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: 

1. 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

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Original content copyright 2013-2018 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

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McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

!!! NEWS FLASH !!!

A recent small family get-together has made the McMurray clan pretty sentimental, and we have decided to plan a McMurray Reunion!

The reunion is for descendants of Henderson McMurray (1819-1906) and Mary Ann (Horn) McMurray (1824-1891). (We do not have pictures of their family.) This McMurray family lived in Pennsylvania before their migration to Cedar County, Iowa, and then Jasper County, Iowa by 1870.

The current plan is for family to meet along the Mississippi River in Dubuque, Iowa, on Saturday, June 15, 2019.

We hope that people can arrive in Dubuque on Friday, June 14. We will reserve a block of hotel rooms, or you can make your own arrangements. The reunion festivities will take place on Saturday, and there will be food, entertainment, family history, and fun, including special activities for the little ones. Sunday we will have some additional activities available, such as a boat ride on the Mississippi River, lunch in the revitalized Old Millwork section of Dubuque, or ??? We could possibly have a trip on Monday to Newton, Iowa (about 2½ hours away) to see some of the McMurray home places in Jasper County, if  there is interest.

If you are sentimental and want to get together with other McMurrays at this reunion, please use our Contact Form and let us know so that we can put you on our mailing list. Our Contact Form is not published on the blog, and we will not share your information other than with the family planning this event. Let us know what family line you are from, the activities you might be interested in, how many would most likely attend, and what your travel plans may be.

More details to come…

We look forward to a wonderful McMurray family reunion on June 15, 2019 in Dubuque, Iowa!

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Original content copyright 2013-2018 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

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(Click for Family Tree)

Edward B. Payne is that ancestor that engenders obsession in at least one family historian known to this author. Accordingly, his name is frequently put into search boxes when there are a few idle moments, when it really is time for sleep, or at those moments when the yearning to know more about him just won’t quit. Since he was a minister, writer, lecturer, founder of a Utopian colony, close friend of Jack and Charmian London, etc., there are probably close to 1,000 known mentions of him in print found online.

The above booklet was one of the results from a recent online search. But why would this show up in a Google search for “Edward B. Payne”? About to move on among the hits, a slight pause brought this to mind:

Tuesday’s Tip: Don’t discount Google hits too quickly

Painful as it is to admit, Google is smarter than humans in so many ways (not all ways, thankfully). At least, Google can ‘read’ SO much faster than I can, whizzing through books and websites in seconds to bring me just the choicest morsels I am searching for, or didn’t even know I was in need of. This is one prime example.

Google had a reason to choose this link, so it was important to not pass it up, and figure out a connection.  To find that connection, first a look at the Table of Contents was in order, but no Edward B. Payne (lovingly called EBP in our household) there. Next, a quick skim through the book, thinking my eyes would pick his name out of hundreds, but really, the booklet was mostly about why cremation was a good option, the process, etc. No EBP jumped out. At the back of the book, however, were testimonials with a name attached- this might be the answer. Sure enough, a page-by-page search pulled up his name, and this quote:

 

Thus it turns out that “Edward B. Payne” actually did fit in with a cremation search result for a number of reasons, so it was a good to follow and analyze in greater detail. Here are a few things we already knew, which should have tipped us off that this was a good search result:

1. Edward B. Payne was a close friend of Jack London, who was cremated and his ashes placed at the rock now in Jack London State Park; Jack’s wife Charmian was cremated and ashes placed there as well.
2. EBP’s first wife, Nanie M. (Burnell) Payne was likely cremated, as she is listed on a funeral card at Cypress Lawn Cemetery & Crematorium, but under “Interment Location” are the letters, “N/A.” This card was created in 2011 after our research request, and we have been unable to get any earlier paperwork from the cemetery. She is not listed in the genealogy section of the Cypress Lawn website, either, and has not been found on Find A Grave. . This lack of burial evidence suggests she may have been cremated and her ashes scattered, or kept in an urn on a mantel.
3. Russ Kingman, author of “A Pictorial Life of Jack London,” was the founder of The World of Jack London Museum and Bookstore, in Glen Ellen, California, and a noted Jack London researcher. In a personal phone call around 1991, he told me
   that he thought Edward’s ashes had been spread at the same rock as were the ashes of Jack and Charmian (Kittredge) London.

   The moral of the story? Follow our Tuesday’s Tip, and don’t quickly discount Google search results until you have eliminated them through other knowledge of time or place, or until you have checked out the result thoroughly!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. https://archive.org/details/cremation00oddf

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Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

McMurray Family (Click for Family Tree)

President William McKinley signed the proclamation declaring war on Spain on 23 April 1898. What we know as the Spanish-American War officially began as this demand by the US that Spain give up all authority and its government in Cuba, withdraw its land and naval forces, and allow the people of that small island nation their full independence. The war really began earlier in the year though, when the US sent the USS Maine to Cuba to protect our citizens and interests from the civil unrest that was happening. There was an explosion on the Maine on the evening of 15 Feb 1898 while it was anchored in Havana Harbor, and the ship sunk, killing 250 of 355 American soldiers on board. There is still no proof that the explosion was caused by outside sources, and no definitive proof that it wasn’t, but the incident ignited public opinion in the US against Spain in 1898.

Of course, one cannot have a war without soldiers, so the day before, 22 Apr 1898, Congress had authorized a temporary act to increase military forces. The President then issued his proclamation for volunteers to serve a term of two years.

Newton, Iowa, already had a National Guard unit that included three of our family members. Twenty-three years old and unmarried in 1898, William Elmer McMurray (1874-1957), would later became the father of Dr. Edward A. McMurray. Will was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Guard.

Harry James McMurray (1876-1962) was just 21 years old, and the brother of Will McMurray. He was not married.

Roland E. Benjamin (1868-1950?) was the nephew of our ancestor Sylvanus Rufus “S.R.” Benjamin; S.R. was the grandfather of Will and Harry, so they were all three cousins of some complicated degree. Roland was married, but did not have children in 1898.

Some of those who served in the Iowa National Guard did go off to the Spanish-American War, but none of these family members, and not a very large number from Newton. The official war only lasted ten weeks, and helped to bring our post-Civil War citizens together to fight a common foe. The US became a world power as it interceded in this war, and gained the Spanish colonies of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

Life in Newton, Iowa, likely went on as it had for many years. But we do need to reflect on the potential sacrifice our ancestors knew they might make when they signed up as part of the Iowa National Guard.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. “Past and Present of Jasper County, Iowa,” 1912, page 224, via archive.org.
2. “Spanish-American War,” wikipedia– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish–American_War

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Broida Family (Click for Family Tree)

In case you missed it (ICYMI), we have published some sweet pictures of John and Fannie (Robinstein) Broida in previous posts.  After finding their marriage record, and being a bit sentimental, it seemed only fitting to post some of their pictures again.

The above picture could have been taken on their honeymoon, or maybe not- does John look 46, or older? They do look much younger in this picture than in the others we have.

They were married for over 20 years when the above picture was taken.

This image may have been taken in Israel, where the couple immigrated to in the 1920s. John did return to the US in June of 1930, but Fannie was not included in the passenger list, so we don’t know if she accompanied him or not. John was 72 when this was taken, Fannie 55.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest of photos.

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