The European hometown of William Schoenberg has been identified.
(Thank you, MG!)
William filed his Declaration of Intention to become a citizen of the United States on April 18, 1917. This document was also known as "First Papers." In William's Declaration, we find the following statement:
"I was born in Bergsas Hungary on the 25th day of March anno Domini 1882."
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| Declaration of Intention signed by William Schoenberg April 18, 1917 in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey |
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| Close-up of the town of birth place and date of William Schoenberg- Bergsas, Hungary on the 25th of March, 1882 as written on his Declaration of Intent |
Indexes and images for naturalization papers for Hudson County, New Jersey are available through Family Search, but only until the year 1907. William was not found in this collection.
For $3 the Hudson County Clerk searched their collections for 1907 forward.
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| Website of the Clerk of Hudson County, New Jersey explaining procedures for obtaining copies of naturalization records |
Within a week, the Clerk returned William Schoenberg in their index.
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| Index of Declarations of Intent Hudson County, New Jersey William Schoenberg, Volume 61, Number 30031 |
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| Website of New Jersey State Archives Form to order naturalization records for certain counties. The records are not searchable through this website. |
I was going to the Archives in person so I did not order the record online. At the Archives, I received a copy of the one page Declaration of Intention. As stated on the document, the Declaration becomes invalid after seven years. William did not complete the citizenship pathway within seven years. If he did so later I do not know as of this writing.
So where is this place? It is currently in Ukraine and is called Berehove, but looks a little different in the Ukrainian version of the Cyrillic alphabet.
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| Modern-day map showing the location of Berehove, Ukraine, formerly Beregszasz, Hungary |
Borders changed after William was born in Beregszasz, Hungary. The town was in Checkoslavakia between the world wars. As a result, the name is spelled many different ways in various languages.
There are many men named William Schoenberg. The William on the Declaration provided a birthdate of March 25, 1882. This matches the birthdate provided by the target William on his draft registration card for the World War in Hoboken, Hudson County on September 12, 1918- about a year and a half after the Declaration of Intent.
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| Draft Registration Card for World War I William Schoenberg of Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey. Collection at Ancestry |
Was March 25, 1882 really William's birthday? I don't know yet. Records for this time period in the area of Bereg are online at FamilySearch. Unfortunately, I have not found an index. Browsing these records produces a few people using the surname Schoenberg or variant spellings.
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| Images for the Bereg area, formerly of Hungary, are online at FamilySearch. They cannot be downloaded. Screenshots are blurry. |
At MyHeritage, I plugged in the place Beregszasz and the surname Schoenberg and immediately found a ship record for Cilli and Esther Schoenberger. They arrived in New York on April 2, 1908.
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| Manifest of Alien Passengers SS Rotsdam from Rotterdam to New York 1908 |
According to this ship record, Cilli, age 19, and Esther, age 18, were sisters from Beregszasz. Their father was David Schönberger. They were to meet up with their brother, William Schoenberg, of 295 Terrace Ave, New York. (Actually in Jersey City, New Jersey.)
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| Close-up of the relevant entries for Cilli and Esther Schoenberger |
How do we know this William was the target person? In 1909, William's son, Sam, was born at 295 Terrace Avenue in Jersey City.
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| Birth certificate of William Schomberg July 29, 1909 295 Terrace Avenue, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey Collection available on microfilm at the New Jersey State Archives |
As of this writing, I do not know what became of Esther.
Cilli, also spelled Cillie and Celia, married Morris Niederman in Manhattan in 1916.
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| Marriage record of Morris Niederman and Cillie Schönberg Manhattan, New York City, New York May 21, 1916. Her parents- David Schönberg and Lalie Mermelstein. Collection online at New York City Department of Records and Information Services |
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| Marriage record of William Schonberg and Szera Scherer Manhattan, New York City, New York April 9, 1902. His parents- David Schonberg and Lalie Marmorstein. Collection online at New York City Department of Records and Information Services |
Using variant spellings of the surname Schoenberg and the place name Beregszasz produces many potential leads. Of note was Benjamin Schoenberg (1901-1974).
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| Petition for Naturalization signed by Benjamin Schoenberg December 29, 1921 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York Eastern District of New York. Collection online at Ancestry |
Benjamin Schoenberg was born in Beregszasz in 1901 to David Schoenberg and Maria Haupt. His birthplace is from his Petition for Naturalization. The names of his parents are from his marriage record in Manhattan in 1929 to Leah Drasdo (1895-1986).
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| Marriage record of Benjamin Schoenberg and Leah Drasdo August 29, 1929 in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Collection online at New York City Department of Records and Information Services |
Esther Rosenberg was a witness on Benjamin Schoenberg's Petition for Naturalization. They both gave their address as 1241 Avenue U in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. They were siblings. Esther died in 1948 in Brooklyn. On her death certificate, her parents were listed as David Haupt and Mary Haupt. Her father's surname is incorrect. He was David Schoenberg, not Haupt.
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| Death certificate of Esther Rosenberg Died March 23, 1948 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. Parents- David Haupt and Mary Haupt. [Probably should be David Schoenberg.] Collection online at New York City Department of Records and Information Services |
Esther Schoenberg and Harry Rosenberg (1883-1924) had at least three children: Sadie (1913-????), Lillian (1917-2007), and Morris (1922-2011). Lillian married Sidney Weinberg in 1937 in Manhattan. She listed her mother's name as Esther Schoenberg, not Haupt. I am a DNA match in the second to third cousin range with a child of Lillian and Sidney.
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| Marriage record of Sidney Weinberg and Lillian Rosenberg January 24, 1937 in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Collection online at New York City Department of Records and Information Services |
Morris Rosenberg married Elaine Gellers (1922-2009) in 1946 in Brooklyn. He provided his mother's name as Esther Schoenberg, not Haupt.
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| Marriage record of Morris Rosenberg and Elaine Gellers November 27, 1947 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. Collection online at New York City Department of Records and Information Services |
Much more research is needed. Identifying the hometown was a vital component to move this quest forward.
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