Broida Family (Click for Family Tree)
Finding when our immigrant ancestors came to America is one of the chief goals of most family historians. We can now share one more record that indicates when an ancestor arrived- Sarah Gittel (Frank) Broida.
The above ship’s passenger list was for the SS Cimbria, a Hamburg America steamship with sails that was built in 1867 in Scotland. (More about the ship itself in another post.) The ship arrived in New York City from Hamburg, Germany, by way of Le Havre, France.
(While we cannot be certain that this is our Gitel Frank, there is information here that makes it highly likely this is the Gitel Frank who later married John Zelig Broida. We have found another “Gitel Frank” who immigrated later and with persons appearing to be her husband and children, so can rule out that person as a possibility.)
The SS Cimbria arrived on 13 July 1881, which is consistent with the information in the 1900 US Federal Census which states that “our” Gitel arrived in 1881, and had been here 19 years.
“Gittel Frank” was number 717 on this passenger list, and it states she was 20 years old and female. (There were not 717 persons on board but this appears to be the list kept in New York City, and added to as immigrants were processed.) The 1900 census states that Gitel was born in November of 1859, which would have made her 21 in July when she stepped foot in America for the first time. Folks did not always know exactly when they were born as it was not a big celebration like today, or there may have been a reason for changing the age, as maybe there was a lower fare if less than 21, so an inaccurate age does not always use out a possibility.
Under “Occupation” are ditto marks for “Single.” (Some passengers are listed as “woman” or “baby” under “Occupation.”) If this is the correct person, this document also answers our question as to whether Gitel and John were married in Lithuania or the US- Gitel was single and using her maiden name when she crossed.
Interestingly, it states that Gittel was from Austria. This could mean that this not “our” Gitel, but could also mean that she did not want to state that she was from Lithuania and Jewish. The ship left from Hamburg, Germany, and we do not know what route she would have taken to get there from her home, although Austria is not exactly on the way to Germany from Lithuania. Others on the ship’s list were from Austria, with a few from Russia. The SS Cimbria did take immigrants from Lithuania per one of the sources listed below, as well as Austria, Russia, and Hungary.
There are persons listed as from Austria on the line above and the line below Gittel’s name. A 20 year-old single woman indexed as “Ruske Granek” is passenger 716, and passenger 718 was “Yankel Cohen”, and listed as a 7 year-old boy. Perhaps they knew each other and traveled together? Those do not really sound like ‘Austrian” names.
Please do let us know if you have any further information as to whether we have the correct Gittel Frank or not.
More to come…
Notes, Sources, and References:
- FamilySearch New York Passenger list of vessels arriving at New York 1820-1897, lists 25 Jun 1881-18 Jul 1881, NARA Series M237, Roll 439.– https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-RM9Z-T2?i=859&cc=1849782
Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.Original content copyright 2013-2018 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.
Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly. Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.
