Monday, November 5, 2018

Same Name

Same Name! I could hardly believe that was one of the #52 Weeks choices for the month of June. That subject has been the bane of my existence since I started to explore my mother's family. My maternal grandfather, Isidore Segall, came to this country from Romania in 1900.  His first S-240 Immigration card provided information that he had crossed into this country in 1900 through Detroit which, I guess, means somehow he had gotten to Windsor, Ontario. He was born in Radauti, Romania but, at some point, moved to Dorohoi. In Dorohoi he developed a strong friendship with a young man in Dorohoi named Isadore Segal. Notice some similarities there, do you?



Many years pass and this writer becomes interested in genealogy. And I began getting involved in the way many who have retired do, by accident and, in my case an usual phone call. Earlier in my career I been an elementary Library-Learning Center Director and knew nothing about how to do genealogy work in any organized fashion. (I am still paying a price for that ignorance today.) I did, however, have one small picture and a recollection from my days at South School. We had many great mother volunteers that helped us in the Center. I don't recall how our conversation began but, low and behold, we discovered she had a grandfather who had come from Romania as well. We can shorten this by just telling you he turned out to be that other Isadore Segal and she had a picture of the two of them together. They were just a year or so apart. I am giving you this detail because these two immigrated to this country about two years apart.

That became a problem very early on in my search. Just as I thought I had found a document it suddenly became very clear it was not my grandfather, but her grandfather. This has happened again and again. I have searched a range of online resources with little luck. I have worked with a researcher and asked for help through Jewish Genealogy Society of Illinois. I have had wonderful suggestions. Sadly none have been my grandfather.
From Naturalization Papers in Chicago Court House.

There are some strange differences in these two documents that could cause some confusion.  The arrival date on each is the same. The problem is that on one he indicates he crossed into the US at Detroit,MI which would mean from Windsor, Canada on one document. The other document indicates the same arrival date. But it would seem that on that date is in Quebec. From what I have seen only one ship landed on that date, the Lake Champlain.There is no Isidore Segall on that manifest. There certainly was an Isidore Segall and he did arrive in Chicago somehow. I have the picture of their wedding, census records, my mother and uncle's birth certificates, pictures of he and my grandmother Segall in their grocery store and most importantly, my mother.  The search will continue for as long as it takes. So will the frustration.


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