SAMUEL BLACK (AGE 60) - DEATH - BRONX - MARCH 24, 1948

DOCUMENT: black-samuel-death-certificate-1948-03-24.pdf

NOTES:

• Document (photocopy) received by mail from NYC Dept. of Records, August 2015.
• Initially this document did not appear to be about the right Samuel Black (despite some similarities to "our" Samuel Black, such as occupation), since the parents' names on this death certificate do not match the parents' names on the marriage certificate of Samuel Black and Anna Finkelstein. However, Samuel's 1936 social security application (received by mail a few months later) makes it clear that this death certificate must indeed be for the right Samuel Black, because:
  • The date of death in this death certificate is the same as that listed in a 1948 social security death claim for a Samuel Black with the social security number 065033487 (see below).
  • The 1936 social security application corresponding to that SSN (065033487) shows the same birth date as on "our" Samuel Black's Ukrainian passport and 1917 U.S. draft registration (December 18, 1887), and it also lists a similar maiden name for his mother (Leah Shandeles) as on Samuel and Anna's marriage certificate (Lizzie Schandeles).
• Some information contained in this document:
  • Samuel's wife's name is listed as Annie (not Anna), and this is how she signs her name on the form.
  • The handwriting in Annie's signature seems similar to that in the left section and bottom section of the form, so it appears she filled in those parts of the form.
  • Samuel and Annie's address is listed as 3201 Hull Ave., Bronx. See 3201 Hull today in Google Maps
  • Length of residence in the City of New York: 46 years. (Note: census records indicate Samuel immigrated in 1904 or 1905, and his Ukrainian passport was issued in 1904 or 1905; so by 1948 (assuming he stayed in New York the whole time), he had probably been living in New York about 43 or 44 years.)
  • Samuel's father's first name is listed as Bernard, as it also is on his 1936 application for a social security number (whereas on Samuel and Anna's 1914 marriage certificate it is listed as Abraham).
  • Trade / industry: sewing
  • Industry: machine operator
  • Name of father: Bernard
  • Maiden name of mother: Lillan Suata (? -- the handwriting is hard to read). This is different from the name on Samuel and Anna's 1914 marriage certificate (Lizzie Schandeles) and Samuel's 1936 SSN application (Leah Shandeles); but the initials are the same (LS). Samuel and Anna's daughter was named Lillian; might the "Lillan" on this certificate be a misspelling of "Lillian"? Might Samuel's daughter have been named after his mother?
  • Russia is given as the birthplace of Samuel, his mother, and his father. [Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire when Samuel was born.]
  • Place of burial: Mt. Zion Cemetery. This is the same cemetery where his young daughter Lillian Black was buried in 1923.
  • Place of death: Fordham Hospital, Bronx
  • Length of stay: 13 days
  • The cause of death is not given, other than that it was due to "natural causes more fully described in the confidential medical report filed with the Department of Health."
• Here is the entry for this death certificate in the New York, New York Death Index, 1862-1948 database (via ancestry.ca):

  Name: Samuel Black
  Birth Year: abt 1888
  Age: 60
  Death Date: 24 Mar 1948
  Death Place: Bronx, New York, USA
  Certificate Number: 3338

• Here is the relevant entry about a social security death claim regarding Sam Black in the Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007 database (via ancestry.ca), which appears to indicate that a death claim was made by a surviving family member (presumably his widow, Anna). This is an index entry only -- other documents related to death claims do not seem to be available.

  Name: Sam Black
  SSN: 065033487
  Birth Date: 18 Dec 1887
  Birth Place: Soviet Union
  Death Date: 24 Mar 1948
  Claim Date: 10 May 1948
  Type of Claim: Death Claim
  Notes: 15 Sep 1976: Name listed as SAM BLACK
  

• The Mount Zion Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located at 59-63 54th Avenue, Maspeth, New York (which is in the Borough of Queens). A search of the cemetery's website finds the following information about Samuel's grave:

  BLACK, SAMUEL
  Society BALTER
  Path 8L
  Gate 4
  Row
  Grave
  Map 735
  Section
  Block
  Lot
  Burial 3/1/1948
  

  The burial society, Balter, presumably served people from Balta, Ukraine. According to the American Jewish Historical Society's website, this landsmanshaft was called the "The Balter United Brotherhood" and was incorporated in 1907. The burial date on the cemetery website actually only indicates the month of burial (March 1948). (For any search on this cemetery's website, the majority of the burial dates retrieved seem to be on the first of the month, so "3/1/1948" probably does not actually indicate "March 1, 1948".) Here is a map of the cemetery.
• Browsing the 166 entries for the Balter society at the Mt. Zion cemetery finds several other people who may be family members:
  • Sarah Finkelstein, buried March 1930 (very likely the mother of Anna Finkelstein Black) Update, Feb. 2016: This arrived and is for the right person -- see SARAH FINKELSTEIN - DEATH - MANHATTAN - MARCH 23, 1930
  • Leah Black, buried April 1907 (quite possibly Samuel Black's mother)
  • Bernard Block (not Black), buried April 1929 (might this be Samuel's Black's father?) Update, Feb. 2016: No, this arrived and appears to be for someone unrelated.
  I have ordered three death certificates from the NYC Dept. of Records, which should confirm whether these are indeed family members (and if so, may contain additional information!).