27 January 2015

Tombstone Tuesday: Isidore Bauman, Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, NY

The First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association, a New York City landsmanshaft group for immigrants from the town of Lubin (Yiddish name), also known as Labun, Russian Empire, purchased two burial plots in Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, NY and one in Beth Moses Cemetery, Pinelawn, NY.

Because many of these people constituted my Lubin relatives' friends, acquaintances and neighbors, I have recorded these burials and submitted them to JewishGen where they are online in the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry. For inclusion in that database, I translated the Hebrew names on the tombstones. I did not, however, translate any epitaphs. In posts about burials in these plots, I will provide translations of any epitaphs and information about those interred.
~~~~~~~~~~
photo by E. Garber, 7 September 2008
 Here lies
Yitzchak son of Dov
Died 7 Nisan 5727
ISIDORE
BAUMAN
Beloved husband
Devoted father
Dear grandfather
and brother

March 18, 1891
April 17, 1967
~~~~~~~~~~
Isidore Bauman has been mentioned previously here and here in recent posts regarding his leadship position in the First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association.

On this tombstone Isidore's father is identified as Dov. On his manifests, both in 1910 and 1913, Isidore identified his father, Berko, as his closest relative still in the old country.[1] On his certificate of marriage to Ida Molthman, his father is Benjamin and his mother is Fannie Elfman.[2]

Despite the seeming differences, Dov, Berko and Benjamin are clearly the same person. In eastern Europe it was common for men to have at least two names: their Hebrew name (used when they were called to the Torah) and their everyday-use Yiddish moniker. Dov is Hebrew for bear. Ber is Yiddish for bear and the -ko at the end creates a nickname - a diminuative.  Dov and Ber, two names with the same meaning in their respective languages, are a common combination.

Someone (I wish I could recall whom) once coined the term 'Sam-ification' for the common practice of immigrants Anglicizing their parents' names on official documents - even if those parent had never stepped foot in the United States. For Isidore, his father Berko became Benjamin (I suppose if his name had been Shlomo, it would have become Sam!).

Isidore's grave is located in Montefiore Cemetery, Glendale, Queens, New York, First Lubiner Progressive Benevolent Association plot, Block 89, gate 156N, Line 11R, Grave 3.
 
Notes:
1. "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 24 April 2010), manifest, S.S. Noordam, Rotterdam to New York, arriving 14 Jun 1910, list 16, line 29, Itzchok Baumelman; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 1500.
"New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 21 November 2010), manifest, S.S. Neckar, Bremento New York, arriving 15 February 1913, list 10, line 17, Iczrok Beimelman; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 2014.  
2. New York County, New York, Certificate and Record of Marriage no. 1368 (8 January 1916). Isidore Bauman and Ida Molthman, Municipal Archives, New York, New York.  
 

2 comments:

  1. It was my understanding that "Samification" was the practice of turning everyone with an "S" sound into "Sam" - Shalom, Shlomo, Shimon, Schneur, Zusia, etc etc.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, but I think the concept should be extended to any Anglicization starting with a first letter sound. So Berko would be Benjamin; Feiga = Fannie.

      Delete

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