John Zelig Broida and Fannie Rubenstein Broida in Tel Aviv

John Zelig Jacob Karklinsky Broida and his second wife, Fannie Rubenstein Cohen Broida, in Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1927. (Sorry for quality- this is an older photocopy.)

Broida Family

John Zelig Jacob Broida was born in Eišiškės, Lithuania, around March, 1857. He was the first of the Karklinsky family to immigrate to the United States, sometime during 1874-1875. We are not sure if he arrived in New York or Pennsylvania, but he changed the family name to “Broida.” (It was not changed at Ellis Island by officials- Ellis Island had not yet been built, he is not listed at its predecessor Castle Garden, and the family story is that John chose ‘Broida’ himself.) John may have lived in New York for a while and worked as a ‘rag picker,’ collecting and possibly processing the rags before selling them to a company. He moved on and settled in the Pittsburgh PA area. We don’t know if he married his first wife, Sarah Gitel Frank, in New York or in Pittsburgh, as we have not found any marriage license, but they married sometime probably in 1881. She too was born in Lithuania (around Nov 1859), and we do not know if the two knew each other in Lithuania, if it was an arranged marriage, or if John and Gitel met in New York or Pittsburgh. We think we have found Gitel’s immigration and arrival to the US on 13 July 1881 in New York, so the marriage would have been after this time, since she traveled under her maiden name, but before the birth of their first surviving son, Joseph Jacob Broida, who was born 15 May 1882 in Pittsburgh.

John’s ‘rag’ business was stepped up in Pittsburgh, because he became a “jobber of notions” and then dry goods. He eventually sold “men’s furnishings”- including fine men’s clothing, a profession followed by a number of his sons. John and Gitel had 7 sons who survived into adulthood, plus one son and two other children who did not survive their infancy or young childhood. (If the 1890 US Federal Census had survived, we might know more about these children.)

Gitel succumbed to tuberculosis in 1901, and the children went to live with relatives, some in other cities such as St. Louis, around the time of her death. On 14 April 1904, John applied for a marriage license in Jefferson County, Ohio, (about 45 miles west of Pittsburgh) to Fannie Robinstein/Rubenstein; she had previously been married to Jacob Cohen and they had a daughter, Ethel (1892-1973). Upon the marriage the Broida household finally added a girl, this daughter Ethel, to the household, and some of the sons may have come back to live with John and Fannie, since the youngest was just seven at the marriage.

John “Zelig” Broida and his second wife, Fannie (Rubenstein) Broida, 2 November 1924, possibly taken in Palestine.

John’s granddaughter, Gertrude Broida Cooper, stated that he always spoke with a thick accent. John yearned to be a part of the new state of Palestine, to be with his own people. The last record we have of John as a resident in the US is a St. Louis, Missouri City Directory for 1917. John and Fannie emigrated to Palestine in September of 1920. John was 63 that year, and starting over- again. Fannie was 46.

We recently ‘found’ the above wonderful image of John and “Auntie”- most probably Fannie Rubenstein Cohen Broida- taken in 1927 in Tel Aviv. It suggests that she was called “Auntie” by John’s sons, although we do not know who labeled the photograph. This is a poor, older photocopy of the actual photo, so we would be very interested in getting a good scan of this photo if anyone out there reading has an actual photo, or a better photocopy. (Please contact us!)

John returned for a visit to the US on 10 June 1930, arriving from Jaffa, Palestine, on the ship Alesia. He appeared to be traveling alone, as we find no mention of Fannie on that passenger list. (Maybe they could not afford passage for two? Or was she ill so stayed in Palestine? She died on 14 Jan 1933.) The famous-within-the-family ‘seven brothers’ photo was taken on John’s U.S. visit.

John Jacob/Zelig Broida and his seven surviving sons. From left- front sitting- Max Broida, standing- Phillip Broida, Joseph J. Broida, Morris Broida, Louis Broida, Theodore “Dave” Broida, Harold Broida. Sitting on right, with beard- John J. “Zelig” Broida.

John returned to Palestine and Fannie. She died in 1933, and he on 9 Nov 1938. Both are buried in Israel’s Mount of Olives Cemetery, not far from each other.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Thank you to the dear aunt who shared this treasure of an image after her pandemic cleaning unearthed it!
  2. “Tombstone Tuesday: Fannie & John Broida”
     https://heritageramblings.net/2019/02/12/tombstone-tuesday-fannie-john-broida/
  3. Many other Heritage Ramblings posts tell the stories of John, Gitel, and Fannie Broida and their children. You can use the search box on the left side of the website to learn more. Also, please keep in mind that older posts have not always been updated, so use the more recent posts as the most current data if some is conflicting.

 

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Original content copyright 2013-2020 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, i.e, reference this blog.
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Sorting Saturday: John and Fannie Broida’s Marriage License

Marriage license of John Zelig Broida and Fannie Rubinstein, 14 April 1904, in Jefferson County, Ohio, via FamilySearch.

Broida Family (Click for Family Tree)

Sorting through emails can be a pain, but sometimes there can be wonderful benefits. Today was one of those times, as an email from Dick Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN.com) mentioned that Find My Past had new US marriage certificates. I randomly plugged in the surname “Broida” and the first result was John Broida, born 1857 in Russia. That was our guy! I have long searched for a marriage certificate for John and both of his wives, Sarah Gittel (Frank) Broida, and Fannie Rubinstein. The marriage certificate of interest was for Fannie and John, and as a plus, there were quite a lot of other Broida marriages listed.

Things we learn from this marriage license application:

  1. John was living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1904.
  2. Fannie was living in Steubenville, Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1904, which is likely why the marriage took place there. (I would not have thought to search in Ohio!)
  3. John listed his father as Joseph Broida, which we knew, but states his mother Jennie’s maiden name was “Corklinsky.” We do know the family used the surname ‘Karklinsky’ in Lithuania, but it is curious that John used that name for his mother but not his father. I do not know whether or not Joseph Broida came to the US. If he did, that may explain the Broida name for him, and possibly Jennie had passed away in Europe, so John used the name she was known by there. Hopefully someone will know the answer to this.
  4. Fannie’s middle initial was “D.”
  5. John was 46, Fannie 30 when they married.
  6. Fannie was born in Russian Poland, not in Pennsylvania as previously thought.
  7.  The license application gives the names of Fannie’s parents, and her name as well as her father’s is spelled “Robinstein,” not “Rubenstein” as others has recorded it, and spell check likes to change it.
  8. The license notes that John had been married previously, to “Gussie Frank, now dead.” We have seen Gittel’s name as “Gussie” in a number of documents, so this verifies they are one and the same.
  9. Although it seemed this document would help us understand the puzzle of this couple, there is no previous marriage noted for Fannie. This will now require more research, as we had thought she married Jacob Cohen before 1892, when Ethel Broida was born. Ethel’s marriage certificate states her father was Jacob Cohen (and mother was Fannie). Ethel lived with John and Fannie after their marriage, as she was only 12 in 1904. John treated her like a beloved daughter, and she was the ‘mystery’ daughter whispered about in the family, which we recently identified through deep research. This puzzle of a previous marriage or not is another case where having a census return from 1890 might help, but those have been lost to us. We cannot find a 1900 census with her listed, or cannot tell if she is the same person- there were a lot of women named “Fannie Cohen,” and a lot named “Fannie Rubinstein” (or “Rubinstein”) in 1900. Perhaps it just wasn’t polite to mention that she had been married before, especially if it ended in divorce? So this omission on the marriage license will make us revisit our previous research and do a little more.
  10. The application states they were to be married by a Rabbi, but actually they were married by a Justice of the Peace on that same day, per the Marriage Certificate at the bottom.Typical of genealogy, this document solves a number of puzzles but actually gives us one more big one. That is why, when someone tells me, “I’ve finished my family tree,” my mind thinks, “Then you haven’t analyzed enough materials thoroughly enough!” But I never say that…

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-S59N-F6?cc=1614804&wc=Q6SP-W37%3A121346401%2C121652701 : 15 July 2014), Jefferson > Marriage index and records 1903-1905 vol 18 > image 116 of 458; county courthouses, Ohio.
  2. “Mystery Monday: Who was Ethel Broida Pincus?”–http://heritageramblings.net/2015/05/18/mystery-monday-who-was-ethel-broida-pincus/

 

 

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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, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

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