{"id":827,"date":"2019-02-24T14:15:57","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T14:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/?p=827"},"modified":"2019-05-31T00:29:09","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T00:29:09","slug":"how-a-posting-on-the-jewishgen-discussion-group-reunited-a-family-separated-for-generations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/how-a-posting-on-the-jewishgen-discussion-group-reunited-a-family-separated-for-generations\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Posting on The JewishGen Discussion Group Reunited a Family Separated for Generations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Helene Schwartz Kenvin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I first\nbegan research into my Cohen-family history in 1976, I chose to ignore the\ndocuments and concentrate on getting information from cousins who then were in\ntheir eighties and nineties, figuring that the documents were more likely to be\naround in future than the cousins. \nSeveral of these 19th<\/sup>-century-born cousins had spoken about\ntheir \u201cUncle Hesch,\u201d as they called their grandfather Alexander Cohen\u2019s brother\nHarris. After years of searching for Harris Cohen\u2019s descendants with no\nsuccess, in 1998 I saw this email on the JewishGen Discussion Group: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am posting this for my cousin\u2019s husband, who is the\ngreat-grandson of Harris and Betsy COHEN of NYC. Their children included George\n(b. 1864), Louis (b. 1866), Alex (b. 1868), David (b. 1871), Essie (b. 1873),\nDelia (b. 1875), Annie (b. 1876), and Sarah (b. 1879). If you recognize any of\nthese names, please send a message to me.<\/i><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I replied:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cohen is a nightmare from a genealogical point of view (because\nit is such a common surname), so I answer your posting about Harris Cohen with\nexcitement. If we have made a hit, I have been looking for this branch of our\nfamily for some 20 years. My Harris Cohen was born around 1841-42. Among his\nchildren were George (a vet in NYC); Annie (who may have married a man named\nRosenberg); and Essie. Do we have a match?<\/i><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The author\nof the original post on the discussion group put me in touch with the man on\nwhose behalf he had made the query. \u201cGeorge Cohen, the veterinarian, was my\ngrandfather,\u201d wrote Jack Carter (born Cohen) \u201cand was one of Harris Cohen\u2019s\neight children.\u201d  I replied:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n<\/a>
Alexander Cohen
Manhattan, NY, c. 1880s
(click to enlarge image)<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
I am not 100% sure that we are related, but there are enough\ncoincidences to make it a possibility. My Harris Cohen (known as Uncle Hesch)\nwas the son of Abraham and Jeannette Cohen and brother of my great-grandfather\nAlexander.  If we are third cousins, I\nhave a big family tree for you of Alexander\u2019s descendants\u2026  I found a record of a Harris Cohen of 75 Mott\nStreet (in Manhattan) who married Jetta (the German spelling of Yetta) Green on\nMarch 4, 1862. If your George was their oldest son, an 1862 marriage for his\nparents would make sense with his 1864 birthdate. I am optimistic because it is\nunlikely that there were two George Cohens who were vets with fathers named\nHarris and because your George and Harris were born in the \u201cright\u201d years.<\/i><\/blockquote>\n\n\n
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\n<\/a>
Similarity of the
Cohen Brothers
Alexander and Harris
(click to enlarge image)<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

One critical\ndetail about our respective families was not a match and that concerned both\nJack and me. He insisted that the wife of his great-grandfather Harris Cohen\nwas named Betsy; but I had documentary proof (their marriage record, amongst\nother things) that \u201cmy\u201d Harris\u2019s wife was named Jetta (Anglicized to Yetta). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten days after\nour initial contact, my mind jolted as I remembered something I had found some\nthirteen years before. I searched my old notebooks and then wrote triumphantly\nto Jack : \n<\/p>\n\n

\n
\n<\/a>\n
Ella Cohen
Marriage Certificate, 1902
(click to enlarge image)<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Years ago, I saw the record in the NYC Municipal Archive of\nthe marriage of Harris Cohen\u2019s daughter Ella (Nellie) to Louis Gans. I just\nlooked at my notes, which say: \u2018Bride\u2019s parents: Harris Cohen\/Yetta (Betsy is\ncrossed out).\u2019  How about that!\u201d<\/i>  <\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It would\nappear that Harris\u2019s wife was born Yetta (or Jetta, as it was spelled in German),\nbut was known as Betsy — perhaps to differentiate her from her brother-in-law\nAlexander\u2019s wife, who also was named Yetta, or just because she or Harris\npreferred the name Betsy. I was pretty sure that Jack and I were cousins, but\nhe still was dubious.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Jack wrote\nthat he remembered visiting the veterinary office of his grandfather George\nCohen \u201con East 60th<\/sup> Street near First Avenue,\u201d near the 59th<\/sup>\nStreet bridge. I was exultant. \u201cI now have no doubt that we are related: My\nelderly cousins all remembered that Harris\u2019s son George-the-vet had an office\nin the East 60s.\u201d  Jack remained\nskeptical. \u201cNo one here has any recollection of ever hearing about a brother of\nHarris Cohen.\u201d  I noted that \u201cthe 1860\ncensus recorded Abraham Cohen as living in Manhattan with (his sons) Alex and\nHarris,\u201d but Jack still was not convinced that we were talking about the same\nfamily. I suggested that he order a copy of Harris\u2019s death certificate, which\nmight contain the names of his parents. \u201cI am certain that we are related,\u201d I\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n

A few weeks\nlater, Jack sent an email saying that he had just spoken to a cousin of his \u201c\u2026who\nremembers that Harris had brothers. Your persistence is paying off. Thanks for\nyour tenacity.\u201d  \u201cI guess you\u2019re stuck\nwith me,\u201d I replied. \u201cI\u2019ve known for weeks that we are cousins and chuckled at\nthe charming \u2018thanks for your tenacity\u2019 in your prior note.\u201d  Then I told him: \u201cNow that we know for sure\nthat we are cousins, you can go back further on your family tree. Your (and my)\ngreat-great-grandparents were Abraham Cohen and Jeannette Schneider.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\n
\n<\/a>

<\/p>\n

Helene Kenvin (Alexander Branch)
Meets Her Harris-Branch Cousins
l-r: Jack Carter, Corrine Cohen Milman,
Helene, Harvey Blate
Los Angeles, California, 1998
(click to enlarge image)<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

More than\ntwo months after we first had connected thanks to JewishGen, Jack received a\ncopy of Harris Cohen\u2019s death certificate. It named Harris\u2019s parents as Abraham\nand Jeannette Cohen. Even Jack-the-skeptic now was convinced that we were\nrelated. That summer, I went to the IAJGS conference in Los Angeles. I spent a\nlovely afternoon at Jack\u2019s home, where I met with other cousins from the Harris\nbranch. We exchanged photographs and family stories as we reunited the\ndescendants of Harris and Alexander Cohen who had been separated for more than\none hundred years . <\/p>\n\n\n

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February 2019<\/p>\n\n\n

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Delray Beach, Florida, USA<\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n

This\nstory originally was published in A Gathering of Cohens:\nDescendants of Abraham Cohen of Gnesen, Prussia and 19th-Century New York<\/em>,\ncopyright \u00a9 2014 by Helene Schwartz Kenvin. Reprinted with permission of the author. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Editor’s Research Notes and Hints<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

Helene heard family stories about her great-great-uncle\nHarris and obtained some vital records concerning him, but she was unsuccessful\nin connecting with his living descendants. This changed when she saw an email\nabout Harris Cohen on JewishGen’s\nDiscussion Group<\/a>,\nwhich is an excellent resource for posting\ninquiries and sharing information pertinent to your research.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ultimately, however, it\nwas a marriage record, a death certificate, and a series of email exchanges\nthat proved the family connection between Helene and her newly found cousin,\nJack.<\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Helene Schwartz Kenvin
\n“After years of searching for Harris Cohen\u2019s descendants with no success, in 1998 I saw this email on the JewishGen Discussion Group\u2026”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":820,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[37],"tags":[39],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"Harris Cohen, Far Rockaway, New York, c. 1898","source_text":"","source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827"}],"version-history":[{"count":80,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1098,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions\/1098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishgen.org\/jewishgen\/testimonials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}