Hoboken, New Jersey, and embarked approximately 2,000 American troops. The transport sailed from New York City en route to France on 14 December and, during the next 11 months, made eight round-trip voyages to France, each of which terminated in either Brest or Saint-Nazaire. The ship also carried medical supplies and general cargo—as well as 16,526 troops—to Europe before hostilities ended.

After the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918, the transport continued her transatlantic voyages and returned more than 22,000 veterans to the United States. She completed her last trip from France upon her arrival at New York City on 15 September 1919. She was decommissioned there on 24 September 1919, and her name was simultaneously struck from the Navy list. The ship was then transferred to the War Department for service in the Army Transport Service

The ship was 501 ft long and displaced 9835 tons. Information on the number of size of the crew and the number of passengers it could carry during its time as a passenger liner does not seem to be readily available on the internet.
[S1182] Carl Fields, "Personal Recollections about Nathan Golosoff" :

My grandfather Nathan died when I was about 5 months old. Thus my “personal” recollections are stores told to me by others.

One of the few stories I remember hearing about him from my aunts is that at some point, he collected what I remember them characterizing as something like “a suitcase full” of foreign (paper) currency – apparently thinking it would someday regain some of its value. They were unclear when this was or what currency was involved (or perhaps my memory of their story is what is unclear). I knew that one candidate would, of course, be the German Weimar Republic hyperinflated currency of the 1920s. Given his Russian background, however, a better candidate might be Russian currency (perhaps Imperial Russian currency after the Soviets took power). I later found information on Widipedia suggesting it could have been Russian currency (“old Rubles”) and the time frame for the severe Russian currency inflation might have been around 1922/1923.

The specific information on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_ruble : accessed 28 January 2011) is that the Soviet government issued a New Ruble in 1922 with the value of one New Ruble equal to 10,000 older Rubles (apparently the issuing government was still referred to as Russia on these 1922 New Rubles). Then, in 1923, a New New Ruble was issued, with the value of each “New New Ruble” equal to the value of 100 “New Rubles”. Then, in 1924, a “New New New Ruble” was issued, with the value of each “New New New Ruble” equal to 50,000 of the “New New Rubles. The terms used here, such as “New New Ruble,” are my descriptions (they are not quoted from the Wikipedia article). Apparently the issuing government in the 1923 and 1924 redenominations was referred to as the Soviet Union.

His 1906 immigration record to the US lists his profession as “Merchant.” I have a vague memory of being told his specific business back in Russia might have been something like a coal dealer.
[S1189] "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 11 Sept 2013), manifest, Polonia, 25 Oct 1922, manifest page 147, Lines 17- 21, Komisaruk Family (Berko Sonia Szmul Welwel Nechamo); based on National Archives microfilm publications M237 and T715; this information is from NARA T715 microfilm roll 3205.

This essay-type portion of this citation discusses the passenger manifest on Ancestry.com that seems to be from when the Beryl Komisaruk family entered the US on 25 October 1922, arriving on the SS Polonia, which had sailed from the European port of Danzig (now called Gdansk, with a diacritical mark over the "n"). This note is based on an e-mail sent by Carl Fields to several family members on 8 March 2011. The title/subject of the e-mail was "Berko Komisaruk Passenger Manifest -- 25 Oct 1922."

Danzig is a city (or perhaps a city plus a surrounding region) that seemed to change hands after several different European wars. It was apparently a "free city" in 1922, although I have only a fuzzy understanding o what that means (notice the term "Freestate of Danzig" appears in Columns 9 and 11 for the person listed in Line 1 of the manifest pages).

Digital images of the passenger manifest pages for this family extend over two sheets. The Komisaruk family is on lines 17-21 (inclusive) of the manifest page images.

The following table summarizes the forenames of the five people of interest listed on the manifest, together with other names (in parentheses), including forenames later used in the US (based on information provided to Carl prior to 2011 by Mel Comisarow). Their ages, genders, and listed occupations are also listed in the following table. I have changed sequence of names to list the children in order of decreasing age.

Berko (Berel)           62      Male      worker
Sonia (Sonya) )           56      Female      wife
Szmul (Samuel/Smilik)      22      Male      worker
Welwel (Bill/Velvel)      18      Male      apothecary
Nechmo (Amy/Nekhama) 15      Female      pupil

If I have the correct family, the Sonia Komisaruk listed here was a sister of my grandfather, Nathan (or Nissam) Golosoff. Her maiden name was Golosoff (or the Yiddish or Russian phonetic equivalent or near equivalent).

Information Mel Comisarow sent to Carl a few years prior to 2011 indicated the family had three older children: Zalmen (Solomen/Sol), born 1891 (he appears in Item 6, below); Leibl (Leon), born 1896; and Sheindl (Sylvia), born 1897. All of these apparently came to North America. I haven't yet (as of May 2012) tried to look for their immigration records. Leon is apparently the person later known as Leon Kay who: (1) settled in the US in 1912 (according to information from Mel Comisarow); (2) returned to Russia (apparently at this time, 1922) to aid family members (and others) in coming to the US; and (3) later became a oil company executive. His return to Russia (to aid family members) is said to have been financed, at least in part, by Nathan Golosoff of Perth Amboy, New Jersey (this is a bit of "family folklore" within the Komisaruk/Comisarow family)

There are several interesting (and/or puzzling) things in the passenger manifest:

1. The family came as second class passengers (not steerage). This passenger-class is indicated near the top of the second page (above Columns 14-17).

2. The word "Admitted" is stamped in Column 1 for three passengers (none of them members of the Komisaruk family). I think this means these passengers were temporarily detained for medical observation, but were later admitted. I'm certain it does not imply everyone else on the pages was refused entry.

3. The last permanent address for all 5 people is listed as Grofskoj Russia (Column 11). This town (now in Ukraine) is more commonly spelled as Grofskoy in documents written in English. The Golosoff (or Golosov) family name has appeared in several documents associated with this community -- starting around the 1850s, if I recall correctly. Grofskoj is also listed in Column 12, which lists the name of a contact (a cousin) back in their home country.

This passenger manifest lists more information than earlier (~1906-1912) manifests I've examined. In particular, this 1922 version asks for place of birth, which is listed as Grofskoj, Russia for all 5 people (Column 33). The manifest also lists height, complexion, and hair and eye color (Columns 29-31).

4. There are some cryptic notations above Line 20 in Columns 7 and 8 (and possibly above Line 21 in Column 8). I'm not certain, but these might be related to these individuals applying for US citizenship at some later time (the notation above Line 20 seems to include the date of 6/19/33). The US government's investigation during the naturalization process may have included confirming their date of entry to the US.

5. Column 9 indicates each of the five people is a Polish citizen. This seems odd considering their last permanent residence was in Russia. It could be the word "Polish" was inadvertently copied down from previous lines in this column. It's also possible they obtained false Polish citizenship papers - or perhaps it was relatively easy to quickly become legal Polish citizens in that era. The previous two sentences are speculation, of course, but the William Comisarow memoirs indicate they did obtain false Polish citizenship papers.

My very limited knowledge of Danzig/Gdansk in this era comes primarily from a Wikipedia web site (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danzig : accessed by Carl Fields on 4 March 2011). Although it was a "free city" or "free state," most of its citizens spoke German. Wikipedia suggest that most of Danzig's government services were more closely aligned with Poland (e.g., Poland provided postal services), but William Comisarow, in his memoir looking back this time, suggests the area was administered by Germany. It might be that a large fraction of the passengers leaving through the port were Polish. Germany had other seaports. Poland might not have had others in this era.

6. Column 16 indicates that all five tickets were purchased by one of the Komisaruk's sons, possibly Leon, who, according to family lore (and as mentioned above), is said to have returned to Russia to help people come to the US. Another possibility is the one whose forename is given as Solmon in the answer to one of the questions on the passenger manifest (Column 19). His street address in New York is also given in Column 19. I did a brief search on Mapquest. His street seems to be in Manhattan, well north of Central Park.

7. The family is listed as having declared only $10 in their possession (Column 17). I suspect it was not uncommon for people to list a smaller amount of money than they really held. However, $10 looks like a very small amount, since the form suggests $50 is a lower threshold of some type.

The Russian currency had apparently gone through a period of horrific inflation around this time. So it is quite possible that any financial assets the family once held had been essentially wiped out. Also, the communist government may have been confiscating land and other property at this time. I know embarrassingly little about Russian history -- much of my "knowledge" about Russia during the early 1920s comes from the movie version of "Dr Zhivago." (I've had my late Aunt Rose's copy of the book version of Dr Zhivago for over 30 years now; I have to read it some day.)

The above-mentioned Russian inflation is inferred from information about re-valuations of the Russian Ruble in the 1920s. The information I have about these re-valuations is from Wikipedia and is described in the following:

The specific information on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_ruble : accessed 28 January 2011) is that the Soviet government issued a New Ruble in 1922 with the value of one New Ruble equal to 10,000 older Rubles (apparently the issuing government was still referred to as Russia on these 1922 New Rubles). Then, in 1923, a New New Ruble was issued, with the value of each "New New Ruble" equal to the value of 100 "New Rubles". Then, in 1924, a "New New New Ruble" was issued, with the value of each "New New New Ruble" equal to 50,000 of the "New New Rubles. The terms used here, such as "New New Ruble" are my invention (they are not quoted from the Wikipedia article). Apparently the issuing government in the 1923 and 1924 re-valuations was referred to as the Soviet Union.

The second and third re-valuations of the Ruble took place after the Komisaruk family came to the US. This timing suggests some of the inflation took place after they were in the US. However, if they were affected by even, say, 50% of the factor-of-10,000 inflation suggested by the 1922 revaluation, it would likely have wiped out any savings the family had.

Later (after the 8 Mar 2011 e-mail was sent), I remembered there had also been a severe famine in the Ukraine around this time (not as severe as the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s, but very bad, nonetheless). This famine is probably more likely to have been the driving force for the family to leave Russia, moreso that currency inflation. Immigration to the US was severely restricted by a change in US laws around 1924. If there was knowledge that a possible change in laws was imminent, that might also have affected the timing of a decision to immigrate. I'm unsure how far in advance it was known the US would restrict immigration.

8. I also checked the spelling of the various names on the passenger manifest against the separate transcription on the Ellis Island web site (http://ellisisland.org : accessed by Carl Fields on 3 March 2011). Names of all five people appear to be spelled the same on the two transcriptions.

9. There had apparently been at least one earlier "Golosoff/Segal" marriage back in the "old country" (perhaps around 1850, or thereabouts - long before the one around 1902 between Nathan Golosoff and Anna "Segal"). Thus Sonia was likely related to the Segal family in ways other than through her brother Nathan's marriage.

10. I was able to find only a tiny bit of information about the Polonia. The following link goes to the text of a 1920-era brochure about the Baltic America Line. This brochure gives a bit about the ship. This information does not seem to include the number of cabins or passengers it could carry (http://www.gjenvick.com/HistoricalBrochures/… : accessed 3 Sept 2013).

The Ancestry.com information is from: Ancestry.com, New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 (database and images on-line), Provo, UT, USA, 2010, (http//:ancestry.com : accessed by Carl Fields, March 2011). The 1906 information in this Ancestry.com dataset is from: Records of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957, National Archives Microfilm Publication T715 (8892 rolls), US National Archives, Washington, D.C.
[S1191] "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 14 Sept 2013), manifest, Carnia, 20 Sept 1906, manifest page 70, Lines 23-28), Golossow (Golosoff) Family (Bendet Ester Soria Michel Nachman Cham); based on National Archives microfilm publications M237 and T715; this information is from NARA T715 microfilm roll 768.

The essay-type portion of this citation deals with the immigration to the United States of Mendel Golosoff and his family. This note is based on an e-mail sent by the author (Carl Fields) to several family members in 2011. The title/subject (and date) of that e-mail was "Mendel Golosoff Immigration Passenger Manifest -- 20 Sept 1906" (3/8/2011 9:05 AM). Several changes have been made to convert the original e-mail into this note.

Mendel Golosoff is the brother of Nathan (or Nissam) Golosoff, who was my grandfather. The Mendel Golosoff family apparently stayed in the United States for only a couple years (perhaps even less). They immigrated from the US to Canada.

The Ancestry.com web site contains a digital image of the passenger manifest for the arrival of Mendel and his family in the US on 20 Sept 1906. The name he was listed under on the ship's manifest was "Bendet Golossow". I located this image via Ancestry.com using information (such as date of arrival) obtained from Mel Comisarow.

The family came on board the SS Carmania, which departed from Liverpool (the US immigration service lists "departure ports" based on the last non-US port a ship visited before arrival in the US; it is possible the Carmania stopped at several ports in Europe - prior to Liverpool - if that was the case, the Golosoff family could have boarded at an earlier port). Mendel and the people traveling with him are listed on lines 23-28 of the manifest.

The short table below lists the people of concern. The forename used on the passenger list is given first, followed (in parentheses) by the name more commonly used after their arrival in North America. The age, gender, and occupation listed on the manifest for each person is also listed in the table. The family name (surname) is spelled "Golossow" on this manifest or passenger list.

Bendet (Mendel) 30 yrs Male Merchant
Ester (Ethel) 25 Female Housewife?
Michel (?????) 18 Male Locksmith
Soria (?????) 20 Female Tailoress
Nachem (Nathan/Nick) 3 Male Child
Cham (Anne) 11 mo Female Child

There are several interesting (and/or puzzling) things about the passenger manifest:

1. Notes in Column 2 of the passenger manifest indicate Ester is the wife of Bendet and the others are their children. However, the ages of Michel and Soria indicate they cannot be children of Bendet and Ester. (I have seen other instances where family relationships listed on these passenger manifests seem to have been "simplified". It's almost as if families had been advised that having a "story" as simple as possible would increase their chances of being accepted for entry into the US. I have some understanding of this -- I'd hate to have to try to explain my relationship to, say, my stepsister's daughter-in-law in a foreign language.)

2. The last previous permanent residence of each of the people in the Bendet Golossow part is listed as Mariupol (Column 10). This is a city in present-day Ukraine, perhaps 35 miles west of Berdyansk (Berdyansk was the home of most members of the "Segal" family for at least several years prior to when they came to the US). Both Mariupol and Berdyansk are on the north shore of the Sea of Azov. (The Google Maps "Roman alphabet" spelling is used here for both cities. Google Maps is at: (http://maps/google.com : accessed by Carl Fields on 2 March 2011).)

3. The destination in the US listed for everyone on the manifest page is listed as "New York." The Golossow's were probably going to Perth Amboy NJ. However, the address listed for their "US contact" seems to indicate Perth Amboy NY.

4. Column 14 (line 23) seems to indicate Bendet and his family were in possession of $350. However, a second (fainter) notation on line 25 of this column seems to indicate that Michel had $400 (suggesting that Michel and Soria may have been a separate family unit).

5. The US contact listed in Column 16 is indicated to be a "Brother" named Segal. It looks like a house number (365) is listed, but no street is given. The "365" is followed by the name of a city (Perth Amboy). Mendel's brother, who was generally known as Nathan Golosoff after entering the US, had come to the US in early March 1906. Nathan had come to the US at about the same time as several members of his wife's family (they came on at least two separate ships - some had arrived in the US in late Feb. 1906). After entering the US, the parents and brothers of Nathan's wife had adopted the surname "Segal" (they had been known by the surname Ziegelneitsky - or perhaps Ziegelneitski - prior to coming to the US). Mendel's brother Nathan did not adopt the Segal surname. It is possible Mendel listed "Segal" in Column 16 because he had heard about the surname change to Segal, but did not realize his brother's surname had been unaffected by it (this is speculation, of course).

There had apparently been at least one earlier "Golosoff/Segal" marriage back in the "old country" (perhaps around 1850). Thus Mendel was likely related to the Segal family in ways other than through his brother's marriage.

6. The Golossow's traveled as steerage passengers (this is indicated by a printed note at the very top of the page). The families who traveled in February and March 1906 had traveled as second class passengers.

7. Except for Michel and Soria, the information on the passenger manifest matches up quite well with the names, gender, and ages of Mendel's children in the information that Mel provided to me around 2005. In addition to the two young children listed above, Mendel's family eventually included three children born in North America: Sadye was born 4 July 1907 (in Perth Amboy), Fanny was born 21 March 1911 (in Winnipeg Manitoba), and Dorothy/Devorah was born in 1914 (in Neville Saskatchwan) - Mendel and his family immigrated from the US to Canada some time between July 1907 and March 1911 (they do not seem to be in the 1910 US census, so they probably immigrated before that census). The 1907 "Sadye Golosoff" mentioned above is a different person from "Sadie Golosoff Gumenik" (my aunt), who was born in Perth Amboy in 1911.

8. I also checked the spelling of the various names on the passenger manifest against the separate transcription on the Ellis Island web site (http://ellisisland.org : accessed by Carl Fields on 3 March 2011). They are all the same except on the Ellis Island site "Cham" is given as "Chaim" and "Nachem" is given as "Nachman."

I do not know who Michel and Soria are. And I am uncertain their surname really Golosoff (or Golossow). An annotation on the passenger list seems to suggest they are "children," but their ages make clear then could not be children of Mendel and Ethel. Based on their ages, they could be Ethel's siblings. However, that is just a guess; many other relationships are possible.

The Ancestry.com information is from: Ancestry.com, New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, online database with images, Provo, UT, USA, 2010, (http//:ancestry.com : accessed by Carl Fields, March 2011). The 1906 information in this Ancestry.com data set is from: Records of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957, National Archives Microfilm Publication T715 (8892 rolls), US National Archives, Washington, D.C.
[S1192] "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 14 Sept 2013), manifest, State of Nevada, 6 Jun 1888, List number 763, Lines 20-23, Stabogen (Slobodien) Family (Jossel Broche Jakob Schime); based on National Archives microfilm publications M237 and T715; this information is from NARA M237 microfilm roll 521.

Also:

"Hamburger Passagierlisten, 1850-1934 (Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934)" digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Sept 2013), manifest, Cumberand, departure date 18 May 1888, Volume 373-7 I, VIII B 1 Band 074, page 729, Stobogen Family (Josef Jacob Basche Scheine); based on Staatsarchiv Hamburg, Hamburg, Deutchland; Hambbuger Passagierlisten, microfilm number S 13152.

The essay portion of this citation deals with the immigration to the United States of Joseph Slobodien and his family. This note is based on two e-mails sent by the author (Carl Fields) to several family members. The subject/titles (and dates) of the two e-mails were: "Joseph Slobodien Family -- Immigration to US" (8/15/2011 4:36 PM) and "Joseph Slobodien Family -- Immigration to US -- Part 2" (9/24/2011 5:00 PM). Several changes have been made to convert the original e-mail into this note.

In early March 2011, I located what appears to be an immigration record (ship passenger list) of the Joseph Slobodien family leaving continental Europe (Hamburg Germany) on 18 May 1888. The name listed in the German record is Josef Slobogen, and the information in the record, including family members traveling with him, seems to fit what I know about him. I found this record on Ancestry.com. It covers travel from Germany to Scotland. The second portion of the trip, covering travel from Scotland to the United States, is described in the latter portion of this endnote.

As noted above, this is a German record for leaving continental Europe. The record for the second part of the trip was discovered several weeks after the first. The two passenger lists were originally described in separate e-mails. These two e-mails have been combined to form this single endnote.

The Ancestry.com web site contains a photo image (from Ancestry) of the handwritten page in the German records (and it is in German). The information for the family of interest is on Lines 10-13 of the form in the attached file. The following items are from Ancestry.com's transcription of the "Slobogen" information from the handwritten page.

Name: Josef Slobogen

Departure Date: 18 Mai 1888 (18 May 1888)

Destination: New York

Estimated Birth Year: abt 1855

Age Year: 33

Gender: männlich (Male)

Family: Basche Slobogen Estimated Birth Year: abt 1863

Jacob Slobogen Estimated Birth Year: abt 1863

Scheine Slobogen Estimated Birth Year: abt 1887

Residence: Bobrausk, Russland

Occupation: Händler

Ship Name: Cumberland

Captain: Tait

Ship Type: Dampfschiff

Accommodation: ohne Angabe

Ship Flag: England

Port of Departure: Hamburg

Port of Arrival: Leith (Amerika (USA) via Glasgow)

Volume: 373-7 I, VIII B 1 Band 074

Page: 729

Microfilm Roll Number: S_13153

I'm grateful for Ancestry.com's transcription, especially of the handwritten items. I can (mostly) read the people's names, but I'm not sure I could have read that occupation as "Handler," with an umlaut over the "a" - I unsure that the umlaut is going to actually "make it" through the various cut-and-paste operations - and other operations -- to get it into TMG and Second Site. The Ancestry.com transcription includes translations of the headings at the tops of the various columns. My German is pretty rusty, but I suspect their translation of some of the printed column headings (from the form in the attached file) is approximate.

Handler (with an umlaut over the "a") basically means merchant in German (but several closely-related words are listed as alternative translations: things like dealer, salesperson, trader, etc.) Joseph Slobodien later founded a shoe store that operated in Perth Amboy for many decades. His bother Jacob (also listed in this record) was involved with the shoe store for a time, although I'm not sure if he was ever a part owner.

The German term "ohne Angabe" means something like "not stated" or "not specified". Perhaps this ship did not have cabin classes - if, indeed, it had cabins at all (see below). "Russland" is German for "Russia."

Some of the information listed in the Ancestry.com transcription is from the top of the page, and applies to all of the passengers on the page. The "New York" destination is carried down from the first handwritten entry in Column 8 via ditto marks.

"Family" (listed above) refers to those family members traveling with Joseph.

As best I can determine, the Cumberland was NOT a transatlantic ship (it's possible the ship was something more along the lines of a ferry, rather than what we might think of as an ocean liner). The Slobodien family's trip to the US involved them boarding their "true" transatlantic ship in Glasgow (Scotland). The apparent listed destination of this ship (Leith) is somewhat of a puzzle for me. Leith is on the east coast of Scotland (near Edinburgh), while Glasgow is near the west coast. It's possible (but less likely) the Slobodien's journey involved crossing Scotland by train. It's also possible that Leith was the ship's first scheduled stop after leaving Hamburg, and then it continued on to Glasgow.

There is some additional information on this ship (and the company it belonged to) at the following web site: http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/leith.htm.

The information on the "theshipslist.com" web site does not state this shipping line ever had service to Glasgow. As I wrote above, the small amount of information I've seen on the Cumberland suggests it mostly did European coastal routes and was a fairly small ship. It's not clear how long it would take the ship to go from Hamburg to Leith, but I'd guess something on the order of 2-3 days, perhaps longer if it stayed close to coastlines, rather than cutting across the North Sea.

I initially estimated the Slobodien family would have arrived in the US some time around 10 June 1888. It later turned out (after the second passenger list was located - the list for their entry into the US at the end of the transatlantic passage) they arrived on 6 June 1888 (this second passenger list is described later in this note). An arrival date in 1888 is before the US started using Ellis Island for immigration arrivals. They would probably have been processed at Castle Garden, near the Battery at the south end of Manhattan.

IF I have the correct family, the "Basche" listed here would be Joseph's wife, who we know as Fannie; "Schiene" would be the daughter we know as Sadie or Sadye (whose later married surname name was Bobb); and Jacob would be Joseph's younger brother, whose name seems to not have changed after arriving in the US. The handwritten version seems to have ditto marks indicating Jacob had the same occupation as Joseph.

The last three lines of the tabular material above (the volume, page, and microfilm stuff) relate to the specific location of this information in the German archives. Ancestry.com provides a more detailed description of the German records (this additional material is not included here, but is available on the Ancestry.com web site). In particular, the fifth paragraph in the Ancestry.com description (which is not included in this note) under "About Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934" discusses the differences between Direct Passengers and Indirect Passengers. The Slobodien/Slobogen family members were apparently Indirect Passengers.

Source Information (for the Hamburg Passenger List)

Staatsarchiv Hamburg. Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934, online database. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
Original data: Staatsarchiv Hamburg, Bestand: 373-7 I, VIII (Auswanderungsamt I). Mikrofilmrollen K 1701 - K 2008, S 17363 - S 17383, 13116 - 13183.

The remainder of this note describes what is probably the ship passenger list describing entry of the Joseph Slobodien family to the US on 6 June 1888. They had traveled from Glasgow Scotland to the US.

There are some differences between the names on this passenger list and the names the family members used after entering the US. However, I'm about 95% sure the people on this passenger list are members the Joseph Slobodien family.

The two digital images described in this portion of the note are pages 1 and 11 of a passenger list for a ship named State of Nevada. Passengers from that ship were processed in New York harbor on 6 June 1888 for entry into the United States. These images are from Ancestry.com. Two page images are described because certain information (such as the name of the ship and the date of arrival in New York) appears on only the first page (or first sheet) of the multi-page passenger list. The "1882" printed on page 1 of the passenger list does not refer to year of arrival; its meaning is explained later in this note. I have seen an item on "The Ships List" web site suggesting State of Nevada might have arrived in New York harbor on June 4 or June 5. The passengers were processed for entry to the US on 6 June (those passengers traveling in steerage -- or 3rd class -- were processed then; the higher-class passengers might have been released earlier, although, as indicated many paragraphs below this one, this ship had relatively few passenger berths other than steerage).

The ship picked up passengers in Glasgow Scotland and Larne, Ireland, with the Slobodien family boarding in Glasgow. The name of the head of the family, later known as Joseph Slobodien in the US, was transcribed as Jossel Stabogen (based on Ancestry.com's transcription of the handwritten passenger list). Names of others in the family (traveling with him) were transcribed as: Broche (Fannie), Jakob (Jacob), and Schime (Sadie or Sayde) - the name in parenthesis indicates what these individuals were known by after arriving in the US (IF I have the correct family). Fannie was Joseph's wife, Sadie was Joseph's oldest daughter, and Jacob was his brother. The Slobodien (Stabogen) family is listed on page 11 of the multi-page handwritten passenger list (starting on Line 509).

A table given several paragraphs below provides other information from the Ancestry.com web site for Joseph. A brief note that follows that table provides corresponding information for the other family members. The tabular information is based on items that Ancestry.com has transcribed from the handwritten passenger list (the second of the two passenger lists).

Ancestry.com did not transcribe all of the information included on the handwritten passenger list (the images attached to this endnote). In particular, they did not transcribe the passenger occupations, accommodation class, or number of pieces of luggage. I was able to read these things from the list (but not with 100% certainty). My reading is that occupations for Joseph and Jacob might be given as "merchant" (the handwritten word is unclear), accommodation class is steerage (actually it is listed as something like Steerage Area C), and the whole family had one piece of luggage among them. I don't know if this one piece of luggage is all they had, or if this column on the passenger list form refers to something like the number of pieces of "checked luggage" (something like a large trunk, kept in the ship's hold, which they would not have access to during the passage). The passenger list also indicates they intended to stay permanently in the US.

The 1888 arrival date is prior to the use of Ellis Island. Instead they arrived (or, perhaps more accurately, were "processed") at Castle Garden, which is near the south end of Manhattan Island. This, in turn, is part of a larger story, related in the next paragraph.

Apparently, the US federal government did not assume responsibility for controlling immigration until some time in 1890. For several decades prior to 1890, immigration at New York harbor was controlled by the State of New York (which owned the Castle Garden facility). The "1882" on Sheet 1 of the passenger list page-image attached to this e-mail refers to the year of passage of the New York state statute controlling immigration at the time the Slobodien family arrived in 1888. In this message, I have written that a state law controlled immigration, which is my understanding. The wording on page 1 of the passenger list suggests it may have been a city ordinance. In any case, it was not yet the federal government. (After the US took over control of immigration some time in 1890, they built facilities on Ellis Island, which opened in 1892. Between 1890 and 1892, the federal government used temporary facilities at a place called something like "the barge office." Since I've never (yet, as of May 2012) needed to know about anyone arriving between 1890 and 1892, I've never tried to learn details about this "barge office".)

A byproduct of the Slobodien (or Stabogen) family arriving prior to the Ellis Island era is that relatively little information was recorded about them. The state law in effect in 1888 required they provide less information upon entry than was required under the later federal regulations. For example, the Slobodien family did not have to provide their previous home town, the amount of money in their possession, their final intended destination within the US, or the name and address of a "contact" (a friend or relative) within the US. Also, the 1888-era passenger lists provide only limited information about the relationships among family members (or apparent family members) who were traveling together. All of these things (and more) were required on passenger lists for arrivals in the "Ellis Island era" (around 1890 and later). On the other hand, the later regulations did not require passenger lists to provide the fascinating detail of the number of pieces of luggage. Their home town was provided in the Hamburg passenger list described earlier in this note.

Essentially everything in this portion of this note up to this point comes from the Ancestry.com web site (the only exceptions I can think of are the names used by the individuals after they came to the US - and, again, this is IF I have identified these names with the correct post-immigration family). Another web site contains independently transcribed Castle Garden passenger list information: castlegarden.org. This second web site does not provide access to images of the actual handwritten pages and has transcribed less information than Ancestry.com (only names, ages, sex, and arrival date were transcribed for this family). However, the second web site does provide an alternative reading of the handwritten information (sort of a second opinion). For this family, castlegarden.org has transcribed the family name as "Slabogen" and the name of "Jossel's" wife is listed as "Brosche". Also, castlegarden.org has Jacob's age as 25 (as indicated below, Ancestry.com has it as 23, which I suspect is an error by the Ancestry.com transcriber, it looks like 25 to me -- the Hamburg passenger list has both Jacob and "Basche" as age 25). Except for those items, the information provided at castlegarden.org is the same as the corresponding transcribed information at Ancestry.com.

The first portion of this note indicates the family left Hamburg (en route to Leith Scotland) on 18 May 1888 and this portion indicates they were processed thru immigration in New York on 6 June 1888. This gives a total of 20 days for the trip (counting the start and end days as full days). The 20 days include whatever time was spent going from Leith to Glasgow (possibly by train) plus the stop in Larne Ireland (if that stop was made after they boarded the ship in Glasgow - the passenger list does not seem to indicate the order in which the ship visited the two ports for passenger pickups). This compares with 15 days required for the Moses Segal family to go from Bremen to New York in February-March 1906 (apparently with no intermediate transits or stops). Of course, the cruising speeds of the two ships and weather conditions would also affect the transatlantic crossing transit time.

Here is the table of transcribed information for Josef Slobodien (Jossel Stabogen) from this second passenger list based on the Ancestry.com web site.

Name:      Jossel Stabogen
Arrival Date:      6 Jun 1888
Birth Year:      abt 1855
Age:      33
Gender:      Male
Ethnicity/Race-
/Nationality:      Russian
Place of Origin:      Russia
Port of Departure:      Glasgow, Scotland and Larne, Ireland
Destination:      United States of America
Port of Arrival:      New York
Port Arrival State:      New York
Port Arrival Country:      United States
Ship Name:      State of Nevada

The information for the other family members is the same as given above, except for their names, genders, ages, and inferred approximate year of birth. The corresponding information in the Ancestry.com transcription for these other family members is:

Fannie: Broche Stabogen, Female, age 24, born abt 1864.

Jacob: Jakob Stabogen. Male, age 23, born abt 1865. As indicated above, I read this age as 25, meaning he would have been born abt 1863.

Sadie or Sayde: Schime Stabogen, Female, age 1, born abt 1887.

Both the Hamburg (Europe departure) and New York (US arrival) passenger list give the four names in the following order (using the Ancestry.com spelling of the forenames): Jossel, Broche, Jakob, and Schime. As indicated above, the Hamburg passenger list does not provide information about the relationships among the people. The New York passenger list provides the following information in the "Occupation" column (for the four listed people, in order): Merchant?, Merchant?, Wife, and Infant? (the question marks indicate places where I've guessed at the reading to some extent; these handwritten words are VERY difficult to make out). The word "Wife" provides the only indication of a relationship, but it is not totally clear whose wife she is ("Jossel's" or "Jakob's"). I have presumed (1) these people are indeed the family that later became the Perth Amboy Slobodiens and (2) the wife and child are associated with Joseph ("Jossel"). The bases for the second presumption are that (1) the family structure "fits" that of Joseph Slobodien as of 1888 and (2) I do not know of a marriage involving this particular Jacob Slobodien until much later than 1888. If the second presumption is wrong, it's likely I have the wrong family altogether. I recognize that I'm indulging in something close to circular reasoning here.

The transcribed tabular information on Ancestry.com for Joseph Slobodien (and the other family members) lists both of the ship's departure ports, the Scottish one and the Irish one. However, the right hand column of the handwritten passenger list makes clear they boarded in Glasgow Scotland.

The following web site provides some information about "indirect" sea travel from Europe to the US (with a ship change in the United Kingdom): http://www.movinghere.org.uk/galleries/histories/jewish/…. This web site primarily focuses on immigration TO the UK. The discussion of the UK as an intermediate point in immigration to other countries is mentioned only briefly (mostly near the end of the web page).

The following information has been extracted from Ancestry.com (via cut-and-paste) to identify the sources where they obtained this passenger list information (for the New York entry material.

Source Citation: Year: 1888; Arrival: New York , United States; Microfilm Serial: M237; Microfilm Roll: M237_521; Line: 20; List Number: 763.

Source Information: Ancestry.com. New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, online database. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data:

Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls); Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; (National Archives Microfilm Publication T715, 8892 rolls); Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

The following item is information I have been able to find on the internet about the ship, State of Nevada (which was later renamed Meeke). I have not been able to locate a photograph of the ship.

STATE OF NEVADA / MEKKE 1874
The STATE OF NEVADA was built by the London & Glasgow Co in 1874 for the British owned State Line. She was a 2,488 gross ton ship, length 332.1ft x beam 36.3ft, one funnel, three masts, iron construction, single screw and a speed of 12 knots. There was passenger accommodation for 75-1st, 30-intermediate and 550-3rd class. Launched on 2nd Jun.1874, she sailed from Glasgow on 19th Jul.1874 on her maiden voyage to Larne and New York. She started her fifth and last voyage on this route on 19th Dec.1874 and was then chartered to the Red Star Line and commenced the first of seven Antwerp - New York sailings on 27th Feb.1875, the last starting 11th Dec.1875. On 2nd Jun.1876 she resumed Glasgow - Larne - New York voyages and commenced her last Glasgow - Moville - New York voyage 20th Mar.1891. Sold to the Allan Line she made nine round voyages between Glasgow, Moville and New York between 25th Apr.1891 and 2nd Sep.1892. She was sold to Turkish owners in 1893, renamed MEKKE and was reported as a war loss between 1914-1918.(North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P.Bonsor, Vol.2, p. 866).
[S1193] Carl Fields, "Notes and Observations About Immigration and Naturalization of George Siegel Family."
[S1194] "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 14 Sept 2013), manifest, Constantinople, 2 Aug 1923, manifest page 48, Lines 26-29, Sigalaitsky (Zigelneitsky Siegel Family (Gevah Berta William Gerbert); based on National Archives microfilm publications M237 and T715; this information is from NARA T715 microfilm roll 3342.

This essay-type portion of this citation discusses the passenger manifest on Ancestry.com that seems to be from when the Beryl Komisaruk family entered the US on 25 October 1922, arriving on the SS Polonia, which had sailed from the European port of Danzig (now called Gdansk, with a diacritical mark over the "n"). This note is based on an e-mail sent by Carl Fields to several family members on 8 March 2011. The title/subject of the e-mail was "Berko Komisaruk Passenger Manifest -- 25 Oct 1922."

Danzig is a city (or perhaps a city plus a surrounding region) that seemed to change hands after several different European wars. It was apparently a "free city" in 1922, although I have only a fuzzy understanding o what that means (notice the term "Freestate of Danzig" appears in Columns 9 and 11 for the person listed in Line 1 of the manifest pages).

Digital images of the passenger manifest pages for this family extend over two sheets. The Komisaruk family is on lines 17-21 (inclusive) of the manifest page images.

The following table summarizes the forenames of the five people of interest listed on the manifest, together with other names (in parentheses), including forenames later used in the US (based on information provided to Carl prior to 2011 by Mel Comisarow). Their ages, genders, and listed occupations are also listed in the following table. I have changed sequence of names to list the children in order of decreasing age.

Berko (Berel)           62      Male      worker
Sonia (Sonya) )           56      Female      wife
Szmul (Samuel/Smilik)      22      Male      worker
Welwel (Bill/Velvel)      18      Male      apothecary
Nechmo (Amy/Nekhama) 15      Female      pupil

If I have the correct family, the Sonia Komisaruk listed here was a sister of my grandfather, Nathan (or Nissam) Golosoff. Her maiden name was Golosoff (or the Yiddish or Russian phonetic equivalent or near equivalent).

Information Mel Comisarow sent to Carl a few years prior to 2011 indicated the family had three older children: Zalmen (Solomen/Sol), born 1891 (he appears in Item 6, below); Leibl (Leon), born 1896; and Sheindl (Sylvia), born 1897. All of these apparently came to North America. I haven't yet (as of May 2012) tried to look for their immigration records. Leon is apparently the person later known as Leon Kay who: (1) settled in the US in 1912 (according to information from Mel Comisarow); (2) returned to Russia (apparently at this time, 1922) to aid family members (and others) in coming to the US; and (3) later became a oil company executive. His return to Russia (to aid family members) is said to have been financed, at least in part, by Nathan Golosoff of Perth Amboy, New Jersey (this is a bit of "family folklore" within the Komisaruk/Comisarow family)

There are several interesting (and/or puzzling) things in the passenger manifest:

1. The family came as second class passengers (not steerage). This passenger-class is indicated near the top of the second page (above Columns 14-17).

2. The word "Admitted" is stamped in Column 1 for three passengers (none of them members of the Komisaruk family). I think this means these passengers were temporarily detained for medical observation, but were later admitted. I'm certain it does not imply everyone else on the pages was refused entry.

3. The last permanent address for all 5 people is listed as Grofskoj Russia (Column 11). This town (now in Ukraine) is more commonly spelled as Grofskoy in documents written in English. The Golosoff (or Golosov) family name has appeared in several documents associated with this community -- starting around the 1850s, if I recall correctly. Grofskoj is also listed in Column 12, which lists the name of a contact (a cousin) back in their home country.

This passenger manifest lists more information than earlier (~1906-1912) manifests I've examined. In particular, this 1922 version asks for place of birth, which is listed as Grofskoj, Russia for all 5 people (Column 33). The manifest also lists height, complexion, and hair and eye color (Columns 29-31).

4. There are some cryptic notations above Line 20 in Columns 7 and 8 (and possibly above Line 21 in Column 8). I'm not certain, but these might be related to these individuals applying for US citizenship at some later time (the notation above Line 20 seems to include the date of 6/19/33). The US government's investigation during the naturalization process may have included confirming their date of entry to the US.

5. Column 9 indicates each of the five people is a Polish citizen. This seems odd considering their last permanent residence was in Russia. It could be the word "Polish" was inadvertently copied down from previous lines in this column. It's also possible they obtained false Polish citizenship papers - or perhaps it was relatively easy to quickly become legal Polish citizens in that era. The previous two sentences are speculation, of course.

My very limited knowledge of Danzig/Gdansk in this era comes primarily from a Wikipedia web site (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danzig : accessed by Carl Fields on 4 March 2011). Although it was a "free city" or "free state," most of its citizens spoke German, but its government services were more closely aligned with Poland (e.g., Poland provided postal services). It might be that a large fraction of the passengers leaving through the port were Polish. Germany had other seaports. Poland might not have had others in this era.

6. Column 16 indicates that all five tickets were purchased by one of the Komisaruk's sons, possibly Leon, who, according to family lore (and as mentioned above), is said to have returned to Russia to help people come to the US. Another possibility is the one whose forename is given as Solmon in the answer to one of the questions on the passenger manifest (Column 19). His street address in New York is also given in Column 19. I did a brief search on Mapquest. His street seems to be in Manhattan, well north of Central Park.

7. The family is listed as having declared only $10 in their possession (Column 17). I suspect it was not uncommon for people to list a smaller amount of money than they really held. However, $10 looks like a very small amount, since the form suggests $50 is a lower threshold of some type.

The Russian currency had apparently gone through a period of horrific inflation around this time. So it is quite possible that any financial assets the family once held had been essentially wiped out. Also, the communist government may have been confiscating land and other property at this time. I know embarrassingly little about Russian history -- much of my "knowledge" about Russia during the early 1920s comes from the movie version of "Dr Zhivago." (I've had my late Aunt Rose's copy of the book version of Dr Zhivago for over 30 years now; I have to read it some day.)

The above-mentioned Russian inflation is inferred from information about re-valuations of the Russian Ruble in the 1920s. The information I have about these re-valuations is from Wikipedia and is described in the following:

The specific information on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_ruble : accessed 28 January 2011) is that the Soviet government issued a New Ruble in 1922 with the value of one New Ruble equal to 10,000 older Rubles (apparently the issuing government was still referred to as Russia on these 1922 New Rubles). Then, in 1923, a New New Ruble was issued, with the value of each "New New Ruble" equal to the value of 100 "New Rubles". Then, in 1924, a "New New New Ruble" was issued, with the value of each "New New New Ruble" equal to 50,000 of the "New New Rubles. The terms used here, such as "New New Ruble" are my invention (they are not quoted from the Wikipedia article). Apparently the issuing government in the 1923 and 1924 re-valuations was referred to as the Soviet Union.

The second and third re-valuations of the Ruble took place after the Komisaruk family came to the US. This timing suggests some of the inflation took place after they were in the US. However, if they were affected by even, say, 50% of the factor-of-10,000 inflation suggested by the 1922 revaluation, it would likely have wiped out any savings the family had.

Later (after the 8 Mar 2011 e-mail was sent), I remembered there had also been a severe famine in the Ukraine around this time (not as severe as the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s, but very bad, nonetheless). This famine is probably more likely to have been the driving force for the family to leave Russia, moreso that currency inflation. Immigration to the US was severely restricted by a change in US laws around 1924. If there was knowledge that a possible change in laws was imminent, that might also have affected the timing of a decision to immigrate. I'm unsure how far in advance it was known the US would restrict immigration.

8. I also checked the spelling of the various names on the passenger manifest against the separate transcription on the Ellis Island web site (http://ellisisland.org : accessed by Carl Fields on 3 March 2011). Names of all five people appear to be spelled the same on the two transcriptions.

9. There had apparently been at least one earlier "Golosoff/Segal" marriage back in the "old country" (perhaps around 1850, or thereabouts - long before the one around 1902 between Nathan Golosoff and Anna "Segal"). Thus Sonia was likely related to the Segal family in ways other than through her brother Nathan's marriage.

10. I was able to find only a tiny bit of information about the Polonia. The following link goes to the text of a 1920-era brochure about the Baltic America Line. This brochure gives a bit about the ship. This information does not seem to include the number of cabins or passengers it could carry (http://www.gjenvick.com/HistoricalBrochures/… : accessed 3 Sept 2013).

The Ancestry.com information is from: Ancestry.com, New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [DATABASE AND IMAGES ON-LINE], Provo, UT, USA, 2010, (http//:ancestry.com : accessed by Carl Fields, March 2011). The 1906 information in this Ancestry.com dataset is from: Records of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957, National Archives Microfilm Publication T715 (8892 rolls), US National Archives, Washington, D.C.
[S1195] "U.S., Naturalization Records -- Oriignal Documents, 1795-1973 (World Archives Project)," database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 14 Sept 2013), Gersch Zigalnitzky (George Siegel), citizenship granted: 13 Dec 1929, Los Angeles, California (Southern District, Central Division, District Court), Naturalizaton No. 3177907; based on Naturallization Records of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Califronia, Central Division (Los Angeles), 1887-1940, National Archives Microfilm Serial Publication M1524, Roll 143, US National Archives and Records Administartion (NARA), Washington, D.C.
[S1223] George Siegel, Certificate of Death Local Registration District 1901, Local Certificate Number 3926 (or possibly 88922, or possibly 20465, called the Registrar's Number on this certificate), State File Number 46-088821, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California (24 Dec 1946), unknown repository, unknown repository address.
[S1228] Carl Fields, "Notes on Lithuania and Ukraine" :

This note is a meandering essay on selected topics in Eastern European history. It is based primarily on internet research by Carl Fields. This research was triggered by the desire to resolve several questions Carl had concerning the Segal family (and related families, such as the Slobodien family). An example of one of the initial questions is: Why did the immigrant generation refer to themselves as Russian, when many of the cities they immigrated from are (currently, as this is written in 2009) part of Ukraine? Another initial question dealt with how Moshe Segal family came to the US from Berdyansk, while his sister, whose married name was Fannie Slobodien, came to the US from Burusik. Berdydansk and Beruish are a few hundred miles from one another. [The two cities are discussed in more detail within this essay. The family name Segal is a shortened “Americanized” name. The original (“old country”) family name is given later in this essay. ]

Almost all of the general information in this note (information not specific to individuals in the Segal family and related families) is from the Wikipedia and Jewishgen web sites. The uniform resource locators (urls) of specific web pages have been inserted into the text that follows. However, in some instances, the information and conclusions described in a specific paragraph are based on a broad set of web pages, not just the ones listed in that paragraph (and possibly from pages not specifically listed anywhere in this note). The overall set of web pages is briefly described near the end of this note.

Ukraine History

The boundaries of the current nation-state of Ukraine were set during the Soviet period, when Ukraine was one of the republics making up the Soviet Union. These boundaries are somewhat different from the traditional homeland of the Ukrainian people (i.e., of native Ukrainian speakers). The principal historic (and possibly prehistoric) homeland of the Ukrainian people was centered in the northern and eastern portions of the current territory of Ukraine. In particular, this homeland did not include the Crimean Peninsula and the area adjacent to the north shore of the Sea of Azov.

Prior to the formation of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian S. S. R.), the Ukrainian people had an independent nation-state for only relatively brief periods of their history – and never previously under the name Ukraine.

The Segal family lived in what is now (as this is written in late 2009) southern Ukraine (immediately north of the Sea of Azov). The family lived there for at least a few decades prior to 1906, when they began immigrating to the United States. The city most frequently mentioned in Segal family history records is Berdjansk (or Berdyansk – or a few other spellings). It is a port/resort city on a peninsula extending southward from the north shore of the Sea of Azov. The Sea of Azov is essentially a large sound north of the northeast quadrant of the Black Sea (and east of the Crimean Peninsula).

Between 1441 and 1783, this portion of what is now (2009) part of southern Ukraine had been a part of an Islamic nation-state known as the Crimean Khanate, which had, in turn, descended from the Khan/Mongol/Tartar empire (i.e., Ghengis Khan and his successors). For most of the 1441-1783 period, the khanate was a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire, although the khanate had some degree of autonomy within that empire.

Many areas within the khanate were, in effect, ruled by the leaders of various clans. In the 1500s and 1600s, the khanate was often in conflict with Russia (Moscovy). The clans within the khanate periodically conducted raids into Russia (and other neighboring regions) to capture and enslave Christians, while Russia, in turn, desired to obtain land holdings within the khanate (land more southerly than the vast majority of Russian land holdings at that time – and thus with a longer growing season).

Russia obtained control of this territory during the reign of Catherine II, following a series of military actions. The khanate moved from the Ottoman sphere of influence to the Russian sphere of influence in 1774, and was, in effect, annexed to Russia in 1783. Crimea and the portion of the “north shore” of the Sea of Azov extending eastward to Berdjansk became part of what was then known as Russia’s Taurida oblast, later called Taurida governate (or guberniya). Taurida (sometimes called Tavritch) was part of a larger area within southern Russia called Novorussia (or Novorossiya, literally New Russia). The 1783 annexation involved only Taurida – other portions of Novorussia were acquired in several stages during the late 1700s and up through 1812. Information about the Crimean Khanate (described in this paragraph and the tow preceding paragraphs) is on the following web page: (http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_Khanate : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009).

The territory known as Taurida during the era it was part of imperial Russia (1783-1917) is now (2009) largely within the Ukrainian oblasts (regions) of Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhia, and Donetsk. Berdjansk (the primary Segal family residence in ~1906) is currently (2009) within Zaporizhia oblast (this name is also spelled Zaporizhzhya, Zaporozhe, Zaporozh’ye, Zaporyzhia, and other ways). Information about the current (2009) political subdivisions of Ukraine is on the following web page: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subdivisions_of_Ukraine : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). It was not until after the Russian Revolution of 1917 (and subsequent formation of the Soviet Union), that portions of Novorussia were incorporated into the Ukraine S. S. R., which, in turn, has evolved into the current nation-state of Ukraine. Information about the subdivisions around the time of the Segal family immigration is in web pages described at various points throughout this note, especially in the discussion (below) of the Pale of Settlement.

The remainder of what is now Ukraine (the portion that had not been part of the Crimean Khanate) has a somewhat different history. That territory descended from Cossack-dominated states. This “Cossack territory” was incorporated into Russia in several stages between 1686 and about 1793. Information about the history of this “other” part of Ukraine is on the following web pages: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009) and (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_historical_regions : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009).

The territory that was known as Taurida guberniya around 1906 – when the Segal family began immigrating to the US – had thus gone from being part of the Crimean Khanate directly to being part of Russia (Novorussiya). It had not yet (as of 1906) been part of Ukraine. This is apparently the reason the members of the Segal family in the immigrant generation thought of themselves as Russian – not Ukrainian (and apparently could speak Russian, but probably not Ukrainian). One internet source indicates that even in 2001, Russian was the “native” language of 48.2% of the residents of Zaporizhia Oblast in Ukraine. This is only slightly less than the 50.2% value for Ukrainian speakers in that oblast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Ukraine : accessed by Carl Fields in December 2009). This high percentage of Russian speakers is probably, in part, because historically this region was a rather late addition to current-day (2009) Ukraine. Other likely factors are: (1) under the Russian Empire, Ukrainian culture and use of the Ukrainian language were discouraged – in favor of the Russian language -- even in the regions of current-day Ukraine where the Ukrainian culture had historically been dominant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_language : accessed by Carl Fields in December 2009) and (2) immigration into the region by Russian speakers during the Soviet era. [The degree to which various members of the Segal family immigrant generation were fluent (and literate) in Russian is unclear to Carl Fields. Yiddish was probably the first language for most of them. In US census records that list native language – such as the 1920 census – members of the Segal family in the immigrant generation almost always indicated Yiddish (not Russian) was their “native” or first language. Exceptions in the 1920 census are that Russian was listed as the first language for Isadore Siegel and “Jewish” was listed for Harry and Constant Segal, who lived in adjacent apartments. Exceptions in the 1930 census are that George Siegel, living in the Los Angeles CA area, listed German as his “native” language, while his wife and sons, living in New York, listed Russian. It is not known which household member supplied information to the census taker at each household. It is possible the census taker misunderstood or improvised in the case of the “Jewish” and “German” entries – in 1930, George Siegel seemed to be living, possibly as a boarder, with a German immigrant.]

Agricultural Colonies in Southern Russia

The area (i.e., the portion of Taurida) north of the Sea of Azov was relatively sparsely populated and not intensively farmed in the early 1800s (shortly after annexation by Imperial Russia). This is apparently partly because the peoples of the khanate who inhabited that region were largely nomadic cattle-breeders (the land could probably not support a large population with this relatively low-intensity type of agriculture). The relatively sparse population was also partly due to expulsion (or “voluntary” immigration) of at least some elements of the khanate-era population after annexation (it is likely that some members of certain clans left – especially persons who had been in the nobility, or other elite groups, within the khanate). In addition, after annexation, much of the land in this region may have been sold or granted to members of the Russian nobility or wealthy elite Russians.

The (Moscow) Russian government undertook a program of “colonization” of this area. In this program, people (including Jews) from other portions of the Russian Empire – including other portions of what is now Ukraine -- were induced to settle in this area. Settlers from Germany, Switzerland, France, and Greece also participated in this colonization. The colonization effort involved several portions of Novorussia (not just Taurdia guberniya, the portion that had been the khanate). It appears that colonies were originally divided by nationality. That is, the population of a specific colony (village and surrounding farmland) would be essentially all Jews, all Germans, all Greeks, etc.

The Jewish colonies in what is now the Ukraine seem to have been founded in two general periods: 1806-1811 and ~1822-1866 (although Jewish colonization in this second period was apparently sporadic as government policy was revised several times). The edicts and statutes enabling the Jewish colonization program relaxed certain restrictions normally applied to Jews with respect to taxation and to the rental or purchase of land (and possibly some exemptions from military conscription, but the discussions on this topic at various web sites seemed unclear to Carl Fields). However, some of the articles describing the history of this era also mention grants of land (or of money to purchase land) for some Jews who did not have enough money to rent or buy farmland.

Many Jews (and probably some others) who came to this area due to the colonization program were primarily from what seems to have often been referred to (at that time) as “Lithuania.” This “historic Lithuania” was a larger geographical area than the current (2009) nation-state of Lithuania (much of the territory that had been controlled by Lithuania, at the height of its power, is now within Belarus). The history of Lithuania, including its incorporation into the Russian Empire, is briefly discussed later in this note, in the section called “Lithuanian History”. [The general history summarized up to this point in this section is roughly consistent with the Segal family “folklore,” with respect to (1) Moshe Leib Segal having been born in “Lithuania” and (2) his father receiving a “land grant” from “the czar.” A possible alternative meaning of this “land grant” is described later in this note. Outside of the Segal family, Moshe Leib was apparently often known by the given name of Moses after immigration to the United States.]

There may have been several motivations for the Russian government in the establishment of the Jewish agricultural colonies. Reading between the lines in the various articles, one motivation appears to have been to “direct” Jews into more “productive” professions (such as agriculture), rather than their perceived traditional professions of “innkeepers” (which probably means tavern keepers), merchants, and traders. Jews in these professions were likely to have been viewed by many gentiles (with an element of anti-Semitism) as “parasites” who “lived off of” Russian peasants (and the Jewish businesspeople were probably believed to overcharge). Leaving aside anti-Semitism, many people, even today, tend to feel that “middlemen” are compensated (or collect fees and commissions) in excess of they value they add. One can speculate that the colonization program was viewed favorably by non-Jewish “Lithuanian” business people, such as innkeepers and merchants, who probably welcomed reduced competition in their professions.

Despite the apparent objective of trying to get Jews to become farmers (agriculturists), it seems that (by the 1870s) the program resulted in a growth of the non-farm Jewish population in medium-sized cities and towns of what is now southern Ukraine, as Jews later migrated from farms (i.e., the colonies) to the cities and towns in this area. This was probably an unanticipated consequence of the colonization program. This “second migration” – and a return to occupations other than agriculture -- seems to have occurred because: (1) some colonists realized they were not suited to become highly skilled agriculturists (but did have skills that enabled them to make a living in the nearby cities and towns) and (2) inheritance laws (and other restrictions) limited the amount of farmland available to sons of the colonist-farmers (thus, in families with more than one or two sons, the “excess” sons had to look for non-farm employment opportunities in the nearby cities and towns). It is also possible that some non-farming family members from “Lithuania” moved directly to cities and towns near where other members of their families were agricultural colonists (i. e., some Jews may have moved to cities and towns in Novorussia without ever having been colonist-farmers). Information about the colonization program is at many places on the Jewishgen web site, including (but not nearly limited to): (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009) and (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies%5Fof%5FUkraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009)

Pale of Settlement

Both Taurida Guberniya and the region referred to herein as “historic Lithuania” were incorporated into the Pale of Settlement after the two regions became part of the Russian Empire. The Pale of Settlement was an area where Jews were allowed to settle permanently within the Russian Empire. It was established by Catherine II in 1791. Jews were generally prohibited from living permanently elsewhere within the Russian Empire (with some minor exceptions). Jews were also barred from some areas within the Pale of Settlement, such as Kiev and a few other large cities. The Russian government applied other restrictions on Jews (even those in the Pale of Settlement), such as double taxation and restrictions (possibly prohibitions) on owning and/or leasing land (as indicated above, there restrictions were apparently relaxed – to some degree – for Jews who moved to the agricultural colonies). [It is unclear to Carl Fields, from reading various articles on the Jewishgen web site, how common actual land ownership was by anyone in Russia, other than the nobility; some articles seem to suggest that – in at least some areas – large tracts were owned by members of the Russian nobility who rented or leased plots to others, including agricultural colonists.]

Although established in 1791, the Pale of Settlement became more significant after the second and third partitions of Poland (or, more formally, of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) in 1793 and 1795. These partitions added sections of former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth territory to Russia. This territory had substantial Jewish populations. This former Polish-Lithuanian territory became part of the Pale of Settlement. Additional information about the Pale of Settlement (including a map of the guberniya within it) is on the following web page: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_of_Settlement : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). As indicated earlier, the Russian government provided certain inducements to Jews who would move to the agricultural colonies in Novorussia, including allowing Jews to purchase and lease land (or perhaps the inducement was making these transactions more fea[sible). This relaxation of land lease and ownership restrictions might be what has come down, in Segal family folklore, as a “land grant” to the father of Moshe Leib Segal. However, as indicated above, some of the articles on the Jewishgen web site suggest that land was granted to some Jews, who would otherwise not be able to purchase or lease farmland (or possibly funds were granted to them to enable them to rent or purchase land). Thus a true “land grant” is possible.]

In the 1800s and early 1900s, the territory within the Russian Empire – including the area that is now Ukraine -- was divided into guberniya (which can be translated as “provinces”). These were, in turn, divided into smaller districts called uyezds (which can be translated as “districts”). Currently (2009), Ukraine is divided into oblasts (roughly: “provinces”) and raions (roughly: “districts”).

Specific Family-related Sites (in Current-day Ukraine)

The communities in current-day (2009) Ukraine believed to be associated with members of the Segal family (and related families) include Berdjansk, Krasnoselka, Grafskoy, Andreyska, and Alexandrovsk. These are discussed in this section. Tagenrog (now in Russia, not Ukraine) is also discussed in this section. Three other cities are also very briefly mentioned near the end of this section. Family connections to these other three cities (one of them in Russia, not Ukraine) were discovered after most of the material in this note had already been written.

[In examining the various documents on the Jewishgen web site, Carl Fields has thus far (as of December 2009) not located the original Segal family name, Ziegelneitsky, among the families mentioned with respect to any of the Ukrainian colonies (likewise the family name has not been located using any phonetically-similar alternative spelling, such as Tselegnitski). This is probably not significant, because only fragmentary documentation is on the Jewishgen web site – and the total set of all existing (surviving) documentation is probably fragmentary, including documents that exist only on paper (not microfilmed or in digital form), untranslated, in Russia and in the Ukraine. The family name does appear in certain “Lithuanian” records on the Jewishgen web site (actually these are Russian records, from after the 1793 partition when the “Lithuanian” regions were incorporated into Imperial Russia – many of these are now in Belarus – and the name(s) that appear are variations of Ziegelneitsky). These family-name appearances discussed later in this note (in the section called Lithuanian History).]

Berdjansk is associated with most immigrant-generation Segals (and members of some related families). It is a seaport/resort city on a peninsula extending southward from the north shore of the Sea of Azov at 46° 45’ N, 36°47’ E. It is currently (2009) in Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine. Its 2001 population was about 123,000. In 1906 it was in Taurdia Guberniya, Russia. Information on Berdjansk is at the following web sites: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berdyansk : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009) and (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). Berdjansk was not an agricultural colony. It is listed on the Jewishgen web site in the category of “adjacent towns and villages” (places Jews migrated to after first moving to the region as colonists – or possibly in parallel with the agricultural colonization). Several such “adjacent towns and villages” are identified on the following web page: (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009).

Krasnoselka is listed because information on the Jewishgen web site indicates a family named Golosov (an alternative spelling to Golosoff) lived in the town for a time (probably in the 1850s or 1860s). Nathan Golosoff was a son-in-law of Moshe Leib Segal. Krasnoselka was a Jewish agricultural colony about 60 miles roughly northeast of Berdjansk at 47° 37' N, 36° 33' E. Krasnolselka is currently in Zaporizhia Oblast. In ~1906 it was in Alexandrovski uyezd of Ekaterinoslav guberniya. This colony was also known as Dritnumer – a name which is probably related to the Yiddish term for “number three,” a number used for this colony in Russian records – it was the third colony established in Ekaterinoslav guberniya). Information on Krasnoselka (including mention of the Golosov surname) is on the following web page: (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009).

A scanned (or translation/transcription) document on the Jewishgen web site may be the source for the listing of the Golosov family name with Krasnoselka. This document is at the following web page: (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). The document appears to be a summary of an article in a Russian journal that was translated and printed in one of a series of US publications named RAGAS Report(s), where RAGAS is an abbreviation for “Russian American Genealogical Archival Service.” The Golosov surname also appears on the following web page (which may be a different translation of the same RAGAS article): (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). A long listing of surnames (including Golosov) abstracted from various sources related to Ukrainian Jewish agricultural colonies appears on the Jewishgen web site at: (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). The Golosov entry in this list is probably based on the RAGAS Report(s) articles mentioned previously. However, this “surname list” contains a note opposite the listing for “Golosov” referring to “S. Yelishevitch memoirs.” A set of memoirs by a S. Yelishevitch is present in the Jewishgen web site (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009), but they do not appear to mention the surname Golosov. The Jewishgen web site also contains material from a revision list for Krasnoselka for 1858, but it does not seem to contain any Golosov/Golosoff names. This revision list is at: (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). Carl Fields was unable to locate a current address for RAGAS – or for a surviving organization or agency – during a brief Internet search in 2010.

A Jewish cemetery (and/or a mass grave) exists in or near Krasnoselka. The mass grave is said to be from a mass execution of 112 people, much of the community’s Jewish population, by German troops in November 1941. A small amount of additional information is at the following web site (http://www.lo-tishkach.org/en : accessed by Carl Fields, February 2010). The web site lists (spells) the town name as Krasnoselivka. Mel Comisarow (who has visited this community, but did not see the cemetery) indicates this is an alternative name for Krasnoselka (Mel Comisarow, Re: Ukrainian Cemetery Information, e-mail to Carl Fields, 8 February 2010). He indicates Krasnoselivka is a transliteration of the Ukrainian spelling (or pronunciation), while Krasnoselka is a transliteration of the Russian spelling/pronunciation.

Krasnoselka also appears in what is apparently primarily a Ukrainian language web site (http://www.evkol.nm.ru/js_ukraine_en.htm : accessed by Carl Fields, March 2010) that was created by Yakov Pasik. This web site appears to reflect the situation of at least some of the villages in the Ukrainian Soviet around 1930. The site suggests at that time 21 “Jewish” villages were administered as “separate villages” (or perhaps the 21 villages were administered as a collective of some type), while other villages were administered as part of 3 regions (rayons), where maps identify regions, with 5 to 12 villages identified in maps of the regions. Krasnoselka appears to be one of the five villages included in the “Novozlatopol' Jewish national rayon Zaporozhe okrug”. The regions shown on the maps on the web site have very odd shapes. Political or governmental regions in the United States with shapes of this nature would probably be said to have been gerrymandered. Grafskoy (discussed below) the other village discussed in this section that has clearly been identified as an agricultural colony (rather than as an “adjacent town”) does not appear to be mentioned in the ~1930 material on the web site in question (at least not under a name similar to Grafskoy). However, the site of Grafskoy (based on the coordinates listed in the following paragraph) would seem to have been included in the land within the “Novozlatopol” rayon.

Grafskoy was initially included in this list because information on the Jewishgen web site indicates it is the home of a family named Komisaruk. A sister of Nathan Golosoff married a Komisaruk. Grafskoy was a Jewish agricultural colony about 53 miles roughly north of Berdjansk at 47° 31' N, 36° 49' E. Grofsky (also known as Proletarsky) is in Zaporizhia Oblast. In ~1905 it was in the Mariupolskii uyezd of Ekaterinoslav guberniya (the guberniya immediately north of Taurida guberniya). Information on Grafskoy is at the following web page: (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). This Jewishgen web page for Grafskoy contains links to at least one scanned original 1858 document and a translation of additional 1858 material listing several surnames of families and individuals who lived in Grosfsy (including the surname Komisaruk, under various spellings). Grofsky seems to have been established around 1847.

After I had written most of the material in this note, a ship passenger list was uncovered for Berko Komisaruk and several members of his family (his wife’s maiden name was Golosoff). This passenger list indicates the last permanent residence (prior to immigration) for each member of this family had been Grafskoy and that each member of the family had been born in Grafskoy. The town name is spelled Grofskoy on that passenger list.

Andreyevka is listed because information on the Jewishgen web site suggests it was the home of the Yovel/Yowell family. Harry Segal’s wife’s maiden name was Hannah/Anna Yowell. It was a town about 25 miles roughly north northwest of Berdjansk at 47° 06' N, 36° 35' E. Andreyevka is in Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine. In ~1906 it was in Taurida Guberniya, Russia. Information on Andreyevka is on the following web page: (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009 – this web page features a photograph of the Avraham and Tcharna Yovel family, said to have been taken in Andreyevka in 1903; a link from a Jewishgen Berdjansk web site, described a few paragraphs above, contains a photograph from the Zev Yovel family, said to have been taken in Berdjansk in 1903 -- perhaps elements of the Yovel family were in both Berdjansk and Andreyevka). This Jewishgen web page for Andreyevka does not seem to provide links to scanned copies (or translations or transcriptions) of any source census or tax list documents for the village (a translation of one brief newspaper item is included on the web page).

Andreyevka was probably not an agricultural colony. Like Berdjansk, Andreyevka is listed on the Jewishgen web site in the category of “adjacent towns and villages”. The Golosoff family is listed on the Jewishgen web page (the URL in the preceding paragraph) as being associated with Andreyevka. Hopefully, documentation of this connection will come to light in the future. What is believed to be a Golosoff connection to Andreyevka might be due to confusion with a Golosoff connection to a different town with a similar name, Alexandrovsk. This other town is discussed in the following paragraphs.

Alexandrovsk is listed because two documents in archives in the United States that involve Nathan Golosoff state that he lived this town – and may have been born there. The two documents are (1) the 1906 ship manifest when he entered the United States (along with his wife and infant daughter) and (2) a 1940 Alien Registration form submitted to a US government agency. Unfortunately (for anyone interested in finding this location), “Alexandrovsk” seems to have been a very common name for communities in what is now the Ukraine. The book Where We Once Walked (on page 5) indicates that so many communities were named Alexandrovsk that it is often impossible to determine which one is being referred to (more information about this book follows). However, some possibilities for the identification of the “Nathan Golosoff” Alexandrovsk are described in the following three paragraphs (other possibilities exist in addition to these three). The full title of the “Once Walked” book is: Where We Once Walked – Revised Edition, A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust. It is by Gary Mokotoff and Sallyann Andur Sack with Alexander Sharon. Published by Avotaynu, Inc., 155 N. Washington Ave., Bergen NJ 07621 in 2002, ISBN 1-886223-15-7.

It is possible that “Alexandrovsk” is a variant spelling of “Andreyevka.” A rationale for inferring this “variant spelling” hypothesis is that Nathan’s wife’s family was from Berdjansk (whose latitude/longitude are listed above), which is close to the village of Andreyevka (which is, as indicated above, at 47° 06' N, 36° 35' E -- Berdjansk is even closer to a smaller village about 5 miles south this Andreyevka, which has a similar name). As described above, a Jewishgen web page lists the name Golosoff in association with Andreyevka.

An alternative possibility (a second possibility) is that the name “Alexandrovsk” refers to the city currently (2009) named Zaporizhia, which had the name Alexandrovsk in the early 1900s. It was then a river port town, which also had mills (apparently originally powered by hydraulic flow associated with the river – the name “Zaporizhia” is said to be derived from the Russian or Ukrainian term for “below the rapids”). Zaporizhia /Alexandrovsk is about 105 miles roughly northwest of Berdjansk at 47° 49' N, 35° 11' E. Zaporizhia is currently (2009) in Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine. In ~1906 it was in Ekaterinaoslav Guberniya (Aleksandrovsk Uyezd), Russia (Aleksandrovsk is an alternative spelling for Alexandrovsk). Information on Zaporizhia/Alexandrovsk is on the following web pages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaporizhia : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009) and (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). The Wikipedia web page indicates this (former) Alexandrovsk “was a small town” until the beginning of the 20^th century (the Jewishgen web site indicates the Jewish population of this Alexandrovsk was 5290 in 1900).

Yet another alternative (third) possible explanation for the archived documents associating Nathan Golosoff with Alexandrovsk may be related to the town of Krasnoselka (described above), the home of at least one Golosov/Golosoff family during at least part of the 1800s. Krasnoselka was in the Alexandrovski uyezd (district) of Ekaterinoslav guberniya. Alexandrovsk is an alternative spelling for the name of that uyezd. Thus it could be that Nathan Golosoff was referring to Krasnoselka (or some place in the vicinity of Krasnoselka). This is, he might have been giving the name of the uyezd (district) he had lived in, rather than the name of a town.

Tagenrog is listed because a United States passport application submitted by Philip Levine in the early 1920s lists a city with a similar name as a former place of residence (this application contains a puzzling notation – possibly in a different hand than Philip’s – suggesting that location is in the vicinity of Moscow – the city named Tagenrog, on the Sea of Azov, is not in the vicinity of Moscow, by any reasonable use of the word “vicinity” and Moscow was outside the Pale of Settlement). This questionable entry is rather skimpy evidence that Philip Levine is indeed associated with Tagenrog, but the city is included here for completeness. Philip Levine was a nephew of Moshe Lieb Segal.

Tagenrog is a city near the east end of the Sea of Azov at 47° 13’ N, 38° 55’ E. It is about 113 miles east northeast of Berdjansk. It is mostly known for having been a naval base since the 1700s. An important naval battle was fought near the city in the 1850s. Its Jewish population in 1900 was 2960. Tagenrog is now within Russia, not Ukraine. Certain information on the Jewishgen web site suggests that, in the early 1900s, Tagenrog was in Ekaterinoslav Guberniya, the same guberniya as Krasnoselka and Grafskoy. However, the map on the Wikipedia Pale of Settlement web page (the URL for this web page is given a few paragraphs above) suggests it may actually have been in the adjacent guberniya, to the east of Ekaterinoslav (which may have been called Don Voisko Guberniya -- or possibly Don Cossacks Guberniya). Information about Taganrog is on the following web page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taganrog : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). Information can also be found by searching for Tagenrog at the following web page: (http://www.jewishgen.org/Communities/Search.asp : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009).

Kiev and Mariupol , two other cities now (2012) in Ukraine, have shown up in family records that were located after most of the information in this note had been written.

Various records for George Siegel indicate he had lived in Kiev for a time, probably some years after the remainder of his family immigrated to the US in 1906.

Mariupol is on the north coast of the Sea of Azov, perhaps 45 miles east-northeast of Berdjansk. The immigration records (ship passenger list) for entry of Mendel Golosoff and his family to the United States list their last permanent residence (prior to immigration) as Mariupol.

Rostok-on-Don, a Russian city, has also been encountered in conjunction certain family members. Rostok is on the Don River, about 140 miles east northeast of Berdjansk – and about 40 miles east of Tagenrog. Rostok was almost certainly in the Don Voisko Guberniya (or Don Cossacks Guberniya). Family lore indicates George Siegel had a home in Rostok for a time (again, probably some years after the remainder of his family had immigrated to the US).

Lithuanian History

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a county that existed in Europe in various forms from around the 13^th century until 1795. Between 1569 and 1795, it was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but retained a distinct identity with that commonwealth. Its existence as an independent or semi-independent entity pretty much ended with the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795.

Although borders changed from time to time in the pre-1785 period, the Grand Duchy generally controlled considerably more land than the current nation state of Lithuania. In oversimplified terms (but of primary concern to this discussion of the Segals and related families), the Grand Duchy can be viewed as having generally consisted of the territory of the current nation states of Lithuania and Belarus (earlier called Belorussia and/or Byelorussia). Information about this region is at the following web pages: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009), (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-Lithuanian_Commonwealth : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009), and (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belorussia : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009).

Lithuania is of interest in the Segal family history because family folklore/tradition is that Moshe Leib (Moses) Segal was born in “Lithuania” and came to Taurida as a young man. Although this story was somewhat vague by the time it was recorded, third- or fourth-hand, in the Segal Family History Book (written in the 1980s), it almost certainly originated with Moshe Leib in some form (where in “Lithuania” he was from was not recorded). It is interesting that he apparently thought of his original home as “Lithuania,” even though Lithuania had ceased to exist as even a semi-independent country (part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) in 1795. Moshe Lieb was not born until over 50 years later. As noted in the previous paragraph, the region Moshe Lieb would have thought of as “Lithuania” may have consisted of (roughly) the land occupied by the current (2009) nations of Lithuania and Belarus.

The final sentence in the previous paragraph was speculation by Carl Fields when it was first thought of (and later written down) during the research summarized in this essay. Carl was “searching” (groping) for some connection between locations associated with Moshe Lieb (and his sisters) and “Lithuania”. Recently, Carl has located information in some documents (items within documents, really) that suggest the region that had been included within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was still referred to as “Lithuania” during the later 1800s (as indicated above the Grand Duchy had ceased to exist as a functioning independent state by 1795, having been incorporated into the Russian Empire). The following five paragraphs describe these recently-located documents.

The source documents that like the use of the term Lithuania in the late 1800s with the previously existing Grand Duchy of Lithuania are in the YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. This document now seems to exist primarily as an internet web site (but may have originated as a printed document).

One item from the encyclopedia that is of interest is the third paragraph of the encyclopedia’s article on Lithuania (http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Lithuania : accessed 25 February 2013). This paragraph (which is the first paragraph in the subsection on Early History) states (in part):

“For Jews, the notion of ‘Lithuania’ … has been applied variously. For some, virtually any Jew coming from a region roughly contiguous with the medieval grand duchy (including the imperial Russian provinces of Kovno, Vilna, Suwa³ki …, Grodno, Vitebsk, Mogilev, Minsk, and Smolensk) qualifies as a “Litvak.” Others exclude Jews from the latter four provinces, as well as those from the southern parts of Suwa³ki and Grodno, while some extend the compass to include Jews from Livonia and Courland (Kurland), present-day Latvia.”

A second item of interest in the Lithuania article is the final paragraph of the Early History subsection (Early History of the current state of Lithuania). This paragraph lists the 12 cities with the largest Jewish populations in “the greater Lithuanian territories”. This list includes Bobruisk and Minsk.

A third item of interest is an article in the encyclopedia concerning an individual named Izaak Kramsztyk (the article is titled Kramsztyk, Izaak): (http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/… : accessed 25 February 2013). The second paragraph of the article states that around 1861 he was exiled to Bobruisk in Lithuania (emphasis added).

Three “Lithuanian” cities are of interest in the history of the Segal family and related families: Minsk, Bobryck, and Lida. All three were in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1793, but all three are currently (2009) in Belarus. All three are shown on a map on pages 174 and 175 of the National Geographic Atlas of the World, Fifth Edition (1981), published by the National Geographic Society, Washington DC – this book was published when the area was the Byelorussia S. S. R. of the U. S. S. R. (the spellings for the three cities are Minsk, Bobruysk, and Lida in this atlas). [As indicated earlier, information in the 1920 census suggests Moshe Leib’s native language was Yiddish. Carl Fields has been unable to determine what other language he may have fluent or proficient in as a young man, if he was indeed born in “Lithuania.” The history of that region was probably influenced by the Lithuanian and Polish languages (from the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) and by the Russian language (as mentioned previously, Russia had controlled the area since the 1790s). In addition, there is a Belorussian language, which is currently prevalent in the area (and almost certainly was spoken in the area during the last half of the 1800s to some extent).]

Minsk is of interest because it may be listed in Morris Slobodien’s 1889-marriage certificate as a former residence (the handwritten word seems something like “Murick,” which could refer to the name Minsk, but this is not 100% certain). Minsk (at 53° 54’ N, 27° 34’ E – about 640 miles roughly northwest of Berdjansk) was in the Minsk Guberniya. It is unclear if Morris Slobodien was referring to the city or the guberniya when he provided this information (i.e., what appears to be the name Minsk) on the marriage form, if indeed the reference is to Minsk. (Bobyrck, more closely associated with the Slobodien family, was apparently in the Minsk Guberniya in the 1880s. Thus is it conceivable that Morris believed he was born in the community of Bobryck in Minsk Guberniya, and was listing only the guberniya on the marriage form.)

Information about the city of Minsk and Minsk Guberniya is on the following web pages: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsk : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009) and (http://www.jewishgen.org/BELARUS/minsk.htm : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). Barry Aronoff, who is related to Morris Slobodien’s second wife, Sophia Treefon/Trifon, has suggested the town listed in the marriage certificate could be the town now (as this is written in 2010) in the nation-state of Lithuania that is named Merkine. Information on the Jewishgen web site indicates this town was in a part of Russia prior to World War I and was then known as Merech’ (in Russian, the Russian name is apparently sometimes written in Roman characters without the ending diacritical mark) and Mere[tch (in Yiddish). In that era it was in the District (Uyezd) of Troki and the Province (Guberniya) of Vilna. Merkine is at 54° 10’ N, 24° 10’ E. It is about 45 miles roughly WNW of Lida.]

Bobryck is listed as the traditional home of the Slobodien family in material provided to Carl Fields by Stanley Slobodien and on the following web page: (http://www.fgs-project.com/newjersey/s/slobodien-s.txt : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). Bobryck (at 53° 09’ N, 29° 14’ E) is about 85 miles southeast of Minsk and seems to have been in Minsk Guberniya. Information (family group sheets) Stanley Slobodien supplied to Carl Fields in 2006 suggests that Bobryck is now called Kustaney. This appears to be incorrect, as Bobryck (spelled Bobruysk) appears on the map of Belearus available on the following web page: (http://www.bing.com/maps : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). It is possible this Stanley Slobodien reference is to a town much further east in Russia (which may have once had a name similar to Bobryck) whose name has been changed to Kustaney. T[here is a city called Kostanay in the current (2010) country of Kazakhstan, at 53° 12’ N, 63° 38’ E, but a cursory search by Carl Fields found no indication it ever had a name similar to Bobryck. ]

The Jewishgen web site contains portions of a book about Bobryck (with a slightly different “English" spelling of the name of the city). The table of contents of the book (with hyperlinks to sections of text) is at the following web page: (http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/bobruisk/bysktoc1.html : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). The book was apparently published in Israel in 1967. Portions of the original book were in Yiddish and portions were in Hebrew. Portions of the book have been translated into English -- those English translations are the material from the book that is on the Jewishgen web site.

Perhaps the most interesting section of the book is around pages 131-132, which discusses (1) factors leading to immigration to the United States and (2) the section of the city called “Sloboda.” Page 135 contains 1897 population/census information indicating that an amazingly large percentage of the residents of the town were Jewish. The earliest New Jersey Slobodiens apparently came to the US in the late 1880s.

The family name Slobodien is apparently not mentioned in the book. However, the book does use the word "Sloboda,” which seems to mean both "suburb" and also a district within the town of Bobryck (on the northwest side of town apparently -- it seems to have been known as an area where poor and politically radical people lived). The word “Sloboda” seems to be associated with the concept “freedom” (perhaps in the sense that the suburb, being outside the main city, was “free” from some of the city’s laws and restrictions). The family name Slobodien (or a spelling very close to that) is mentioned with regard to Bobryck on the following web page: (http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). [In May 2012, over a year after most of the material in this note was completed, Carl Fields found a Wikipedia article (or entry or page) titled “Sloboda” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloboda : accessed by Carl Fields, 11 May 2012). This article indicates the approximate meaning of the word is “free settlement” and that it derives from an early Slavic word for freedom. The particular freedom involved in these settlements was from some forms of taxation, but those tax exemptions ended in the 1700s, when the settlements became ordinary villages, shtetls, etc. Since that time, the use of the word with respect to any village (etc.) has been a carryover from the village’s earlier history. A set of passenger lists for immigration of the Joseph Slobodien family to the US was also uncovered after most of the information in this note had been written. This list indicates Joseph and his family lived in Bobryck prior to leaving for the US.]

The proximity of Bobryck and Sloboda described in the 1967 book about Bobryck is consistent with a biographical sketch of Morris Slobodien published in the United States in 1896. This biographical sketch mentions (among other things) that Morris’s grandfather, Labo Slobodien, ran a farm in Slaboda, Russia and (apparently at the same time) was a member of the Jewish synagogue in Bobryck, Russia. The Morris Slobodien biographical sketch is on pages 549 and 550 of the following book: Wiley, Samuel T.; Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Third Congressional District of New Jersey; Philadelphia Biographical Publishing Company; 1896. Digital copies of the book can be accessed at the following web site: (http://www.archive.org/details/biographicalport00wiley : accessed by Carl Fields, June 2010). The Morris Slobodien information from this book has been transcribed onto the following web site put up by Nicki Slobodien Osborne: (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njmiddle/… : accessed by Carl Fields, June 2010). Nicki told Carl Fields (before the Samuel Wiley source book was identified) she obtained this information from Philip R. Slobodien. Philip told Carl he remembered obtaining the information from a newspaper article, many years ago. Some minor differences (almost certainly transcription errors) exist between the book and “rootsweb” versions, such as the absence of the name Jacob Slobodien in the list of children of Solomon Slobodien in the second paragraph (and repetition of the name Joseph) in the “rootsweb” version.

If, as indicated above, the word “sloboda,” means something like “suburb” or “free settlement,” it would seem possible that several communities within the Russian Empire might have had this name. And, indeed, maps indicate a community named Matvosskaya Sloboda is located immediately south of Berdjansk. The coordinates for Matvosskaya Sloboda are approximately 46° 44’ N, 36° 49’ E. Matvosskaya Sloboda is included on a map at the Bing Maps web site: (http://www.bing.com/maps : accessed by Carl Fields, August 2010; Bing Maps was known as Microsoft Virtual Earth prior to about 2009). The coordinates are estimates based on the Google Earth program (Google Earth does not include a community name for Matvosskaya Sloboda, and Bing Maps apparently does not include the capability to display latitude and longitude.)

An end note associated with the narrative for Morris Slobodien briefly describes information from a 1906 voter list that may include names of two men from the Slobodien family who resided in Bobryck at that time. These two men apparently never immigrated to the United States.

Lida is of interest because several individuals with the surname of Tsegelnitski appear in a Revision List for that city dated 27 May 1858 (this list is described as being in having been located in Lvia Archive in a document apparently identified by “fond”/series/file numbers 515/25/89 – a “fond” is a type of record group designation used in Russian archives – the URL is given in the next paragraph “Liva” may actually be an abbreviation, LVIA, related to the Lithuanian State Archives). In particular, one married woman on the list had the given name Dabrushka, which is similar to the given name Doba recorded for Moshe Leib Segal’s mother, and this Dabrushka and her husband (said to be named Grish) were about the correct age to have been Moshe Leib’s parents. Carl Fields’s recollection is that this “Dabrushka document” was pointed out by Danna Meshoulam-Avital around 2010. Tsegelnitski is phonetically similar to Zigelneitski or Ziegelneitsky, the “old country” surname that was changed to Segal in the US.

Lida (at 53° 53’ N, 25° 18’ E) is about 90 miles west of Minsk and (around 1900) was in Lida Uyezd of Vilna Guberniya. The contents of the Lida Revision List are on the internet in a database found by searching for the family name Zigelneitsky on the following web site: (http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Lithuania : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). The name Dabrushka appears in the city of Lida in the “All Lithuania Revision List” subset of results. This search also located a tax/voter list containing several individuals named Tsegelnitsky living in Lida in 1875. Finally, the search located people with phonetically similar names in a few other lists and a few other “Lithuanian” towns. Although no direct evidence is known indicating that Lida was the home of the Segal family, the small amount of information in Jewishgen seems consistent with at least a working hypothesis that Lida could be the Segal family city of origin.

Additional information about Lida is on the following web pages: (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Lida-District/lida-city/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009) and (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lida : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). As mentioned above, searches of the Jewishgen web site show that a few other “Lithuanian” communities where Tsegelnitski’s (and people with phonetically similar surnames) resided (and there is a good possibility that people with that surname also lived in other as-yet-unidentified communities).

The Jewishgen web site contains translations (to English) of a small number of sections of a Yizor book of the city of Lida (Belarus). The table of contents of the book is on the following web page: (http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/lida/lida.html : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). One interesting subsection of this book describes the derivation of Jewish surnames common in Lida. This section is on the following web page: (http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/lida/lid075.html : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). This surname section provides the information that (1) the surname Tzigelnitsky is derived from the name of a profession, specifically brick maker, and (2) brick making in Lida was apparently dominated by Jews. This surname might provide some insight into the occupation of a “Segal” family ancestor at the time Jews adopted permanent surnames (perhaps early- to mid-1800s in what is now Belarus, based on the Lida Yizor book’s surname information whose URL is listed earlier in this paragraph). It is possible, of course, that more than one family adopted the surname Tzigelnitsky in the era of surname adoption. A Yiddish translation web site (http://online.ectaco.com : accessed 4 February 2010) indicates the Yiddish word for “brick” (in the Romanized alphabet) is “zigl”.

There might be some doubt about the accuracy of records listing specific Jewish surnames in “Lithuanian” (areas now within Belarus). An item on a portion of the Jewishgen web site that focuses on an area now in Belarus states that the names and structures of Jewish families on registration and revision lists generated in the 1800s can be inaccurate. This is because families sometimes fabricated or distorted information to try to avoid conscription and taxation (recall the previously mentioned double taxation of Jews). It is unclear if the falsification or distortion of this information was common – or even feasible – in the agricultural colonies of the Ukraine.]

Additional Information

The preceding paragraphs refer to several Wikipedia web sites. These generally start as follows: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…..). This web sites mentioned in the preceding paragraphs are not the complete list of possible sites of interest. In particular, most (perhaps all) of the listed sites provide hyperlinks to other Wikipedia sites (and in some cases, non-Wikipedia sites) that provide additional information.

The preceding paragraphs also refer to several web pages on Jewishgen. Again, the web pages specifically called out above comprise only a small fraction of the number of possibly relevant web pages on the Jewishgen web site. Jewishgen also provides internal cross-reference hyperlinks that enable one to move from one web page to related pages (which may contain more detailed information). However, the various parts of Jewishgen are not as well coupled with each another as might be hoped. For example, the “town finder” near the “front end” of Jewishgen (http://www.jewishgen.org/Communities/Search.asp : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009) will sometimes not “find” certain information about towns (and shetls) located in the (Jewish Agricultural) Colonies of Ukraine section of the Jewishgen web site. The following three web pages are “menu pages” that provide access to some “Colonies of Ukraine” web pages that may otherwise be difficult to locate: (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009); (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009); and (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). Copies of some of the material on the Jewishgen web site were placed on the Ancestry.com web site during 2009.

An entry in Chaim Freedman’s blog also provides general background information on these agricultural colonies. This blog entry is at the following web page: (http://chfreedman.blogspot.com/search/label/… : accessed by Carl Fields, December 2009). This web page describes certain related web pages and provides hyperlinks to them. Chaim Freedman is distantly connected to certain branches of the Segal family by marriage, through his connection to the Komisaruk family (as mentioned previously, Nathan Golosoff’s sister married a Komisaruk).

The information and conclusions in this note are based on a detailed review of the information identified by (1) specific internet URL references throughout the note and (2) other web pages, which were located by using hyperlinks, as described in the preceding three paragraphs. No attempt has been made to provide a specific source citation for each individual fact (or inference) mentioned in this note. Carl Fields accessed some web pages several times during the internet research that went into preparing this note. Only the most recent month of access for each web site (at the time the majority of this note was written in December 2009) is recorded in this note.

All of the surnames of families and the names of geographical locations, such as towns, villages, and guberniya, mentioned in this note have multiple spellings when translated/transliterated into English. For example, the Jewishgen web site seems to use a “primary” spelling of “Andreyevka” for a village discussed earlier in this note; however, a Google “mapping resource” employed by the Jewishgen web site spells the name of this village as “Andrivka.” A few other examples of alternative spellings were listed earlier in this note. In addition, some villages were apparently known by different names in Russian and Yiddish, and some towns and villages have had different “official” names at various times over the years. Information on the Jewishgen web site for individual cities and villages usually provides at least some of these spelling and name variations.

The best available information indicates Moshe Lieb Ziegelneitsky and Fannie Ziegelneitsky (marred name: Slobodien) were siblings. Fannie was researched, in part, in hopes that locations associated with Fannie might provide some indication of the “home town” of Moshe Lieb in “Lithuania”. Unfortunately, no “old country” towns (other than Bobryck) have been identified as definitely associated with Fannie. The Morris Slobodien biographical material suggests her husband Joseph Slobodien (brother of Joseph) was from Bobryck (now in Belarus), as does the passenger manifest for the Joseph Slobodien family. However, the New Jersey marriage certificate of Morris Slobodien and his second wife indicates he was from a different location (possibly Minsk). All of these are possible candidate locations for the origin of Moshe Lieb Ziegelneitsky.

As discussed in the general introduction to the family history portion of this web site, some URLs referred to this in this note may have changed due to mergers, corporate reorganizations, etc., after the sites were accessed for the information cited in this note.
[S1240] Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Glendale, Queens County, New York, database (with some images), Jim Tipton (and others), Find A Grave, (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 7 April 2014), Fannie Slobodien, Memorial No. 996615196.
[S1243] Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Glendale, Queens County, New York, database (with some images), Jim Tipton (and others), Find A Grave, (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 7 April 2014), Joseph Slobodien, Memorial No. 996615199.
[S1247] New Jersey (Middlesex County) Bureau of Vital Statistics) Department of Health and Senior Services (original issue: State Department of Health, death certificate, Middlesex County Registrar's No. 267, (25 June 1946),Ezak Mahaloff; Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration, Trenton.
[S1250] Various authors, "Family Histories and Memoirs," digital transcriptions and images, Jewish Agricultural Colonies, adjacent towns and villages, in Southern Ukraine and beyond …". This material is a subset of the Kehilalinks section of the Jewishgen web site (http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine : accessed 27 April 2014 - this is the general home page of this section of the web site; the url that goes directly to the "Family Histories and Memoirs," subsection is http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed 27 April 2014.; another useful entry-point url goes to the News and Updates page: http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/… : accessed 27 April 2014). The News and Updates page (or sub-page) identifies Chaim Freedman (e-mail address) as the researcher and Max Heffler as website manager.

Of particular interest among the family histories and memoirs (and other documents in the Jewish Agricultural Colonies material are: the 1994 memoirs of William Comisarow (http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/colonies_of_ukraine/… Comisarow memoirs.doc : accessed 27 April 2014), and sections from Our Father's Harvest by Chaim Freedman (sometimes known as Keith Freedman). The segments of Harvest are in several different files in pdf format (http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/Our Fathers Harvest 1.pdf, http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/Our Fathers Harvest 2.pdf, http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/Our Fathers Harvest 3.pdf, http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/Our Fathers Harvest 4.pdf, and http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/Our Fathers Harvest 5.pdf : all accessed 27 April 2014). The material from the main body of Harvest seems to jump to Chapter 4, immediately after the introductory material.

Pages 11-15 of the William Comisarow memoirs provide certain reminisces of Leon Kay. In particular they provide details of his mission to "rescue" family members from Ukraine from the viewpoint of one of the family members who was begin rescued. Page 17 of this memoir provides a tiny bit of information about the Canadian branch of the Golosoff family (Mendel Golosoff and his descendants - also Mendel's father-in-law, apparently). William Comisarow immigrated to Canada. At least one relative with a similar name, William Komisaruk, immigrated or lived in Australia.

Both the William Comisarow memoir and the Harvest book contain information about Grafskoy (other documents on the "Colonies" web site also have material on Grafskoy). The Harvest book also contains material in Berdyansk.

The William Comisarow memoir contains material indicating the language spoken in Grafskoy (other than Yiddish) was Russian, not Ukranian.
[S1260] "Obituary: Segal," Perth Amboy Evening News, 21 Sept 1926, page not recorded.

This is one of several articles accessed by Carl Fields via microfilm at the Perth Amboy New Jersey public library on 30 Aug 2011. Most (but not all) of these articles were obituaries or death notices. Digital photographs were taken off the microfilm viewer viewscreen. In a few instances, Carl neglected to record the page number of the issue of the newspaper where the article appeared (or else the page number is uncertain for other reasons). In some cases, obituaries and death notices may have been confused with one another. In a few instances, the same issue of the newspaper contained both a death notice and an obituary (usually on the same page). The name of the newspaper changed a few times starting in the 1960s, apparently due to reorganizations and mergers. The dates in these citations refer to when the news article appeared, which was almost always at least a day after the event described in the article took place.
[S1262] "Obituary: Segal," Perth Amboy Evening News, 10 Oct 1930, page 2.

This is one of several articles accessed by Carl Fields via microfilm at the Perth Amboy New Jersey public library on 30 Aug 2011. Most (but not all) of these articles were obituaries or death notices. Digital photographs were taken off the microfilm viewer viewscreen. In a few instances, Carl neglected to record the page number of the issue of the newspaper where the article appeared (or else the page number is uncertain for other reasons). In some cases, obituaries and death notices may have been confused with one another. In a few instances, the same issue of the newspaper contained both a death notice and an obituary (usually on the same page). The name of the newspaper changed a few times starting in the 1960s, apparently due to reorganizations and mergers. The dates in these citations refer to when the news article appeared, which was almost always at least a day after the event described in the article took place.

The obituary or death notice uses an alternative spelling of the Americanized version of her married surname, not the version normally used for her in other documents created during the portion of her life when she lived in the US.
[S1264] "Rose Slatkoff," Perth Amboy Evening News, 19 Oct 1942, page 4.

This is one of several articles accessed by Carl Fields via microfilm at the Perth Amboy New Jersey public library on 30 Aug 2011. Most (but not all) of these articles were obituaries or death notices. Digital photographs were taken off the microfilm viewer viewscreen. In a few instances, Carl neglected to record the page number of the issue of the newspaper where the article appeared (or else the page number is uncertain for other reasons). In some cases, obituaries and death notices may have been confused with one another. In a few instances, the same issue of the newspaper contained both a death notice and an obituary (usually on the same page). The name of the newspaper changed a few times starting in the 1960s, apparently due to reorganizations and mergers. The dates in these citations refer to when the news article appeared, which was almost always at least a day after the event described in the article took place.
[S1266] "Death Notice: Golosoff," Perth Amboy Evening News, 5 June 1945, page 4.

This is one of several articles accessed by Carl Fields via microfilm at the Perth Amboy New Jersey public library on 30 Aug 2011. Most (but not all) of these articles were obituaries or death notices. Digital photographs were taken off the microfilm viewer viewscreen. In a few instances, Carl neglected to record the page number of the issue of the newspaper where the article appeared (or else the page number is uncertain for other reasons). In some cases, obituaries and death notices may have been confused with one another. In a few instances, the same issue of the newspaper contained both a death notice and an obituary (usually on the same page). The name of the newspaper changed a few times starting in the 1960s, apparently due to reorganizations and mergers. The dates in these citations refer to when the news article appeared, which was almost always at least a day after the event described in the article took place.
[S1267] "Nathan Golosoff," Perth Amboy Evening News, 5 June 1945, page 4.

This is one of several articles accessed by Carl Fields via microfilm at the Perth Amboy New Jersey public library on 30 Aug 2011. Most (but not all) of these articles were obituaries or death notices. Digital photographs were taken off the microfilm viewer viewscreen. In a few instances, Carl neglected to record the page number of the issue of the newspaper where the article appeared (or else the page number is uncertain for other reasons). In some cases, obituaries and death notices may have been confused with one another. In a few instances, the same issue of the newspaper contained both a death notice and an obituary (usually on the same page). The name of the newspaper changed a few times starting in the 1960s, apparently due to reorganizations and mergers. The dates in these citations refer to when the news article appeared, which was almost always at least a day after the event described in the article took place.
[S1270] "Constant Segal," Perth Amboy Evening News, 19 Dec 1957, page 10.

This is one of several articles accessed by Carl Fields via microfilm at the Perth Amboy New Jersey public library on 30 Aug 2011. Most (but not all) of these articles were obituaries or death notices. Digital photographs were taken off the microfilm viewer viewscreen. In a few instances, Carl neglected to record the page number of the issue of the newspaper where the article appeared (or else the page number is uncertain for other reasons). In some cases, obituaries and death notices may have been confused with one another. In a few instances, the same issue of the newspaper contained both a death notice and an obituary (usually on the same page). The name of the newspaper changed a few times starting in the 1960s, apparently due to reorganizations and mergers. The dates in these citations refer to when the news article appeared, which was almost always at least a day after the event described in the article took place.
[S1271] "Constant Segal," Perth Amboy Evening News, 19 Dec 1957, page 10.

This is one of several articles accessed by Carl Fields via microfilm at the Perth Amboy New Jersey public library on 30 Aug 2011. Most (but not all) of these articles were obituaries or death notices. Digital photographs were taken off the microfilm viewer viewscreen. In a few instances, Carl neglected to record the page number of the issue of the newspaper where the article appeared (or else the page number is uncertain for other reasons). In some cases, obituaries and death notices may have been confused with one another. In a few instances, the same issue of the newspaper contained both a death notice and an obituary (usually on the same page). The name of the newspaper changed a few times starting in the 1960s, apparently due to reorganizations and mergers. The dates in these citations refer to when the news article appeared, which was almost always at least a day after the event described in the article took place.
[S1464] "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1866-1938 ," indexed database, Family Search (http://www.familysearch.org : 9 Mar 2015), entry for Constant Segal and Anna Glass, 18 Sep 1915, Manhattan, New York, New York (FHL Microfilm: 1614225, Ref ID: B1915 Cert 21097); based information from New York Municipal Archives. Information is from five separate boroughs. Time period varies by borough: New York City (Manhattan) 1795-1949, Bronx 1898-1948, Brooklyn 1847-1949, Queens 1898-1949, and Richmond (Staten Island) 1890-1949.

Travels in an Undiscovered Country

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