Treasure Chest Thursday: The Wilson Family

Selig Wilensky arrived in the United States in November 1891.[1] In his new land he became Saul Wilson. It was more than five years before his family joined him from Kasan, Russian Empire (today Kozyany, Belarus).[2] From 1898 through 1904 they lived in Hudson, New York. Their youngest daughter, Esther, was born in September 1898 in Hudson - their only child born in the United States.

Saul Wilson, Nina Wilson Herman, Benjamin Wilson, Esther Wilson Marwit Wasmflash, Joseph Wilson, Hoda Wilson (circa 1903); family collection.

I have a copy of this photograph and, therefore, have no information about the studio in which it was taken. I do not know if any family members have the original.

Hudson city directories for 1901 and 1902 list four photography studios:

Charles Booth, 551 Warren
Sullivan Brothers, 425 Warren
Nelson E. Weeks, 609 Warren
Volkert Whitbeck, Forshew's Photograph Gallery, 441 Warren [3]

Weeks' studio is no longer listed in 1903 and 1904 Hudson directories.[4]

Notes:

1."New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 October 2008), manifest, Polaria, Stettin to New York, arriving 23 November 1891, passenger number 196, Selig Wilenski; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial M237, Microfilm Roll 579.
2. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 September 2009), manifest, Pisa, Hamburg to New York, arriving 1 June 1897, list 7, Hode, Nachame, Josef and Benjamin Wilensky; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial M237, Microfilm Roll 579.
3. J.H. Lant, Hudson City, Claverack and Stottville Directory (Hudson: J.H. Lant, 1901), 176; also 1902, 179; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 August 2014). 
4. J.H. Lant, Hudson City, Claverack and Stottville Directory (Hudson: J.H. Lant, 1903), 174; also 1904, 170; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 August 2014). 

Tombstone Tuesday: Hoda Wilson

Before I arrived at Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Queens, New York in September 2008, I knew that my great grandmother Hoda Wilson's tombstone had toppled. The answer to my query to the cemetery office regarding family graves told me that. But it was not only toppled, it was a jungle! The stone was face down and nearly impossible to approach. No amount of pruning, such as I did at my great grandfather Saul's grave was going to solve the problem.

Upon return home I contacted the cemetery and paid them to reset the stone and clean up the area. I asked them to send me a photo of the finished work. They did a nice job.

They asked if I wanted them to plant ivy. (All together now:  Noooooooooo!) I have not returned to the cemetery since this photograph was taken, so I'm sure those neighboring plants have once again overtaken the stone.

Hoda Epstein Wilson was born approximately 1867 in the Russian Empire (today's Belarus). I do not know yet the name of the community in which she was born, but I do know that her children were born in Kasan, Russian Empire (now known as Kozyany, Belarus).

The cemetery sent a close up photo of the inscription and I have bee able to translate it.

Here lies

our beloved mother

a modest and important woman

Hoda Wilson

Daughter of Shabtai Yitzchak

Died 1st day of Kislev 5691
May her soul be bound in the bonds of eternal life

------------

HODA WILSON

DIED NOV. 21, 1930

AGE 63 YEARS

------------

MOTHER

------------

Hoda was my mother's paternal grandmother, wife of Saul Wilson. She arrived in the New York Harbor with her three children five and one-half years after her husband, Zelig (Saul) set sail for the United States.[1] During that time, United States manifests did not require a great deal of information regarding passengers beyond name, age, occupation, country of origin, location on the ship (aft) and port of departure (Hamburg).[2] The Hamburg manifest, however, indicates that the family resided in Wilna (today Vilnius, Lithuania) prior to departure.[3] 

Hoda, Nechama, Josef and Benjamin Wilensky left Hamburg on the S.S. Pisa on 19 May 1897 and arrived in Ellis Island on 1 June 1897. The family initially settled in Hudson, New York, about 40 miles south of Albany on the east bank of the Hudson River and became Hoda, Nina Wilson Herman (25 January 1888 - 11 January 1919), Joseph (11 October 1889 - 3 March 1977) and Benjamin Wilson (5 March 1891 - 22 August 1971).[4] Saul and Hoda's only American-born child was born in Hudson on 10 September 1898: Esther Wilson Marwit Warmflash (1898 - 4 December 1973).

In 1905 or 1906 the Wilson family moved to New York City and resided there for the rest of their lives.

I have found evidence of one Hoda Wilson sibling (Moses Epstein, who may have become Morris Epstein) who emigrated to the United States and joined his sister and brother-in-law in Hudson in December 1903.[5] Thus far, I have not been able to trace the Epsteins or the Wilenskys in Belarus.

Hoda's grave is located in Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Glendale (Queens), New York in the United Hebrew Community section: Block F, Section 6, Subsection 5, Line 2, Grave 32. 

I have a particular affinity for Hoda. First off, my middle name is Hoda and second, she was the topic of my first bona fide genealogy blog post: "Cream Puff Daze." 

Notes:

1."New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 October 2008), manifest, Polaria, Stettin to New York, arriving 23 November 1891, passenger number 196, Selig Wilenski; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial M237, Microfilm Roll 579.
2. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 September 2009), manifest, Pisa, Hamburg to New York, arriving 1 June 1897, list 7, Hode, Nachame, Josef and Benjamin Wilensky; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial M237, Microfilm Roll 579.
3. "Hamburgen Passagierlisten, 1850-1934," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 March 2008), manifest, Pisa, Hamburg to New York, departing 19 May 1897, passenger number 1, Hode Wilensky; citing Staatsarchiv Hamburg, Deutschland, vol. 373-7 I, VIII A Band 096; Page 0, Microfilm No. K_1756.
4. In 2012 I visited Hudson, New York and posted several articles about my research there. See Hudson posts for:  8 September 2012,  7 October 2012, 8 October 2012, 9 October 2012, 10 October 2012, 14 October 2012, and 18 October 2012.

5. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 October 2009), manifest, Albano, Hamburg to New York, arriving 22 December 1903, passenger number 357, Moses Epstein; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715, Microfilm Roll 422.

Tombstone Tuesday: Saul Wilson

Sometimes one has to just get in there and whack the weeds (or the ivy or the hedges). To the left, a before photograph of my great grandfather Saul Wilson's grave at Mt. Lebanon Cemetery in Queens, New York. 

In fairness, this grave was in an older section of the cemetery and does not have perpetual care. It was a good thing, however, that I'd thought to carry clippers that I borrowed from my sister-in-law before heading off to the cemetery. After visiting this cemetery, I have a firm belief that if a cemetery asks, "Would you like to plant ivy on the grave?" Scream, "No!" 

I'm sure the cemetery maintenance crew was pleased with my work. Here is the after photograph.

Here lies

 My beloved husband and our beloved father

A man of integrity and uprightness

Zelig Chayim son of Nachum  WILSON

Died 17 Marcheshvan 5684  May his soul be bound in the bonds of the living
---------

SAUL WILSON

DIED OCT. 27, 1923

AGE 59 YEARS
----------

FATHER

Saul Wilson was my mother's paternal grandfather. He is my earliest ancestor to make the permanent move to the United States, arriving as Selig Wilenski in New York Harbor on 23 November 1891.[1] The Polaria's manifest provided information that Selig was a 28 year old upholsterer from Kasan, Russian Empire (today, Kozyany, Belarus).

Thus far, I have been unsuccessful in tracing Saul's movements during the five and one-half years prior to the arrival of his wife Hoda Wilensky and his children Nechama (Nina Wilson Herman, 25 January 1888 - 11 January 1919), Josef (Joseph Wilson, 11 October 1889 - 3 March 1977) and Benyamin (Benjamin Wilson, 5 March 1891 - 22 August 1971) in 1897.[2]  I do know that, upon arrival in 1897, the family headed almost immediately for Hudson, New York and stayed there until at least 1904.[3] During that time Saul sold dry goods.

Saul and Hoda's only American-born child was born in Hudson on 10 September 1898: Esther Wilson Marwit Warmflash (1898 - 4 December 1973).

In 1905 or 1906 the Wilson family moved to New York City and resided there for the rest of their lives.

I have not yet found evidence of any siblings (if Saul had them) who may also have emigrated to the United States. And, while I know Saul's father's name from his tombstone and death certificate, I do not yet know his mother's name. 

Saul's grave is located in Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Glendale (Queens), New York in the United Hebrew Community section: Block F, Section 6, Subsection 5, Line 1, Grave 33.

Notes:

1."New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 October 2008), manifest, Polaria, Stettin to New York, arriving 23 November 1891, passenger number 196, Selig Wilenski; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial M237, Microfilm Roll 579.
2. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 September 2009), manifest, Pisa, Hamburg to New York, arriving 1 June 1897, list 7, Hode, Nachame, Josef and Benjamin Wilensky; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial M237, Microfilm Roll 579.
3. In 2012 I visited Hudson, New York and posted several articles about my research there. See Hudson posts for:  8 September 2012,  7 October 2012, 8 October 2012, 9 October 2012, 10 October 2012, 14 October 2012, and 18 October 2012.

Cream Puff Daze

Hoda Epstein Wilson, ca 1866-1930

None of us now living had ever heard this story from any of our Wilson family.  It was first published in The Sun (New York, New York). Hoda Epstein Wilensky had been through a great deal.  On 19 May 1897, more than six years after her husband Zelig (Saul) had left for the United States, she accompanied her three children from their home town of Kazan (today Kozyany, Belarus) to Hamburg. From there they embarked on the Pisa and landed at Ellis Island on 1 June 1897. By the time my great grandmother Hoda Wilson moved to New York City in about 1906, she'd already lived in Hudson, NY and Albany. 

She must have been one formidable woman.  For some reason, I do not associate tenement life with cream puffs, literally or figuratively.  But, one does not live on bread alone. Frank Carrigan definitely got more than he'd bargain for.

DAZES THIEF WITH CREAM PUFF; TRAPS HIM ON ROOF

Intruder Leaps Eight Foot Gap on Housetops Fleeing From Woman

When Mrs. Hoda Wilson, who lives on the third floor of the apartment house at 10 West 116^th street, put on her hat and coat late yesterday afternoon and went to the corner delicatessen store she forgot to lock her apartment door.

A few minutes later Solomon Wilson, her husband, came home and found both doors leading to the apartment locked.  He returned to the sidewalk just as Mrs. Wilson was coming in with a bag of cream puffs.

“That’s strange!” exclaimed Mrs. Wilson and they rushed up stairs to investigate.  As Mr. Wilson began kicking on the kitchen door it suddenly flew open and a young man rushed out.

“Thief!” cried Mrs. Wilson as she struck the young man squarely across the face with the bag of cream puffs.  The intruder swallowed hard a few times, then began to descend the stairs four at a time.  He came out in a court back of the building, grabbed a fire escape ladder and climbed to the roof of 8 West 116^th street, while Mr. and Mrs. Wilson startled the neighbors by shouting “Stop thief!”

From the roof of No. 8 the young man made an eight foot leap to the roof of the adjoining building at No. 6.  There he was trapped for he could not climb back and could not go on to the next building, there being none.

It was at this juncture that the desk sergeant at the Lenox avenue police station heard over the telephone that a burglar has been trapped on a roof in his precinct.  Detectives Barnett and Curtayne were dispatched to the scene and captured the young man while he was still licking cream puffs off his chops.

At the station he said he was Frank Carrigan, 20 years old, of 247 West 144^th street, and then the police discovered that he was wanted in Rochester, N.Y. on a charge of having robbed his uncle, Joseph Carrigan, 228 Fremont street, that city, of $150 in cash and some diamonds.  Carrigan was locked up on a charge of burglary.

Later he confessed that he had robbed a house somewhere in West 146^th street a week ago.  He couldn’t remember the exact address, but guessed he could point the house out.  When the money from that last robbery had gone he planned yesterday’s unfortunate burglary. #

The Sun (New York, NY), Sunday, 5 January 1913, page [unknown], column 2; digital images, Old Fulton, New York Postcards (http://www.fultonhistory.com: accessed 2 January 2012).