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.

Its a small world, after all.

Life is amazing some times. When you least expect it, it can throw you a gift from the heavens. This one is wonderful and poetic in its possibilities and import.


Since I got my initial genetic marker testing back a few days ago, I sent out some emails to those individuals that I suspected had a strong genetic linkage. This is an extraordinary letter chain that I have been involved in the last few days.

Dear Gentlemen,

I am new to this process but was informed today that we are a genetic

match to 25 markers, with a genetic distance of 2. I thought that I

would give you a little history and hopefully compare notes. We  have a

29% chance of a common ancestor in 8 generations and a near 90%  chance

in 24. My name is Robert Sommers, son of Amos, grandson of Israel.

Israel was originally from Plock, near Warsaw. He may have moved to

Wyzkow, where my grandmother Pesa Shkarlat was from. His father was a

veterinarian. The family name was originally Sommer. He had a

relation, Sam Sommer, who was a very wealthy man in San Francisco and

helped bankroll Twentieth Century Fox. Sam had a son named Julius. My great grandfather

returned to Poland after the earthquake and then emigrated to

Palestine. Changed his last name to Kaitz. Some family still extant  in

Israel named Kalusky. If any of this information sounds familiar,

please contact me. I live in California with my wife Leslie.

Sincerely,

Robert Sommers

Thanks for the note, but none of the information matches up with  me.  My father came from Gomel in what is now Belarus.  I have  reason to believe that one of his direct ancestors was adopted since  I am not a genetic match with any of the large B----- family  primarily in Israel.  Of course it is possible one of their  ancestors was adopted and my true family name is B----.  Gomel  is a good distance from Warsaw, making the genetic match difficult.


I am somewhat interested in your Kaitz family in Israel.  Were any  of them living in LA in the 1940s?  I had, at that time, a teenage  friend from, at that time, Palestine, named Amos Kaitz.  I have no  idea what happened to him.


I too live in California, in Claremont.


Adar

Amos is my father. He changed his name to Sommers at UCLA. He is getting older now and lives in Fresno. I will forward this email to his wife.


thanks,


Robert


Of course - Kaitz is summer!!


Now a story:  In the late 1940s, I was very active in Habonim which is where I met your father.  At one point many of us wanted to adopt Hebrew names.  I did not want to be called by my given Hebrew name, Yitzchak, but wanted a modern "new Hebrew" name.  It was Amos, who, after a long search, came up with Adar, which is what I have been universally called since.  The world gets smaller all the time.


Please send a drishat shalom to Amos from me.


Adar

Dear Adar,

I am not an expert, but we were a wandering people. Our genetic

relationship suggests strongly that not only were you friends with my

dad, but also close relatives.

Robert

I take it that is him on the right. Attached is a recent picture of me. I have somewhat less hair now but otherwise the picture is reasonable.
Adar

This whole dialogue is a gift to me. Not only the possibility of finding a new relative but the amazing fact that these two friends, my father having such an instrumental impact on his life, turn out to be close genetic relatives with an extremely high likelihood of sharing a common ancestor in a very few generations. And they never knew it.


And I have just started my quest! What else will turn up?