Relatively Speaking

At the beginning of summer, Ken Langsdorf made me an offer I just couldn't turn down. If Sam and I would come to St. Louis, he would do the rest to get the family gathered.
Labor Day Sunday, in Ken and Phyllis' turn-of-the-century home with a third floor ballroom, was the setting for twenty-five of the St. Louis branch of Herz and Bienche Langsdorff's descendants. (Yes, according to one source, it was spelled with two efs way back then.) Members of the Baer, Bettman, Langsdorf, Morganstern, Pocost, Rimmon, and Rothschild families gathered at 6:30 for dinner and a wonderful exchange of new and old memories. The family group sheets that everyone has completed for me, the copies of old photos that I've snapped all over the country, copies of articles from old newspapers in the various communities where the family has lived, and a 14-page family descendant chart captured the interest of everyone. Corrections and additions that were made on-the-spot and a breakthrough that I made in New York just before arriving in St. Louis, has made that chart out-dated. (More about that later.)

On Labor Day, Ken gave me a tour of present and former family homes in St. Louis. Ken's hobby is architecture and he lives in a city overflowing with architectural variety. From the Court House with a Greek temple on top to the French "Hotel de Ville" City Hall to the Gateway Arch and the mansions on the private streets, St. Louis certainly provides a marvelous opportunity to see an assortment of styles.

Later in the day, I visited with Frances Morganstern, and she mentioned to me that there was a distant cousin of her grandmother, Sadie Weinberg Cosel, who lived in Youngstown. His name was Dr. Weinberg and he had a son, Morris Bert Weinberg. Now I have another lead!

l. to r.: Louis G., Jr., Debbie, Stephen Rothschild, Ruth Rothschild Bettman,
Louis G. 3rd, Anne Rothschild.

    It was a delightful week-end, thanks to the warm Southern hospitality of our hosts and family. We were wined (actually ice tea-ed in the near to 100^o weather) and dined and taken to Ted Drewes for frozen custard--and that is a St. Louis specialty. Jerry and Maxine Baer were very gracious to invite Sam's cousin, Dani, who was on business from Israel, to join us for dinner.
    Our deepest thanks to everyone for such a great time, and especially to Sara and Libby, who had to put up with visiting relatives on the last week-end of summer before school started.
    Now we've finally met the faces behind the names. Say, doesn't that sounds like a good title for a book.


Baer family of St. Louis: Andy & Elizabeth. Maxine & Jerry Baer, Marianne Baer & David Pocost	Langsdorf Family of St. Louis: Linda, Ellen, Thomas, Sarah, Phyllis, Libby, Keneth, Sam Langsdorf, Jr.

If you'll permit me an aside, Dani was bringing us a copy of a family tree of Sam's mother's family and greetings from a newly discovered first cousin who survived WW II and is living in Kharkov, Russia. No one knew she was alive until a recently-arrived Russian emigre contacted them with her letter. This has caused quite a bit of excitement in Sam's family.

Frances Schachtell Morganstern & Joan Glanz Rimmon

    I mentioned above a big break-through. This summer I had several. Old wills are a wonderful source of familial data, but the newer ones list the heirs, their addresses and the relationship to the will writer.
    The 1980 will of Martha Langsdorf (widow of Jesse), provided me with the names and addresses of her children and grandchildren, and most were current. Her daughter Frances Greenebaum, who is recuperating from a bout of phlebitis, promised to fill me in on her "branch", which had been eluding me.
    I am especially pleased when I can bring "lost" cousins together after many years, and that occurred after I got the names of the heirs of the Florence Katz Kantor 1982 will. Pearl Katz Blumenthal, of Tamarac, FL, told me two years ago she would love to find her first cousin, Zerlina Da Costa Nenner. Zerlina was a distributee of Florence's will and her address was in Lauderhill, FL, about ten minutes from where Pearl lives! Unfortunately Zerlina's husband, Stanley, is quite ill, but now she has a close relative nearby.

The Nusbaum family opened up by a strange coincidence. After our visit in Williamsburg, Va., last summer (1989), I tried to pursue some information that Joan Cone had given me. In the meantime I found the Goodman family in Memphis, and Ralph exchanged some data with me. Included was a translation of a family history written by Minna Rothschild back in 1938. In an attempt to make the connection between our families and Manny Nussbaum's in New York, I sent him a copy of the history. He told me that his wife jogged with the wife of Fred Wurzburger, one of the people mentioned in that history! Through the Wurzburgers, whom we met while in New York, I contacted the Burgers in San Francisco, and the Deutscher siblings (now Dean, Askenzai and Mann families), all first cousins to each other.

Nusbaum family members gather at home of Gene and Susan Palmbaum Thompson

Eileen Rothschild, Norval Nelson, Alan Shapiro, Susan & Gene Palmbaum Thompson, Mike & Debby Majchrzak,
Sean Thompson, Katie & Beth Nusbaum Majchrzak, Bob Netter, Jr., Christina Thompson, Sam & Joan Glanz Rimmon

We always try to visit my mother, Ruth Boozell, in Carson City, NV, each year, so earlier this summer, we traveled to No. Calif., stopping along the way to meet the Burgers and attend a mini-reunion of the Nusbaum-Rothschild-Weinberg families. Gene and Susan Palmbaum Thompson opened their lovely rambling home to us and the attendees for a barbeque and swim party. Again, this time a cousin was discovered living just down the street. In fact the Thompsons can almost see Mike and Beth Nusbaum Majchrzak's back yard. The Netter, Majchrzak, Rothschild, Rimmon and Thompson families shared a most pleasant encounter and another 14-page family descendant's chart.

One of my friends is going to go to a psychic to try to find her "lost" cousins. I hope I don't have to go that far, but if the I don't find the descendants of Hannah Katz Berkman in New York area, Elias Katz and Israel Rothschild in Chicago area, and several others, I may just have to do it.