Ruben, Bessie & Ida Rubenstein from “Russia.”

Undated photo of Ruben Rubenstein

One of my stated goals when I began to my sabbatical was to “figure out” Ruben Rubenstein and his first wife Bessie (nee Sparberg). I’ve had the privilege to think a lot about them, but I don’t know any more than I did before in terms of where they were born and how they got to the United States. I am confident, with the help of genealogist Susan Weinberg, we’ve found just about every available document that pertains to them. And most of what we have, I’ve had for years. There just isn’t a lot to find yet for them. But as I’ve written about before, who knows what can still be uncovered.

I hold great hopes that someone who descends from them might yet come across documentation that was handed down such as naturalization papers or anything where they might have listed their birth countries or cities (this recently happened in the Oster branch with Harry’s papers…even photos with writing on the back are extremely helpful). On every document unearthed thus far, they simply wrote “Russia” as their birthplace. Try to find “Ruben Rubenstein” in “Russia”. Needle in a haystack at best.

It is also possible that DNA will help make connections to someone who has either recovered the family tree, or had it all along. And maybe someone who is reading this is heir to more information than I am and I invite anything they might know!

Headstones are often inaccurate sources of information because the informant only knows what they know…it is usually the child or a sibling. And in my experience as a rabbi, inscriptions are often rife with errors…wrong dates…misspelled names etc. Ruben’s headstone says he was born in 1870. The 1920 census report estimated his birth year as 1855, but that likely is not correct either. In the 1905 census, his birthdate is listed as March 1867. On his marriage license it says 1868. On the second marriage license (to Ida Kurtz in 1900, he listed age as 33). And my favorite…his birthdate is listed as July 4, 1870 on his death certificate. Many immigrants did take July 4th as a birthdate when they came to the US because they saw it as a new beginning…a rebirth. In all likelihood, Ruben didn’t really accurately know what his birthday was. He probably also didn’t reliably know exactly which was the year of his birth. This too was common among Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia. Without a birth city, we have don’t have a lot to go on. Interestingly, his name on his headstone is simply ‘Reuven.” Several of his children added Meir to it on their headstones…”Reuven Meir.”

Ruben Rubenstein’s death certificate

In Hebrew it says, “A man who lived according to his beliefs, Reuven son of Azriel Zeleg, the 25th of Cheshvan, 5711 (which corresponds to Sunday, 5 November 1950), May His Soul Be Bound Up In The Bond of Eternal Life

This is the only known photo of Miss Bessie (nee Sparberg) Rubenstein. Peshie daughter of Lazar Chaim. She was born in 1873 and died in 1900. According to the 1900 census below, taken on June 4, 1900…she was listed as living. However, Ruben married Ida Kurtz on November 26th of the same year. She must have died and he remarried quickly.

If you look about a third of the way across in Bessie’s row, you can see the numbers 5 and 3. Five is the number of children she has had. Three is the number of living children at the time the census was taken. During those nine years of marriage, they suffered two stillbirths. And then Bessie’s death in 1900. It was not an easy decade for Ruben. Perhaps Bessie had been sick. Another mystery not likely to be solved.

Below is the headstone for Bessie/Peshie. It’s style indicates it was purchased about the same time as Ruben’s in 1950. Perhaps the family was no longer aware of what she had been called in English.

Bessie Sparberg. Peshie daughter of Lazar Chaim. We have no death certificate or obituary or any other record of her death.

Rabbit Holes…

Susan Weinberg, who I mentioned above, did extensive research trying to find our Ruben and Bessie in the records. She summarized her exhaustive investigation below:

“Ruben Rubenstein and Bessie Sparberg immigrated in 1885 and there are no identifiable naturalization records after 1906 that would yield the town of origin. The immigration records of that time were also quite scanty with information and thus are difficult to confirm even if a name matches.

I spent some time building out the Rubenstein-Sparberg-Jacobs branches. The Sparbergs are sparce, consisting of Bessie and her father Leib as well as a mystery Max Sparberg who was a witness at their wedding.  

Ruben Rubenstein and Bessie Sparberg were quite mobile during their life together, spanning a marriage in New Orleans and lives in both Iowa and Michigan. When Bessie died in 1900, Ruben quickly remarried before year-end, moving to Illinois, back to Iowa and with a brief run in California before he and Ida settled in Iowa for good. 

Among the questions that were raised were why Ruben and Bessie married in New Orleans. Short of finding a family member there or correspondence, there is no clear way to discern that. It perhaps would seem more puzzling if they did not already exhibit considerable mobility.  

The challenge, as yet unresolved, is to determine the town of origin for both the Rubensteins and the Sparbergs and work back to earlier generations. As they arrived in the 1880s, the immigration record offers neither ancestral town or closest relative and insufficient information to validate possibilities. Any naturalization record would also not offer this information unless filed many years later. That means we are restricted to working with just those in the United States who may be related. 

 With that in mind, one of the interesting threads to follow from that wedding is the witness named Max Sparberg. Presumably he is related.  I did turn up a Max Sparberg in Des Moines who had a marriage to Annie David in 1892. His parents were G.H. Sparberg and Ida Jacobstein. He was a contemporary of Ruben and Bessie, born in 1869.  

 There is also a Harris Sparberg, also born in 1869, who has a daughter Bess. He is originally living in Des Moines, but the family ends up in Chicago where his daughter Bess Savitt lives. It is possible that Max or Harris are cousins of Bess Sparberg (Rubenstein), but it is difficult to work back to a point of connection. They all arrived between 1880-1885, so none of them have immigration records that might offer a clue on family or ancestral towns. Obituaries indicate that Harris came from Odessa or Konstantin. Max disappears from Iowa and there are appearances of Maxes of similar name in St. Louis, but no certainty that it is the same Max.  

 In the 1892 directory there is a record of a Louis Sparberg and above it is noted that he died March 1892- quite possibly Bess’s father. I did locate a manifest for a Leib Sparberg who came to the US in a likely time period, but it is difficult to determine if it is the correct Louis Sparberg without more reference points and he was not traveling with a daughter. Bess’s tombstone gives her father’s name as Leyzer Chaim, describing her as Mother Rubenstein in English and “the woman” in Hebrew. 

 The 1900 census indicates that Bess arrived at age 14 in 1885. The 1890 census was destroyed and Sparbergs do not show up in the state census records. We have no other reference points to locate Louis, presuming he came over. We also have no death record for Bess. Without a death record or immigration record, the ways in which we would typically work back to an ancestral town are unavailable.  

 Ruben Rubenstein’s father on his tombstone is Izrael Zelick. His death certificate gives the father’s name as Zelick. When I searched for these names in association with each other, I found a death record for Zelick Rubenstein in Kaunas, Lithuania. He died in 1914 and was born in 1850. His father was Ruben so it seemed likely Ruben was named for his grandfather. The ages also seem logical as Ruben was born in 1870, when this Zelick would have been 20 years old. Typical marriage age was 19 or 20 and children quickly followed. The oldest son would be likely to be named after a deceased grandfather.  There were several children of Zelick (son of Rubin) in the 1870s, but no Rubin. Then in the 1922 passport records I found a Rubin, son of Zelick born in 1888. That ruled out this direction as our Rubin was born in 1870 and was in the United States by the 1880s. They were common names in this region and in association, so it is possible that our Rubin is a cousin to this Rubin, named after a common ancestor. 

 The other line on Ruben was a Ruben Rubenstein immigration record, born in 1868 and arriving 1888 from Krakow.  I didn’t find any promising records in Krakow that would validate it.”

Wedding record between Ruben Rubenstein and Miss Bessie Sparberg on February 2, 1891 in New Orleans.

Marriage License between Ruben and Ida Kurtz on November 26th, 1900.

Ruben married his Second wife, Ida Fay Kurtz, on December 2, 1900. She was 23 and he was 33. They were married in Chicago by Rabbi U. M . Zelesnick. Ida was the daughter of Etta and Burrell Kurtz and was born in 1882 in “Russia.” Ida’s Yiddish name was Chai Fagel. It is not known to me how Ruben and Ida were matched. Perhaps they were family friends from Russia which is often the case. I have not done extensive research on the Kurtz family, but they were well established in Chicago and many records exist. This is perhaps a path to figuring out Ruben’s past before 1891.

An undated photo of a middle aged Ida.

Ruben’s residences according to census reports:

639 E 2nd St., according to 1900 and 1905 census

513 Maple according to 1920 census

3401 Amherst, according to 1925, 1930, 1935 and 1940 census

Ruben and Bessie had five children, three lived to adulthood: 

Mamie: 11/10/1891 Des Moines (9 months and 8 days after the wedding :-), died 1981

Louis: 5/24/1894 (1893?) Michigan - died???

“Female” born 4/17/1896 Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan, died 4/18/1896
George: 3/24/1897 (’98?) Grand Rapids, Kent, MI, USA, died 11/29/1976 Chicago

“None” born on 06/14/1899, died on 06/14/1899 Grand Rapids, MI

Ruben and Ida had six (seven?) children, six lived to adulthood: 

Rose: born 11/08/1902 Chicago, died 1/29/1994 Las Animas, Colorado
Zella: born 7/1/1903 Des Moines, Iowa died 10/6/1998 Des Moines

Bessie: born 3/20/1906 Des Moines, died 12/29/1996 Los Angeles
Elizabeth: born 3/20/1910 San Francisco, Ca, died 11/20/2000

Gerthrue: born 9/15/1913 Polk County…death? Twin to Genevive? Did they changer her name to Gevevive?

Genevieve: born 9/15/1913 Iowa, died 3/22/1959, Tampa, Florida

Burrell: born 5/18/1918 in Iowa, died 3/16/2009 in Des Moines

Four generations: Photo taken in 1946 or 1947 of toddler Enid (nee Oster) Locketz on the table. From left, Phyllis (nee Jacobs) Oster, Ruben Rubenstein, Zella (nee Rubenstein) Wilkinson, Mamie (nee Rubenstein) Jacobs, Ida (nee Kurtz) Rubenstein.

L-R Top, Genevieve, Elizabeth, Mamie, Bessie, Rose, Zella Front Row L-R Burrell, Ida, Rubin, George (Louis not pictured).

Bessie Sparberg’s death, and really, her life remains a mystery. I imagine Bessie Friedman was named for her. I know that my grandmother Phyllis Oster was named for Bessie her grandmother. Phyllis’ Jewish name was Peshie. Why they married in New Orleans…what the connection was there is also a mystery. Was their familly there? Did Ruben or Bessie live there? I have explored a possble connection with the clothier Rubenstein family in New Orleans and there is no obvious connection. I also have a slight DNA match with someone who has the Des Moines Sparbergs mentioned by Susan above in their tree, but we were not able to determine any connection either.

Louis also remains elusive. His connection to the family appears to have been slight after moving West. There are several Louis Rubensteins in the record throughout the Midwest with vital statistics that are similar to our Louis. If I have the correct document for him, when he registered for service for WWI, he was living in Omaha. Later, he was known to have lived in San Francisco and that is supported by census records. He is listed in Ida’s obituary in 1966. Again, if I have the correct document, he died in San Francisco on February 8, 1968. Sherwin Wood, before he died, told me that he remembered visiting Louis with his mother in a care facility in San Francisco. Joe Rubenstein recalled that his father Burrell saw Louis in San Francisco on his way to and from his deployment to the Pacific during WWII.

Only known photo of Louis Rubenstein who is seated at the piano

All of this digging into the generations in all branches of my family reminds me over and over again how short memory is. And it continues to amaze me how many people contribute DNA to a single life…how many shoulders we each stand on. Aside from what I can find about Louis, Ruben Rubenstein’s family remained connected, even as today his descendants are scattered to the wind. A fruit peddler in Des Moines according to the 1900 census, the patriarch of a family of 10, with hundreds of descendants, none of whom after 130 years, to my knowledge, remain in Des Moines.

One last mystery, with a touch of sweetness. I have found, as you can see in the list of children, an anomaly in the records. There is a birth record for a Gerthrue Rubenstein, on the same date of birth for Genevieve. But, I have not found a birth record for Genevieve. My guess is that they later changed her name to Genevive, not that there was a twin that died.

In the middle of the first screenshot, you can see the number word “nine.” That is the number this child is in the order of babies born to the mother. Which means Ida was counting all of Ruben’s children as her own.

Undated photo of Ruben Rubenstein, who is by the way, My Great-Great Grandfather.