Jewish Headstone Transcription Help

[kfagan]

Hello All,

I hope this is a good place to post this.  I have a Jewish line on my father's side, but was not raised in the faith so I'm doing my best to learn about the culture as I research.

I was able to find the headstone for one set of my Jewish 3x Great-Grandparents.  It's a large square stone.  On two of the sides are English inscriptions and on the other 2 sides are inscriptions in Hebrew/Yiddish.  I'm hoping someone might be able to help me figure out what these inscriptions say?

I'd appreciate any assistance.


Thanks!
Kevin

[JustinL]

Hi Kevin,

The inscriptions read:

Bruederverein No. 1 (German for Brotherhood No. 1)
Here lies
Shlomoh son of Mosheh
Born Friday, 8th Av 588 (= before sunset on 19 Jul 1829)
Died on the Holy Sabbath, 16th (the month was omitted)
650 (1890) according to the minor counting
May his soul be bound in the  bonds of eternal life

Here lies
Beyla daughter of Shlomoh
Born on 1st of Shevat 688 (the year is unclear, it cannot be after she died)
Died 6th day of Tammuz
655 according to the minor counting (= 28 Jun 1895)
May her soul be bound in the bonds of eternal  life

'According to the minor counting' means that the 5000 has been omitted from year, e.g. 5588 has been shortened to 588. This is common practice with Hebrew dates.

Do the English inscriptions include all the dates?

Justin

[kfagan]

Thanks, Justin!  This is incredible!

The English inscription for Solomon Morris (Samuel Morris in all of the paper records I've found so far) has the birth date on the stone shown as July 19, 1828 and death as March 8, 1890.

The English inscription for Bertha has her birth as February 4th, 1829 and July 1, 1898 as her death.  The date of death matches what is on the death certificate so I'm assuming this is an error in the engraving on the Hebrew side.




Thanks again!
Kevin

[JustinL]

Hi Kevin,

8th Mar 1890 was 16th Adar 5650 in the Hebrew calendar, and it was a Saturday - Shabbat.

The stone mason made a bit of mess with the Hebrew dates on Bertha's stone. The 4th Feb 1829 was 1st Adar I 5589. I'm sure you can appreciate that Shevat, as inscribed on the stone, and Adar look as different in Hebrew as they do in English.

The 1st Jul 1898 was 11th Tamuz 5658. The inscribed death year could read 658, as the Hebrew numbers 5 and 8 are similar. However, the date inscribed is the 6th (maybe the 7th), but not 11th.

So where does this take you? I assume this couple came from Germany. Do you have any idea where?

Justin

[kfagan]

Yes -- the english inscriptions were extremely helpful as they name the birthplace of both of them. 

Solomon/Samuel was born in Exin, Prussia which I've figured out is modern day Kcynia, Poland.   

Bertha is listed as being born in Fordau, Prussia which I can't seem to locate much information on.  When searching Google there is only the vaguest of an idea that such a place did exist at some point.  The JewishGen FamilyFinder database doesn't recognize this name either.  I'm wondering if perhaps the mason got the spelling of this town incorrect as well?

[JustinL]

Kevin,

I think you'll find it should have been Fordon.

I have researched my own German-Jewish ancestry extensively. My dad's grandfather was the last Jew in our male line, so like you, I had quite a steep learning to curve to climb. You'll enjoy it.

I'll see what I can dig out on the communities of Exin and Fordon, although i fear a lot may have been lost as the Germans retreated in 1945.

Justin

[kfagan]

Funny you should say that -- I was just doing another round of digging around looking for "Fordau" by poking around on GoogleMaps around Exin since I figured they were more than likely born nearby.  I also found Fordon and this seems like a logical fit.


Thanks again for your help!

[JustinL]

Hi Kevin,

The only readily available records for the province of Posen, which included the towns of Exin and Fordon, is the index (in German) of the Jewish heads of household that became naturalised citizens of Posen in 1834. This index may contain both Solomon's father Moses as well as Bertha's father Salomon. I say may because only the better off Jews were able to become naturalised. Furthermore, Morris is not a German-Jewish surname.

Do you know the names of all of Solomon's and Bertha's children? If they had several sons, we may be able to deduce the names of Solomon's and Bertha's grandfathers, which will help with the unknown surnames.

Justin

[kfagan]

Bertha and Samuel had 6 girls and 1 boy (listed below).  Looking at their Place of Birth from various records it looks like the family made the journey to New York sometime between Samuel and Teney's birth.  I was also able to find an earlier NY state census record from 1865 listing Bertha's mother Hannah living with the family.

1853 - Celia
1856 - Samuel
1861 - Teney
1865 - Racheal
1866 - Lizzie
1871 - Jennie
1874 - Gertrude

I have also identified a marriage certificate that is registered with the New York City Archives.  I'm going to try to make it down to the Archives next week to pull the record and see if the parents names are listed.