Treasure Chest Thursday: Bingo! A letter from the Genealogy Program at USCIS! Part II

A few months ago I reported about a promising letter I received from USCIS in the post: Treasure Chest Thursday: Bingo! A letter from the Genealogy Program at USCIS! Part II. Finally, after what seemed like an eternal three months, the awaited naturalization papers for Minnie Crane (Menuche Kranowitz) finally arrived.

As you may remember, Minnie's naturalization papers have been difficult to find. I've been after them for more than five years. The hope in obtaining these papers was not so much to learn about Minnie, but more importantly to learn about her husband, William Bloomfield.

The Big Question: What was the Bloomfield's ancestral village?

For years, the Bloomfield cousins have been trying to answer a simple question. Where are the Bloomfields from? More specifically, what is the name of the village in Russia they came from? Moses and Frieda Bloomfield (known as Belous or Belo-oose in Russia) had seven grown sons (among them my great-grandfather, William Bloomfield). Where were they from? In order to be able to locate documents for the family in Europe, it is essential to identify where they were from.

Our joint efforts have lead to many many documents tracking the Bloomfields in the US including, ship manifests, draft registration and some naturalization papers (few) mostly named Russia or Grodno as the place of birth. Some family members papers named Pruzhany as their town of birth others named Vladimirets, Brest. Harry's birth certificate is from Slawatycze, and states that his father Moses was from Malech. In addition there is evidence that both Moses' brother (naturalization papers) and sister (ship manifest) were born in Malec.

The answer to this apparently simple question, maybe quite complex. Many Jewish family, moved frequently and it is very possible that different family members where born in different towns. Malech, a small shtetl in what is now Belarus, is in the Pruzhany district part of the Grodno Providence of what was then the Russian Empire. It seems to be where Moses' generation was from. Moses then moved his family and it is not clear where all the children were born.

As I mentioned in Part I of this series, because of the cost involved in obtaining these records, I've had to prioritize. I decided to begin with my own great-grandfather William Bloomfield. When the USCIS search failed for William, I proceeded with a search for Minnie's documents in the hope it would shed light onto William's naturalization papers.

Menuche Krainowitz Bloomfield
Petition For Naturalization
[Click to Enlarge]

Double Bingo! 

Sure enough, Minnie's naturalization papers did contain the clues I was after. According to the document, William was born in Prusinian, Poland. This could mean he was from the Pruzhany district or from the city of Pruzhany.

In addition, it's as if Minnie answered my question regarding how to locate William's naturalization papers directly:

"My husband was admitted to citizenship on November 4, 1925 in the United States District Court at Houston, Texas, and certicate of Naturalization no. 2180218 was issued to him."

Another interesting bit of information is how Minnie reported her legal name in 1928: Menuche Krainowitz Bloomfield. Though in most documents, she had been using Minnie Crane (including her marriage certificate from 1920), she used the name that she used in Europe when filing for naturalization.



The Next Step

Now it's time to write the USCIS again and provide them William's naturalization information. Hopefully, knowing he filed in Houston, having the dates and the number of his naturalization certificate, they will be able to locate his record. This record, may have a more specific town than just Pruzhany. In addition, it should contain William's arrival info into the US including the date and ship. Unfortunately, this will require a new Index search (3 months) and then at least another three months to request the records if the do find them. My next recourse, if they can not identifying in their archive is to contact the Texas courts directly. I promise to share the results on a future post, though we will all need a lot of patience!

In the comments on Part I of this series, some of you expressed interest in obtaining records from the USCIS for the first time. Have you had any luck? Please share your experience with us.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Bingo! A letter from the Genealogy Program at USCIS!

How long have I been researching my great-grandmother Minnie Crane (aka Menuche Kranowitz, Minnie Bloomfield, Minnie Heintz, Minnie Falk and Moma)? At least five years! In these five years, I have amassed a large amount of information about the only great-grandmother I had the privilege of knowing, and as most of you know, I even published her memoir. Yet, holes in this research remain. One of these glaring holes is Minnie naturalization papers.

Don't you love naturalization papers? I do. They are full of important genealogical pieces of information. Information such as place of birth, arrival information including ship manifest and sometimes even photos. I have successfully found naturalization papers for many relatives, near and far, but Minni's has managed to remain hidden.

Research Background: The first time Minnie appears on the US census was in 1920 (1), living in Hartford, Connecticut with her brother Harry, his wife Sarah and their oldest son Herb (the one who just passed away last month at the age of 94). On the census, Minnie was listed as an alien. By the end of 1920, she married my great-grandfather, William Bloomfield in New York City (2). William, was enumerated in Houston, Texas on the 1920 census. He was living with his uncle Morris Aaron Pomerantz and family. William's immigration status on this record was listed as Pa, which stands for Papers Filed, meaning he had submitted his declaration of intent and was in the process of becoming a citizen. By the 1930 US census (3), they were both naturalized and living in Houston (after an almost three year period in New Hampshire).

Texas naturalization records, are not readily available online. Because of the time period, it is not clear whether Minnie was naturalized as a "derivative" of William's naturalization, or became naturalized on her own right, as was required by the Cable Act passed in 22 Sep 1922 (4) when women began filing for citizenship independently from their spouses. It seemed prudent to search for William's papers first. In any case, William's papers, promised to answer more of my research questions: where was William born? Aboard what ship did he arrive to America? I already knew the answer for these questions for Minnie who was born in Belitsa, Russia (now in Belarus), and she arrived aboard the Grosser Kurfurst, on 7 Jan 1914 (I have the manifest) (5). Therefore, finding Minnie's naturalization, was not high priority, while William's documents took precedent.

Where did William file for citizenship? By 1920 (6), he had been living in Texas for about 5-6 years. In all likelihood, he filed in Texas, but prior to his Houston stint, he lived in Claremont, NH, Pittsburgh, PA and New York City. It's possible he filed in any of those places. NARA had no records for William. After months of waiting to hear from USCIS, I got a disappointing reply that they also were unable to located any naturalization papers for William.

What next? When the search for William's naturalization record reached a dead end, I decided to try my luck one more time and order a second USCIS Index search, this time for Minnie. Having had no success with USCIS so far, I must admit, I was reluctant. It costs $20 for an index search and takes about 3 months to receive a reply. It then costs another $20 or $35 to order the documents they locate. When you are researching as many ancestors as I am,  $55 per document can really add up. But Minnie's naturalization papers are important to me, and not just for the sake of completeness. I am hoping the they will provide a clue to William's missing papers. And so, I bit the bullet and paid for yet another index search.

Advantages of ordering naturalization papers from the USCIS over NARA: If you are not familiar with the USCIS genealogy program, you should check out their website http://www.uscis.gov/genealogy. The advantage of obtaining naturalization papers from the USCIS, is that their files may be much more complete than NARA's records and may include the following types of documents(7):

Naturalization Certificate Files (C-Files), September 27, 1906 to March 31, 1956
Alien Registration Forms (Form AR-2), August 1940 to March 1944
Visa Files, July 1, 1924 to March 31, 1944
Registry Files, March 1929 to March 31, 1944
A-Files, April 1, 1944 to May 1, 1951

To learn more about what each of these categories of files contains, visit http://www.uscis.gov/history-and-genealogy/genealogy/historical-records-series-available-genealogy-program#C

Bingo! Last week, I finally heard back from the USCIS genealogy department about Minnie's Index search (see letter). According to the letter they located a C-File for Menuche Krainowitz Bloomfield. The personal identification information they provided all checks. The second file for Menuche Blumovicz is not hers.

Letter from USCIS re: Index search Minnie Bloomfield29 May 2014 (8)

A C-File is a Naturalization Certificate File which according to their website contains "copies of records relating to all U.S. naturalizations in Federal, State, county, or municipal courts, overseas military naturalizations, replacement of old law naturalization certificates, and the issuance of Certificates of Citizenship in derivative, repatriation, and resumption cases. Standard C-Files generally contain at least one application form (Declaration of Intention and/or Petition for Naturalization, or other application) and a duplicate certificate of naturalization or certificate of citizenship. Many files contain additional documents, including correspondence, affidavits, or other records. Only C-Files dating from 1929 onward include photographs."

Unfortunately, Minnie was naturalized on 22 Nov 1928 (before photos were included), but I am now hopeful that her paperwork, may reveal some information about William Bloomfield and might help identify his ship manifest and/or his naturalization papers.

I've now paid the additional $20 fee to obtain Minnie's C-File. I promise to report back when I get my hands on this precious documents!

Have you received any interesting files from the USCIS, or do you obtain all your naturalization papers from NARA? I'd love to hear what you've discovered.

Sources:

         (1) 1920 U.S. census, Hartford City, CT, population schedule, Hartford County, ward 2, p. 375D (stamped), Enumeration District  (ED) 54, sheet 8A,  dwelling 42, family 149, Minnie Crane; NARA microfilm publication, T625 roll 182.

         (2) New York City Department of Heath, marriage certificate 271 (1920), William Bloomfield-Minnie Crane; New York City Department of Public Records, NY. 

         (3) 1930 U.S. census, Houston City, TX, population schedule, Harris County, ward 2, Enumeration District  (ED) 55, sheet 34A,  dwelling 237, family 248, William and Minnie Bloomfield; NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 2345.

       (4) Family Search Wiki (www.familysearch.org: accessed 12 Jun 2014), "United States Naturalization Laws," last edited, 13 October 2010.

         (5) Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897, microfilm publication M237,  (Washington: National Archive and Records Service), roll 675, arranged by date of arrival; SS Grosser Kurfurst, 7 Jan 1914, for Menuje Krajnowitz, p. 144, line 22; New York, "Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com: accessed 12 Jun 2014).

         (6) 1920 U.S. census, Houston City, TX, population schedule, Harris County, p. 84 (stamped) Enumeration District  (ED) 39, sheet 6B,  dwelling 40, family 145, William Bloomfield; NARA microfilm publication, T625 roll 1812.

         (7) United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (www.uscis.gov/genealogy: accessed 12 Jun 2014), "Historical Records Series Available From the Genealogy Program,"last edited 27 Sep 2013.

         (8) Lynda K. Spencesr, Chief Genealogy Section, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Washington, D.C., to Smadar Belkind Gerson, letter, 29 May 2014, Index search for Minnie Bloomfield, GEN-10115890; Personal correspondence, privately held by Belkind Gerson, MA.

Friday's Faces From the Past: Summer is Around the Corner

It's Friday, which means it's time to pull out another of my favorite photos from the archives. This one is from 8th of July 1926 (according to the inscription in the back). Can you identify the ancestor in the photo?

Click to enlarge

You might have to click on the photo in order to get a better view, but if you look at the woman surrounded with three kids to the right hand side of the boat, you should be able to recognize Minnie Crane (who would have been 118 a couple of days ago). My uncle, actually pointed out that April 30th was a fictitious birthday. She didn't know her real birthday (not uncommon back in the 1890s in poor Jewish families where parents had more to worry about than remembering their children's date of birth), so she made one up.

Back to the boat. In this photo, she is seated with her daughter Ethel (my grandmother) to the right and her nephews Fred and Herb Crane to her left. By 1926, Minnie was living in Houston, Texas, so this must have been a summer trip up north to visit her siblings in Atlantic City. I think the woman in the white dress and light hat, seated 3rd from the front, on the left, across from Minnie, maybe Sara Crane, Minnie's sister-in-law. She is holding a little girl who is probably her daughter Flossie who was born in 1924.  I don't recognize any of the other people on the boat, maybe some of my elder cousins will?

I chose this picture because it reminds me of summer. Summer has been so hesitant to arrive this year to Boston. We really need it after the long winter we had, therefore, I  thought maybe this beautiful vintage photo of a summery scene, can conjure some warm rays of sun. Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday Great Grandma!

Minnie Crane 1917

I can't think of a better day for returning to the blog, than today, my great-grandmother's birthday. Minnie Crane born Menuche Kranowitz and also known by her married names Minnie Bloomfield, Minnie Heintz and Minnie Falk (now that is a lot of names), was born 118 years ago today. Aside from the gift of life, Minnie gave me many gifts throughout the years I had the pleasure of knowing her, but the biggest gift of all, was her journal, which I helped her turn into a book, thirty years after she passed away. This Stored Treasure, is the gift that keeps on giving. Only recently, I got an e-mail from Minnie's great nephew who was extremely moved by reading the book. I hope it's alright with my cousin, that I share his kind words. In his letter, he thanked me for putting the book together, but I know he is also thanking Minnie for if she hadn't written down her story, it would have been lost.

Minnie at the wailing wall, Dec 1969

"Stored Treasures... came last night, and she [Minnie's great-nephew's wife] surprised me with it as a late Hanukkah gift. I just finished reading it from cover to cover.
    I am speechless. What an incredible thing of beauty and act of love you have created! I can't begin to convey to you how thoroughly I enjoyed reading it, and how much I learned about my family, my namesake and myself. You have done something wonderful, not just for your immediate family, but for your extended family as well.
    You probably don't remember, but in the fall of 1973 I came to Israel as a volunteer to do civilian work during the Yom Kippur war.... while I was in Jerusalem, I remember standing at the Western Wall for the first time. I'm not a particularly religious person, but I remember experiencing an incredible feeling of connectedness to something timeless, something greater than myself.  I had never felt anything like that before.  Since then, I've only felt anything like it three other times in my life. The first two times were at my two childrens' b'nai mitzvot, when I handed them to torah. The third was when I read your book."

Minnie's story has moved not only family members, but complete strangers in similar way. She provide a unique window into a time period and a places, which no longer exist. Like genealogy itself, her story is personal yet universal at the same time. Thank you Minnie and Happy 118 birthday!

Friday's Face from the Past: Risqué Photo

If you were hoping to see a Bloomfield photo from the surprise package I received yesterday, you are going to be disappointed. Those treasures are not quite ready to be shared, as there are too many questions and details I'd like to research first. Instead, I'm going to stick to my schedule, and share the photograph originally schedule for today's post. It promises to be almost as exciting as the Bloomfield bunch still resting in the envelope in which they arrived in.

This is an unusual photo from my collection. It's not an orphan photo, but rather features the new Mrs Bloomfield, my great-grandmother Minnie. The photo is dated and has a fairly large amount of writing on the back. Do you agree, it's a bit strange?

Minnie in Bed

Back in the twenties, folks tended to get dressed when they took the train and when they had their photo taken. Though photographs were becoming more affordable and common, they a certain aspect of glamour and novelty. When I first found Minnie's oldest photo album, I was surprised at the amount of photos she had and particularly the large number snapshots it contained. It almost seemed as if she had a camera, which surprised me, considering she did not have a lot of money. This photo, certainly indicates that Minnie or someone close to her owned a camera. It's quite an intimate shot, with Minnie lying in bed. Note: the dark bunched up section on the blanket which appears strange is actually the flowered comforter. The white duvet cover has a laced opening showing part of the comforter, which is easily discernable when you zoom into the photo with the help of the computer.

The writing on the back, in Minnie's own handwriting, provides interesting clues.

Back of the photo of Minnie lying in bed.
(Click to enlarge)

• 12/26/1920
• Please return. 
• The other picture you have of me was taken in back of mother's house in the chicken coop. 
• It doesn't look much like the back of a store does it.

Minnie and William Bloomfield were married Oct 23rd, 1920 in New York City, about two months before this photo was taken. For their honeymoon, they took a short trip, stopping in Springfield, Massachusetts to visit the Golds (mutual friends who were partially responsible for setting them up) and then heading to Laconia, where William introduced his new bride to his family. They ended up staying in New Hampshire and opening up a grocery shop.

Caption in the back reads:
Taken on our honeymoon Oct 30th, 1920
Sister Minnie

Minnie must have sent this photo to her brothers, along with a second photo from the honeymoon which she mentions in the blurb on the left. The photo of her "taken in back mother's house" is referring to a photo of Minnie feeding her mother-in-law's chickens (see left). That photo is dated Oct 30th, 1920 and signed sister Minnie. Amazingly, as Minnie requested, both photos were returned and found their rightful place back in Minnie's album.

The comment on the right refers to "the back of the store". I this comment references their new store, the Bloomfield Market, rather than her mother-in-law's grocery store which was located only a few miles away. My assumption implies that in the two months, when the honeymooners arrived in New Hampshire and the day after Christmas, when the photo of Minnie lying in bed was taken,  they were able to start their own business.

Two things lead me believe this is Minnie's own New Hampshire bedroom. The first is the comment about the back of the store. I know from her memoir (Stored Treasures), that they lived in a small room at the back of the store. The note to her brothers indicate that she told them about the store and their modest living arrangements. The second clue, is the framed photo above the bed. Easy to miss initially and difficult to make out, there is a single picture hanging on the wall above Minnie's head. Thanks to high resolution scanning and further zooming on the computer, I could easily recognize the Crane family portrait taken in 1918, when Minnie's brother Will returned safely from World War I.

Remember this photo?

It's one of the earliest family photographs in existence and the only one, with the five Cranes who made it to America, including Max who committed suicide a few years later. I have yet to see the original of this photo, all I have is a xerox copy. but I loved discovering that the original was hanging next to Minnie's wedding bed. I bet that when she sent the photo of herself in bed, she must have wanted her brothers to notice the portrait above her head, and I am pretty sure the didn't need a computer to take note.

Here is the big question? What was Minnie doing in bed? Was she sick? Why would she send a picture of herself in bed? It seems an odd way to show off her new home.

We many never know the answer to these questions. She doesn't look very ill in the photo. To me, she appears healthy and happy. In her memoir, she mentions falling ill to the Spanish Influenza in 1918, but she does not mention any sickness early in her marriage. I ran the date in my handy day of the Week Calculator, and discovered that Dec 26th, 1920 was a Sunday, the Sunday after Christmas. It's very possible the store was not open that sunday, and the new Mrs. Bloomfield could enjoy a lazy day in bed while her new husband snapped away risqué pictures of his bride. But why send such a picture to your siblings?

 My only guess is that she was in bed rest. My grandmother Ethel was born August 6th, 1921, eight months and ten days after this picture was taken. If she was born on time, then Minnie would have been barely three weeks pregnant in this photo. If Ethel was born a bit late, maybe Minnie was a much as five weeks along. Could she have been bleeding a bit? Did she know she was pregnant or was she hoping to conceive? Was the custom back then to stay remain in bed rest during the first trimester in order to improve the chances of a successful pregnancy? Perhaps by the time, she sent the photo, she knew she was pregnant in the photo and that is what she was showing off to her brothers.

I find it remarkable how much we can learn about Minnie from this one unusual photo. Much of the story behind the photo may be conjecture on my part, yet it comes from years of researching my ancestors and Minnie in particular. I'd love to hear what you think about these theories.

Treasure Trail Heating Up

Treasure hunting is an excellent term as far as my second great-uncle Max Crane is concerned. Remember Max? Since February, Max's trail has gone cold. To find a treasure requires a map, and luckily, I have one—my great-grandmother's memoir—Stored Treasures (pardon the unintended pun):

"...the summer my brother Max came back from living in Pinsk (summer of 1903). Max was the second brother (the family’s third child). Max or Chaim Mordechai, as he was called in Hebrew, was a very sensitive boy. At a very young age, he was sent to study at the Yeshiva in Pinsk with my mother’s brother Hillel. Max went to continue his studies, help his uncle with the younger students, who were rich, spoiled kids, and sort of look after them. Max’s job was to wait on the kids, bring their lunches, run errands, and so forth. Somewhere in the process of study, he became indoctrinated with the ideas of socialism through some young revolutionaries. Uncle Hillel had a small printing press for his school. Max and his radical friends secretly printed propaganda leaflets on the school printing machines. Unfortunately, they were found out.

Pressure was put on Uncle. “Either you send Max away, or we tell the police.” He packed Max off home without any ceremony. Max found our small hometown to be intolerable. There was no one his age in Belitsa with whom he could exchange ideas. He left for America. Max was seventeen when he came to the United States.

...Max arrived in New York. Mother’s brother, Harry Yarmove, was there to greet him, but Max did not like New York. Instead, he headed to New Britain, Connecticut, where father’s youngest brother, Oscar Kranowitz had settled. (Note: Oscar used the name Aaron in the States)

 ...They (Oscar's family) treated him like one of their own boys. He found work in a large food market. He went to night school and worked days as a clerk and delivery boy for the large market. Max was a young boy of seventeen or so, attractive with blond, baby soft, curly hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and a mischievous nature. The women customers liked to have Max take their grocery order and deliver it to them. Yes, in the pre-supermarket days, groceries were delivered. Max’s popularity with the ladies made a nice profit for the owner. Max could always get another job if the one he held did not suit him. Max made a nice living and saved his money. When he had saved enough, he sent for Brother Will (Vevel) and then for the rest of us.

Fairly faint and scant as this treasure map is, it will have to do. X- marks the spot of the treasure, but in this case the X is not end of the story. Max's story ends tragically and Minnie chose to omit it from his story. At times, Minnie filtered her stories through a rose color lens. Max committed suicide. When Minnie sat down to share her stored treasures, the subject of Max's death remained too taboo.

Roots Tech 2013 encouraged us all to improve our stories telling. I'm afraid I've given away the ending of Max's story long ago. My quest is to uncover the missing details of his story, to fill-in the gaps and figure out how this "very sensitive boy" reached a premature death. The gaps are the treasures I'm seeking or the X in my analogy.

Treasure hunters often follow the wrong trail. Not long ago, I was was led off course by an erroneous death certificate.. With the help of +Jacqi Stevens, and +Jenny Lanctot I discarded the New York death certificate which turned out to belong to another poor Max H Crane who committed suicide as well (Mystery Monday: Max Crane). I therefore retraced my steps back to square one, New Britain, CT. New Britain was where Max lived most of his life in America. Max's grave and death certificates continue to elude me, but yesterday, I stumbled across a small treasure—a previously unknown story—by turning to the local papers. Yesterday, the Genealogy Gods were with me, and I found an amazing newspaper article from 1909!

Max Kranowitz's listing from 1909 New Britain City Directory
Source: Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories,
1821-1989 (Beta) [database on-line].
New Britain, CT 1909

First, I crosschecked my map, with the New Britain City Directory. The directory confirms Minnie's notes. In 1909, Max lived and worked as a clerk at 459 Myrtle Street. His uncle Oscar (Aaron) was the only other Kranowitz listed in the directory, living and working nearby. Note that Max had yet to change his surname to Crane (he did so when he was naturalized in 1913).

I doubt Minnie knew this story about her big brother. This event, which made headlines, happened four years before she joined her brothers in America. She was about twelve years old in 1909. If she knew this story, she consciously or unconsciously omitted it from our family history.

Picture the twenty years-old Max who by 1909 had been living on his own in America for about four years.

Kranowitz Was Badly Beaten

Special to The Hartford Courant; September 17, 1909
ProQuest Historical Newspapers

"Samuel Berkowitz was locked up last evening on the charge of assaulting Max Kranowitz, by Captain Grace. Kranowitz and a companion called at the station and made a complaint. They had hardly finished telling their story when Sam Berkowitz and his brother-in-law,Sam Waskowitz, hurried in. They were so intent on getting their complaint in first they did not notice Kranowitz and his companion, who were standing over by the window. The captain saw he had a nice kettle of fish on his hands, with the air vibrating with charges and counter charges. He called Kranowitz's witnesses, two others having joined him in the meantime, in his private office, to get as near a correct version as possible. All concurred in the story that Berkowitz had assaulted Kranowitz. According to the story Kranowitz was standing with his friend over by Berkowitz and Waskowitz's new block at the corner of Hartford Avenue and North Street. Waskowitz ordered them away and Kranowitz moved over to the curb. Berkowitz wasn't satisfied, told him that he had no business around there and beat him severely. Berkowitz was taken to the cell room, protesting against the alleged injustice of locking him up. An interesting story is promised in the police court today."

I doubt Max wrote home with news of this beating. A severe beating from fellow Jews may have scared his family from joining him in the States. This article, paints Max not in the pinkish hue of a loving sister. Somehow, despite being the victim in this story, Max seems like a tough guy. He did make it to the police station and not the hospital. Minnie's comment about Max’s revolutionary days comes to mind. The police did arrest the bully, Berkowitz, but the severity of the beating seems disproportionate to the crime of standing on the wrong side of the street. I am beginning to imagine young Jewish hoodlums, marking their territories. Max wasn't alone. He had a companion, and another quickly surfaced at the police station. Why didn't Max and his companion just leave the street like they were told, if they knew this was Berkowitz/Waskowitz territory? Why was Max the only one to take the beating?

There is more to this story, which for now, will just have to wait until Part II of this post. The treasure trail is heating up again and there is surely much more to be discovered. Any leads to obtaining court and police records from this case would be greatly appreciated!

Other posts about Max Crane:
Should Genealogist Spill Family Secrets?
Mystery Monday: Max Crane
Back to Square One
Trail Heating Up Part II
Part III: Why Was Max Hanging Around the Block?
Part IV: The Max Crane Mystery Continues

Day 26: Fearless Females: Looking at Women's Education Through 5 Generations

March 26th Prompt — What education did your mother receive? Your grandmothers? Great-grandmothers? Note any advanced degrees or special achievements.

As the month of March is coming to a close, I am trying to catch up on Fearless Females posts. Passover and school vacation are to blame for my falling behind, nevertheless, there are a few post I don't want to miss.

Analyzing the education of women in my family is an excellent way to review how historical changes have affected the opportunities of the women in my family and women throughout this country. I refrain from implying that these advances have equally affected women worldwide, since progress has been much slower in many parts of the world. 

Examining my female ancestors going back four generations is a very powerful exercise. I will begin with myself and travel back the generations. 

1 Generations: 

I have a bachelors in Biology and Doctorate in medicine. My sister is completing her masters in Education. 

2 Generation: 

My mother has three degrees in psychology, a bachelors, a masters and a PhD. 

3 Generations:

My grandmother Ethel was the not only the first of my woman ancestor to go to college. She was the first person in her family to attend college. She had an uncle and cousins who went to college, but neither one of her parents had to opportunity to go to University. Ethel held a bachelors in Chemistry and a Law degree. I am writing about her remarkable achievement extensively on my new blog, Ethel's scrapbook. Her parents were extremely proud of her accomplishments. 

Ethel with her parents Minnie and William Bloomfield
at er Rice graduation 1940

My paternal grandmother, Shoshana Lavi (Celnik) did not attend university. She immigrated to Israel from Poland in her late teens, and gave up the idea of studying in exchange for the dream founding a Kibbutz. 

4 Generations:

None of my great-grandmothers received a higher education. I make this statement with a bit of reservation, as I don't know for sure how much schooling my paternal great-grandmothers received. Cyla Jampel (Reiter) was listed as laborer and Anna Celnik (Rosenblum ) as store keeper on their Holocaust Yad Vashem witness sheets. My mother's paternal grandmother, Mollie Bogdanow (Katz) was a trained Chef. I believe she went to Austria to study cooking, when she was young. 

In her writings, Minnie Crane, Ethel's mother, shares quite a bit about her struggles to obtain an education. As a young female child in a small village in Russia, her education was not a priority to anyone but herself. Though her parents did believe in educations and encouraged the children to study, the boys education came first. Her education came in dribbles, when the family could spare her from housework. Her father taught her to read and write. She followed her brothers to school when she was allowed. The town had a shortage of teachers in the Russian schools and education there was irregular at best. While her brothers were sent to Yeshivas (Jewish High Schools), Minnie was the primary caretaker of her sickly mother and her younger children at the age of ten. She had no real formal education, but she spoke five languages and could read and write in all of them, including Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, Polish and German. She was able to help her father with his job as the town's postman. She was adept at reading and writing letters for illiterate towns folk. 

Arriving in America, Minnie placed education high on her list. She enrolled in English classes immediately. While working fulltime, she continued to study English as well as take writing classes. Once again, family duties called, and she moved to Hartford to keep house for her siblings. The older Crane brothers worked, supporting the youngest brother. Their goal was to send Bernard to Medical school. Bernard finished high school, college and finally medical school. Minnie continued night school and received a bookkeeping diploma. She studied French with a tutor in preparation for college entrance exams. When she moved to NY, she worked full time as a bookkeeper and took classes at the Columbia Extension School. Her college aspirations ended when she married William Bloomfield and  they moved to Laconia, NH. 

5 Generation: 

Worth mentioning is another detail from Minnie about her own mother, my lookalike, Feige Kranowitz (Yarmovsky). Feige's family was fairly well to do. Her grandfather had hired a tutor for his grandchildren. The tutor, Moshe Aaron Kranowitz was a learned young Rabbi who came to the grandfather's house to teach the boys. Feige, sneaked into the back of the room, to catch a bit of the lessons. Her yearning for knowledge sealed her fate to the man she would marry, Moshe Aaron, the tutor. 

Minnie showing her pride in her grandson's
MFA diploma 

Understanding how difficult it was for Minnie to acquire an education, it is understandable why she pushed her daughter to take advantage of the educational in America. Ethel, on her part, felt a lot of pressure from her parents to excel. Her mother encouraged her to skip grades and graduate early. She pursued Chemistry because it was her father's dream to study Chemistry. She certainly tried hard to please her parents but as a mother and grandmother herself, she encouraged the rest of us to follow our own dreams and not those of others. Her advice has remained with me as I guide my own children to discover what they wish to study.

To learn more about +Lisa Alzo's 31 inspirational writing prompts in celebration of Women's History Month visit her blog:  The Accidental Genealogist.

Day 23: Fearless Females: Timeline

March 23 Prompt— Create a timeline for a female ancestor using your favorite software program or an online timeline generator such as OurTimelines. Post an image of it or link. 

OurTimelines.com is a great website. I have generated timelines for various ancestors in the past. I find them very helpful in placing my ancestors lives into a historical context. I chose to share Minnie Crane's timeline in this post. I wish the website had a function which allowed to choose which countries to focus on during each time period. Minnie was born in Russia, and many of the events the timeline inserts, such as Hawaii being organized as a Territory in 1900 probably had little effect on her family's life in Russia. I love the feature where the timeline calculates how old Minnie was during each event. Note: Minnie's personal events are in Yellow.

Custom Timeline

For Minnie Crane

b.1896 Belitsa, Russia (Belarus) to d.1981 Houston, Texas

1837-1901	:	Reign of Queen Victoria (Hanover) [from before birth until age 5]
1881-1896	:	5th Cholera pandemic [from before birth until age 0]
1893-1896	:	Grover Cleveland president of US [from before birth until age 0]
1893-1897	:	US Financial panic, depression [from before birth until age 1]
1896	:	Utah enters the union - 45th [at age 0]
1896	:	Supreme court approves separate but equal segregation [at age 0]
1897-1901	:	William McKinley president of US [from age 1 to 5]
1898	:	Spanish American 1- [year war at age 2]
1899-1902	:	Boer war [from age 3 to 6]
1899-1923	:	6th Cholera pandemic [from age 3 to 27]
1900	:	Boxer rebellion in China [at age 4]
1900	:	Galveston Hurricane - 8,000 killed [at age 4]
1900	:	Hawaii organized as a territory [at age 4]
1901	:	First British submarine launched [at age 5]
1901-1910	:	Reign of King Edward VII (Saxe-Coburg) [from age 5 to 14]
1901	:	Third law of thermodynamics postulated (W. H. Nernst) [at age 5]
1901	:	Max Planck formulates the Laws of Radiation [at age 5]
1901-1908	:	Theodore Roosevelt president of US from age [5 to 12]
1901	:	US President William McKinley assassinated [at age 5]
1901	:	Commonwealth of Australia founded [at age 5]
1901	:	Oil discovered in Texas in significant amounts [at age 5]
1903	:	Nikola Tesla patents logic gates [at age 7]
1903	:	Airplane [at age 7]
1904	:	Radar [at age 8]
1904-1905	:	Russian-Japanese war from [age 8 to 9]
1907	:	Plastic [at age 11]
1907	:	Oklahoma enters the union - 46th [at age 11]
1908	:	Tunguska atmospheric object explosion [at age 12]
1909	:	North pole reached by Matthew Henson of Robert Peary's exp. [at age 13]
1909	:	Union of South Africa formed [at age 13]
1909-1912	:	William Howard Taft president of US from [age 13 to 16]
1910-1936	:	Reign of King George V (Windsor) from [age 14 to 40]
1910	:	Japan annexes Korea [at age 14]
1910	:	Halley's Comet [at age 14]
1911	:	South pole reached by Roald Amundsen[ at age 15]
1912	:	New Mexico enters the union - 47th [at age 16]
1912	:	Titanic sinks [at age 16]
1912	:	Arizona enters the union - 48th [at age 16]
1912	:	Alaska organized as a territory [at age 1]
1913-1920	:	Woodrow Wilson president of US from [age 17 to 24]
1914	:	Immigrated to America [at age 18]
1914-1919	:	World War I [from age 18 to 23]
1914	:	The Bra [at age 18]
1915	:	Einstein's Theory of Relativity [at age 19]
1916	:	Sonar [at age 20]
1916	:	Irish Easter Rebellion [at age 20]
1917	:	Russian revolution [at age 21]
1917	:	US enters WWI [at age 21]
1918-1933	:	Prohibition from age [22 to 37]
1918-1920	:	Flu epidemic - 25 million plus die [from age 22 to 24]
1919	:	League of Nations instantiated [at age 23]
1919	:	Shortwave Radio [at age 23]
1920	:	Minnie Marries William Bloomfield [at age 24]
1920	:	Bloomfield Market, Laconia [at age 24]
1920	:	Women receive right to vote in USA [at age 24]
1920-1929	:	Roaring 20's [from age 24 to 33]
1920	:	Palestine established [at age 24]
1921	:	Birth of Ethel Bloomfield [at age 25]
1921-1924	:	Warren G Harding president of US [from age 25 to 28]
1922	:	Insulin made available to diabetics [at age 26]
1923	:	Move to Houston Texas [at age 27]
1925	:	Max Crane Commits Suicide [at age 29]
1925	:	Scopes trial on Evolutionary Theory [at age 29]
1925-1928	:	Calvin Coolidge president of US [from age 29 to 32]
1926	:	Sound in Movies [at age 30]
1927	:	Holland Tunnel opens (New York City) [at age 31]
1927	:	1st transAtlantic solo flight - Lindbergh [at age 31]
1928	:	Television [at age 32]
1928	:	Geiger Counter [at age 32]
1928	:	Penicillin discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming [at age 32]
1928	:	Video Recordings [at age 32]
1929	:	Stock Market Crash [at age 33]
1929-1939	:	Great Depression [from age 33 to 43]
1929-1932	:	Herbert Hoover president of US [from age 33 to 36]
1930	:	Pluto Discovered [at age 34]
1931-1933	:	Chinese-Japanese war (2) [from age 35 to 37]
1933-1945	:	Franklin D Roosevelt president of US [from age 37 to 49]
1933	:	Armstrong invents FM modulation[at age 37]
1933	:	Soviet communist party purge [at age 37]
1933	:	Radio Astronomy [at age 37]
1934	:	Longshoreman's strike - 35,000 on strike for 83 days [at age 38]
1935	:	Dustbowl [at age 39]
1935-1936	:	Abyssinian war [from age 39 to 40]
1936-1940	:	Ethel Attends Rice Institute [from age 40 to 44]
1936	:	Spanish Civil War [at age 40]
1936	:	Helicopter [at age 40]
1936-1952	:	Reign of King George VI (Windsor) [from age 40 to 56]
1936	:	Reign of King Edward VIII (Windsor) [at age 40]
1937-1945	:	Chinese-Japanese war (3) [from age 41 to 49]
1937	:	Nylon (by DuPont) [at age 41]
1938	:	Germany annexes Austria [at age 42]
1939-1945	:	World War II [from age 43 to 49]
1939	:	Digital Computer [at age 43]
1939	:	Aircraft Jet Engine invented (by Ohain) [at age 43]
1940	:	Color Television [at age 44]
1940	:	1st black general in US army [at age 44]
1941-1942	:	Three siblings perish in Holocaust [from age 45 to 46]
1941-1945	:	Manhattan Project [from age 45 to 49]
1942	:	Ethel weds Morris Bogdanow [at age 46]
1942	:	William Bloomfield Passes Away [at age 46]
1942	:	Nuclear Reactor [at age 46]
1942	:	Magnetic Recording Tape [at age 46]
1945	:	Hypertext [at age 49]
1945	:	United Nations formed [at age 49]
1945	:	US drops the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki [at age 49]
1945-1952	:	Harry S Truman president of US [from age 49 to 56]
1946	:	The Bikini [at age 50]
1946-1989	:	The Cold War from [age 50 until after timeline]
1947	:	Transistor [at age ]51
1947	:	India and Pakistan emerge from ex-British India [at age 51]
1947	:	UN partitions Palestine to Jewish and Arab sections [at age 51]
1948	:	33 1/3 rpm musical recordings [at age 52]
1948	:	NATO formed [at age 52]
1948	:	Israel inaugurated as state [at age 52]
1948	:	Arabs attack Israel on the day it is inaugurated [at age 52]
1949	:	Apartheid policy in South Africa [at age 53]
1949	:	Soviets detonate first nuclear bomb [at age 53]
1949	:	45 rpm musical recordings [at age 53]
1950-1954	:	McCarthyism [from age 54 to 58]
1950-1953	:	Korean War [from age 54 to 57]
1950	:	World pop. est. at 2.4 billion [at age 54]
1950	:	Bunche 1st black to win Nobel Peace Prize [at age 54]
1951	:	Electricity from Atomic Power at age 55
1952	:	1st Thermonuclear Device Detonated [at age 56]
1952-Present	:	Reign of Queen Elizabeth II (Windsor) [from age 56 until after timeline]
1953-1960	:	Dwight D Eisenhower president of US [from age 57 to 64]
1954	:	Racial segregation in schools ruled unconstitutional [at age 58]
1955	:	Introduction of Salk Polio Vaccine [at age 59]
1955	:	Warsaw pact formed [at age 59]
1955	:	Invention of Velcro [at age 59]
1955	:	Fiber Optics (by Kapany) [at age 59]
1956	:	Ocean liner Andrea Doria collides with the Stockholm, sinks [at age 60]
1957	:	Sputnik Launched - 1st (artificial) satellite [at age 61]
1958	:	Stereo LP recordings come into usage [at age 62]
1958	:	FM Stereo Broadcasts [at age 62]
1958	:	Integrated Circuit [at age 62]
1958	:	US space agency (NASA) established [at age 62]
1959	:	1st nuclear powered merchant vessel, Savannah [at age 63]
1959	:	Alaska enters the union - 49th [at age 63]
1959	:	Hawaii enters the union - 50th [at age 63]
1960	:	1st weather satellite (Tiros I) [at age 64]
1960	:	Laser [at age 64]
1960	:	World subsurface circumnavigation by US sub Triton [at age 64]
1960	:	Pantyhose [at age 64]
1961	:	1st US manned spaceflight - Alan Shephard [at age 65]
1961	:	First human in space - Yuri Gagarin [at age 65]
1961-1963	:	John F Kennedy president of US [from age 65 to 67]
1961-1970	:	7th Cholera pandemic [from age 65 to 74]
1962-1965	:	Vatican II from [age 66 to 69]
1962	:	Cuban missile crisis [at age 66]
1963	:	Compact Cassette Recordings [at age 67]
1963	:	Pres. Kennedy Assassinated [at age 67]
1963	:	1st artificial heart [at age 67]
1963-1968	:	Lyndon B Johnson president of US [from age 67 to 72]
1964-1975	:	Vietnam War [from age 68 to 79]
1964	:	US civil rights bill [at age 68]
1965	:	Blacks riot in Watts neighborhood, Los Angeles [at age 69]
1965	:	1st spacewalks (US, USSR) [at age 69]
1966	:	1st soft landings on moon (US, USSR) [at age 70]
1966	:	8-track tape players [at age 70]
1967-1970	:	Nigerian civil war [from age 71 to 74]
1967	:	Six day war: Israel-Arabs [at age 71]
1967	:	Physicist John Wheeler coins the term Black Hole [at age 71]
1967	:	Marshall 1st black supreme court justice [at age 71]
1967	:	1st human heart transplant [at age 71]
1968	:	Martin Luther King assassinated [at age 72]
1968	:	Robert Kennedy assassinated [at age 72]
1969	:	Moon Landing - Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin [at age 73]
1969-1974	:	Richard M. Nixon president of US [from age 73 to 78]
1969	:	Woodstock Music Festival [at age 73]
1970	:	Microprocessor [at age 74]
1970	:	Nat. Guard murders 4 students at Kent State [at age 74]
1971	:	Pakistani civil war [at age 75]
1971	:	Intel ships 1st uProcessor: the 4004 [at age 75]
1973	:	The Internet [at age 77]
1973	:	Yom Kippur War (Israel-Arab nations) [at age 77]
1974	:	Pres. Nixon resigns in disgrace [at age 78]
1974-1976	:	Gerald Ford president of US [from age 78 to 80]
1975	:	Ebola virus appears - 90 percent lethal [at age 79]
1975	:	Byte Magazine, issue #1 - September [at age 79]
1975	:	The 1st home computer: The Altair 8800a [at age 79]
1976	:	American Bicentennial [at age 80]
1976	:	Whites accept principle of black majority rule in S. Africa [at age 80]
1976	:	VHS Video Recordings [at age 80]
1976	:	Television begins satellite delivery [at age 80]
1977-1980	:	James Earl Carter Jr president of US [from age 81 to 84]
1977	:	Neutron bomb [at age 81]
1978	:	Jonestown religious group mass suicide - 913 people die [at age 82]
1978	:	1st test-tube baby [at age 82]
1978	:	Laserdisc video recordings [at age 82]
1979	:	Three Mile Island nuclear event [at age 83]
1979	:	Margaret Thatcher 1st Woman Prime Minister in UK [at age 83]
1980	:	Mount St. Helens Erupts [at age 84]
1981	:	1st space shuttle flight - Columbia [at age 85]
1981	:	1st female supreme court justice [at age 85]
1981-1988	:	Ronald Reagan president of US [from age 85 until after timeline]
1981	:	IBM PC ships [at age 85]