I was lucky enough to have known two of my great grandparents, Edward and Mabel (McAboy) Fitzgerald. I was nearly 12 when Mabel died and 14 when Edward died so I do have some clear memories of them.
As I was preparing for this blog prompt, I thought about my other great grandparents whom I never knew and then thought about my ancestors' great grandparents. I know for sure that my paternal grandmother, Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer, knew her great grandmother because I have a picture of them together!
I'm not 100% sure that Hannah's birth surname was, in fact, Plotzky. Or for that matter, was her first name at birth really Hannah? Someone on the Jewish Ancestry in Poland Facebook page suggested that her name might have been Chana and then Americanized to Hannah.
Her death certificate shows that her father was Morris Plotzky of Poland and that her mother was unknown. The same Facebook member stated that Morris might have been Moshe, Moszko, or Moszek. And as we know, often times the informant had incorrect information. So the jury is still out on her surname, first name, and father's name. I also have the death certificate for two of her children - Rebecca and Samuel. Rebecca's shows her mother's name is unknown, Samuel's shows his mother's name as Hannah Plotzky.
What I know about Hannah is that she was born on 20 December, 1828 in "Poland" - but where, exactly, I don't know.
It appears that she came to America via New York in 1851 with her husband, Joseph Steen, and their daughter (my great grandmother), Rebecca and an infant named Dina. But the records I've found show their surname as Stain so is it the correct family? Maybe, maybe not. If this is them, infant Dina must not have survived because there is never another mention of her.
I found a family enumerated in New York on June 29, 1855, which makes sense since I believe they arrived in New York in 1851 and son Samuel was born in New York on May 4, 1855. But this family is Joseph Stein, Hanagh Stein, Rebecka Stein, Solomon Stein, Julius Stein, and David Morrison. Ages don't add up for Joseph and Hannah but I've seen a few references to Samuel as Solomon so this could be them. Joseph was a barber and had several brothers so that could add up. I'll chalk this up to "probably".
It's hard to see but next door to the family is Louis Schwartz, who would later marry Rebecca and the two of them would become my 2x great grandparents.
Joseph died in 1866 (you can read a bit about me discovering his grave in the #2 top 10 find of 2012 HERE) and Hannah was on her own. By 1870 she had moved to San Francisco with children Solomon/Samuel, Meyer, Lillie, Julius, and Dena.
