The Far Reaching Jews of Fordon- part 8, The Possible Original Name of the Auerbach Family

In the previous post on this blog, I discussed the Auerbach family from Fordon in Poland and their influence as merchants in the western United States. The stores that they established in Utah were a part of the fabric of the state for well over 100 years.  In this article I will attempt to show some records that hopefully will start the discussion on the names of the family before the adoption of surnames.
The first Auerbach to arrive in Salt Lake City was Frederick who arrived sometime before to 1857. The records show that Frederick was the son of Hillel Auerbach and his wife Bertha Friedman. In the records of Fordon we find the marriage of Hillel Auerbach to Bertha Friedman on the 3rd of February 1829 (See Below).

We also find that the groom was 29 years old and his bride 28 at the time of the wedding. Further, we find that the father of the groom is listed as Tobias Auerbach and Simon Friedman is the father of the bride. A further search of the records finds a marriage in 1840 of Raphael Auerbach and Pauline Friedman (see below).

In addition to the bride and groom having the same fathers listed as in the previous marriage we also now add their mothers. Maria Hirsch is the wife of Tobias Auerbach and Maria Levin is the wife of Simon Friedman. From this we now know that Hillel and his brother Raphael married sisters, Bertha and Paulina Friedman. Its at this point where things start to get interesting.
1. In the will of Frederick Auerbach, which was probated on 20 July 1896 in Salt Lake City, he lists various items including;

1. To my cousin, Marion S. Adler, of Newburg, New York, the sum of $250.00
2. To my cousin, Fannie Tobias, of Newburg, New York, the sum of $100.00

A search of the various census records of the United States finds only one possibility for these two cousins. In Newburg, New York, beginning with the 1855 State Census we find Marion and Fanny as the daughters of Jacob Tobias and his wife Charlotte. It also states that Charlotte was born in England, as was their first child, Theodore Abraham Tobias. Since mom and Theodore were born in England, I conducted a search of the Civil Registration marriage records hoping to find a marriage of Jacob and Charlotte.
In those records I found that Jacob Tobias, a dealer in gold and silver, age 28 and Charlotte Francks  of full age were married on 19 December 1849 at Newcastle under Lyne, Stafford, England.
Also, it states that Jacob is the son of Abraham Tobias and Charlotte the daughter of Abraham Francks. 
2.  Also in his will, Frederick states,

 "To my sister, Rosa G. Meyer, of salt Lake City, Utah, two shares of the company."

 Searching the records for Rosa, I was able to find her death certificate (see below).

 In addition to verifying the parents names, a key piece of information we receive here is the date of birth, 15 Jan 1831. Returning to the records from Fordon, we find on that same date, one year earlier the birth record of Rosa, however the name of the parent is of interest here (see below).

On this record, the original name is crossed out and the name Hillel Abraham is written in. This appears to be the same woman.

So what does all this mean? Since the records of Fordon show that the time between 1820-1830 is when most Jews adopted surnames I believe this records at least can lead us in the direction that the name Auerbach was adopted by Hillel some time around the birth of his first child Rosa. Prior to the adopting of the name Auerbach, he would have been Hillel son of Abraham, or as in the case of Rosa's birth, Hillel Abraham. We know from his marriage his father was Tobias, but it appears the Abraham replaced the name Tobias.

This is also shown in the case of son Jacob Tobias. He was born around 1821 then marries in England in 1849. He would not have appeared in any other records between the two dates, he would have been Jacob son of Abraham as well. 

Hopefully further research into the Auerbach's of Fordon will help us verify the family and link the generations together.

 

How did he end up in Price, Utah? The burial of Rickie Layne Cohen

The city of Price is located on the eastern side of the State of Utah. A town known mostly for the mining industry that is located there. The winters in Price are cold and the summers are are very moderate. The 8,500 or so residents are almost evenly split between the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Mormon populations. The one thing that Price does not have, and really never had is a Jewish population. In fact, the closest Jewish community world be in Salt Lake City, which is about 120 miles away.
Because of this lack of a Jewish tradition in Price, most people would just drive by, no need to delay the journey to their own destination. However, if they did pass by, they would miss the final resting place of someone known worldwide, who is buried in the Price City Cemetery.

Rickie Israel Cohen, was born in 1924, the son of Russian immigrants. He was the son of a mother, Sonya Ludwig, who was a popular comic in the vaudeville days, known as Gypsy Sonya. Rickie, himself began entertaining others at an early age and by his teens was touring as a ventriloquist.
Rickie, got his big break when in 1955 he was discovered as he was performing his show in a nightclub on the Sunset Strip. 
It was at Ciro's nightclub that his show was seen by Nat "King" Cole, who came to see his own wife sing. Cole liked the show so much that he encouraged Ed Sullivan to have him on his show, which he did on January 1, 1956. This first show led to many more and he became very much in demand. For, most of the next half century, he performed in nightclubs all over the country. In 2002 he was given the lifetime achievement award from the International Ventriloquist Association.
So with all of this fame, having performed all over the world, having been born in New York and dying in California, how did he end up in Price, Utah? Its actually very simple, I believe its because the most important thing in his life was not the fame, but the family.

His wife, LaRue Olsen Layne, who he met in California, was actually a small town girl from Price, Utah. After being married for 56 years before her death in 2002, it seems only natural he would follow her home.
In fact not only are they still together side by side, but also at rest next to them is his mother, Gypsy Sonya. I wonder if in those early years as Russian immigrants and hard working vaudeville entertainers, they could have ever imagined their final resting spot being in a small Utah mining town.

Jewish Cemeteries of Utah

Many people are actually very surprised to learn that the Jewish history of the State of Utah goes back even before Utah was a state. Utah was granted statehood in 1896, by which time the Jewish community had been established for over 30 years. There were Jews here before that even, in fact my own great-great-grandfather arrived in 1858, however it wasn't until the early 1860's that we begin to have record of Jews observing religious events.
The first Jewish cemetery in Utah was established in 1866, when Mormon President Brigham Young deeded land from the Salt Lake City cemetery to the Jewish community. 

Today there are 3 Jewish cemeteries in Salt Lake City, all located in and around the Salt Lake City cemetery. They are;

• Congregation B'nai Israel Cemetery
• Congregation Montefiore Cemetery
• Shaarei Zedek Cemetery

 There was also a group of Jews who traveled the 40 miles or so north from Salt Lake City to Ogden, Utah. This group were mostly merchants and traders who established the Ogden community. They also established a cemetery. It was;

•  Mountain View Cemetery, later bought and the name changed to Aultorest cemetery.

The records of all 4 cemeteries have been photographed and indexed and are now part of the Knowles Collection- Jews of North America database.

B'nai Israel Cemetery

Utah State Death Certificates 1904-1960

For some years now the State of Utah has had the death certificates for the years 1904-1960 online. A free database, I have used it many times to find the death certificates of my family. It has always been very convenient for researches to be able to download those documents instead of waiting for the mail to find you. That website archive.utah.gov, is very easy to access and a great resource for those with Jewish families in Utah.

In addition, the certificates for the years up to 1956 are now available at www.familysearch.org.

 

 The certificates themselves are very high quality and a wonderful resource. The certificate below for Gussie Block wife of Louis L. Block. One of the things I really enjoy about the certificates from this time frame is the fact that the Doctor of record is Milton Pepper, a prominent member of the Utah Jewish community. I have always felt I would love a certificate signed by "Dr. Pepper".