52 Ancestors: Steps - Hills of Eternity

When I saw the blog prompt Steps, I immediately thought of a very special step at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park in Colma, California.

Yes, that step shows the name Gunzendorfer, which was the family name of my paternal grandmother.  There are several Gunzendorfers buried at Hills of Eternity.  The family plot shows a few.

Ferdinand and Fannie, seen in the foreground, were my second great grandparents.  They spent the later years of their lives in Monterey - I'm not sure what took them to the San Francisco area for burial.  To the right of the Gunzendorfer monument is their grandson (my grandmother's brother), Wilton, who was placed there after his death in 1989.

From the Hills of Eternity website:

Judaism views death as a natural part of life.  Hills of Eternity Memorial Park honors the two basic principles that are part of this natural life cycle:  k'vod ha-mayat - the dignified and respectful treatment of the dead - and k'vod he-chai - the honored treatment of the mourners.

Congregation Sherith Israel established its first cemetery in accordance with these principles when it was founded in 1850.  The cemetery was located in Pacific Heights on Vallejo Street, between Gough and Franklin [San Francisco].  In 1860, Sherith Israel dedicated its second cemetery in the area that is now Dolores Park.  Twenty nine years later, Sherith Israel's cemetery moved again to its current location in Colma.

I'm relieved to learn that the Gunzendorfers are interred in their original burial location.

Also from the website:

Hills of Eternity Memorial Park consists of twenty acres of graciously landscaped gardens at the foot of the San Bruno Mountains.  The grounds and mausoleums are respectfully maintained under endowed care.  Fresh flower placements and grave ornamentation plantings add to the dignified beauty and serenity of the park.

Also at Hills of Eternity is the Portals of Eternity mausoleum and chapel, which was built in 1934, and was designed by Samuel Human and Abraham Appleton.

Photo by jcemsf.org

It is the Portals of Eternity Mausoleum where my great grandparents, Abraham and Bertha (Schwartz) Gunzendorfer, are interred.

It's hard to see but that's them in the center with the arrow pointing to their name.  I did not add that in the picture - the arrow is actually scratched etched into the plate.  Why would that have been done?  They are very high up so really no way for vandals to have been able to accomplish that.  A mystery, for sure.

Also interred at Hills of Eternity are some of the Steen family - Bertha's mother was a Steen and while she is not there, these are some of her relatives.

Interred here are:  Dena Steen (1866-1894), Hannah (Plotzky) Steen (1828-1909), Hyman Steen (1887-1924), Jacob Steen (1831-1909), Julius Steen (1862-1876), Lena (Jacobson) Steen (1848-1927), Meyer Steen (1861-1926), Rosalind Steen (1885-1902).  

I was so fortunate to have been able to spend time in this cemetery in 2012 and, hopefully, will be back again one day.

52 Ancestors: Cousin Bait - Mrs. Gunzendorfer's Nut Cake

One of the best things about having the name Gunzendorfer in my tree is that the name is cousin bait all by itself.  My first blog post told about my start with genealogy when my mom exclaimed "there are no more Gunzendorfers in the United States", which you can read about HERE.  Here's a post from early this year talking about the Beginnings of my blog where I can finally admit that she just might have been right.    

Early in my research I connected with George Fogelson, the author of a book that was my #1 Top 10 Genealogical Find of 2017 - you can read it HERE.  Over the years we've kept in touch and shared information and photos - it's so great to talk with someone who "knows" my family.  A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from George with the subject line Gunzendorfer.  Boy did that pique my interest and I immediately opened it up to see this:

Mrs. Gunzendorfer's Nut Cake?  What the heck?  George was with a friend, Ann, cleaning out some things and this was in her mother's cookbook.  Where and how did her mother get this?

The three of us talked on the phone and it turns out that her grandmother lived in Monterey which is where my Gunzendorfer's lived from about 1860 until 1944.  While my grandmother wasn't born in Monterey, she was raised there and two generations of the family owned/operated the mercantile The White House.  You can read some posts HERE and HERE.

The White House, Monterey, California

Ferdinand Gunzendorfer on top step

Since I had two Mrs. Gunzedorfner's who lived in Monterey - my 2x great grandmother, Fannie, and my great grandmother, Bertha - I didn't know which one made such a delicious Nut Cake that someone would hang on to the recipe all these years.  But her grandmother and mother did!

I don't know too much about censuses but I did determine that in 1900 Ann's great grandparents lived at 422 Franklin Street and my 2x great grandparents lived nearby on Webster Street.  Both families can be found in District 0009, her family on page 18 and my family on page 10.  I'm sure Monterey wasn't that large in 1910 but they were almost neighbors.  Since they weren't too far apart in age, my guess is that the two ladies 'hung out' together and maybe made Nut Cake!

So while not really a cousin, the name Gunzendorfer (who can forget that name, anyway?) "baited" me a new recipe.  Thanks for the introduction, George!

52 Ancestors: Beginnings

The beginning of a new year and such a fitting prompt.  BEGINNINGS

I often think about how and why this genealogy journey started more than 10 years ago.  My mother, who is not descended from the Gunzendorfers, made the statement that there were no more Gunzendorfers in the United States.  And when I began my blog just shy of 10 years ago, my first post talked more specifically about my beginnings.  You can read it HERE.  

The short story is that my mother may just have been right as I still haven't found any living Gunzendorfers in the United States.  My grandmother married and changed her name, thus having no Gunzendorfer descendants, and her brother married but never had children.  So check them off the list.  

There were four Gunzendorfer brothers, one of which was my grandmother's father, Abraham Gunzendorfer.  And of his three brothers (Gustave, Adolph and Jacob), only one, Jacob, had children.  Unfortunately, Jacob's only son never had children and the girls married, thus changing their last name.  So check them off the list.

I have found a group of Gunzendorfers in New York and I am almost certain that they are related to my clan.  The patriarch of that group was Adolph, father of Bernard (b. 1829) who had a son, Adolph, in 1867.  My Abraham's father was Ferdinand, (b. 1838) who also had a son named Adolph in 1866.  I suspect that NY Adolph and my Ferdinand were brothers and this year I hope to confirm that.

NY Adolph had a daughter named Lenore who was born in 1896.  My grandmother, Loraine, was also born in 1896.  And as she wrote letters to my grandfather in 1918 during their engagement, a paragraph stood out to me:

Quite a coincident [sic], sweetheart.  Dad has a cousin in N.Y. who has a daughter my age and whose name is similar to mine, Lenore.  They were at Del Monte nine years ago when I met her.  We later corresponded for some time but the last few years lost track of each other.  Yesterday we received a letter telling of her engagement.  Funny, isn’t it?  Now I’ll have to write to her to inform her of mine.

If Lenore's father, Adolph, and Loraine's father, Abraham, were cousins then their fathers were brothers, right?  Which makes NY Bernard (father of Adolph and Ludwig) and my Ferdinand (father of Gustave, Adolph, Abraham, and Jacob), brothers.  Not definitive proof but as close as I've come so far.

Coincidentally, there was a Ferdinand Gunzendorfer hanging out in California who was born in 1864 and died in Stockton in 1946.  However, his tombstone shows he was born in 1874 and died in 1956.  But either way, about the right time frame that he could have been, and probably was, a NY Gunzendorfer descendant.  Did NY Adolph name a son Ferdinand while his brother, my Ferdinand, named a son Adolph?

This goes to show that I still have a lot of work to do on my beginnings.  I will focus some time again on this branch of my tree and see if I can find things I've missed and confirm (or not) some of these facts.  

In other beginnings news, I learned of a fun tidbit recently.  Jacob Gunzendorfer's great granddaughter and I connected several years ago - you can read about it HERE - and recently have spent some time sharing information.  My cousin, J, has been reading a journal that her mother wrote and shared this with me.

In one section her mother wrote about how her parents Irene (Lolly) and Albert (Bump) met.  Irene was the daughter of Jacob Gunzendorfer and was my grandmother's first cousin.  I remember Grandma talking about her cousin, Irene, but I'm not sure if I ever met her.  Anyway, J's mother wrote:

Lolly and Bump met in 1915 at the fair at the Palace of Fine Arts.  Lolly and her cousin, Loraine, and girlfriends, sisters Dorothy and Hortence, were browsing a display of portable housing shown by a handsome young redhead.  "Red" eyed Lolly and it was "love at first sight".

So now we know how Irene met her husband - and my grandmother was there to witness it!

I've not been very motivated to research lately so maybe this is my new beginning and I can get started up again.  

52 Ancestors: Cousins

Nothing like a blog prompt sending me farther down a rabbit hole!

As you may (or may not) remember, my interest in genealogy began about a decade ago when my mom threw out the challenge that there were no more Gunzendorfers in the United States.  And that was my first post on this blog nearly 9 years ago.  My first post.  And, it turns out, my mom was right.  Who knew?

As I've researched and blogged, I've "met" many distant cousins from both sides of my family.  For someone with only one first cousin, it's been quite an adventure and so exciting each time I connect with someone.  And while I'd love to write about each and every one of them, in the interest of privacy I'm going to refrain from doing that.  But to those cousins who are reading my blog, it's been GREAT getting to know you!

My Gunzendorfer family has been a bit of a mystery to me.  I can document back to my 2x great grandparents but since they came from Germany or Poland, I've not gotten past the first of my California born ancestors, Abraham Gunzendorfer (1869-1944).  I've learned a lot about this branch of my family but something was always nagging me - the Gunzendorfer family who lived in New York.  Could they be related?  My gut tells me they are but I can't definitively prove that.

Here's some facts leading me to that conclusion:

In my grandmother's (Loraine Gunzendorfer) letters to my grandfather, she wrote on 28 November 1918:  "Dad has a cousin in N.Y. who has a daughter my age and whose name is similar to mine, Lenore.  They were at Del Monte nine years ago when I met her.  We later corresponded for some time but the last few years lost track of each other.  Yesterday we received a letter telling of her engagement.  Funny, isn’t it?  Now I’ll have to write to her to inform her of mine."

I know that Lenore Gunzendorfer was married to Leonard Oppenheimer on 17 June 1919, so it would make sense that she would have written about it in late 1918.  And my grandparents were married on 23 February 1919 so that checks out, too.

Dad's cousin.  Okay, if there was a cousin in New York their fathers could have been brothers, right?  And if their fathers were brothers, their names would both have been Gunzendorfer.

Lenore's father was named Adolph Gunzendorfer.  Abraham's brother was named Adolph.  Wouldn't it make sense that he was named for his uncle who lived on the other side of the country in New York?

I've learned through NY Adolph's passport application that his father's name was Bernard (or Bernhard).

I'm hypothesizing that my 2x great grandfather, Ferdinand, was the brother of Bernard.  That would make their sons, Adolph and Abraham, first cousins.  And their children, Lenore and Loraine, would have been 2nd cousins.  Loraine was born 22 January 1896, Lenore was born 13 October 1896.  "Daughter my age."  Check.

Lenore Gunzendorfer
Barnard College Yearbook, New York, 1917

Look at that - she attended Barnard College!

And here is my grandmother at about the same age.  Is it just me or do they resemble each other?

Loraine Guzendorfer,
Monterey High School Yearbook, 1915

I don't know, maybe it's just the hairstyle which I'm sure was quite popular in that time period.

Maybe I'm just wishing to put the it all together but there are just too many pieces of the puzzle that seem to be falling into place.  

And I won't even go into another Ferdinand Gunzendorfer who was in Stockton at about this time.  And on 30 September, 1917 my grandmother wrote:  "Dr. Franklin is very nice and a funny thing – my father’s cousin in Stockton is a very good friend of his."  So there's a cousin named Ferdinand?  How many Ferdinand Gunzendorfer's could there be?  I have not found any evidence of Ferdinand being Bernard's son but could that be possible?

And then today, a new clue emerged.  As I was searching on Ancestry for all things Bernard Gunzendorfer I ran across something very, very interesting.  I had always known that my great grandfather's middle initial was B but I hadn't been able to determine just what the B stood for.  He was always Abraham B Gunzendorfer or even A.B. Gunzendorfer.  

So what popped up today?  The 1902 California Voter's Registration from San Francisco.

California Voter's Registration, San Francisco, 1902

I know, I know - it's hard to read.  So I cropped it and enlarged it.

HIS MIDDLE NAME WAS BERNARD!!!!

Okay, it could just be a coincidence but there are way too many coincidences now to ignore all of this!

I know this is very confusing for anyone other than me - heck, it confuses me!  I have A LOT more research to do but I'm glad to have put my thoughts down so I can go farther.

Now I hope I can sleep tonight - if not, I'll count Gunzendorfers instead of sheep!

52 Ancestors: Brick Wall

We all have them, right?  You know, brick wall ancestors who don't want to be found.  I have more than a few but the ancestor who haunts me the most is my paternal great grandfather, Herman Levy.  I've connected with some Levy cousins and I'm hoping we can figure it out but for now, he's a mystery.  It could be that he was known as Herman Levi before coming to America but for now, he's staying hidden.

I have so many brick wall ancestors who are staring me in the face but I have no idea who they are or even if they are MY ancestors.  Why, why, why did my grandmother not label these beautiful photos?  Even one might have led to a new discovery but no, nothing.  So I scan them and file them in my "unidentified" folder.

What makes it even more challenging is that my great grandfather, Abraham Gunzendorfer, was a photographer so I can't even be sure that these people were anything more than a subject for Abe.  And while I believe those who are related to me are either Gunzendorfer, Schwartz, or Steen ancestors because they were in the same box as some identified by those names, it's a crap shoot.

So here I'll post some of these unidentified characters in the hope that maybe, just maybe, someone can help me out.

I love seeing photos of children - there is so much promise in their eyes and I can just imagine the lives they had ahead of them.  But who are they?

I think these two might be Gunzendorfer boys since the photographer was J.B. Johnson in Gilroy, California.  The four boys were Gustave (b. 1864), Adolph (b. 1866), Abraham (b. 1869) and Jacob (b. 1871) and the family lived in Gilroy in 1870.  Clearly taken on the same day but who are they?

I don't know - the top could be Gustave and the bottom could be Adolph but for all I know, they don't even belong to me.

And until today I thought this gentleman might be my 2x great grandfather, Louis Schwartz, but now I've noticed that it was also taken by J.B. Johnson in Gilroy - and to my knowledge, Louis never lived in Gilroy.  So maybe it was the father of the two boys.  And maybe, just maybe, it was their father, Ferdinand Gunzendorfer.

It sort of looks like Ferdinand as an older man but maybe it's just because I want it to be him that I think that.

Ferdinand Gunzendorfer

And then there's this cutie.  Since the photographer was in Santa Cruz and my Steen and Schwartz ancestors lived there, it could be one of them.  Joseph Schwartz?  Milton Schwartz?  Colman Schwartz?  All brothers of my great grandmother, Bertha Schwartz.  They were born in 1867, 1878, and 1884 so maybe?

And what about this family?  Who are they?

Taken in San Francisco - that's no help since just about every one of my ancestors lived or worked in San Francisco at some point in their life.  

And these dapper young men could be Milton Harry Schwartz, younger brother of my great grandmother, Bertha Schwartz.  He was born in 1878 and lived in Santa Cruz, Berkeley, and San Francisco so it could be him.  Or not.

Could this also be the same boy?  It's the same Santa Cruz photographer.

I have a photo that I know is him - same guy?

Milton Harry Schwartz

Since it's the same photography studio I vote yes.  But I could be wrong.

And how about this lady?  Who is she?

Or this lady?  Oh boy, she looks stern!

And another stern lady in San Francisco.  Who are you?

I could go on and on and on.  I know so many people would just love to have the photos I have inherited but geez, it boggles my mind to not know who these people are.  Please, will one of you come forward and tell me who you are?

52 Ancestors: Cemetery

While I haven’t spent a lot of time in cemeteries, I do love visiting and find it to be such a quiet and reflective place.  Each grave stone tells a story and I like to think about the circumstances that brought each person there.  Was there a lengthy illness?  Were they involved in an accident?  What loved ones did they leave behind?

Of course one very special cemetery is Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose, the cemetery my parents are interred in.  I have so many memories as a child/young adult driving by this beautiful place and listening to my dad exclaim “people are just dying to get in there” or “they tell me business is really dead in there”.  Of course he’d laugh and no one in the car would even begin to think that someday the joke wouldn’t be at all funny as we made arrangements to lay him to rest, to be joined 8 years later by Mom.  I also wrote a bit about finding my 3x great grandfather in the same cemetery HERE. 

This post wouldn’t be complete without memorializing Mom & Dad one more time – of course it wouldn’t have been complete without Dad having his favorite Stanford hat with him!





One of my most treasured visits to a cemetery was in 2012 when I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to wander through Hills of Eternity Memorial Park in Colma, California.  Colma has quite an interesting history which you can read about HERE.  In a nutshell, San Francisco cemeteries were “evicted” in 1912 and the little town of Colma became the City of the Silent when the living became drastically outnumbered by the dead.  In fact, in 2006 there were 1.5 million souls interred within the area and the 2010 census found only 1792 living residents.  Thus was born the slogan “It’s Great to be Alive in Colma”.

There are 16 cemeteries in Colma, including a pet cemetery.  And while I’ve only scratched the surface, since my husband and I both have strong ties to the area, between us we have many, many ancestors within this small town.

I remember driving up to Hills of Eternity with great anticipation of what I’d find.  Since I haven’t spent a lot of time searching in cemeteries, I wasn’t really sure where to even start.





We decided to start at the office.  Seems obvious now but it actually took me a minute to figure that out.  The woman was only too happy to help and was I ever surprised when she pulled this out from behind the desk.



Of course my memory is fading now (darn this getting old sucks) but I remember the thrill of seeing the beautifully written entries (why didn’t I take a picture of that?) and as I scanned, seeing many of my “peeps”.  At one point the woman walked away for a minute to look for something and I remember thinking how easy it would have been to grab the books and run!

The most important visit of the day (and one in which I can remember almost every detail) was coming upon this.



There were my peeps! 



In the front on the left is Ferdinand Gunzendorfer, my 2x great grandfather.  And next to him is Fannie Goldstein Gunzendorfer, my 2x great grandmother.

And the small stone to the right of the large Gunzendorfer stone is my grandmother’s brother, Wilton Louis Gunzendorfer.





After wandering around to see many other ancestors, we stopped at the grave of one of the famous residents, Wyatt Earp.  It’s strange to think that my ancestors are sharing a final resting place with a famous person.



And finally we moved on to Portals of Eternity Mausoleum on the grounds of Hills of Eternity where my great grandparents, Abraham and Bertha (Schwartz) Gunzendorfer, are interred.  It fascinates me as to why so many of my Jewish ancestors were cremated and I was especially disappointed to find that Birdie and Abe were interred so high that it was almost difficult to see their final resting place.  I wish I knew the story behind the scratch – it’s not like someone could have vandalized it.






I’ve been fortunate that when I visit a cemetery, there are typically more than one family member interred there.  And several times I’ve unexpectedly found a surprise ancestor or two.  It sure does pay to look around to see who else you can find.

I’m looking forward to many more cemetery visits in the future but the one that I am most anxious to see is McPherson Cemetery in Kansas, the final resting place of my elusive 3x great grandfather, Emery Waller.  I won’t repeat the story of finding Emery in an unmarked grave and then the honor of having his grave marked but you can read about it HERE.  And just because I love seeing the photo, here it is again.



For all those ancestors I haven’t located yet, I’ll be looking for you!