Myths

The Persistence of Myth

Your family’s name was not changed at Ellis Island. And yet, again and again, the response to that factual statement is a retort of “well, in my family it was.” I understand. No one wants to call their grandparent a liar.

  • Grandpa said his grandpa was called Schwartz and now our name is Black. It was changed at Ellis Island.
  • Grandma said our name was Weiss and now it’s White. They were given that name on color day at Ellis Island.

I’ll tell you what is black and white – records. The documents have the facts, which are not always the same as the oral history. Previously, I documented the evolution of the surname on my paternal side. Let’s break down the myth again looking at my maternal line.

Growing up, I was told that this document was my great-grandfather’s steamship ticket – in reality it is an inspection card. The inspection card, issued to immigrants and steerage passengers, was filled out in Southampton, England. It bears the stamp of the US Consulate in Southampton.[1]1904 Gotcher inspection card

This little card provides multiple points for cross-referencing:

  • the ticket number (upper right – 20600)
  • the ship and date of departure
  • last residence
  • page of the ship manifest (stamped “AA”)
  • number on the page AA of the ship manifest (5)

and, of course, the name in the center – Solomon Gotcher. That’s not his signature. This was filled out for him. How do I know it’s not his signature? Other documents required his signature, such as his Declaration of Intention to become a US citizen.[2]

1917 Dec of Int sig

But this signature says “Solomon Ketcher” not “Solomon Gotcher.” How did the name change happen?

A look at the ship manifest[3] shows a mirror of the inspection card. Solomon Gotcher appears on sheet AA, line 5, with the ticket number 20600 penciled in. That’s not his signature, either.

1904 Gotcher St Paul Manifest

How did Solomon get from Gotcher to Ketcher? Well, it was more of a return. In February of 1904, Solomon married in Daugavpils, Latvia.[4] The surname, written in Cyrillic, Кацерь, is underlined. It transliterates to “Katsher,” which is pretty close to Ketcher. And it has nothing to do with Ellis Island, or baseball.

1904 Dvinsk marriage

Resources on Inspection Cards:

More resources on name changes that never happened:

[1] A faded stamp to the right shows he passed inspection in New York.

[2] US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Declaration of Intentions. Vol 40 p365, 1917 Solomon Ketcher, Declaration 18469, citing St Louis County Library Film 68, FHL Film 1749653.

[3] New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924, database with images, FamilySearch, Roll 473, vol 928-929, 2 Jul 1904-5 Jul 1904; citing NARA publications T715 and M237.

[4] Latvijas Valsts Vēstures Arhīvs, Rīga. Latvijas Ebreju Rabinātu Metriku Grāmatas. Fond 5054, Apraksts 2, Lieta 276, page 15, entry 35.

About that DNA Test You Got for the Holidays… Part 2: Privacy

silence means securityThe first post from this series examined the most common DNA test used for genealogy, the autosomal DNA test (atDNA), and discussed what the test can, and cannot do, along with a few words of caution about expectations.

This post continues the theme of questions a genealogist might ask a client regarding their desire to take a DNA test. Remember, genealogists want you to test. Genealogists also want informed consumers and educated clients. My typical first question – why do you want to test? or another way of looking at it, what are your goals for testing? – appeared in Part 1.

Second question: what are your privacy concerns?

We need to have a discussion about privacy. All genealogy research is deeply personal, and nothing more so than your genetic material. My aim is not to scare you. I want you to take a DNA test. I want you to be comfortable, and understand what it is, what it does, and what the future holds.

If you are considering DNA testing or even if you have already tested, please read the testing company’s Terms and Conditions. Carefully. Read the Informed Consent. Carefully. Read the Privacy Statement. Yes, carefully. It’s a lot of legalese, and it isn’t easy to digest, but please do it. Some companies value your privacy, some value your genetic data. Some will use it for their greater gains.[1]

Every testing company has slightly different Terms and Conditions, Informed Consent, and Privacy policies. The International Society of Genetic Genealogy Wiki maintains comparison chart[2] which can help answer some of these questions, but nothing, nothing, replaces reading the documentation. I know this feels like a homework assignment, but it’s one of those tasks that makes you a better student in the end.

As you read, take note of the following: where is your test processed? Who owns the genetic data – you or the company? What are the opt-in or opt-out options? Will your DNA be assessed for health or other traits? Is the testing company in contractual partnership with any other companies? Who owns the DNA testing company?

Another essential set of questions to ask yourself regarding DNA testing: have you prepared yourself for the possibility of unexpected results? Have you considered how you will approach family members, or strangers, when communicating about results, expected or not? Do you know if any other family members – siblings, parents, cousins – have tested?

Now that the legalese is out of the way, I want to address a few myths:

  • When I test, my DNA will be online for anyone to see. Your DNA test is only viewable at the company with which you choose to test. Depending on the company, it’s up to you to control and share the information with potential matches, only within the company. If you want to share more widely there are options that you control.[3]
  • If I test, law enforcement will be able to take my DNA. False, sometimes true, or, it depends. Here is what it depends upon: if you test and keep the results within the database of the testing company, law enforcement would be required to obtain a court order to access your DNA.[4] Using a company’s website is not what happened with the now-famous case of the Golden State Killer. A third-party testing site called GEDmatch was used. On GEDmatch, users take their raw DNA results and upload them to GEDmatch, and the results are compared to users who have done the same process. GEDmatch does not test DNA, it provides a public platform upon which people can openly share and look for matches across the different testing sites.
  • My sibling tested so I don’t need to – my DNA is already “out there.” Not really.[5] Some of your DNA might be “out there,” as full siblings have about 50% of their DNA in common. Even identical twins do not have 100 percent identical DNA.[6] Additionally, testing siblings, parents, cousins, etc. can be an important part of a DNA research plan. Before that can happen, have a conversation with your sibling (parent, cousin, etc.) about DNA testing and see if you can agree on privacy settings, where to test, who to test, expectations, and more.

Conclusions

Finally, the information in this post is based on my experience testing myself, family members and clients, as well as my study of DNA testing for genealogy. I do not receive advertising or other revenue from any of the DNA testing companies. I am not a lawyer and please do not consider this legal advice.

[1] “Opting out,” The Legal Genealogist, https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2015/07/26/opting-out/, accessed 2 Jan 2019.

[2] “Autosomal DNA testing comparison chart” Tim Janzen for ISOGG Wiki, https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_testing_comparison_chart, accessed 2 Jan 2019

[3] Based on the information provided by testing companies and reported on at “Autosomal DNA testing comparison chart” Tim Janzen for ISOGG Wiki, https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_testing_comparison_chart, as reviewed on 2 Jan 2019. Policies can change. This statement assumes appropriate security measures are in place to prevent data hacks.

[4] If you search the name of a DNA testing company plus the phrase “law enforcement,” for example, “FamilyTreeDNA+law enforcement,” you will be able to read each company’s policy on granting access.

[5] Time to brush up on recombination, which is the exchange of DNA segments between the two copies of a chromosome (maternally inherited and paternally inherited). The creation of each egg and sperm is an independent event, and the newly formed chromosome in the fertilized egg is a patchwork of contributions. Siblings inherit different portions. Basically, that’s why they are siblings and not clones! I know, I snuck in more science.

[6] “Identical Twins’ Genes are Not Identical.” Anne Casselman, Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/identical-twins-genes-are-not-identical/, accessed 8 Jan 2019.

Image: “Silence Means Security.” Record Group 44: Records of the Office of Government Reports, 1932 – 1947. Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. Bureau of Special Services. 3/9/1943-9/15/1945 Series: World War II Posters, 1942 – 1945, War and Conflict Number 828.

The Name Change Myth

2016 was the year of Fake News. Let’s make 2017 the year that one of those fake stories finally goes away.

Your family’s surname was not changed at Ellis Island.[1]

You know the story. It goes something like this:

  • Carl? That’s not Russian.
  • The clerk at Ellis Island named your family after his son.
  • It was “German Day” at Ellis Island and that’s how your ancestors were called Carl.
  • The name was too long and ended in –sky or –itz or something and the clerk shortened it to make it easier to write.

There are hundreds of variations of this story. None of them are true.

Nope. No. Nein. Nem. Nu. Nie. Нет. קיין .
[2]

Language plays an important role in this myth. Many of the people who purport the story of the name change have ancestors who emigrated from a country that used a different alphabet, or had different letters, or used diacritical marks to distinguish pronunciation. An immigrant from the Russian Empire might know how to spell their surname using Cyrillic or Hebrew letters, and that name had to be transliterated into the Latin alphabet. A Pole with the letter Ł in a name would expect a “W” sound, not “L.” Umlauts and other diacritic marks from German, Hungarian, Czech and other languages do not neatly transliterate.

The creation of the ship’s manifests, or passenger lists, took place in Europe. The clerk was at the ticket agency. A copy of that list was sent with the ship’s captain to be presented at the port of entry. Sometimes a copy of that list remained at the port of embarkation.

On 29 May 1900, the Lake Huron set sail for North America from Liverpool, bound for the Port of Quebec in Montreal. An “Outwards Passenger List” was cre1900-jankel-karol-border-crossingated, and kept in England. A similar version of the list went with the ship, and can be found in the Library Archives Canada collections. Both lists have the same version of the surname of an immigrant from Russia: KAROL.

Wait. Montreal? That raises another big factor in the myth. Did the family arrive at Ellis Island? What about its precursor, Castle Garden? Or Montreal? Or Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans or Galveston?

The final destination of this passenger was Boston, not Montreal, so another list is associated with the travel – on a form required by the US Government. Called a List or Manifest of Alien Immigrants for the Commissioner of Immigration, it too, was created prior to arrival. The fine print on the document illustrates that point:

Required by the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, under Act of Congress approved March 3, 1893, to be delivered to the Commissioner of Immigration by the Commanding officer of any vessel having such passengers on board upon arrival at….

In this case, the list was used when the passengers prepared to cross the border from Canada to the United States. Again, the surname of the passenger was spelled KAROL.

After a few years of living with his sister-in-law’s family in Boston, this immigrant moved to St. Louis. He earned enough money to pay for the passage of his wife and children. They boarded the Pennsylvania in Hamburg and traveled to the Port of New York, arriving at Ellis Island on 22 Jan 1905. The surname on the manifest read CARROL.1905-jankel-carrol

I can hear the myth-lovers: “that’s it – it was Irish day at Ellis Island, and that is why they changed KAROL to CARROL.”

No. Nope. Nein. Nem. Nu. Nie. Нет. קיין. Or as the Irish might say, Ní féidir.

Like the UK Outwards Passenger List, immigrants leaving from Hamburg were noted on passenger lists; lists stored at the Staatsarchiv Hamburg in Germany. The Hamburg lists match the Ellis Island passenger manifest, surname spelled CARROL.

Sometime between arriving in Boston in 1900 and moving to St. Louis about 1904, Jankel KAROL changed the spelling of his name to Jankel CARROL. When he purchased the steamship tickets for his family, the manifest listed his name and address as: Jankel CARROL, 814 Biddle Street in St. Louis, nearly an exact match to the listing in the City Directory for Jacob CARROL at 814 Biddle Street. Jankel is the Yiddish nickname for Yaacov, the Hebrew version of Jacob. It’s not just surnames that change as families Americanized.1906-fold3_carroll_jacob_p_317_city_directories_for_st_louis_missouri

The surname CARROL changed one additional time, to CARL, before 1910, in St. Louis, some 950 miles from Ellis Island. Why? That cannot be answered. Som1911-jacob-carl-petition-for-naturalizatione educated guesses could be made, but those guesses become stories, and those stories run the danger of feeding the myth.

Let’s recap:

  • Passenger lists and manifests were created by ticket agents in Europe;
  • Alphabets and pronunciation play a role in spelling;
  • Some ports of departure kept copies of passenger lists and the names from those lists match the names on lists at the port of entry; and
  • Not all immigrants arrived at Ellis Island!

Still not convinced? Here are some additional resources discussing the myth of the Ellis Island name change:

Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island (and One That Was)
Philip Sutton, Librarian, New York Public Library

American Names: Declaring Independence and Examples of Name Changes from the National Archives
Marian L. Smith, Senior Historian, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service

The Name Remains the Same
Robin Meltzer, Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington

[1]If only Snopes was on the case.
[2] English slang, Italian & Spanish, German, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish, Russian, Yiddish.