How Did I Miss This?

The excitement of discovering a document for a family member never gets old! I relish each new record. As my genealogy research skills improved, I learned to pay close attention to the most minute details. So, how come often, when I review such a document months later, I discover something new—something I missed? Has it happened to you? Have you studied a marriage certificate inside and out, only to learn later that perhaps you over looked a witness who happened to be a family member? Yesterday, it happened again, and I have to admit, I love it when it happens! It's true, I do get frustrated with myself for missing important clues, but then again, the prize of learning something new about my ancestors makes it all worthwhile!

Yesterday, I logged into my ancestry.com account, as I do most days. At the top of my ancestry landing page stands the members connect activity newsfeed. Unlike Facebook or Tweeter newsfeeds, my ancestry feed barely moves. There are new listing once a week or sometimes less than once a month. Rarely, have these bits of information resulted in something relevant, so I tend to ignore them. When I do check, I often discover that members connected to me took information from my public tree. I don't mind, it's public, but can't help feeling disappointed that they haven't discovered anything new that might help my research.

Yesterday was different. I noticed one of my favorite collaborators had attached new documents to family members we share. Our trees cross quite a bit, but my family is only related to him via an x-wife of a cousin of his. Still, he is an excellent researcher and meticulous with his documentation. Yesterday he sparked my interest since he was working on my second great-grandmother. I was curious to see if he discovered something I may have missed, so, I clicked on Freida Toby Bloomfield (Pomerantz) on his tree.

The three documents he attached to Freida Toby, were not new to me. I had located these documents as well as three others. But when I glanced at his comments, immediately jumped out. The annotation next to the 1910 US census, a document I had looked at scores of times previously, pointed out that Freida Toby and Moses had 15 children 7 of whom were living in 1910. Fifteen children!!!  How had I missed this fact?

Close up of 1910 US Census for the Bloomfield Family from Ancestry.com
Click to enlarge. See line 47.
 Columns 11 and 12 are: Mother of How Many Children: Number Born: 15, Number living in 1910: 7

Photo of Moses and Freida Toby Bloomfield with a baby.
The photo is from Marty Bloomfield's collection. It is not
dated. Marty believes the baby is either Joseph or one of his
younger siblings (Barney or Ben).
Most likely taken in Russia c1900-1906.

The 1910 Census provided a wealth of clues. It lists not only Freida and Toby, and her husband Moses, but William (my great-grandfather), Harry, Joseph, Barney and Ben, all of whom were living with their parents, as well as three boarders, all of whom were cousins. The census lists their address as 179 North Street, in Claremont. It confirms William and Harry as well as the cousins were working at the Shoe factory (Maynard Shoe Factory listed in the City Directory), while the younger siblings were in school. I had studied this document inside and out. How had I overlooked this fact?

Well known family folklore suggests the seven Bloomfield brothers had sisters as well, but none of them lived to adulthood or made it to America. The story, not surprising for a poor family in Russia around the turn of the century, had never been confirmed, but consistent with some facts we knew about the family. A thirty year span separates Aaron Bloomfield, born c.1875, from Benjamin his youngest Benjamin (the musician, actor and engineer), born c1905. The age gaps vary from a year between Barney and Benjamin, to almost ten years between Harry and Joseph suggesting other pregnancies and children who may have not lived to adulthood. Another relevant detail is the fact Freida Toby and Moses were first cousins. First cousin marriages often unmasked a silent carrier gene in a family, which can leads to disease. These types of diseases can lead to early miscarriages, mental retardation and premature death. Then there is Barney, who was rumored to be "slow" due to uncontrolled bleeding at birth. My husband, who is a pediatrician, theorizes that Barney mostly likely bled heavily because of a vitamin K deficiency which can result in what was known as hemorrhagic disease of the newborn.  This self limited hemorrhagic illness, today treated with prophylactic vitamin K injection, was not well understood back then. In severe cases, it could lead to neurologic damage and death. If this is indeed happened to Barney, it certainly could have happened to other Bloomfield children, who may not have survived.

For years, I  understood the existence of Bloomfield daughters as a very likely truth, yet I found no birth certificates, graves or other documents to support this sad story. The 1910 Census, thanks to my Ancestry.com connection, is the first paper proof for the existence of more Bloomfield siblings. This finding, magnified the harshness of my ancestors lives and the multiple tragedies they endured. Freida Toby and Moses had 15 children, 15 births (not counting miscarriages) and lost 8 children before 1910. Some were most likely girls. This sad reality, though not uncommon back then, surprised me. Once again, I was reminded of the importance of examining and re-examining documents. And if I was not a firm believer in the importance of collaboration and sharing of public family trees, I am fully now convinced! Are you?

Friday's Faces from the Past: Photo Challenge Solved!

There were many enthusiastic replies and some amazing stories associate with the photo from last week's photo challenge. I have really enjoyed hearing from the family as well as my readers. Many of the replies came via e-mail or facebook and I'd like to share some of them with you as I disclose the young Bloomfield musician in the photo.

The first to venture a guess was my second cousin once removed, Ellen—Harry Bloomfield's granddaughter. Here is what she had to say:

"...As for the photo, I'm going to guess that's a baby Joe with the violin. Otherwise, I don't have a clue. Thanks for posting all these wonderful photos and research!"

Closeup of Ben with the
Violin in a youth orchestra.

Ellen was only partially correct. She found the Bloomfield in the photo! But it's not Joe. Joe was musical as well, but this young Bloomfield violinist is not Joe. 

The next person to reply was my uncle Michael. His guess was based on the one time he met his great-uncle:

"Wonderful. I met him in Vermont many, many years ago, and remembered him as a saxophone and other types of horn player. That's why I picked Ben, and that's why I picked those two guys." (He is referring it's the two horn players in the back).

Ben Bloomfield (Top, second from the left)
holding a Saxophone with the original1937 Yacht Club band. 

Despite being partially incorrect, this is a good guess. Ben Bloomfield is the young man in the photo and between the two of them, my relatives found the correct Bloomfield. This guess, also teaches us a bit about Ben and his versatility as a musician. He did play horn instruments, but apparently at this young age, he played the violin.

The next person to take-up the challenge and the first to nail the reply, was not a relative at all, but a genealogist and faithful reader, +Mariann Regan. Here is how Mariann came up with the correct answer:

"Yikes, it's test time! OK, I'm going to guess that the young Bloomfield is the violinist, front row right. My guess is that it's Ben, Joe, or Barney. OK, just kidding. I'm going with . . . Ben. I looked at the photos in the last two posts and chose by the shape of the face and the ears. My second choice was Joe. I don't think it's Barney. I'm probably totally wrong. Wow, is there ever a strong family resemblance!"

Impressive Mariann! You are an excellent photo detective!

The last response I want to share, came from someone who knew Ben growing up, Shirley, Bareny Kenet's daughter (remember the flood Hero peddler story?). Shirley has no trouble identifying Ben, whom she knew well. Her e-mail was full of fascinating details about this amazingly talented uncle:

"...The picture of the little violinist is definitely Ben. Even then his great intelligence and interest in whatever he did is evident in his expression. Ben was a very accomplished musician and played a number of instruments , many were self taught. At one point the Vermont symphony needed a horn player (oboe or bassoon) so he taught himself that instrument and played with the orchestra. He also was an accomplished actor and performed in regional theatre groups in Ludlow and Weston Vermont in lead roles. The Spencer Tracy type roles. He was tall, ruggedly handsome, charming and had a great sense of humor and wonderful laugh.

Shirley shared another story about a girlfriend he brought home from New York, but I'll leave that story for another day. Shirley's account is consistent with other stories I've heard about uncle Ben, who seemed to have been quite the renaissance man. Here is what his nephew Marty wrote about him for his Geni.com profile:

"Ben played the slide trombone in one of the famous jazz clubs in Greenwich Village during its heyday. Because of his talent he was selected to play in the all Indian Band (they needed a trombone player) for Roosevelt in 1932.... He was quite a man, involved in the Vermont symphony, theatre as acting and then directing, and also was political. He worked with the police department, helping them with troublesome boys, too. When he retired he had a direct line in his home to help GE with their cars.... He enjoyed solving math puzzles in the Scientific Magazine."

Ben Bloomfield, 1937
Photo from the collection of Marty Bloomfield.

And if he didn't play enough instruments, in the photo on the left, Ben is playing the piano. And so I'll quote Marty again when he summed up his impression of Ben: Quite a guy!

Questions remain about the original photo from our challenge. It is a remarkable photo of Ben at the onset of his musical career. As we have seen, the family had little money, and there are very few photos from before 1919. How old was Ben in the original photo with the youth orchestra? Where was the photo taken?

Dating the photo: Ben arrived in America in 1909 at age four. He looks to be somewhere between 10-13 in the orchestra portrait, therefore we can further limits the time frame of the photo to between 1914 and 1917. Comparing the photo to the family photo of the Bloomfield boys with their mother Freida Toby, taken in 1919 (see close up on the left) confirms that the orchestra photo had to have been taken before 1919.

Close up Ben from the family photo c1919
about 15 years old. 

Location of the photo: In 1914, the Bloomfields were in the process of moving. They appear in both the Claremont and Laconia city directories of 1913 and 1914 and after that, they settled in Laconia. It's most likely the photo was taken in Laconia, although it's possible it was a Claremont Youth Orchestra. My next task is to locate information about the two youth orchestras in that period.

Do keep the stories about Ben coming and I promise to share more that didn't fit in this post (yes, there is more!).