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Mammoth Springs

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Family Business

Having to hear about another person's genealogy and family history must be a bit like rooting through a stranger's underwear drawer. Extremely personal at times, mostly boring, and not stimulating in the least. Long time readers will hopefully agree that I have tried to keep my personal and commercial business to a minimum on the blog, notwithstanding my usual groans about how sucky the economy is.

On the other hand, the internet allows us to use wondrous communication tools that were undreamed of even a few years ago. It is a treasure trove of information. There is so much information waiting mere keystrokes away. Yesterday, I found two accounts for my late paternal grandfather Israel sitting in the unclaimed catacombs of the Michigan Department of Treasury. Today I found my Maternal Grandfather Mordko Weinrober's (Martin Roberts) entry information from Ellis Island on July 11, 1920. Martin and his brother went on to join the family business, the Roberts Paper Box company in Providence, Rhode Island. He came from a town in Moldova called Yedintsy or Yedinitz.  He and his wife Sobel Steinberg were the parents of my mother, Adelle Rhoda Roberts and her older brother Norman. I never met either maternal grandparent, both leaving their earthly vessels shortly before I was born.

So I put this information out in hopes of snaring a bit of information that I do not have as of yet. I beg for your understanding. Connected with an unfamiliar branch of my mother's family the last several days and Uncle Norm has agreed to get tested so that I can chart the Y - DNA on my mother's side. They don't quite know what to make of this genetic thing.



It was so beautiful today. Had brunch with Renee and Leslie at Le Bistro and then the three of us walked the Farmers Market. Took some hopefully great photographs and bought a few pretty succulents. I got the most interesting calancho. I was talking to Michael and Carmen Maas about Benoit Mandelbrot and his fractal theorems when up pops this calancho with each leaf form fractalizing and then the entire plant mass sweeping around in the same fractal set. Too bizarre. The rains have caused all the weeds to go off and I see heavy yard work in the near future.  Spent the afternoon watching films for the next film festival. Hope that you all have a great week.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Her name was Sobel Steinberg. But she enetered the United States from Ellis Island as Sobel Roberts. She came over in 1925--three years after Dad. At that time immigration was much restricted--and also single women, expecially Jewish women, were considered prostitutes or likely to become same. Tha famous madams in New York were Jewish at that time.
Father told the story that he met mother, whom he of course knew, at Ellis Island. To enter the United States mother had to be married to Dad--and they were married, a civil ceremony. Dad then took mother to the lower eat side of New York where he had rented a room for them. All, well and good, but then mom asked when they were going to be married--no same bedroom until marriage. Dad told her they were married, but mom said it wasn't good enough--the had to be married by a rabbi, with a beard. That would normally have not been a problem, but it was Friday, the sun would go down in a few minutes. Panic! But dad said it worked out--he found a rabbi, brought him to the room, and they were married.
So if you want to find out when my mother entered the U.S., look for Sobel Roberts--I think it was in 1925.
Uncle NORM