Family history documents: Esther Posner & family

Esther (Posner) Rosenthal (1914-1985) is my husband's (Jeff Rosenthal's) paternal grandmother; this is a collection of archival documents related to Esther and her siblings Sidney and Beatrice, their parents Jerome and Sonia, their grandparents, etc.

In researching family history, I have come across some fascinating documents such as census forms and marriage certificates. I decided to post these documents online, as I think other family members will find them as interesting as I did. You might also be interested in Family history documents: Harold Rosenthal & family (about Esther's husband and his family).

I am grateful for the information offered by family members, especially for the 1998 Rosenthal-Posner family tree created by Esther's youngest son and his youngest daughter, which provided crucial facts that made it possible to find the documents below.

-- Margaret Fulford, May 2021 (margaret.fulford@utoronto.ca)

Contents

Introduction:

• Overview of family history (with links to selected documents) (a good place to start)
• Family tree: Esther Posner & her ancestors
• Some photos of Esther Posner and her ancestors
• Places in Belarus where Jerome and Sonia lived
• A few glimpses of life in the Posner family home

Documents (with notes):

1. Main documents -- these contain information about Esther (Posner) Rosenthal and her siblings, parents, and grandparents

• 1913: JEROME POSNER AND SONIA GREBSTEIN (IRMA PEVZNER AND SPRINTSA GROBSHTEIN) - MARRIAGE - APRIL 2, 1913 - MOGILEV, BELARUS
  
  
• 1913: JEROME POSNER AND SONIA (GREBSTEIN) POSNER - IMMIGRATION - JULY 6, 1913
  
  
• 1914: ESTHER POSNER - BIRTH - FEB. 19, 1914 - STATEN ISLAND
  
  
• 1915: ESTHER POSNER (AGE 1) WITH PARENTS JEROME & SONIA - 1915 CENSUS - STATEN ISLAND
  
  
• 1916: JEROME POSNER (AGE 30) - DECLARATION OF INTENTION - SEPTEMBER 28, 1916 - STATEN ISLAND
  
  
• 1917: BEATRICE AND SIDNEY POSNER - BIRTHS - DEC. 16, 1917 - STATEN ISLAND
  
  
• 1918: JEROME POSNER (AGE 32) - U.S. DRAFT REGISTRATION - SEPTEMBER 12, 1918 - STATEN ISLAND
  
  
• 1920: ESTHER POSNER (AGE 7) WITH PARENTS JEROME & SONIA (SOPHIE) AND SIBLINGS SIDNEY & BEATRICE - 1920 CENSUS - STATEN ISLAND
  
  
• 1921: JEROME POSNER – PETITION FOR NATURALIZATION - JUNE 27, 1921 - QUEENS
  
  
• 1922: JEROME POSNER (AGE 35) – CERTIFICATE OF NATURALIZATION - MARCH 3, 1922 - QUEENS
  
  
• 1924: SONIA AND JEROME POSNER - 1924 VOTER LIST - QUEENS
  
  
• 1925: ESTHER POSNER (AGE 11) WITH PARENTS JEROME & SONIA (SOFIE) AND SIBLINGS SIDNEY & BEATRICE - 1925 CENSUS - QUEENS
  
  
• 1930: ESTHER POSNER (AGE 16) WITH PARENTS JEROME & SONIA (SOPHIE) AND SIBLINGS SIDNEY & BEATRICE - 1930 CENSUS - QUEENS
  
  
• 1933: SONIA (GREBSTEIN) POSNER - ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK AFTER TRIP TO USSR - JANUARY 5, 1933
  
  
• 1936: HAROLD ROSENTHAL AND ESTHER POSNER - MARRIAGE - MAY 23, 1936 - WASHINGTON, D.C. (this is part of Family history documents: Harold Rosenthal & family)
  
  
• 1939: JEROME POSNER – LETTER ABOUT HIS IMMIGRATION FROM HENRY B. HAZARD TO JAMES V. ABBOTT – JULY 17, 1939
  
  
• 1939: SIDNEY POSNER AND ANN COPELOS - MARRIAGE - AUGUST 24, 1939 - BROWARD, FLORIDA
  
  
• 1940: HAROLD ROSENTHAL AND ESTHER (POSNER) ROSENTHAL (AGE 28 AND 27) - 1940 CENSUS - QUEENS (this is part of Family history documents: Harold Rosenthal & family)
  
  
• 1940: JEROME AND SONIA POSNER (AGES 54 AND 49) - 1940 CENSUS - MIAMI, FLORIDA
  
  
• 1940: BEATRICE (POSNER) WRIGHT (AGE 23) WITH HUSBAND - 1940 CENSUS - IOWA CITY, IOWA
  
  
• 1940: HAROLD ROSENTHAL (AGE 26) - U.S. DRAFT REGISTRATION - QUEENS - OCTOBER 16, 1940 (this is part of Family history documents: Harold Rosenthal & family)
  
  
• 1940: SIDNEY POSNER (AGE 22) - U.S. DRAFT REGISTRATION - OCTOBER 16, 1940 - NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
  
  
• 1940: M. ERIK WRIGHT - U.S. DRAFT REGISTRATION - OCTOBER 16, 1940 - IOWA CITY, IOWA
  
  
• 1941: JEROME POSNER - MENTION IN INDEX TO INS CORRESPONDENCE AND CASE FILES - JAN. 30, 1941
  
  
• 1945: SIDNEY POSNER - ENLISTMENT IN ARMY - APRIL 5, 1945 - NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
  
  
• 1949: JEROME POSNER - LISTING IN CITY DIRECTORY - 1949 - OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
  
  
• 1952: JEROME POSNER - POPULATION SCHEDULE - 1952 - LAWRENCE, KANSAS
  
  
• 1954: JEROME AND SONIA POSNER - POPULATION SCHEDULE - 1954 - LAWRENCE, KANSAS
  
  
• 1960: JEROME POSNER - DEATH - JUNE 11, 1960 - DURING FLIGHT FROM COPENHAGEN TO MOSCOW
  
  
• 1961: SONIA (GREBSTEIN) POSNER - FLIGHT FROM AMSTERDAM TO NEW YORK - OCTOBER 12, 1961

2. Additional documents -- these contain information about the uncle, aunt, and cousins of Esther (Posner) Rosenthal

• 1915: SAMUEL POSNER (AGE 33) WITH WIFE JENNIE AND CHILDREN - 1915 CENSUS - QUEENS
  
  
• 1918: SAMUEL POSNER (AGE 36) - U.S. DRAFT REGISTRATION - SEPTEMBER 12, 1918 - QUEENS
  
  
• 1920: SAMUEL POSNER (AGE 36) WITH WIFE JENNIE AND CHILDREN - 1920 CENSUS - QUEENS
  
  
• 1924: EDWARD POSNER (AGE 6) - DEATH - OCTOBER 28, 1924 - QUEENS
  
  
• 1925: SAMUEL POSNER (AGE 43) WITH WIFE JENNIE AND CHILDREN - 1925 CENSUS - QUEENS
  
  
• 1930: SAMUEL POSNER (AGE 47) WITH WIFE JENNIE AND CHILDREN - 1930 CENSUS - QUEENS
  
  
• 1940: SAMUEL POSNER (AGE 58) WITH WIFE JENNIE AND DAUGHTER - 1940 CENSUS - QUEENS
  
  
• 1942: SAMUEL POSNER (AGE 59) - U.S. DRAFT REGISTRATION - APRIL 26, 1942 - QUEENS

• For the most part I am not including information about living people; however, some publicly available documents (such as 1940 U.S. census forms) may mention people who are still with us today.
• In many cases I found digitized documents online via ancestry.ca or via the websites of government archives or historical societies; in other cases the documents weren't available online but I was able to order a photocopy which arrived by mail.
• I have copy/pasted online transcriptions where available; these are modern transcriptions (i.e., created recently), usually provided by volunteers who transcribe sets of handwritten historical documents. While these transcriptions are very helpful (often it's only because of them that it's possible to search for a person's name and find records about that person!), please bear in mind that they may not be entirely correct -- they're only someone's best effort to decipher the handwriting.