Mom's cousin Evelyn

My mom was close to her cousin Evelyn who was Simon's youngest child. Evy, as she was also called, was only 2 years younger than Iris. Evelyn married Corporal Harry Gershon on January 30, 1944. He later became a partner in the Beverly Hills law firm of Cruikshank and Gershon. I don’t know how long Evelyn and Harry were married; I found a newspaper article about a party for their 15th wedding anniversary, but by the time we moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 1961, I’m pretty sure that they were divorced.

I have vague recollections of visiting Evelyn once or twice. She attended my brother’s bar mitzvah in June 1962 (click on Additional Family Photos link for a picture) Two months later, on August 12, 1962 Evelyn died from a drug overdose. She left behind four children ranging in age from 3 to 14. Here's a holiday card that we received - I don't know the date.
We didn’t stay in touch with them so I don’t know what happened to them after their mother’s death; whether or not they went to live with their father, for instance. Neither did we stay in touch with Morris or Joe Jellen after Evelyn’s death, as far as I can remember. We certainly could have - Joe died in 1965 and Morris in 1986.

Simon Jellen

Similar to Cecile, Simon believed that he had been born in Belgium, as he too listed Brussels on all U.S. documents. (More on this later!) However, I have evidence that he was born in Bialystock, Poland on July 7, 1884. (His death certificate lists his birth date as June 4, 1884). It’s highly likely that his name was originally Szymon, a more typical Polish name.

Simon was a master cabinetmaker. Later, after he immigrated with his family to the U.S. Simon turned from making furniture to selling furniture. Simon married Leah (Lily) Fisher on June 12, 1907 at the South Portland Street Synagogue in Glasgow, Scotland. Interestingly, Leah, who was born in Russia, was employed as a tobacconist, the same trade as Simon’s father Issac. Could Simon and Leah have possibly met through his father?

Their first son Joseph was born on March 6, 1908 and Morris was born 5 years later on April 26, 1913. They remained in Glasgow until January 1916 when Simon, Leah, Joseph and Morris all immigrated to the United States, leaving from the port of Liverpool. According to the ship manifest, they were joining his sister, Cecile Reichman who was living at 302 East 100 St. in New York. They entered the U.S. through Ellis Island, but it is not known how long they stayed, if at all, in New York. By 1920, the family was living in San Francisco, California. There Simon opened a furniture store. Their daughter Evelyn was born on March 14, 1924. The family later moved to Los Angeles around 1925 and in 1930 were living at Alsace Ave. Simon opened another furniture store. Here's a picture of Simon and Cecile taken at Simon's house in L.A. around 1943.

Simon died at the age of 56 on December 27, 1950 of a heart attack. Lily died on March 1, 1963 at the age of 81.

Jellen Family Tree

Here's a traditional family tree showing Issac and Rachel and their children. I created this tree using my genealogy software which I then imported into Photoshop so I could save it in jpeg format which is the only image format that Blogger will allow me to upload. I cannot figure out how to get it larger so get out your magnifying glasses!

The Honest Bookie

I am so excited! I received Charles Jellen's naturalization file in the mail yesterday. I had to file a Freedom of Information Act request with the British National Archives to get the file because it was too recent. These naturalization files usually contain a lot of interesting information. Charles' didn't contain too much new info, however, but it's still pretty interesting to read. Anyway, here's a bit on Uncle Charlie! Charles was the first child of Issac and Rachel that was born in Belgium on August 3, 1886 in Antwerp. He was named Christianus on his birth certificate. How in the world did a Jewish boy of Polish descent end up with such a name? I guess it’s possible that this was phonetically how his name sounded when pronounced by his Polish/Yiddish/Russian speaking parents. Here's a picture of Charles when he visited New York around 1935 - Felice is on the left and my mom Iris is on the right.

Charles moved with his parents to the Jewish neighborhood of Gorbals, Glasgow in 1895. In 1910, 24 year old Charles left Glasgow and moved to Brussels, Belgium. His brother Simon stayed in Glasgow with his wife and child. Issac, Rachel and the younger children Bernard and Anna moved to Edinburgh around the same time. I'm sure that Cecile and Henry Reichman were then living in the Anderlecht, Brussels because Charles was listed as Cecile’s nearest relative when she immigrated in 1912. (The ship manifest lists his address as 1 Rue de Prairie (sic), Brussels). On August 4, 1914, Charles moved back to Scotland, this time to Edinburgh where he lived throughout the rest of his life.

Charles applied for naturalization in 1920 and six years later, on January 29, 1926, Charles became a British citizen. Charles path to citizenship took a lot longer than his brothers Jack and Bernard, who had both become citizens years earlier, in 1914 and 1919 respectively. I’m not sure why. Jack had applied for citizenship so he could enter the British army during WWI and Bernard, was eligible for citizenship since he served in the military during the war. Britain must have changed enlistment requirements sometime after 1914, probably because they needed all the recruits they could get to fight in the war.

Interestingly, though Charles was born in Belgium, his application noted that his nationality flowed from his parents, who were both born in Russia. However, neither Jack nor Bernard’s application contained a similar statement – it commented that their parents were born in Russia, but did not state that they automatically were considered Russian citizens. Maybe it just depends on who handles the case?

Previous occupation was listed as Polish manufacturer and publisher of a sports (?) paper. During WW1 he provided material for making gas masks and also glass for making photographic plates for the air force. His reason for wanting to become naturalized was “His home and all his interests being here, having had free education and the benefit and protection of the laws and institutions of this free country which he admires and loves, he would like some of the responsibilities and privileges.”

His occupation was listed on this document as manufacturer’s representative, though for which company or product it is unknown. (I did find an ad in the Scotsman where the firm of Robertson and Jellen was looking for people to distribute Tartan polish, whatever that is! On the 1901 census, however, he was working as a cabinetmaker’s apprentice. I don’t know what he held during his 4 years in Brussels.

Charles, however, made most of his money as a bookie. Janet remembers being told that although Charles was a bookie, it was legal in Scotland, which it certainly was not! Charles was cited, convicted and fined every year between 1928 and 1939 for using his residence at 29 Elder for ready-money betting. He used an alias, Jack Cassel, which is an inversion of his initials CJ to JC. After being fined in 1932 (his fifth offence) he pled for leniency saying that business was very bad, the ‘punters’ getting more or less their own way.”

Charles never married. He died on July 27, 1948 at the age of 61. The cause of death was listed as malignant hypertension.

The Unknown Jellen

Am I the only one who had never heard that our grandmother Cecile had a brother Jack? I wonder if my mother even knew that he existed because when I had asked her some years ago about the names of her maternal aunts and uncles, Jack’s name was not mentioned. Ironically, I now know more about Jack than any of the other Jellen siblings, including my very own grandmother. I found a wealth of information in Jack’s application for British citizenship, plus being a journalist and writer, I have been able to find a lot about him.

Jack was born Jacob on July 22, 1888 in Antwerp, Belgium. He went by the name Jacques after the move to Brussels, and upon moving to Glasgow became Jack. He then enrolled at the Glasgow Atheneum of Music and attended that school for 3 years. (More about the musical Jellen’s in a future post!)

In 1910, at 22 years of age, he left to visit his brother in Brussels and worked at Fischer Freres (Fisher Brothers). It’s possible that the brother was Simon as his wife’s maiden name is Fisher. Jack didn’t stay very long in Belgium and returned to Scotland after only two months.

Later that year, in August, 1910, he changed careers and became a junior reporter for the Spectator and moved to County Down, Ireland. He returned to Glasgow in April of 1911 and became a reporter for the Shetland Times for 10 months. In January of 1912 he moved to Edinburgh and joined the Evening Dispatch and moved to London to serve as their Parliamentary Representative at the House of Commons.

In 1914, Jack applied for naturalization so he could serve in the British Army during WWI. Character and morality are qualities that are researched as part of the naturalization process. This yields a number of interesting observations and comments about Jack. Here are some of them:

“Memorialist (Jack) appears to be a respectable man, and produced five testimonials testifying that he is a capable reporter, thoroughly trustworthy, and invariably shows the Scotsman tenacity of purpose when assigned a difficult or apparently hopeless enterprise”. One of his references said that Jack was “…born in Belgium, but was brought up and educated in this country, and is an Englishman to all intents and purposes excepting for the accident of his birth”.

Jack became a naturalized British subject on December 14, 1914 and as expressed in his application, joined the Royal Army Service Corps before the year was out, serving in the Ypres Salient. While a Private, Acting Staff Serjeant, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in October, 1916 by the King of England. In 1919, he received the Medaille d’Honneur avec Glaives en Bronze from France for distinguished services rendered during the course of the campaign. He rose in rank to that of staff sergeant-major and was mentioned twice in war dispatches. I was able to obtain a copy of an article that Jack wrote in 1960 about his WWI experiences. The article was entitled “A Clerk in the First World War” and appeared in the August 1960 issue of the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. This article goes into much detail about his war experiences and includes his observations on the various military commanders he came in contact with, along with descriptions of the action and everyday activities, including the time he held the King George V’s hat, while he was attending a dinner near the front.

After the war, Jack returned to the London staff of The Scotsman. His knowledge of French and German was the impetus for specializing in writing about foreign affairs and eventually became a diplomatic correspondent for the paper.

On December 20, 1924, at the age of 36, Jack married Lilian Dorothy Ely, a widow one year younger than himself. Lilian had a son Gerald who was 8 years old when Jack and Lilian married. Jack and Lilian later had a son, Alan on March 3, 1927.

Jack served in the Home Guard during World War II from its inception and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel as an assistant advisor on the Home Guard to the GOC, London District. During WWII, Jack was in charge of the Home Guard for the Houses of Parliament.

Jack was elected chairman of the Parliamentary Press Gallery in 1945. This mostly ceremonially post, entailed presiding over the annual luncheon. As Chairman, he was responsible for sending a message from the Press Gallery to Winston Churchill to salute him as the “architect of victory”. The Chairman’s gavel, made of oak from the bombed House of Commons, was used for the first time by Jack. The Press Gallery, adjacent to the House of Commons was also severely damaged by bombing during the Blitz of 1941.

According to his obituary, oil painting had been a long-time interest of Jack’s. An article published in The Scotsman on October 23, 1948 reviewed an art show at the Imperial Institute put on by the Army Art Society. It read, in part, “If Lieut.-Colonel J. Jellen, for example, had painted his tiny unpretentious ‘Pagham Rife’ on the scale of a Van Gogh he might have given even greater pleasure than he has done with his calm study of peaceful river under a friendly sky.”

His wife, Lilian, died on March 29, 1961 at the age of 72. 3 Jack died eleven years later of a heart attack on April 29, 1972 in Surrey, England.3 He was just 2 months shy of his 84th birthday.

August in New York

This past August, I attended the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) meeting in New York City. Since I was in NYC for 10 days, I had a lot of time to do research on both my maternal and paternal lines at the Municipal Archives, and also to visit, for the first time, the graves of my grandparents and on my dad's side, my grandparents and great-grandparents. I also got to spend time with Uncle Leon and Lenore. Steve and Rachel came with me to New York, but while I was out visiting cemeteries, they took advantage of being in Manhattan to do a lot of sight seeing. I signed up for a tour to Beth David Cemetery out in Elmont, Long Island and after a little while, was able to locate Henry and Cecile's headstones. Aunt Germaine's was close by. When I looked at a map to see where the cemetery was I was astounded to discover that the house that we lived in prior to moving to Los Angeles was less than a mile away! I wasn't able to get the van driver to take me over to my old house, so I walked there. I would not have recognized the house - it looked soooo much smaller. And also, the trees and shrubs had grown quite a bit in the past 45 years which completely changed the look of the neighborhood. I don't ever remember visiting the cemetery while we lived in Valley Stream, nor do I think my mom did on her own. That's pretty amazing, considering that the cemetery was a 10 minute drive away.

Jellen Family History Overview

My maternal great-grandfather Izryk (Issac) was born on March 4, 1858 in the town of Ostrow, Lomza gubernia (province), Poland to Chaim Jankiel Herrkoovica Jelen and Chana Radjevitz. My maternal great-grandmother Rochl (Rachel) Zibolar was born on March 1, 1857 in the town of Czyzew, Lomza gubernia to Wolf Zibolar and Jetta Kowalta. Czyzew is located approximately 67 miles north east of Warsaw and directly east of Ostrow. Rachel and Issac were married in 1876 in the town of Ostrow. (This link takes you to an old Polish map of these towns - http://http://lazarus.elte.hu/hun/digkonyv/topo/200e/40-53.jpg - Ostrow is on the far left side of the map just south of 52 degree 50 min - go straight east and you'll run into Czyzew. )
In 1881, 2 million Jews began to emigrate in response to the pogroms that started when the assassination of Alexander II was blamed on the Jews. Later that same year, Rachel and Issac’s first child, Cecile (my grandmother) was born on July 15, 1881 in Czyzew, Poland. Szymon (Simon) was born 3 years later on July 7, 1884 in Bialystock. The birth place of both Cecile and Simon are a bit controversial as both listed Belgium on all documents. I will discuss this at length in a future post!

Around 1885, the Jelen family immigrated to the Flemish city of Antwerp, Belgium. Antwerp had a robust Jewish community that Polish Jews were well aware of in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Issac and Rachel had to register as foreign nationals at the Bureau des Etrangers. This is most fortunate since their file includes numerous valuable documents such as Issac’s birth certificate, and forms that include details on both Rachel and Issac’s parents, along with the birth place of their two children, Cecile and Simon.

Their third child, Charles, was born on August 3, 1886 in Antwerp. The name listed on his birth registration was Christianus; a very unusual name for a Jewish boy of Polish heritage! Two years later, Jacob (who later became Jacques and then Jack) was born on July 22, 1888. Sometime during 1890 – 1891, the family moved again to the Brussels area, possibly to Anderlecht. Their “file” followed them, though no new information seems to have been added.

I am assuming that Issac and Rachel’s last two children were born in the Brussels area, though birth registrations have yet to be located. The documentation I have shows that Bernard was born on February 15, 1892 according to his naturalization papers and Anna was born around 1894.

The Jelen family immigrated, yet again, around 1894 to Scotland, settling first in the inner-city Jewish community of Gorbals in Glasgow. Rachel took the name Rosa or Rosalie. The family moved to Edinburgh sometime after 1910. It was sometime after the move to Scotland that a second l was added to their surname, hence Jelen became Jellen from that time forward. I have not been able to determine whether my grandmother Cecile emigrated with the rest of the family. Issac, and Rosalie are listed on the 1901 Scottish census along with their children Simon, Charles, Jacob, Bernard and Annie. Only Cecile is missing from the census record.

Cecile met her husband Henry Reichman in Belgium and immigrated with their three daughters to the United States in 1912. Simon met his wife in Scotland, and they immigrated with two sons to the United States in 1916. Jack Jellen moved south to England around 1912 and lived near London until he died in 1972. Charles, Bernard and Anna remained in Edinburgh until their deaths in 1948, 1971 and 1970 respectively.

Issac died from heart failure on December 15, 1921 at the Jewish Hospital in Prestwich, Manchester, England at the age of 63. Rachel (Rosa) Jellen was 77 when she died on November 14, 1937 in Edinburgh of heart failure. She was living with her son Bernard at the time.

And so it begins:

I have been struggling to find a way to distribute the research I’ve done on my family history. I have turned to keeping this blog as a way to share information I have found with my relatives in a more timely fashion and hopefully to provide an easy way for people to provide comments, feedback and additional information to help continue to flesh out the story of our ancestors.

The impetus for starting my genealogical research began in 2002 while putting together a heritage scrapbook in honor of my mother’s 80th birthday. During visits to my mother, I would find old pictures and ask about them and then surreptitiously spirit them home to include in the scrapbook. It was also around this time that the database of people who came through Ellis Island became available on the internet. I was able to find the ship manifest that included my grandmother Cecile and her three daughters, Felice, Germaine and Simone. I ordered a copy of both the manifest and a picture of the actual ship that they emigrated on. I was hooked.

Since I’ve already collected a lot of information, my plan is to alternate between broader discussions of the family tree, recent findings and trips and specific ancestors. I can use the “tag” function of the blog to categorize entries by surname and/or specific individual.

I'm new to this world of blogging and expect that I will get better at what is included in each post, including pictures and scans of key documents. I hope you visit often and leave lots of comments and questions!