I have hit a wall and hope you can help. My mother’s parents, Leib (Louis) Klukovsky and Beila (Bella) Aronin, both came to the U.S. in 1914. Each came to a brother-in-law, my grandfather to Benjamin Lieberman and my grandmother to Menashe Luck.
I don’t remember meeting any of them. In the 1950s, my mother took me to the Prospect Park Riding Academy, which was run and/or owned by a cousin. My mother died a few years ago, and I never thought to ask her these questions. My mother’s brother and sister also are dead and I have no one left to ask. My two cousins know less than I do.
Ricki Lou Hildebrand
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Although you do not specify who or what you are seeking, I assume that it is more information about your mother’s family, including the cousins who owned the Prospect Park Riding Academy. You ask for a new direction to search. To begin, you might check business records in Brooklyn for the riding academy, since that is where a Google search shows a riding academy by that name. The County Clerk’s Office of the State Supreme Court for Kings County (360 Adams St., Room 189, Brooklyn, NY 11201) has records of all businesses in the borough of Brooklyn (Kings County). These documents include incorporation records, partnerships, doing business as, and trade names. You could also check telephone directories for Brooklyn—and be sure to check the Yellow Pages telephone directory for advertisements.
To determine more about both the Lieberman and Luck families, do a complete search of U.S. census records, both federal and state, beginning in 1900. Also search for the passenger arrival manifests of both brothers-in-law to determine names of other relatives. You do not indicate if you found marriage or death records for any of these individuals. Visit the cemeteries and search for both families in the records of each cemetery. (EP)
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I cannot find the birthplace of my grandfather, Davis Nayman, or any reference to his father.
On March 12, 1892, he was naturalized as a minor. I have a document entitled “Final Certificate of Naturalization—Minor,” in which he renounces allegiance to the czar of Russia. The witness was the Clerk of the Superior Court of Cook County (Chicago). According to another document I have (photocopy sent), the information is sealed. It says that he was eight years old and born in 1864. Under the heading “address” are the words “Court Order Only.” I have tried to submit a request under the Freedom of Information Act, hoping that the information would be released.
I know that Davis resided in Chicago in 1891, because my father was born there (delayed birth certificate) on October 23, 1891. No document of marriage can be located, but supposedly Davis married in 1890. The birth certificate states that my grandfather Davis is 24 years old and was born 1868 in Grodno, Russia. Other sources say 1864.
In the 1910 Butte, Montana, census, Davis is 40 years old, born in 1870 in New Jersey, and his parents are German. By the 1920 census of Butte, Montana, both grandparents are deceased. My father is the head of the family, and it states that both Davis and Dora are from Russia.
I have located my grandmother, Dora Schapira, arriving in New York in 1887 via Hamburg. She was from Vilkaviskis, Lithuania. One source says she was born in Bialystok. I cannot locate her birthplace, either.
Neither obituary had any information about their past.
Donald A. Neyman
Pueblo West, Colorado
From examining the document of Davis Nayman’s naturalization on March 12, 1892, it appears he was getting a certificate of naturalization to prove he was a citizen and had become one under his father’s naturalization, since Davis was a minor under the age of 18 when the father applied for citizenship. If you have not already done so, I suggest that you search Cook County courts prior to 1892 for a naturalization of anyone named Nayman or a variant. In any case, it is rare for citizenship records before 1906 to include place of birth, so finding the documents might prove of little value to you.
Do you have a copy of the delayed birth certificate? When was the actual filing date? Often those documents include additional facts or documents attached to them. Be sure you have the complete record.
If the grandparents also were in Butte in 1910, but deceased by 1920, that gives you a window to find their death certificates and cemetery records. Either may have additional information about places of birth. Also check the Hamburg Departure Lists for your grandfather Davis; those lists often include town of birth or town of last residence.
Although you say you cannot locate your grandmother’s birthplace, have you checked records for Vilkaviskis in Lithuania? Jewish Vital Records, Revision Lists and Other Jewish Holdings in the Lithuanian Archives, published by Avotaynu in 1996, indicates vital records exist only for 1810 and 1811 from this town, but it would be worth contacting the archives to determine if additional records have been found or if records after that period have been found in a nearby town. The address is: Lithuanian State Historical Archives, Gerosios Vilties 10, Vilnius 2015, Lithuania). (EP)
Did your grandfather, Davis Nayman, have any younger brothers? Do you know the names of any younger cousins? If they were born between 1873 and 1898, they would have been required to have a draft card for World War I. If they were born between 1877 and February 1897, they would have been registered in 1942 for the World War II “Old Men’s Draft.” If they were immigrants, their European birthplace could have been listed on those documents. The databases for both drafts can be found on the Ancestry website.
Davis Nayman’s name can be found on an 1892 list of voters for the city of Chicago. It states that he had lived in his precinct for two years and in the state of Illinois for 12 years. He was born in Russia and got his papers (citizenship?) on March 17, 1892. His country of birth is listed as Russia.
Your father, Joseph Neyman, is documented on a Butte, Montana, World War I draft card, listing his place of birth as Chicago, and his birth date as October 23, 1892. He was in the men’s furnishings business and lived at 4294 S. Arizona St. Another family member, Louis (his brother?) is also listed in both the 1918 draft, in Butte, and in the 1942 draft, in Brookmont, Maryland. The Ancestry database also notes the death of both of your grandparents in Montana. “David Neyman” died November 13, 1919 (Montana Office of Vital Statistics, index number Bt 570). Dora Neyman died January 9, 1914 (index number 79-270). You should check to see if the names of your great-grandparents and your grandparents places of birth are on those certificates. Finally, you might want to see if there is any documentation for your grandparents in New Jersey, since that was (mistakenly?) listed as their place of birth in the 1910 census. (RD)
