My Twice-Married Great-Great Grandparents

I've written before about how in Austria-Hungary, many couples had a religious wedding and were considered fully married by their communities; however, they never civilly registered their marriage, so their children were considered illegitimate.  In fact, I believed my great-great grandparents (Shmuel Moshe Rutner and Rochel Fuchs) were in this situation, as their children whose births were registered in civil records only listed a mother.

Birth of Mendel Fuchs (Rutner), 1900

Sima Diamond, the Maiden Widowed Divorcee

My great-great grandfather was Hillel Diamond.  My great-great grandmother was his wife Hinda, but there were rumors that Hinda was not Hillel's first wife.  Those rumors were correct--and that first wife had an interesting backstory.

From the Marriage Record of Hillel and Sima Diamond - Hebrew Side

Taking the Diamonds Back--Another Generation

I've gotten many of my family lines back centuries, but the Diamonds have always been a brick wall.  I knew my great-great grandfather (Hillel), and that was it.  My grandfather had told me the names of some of Hillel's children and had also said that there was a rumor that he had been married before he wed my great-great grandmother Hinda.

Well, the rumors were true--and by verifying them, I've gotten back another generation in the Diamond family.

Yankel Diamant Birth Record

RootsTech2018!

Wow, what a week!  I started out by flying to Phoenix where I spoke to Arizona Jewish Historical Society's Phoenix Jewish Genealogy Group. It was a great group with some good questions about endogamy. As a bonus, I got to hang out with Emily Garber.  And then off to Utah and RootsTech!

I flew into Salt Lake City, dropped off my bags, and went straight to the Family History Library. Mondays with Myrt was broadcasting, and lots of genealogy friends were in with her or hanging around outside, and it was great to catch up with everyone.  We then went out to lunch (I found an apple that I could eat—SLC isn’t the most kosher-friendly city in the world), and then I went back to the library for the next few hours. 

Mondays with Myrt (and a lot of my genealogy friends)