YOU'RE BASICALLY MY FAMILY GOOGLE

Our very first conversation was on December 28, 2022. Justin, 30, is my 2nd cousin 2x removed, and I have the key to his maternal ancestry back to 1765. By the end of our conversation, he laughed, “You’re basically my family Google.”

Secured in one of my Aunt Fannie’s photo albums was the 1928 photo from her 1st cousin Anna’s wedding in Philadelphia. Justin noted that seeing that familiar picture in one of my blog posts sealed the deal.

The original wedding photo of his maternal great-grandparents hangs in Justin’s home. His grandmother handed down the family heirloom to his mother and she to her eldest son.

Justin found out about me through his mother’s cousin, Steven. While Steven and I, 2nd cousins 1x removed, have never met, we have corresponded for many years.

When Steven suggested that Justin contact me, he posted a message on my website stating, “My name is Justin Reinert, and I believe I am a distant relative of yours through the Mark/Saffier line. My grandmother is Grace (Greta) Saffier, daughter of Isadore Saffier and Anna Mark.

“I have just begun the quest to search for information on this side of my family and was referred to you by one of my grandmother’s nephews via Bernard Saffier, Steven Saffier. I recognize that it’s the holiday season, but would be most grateful for the opportunity to learn about my family history from you at your convenience.

“My email is included in the message, and my cell is xxx-xxx-xxxx. Please feel free to call, text, or email. Warm regards and hope to hear from you soon, Justin.”

I had been searching for Justin’s grandmother, who eloped when she was 17, and by the time he contacted me, she was 82. I knew her husband’s exceptionally common first and family names, but for many years that was about it. Eventually, I tracked down the names of her children.

Only in 2022 did I find the obituary for Gracie’s husband and, sadly, their son. Other cousins from her clan were helping me piece together little bits of information about her family, but no one had her address or phone number to call.

It worked best that Justin found me, and we began our dialogue. With genealogy research, gathering the information you seek when the opportunity arises is extremely important. That’s why I emailed Justin requesting a small list of details about his family, including middle names, dates, and places of marriage, and added them to the family tree before calling him that evening.

Justin had already read some of my blog posts making our first conversation quite interesting. In particular, he read Anna From The Farm, dated January 1, 2019, and The Philly Branch from Chudnov, dated May 3, 2022. Those were a fine place to start because throughout the years, “Anna from the farm” was the only way we knew family members were speaking about his great-grandmother, my father’s 1st cousin Anna. And, our Newark clan always referred to the Philadelphia relatives as “Philly.”

The Philly Branch included my father’s paternal uncle, his wife, and four daughters, including Anna from the farm. By the way, the Newark relatives were always referred to by the Philly cousins as “Newark.” Eagerly, I added a list of my previous blog posts to help Justin fill in his missing family history.

During our rapid speed conversation, I told Justin about our cousins living in Sochi and Chudnov and that it was for them that I wrote the 18-part blog post series on our family from Chudnov. Then, I mentioned my narrative book, Kitchen Talk, which encompasses all my children’s ancestry.

Justin encouraged me to continue trying to publish Kitchen Talk, stating, “You made a difference for me and our whole family, so persevere.” Being tenacious makes it incumbent upon me to pursue the widespread sharing of this treasured history.

More information becomes available all the time. With the help of the internet, selfless archivists, and cousins who skillfully and willingly translate, I am having fun and a tremendous sense of satisfaction at filling in all "the pieces of the puzzle."

As recently as April 2023, our cousin Alexey contacted me about birth records on Anna from the farm’s sisters Feigl (aka Fannie) and Sheindl (aka Jennie). Each was born in Chudnov, Ukraine.

The date of birth for Fannie shows as March 31, 1906 (not October 12, 1906, as we had charted), and the certificate for Jennie indicates February 5, 1907 (not August 1, 1908). In that case, I will keep a note in my files about the dates we recorded and put the corrected dates on the charts since we now have their birth records translated by Alexey as proof.

While my search for family members continues, I contacted Justin in April 2023 because we planned to be in Ohio for an extended stay with our son’s family living there. Justin lives in western Ohio, a two-hour drive from our son’s home, and he made the trek to meet us. He brought his younger brother Nathan along. Nathan, a vascular surgical resident at the renowned Cleveland Clinic, lives quite close to our son’s house. We took the opportunity to sit and talk for three hours.

Our happy meeting with Justin and Nathan ended with an invitation to meet their parents, grandmother, and Justin’s wife and two young children. Update here! Justin and his wife now have three children. Their beautiful baby Lillian Joy “Lilly” was born February 8, 2024.

Although we did not get to meet the rest of that branch of our family yet, we are anticipating the fun get-together will take place soon. Learning the whereabouts of my long-lost cousin, Gracie, brought closure on the one hand and opened up a wide range of possibilities for family past, present, and future.

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On September 1, 2023, Justin movingly posted on Facebook: “Very sad to have learned about the passing of Frank [Grunwald]. Though I never had the opportunity to meet him in person, I’m grateful for the small part I played in sharing his amazing story through my involvement in writing/recording the score for this documentary. Grunwald’s obituary shows ‘He and his family’s World War II experiences were documented in the movie Misa’s Fugue. A significant part of the movie was produced by students from Fleetwood High School in Fleetwood, PA under the direction of Sean Gaston.’” Justin was one of those students.

Justin continued, “Beyond the documentary, Frank’s story was an inspiration to me personally, as it led me to the pursuit of knowledge regarding the Jewish branch of my family tree. Only recently did I connect with some of this ‘long lost family’ which has been such an enriching experience.

”Rest in peace, Frank.”