Nan (Lieberman) and Harry Carr

   

Cover of Mason Mint magazine (news letter of the Mason Au & Magenheimer Conf. Mfg. Co. Inc) September 1954 featuring the Trenton Tobacco Co., distributor of Mason Confectionery products.  L-R Harry Carr, Nan Carr, Alvin J. Carr[1]

     Nan Lieberman was the youngest daughter of Phillip and Bella Lieberman (more about them here and here).  Her exact birth date was always a matter of discussion in the family, and she got younger as the years passed, but she is listed with the family in the 1900 census as having been born in May of the previous year [2].  Her name then was Annie, and she continued as Anne through the 1920 census, when the family lived at 718 S. Beulah St. in a neighborhood of two story brick row houses.[3]
     Harry was the son of Louis and Fanny Cohen who had arrived in Philadelphia with their young son Joseph from Romania about 1898 (I haven't found their manifests yet).  They quickly had three more children, Harry in 1901, Herman in 1902, and Henrietta in 1909.  On his Declaration of Intention to be come a citizen in 1900, Louis said that he was living at 920 S. 5th St. in Philadelphia[4].  Like many recent immigrants, Louis moved often and worked in the garment industry.   By 1909 on his Petition for Naturalization, he listed himself as a tailor living at 8021 Suffolk Ave in South Philadelphia[5], and in April 1910 on the census he reported the family living at 1218 North Warnock St. (now part of the Temple University campus) and gave his occupation as operator in a pants manufacturing company[6].  When he registered for the WWI draft he was listed as a self employed tailor again, living at 994 N. 5th St[7].
     Around 1918, Louis moved his family to Trenton, NJ where they lived at 495 Logan St.  He soon bought Trenton Tobacco Company, a

Trenton Tobacco 806 South Broad St.
From Mason Mint Magazine.
The building is still there, and you can still
see the words Trenton Tobacco Co on the
top of the building.

wholesale business located at 177 South Broad Street in a three story store front building with an apartment above where the family lived[8].  Louis, Joseph, and Harry owned and ran the business together.   The business must have been very successful.  In 1921, Louis, Joseph and Harry invested $30,000 in the Salamandra Company, which was incorporating as a brewing business.[9]  In July 1922 Louis, Fanny, and young Henrietta travelled to Europe for six months, planning to visit Romania and Switzerland to visit relatives, England and France as tourists, and Germany and Austria-Hungary for business[10]. Also in 1922, Louis and Joseph Cohen bought a building with a storefront and apartments on South Broad Street for "upward of $50,000"[11].  Trenton Tobacco  moved from the original location to the new location at 205 S. Broad Street in 1923.  By 1923, Louis had acquired a large single family home at 8 Oak Lane in a newly built Trenton neighborhood where they lived with their children until each grew up, married, and moved out. [12]
      By the time of her wedding in Philadelphia in November, 1923, Annie Lieberman had begun to be called Nan[13].  Harry and Nan returned to Trenton where their son Alvin Joshua was born on August 18, 1924[14].  In 1930 they bought a newly built duplex at 30 Sanhican Drive[15], near Harry's parents where they lived into the 1940s.  Harry continued to work as a salesman and then manager of Trenton Tobacco.  Joseph married Gertrude Introligator about 1923.  Herman became a doctor and married Elizabeth Stein in 1930[16], and Henrietta married Nathan Levine in 1932 and moved to Philadelphia[17].  The ever growing Trenton Tobacco  moved again to 806 South Broad St. in about 1938[18].
     Alvin (known as "Sonny" within the family, and Al by others)graduated from Trenton Central H.S. in 1942[19], and in January 1944 he enlisted in the U.S. Army[20].  He served overseas in France for seven months and was severely wounded in the leg in April 1945[21].  After his recovery he resumed his studies at Lafayette College and the at University of Minnesota.  It was at this time, around 1950 when he wanted to go on to medical school and faced the widespread practice of quotas limiting the number of Jewish students in professional schools, that the family changed their last name from Cohen to the less Jewish sounding Carr[22].
    Joseph Cohen had died in 1942, and Louis in 1946[23], leaving Harry as the sole owner of Trenton Tobacco Company after he bought the remaining interest from his widowed sister-in-law[24].  Al joined the firm in 1948.  Things were going very well for the Carr family.  In 1954 they moved into a custom built home in Yardley PA across the river from Trenton.  The home featured 12 rooms, a 20' x 65' recreation room, a pool and cabana, and was decorated with marble [25].  I remember that special accommodations were made to store Nan's growing collection of antique furniture, china, and silver.  The raised dining room was secured by an ornate wrought iron gate, behind which one could see her collection of silver tea and coffee services.  One room had a full wall of lighted cabinets to store the many full services of antique china she had acquired.  She loved to open them up and let me examine everything when I visited a child.  She was a regular at high end auctions and estate sales.
     At the same time, Trenton Tobacco was growing, too.  By 1954 the business had about 1500 retail accounts and carried about 2000 different items, including tobacco and candy products, toys, watches, and shavers.  They built a new office and warehouse complex on the edge of town, increasing storage space from 6000 sq ft to 15,000 sq ft. The warehouse layout, designed by Al, had the latest innovations in stock management, designed so that filling orders was most efficient. Al said that Nan only paid social visits to the office, but that she was just as interested in the business as his father.[26]  I remember going to the grand opening when the display room was filled with candy boxes open for sampling.  I was literally a kid in a candy shop!
     Harry and Al continued to run Trenton Tobacco together.  Al married Rosalie Klinghoffer in 1961.  Harry died in 1976[27].  Nan closed up the big house and moved to a newly built condo at 860 Lower Ferry Road in Ewing until she died in 1980[28]. Al sold Trenton Tobacco Company in November of 1980, moving on to other business ventures[29].


1. "Mason Mint", Vol IX, No.4, September, 1954.  Mason Au & Magenheimer Conf. Mfg. Co., Inc.  Copy held by Mary-Jane Roth.
2.. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA,Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2004) www/ ancestry.com, Database online. Year 1900; Census place; Philadelphia Ward 2, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll:T623_1452; Page 11A; Enumeration District 40.  Record for Annie Liverman.
3.  Ancestry. com, 1920 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA,Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2004) www/ ancestry.com, Database online. Year 1920; Census place; Philadelphia Ward 1, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll:T625_1614; Page 3B; Enumeration District 21.  Record for Anne Leiberman.
4. Ancestry.com, Pennsylvania, Federal Naturalization Records, 1795-1931 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, I,c., 2011), National Archives; Washington, D.c.; ARC Title: Naturalization Petitions for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1795-1930; NAI Number 72; Record Group Number :M1522 Record for Louis Cohen.
5. ibid.
6. Ancestry. com, 1910 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA,Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2006) www/ ancestry.com, Database online. Year 1910; Census place; Philadelphia Ward 20, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll:T624_1394; Page 2A; Enumeration District 0343; FHL microfilm: 1375407. Record for Louis Cohn.
7.  Ancestry.com, U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Provo, UT, USA,Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2005) Registration Sate: Pennsylvania; Registration County; Philadelphia; Roll 1907612; Draft Board :10. Record for Louis Cohen.
8.  There are several sources for this information. The description of the building is from "O'Neill Property Sold for $35,000"   Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey) Sunday, February 15, 1920 p. 7.   Copyright NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source: GenealogyBank.com.  The family being resident there is from Joseph Cohen's WWI draft registration Card: Ancestry.com U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Provo UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2005) Registration State: New Jersey; Registration County: Mercer; Roll 175444; Draft Board 3. Record for Joseph W. Cohen., and well as Ancestry.com, U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2011) Ancestry.com, Trenton, NJ Record for Louis Cohen, manager of Trenton Tobacco.
9.  "Variety of Purposes for New Companies" Trenton Evening Times, June 22, 1921. p 6. Source: NewspaperArchives.com
10.  Ancestry.com, U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007) www.ancestry.com, database online.  Record for Louis Cohen.
11.  "Tobacco Company Takes New Home" Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey) Sunday, November 12, 1922. p. 7.  Copyright NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source GenealogyBank.com.
12.  The 1923 date is extrapolated for several sources.  In his application for a passport cited above in 1922, Louis gives his address as 177 South Broad St.  An article about the trip gives the same address. "Will Travel Abroad for Six months" Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey) Tuesday July 18, 1922. p. 8. Copyright NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source GenealogyBank.com.  Another article in early January 1924 gives the Oak Lane address for Henrietta. "Miss Cohen Honors Miss Fay Bookman" Trenton Evening Times. Saturday, January 5, 1924 p. 14. Copyright NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source GenealogyBank.com.  It is unlikely that Henrietta would have entertained in the first week of January 1924 if they had just moved into a new house that week.  Finally,  The City Directory of Trenton in 1925 gives Louis' address as 8 Oak Lane. Ancestry.com, U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011), Ancestry.com, Record for Louis Cohen.  That Louis and Fanny lived there until their deaths is attested to by their obituaries. " Mrs. Louis Cohen" Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), Wednesday July 6, 1943 p. 11, and "Louis Cohen" Trenton Evening Times (Trenton New Jersey) Thursday, June 6, 1946. p. 10 both Copyright NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source GenealogyBank.com.
13.  Ancestry.com, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Marriage Index, 1885-1951 (Provo, UT. USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2011) Record for Nan Lieberman.
14.  Ancestry.com, Social Security Death Index (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009), www.ancestry.com, Database online, Number: Issue State: New Jersey; Issue Date: Before 1951. Record for Alvin J. Carr.
15.  Ancestry.com, 1930 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2002) www. ancestry.com, Database online, Year: 1930; Census Place: Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey; Roll:1365; Page 13B; Enumeration District : 71; Image: 929.0. Record for Nan L. Cohen.
16.  "Miss Elizabeth Stein Becomes the Bride of Dr Cohen at Pretty Ceremony Yesterday at Belmar - Interesting Notes of Various Women's Organizations" Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey) Monday , July 7, 1830 p. 11. Copyright NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source: GenealogyBank.com. 
17. " Lavine-Cohen Nuptials" Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey) Monday, August 29, 1932 p. 14. 
Copyright NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source GenealogyBank.com.
18. "Tobacco Company Negotiates Lease" Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey) Sunday, December 11, 1938 p.22 Copyright NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source: GenealogyBank.com. 
19.  Ancestry.com, U.S. School Yearbooks, 1880-2012 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), Ancestry.com, Record for Alvin J. Cohen.
20.  National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc.) Ancestry.com, Database on-line. Record for Alvin J. Cohen.
21.Ancestry.com, AJHS WWII Jewish Servicemen Cards, 19-42-1947 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. ), www.ancestry.com. Database on-line. Record for Alvin J. Cohen.
22. Personal e-mail. "RE: Long Time No Hear". Alvin J. Carr (ALCARR@compuserve.com) to Mary-Jane Roth. Wed. 30 Jul 1997. Copy held by Mary-Jane Roth.
23. Obituaries. " Rites Held Today for Joseph Cohen" Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey) Friday July 17, 1942. page 16. and "Louis Cohen", Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey) Thursday, June 6, 1946. page 10. Copyright NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source: GenealogyBank.com. 
24. "Mason Mint" Op. Cit. p2.
25.  "Lower Makefield is Proud of its People and Homes" Levittown Times (Levittown, PA.) January 28, 1957. p 11.
 Source NewspaperArchive.com
26. "Mason Mint" Op. Cit. pp. 3-5
27.  " Obituary Harry N. Carr at 75, Trenton Businessman" Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey) Tuesday, May 18, 1976. p 32. Copyright NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source: GenealogyBank.com. 
28. Obituary "Nan Lieberman Carr" Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey) Wednesday, December 24, 1980. p 23. Copyright NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source: GenealogyBank.com. 
29. "Buyers Exchange under new owners" Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey) Thursday, July 9, 1981. p 37. Copyright NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004. Source: GenealogyBank.com. 

Ben and Alice Roth

Alice and Ben Roth at Jeffrey Roth's Bar Mitzvah abt 1963
Ben's brother Aaron and his wife Pearl in the background.

     Although he later claimed to have been born on Independence Day, Beny Roth was born to my grandparents, Armin and Mary Roth, on July 6, 1896 in Manhattan[1], where Armin had first settled on arrival in the US, and where he and Mary had married.  As I mentioned in my post in April about Armin and Mary, the family soon moved to Trenton, NJ where Armin had cousins.
     Now called Benjamin, or Ben, The young man went to elementary school where he learned to play the piano.  He graduated from Trenton High School in the class of 1914.  After High School, Ben went to the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied dentistry, graduating on June 20, 1917[2].  The announcement that he had passed the state licensing exam was made on July nineteenth of that year[3].
     When he registered for the draft in June of the next year, he had already opened a dentist office at 129 S. Broad Street in Trenton[4].  In July 1918 he joined the U.S. Naval Reserve Forces, serving actively in the war until December 26, 1918.  After the war Ben worked on establishing his dental practice.  He maintained the office at 129 S. Broad for a while, then moved briefly 200 S. Broad St., before settling in at 37 West State Street in about 1928[5].  Ben was in the inactive Reserve until September 1921 when he again became an active reservist as a Captain in the Officers Reserve Corps, 119th Medical Regiment, 155th Hospital Company, of Trenton.[6]  Captain Roth participated in a recruiting exhibition of the Hospital Company's facilities held in Stacy Park, Trenton in July 1926.  The 50'x16' tent was fully equipped and contained "surgical units, dental units, first aid and shower baths" as they would be set up in time of action[7].   
     Daniel Block had come to the US in about 1880 from Wurttemburg, Germany.  He went to work for his uncle Simon Samler, already in Trenton, and later ran the Washington Market Clothing Company. He married Bertha Gutmann in Philadelphia in 1891[8], and had two children, Lester Gutmann Block in 1895, and Alice Block in 1898. By 1907 he owned the Daniel Block Clothing Company at 107-109 South Broad Street[9], a successful business that paid $9 in taxes in 1908. [10].   He was a successful businessman and active in many charities and civic associations as well as Har Sinai Temple[11].  Between 1900 and 1903, he and his family travelled back to Germany three times, the last trip with his son Lester, lasting from July to October 1903[12].  Lester joined the Naval Reserves in April 1917 and served on Submarine Chaser No. 243.  He nearly lost his life in an explosion aboard the ship on May 6, 1919 when it was docked in Bermuda on its voyage back to the U.S.  When he returned home  in June after treatment, Lester was made a partner in his fathers business[13], as Daniel was already confined to his home by the illness that took his life on September 10th, 1919[14].
     In October, 1923, Ben Roth became engaged to Daniel and Bertha's daughter, Alice Block. Alice had graduated the Model School (predecessor of the State Teachers College)[15]. Perhaps they met through Ben and Lester's shared Naval Reserve activities.  Lester chaired the committee that organized a bachelor dinner for Ben at the Hotel Sterling on the night before the wedding.  It featured several short talks and the gift of a vacuum cleaner[16].  On April 16, 1924, Ben and Alice were married in a quiet ceremony at The Hillwood Inn in Trenton attended by their immediate families.  Alice wore a gown of powder blue beaded crepe romaine and carried roses and lilies of the valley. Fanny Block, Lester's wife, wore a coral beaded gown.  Unusually for a wedding, both mothers, Alice's aunt Rose Samler, and the Rabbi's wife all wore black.  After the ceremony, the couple left on a motor trip through the South, returning to their new home at 24 Newell Avenue[17].

     On February 24, 1927, Alice and Ben welcomed a son to the family.  He was named Daniel Block

Ben Roth with son Daniel.
About 1935

Roth after Alice's father.  In 1934, after the death of Ben's father Armin, Ben's youngest brother Barney,, and possibly his mother Mary, moved into the house at 24 Newell Ave[18].  The house, a duplex, was too small for the family, and in 1935 Ben and Alice moved to a large freestanding home at 928 Edgewood Avenue, near the Cadwalader Park[19].  Ben's mother died in 1939, and by 1940  the three family members lived in the large home alone.  About 1949, after Daniel was grown, Ben and Alice moved into the newly completed Brookville apartments in "the Island"section of town between Riverside Drive and Clearfield Avenue.  The complex was advertised as providing "homes for 132 families who can afford to pay $85 a month rent."[20]  
     My family lived on the same court in Brookville between about 1950 and 1954, and my strongest memories of Ben and Alice are from that time.  I remember going to Ben's office to have my teeth checked, although if any of us needed work, he sent us to someone else because "you are family".  We were in and out of their apartment as kids.  Ben (the dentist) always had a stash of candy in a drawer of the breakfront and he gave it to us in quantities that I know our parents disapproved.  Alice often made meals the we kids ate sitting at metal TV Trays in front of the set in the living room.  She encouraged us to eat our vegetables (especially succotash) by suggesting that we mix them into the mashed potatoes and calling the mixture "chaserei", Yiddish for pig food.  Alice was very active in the synagogue and various women's groups, and enjoyed playing cards.
     Alice died on March 19, 1966[21].  Ben, who in my parents words, "did not know how to get himself a glass of water without Alice," moved to a smaller place at the Carteret Arms at 333 West State Street.  He died on June 15, 1970.[22]  Alice and Ben were buried at the Ewing Cemetery.

1.  Ancestry.com, New York, New York, Birth Index, 1879-1909 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2014) Ancestry.com. Record for Beny Roth
2.  Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, NJ) Monday June 18, 1917. "Roth to Graduate then Join Army" Genealogybank.com.
3.  Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, NJ) Thursday July, 19, 1917 p.4 "Two Trentoniana Pass as Dentists" Genealogybank.com
4.  Ancestry.com, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2005) ancestry.com Database online. Registration Location;Mercer county, New Jersey; Roll 1754444; Draft board 3.  
5.    Ancestry.com, U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 (provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2011) Ancestry.com. Directories for Trenton New Jersey  1920, 1926, 1936
6.  Ancestry.com, U.S. Select Military Registers, 1862-1985- (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013) Ancestry.com, Record for Benjamin Roth USNRF.
7.  Trenton Evening Times, (Trenton, NJ), Tuesday, July 6, 1926 "Medical Company has Tent Exhibition"  Genealogybank.com
8.  Ancestry.com, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Marriage Index, 1885-1951 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011) Record for Bertha Gutmann.
9.  Ancestry.com.  Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, NJ), October 25, 1907. p. 11 "Advertisement for Daniel Block Clothing Co."
10.  "Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the State Board of Assessors of the State of New Jersey for the Year 1908, Part II"  Trenton, N.J. MacCrellish & Quigley, State Printers. 1909. p. 110. Accessed via Google Books.
11.  Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, NJ) p. 1, Wednesday September 10, 1919. "Daniel Block, Ill Long Time, Dead. Prominent Merchant Passed Away this Morning -- Confined to Home a Year" Geneaologybank.com
12.  Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, NJ). Monday, April 30, 1900. "Trentonians Off for Europe".; Tuesday, July 23,1901 p.5. "Personal". Tuesday, May 26, 1903. p. 1 "Will Visit in Germany" Genealogybank.com
13.  Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, NJ) Monday June 23, 1919. p. 2. "Hero Will be his Father's Partner. Lester G. Block , Naval Explosion Victim, Soon to Receive Discharge" Genealogybank.com
14.  Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, NJ) Wednesday September 10, 1919. Op Cit.
15.  Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, NJ) Wednesday, April 16, 1924. p. 8 "Miss Block to Be Bride of Dr. Roth" Genealogybank.com
16.  Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, NJ) Tuesday, April 15, 1924. "Dr. Benjamin Roth is Tendered Dinner" Genealogybank.com
17.  Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, NJ) Thursday, April 17, 1924. p.9 "Miss Alice Block Bride of Dr. Roth" Genealogybank.com
18.  Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011) Ancestry.com 1935 Trenton, NJ, City Directory.  Record for Barney Roth.
19,  Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012) www.ancestry.comYear:1940; Census Place Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey;Roll T627-2437; Page 1B; Enumeration District: 27-139 Record for Roth D. Benjamin.
20.  Trenton Evening Times (trenton, NJ) Friday, December 3, 1948. p. 14 "Island Apartment Project Progressing" Genealogybank.com
21.  Sunday Times Advertiser (Trenton, NJ) March 20, 1966. "Mrs. Benjamin Roth, Wife of Doctor." Genealogybank.com
22.  The Evening Times (Trenton, NJ) Tuesday June 16, 1970. p. 10. "Dr. Roth, 71, Dentist Here for 50 Years" Genealogybank.com

The Other Roths - a happy story

     In my last post, I discussed some families who were related to me on the Roth side, although I'm still not sure exactly how.  In preparation for that post, as I always do, I went back to the information that I have about that person or family, and reviewed how I know what I think I know.  At that time I also look for new records that might have become available since I last looked.
     In this case, I was looking at the Lavinthal Family.  The head of the family was Samuel Lavinthal, and his wife was Fannie Roth Lavinthal.  They had several children, among whom was a son, Bennie.  I knew that Bennie had married, and had a daughter, but he and his wife were divorced before I came on the scene.  Bennie and my father were very close growing up and as adults, and I remember him from my childhood.  I never knew his wife Rhoda, or his daughter Charlotte (or Charie as she was known).  I had no records for Charie except one census record from 1930, when she was a child.  A cousin had told me that she had lived in Washington, DC, and had died young and childless.
     When I looked at her record, a "hint" told me that there were new records for me to review.  The first was an index of Social Security applications and claims.  This index does not cover all SSA applications, so I was surprised when I examined it, to find that indeed it was for my Charlotte Lavinthal. It listed her parents (Ben Lavinthal and Rhoda Green) Check.  Her birth date.  Check. And a married name!
     When I entered the married name into my tree, more "hints" appeared.  First was a Virginia marriage record, which upon examination proved to be hers, but more interesting was a link to someone else's tree that had a person of that name in it.  When I looked at the tree, I wasn't sure that  it was the same person.  None of the other names in the tree were familiar to me.  Living people were only indicated by blank boxes, and there were a lot of those, but most intriguing was a blank box that came from Charlotte.  Everyone I had spoken to had said that Charie had no children, but I thought I'd ask anyway.
     I wrote a short note to the (unknown) owner of the tree explaining that if this was the same person, and there was a child, I would like to chat with him or her if they were interested.
     I quickly received an answer.  The owner of the tree was the child in question (I'll call her E.).  She explained that Charie had given birth to her when she was 18 and unmarried, and had given her up for adoption at birth.  Only Bennie and Rhoda had known about the child.  They were already divorced, and the pregnant Charie went to live with her mother in Chicago.  E had always known that she was adopted, but under the laws of the time could get no information about her birth family.  Subsequently, the laws were changed and the agency had told her what they knew, and had performed a search, determining that her birth mother was dead. Her marriage had ended in divorce after only a few years and she had not remarried.  E had made efforts to contact her mother's heir with no success, but she held out hope that she would find her other family.  She had entered her birth mother's name into her family tree along with her adopted family so that her children and grandchildren would know where she came from.
     The details of her story matched what I knew about Charie, but I am a distant relation and couldn't give her the details she longed for.  Making no promises, I contacted the few cousins from that family that I knew and told them what I had found.  They at once got in touch with her and they began trading photos and family stories.  Everyone is very happy, and I get to add a whole new twig onto my family tree.

The Other Roth Family - Part One

     In my post of April 17, 2015, I mentioned that I knew little about the family of my grandfather, Armin Roth.  I had documents that indicated that his father was Dov Roth, and his mother was Minna Prinz, and he came from the area of Kosice (yid. Kassa) now in Slovakia.  I also knew that there were other families in Trenton who were his cousins, but I did not know exactly how they were related.

Sam and Fanny Lavinthal

     These cousins, (the other Roth family) were the children of Isidore Roth and Esther Prinz[1], and they came from the town of Felso Mislye (today Vysna Mysla near Kosice Slovakia)[2].   Although I have no confirmation of the relationship, the name similarity between the two sets of parents sets up the possibility that this was two brothers marrying two sisters.  Five siblings arrived in the US between 1892 and 1913, and all ended up in Trenton, NJ, where they married and raised their families.  As a child I knew some of the children of these cousins, and their names recur in newspaper reports of our family events.
     The first of the siblings to arrive in Trenton was Fanny Roth.  She was born about 1870, and came the the US on 5 September 1887 aboard the Sorrento from Hamburg, Germany[3].  In December 1893, she married Samuel Lavinthal, a shoemaker, in Trenton[4].  She died in 1944, but I have fond memories of Uncle Sam from my childhood.  Fanny and Sam Lavinthal are the only members of that generation of whom I have photos.  (Hint: If you have photos of any others, I'd love to see them)
     The next to arrive was Minnie Roth (born betw 1878-1881).  I haven't found her arrival manifest, but census records indicate that she came to the US between 1892 and 1895.  She married Nathan Saaz, a milk dealer, and later saloon owner, about 1895[5] and they lived at 839 S. Clinton St.
     The first brother to arrive was Bernath Roth.  He was born in 1877 and arrived in New York on August 25, 1898 aboard the SS Sale from Bremen[6].  He moved in with Sam and Fannie Lavinthal at 191 Broad Street and also worked as a shoemaker[7].  In about 1902, he married a woman named Fannie and moved to 84 Pennington Ave[8], next door to my grandparents, Armin and Mary Roth at 86 Pennington Ave. Fannie died in August, 1918.
     Next to arrive was Agnes (Anna) Roth, born in 1884.  She came on August 21 1901 aboard the SS Grosse Kurfurst from Bremen[9].  She married Joseph Greenberger, a retail fruit merchant, in about 1906.  In 1910 they lived at 6 Third Street in Trenton, with their first child, Benjamin, and Joseph's brother Jacob[10].
     The last arrival was the youngest, Adolph Roth.  He was born in 1887, but didn't come to the US until June 4, 1913 when he arrived in New York aboard the SS Cleveland from Hamburg Germany[11].  Adolph was still single and a self employed butcher when he registered for the WWI draft.  He was living at 266 Jackson, in Trenton.[12]
     In later posts I will continue the stories of each of these families, or as much as I know of them.  Most stayed in Trenton until late in the 20th century and some remain in the area today. As more records become available from the area of Kosice, I hope to nail down exactly how all of these folks are related to me.

1.  Ancestry.com, Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1906-1963 (Provo UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014) www.ancestry.comRecord for Bernath Roth. 
2. Diacritical marks have been omitted as this program does not support them. Felso Mislye is listed as a birthplace on several records including Bernath's WWI draft registration and naturalization, Agnes Roth's arrival manifest, and Adolph Roth's WWI and WWII draft registrations.
3.  Ancestry.com, New York Passenger LIsts, 1820-1957 (Provo UT. USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2006) www. ancestry.com.  Record for Fanny Roth
4. "Social Calendar" Monday, December 3, 1917. Trenton Evening Times.(Trenton, NJ) p. 10. " Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Lavinthal entertained a number of friends and relatives at their home, 266 Jackson Street, last evening, in celebration of their twenty-fifthwedding anniversary." accessed at www.genealogybank.com.
5.  Ancestry.com 1920 United States Federal census(provo UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc 2009) record for Winnie Saaz, and Ancestry.com 1930 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2002)record for Minnie Saaz.   Both www. ancestry.com.
6. Ancestry.com, New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2006) www.ancestry.com Database online, year: 1898; Arrival, Microfilm serial 15, microfilm rollT715_ 29 Line 15. Record for Bernath Roth.
7.  Ancestry.com, 1900 United States Federal Census (Provo UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2004) www.ancestry.com Record for Bert Roth
8. Ancestry.com. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2005) www.ancestry.com record for Bernath Roth
9. Ancestry.com, New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 (Provo UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), Ancestry.com year  1901, New York, New York.; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll 0217; Line 24; Page number 272. Record for Anna Roth
10. Ancestry.com, 1910 United States Federal Census (Provo UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, INC., 2006) www.ancestry.com Year 1910; Census place : Trenton Ward 4, Mercer. New Jersey; Roll T624_896; 19B; Enumeration District: 0059; FHL Microfilm 1374909 Record for Joseph Greenberger.
11. Ancestry.com, New York Passenger LIsts, 1820-1957 (Provo UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2006) www.ancestry.com  Database online. Year: 1913; Arrival: , ; Microfilm serial: T715; Microfilm roll: T715_2095; Line: 15 Record for Adolf Roth.  
12.  Ancestry.com, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (Provo UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011), www. ancestry.com Database online. Registration Location: Mercer County, New Jersey; Roll: 1754443; Draft Board: 2. Record for Adolf Roth   

Armin and Mary Roth

Mary Fried Roth and Armin Roth about 1920

     I wish I knew more about my grandparents, Armin[1] and Mary Roth.  I never knew them.  They were both gone before my Mother's family even moved to Trenton, NJ., and since my Father was much younger than his siblings, I never really even knew people who knew them.  I only have a few old photos, and some sketchy records to tell me anything, and they often leave more questions to be answered.
     According to his naturalization papers, Armin Roth was born in 1867 in Kassa, Hungary (now Kosice, Slovakia)[2].  His father was Bernard/Dov Roth and his mother was Minna Printz[3].  He left there about 1891, stopping in Vienna, before departing for the US from Rotterdam on August 10, 1891 aboard the S.S. Didam, bound for New York, and arriving there on August 29, 1891[4].  Like many Jewish immigrants he was a tailor.
     On February 10, 1895, Armin married Mary Fried.  Mary was also Hungarian, probably born in the town of Modor sometime between 1864 and 1876[5].  Her parents were Bernard Fried, and Rosi Friedman. She had a brother, Jacob Jeno.  Bernard had remarried after the death of Rosi, and Mary also had several half siblings.  She was the only one to emigrate, arriving in New York City sometime around 1889. Armin and Mary lived at 95 Goerke Street, at the time the center of the immigrant lower east side of New York, near the Williamsburg Bridge, but now disappeared under a housing development.  Their first child, Bennie, was born July 6, 1896.
     By 1897, Armin and Mary had moved to Trenton, NJ where their other three children (Isidore, Aaron and Barney) were born.  Armin had several other relatives there who will be the subject of another blog post as I have not been able to determine exactly how they were related. In 1900 the family was living in a rented house at 166 S. Broad Street in Trenton.  Armin was working as a tailor from the house.  Armin and Mary were naturalized on January 11, 1908, and were living in a house they owned at 86 Pennington Avenue, where he also had his tailor shop.  They lived there until his death on June 4, 1933, and her death on Feb 28, 1939[6].
     From what I can determine, they lived a quiet and moderately prosperous life.  Their two older sons went to college and the younger had their own businesses.  Armin and Mary were often noted in the social pages of the Trenton Times, but mostly for attending family events of their several cousins(?), the Roths, Saaz's, Lavinthals, Princes, Davidows and Greenbergers of Trenton, NJ, and nearby Pottstown, PA.  The newspaper notice of their 25th anniversary celebration, a dinner with dancing at a local restaurant, was filled with those names[7].

1.  Like many immigrants from Eastern Europe, Armin and his family had several names.  Although he went by Armin in most records, his tombstone says his Hebrew name was Areye.  On his marriage license he is listed as Leopold, an anglicization as both Areye and Leopold have "Lion" as meanings.  Armin's Father is listed on the certificate as Bernard, but on Armin's tombstone as Dov.  Again according to the JewishGen given names database, these are interchangeable, both having "Bear" as a meaning.
2.  New Jersey State Archives, R. Group: Mercer County; Subgroup: Court of Common Pleas; Series: Naturalization Records, 1838-1940; Petition (post 1906), Vol.1 (#1-#150) 1906-1909; No. 30.  Record for Armin Roth, original document.
3. State of New York, Bureau of Records, Health Department, City of New York Certificate # 2373.  Received Feb 14, 1895. Certification of marriage of Leopold Roth and Mary Fried on 10th day of February, 1895.
4.  Manifest of S.S. Didam arriving at New York on Aug 29,1891.  Ancestry.com, New York Passenger lists 1820-1957 (Provo, UT, Ancestry.com operations)record on-line
5.  Like many women of her time, Mary's date of birth was a moving target.  Her marriage license says that she was 20 years old in 1895 (b ca 1875).  The 1900 census says she was born in 1864 which would have made her about 36, but that she was only 25. Ten years later, the 1910 census says she is 33 and 44 in 1920.  In 1930 she owns to 55.   The 1875 date is most probable but this is something I hope to pin down in the future.  This also raises another question. If she was 20 years old in 1895, then she was only 14 when she arrived in 1891. What made a 14 year old girl emigrate without other family members? 
6.  Tombstones of Armin and Mary Roth, Brith Sholom Cemetery, Ewing Twp. NJ.
7.  "Roths Entertain on Anniversary" Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, NJ) Tuesday Mar 9, 1920 p.12.  Data online, accessed through GenealogyBank.com.

S/Sgt Jerald Harlan Lieberman 1922-1943

S/Sgt Jerry Lieberman 1922-1942

      Jerry Lieberman was born, along with his twin sister Phyllis, on Dec 15, 1922 in Philadelphia, PA.  The family, his parents, Nat and Ida Lieberman, and older sister Elynore, moved to Trenton NJ in about 1938 where he lived until he was about 18 years old.   He dropped out of high school after only one year, and worked in his father's store as a commercial driver.  He was very active in the Jewish fraternity Aleph Zadik Aleph.  On Sept 10, 1942 after an argument with his father, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps1 where he was trained as a tail gunner on the B-17 bomber.  He was promoted to Staff Sergeant and assigned to the Dodson Provisional Group at Kearney Army Air Base, Nebraska.
     On July 3, 1943, he and the rest of the 10 man crew took off from Kearney to ferry aircraft Army 42-3379, B-17F, to Eglin Field, Florida.  The plane crashed about 200 miles away near White City, Kansas and all aboard were killed.
     A closed casket containing Jerry's remains was sent to the family in Trenton, and he was buried at Greenwood Cemetery.  Because of the war, the family was given only the barest details of the crash, and they always wondered what happened.  His mother wondered for years if he had really been killed since they had not seen the body.
     I recently came across a website called Accident-Report.com.  They research recently released accident reports from the AAC, USAAF, USAF, and USMC filed between 1918 and 1955.  I contacted them and they provided 42 pages of documentation on the crash that killed my uncle.
    The report revealed that the aircraft took off from Kearney AAB at 2:10 PM under cloudy skies.  Weather reports in the area over the next two hours showed overcast to light rain with visibility unrestricted.  The ceiling varied from 10,000 to 3,000 feet with some light rain reported.  At 3:40, as reported by several civilian witnesses on the ground near White City KS, the plane was sighted nose down and spiraling to the ground.  The plane was engulfed in flames after it crashed and there were no signs of life.  The Chief of Police of White City was one of the witnesses, and he secured the area almost at once after the crash.  He and other witnesses described seeing some debris falling with the plane and landing nearby.  That debris, which was recovered immediately, was determined to be "one-third of the left stabilizer and elevator and the entire right elevator outboard of metal trim tab," {parts of the tail assembly} which were "torn off while airplane was in flight."2   The report was inconclusive as to the cause of the accident although the aircraft had been inspected days before and no evidence of sabotage was noted.  The tentative conclusion on the July 9 report was that "Accident was induced primarily by material failure, either due to weakened parts of defective material."3   Two witnesses who reported after the date of this description noted seeing a funnel cloud stretching from the ground to the clouds just prior to the crash.  This report was forwarded to the Army Air Base Topeka KS with the notation that it was "further evidence which might serve to clarify the cause of the crash." 4
     I never knew Jerry, but he was a presence in our family throughout my childhood.  I, my brother, Phyllis's son, and several cousins born just after the war were named for him.  I am glad to have found the details of the crash that took him away so young.

1.  National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records 1938-1946 (Provo, UT, USA Ancestry.com) record for Jerald Harlan Lieberman
2.  U.S. Government Printing Office, War Department, A.A.F. Form 14. "Report of Aircraft Accident" Aircraft B-17F, no.42-3379, dated July 9 1943
3.  Ibid.
4.  Letter, July 22, 1943, Sixth Heavy Bombardment Processing Headquarters, Army Air Base, Herrington, KS.  to Commanding General, Twenty First Bombardment Wing, Army Air Base, Topeka, Kansas. subj: Supporting Papers for Form #14