Thank you Jennifer. When I read his letter this comment made me crazy as well. Given that Marc is clearly a thinking person, I am sure he will be more than pleased to learn all of this. Please do share his response.
Thank you for setting the record straight. I cringed when I read that same line in his (otherwise) powerful letter (“our name was changed at Ellis Island”), and hoped that someone would correct him. As always, you have come to the rescue!
It so happens that the Brooklyn, N.Y. address listed for Abraham Elias on his September 6, 1906 naturalization petition (593 Stone Avenue) is three blocks away from where I and my family lived when we first came to America in January 1951 as refugee Holocaust survivors. I was 5 years old at the time. That 593 Stone Ave address (it was renamed Mother Gaston Blvd. in 1981) was very close to the Stone Avenue Libraray (581 Stone Avenue), where I read my first children’s books, like, among others, “Blueberries For Sal” by Robert McCloskey. By the time I was running to that library in the early 1950s, that neighborhood was home to the now ubiquitous Brooklyn housing projects. It’s a profound experience to know how the paths of immigrants across the decades and the generations have crossed. I wish I knew about my exterminated family in Poland even just half of what Marc Elias has learned about his family.
You are so awesome to give Mr. Elias this beautiful gift of insight and knowledge about his ancestry . I am humbled by both of you.
Thank you Jennifer. When I read his letter this comment made me crazy as well. Given that Marc is clearly a thinking person, I am sure he will be more than pleased to learn all of this. Please do share his response.
Thank you for setting the record straight. I cringed when I read that same line in his (otherwise) powerful letter (“our name was changed at Ellis Island”), and hoped that someone would correct him. As always, you have come to the rescue!
Well done, Jennifer. Thank you for what you do.
Brava!
It so happens that the Brooklyn, N.Y. address listed for Abraham Elias on his September 6, 1906 naturalization petition (593 Stone Avenue) is three blocks away from where I and my family lived when we first came to America in January 1951 as refugee Holocaust survivors. I was 5 years old at the time. That 593 Stone Ave address (it was renamed Mother Gaston Blvd. in 1981) was very close to the Stone Avenue Libraray (581 Stone Avenue), where I read my first children’s books, like, among others, “Blueberries For Sal” by Robert McCloskey. By the time I was running to that library in the early 1950s, that neighborhood was home to the now ubiquitous Brooklyn housing projects. It’s a profound experience to know how the paths of immigrants across the decades and the generations have crossed. I wish I knew about my exterminated family in Poland even just half of what Marc Elias has learned about his family.
Impressive, informative, enlightening and entertaining. Grade A+ debunking.
My grandfather changed his name because his father was a womanizer and in the mental hospital with advanced syphilis, and he was embarrassed.