Isador Geist and family in 1920 Fed Census
Click here to view the actual census document of our ancestor
From: poulsonfamily@sbcglobal.net
To: sammylove@aol.com
Sent: 12/14/2010 3:33:13 P.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: Fw: Andrea has sent you a census image for our ancestorHere are the Fellers in the 1920 Federal Census. And, I've attached the text of the burial record for Isadore Feller. There wasn't a document or anything, just the info, so I copied and pasted it. "Ozer" matches his given name from Celia's life story/obituary and the dates seem to be right as well. Any idea what "Meshbisher Untershtutzung Verein" means? I tried to translate it online, it looks like German, maybe? It didn't translate the first two words, but Verein mean Association. It would be really cool if we could get a photo or rubbing (if it's that type of headstone) of it.
Hebrew names are used in prayer in and out of synagogue and for other religious rituals. When a person is called up in synagogue for an aliyah (the honor of reciting a blessing over a Torah reading), he is called up by his Hebrew name. The names that appear on a ketubah(marriage contract) or on a get (writ of divorce) are Hebrew names. When a people are ill and mi shebeirakh prayers are recited for their well-being, they are identified by Hebrew names. When a deceased person is remembered through the Yizkor prayers recited on certain holidays, the Hebrew name is used. Jewish tombstones sometimes carry the Hebrew name instead of or side-by-side with the secular name.
A Hebrew name begins with a given name, followed by ben (son of) or bat (daughter of), followed by the person's father's Hebrew name. If the person is a kohein (descendant of Aaron), the name is followed by "ha-Kohein." If the person is a Levite (descendant of the tribe of Levi), the name is followed by "ha-Levi." If the person or his father is a rabbi, some follow the name with "ha-Rav." This format of naming is seen as early as the Torah where, for example, Moses' successor Joshua is repeatedly referred to as Yehoshua ben Nun (Joshua, son of Nun). Note that the surname is not the same from generation to generation: Abraham's son Isaac is Yitzchak ben Avraham; Isaac's son Jacob is Ya'akov ben Yitzchak, and so forth. Moses' Hebrew name would be Moshe ben Amram ha-Levi (because he is a member of the tribe of Levi but not a descendant of Aaron), while his brother Aaron would be Aharon ben Amram ha-Kohein (because Aaron was a priest).
The secular name usually corresponds in some way to the Hebrew name. Sometimes, the name is exactly the same or an Anglicized version of the same name: David, Michael or Sarah are as good in Hebrew as they are in English, though they are pronounced differently. A person with the Hebrew name Yosef would probably have the English name Joseph and Rivka might be in English Rebecca. Sometimes, the English name retains only part of the Hebrew name, for example, Aharon might become Aaron in English, but it might also become Harry or Ronald. Sometimes, the English name retains only the first letter of the Hebrew name: Pinchas becomes Philip or Nechama becomes Natalie.
There are no hard-and-fast rules about how to translate Hebrew names into English, and indeed, there is no real reason why a person's secular name has to correspond to the Hebrew name at all.
So, from this info, it appears that Ozer is his given name, "bat moshe" could mean that his father's hebrew name was Moshe. Below is some info from another site that may explain the use of "Wolf".
I don't think she was cremated. She had a closed coffin I remember.
have not been to mommy's gravesite in many years but i think it is beth moses jewish cemetery in farmingdale. row 32 if i remember. but i am now interested in grandpa and grandma feller at mt. zion cemetery. i pass them when i travel to the city. i remember being told that our grandparents were buried somewhere in that area, along side the expressway close to the city. after learning the name of the cemetery i am interested in visiting. i will keep you informed. terry
HI Virgil, Thanks for contributing to our lore. It seems like Andrea found records that say Lena on the census but somewhere else she found it as another "L" word. Leah maybe.
Kenny Geist
It seems strange that some of us were named after living relatives. In the Jewish tradition, it is bad luck to name someone after some one who is still alive.
On the JewishGen burial registry site it list's Grandma Lena's hebrew name as Leah bat Naftali. So, that's where that is from. And, were you really told to lie and say his name was David, or just call him that for the occasion? I think it is/was common to call people by their hebrew name for ceremonies like brises and weddings.
From: poulsonfamily@sbcglobal.net
To: sammylove@aol.com
Sent: 12/14/2010 3:33:13 P.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: Fw: Andrea has sent you a census image for our ancestor
Very interesting Andrea. I remember that Mary died when I was about that age.
The only funeral I remember is my mothers. I don't know why I wasn't included in others.
From: poulsonfamily@sbcglobal.net
To: SAMMYLOVE@aol.com
Sent: 12/15/2010 9:28:26 A.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: Re: More.... Andrea has sent you a census image for our ancestor
From what I found later yesterday, his wife, Lena, is buried next to him and possibly daughter Mary in front of them. It would seem too coincidental for a Mary Feller (d. 1961) to be buried right in front of them. That would be awesome if he could get a photo. I looked on a map and it's just over 30 mins away from Terry's house.Andrea----- Original Message -----Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 6:36 AMSubject: Fwd: More.... Andrea has sent you a census image for our ancestor
hi, andrea, i sent a request to terry to get a picture of the grave on his next nice day run in the spring.
From: Kennyge@prodigy.net
To: SAMMYLOVE@aol.com
Sent: 12/15/2010 7:03:44 A.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: RE: More.... Andrea has sent you a census image for our ancestor
We should send Terry over there and get a picture. Did you send a copy to our Feller relatives?
Jewish Surnames
Historically, Jews did not have permanent family surnames at all. Within the Jewish community, we used patronymics, such as David ben (son of) Joseph or Miriam bat (daughter of) Aaron. Names in that form are still used in synagogue and in Jewish legal documents such as the ketubah (marriage contract), but are rare outside of the religious context. See the discussion of Hebrew Names below.Hebrew Names
Jews living in gentile lands have historically taken local names to use when interacting with their gentile neighbors. Anyone with a hard-to-pronounce name will immediately understand the usefulness of this! The practice of taking local names became so common, in fact, that by the 12th century, the rabbis found it necessary to make a takkanah (rabbinical ruling) requiring Jews to have a Hebrew name!Hebrew names are used in prayer in and out of synagogue and for other religious rituals. When a person is called up in synagogue for an aliyah (the honor of reciting a blessing over a Torah reading), he is called up by his Hebrew name. The names that appear on a ketubah(marriage contract) or on a get (writ of divorce) are Hebrew names. When a people are ill and mi shebeirakh prayers are recited for their well-being, they are identified by Hebrew names. When a deceased person is remembered through the Yizkor prayers recited on certain holidays, the Hebrew name is used. Jewish tombstones sometimes carry the Hebrew name instead of or side-by-side with the secular name.
A Hebrew name begins with a given name, followed by ben (son of) or bat (daughter of), followed by the person's father's Hebrew name. If the person is a kohein (descendant of Aaron), the name is followed by "ha-Kohein." If the person is a Levite (descendant of the tribe of Levi), the name is followed by "ha-Levi." If the person or his father is a rabbi, some follow the name with "ha-Rav." This format of naming is seen as early as the Torah where, for example, Moses' successor Joshua is repeatedly referred to as Yehoshua ben Nun (Joshua, son of Nun). Note that the surname is not the same from generation to generation: Abraham's son Isaac is Yitzchak ben Avraham; Isaac's son Jacob is Ya'akov ben Yitzchak, and so forth. Moses' Hebrew name would be Moshe ben Amram ha-Levi (because he is a member of the tribe of Levi but not a descendant of Aaron), while his brother Aaron would be Aharon ben Amram ha-Kohein (because Aaron was a priest).
The secular name usually corresponds in some way to the Hebrew name. Sometimes, the name is exactly the same or an Anglicized version of the same name: David, Michael or Sarah are as good in Hebrew as they are in English, though they are pronounced differently. A person with the Hebrew name Yosef would probably have the English name Joseph and Rivka might be in English Rebecca. Sometimes, the English name retains only part of the Hebrew name, for example, Aharon might become Aaron in English, but it might also become Harry or Ronald. Sometimes, the English name retains only the first letter of the Hebrew name: Pinchas becomes Philip or Nechama becomes Natalie.
There are no hard-and-fast rules about how to translate Hebrew names into English, and indeed, there is no real reason why a person's secular name has to correspond to the Hebrew name at all.
So, from this info, it appears that Ozer is his given name, "bat moshe" could mean that his father's hebrew name was Moshe. Below is some info from another site that may explain the use of "Wolf".
We shall now say a few words about kinnuim (plural of kinnui), a very interesting Jewish peculiarity. **(a kinnuim is a secular name that is closely related or used to replace the sacred name)**
The names of Jacob's twelve sons are often used as Jewish given names. It is for instance the case of Juda (=Yehuda), Nephtali, Issachar, and Benjamin. Now, in the Bible (Genesis 49), Juda is compared to a lion. For this reason, the given name Lion is very often used as an équivalent of Juda, it is called a kinnui of Juda. In written documents, the same man can sign indiscriminately Juda or Lion. Eventually, as said previously, these given names become family names LION ou LYON in France, LOEWE in Germany and possibly GARION / GOURION in North Africa.
In the same way, Nephtali was compared to a doe in the Bible. Thereafter, Cerf in French, Hirsch in German, Zvi in Hebrew are kinnuim of Nephtali and later appear as family names CERF, HIRSCH, HERSCH, HERSCHEL. Let us nevertheless note that the famous astronomers and musicians HERSCHEL were not Jews, unless we are wrong. The name ZIBI in North Africa might also be a kinnui.
As Issachar was compared to a donkey, one would expect to find Donkey as a kinnui of Issachar. But the donkey, not being very highly thought of, has been replaced by a bear, Dov in Hebrew, Bär or Baer in German. The corresponding family names are BAER, BER, BERR, BEHR and also BERNHARDT, frenchified into BERNARD. It is well known that the famous actress Sarah BERNHARDT was from a Jewish family.
Finally Benjamin has the wolf as kinnui. In France, the corresponding word loup was sometimes modified in Louis, maybe as an homage to our kings and Jewish families bear the names LOUIS or LOUY. In Germany the given name Wolf and the surnames WOLF or WOLFF are quite common among Jews.
Once more, let us insist on the fact that many of the above-mentioned names, e.g. BERNARD or WOLFF are also found in non-Jewish families.
These four kinnuim are not the only ones. There are numerous instances of equivalencies between a biblical given name and a secular one, quite often by a more or less accurate translation. We can quote Eliakim (God strengthens) translated in German by Gottschalk hence the French surnames GOUDCHAUX, GODECHAUX and in Alsace GOETSCHEL. In the same way, Yekoutiel is transposed into Kosman and eventually in the surnames KAUFFMANN and in French MARCHAND.Menahem (comforter) gave the German MENDEL and the French MANUEL.
I don't think she was cremated. She had a closed coffin I remember.
Terry, can you tell Andrea anything about where the cemetery is and do you know the name of it??
Gale
In a message dated 12/15/2010 12:27:27 P.M. Central Standard Time, poulsonfamily@sbcglobal.net writes:
Was your mother buried or cremated? If buried, do you know where?Andrea----- Original Message -----Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 9:59 AMSubject: Fwd: More.... Andrea has sent you a census image for our ancestor
Very interesting Andrea. I remember that Mary died when I was about that age.The only funeral I remember is my mothers. I don't know why I wasn't included in others. a.gale
Hi Terry, When you go, get a picture we can send around for sure and a rubbing for Andrea if you have the paper and crayon.
Several of the emails I sent you about this got returned as "mailer unknown". Does that make sense ?
Andrea, are you able to get any information about Grandma Fellers family the Slobadonski's?(or some such spelling).
Thanks for taking the time.. Gale
I was at mommy’s grave the last time I was in NY. I had forgotten that grandma was there too.
Terry, I remember the same thing about our grandparents as well. I can almost picture the cemetery
Dear Andrea,When I was researching our history for a family reconstruction year long workshop (we had people in the group act out the parts of family members. the director would stop action and check in with the actors about their feelings and reactions...in a nutshell) anyway, I saw the name feller in a journal of socialworkers and I called the person. It was a hunch. She lived in NY. It turned out her husband was the son of David's son. I think that family was very small. Maybe David only had the one son. We got to talking a bit and kept in touch for awhile but had little else to keep us connected. Now I can't even remember how to contact them if I wanted to...but, that is probably his grandfather buried next to ozer. Gale
In a message dated 12/16/2010 1:26:33 P.M. Central Standard Time, poulsonfamily@sbcglobal.net writes:
This is the link to the JewishGen burial registry. I'm not sure if you'll be able to access this page. I had to log in to see it. If you can, the names (5th from the top) Mary, Lena, Ozer, David and Sadie Chaya are all buried next to eachother. I found in the history that you wrote several years ago an account by Celia about an Uncle David (Isador's brother) that came over with them and was sent back several times, but finally made it here. So, that must be his brother and buried next to him is Sadie Chaya, probably his wife. Also, David's Hebrew name is "David ben Moshe Ze'ev" VERY interesting what I found about Ze'ev. So, wolf or ze'ev was definitely a family name!(go down)
View in English, Hebrew Name Zeeb (Zeev, Ze'ev) - זְאֵב Gender Time of appearance The Biblical Era Meaning Wolf. History Zeeb is the name of one of two princes of Midian in the time of Gideon, judge of Israel. Citation "God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and what was I able to do in comparison of you?" Judges 8, 3 And, Lena's hebrew name was "Leah bat Naftali". Bat Naftali would have meant daughter of Naftali. So that could have been her father's given or hebrew name. Naftali is one of Jacob's sons (in the bible) and the name of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. That article I sent you before about the origins of "wolf" says that it was common to use the names of Jacob's sons as given names. (Remember, Benjamin, also one of Jacob's sons, is compared to a wolf in the bible) So that's where Naftali could have come from.I have not found anything about Lena's family, but I have not really searched. Did they come to America? In your history it talks about her father crying as they pulled away on the train. I am unsure how to research info that's in another country. I will look into it.Here is the map of the cemetery for Terry. http://www.mountzioncemetery.com/images/grounds_large.gif On the cemetery website it says they are in the section along "C" path on the left side. On the JewishGen burial registry it says "New Section, Row 7, Plot 2" Not sure if that means the same thing. But that might help.Andrea
I spoke to Mona Sclar when I was doing my research for my family reconstruction class. Her father was Grandma Lena's brother I think. He lived to be 101 years.
David was Grandpa"s brother and I spoke to David's son as I mentioned earlier. I found it puzzeling (and so did David's son) that we did not know David's family. We thought it might have something to do with Lena not liking them. That was either a deduction or Libby hinted at this.
Do you have Gary's email. Maybe we should include him on this run on letter.
gale
In a message dated 12/17/2010 3:28:03 A.M. Central Standard Time, virgilmiller@comcast.net writes:
I think that our mothers’ cousin Mona Sclar is one of Duvid’s children. I have not spoken to her in years. She might not even still be alive. I was always told that my Jewish name was Moise Velvel and that Velvel meant wolf.
My mother referred to our mothers’ name as Leah. The records show it as Lena. Libby was adament that it was Lena. Virgil
My hebrew name is Moshe Duvid. I guess someone thought enough of him to name me after him.
It seems strange that some of us were named after living relatives. In the Jewish tradition, it is bad luck to name someone after some one who is still alive.
Maybe Great Uncle David had already died when some of you were born. My "jewish" name was Gitel BTW. gale
In a message dated 12/17/2010 12:36:13 P.M. Central Standard Time, virgilmiller@comcast.net writes:
It seems strange that some of us were named after living relatives. In the Jewish tradition, it is bad luck to name someone after some one who is still alive.
Gale here. Thank you Ilene.
ReplyDeleteI have a gmail account so I logged on in the "sign in" top right hand corner.
Then I went back to your Feller Genealogy page and I was able to write this note after clicking on "comment" in the bottom of the blog.
Gale
P.s.I hope you can all join us....just for the fun of it.