I was recently asked to research the parentage of Jacob Meiselman, and have summarized the steps in this research below.  If you have additional information on the Meiselman family, or are also researching these lines, I hope to hear from you!

In order to identify our subject’s parents, we first start with known facts, working from the most present information to the past.  Family sources stated Jacob (also known as “John” or “Jack”) Meiselman had the following siblings:

• Izzie of Boston, Massachusetts
• Ben, who resided in North Carolina, and who had a son named Michael, who also resided in North Carolina.  Ben owned movie theaters.
• Herman  (research showed that Herman Benjamin [who sometimes used the middle name Bernard] is the same person as Ben above)
• Lottie

On July 1, 1913, we find Bernard, Lottie and another brother Leon (who also went by Louis) arrived at Ellis Island, having sailed from Antwerp to the U.S. aboard the SS Kroonland.  Listed as parent was “Mechel Meiselman” of Zalischyky, Austria.

Page two of the passenger list states the siblings will be going to live with brother I. Meiselman, likely Izzy.  Confirmation that this is the correct family was made by a review of Herman’s naturalization documents dated 26 Oct 1927 which were witnessed by Jacob Meiselman, and included an address of 2113 71^st St, Brooklyn, NY.

Herman was still at this address in 1930, where he is listed with his sister, Lottie (who was then married to Sol Augenlicht) and mother, “Ida.”

Further confirmation was obtained through published public records that state that H.B. Meiselman “… immigrated to the United States from Austria in 1913. Over the years, Mr. Meiselman accumulated substantial wealth through his development of several family business enterprises. Specifically, Mr. Meiselman invested in and developed movie theaters and real estate. Several of the enterprises were merged into Eastern Federal Corporation [hereinafter referred to as Eastern Federal], a close corporation…”

Herman also listed his mother Ida, and sister Lottie, on his World War I Draft Registration.  He was residing at 190 S. 8^th Street:

The family was still residing there on 19 Jan 1920 when enumerated on the 1920 census:

Jacob (age 29) is listed as head of family with his siblings Louis (age 27), Herman B. (age 25) and Lottie (age 2_), and a 92-year-old woman Lottie.  The latter was enumerated as mother, but this has been determined to be incorrect.  At age 92, she may have been grandmother or great-grandmother of Jacob and his brothers and sister.

On 26 June, 1920, arriving at Ellis Island aboard the SS Vauban which sailed from Liverpool were Michael and Chajcie Meiselman, who were “going to Son.”  Page one of the ship’s manifest is shown below.

Page two of the manifest provides the name and address of the couple’s son, Jacob, who resided at 190 So. 8^th St, Brooklyn, NY:

Michael/Max Meiselman, and Chajcie/ Ida /Clara Hackmeyer, parents of Jacob P. Meiselman

To complete an exhaustive search of available records,  the death certificates for Jacob and his siblings were requested as detailed below.

The following documents demonstrate that Michael and Chajcie also had aliases.  Chajcie was sometimes called Clara and other times went by Ida.

Isador “Izzy” AKA Isaac Miselman:  parents Michael Meizelman and Ida Hackmeyer

Ida Meiselman arrived in the U.S. on the SS Possdam on 9 Sept, 1911 stating she was going to join her son “Issy Meiselman”:

“Isaac” Meizelman and Rosa Brown were married on 3 May 1909 in Boston, Suffolk Co, Massachusetts.  Isaac (also known as Isador) had a marriage registration which listed his parents as Michael Meizelman and Ida Hackmeyer.

Isaac’s relationship to his siblings is confirmed by his obituary:

Jacob P. “Jack”  Meiselman

Florida’s division of Vital Records was unsuccessful in producing a death certificate for Jacob, whose last address according to the Social Security department was in Dade County, Florida when he died in August 1971.  After further discussions with family members, it was revealed that Jacob died in Rhode Island.

Lottie (Meiselman) Augenlicht

Flooding in New York due to Hurricane Sandy eliminated the possibility of ordering the death certificate for sister Lottie at the time of this project.

Louis Meiselman:  parents Max Meiselman and Clara (maiden name unknown )

The  death certificate for Louis Meiselman who died 23 April, 1982 listed parents Max Meiselman and Clara (maiden name unknown).

According to the death certificate, Louis Meiselman was born 23 April 1897 in Austria, which correlates within two years of the birth date Louis provided when registering for the WWI Draft:

As shown above, Louis’ address when registering for the draft was 190 So. 8^th Street, Brooklyn, NY, and he provided a birth date of 23 April 1895 – substantiating that while the year of birth is off by two years (not uncommon when the bereaved are providing information for death certificates) we are tracking the correct Louis.

Herman Benjamin Meiselman:  parents Michael Meiselman and Clara Hadkmayer. 

Unfortunately, the state of North Carolina was unable to locate a certificate for Herman, who is listed as Herman Benjamin Meiselman in the North Carolina Death Index, having been deceased 28 April, 1978 with last known address in  Mecklenburg, NC.   However, later research on FamilySearch.org revealed that Herman Benjamin Meiselman died in Clemmons, Forsyth, North Carolina and the informant stated his parents names were Michael Meiselman and Clara Hadkmayer. 

 Summary

The parentage of Jacob Meiselman is based on the combined documentation of his siblings’ death certificates as well as the passenger list indicating he is the son of Michael and Chajcie Meiselman.  Additional evidence includes:

• Strong links between the Meiselman siblings in documents, often using the address 190 So 8^th St

• Isador M. Miselman (also known as Isaac) marriage record to Rosa Brown, listing parents as Michael Miselman and Ida Hackmayer in 1909.
• Ida Meiselman arrival in 1911, going to join her son “Issy Meiselman”
• Mechal Meiselman listed as father of Leon, Bernard and Lottie on the passenger list in 1913
• The reference to mother “Ida” on Herman’s World War I Draft Registration with Herman’s address of 190 So 8^th St in 1917
• Michael and Chajcie listed on passenger list stating they were going to stay with their son Jacob at 190 So 8^th St in 1920
• Ida’s enumeration on the 1930 census with an immigration date of 1921 near the time that Michael and Chajcie arrived