Memories from Ian Strasfogel

August 19, 2010
Dear Cousin Beryl,
Many thanks for the information about Leo Gutman, a cousin on my mother's side whom I well remember from summer childhood visits to Cincinnati. Leo was always enthusiastic about our large extended family and maintained contact with many of its far flung members. I was impressed and amused by his stories about how he acquired the rights to the Sherlock Holmes movies from the 1930s and 40s very inexpensively and then found a substantial market for them on late night television years later. (My wife Judith is addict of that sort of fare.) Clarence, my dear Uncle Clarence was an inimitable individual, generous and kind, reserved and self-deprecating, cautious and curmudgeonly, yet absurdly indulgent of his two Strasfogel nephews. It's a shame you never met him. He was a wonderful original. Andrew and I loved him very much.
Many thanks for your devotion to the many branches of our family tree.
Cordially,
Ian Strasfogel

Saul Miller's passing

Dear Family: I was saddened to just learn of Saul Miller's passing which occurred in December 2008. Saul was a devoted friend of our cousin Ethel Smullian Kaufman of blessed memory. I always considered Saul as part of our family. He attended many of our reunions. He never failed to remember Ethel, her brother Herbert and her son Steve's yartzeits. As a family representative, I would receive the acknowledgements from the Jacksonville synagogue. May Saul's soul rest in peace. You might be interested in Saul's obituary that I've attached and the lovely comment by someone who knew Saul as a radio personality also attached. My memory may have played tricks on me, but I seem to remember that Saul was an army buddy of Ethel's husband Artie Kaufman from World War II, and that is the circumstance of their long time friendship. We will miss Saul in the continuation of our reunions and in the preservation of our family history. Love to all of you, my dear cousins. Beryl.

NEW LIGHT SHED ON OUR FAMILY TREE!

To my astonishment, when I received the first report from Paul Graham, Certified Genealogist, this week, I realized that my whole perspective of our grandparents’ immigration to this country was wrong. I had originally thought that Israel Berman had come to this country in 1888, and that while he was here, grandmother Sarah had birthed a third child Sophie; and, after Sophie was born, Sarah pursued Israel and found him in Camilla. England and Wales 1891 census lists the household of Isaac (s/b Israel) Berman to include “Rachel age 4, Abram age 5, and Chily [sic] (Sophie) 3 weeks”; and Max Lubin as a boarder. The passenger list shows Israel on the ship “Ottoman” and arriving in Boston January 31, 1892; and, Sarah, the three children and Bennett (misnamed Barrett) Lubin arriving July 30, 1894 in Philadelphia on the S.S. Southwark. The ages of the children are consistent with the England Census. Sarah indicated on the passenger list that she was joining her husband in New York at 35 Monroe Street. Trow’s New York City Directory of 1893 shows Israel Berman at 155 Madison.

Of course, this new information raised additional questions. I have asked Mr. Graham to locate Sophie’s birth certificate which I couldn’t locate, despite the fact that I was able to get Abe’s and Rae’s, and to see if he can uncover how and why the family settled in Camilla, possibly through business records. Also, I have asked him to see what information he can locate regarding the third Berman brother (Louis), the father of Lena Berman Dannerman. We have virtually no information on him.

I have offered to forward the Graham report and documents which are in PDF format to my family email list. For those family members who did not receive, please contact me and I will send you a copy.

***

Photos - How to get them onto website

We are thrilled to make new additions to the family website. We can upload anything you send in “jpeg” format. If you have tons of stuff, you can Fed Ex it to Beryl Weiner's office and we can scan all of it and return the originals to you. Otherwise, jpeg format via email is fine. Or, put the jpegs onto a disk and mail that.

The more details on names/dates, the better!

Please go to the Berman-Lubin Mispocha home page and click on "Contact" to ask us for Mr. Weiner's email or regular mail address to send photos.

Himelfarb connection

From: Matt Berman [mailto:mberman@nrgdfw.com]
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2007 1:52 PM

Lawrence Himelfarb emailed me on Myspace.com of all places asking me if I am the son of Walter Berman. He gave me a link to his family genealogy website. I will post it at the end of this message. It seems it was MamaFlo’s grandparent where our families come together. Anyway, you are the first person I thought of so here it is in case you feel like looking at it.

http://himelfarb.org/genealogy

From Dorian Berman

From: Dorian Berman [mailto:dorianberman@hotmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2007 2:43 PM

Hello everyone! ... lots of new photos and video on www.dropshots.com/dballyn.

re husband Christian -- What a feeling it must be to realize your lifelong dream. He said, 'If I can do this, then anyone anywhere can do anything.' Several of you have asked how you can see him. Here's the link:

http://www.radio-canada.ca/actualite/v2/tj22h/

On this page, you'll see a calendar on the left hand side. You can click on December 6, 7, 8, 9.

As for me, I'm playing with many ideas and options for what I want to do with the rest of my life. I'm a talented artist and teacher, a great writer, a wonderful cook. I'm doing a bit of all of it right now and seeing where it takes me.

I'd love to hear from you and look forward to lots of reconnections.

Much love,
Dorian

Commenting on a Blog - HOW TO

Blog is a noun which means weblog (e.g., a log maintained on the web) or a web journal.

The verb form (blogging, to blog, blogs) means to make entries into or maintain a weblog.

How to use the Blog feature on the family website:

Open the family website: http://www.berman-lubin-mishpocha.net/

Highlight or click on Blog on the left column

If you wish to respond to or comment on one of the blogs already posted, just click on “comments” and a new page will pop up with a box on the right to write your remarks.

Write your thoughts within the box.

You have two choices, your posting can go up on the website from “anonymous” or from your “Google/Blogger” name.

If you already have a Google/Blogger account, enter the information in the area beneath the box with your account information.

Otherwise, you will need to establish an account. Click on “create account” and fill in the information required on the next page, agree to their terms, and hit “continue”.

That will carry you back to our blog page and you can preview your comments and decide whether to publish them.

This is like driving a car, many details but once you do it a few times it will be easy.

9-13-07bt

Father's Day is coming!

What is your favorite memory of the gentlemen in your life?

Click on "comments" below this post to type in your story.

Be sure to include your name!

Happy 87th Birthday, Bea Harris Caplan!

Congratulations to Bea Caplan on her 87th birthday (April 18, 2007). Her son and daughter, Andrew and Barbara, sent the following on April 19th:

Thank you, on Mum's behalf, for your birthday good wishes (she doesn't have email now and wasn't that keen on it when she did have it). I spoke to her yesterday and she is as happy s she can be, given the circumstances and has settled in well to her new home at The Beatitudes in Phoenix. She has a wide circle of friends that keep up their contact with her, and has the dear support of Sandy and Larry Slagel for which she cannot adequately express her gratitude. She attends the local shul to say Kaddish weekly and attended four seders over the Passover! She has turned into something of a gambler in her senior years, playing her beloved MahJong again and having taken up poker -- "Texas Holdem" I think she said. She can't bear the news on the television but watches her cop shows (CSI - the New York one of course) but mainly spends her quiet time - as ever - reading. She would like to send all the extended family her love and best wishes.
Love
Andrew and Barbara

First Blog

It's like walking in an alley at night without light; getting the hang of this new method of diary entry for historical memoranda. In the family web site Berman-Lubin-Mishpocha.net I envisioned an effort to preserve some of our family history. It is going much slower than I thought; there are so many technical obstacles that we need to overcome i.e. the 1989 video, the publishing of the charts as a whole, just to name two.
BHW