The WikiTree Challenge 2022 Challenge 17

Date: 1 Sep 2022 to 8 Sep 2022
Location: [unknown]

Contents 1 WikiTree Challenge #17 1.1 Notes From Scott 1.2 Needs Work 1.2.1 To Research 1.2.2 Immigrants needing Hebrew names, already found 1.2.3 Immigrants needing Hebrew names, not yet known 1.3 Photographs 1.4 FamilySearch Image Look-ups 2 Tell Us What You Found!! 2.1 Interesting Finds 2.2 Free Space Pages 2.3 Military Profiles 3 Media Outreach 3.1 Ancestors 3.2 Discovery 3.3 Stats 4 Ancestors 4.1 Brick Walls 4.1.1 Paternal Brick Walls 4.1.2 Maternal Brick Walls 5 Resources 5.1 General WT Resources 5.2 Specific Country Resources

WikiTree Challenge #17

Focal Point: Scott Turow

Notes From Scott

• When I was a boy, my mother’s mother had a phenomenal memory, and went all the way back to the Crimean war. Unfortunately, my mom was disorganized, and we never found those documents. What was memorable was that there was a child [in my tree] with a mother but no father. My mother asked her “was there a father?” My grandmother shrugged and said “a gypsy.”
• I knew three [of my grandparents]. Two of them very well. My father was at odds with his father, so I had met him, but had not grown up around him. He worked as a peddler on the streets of Los Angeles, so my father considered him an embarrassment. His mom had what we now believe to be intestinal cancer. She died when he was about six years old. My father’s mother bears a striking resemblance to my oldest daughter.
• (Who is the oldest living ancestor you knew in person?) My cousin Joy, who was my mom’s … the daughter of my grandmother’s sister. A second cousin?
• (We already know these are Ashkenazi Jews) It’s funny, though, as through the Ancestry DNA results I was 99% Ashkenazi Jew and she was 97%, so I referred to her as “half-breed.”
• (Do you have any interesting stories that have been handed down in your family?) Not really. I thought the gypsy not showing up in my DNA was disappointing. The rest of it I suspect is pretty normal for any immigrant family.
• (Is there a specific ancestor you would like to know more about?) My grandfather, with whom I was very close, was not a good family reporter, as he was thrown out of his home when he was 13 or 14 years old. His father found him smoking behind the barn. He hit the father, and was sent to the United States a few days later. Or, that was the story. My grandmother came from the same area, which is now Belarus, and she is purportedly my grandfather’s 5th cousin. So, I’d love to know more about that side of the family. My father’s side is a [mystery]. It is possible that the Rabinovitz line came from other than Russia. My father’s father was called Julius in this country. My mother’s father was called Samson in English, and was always “Sam.”
• (Is there anyone you’ve wondered whether you are related to?) My mother, who is not a Turow (Turovetsky) by birth, was convinced the Turow Street Synagogue in Rhode Island were relatives. Scott said they were Portuguese Jews, so not related. The other story passed down in my mother’s family was that there was a spoon, lost in migration, that attested to the fact that we were descended from King David. As an adult, I realized that we may all be descended from him, back several thousand years, and so I’m not sure it is as impressive. But it would be amusing to see if there is any validity to this claim.
• (Is there anything else you’d like to learn through this experience?) You’ve already found more than I knew, especially on my father’s side, so I’m excited to see what else you find. There may be a family bible in Yiddish, but otherwise the records should be in Russian.
• (With the information you have given me today, is there anything you don’t want shared with our research team or the public?) No. You can share everything.

Needs Work

1. Raymond Carl Crabb served and needs a military sticker and any records that can be found [added sticker and some sources Selvaggio-84 02:48, 4 September 2022 (UTC)]
2. Raymond Richard Crabb served and needs a military sticker and any records that can be found [added sticker and some sources Selvaggio-84 02:48, 4 September 2022 (UTC)]

To Research

• Pastron family: There's an 1850 Revision List for the Slutsk region that gives an Itsko, son of Ellya, who could match up with Hillel's father, in a town called Kopyl'. Not sure if it's likely to be the same person, but maybe something to look into.(note from Koehnline-1, Discord, 4 Sep)
• Turovetzky people who lived in Zhitomir at the turn of the 20th century. At least one family migrated to NYC. Names such as Meyer, Leyzer, Abram, Rivka, Sora, and Dweira are present. Very likely close cousins of our search interest. (note from Munits-1)

Immigrants needing Hebrew names, already found

(leave orphaned for LNAB change)

Immigrants needing Hebrew names, not yet known

(leave orphaned for LNAB change)

1. Louis Levin gravestone cited inscription needs translation.
2. Sam Levin - gravestone is cited
3. Hannah (Goldman) Weinstein, daughter of Max Goldman
4. Isahel/Isaac/Isadore Weinstein
5. Ida Weinstein
6. Alexander Woloshen (1868-1918)
7. Mandel Weinress (abt.1865-1946)
8. Rosa (Peise) Weinress (1866-)
9. Louis Torch (abt.1892-1950)
10. Samuel Zitnick (abt.1890-1946)
11. Ides (Koterlo) Blitstein (1882-1965) - needs LNAB specifically

Photographs

Note: Please check with your captain, Thomas Koehnline, if there are any questions about the images being protected by copyright.

• add image link here

FamilySearch Image Look-ups

• "Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N7HX-ZJP : 10 March 2018), Barney Ruth and Sarah Davidsky, 18 Jan 1908.
• "Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1871-1998," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2MX-QFHT : 18 March 2018), Meyer Turner, 31 Dec 1964; citing Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, source reference , record number , Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm . [Doherty-2064] for profile %D7%98%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%A6%D7%A7%D7%99-3

(Kathy checked for these 2 above on 9/7 and did not find themWeatherall-96 16:49, 14 September 2022 (UTC))

Tell Us What You Found!!

Interesting Finds

List interesting finds to share with the guest at the end of the week

1. Scott's grandmother Fannie (Epstein) Pastron's brother Nathaniel Epstein changed his surname to Van Dorf.
2. Scott's Uncle Isadore Louis Turow aka Irving Isadore Turowetzky was also a Doctor he can be found in the 1940 Census working at the State Hospital, Illinois Jenkinson-562
3. Scott's grandmother's brother-in-law Louis Torch was called to testify in the investigation into the attack and murder of Marinus Hvid. Hvid was attacked on 27 December 1939, beaten by several men, and died on 30 December 1939 in Chicago. Torch was Vice-President of the Affiliated Garage Association. From 1930 to 1939 32 persons were murdered and several arson attacks made, indicative of the "violence in the garage industry."
4. Scott's maternal uncle's first cousinRaymond Richard Crabb died when the C-40 transport plane he was in with 5 others crashed into a mountain near Chiran on the southern tip of Kyushu, Japan, ^[1] Urbach-13 07:31, 3 September 2022 (UTC)
5. Scott's maternal aunt by marriage's uncle by marriage Raymond Carl Crabb served in World War I and his son served in World War II Raymond Richard Crabb Urbach-13 07:31, 3 September 2022 (UTC)
6. 3 sisters, Katherine (Woloshen) Toplon (-1954), Sarah W (Woloshen) Weinress (1898-1964) & Lena Woloshen (1897-) who are 6 degrees from Scott through his Grandmother פייגא בת ישראל (עפשטיין) Pastron (abt.1895-1989)'s line, ended up in Chicago Home for Jewish Friendless and Working Girls (53rd St & Ellis Ave). Their mother appears to have had mental issues and their father Alexander Woloshen (1868-1918), an attorney, died in 1918. Tucker-11084 17:56, 3 September 2022 (UTC)
7. Scott's grandmother's sister's husband Edward Kurnick had a radio and television store in Chicago in 1950, at the time when television was just starting to become popular.
8. Scott's uncle Dr. Irving L. Turow was faced with a scandal while serving as acting managing officer of the Peoria State Hospital for mental patients. Caretaking of the hospital cemetery had deteriorated for those whose remains were not claimed by family members. A deceased inmate's daughter learned of her mother's death after some months, but the remains could not be located due to the abandonment of a former practice of placing numbered concrete headstones. She appealed to her state representative Arnold L. Lund. The resulting news story ran in September 1940 while Dr. Turow was vacationing and Democratic Governor Henry Horner was convalescing—he died in October without resigning from office. Republican gubernatorial candidate Dwight Green, who would win the November election, tasked Rep. Lund with making a thorough investigation. Dr. Turow was replaced by another doctor on 1 November, but went on to head the neuropsychiatric unit at the Army's Percy Jones General Hospital for four years during World War II and to serve in other Illinois mental health clinics. Karen Lowe
9. Scott' grandmother's sister Bernice (Epstein)Erenberg participated in the Caregiver Education Support Services program after her husband developed Alzheimer's. She was featured in a story in the Los Angeles Times.
10. Scott's grandfather's sister Frances (Turow) Pastern's husband David Arthur Pastern lost his mother when he about seven-years-old. He and his younger brother Alvin Pasternak were placed in the Chicago Home for Jewish Orphans, despite their father being still alive. David later changed his name from Pasternak to Pastern.
11. Scott's grandfather Shimshon ben Hillel Pastran שמשון בן הלל (פאסטראן) Pastron (1889-1977) arrived 20 July 1905 on the Armenia. From ship’s manifest: Schimsdren Pastron, male, Hebrew, age 16, born about 1889; in possession $5, first time in US, paid own passage, final destination NY, going to uncle Jacob Rosran in NY, Canal Str 40. (Delayed 2 days before being admitted). Jacob Rozran's death certificate lists father as Avraham Razran אברהם ראזראן (abt.1855-), who is Fannie Epstein Pastron's grandfather. Since Shimshon and his wife would not be first cousins, Jacob is his uncle by marriage. Jacob's wife (Lena Zurkoff , from birth records of children) is Shimshon Pastron's biological aunt. Shimshon Pastron was still living with Zena and Jacob in the 1910 census in Chicago with their 4 children, brother-in-law Max Zurkoff, and nephew Sam Pastron age 21.
12. Scott's mother Rita (Pastron) Turow's brother Sidney Pastron's wife Frances (Tatelbaim)Weinstein's brother Joseph Lev Tate died in combat on D-Day in France, 6 June 1944. His body was returned to the United States in 1948.
13. Scott's grandmother's brother-in-law Max Zurkoff had an unusual career in 1930- "sausage route salesman."
14. Jacob Muffson out in degree 7 was treated cruelly by a South Chicago police officer with a history of brutality.

Free Space Pages

List of Free Space Pages created for or linked to members of this family.

• Chicago newspaper articles for the Turow's

Military Profiles

WORLD WAR II

• Scott's grandmother Fannie (Epstein) Pastron's brother Dr. Nathaniel Epstein Van Dorf served as a Captain in the United States Army during World War II. He was stationed in England.
• Scott's grandfather's nephew Solomon Turner served as a Staff Sergeant during World War II.
• Scott's maternal uncle's first cousins Raymond Richard Crabb and his maternal uncle's aunt's husband Raymond Carl Crabb served in World War II
• Scott's grandmother's brother Seymour Sidney Pastron served from 1941 to 1946 in the United States Army as a psychiatric doctor.

Media Outreach

Social Media Posts

Hashtags: #WTChallenge #CollaborativeGenealogy #YearOfFamilyConnections

Day	Subject	@WikiTreeOfficial @ScottTurowBooks	@WTChallenge @ScottTurow	@WikiTreers @Scott_Turow	@WikiTreers
8/30	About to start!	Link	Link	Link
9/1	Zoom Kick-off AM	Link	Link	Link
9/1	Zoom Kick-off PM			Link
9/4	Halfway	Link	Link	Link
9/6	Winding down	Link	Link	Link
9/8	Zoom Wrap-Up AM	Link	Link	Link
9/8	Zoom Wrap-Up PM	Link	Link	Link
9/10	Zoom Weekend Chat	Link	Link	Link	video

• 30 Aug 2022: Mindy LinkedIn & Facebook
  • We still need volunteers to help with Russian-Jewish research on WikiTree for author Scott Turow's week. Check out more in our forum: https://lnkd.in/g8PN-UCy #research #wiki #WTChallenge #CollaborativeGenealogy #YearOfFamilyConnections
• 1 Sep 2022: Mindy Facebook & Twitter
  • The week has started for Scott Turow. We will spend one full week researching his Russian-Jewish ancestors. Even if you don't participate, you can join us in chat. It should be an interesting week! #wtchallenge #CollaborativeGenealogy #YearOfFamilyConnections
• 3 Sep 2022: Mindy Facebook
  • New York Times bestselling author, Scott Turow, is being researched this week. His grandmother's brother-in-law had a radio and television store in Chicago in 1950, at the time when television was just starting to become popular. Pretty cool discovery!
• 4 Sep 2022 Mindy Facebook & Twitter
  • WikiTreers are doing a great job with the WikiTree Challenge this week! They have added 23 direct ancestors, and 166 peripheral ancestors or cousins (within 7 degrees). I think Scott Turow will be happy at the end of the week. https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1458099 Discovery: Scott' grandmother's sister Bernice (Epstein) Erenberg participated in the Caregiver Education Support Services program after her husband developed Alzheimer's. She was featured in a story in the Los Angeles Times. #wikitreers #wikitree #genealogy #wtchallenge
• 4 Sep 2022 Facebook
  • Scott's grandfather, Shimshon ben Hillel Pastran, arrived in 1905 on the 'Armenia.' He was sixteen years old, had $5 in his pocket, and was coming to the United States for the first time to visit his Uncle Jacob in New York. #wikitreers #wikitree #genealogy #wtchallenge

Ancestors

• Current Scores This includes total ancestors added, plus nuclear family and other relatives within 7 degrees

Discovery

• (Jump to discoveries section)

Stats

Note: There are a total of 80 points available for each section.

• Wednesday (Before the week started)
  • Scott has 16 ancestors within 20 generations
  • Scott has 17 connections within 7 degrees
• Saturday Night
  • Connection bounties earned: 10 points
  • Brick Wall bounties earned: 0 points
  • Discovery bounty earned: 0 points
  • Scott has 23 ancestors within 20 generations
  • Scott has 166 connections within 7 degrees

Ancestors

Brick Walls

These links will be added mid-week by Mindy and Thomas Koehnline. Remember to claim any brick wall bounties in the !

Paternal Brick Walls

1. יהודה טורובעצקי (abt.1761-) Meyer Turovetzky
2. פרומה (bat Lev) bat Leyb (1864-) Prome (bat Lev) bat Leyb (Mother only!)
3. ישראל יצהק ראבינאוויטש (abt.1830-) Israel Yitzhak Rabinavich
4. רפאל ראנקין (abt.1850-) Raphael Rankin

Maternal Brick Walls

1. יצחק (פאסטראן) Pastron (abt.1840-) Yitzhak (Pastran) Pastron
2. Unknown (צורקוף) Pastron (abt.1870-) "Kresha, Kreslia" Pastron Solved!!
3. שמעון עפשטיין (abt.1845-) Simon Epstein
4. אברהם ראזראן (abt.1855-) Avraham Rozran

Resources

Please list any resources that you have. We all gain knowledge from eachother!

General WT Resources

• Editing Tips This page shows basic markup that can be used on WikiTree profiles and Space pages. Please remember not to use tables on Challenge profiles.
• Example Challenge Profiles This is a guideline on how the profiles can look.
• WikiTree AGC This addon is to clean up gedcom 'clutter' once we've connected to existing profiles. It is awesome at cleaning up the gedcoms and putting the source information together.
• WikiTree BEE This addon is great for a lot of things, but the main help for the Challenge is the 'auto-bio' button that it puts on the profiles. This will give you basic narrative you can add to.There is a WikiTree BEE extension available for Chrome and Firefox users.
• The Background Images Category contains pages that you can find a large variety of background images on. Most of them are tiled (repeatable) images.
• Greg's awesome 6 degree app This has a variety of ways to show the connections to the focal person.
• Ancestor Explorer This app shows how many direct ancestors are connected to the focal person
• Missing Parents app This app shows which connected profiles need parents added.

Specific Country Resources

• BloodAndFrogs has a great collection of resources, from newspapers to informative websites.
• Familyspace seems to be the place to find family trees of people from the former USSR. The mostly free website has more than 3 million users.
• Find Lost Russian & Ukrainian Family
• Extracts of the Jewish records in the 1897 All Russian Census on JewishGen Belarus SIG
• Jewish Encyclopedia
• JewishGen home page, primary site for indexed records of Ashkenazi Jews.
• National database of repressed of Ukraine
• Research: Russia, Goal 1 - The Family History Guide
• Yad Vashem - The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, database of Shoah victims.
• Language/handwriting resources:
  • Male given names in Russian & Yiddish/Hebrew
  • Feale given names in Russian & Yiddish/Hebrew
  • Hebrew handwriting chart
  • Russian cursive basic handwriting
  • Transliterating Hebrew & Yiddish to Latin script
  • Transliterating Russian to Latin script
  • Yiddish online keyboard
  • Hebrew date converter
  • How to read Jewish gravestone inscriptions