Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Who Is the Earliest Ancestor in Your Maternal Tree?

I guess I should have expected this to be the topic for today's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver, considering that last week's challenge was the earliest ancestor in the paternal tree.

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.

1.  Today's challenge is to answer the question "Who Is the Earliest Ancestor in Your Maternal Family Tree?"

2.  Tell us about your earliest maternal ancestor in your family tree on your own blog post, in a comment here, or on your Facebook page.  Be sure to leave a link to your report in a comment on this post.

[Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic!]

I know the answer to this question without needing to check my tree.  But I will need to look at it to verify some years of birth and death (most I do know by heart).

Actually, I can go back the same number of generations on two different lines on my mother's side.  But one of those ancestors was born a little earlier, so I'm going to follow that line.

1.  Janice is the daughter of Myra Roslyn Meckler (1940–1995)

2.  Myra is the daughter of Abram Meckler (1912–1989).

3.  Abram is the son of Minnie (originally Mushe) Zelda Nowicki (about 1880–1936).

4.  Mushe is the daughter of Gershon Itzhak Nowicki (about 1858–1948).

5.  Gershon is the son of Abraham Yaakov Nowicki (?–?).

So I know the name of my 3rd-great-grandfather, but I don't know anything else about him.  I estimate that he died before about 1896, because I have a cousin who was probably named after him, and that cousin was born about 1896.  I know that his wife was named Sirke, but I don't know her family name.  And that's all I have.  Since we're talking about a Jewish family in Grodno gubernia, Russian Empire, I'm lucky to have that.

But as with last week's challenge, I can say that I have total confidence in all of my information.

For the other family line I mentioned above, I can also get to a 2nd-great-grandfather whose father's name I know, but that guy was born about 1863, five years later than Gershon.

1.  Janice is the daughter of Myra Roslyn Meckler (1940–1995).

2.  Myra is the daughter of Lillyan E. Gordon (1919–2006).

3.  Lillyan is the daughter of Joe Gordon (originally Joyne Gorodetsky; about 1892–1955).

4.  Joyne is the son of Avigdor Gorodetsky (about 1863–1925).

5.  Avigdor is the son of Gersh Wolf Gorodetsky (?–?).

I have no idea when Gersh Wolf died, because I know of no grandchildren or great-grandchildren who were named after him.  That could mean that he was alive when those grandchildren were born or that no one liked him and wanted to name a kid after him.  I have a hint that Gersh Wolf's wife was Etta Cohen (which would probably have been Kagan in the Russian Empire), but that's all I know about her.

Now that I think about it, I can do the same exercise on a third line.

1.  Janice is the daughter of Myra Roslyn Meckler (1940–1995).

2.  Myra is the daughter of Lillyan E. Gordon (1919–2006).

3.  Lillyan is the daughter of Joe Gordon (originally Joyne Gorodetsky; about 1892–1955).

4.  Joyne is the son of Esther Leah Schneiderman (about 1867–1908).

5.  Esther Leah is the daughter of Joyne Schneiderman (?–?).

I have an estimate for when Joyne Schneiderman died, because Joyne Gorodetsky was probably named after him.  So he died roughly before 1893.  His wife's name I have from one source as Anna Ida, which might have been Chane Etta.  And that's it for that line!

But wait!  I can do this two more times!

1.  Janice is the daughter of Myra Roslyn Meckler (1940–1995).

2.  Myra is the daughter of Lillyan E. Gordon (1919–2006).

3.  Lillyan is the daughter of Sarah Libby Brainin (about 1885–1963).

4.  Sarah is the daughter of Morris Brainin (originally Mendel Hertz Brainin; about 1861–1930).

5.  Mendel is the son of Solomon (originally ?) Brainin (?–?).

And . . .

1.  Janice is the daughter of Myra Roslyn Meckler (1940–1995).

2.  Myra is the daughter of Lillyan E. Gordon (1919–2006).

3.  Lillyan is the daughter of Sarah Libby Brainin (about 1885–1963).

4.  Sarah is the daughter of Rose Dorothy (originally Ruchel Dvjore) Jaffe (about 1868–1934).

5.  Ruchel Dvojre is the daughter of Joseph Jaffe (?–?) and Anna Binderman (?–?).

So five different lines, and I can take each of them back only to the name of a 3rd-great-grandparent.  I guess the Brainin line should be second, because Mendel Hertz Brainin's very roughly estimated birth year is second after Gershon Ithak Nowicki's.

Oh, the joys of Ashkenazi Jewish research!