Using Passenger Manifests for a Genealogy Project - Tuchfeld part 11

So far, we have been using Galician vital records to connect the Tuchfelds of Rzeszow. Now we are moving on to use US vital records to connect the Tuchfelds that migrated to the US. If we can connect the US Tuchfelds, then maybe we can work backwards and connect more Tuchfelds in earlier Rzeszow records.

We started this stage of the project by searching for Tuchfeld passenger arrival manifests. We searched Ancestry for Tuchfelds arriving in NY from 1820 to 1957. The Tuchfelds range from 1880 to 1952.

Ancestry search for Tuchfelds NY arrivals

According to his 1880 NY arrival manifest, 22-year-old Samuel Tuchfeld from Austria was an upholsterer. Early manifests do not have a lot of information and can be challenging. Unlike manifests from the early 20th century, they usually do not list a specific town of origin, or name a relative the traveler is going to or leaving behind. Luckily, the Samuel Tuchfeld on the manifest has an unusual occupation for a Tuchfeld from Rzeszow.

1880 NY Manifest for Samuel Tuchfeld

In our previous Rzeszow research, we found a Samuel Tuchfeld born 1859 who listed his occupation as upholsterer on the birth and death records of his children. Based on the name, age and occupation, we believe that this is the same Samuel Tuchfeld. We researched further and found an 1893 US passport for a Samuel Tuchfeld who arrived in the US in 1880 on the same ship as the Samuel Tuchfeld manifest above. He lists his birthplace as Rzeszow and his occupation as upholsterer. More evidence that this is the same man.

Samuel Tuchfeld US Passport 1893

Did Samuel Tuchfeld interact with other Tuchfelds in the US? We began to research Samuel Tuchfeld in the NY City directories. We found him in five different directories from 1889 to 1910. In 1889 and 1891 Samuel Tuchfeld is one of three Tuchfelds in NY. All three Tuchfelds are listed as living withing a few blocks of each other. Three Tuchfelds all living so close. Is this a coincidence? Possibly. This suggests a relationship.

Samuel Tuchfeld NYC directory 1889

Jacobson and Jacobson Genealogy Researchers  http://www.bocafengshui.com/genealogy.html  specializing in Jewish Galician Genealogy Research.

Using Family Group Naming Patterns for a Genealogy Project - Tuchfeld part 10

In our most recent blog post, “Using Naming Patterns for a Genealogy Project,” we attempted to connect Tuchfeld families in Rzeszow based on naming patterns. We checked to see if children were named for possible ancestors who had recently died. In the blog post previous, “Using House Numbers for a Genealogy Project,” we charted Tuchfeld house numbers in Rzeszow to look for family connections. We found evidence that hinted at connections but we needed more evidence.

We decided to study Rzeszow’s Tuchfeld family units in a comparative way. Focusing on our direct line ancestors, we compared them to other Tuchfeld lines having children in Rzeszow at the same time, looking for similar names. These families had house number connections and naming pattern connections to our direct ancestor Naftali Tuchfeld, noted in our previous research.

Naftali Tuchfeld was married twice. He had two known children with his first wife and nine known children with his second wife. They were all born in Rzeszow between 1861-1887. We compared Naftali’s children’s names with the children of his five possible siblings. Of Herske Tuchfeld’s eight children, four names matched Naftali’s family. Abrahm’s six children matched three of Naftali’s children. Rachel Tuchfeld Zweckenbaum’s three children matched two of Naftali’s eleven children. Salomon David Tuchfeld and Rachel Tuchfeld (maiden name Tuchfeld, so either Salomon David or Rachel could be Naftali’s sibling) had eight children with four names in common with Naftali’s children. We wondered if this was showing us a relationship or just the most popular baby names in the region at the time. We tested our theory by comparing Naftali’s children’s names against two control families. We chose two (as far as we know) unrelated large families, whose children were born at the same time as Naftali’s and lived in Rzeszow and a neighboring town (Sokolow). Of these non-Tuchfelds, one had ten children with two names matching Naftali’s children. The other non-Tuchfeld family had eleven children with one name matching Naftali’s children. Based on the analysis of our family group naming patterns, Naftali Tuchfeld’s children seem to have more names in common with these contemporary Tuchfelds than with contemporary, local non-Tuchfelds. This leads us to believe that these other Tuchfelds may be Naftali’s siblings, first cousins or other close relatives. 

Four Hersch Tuchfelds born in Rzeszow

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Using Naming Patterns for a Genealogy Project - Tuchfeld part 9

Previously, we attempted to connect all of the various Tuchfelds, appearing in 19th century Rzeszow Jewish records, using a variety of genealogical research strategies. These genealogical research techniques included: using Family Tree Maker Program, using Microsoft One Note, creating a timeline, organizing records, re-analyzing research, and using house numbers to connect family members.

So how do we connect these elder Tuchfelds to each other, no less to the later generations of Tuchfelds? Let’s look at the clues in the records. In our last blog post we connected families using house numbers. But the records also give us other information. The records give us names. In addition to surnames, most records include given names. With first names, we can theorize naming patterns based on Ashkenazi Jewish naming tradition. In Ashkenazi Jewish naming tradition, children are not named for living relatives. They are most often named for deceased grandparents or other close adult relatives who have died. Comparing the lists of deaths to the lists of births, we were able to postulate some relationships.

We found that certain given names repeat over and over again in the family. We focused on the most popular Tuchfeld names in Rzeszow. We created a chart listing those first names and the years of birth and death for the Rzeszow Tuchfelds who held the name. Using this chart, we tried to see if we could find any connection between the deaths and those being given the names. Many were unclear, but some clarified direct relationships.

We created a chart listing three Hirsch Tuchfelds who appear to be named after Hirsch Tuchfeld who died 1852 and three Pessel Tuchfelds who seem to be named after Pessel Tuchfeld who died 1860. We think this is likely based on their birth years being right after the 1852 death of Hirsch Tuchfeld and 1860 death of Pessel Tuchfeld. This type of indirect evidence is not conclusive, but it could help us build a case for a relationship between these Tuchfelds. Our goal of the project is to build relationships between these Tuchfelds.

Hirsch Tuchfeld and Pessel Tuchfeld in Naming Pattern Chart

Jacobson and Jacobson Genealogy Researchers  http://www.bocafengshui.com/genealogy.html  Jewish Genealogy Researchers in Boca Raton and online.

Using House Numbers for a Genealogy Project - Tuchfeld part 8

In our previous post, we discussed the use of a timeline in genealogy. We sorted our Tuchfelds born in Rzeszow before 1800 with the eldest at the top. We hoped this would help us connect these Tuchfelds to each other and then later generations.

The records we examined also gave us house numbers. We used house numbers to connect elder Tuchfelds in the timeline and theorize relationships. We examined the house numbers and found three Tuchfelds, born before 1800, died in the same house. Kreindl Tuchfeld 1796 - 1848, Joel Tuchfeld 1788 - 1856, and Pesche Taube Tuchfeld 1789 - 1856. Is this a married couple and sister, sister-in-law, or second wife, etc.? Who is Joel Tuchfeld married to? The house numbers narrow down the possibilities, but do not give us the answer.

Kreindl Tuchfeld’s 1848 Rzeszow Death Record

Joel Tuchfeld’s 1856 Rzeszow Death Record

Pesche Taube Tuchfeld’s 1856 Rzeszow Death Record

How will we determine who is the correct Mrs. Joel Tuchfeld, mother of his children? How will we best connect as many Tuchfelds to each other as possible?  We can address these questions in our next blog post.

House numbers did help us solve other genealogical questions related to this project. When we found the death record for a Hersz Tuchfeld who died Aug 22 1856 in house 88 at age 55 we were unsure of whose death record we had found. There were two Hirsch (Hersz) Tuchfelds who fit the profile. One was married to Chana and the one was married to Szeindel. Chane Tuchfeld died Dec 19 1856 in house 88 age 52. Szeindel did not die in Rzeszow. This leads us to believe that the Hersz Tuchfeld, who died in house 88, was the husband of Chane Tuchfeld, who died in house 88 four months later. House numbers came in handy for this Rzeszow couple.

Hersz Tuchfeld’s 1856 Rzeszow Death Record

Chane Tuchfeld’s 1856 Rzeszow Death Record

Jacobson and Jacobson Genealogy Researchers  http://www.bocafengshui.com/genealogy.html  specializing in Jewish Galician Genealogy Research.

Using Timelines for a Genealogy Project - Tuchfeld part 7

Since we are trying to connect all of the Rzeszow Tuchfelds, we decided to create a Tuchfeld Timeline using the information we had already acquired. Genealogists often create a historical timeline, where an ancestor’s life is comingled with historical events. Sometimes we create a chronological list of events in one ancestor’s life. Often, we do this for our clients to bring the research to life for them. For our genealogical research project, we decided to go with a different type of timeline.  So far, we have gone through the available Rzeszow birth, marriage, death and census records back to 1842. We wanted to see if we could find any connections between these early Rzeszow Tuchfelds. We also wanted to find the Tuchfeld who is the earliest patriarch on record. We hoped this could be the key to connecting them all. We created a timeline showing the name, birth year, death year, and house number of all Rzeszow Tuchfelds born before 1800.

Tuchfeld Rzeszow Timeline

To create this Tuchfeld Timeline, we searched through all of the Rzeszow Tuchfelds we had collected and recorded in our Family Tree Maker program. We identified those born before 1800 and created a list with all known information about those individuals. We were able to identify twelve Tuchfelds in Rzeszow records who were born before 1800. We created a timeline with the eldest known Tuchfeld at the top. The eldest recorded Tuchfeld was Henne Tuchfeld, 1769-1853. Henne was born almost 20 years before Jews in Galicia were required to adopt fixed surnames.

1853 Rzeszow Death Record for Henne Tuchfeld, eldest recorded Tuchfeld found to date

So how do we connect these elder Tuchfelds to each other, no less to the later generations of Tuchfelds? That’s for the next blog post to deal with.

Jacobson and Jacobson Genealogy Researchers  http://www.bocafengshui.com/genealogy.html  helping you grow your family tree.

Using Family Tree Maker for a Genealogy Project - Tuchfeld part 6

In addition to creating lists and examining records of the Rzeszow Tuchfelds, we also added these possible family members to our Family Tree Maker program. Family Tree Maker allowed us to build separate trees for each of these lines. We were able to organize these Tuchfelds and build family groupings. We added names, dates, places, causes of death, occupations, etc. and sourced everything. We were able to create multiple generation trees for some of the Tuchfeld lines. We were able to connect some of the lines to each other after examining them in the Family Tree Maker. Family Tree Maker helped us see the big picture, multiple generations and family connections. Family Tree Maker allowed us to see each possible family member using the People Workspace and Person Tab Overview or the family group using the Family Group View.

People Workspace

Person Tab

There are also lots of charts and reports. These charts and reports allowed us to see the family relationships in different ways.

Relationship Chart

Jacobson and Jacobson Genealogy Researchers  http://www.bocafengshui.com/genealogy.html  Jewish Genealogy Researchers in Boca Raton and online.

German and Polish Language Records for a Genealogy Project - Tuchfeld part 5

Examining the images of the records related to our Tuchfeld Project turned out to be a slow and complicated process. Luckily, many of the images are online but they are not all on the same website. We used the Family List that we created (discussed in our last blog post) to help us identify the individual records we needed to examine. We went page by page through Rzeszow birth, marriage and death records 1842-1910, where available. These records are all handwritten, in script, in either German or Polish (or a combination), and not in the best condition. This made them very difficult to decipher and it took a lot of time to fully examine each genealogical record.

1862 Rzeszow Birth Record with no maiden name for mother, German

The amount of information in each record varied greatly. Some records were done contemporaneously, some decades after the event. Some of the birth records included the mother’s maiden name, and later ones even had the mother’s parents' names. This information helped us to identify family groupings.

1882 Rzeszow Birth Record with mother's parents' names, Polish

Most records included a house number. It was not always clear if the house number is the residence or the location of the event being recorded. In the early 1900’s Rzeszow renamed the streets and renumbered all the houses. We recorded these house numbers on our Family List to help track the Tuchfelds and look for possible connections between families. The new house numbers added to the confusion. Seeing the record images gave us bonus information not in the index. This included fun stuff like occupation and sad stuff like cause of death. It also helped to verify or disprove the indexed information.

1846 Rzeszow Death Record without parents' names, German

Jacobson and Jacobson Genealogy Researchers  http://www.bocafengshui.com/genealogy.html  Jewish Genealogy Researchers in Boca Raton and online.