#72 Marcus Goldstein◊
Marcus was born in Romania. He died Bef Dec 1890.
Some family stories have him dying while serving in the Prussian Army. This service might explain a Romanian family being near Bremen, which is where Molly and William boarded a ship to the United States. Given that his wife reports herself as being from Russia instead of Romania on the passenger list, it's also possible that he served in the army of the Russian Empire and someone misheard.
∞ Marcus married #73 Molly Silverman◊.
Other names for Molly: Mali Goldstein◊.
Molly was born Abt 1863 in Romania. She died Dec 1890.
Based upon her son's statements in his naturalization papers, we seem to find the two of them on the passenger lists for the ship Spree out of Bremen, Germany, arriving in New York on 22 Dec 1890. There are only two boys of the right age on the boat without several siblings and one bears no resemblance. The other is Willy Goldstein, age seven, born in Russia. He is traveling in steerage with Mali Goldstein, age 27.
Mali is shown as dying en route. The code for the date and cause of death is "1-1". We have no key for this notation. Perhaps the first digit is the number of days into the journey.
The obvious question is the last name, given that William was known as William Wagman later. There are a couple of theories that could be true. One is that Molly remarried in Germany or Romania after Marcus' death and her second husband either preceded them to the United States or also died early. Another might be that Molly's maiden name was really Goldstein instead of Silverman and she and Marcus were not married. A third theory might be that William took the name Wagman from someone in the orphanage or foster home where he ended up after his mother died.
However, a theory proposed by some seems the most interesting: it came about because of anti-semitism. Before taking a job with the City of New York, William worked for a private company. However, when they found out he was Jewish, they forced him to leave. After that experience, one can imagine him changing his name to something less obviously Jewish to avoid a repeat. There are Jewish Wagmans on the census but also a number of non-Jewish ones as well. Something to note is that, on William's death certificate, his father's last name is actually not provided; he is just listed as Marcus.
The Spree was built for the North German Lloyd Line of Bremen, Germany. She displaced 6,963 gross tons, was 463' long and had a speed of 18 knots. There was accommodation for 244 first class, 122 second class and 460 third class (steerage) passengers. She made her maiden voyage on 10 Nov 1890. In general, steerage was not a pleasant place to be: the quarters were cramped, the food was less than ideal. Passengers on many lines reported theft and assault. Steerage passengers usually had a small section of deck reserved for them onto which they'd crowd if the weather permitted.
Children of this relationship:
| #170 | M | i | William Marcus Goldstein◊ | (25 Mar 1884–21 May 1948) |
New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Year: 1890; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237; Microfilm Roll: 560; Line: 55; List Number: 1871
William Wagman, death certificate, no. 4892 (21 May 1948) Bureau of Records and Statistics, Dept. of Health, Queens Boro, City of New York. Copy in possession of Julie Deffler
Line Generation: 1
Relationship: Great-Great-Grandfather