My third mystery branch involves Isak Tillinger, who upon preparing to write this, I found was from the town of Kuty. Kuty is located near the border of Romania about 35km from Zabolotow and about 100 from Stanislwow/Ivano-Frankivsk. Before a few months ago I did not even know about Isak, rather about one of his descendants. When I first started researching my Tillingers used a resource on JewishGen called a Family Finder which is a database of user submitted surnames and places that they are researching. This allows other researchers to find others who are researching same surnames and towns they are. Anyway, I found a researcher who was looking for Tillingers in Austria so I decided to reach out and ask about his family. He was only as far back as his grandmother and had very little information that would help me. He did know she had a sister Beckie, but didn't know much else. When I began my deep dive I went back to this mystery branch and found above mentioned grandmother's marriage record, which listed her parents as Isak Tillinger and Pessie.
Isak Tillinger - At this time I know very little about Isak and Pessie. Together they had three chidren that I am aware of; Samuel (b. 1888), Rose (b.1895), and Brane/Becki (b. 1897). Based on a conversation I had with a descendant of Becki I was able to determine they were from Kuty. Beyond this I currently don't know anything more about Isak and Pessie.
Rose Tillinger - It was with this branch that began my my search for a possible connection. Rose appears to have been born on July 15, 1895 and and was married to a Jacob Berger, whose original surname was Bergrun (not sure of spelling). According to census records she arrived in the US around 1913, possibly under the name Ruchel. I found a ship manifest that I think belongs to her, it lists her father as Eisig Tillinger, a brother named Samuel and the date is right based on the above mentioned census. I did also find their marriage record on Family Search where her parents are listed as Issie Tillinger and Pessie Drasner, but since I cannot see the original at the moment, I am not sure that Drasner is correct. They had four children and one of their descendants has taken a DNA test.
Brane "Beckie" Tillinger - As previously mentioned my initial contact knew about a great aunt Beckie, but nothing else. However, when I was looking for Tillingers on Family Search I found a Beckie Tillinger who married a Julius Cohen. Of course Cohen is usually a road block being that is it one of the top 3 most common Jewish surnames, but I wasn't giving up. I began by looking for Julius Cohen's married to "Beckie's" and knowing their marriage date I was able to narrow down the results and found them in the 1910, 1930 and 1940 census, which gave me their estimated birth years, thir children's names as well as other connected records. I was also able to find a tree on Ancestry and a tree on Geni wherein one of the descendants is a Geni user. So I sent a message to them and got the ball rolling, and I received a very positive response. The Geni user and their child were both interested to learn more (hence the delay in writing and sharing this). They were able to verify what I had found as well as add and confirm some information. A member of this branch has also taken a DNA test.
Samuel Tillinger - Before I began double checking my information on this branch I did not even know about Samuel (again hence the delay) but after finally finding Rose's ship manifest I found that she had a brother. Samuel, it appears, was born around 1888 and was married to a Rose Bergren. One thing of note here is the similarity of her maiden name to that of Rose's husband Jacob's birth surname, it is possible they were cousins but I have not looked at that yet. Assmuing that I found the right people, they had three children - Milton, Doris, and Maxwell and I managed to find some of their descendants but have yet to make contact with any of them to attempt to verify anything. I have also not been able to determine if any of them have taken a DNA test yet.
Coming soon in no particular order - David Samuel, Hersch, Gerszon and Osias Tillinger
Comments