Using Newspapers for a Genealogy Project - Tuchfeld part 13

Previously, we traced a branch of Tuchfelds from Rzeszow to Tennessee. In our last blog post, Using Wills and City Directories for a Genealogy Project, we mentioned Joseph son of Salomon Tuchfeld. According to his birth record, Joseph Tuchfeld was born in Przemsyl, Galicia in 1865 as Joel Tuchfeld. His passenger manifest states that Joel Tuchfeld arrived in New York in 1881. While researching Joel, who used the name Joseph/ Joe in the US and eventually moved to Jackson, Tennessee, we found his marriage.

In 1899 Joe Tuchfeld married Raye Levy in Pulaski, Arkansas. Why did Joe Tuchfeld go to Arkansas to find a wife? Are there other Tuchfelds there? Yes. While looking through the marriage records, we found a Joel Tuchfeld who married Grace Levy in Pulaski, Arkansas in 1898. Coincidence? No. Our previous Tuchfeld Project research showed that Joel Tuchfeld was the first cousin of Joe Tuchfeld.

Joel Tuchfeld Grace Levy 1898 Marriage

Joe Tuchfeld Raye Levy 1899 Marriage

So now we know the connection between the Tuchfeld men, but what about the Levy women? Are they related? Arkansas marriage records from this era did not list parents’ names. Unfortunately, there are limited vital records (birth, marriage, death) for Arkansas in this time period. Census records were not helpful. So, we searched for an alternate source of information. We searched through online newspapers to solve our mystery and confirmed our suspicion that Raye and Grace Levy were sisters. We found the 1922 obituary for Emma Levy, recorded as mother of Mrs. Grace (Levy) Tuchfeld of Little Rock and Mrs. (Raye Levy) Joe Tuchfeld of Jackson, Tennessee.  

Emma Levy 1922 Obituary

Sometimes answers to genealogy mysteries are not found in traditional record sources. Creative research can be the answer. 

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