Blood, Spit & Logic (Part 1)

Finding The Kronrots: People often ask Abq Jew how he manages to find so many long-lost relatives on his Family Tree.

As Abq Jew first mentioned in his classic blog post Blood, Spit & Years - actually, almost nobody asks. But just in case someone should ask sometime, Abq Jew offers this wonderfully interesting and entertaining addendum to his now famous Not Strictly Genealogy Methodology.

Finding The Kronrots

A Not Strictly Genealogy Methodology

Blood, Spit & Logic

First: The Kronrots, Abq Jew must tell you, are Mrs Abq Jew's father's family. Mr & Mrs Abq Jew knew some of them, but not a whole lot.

Plus: The Kronrots do not, for all intents and purposes, believe in DNA testing. So the whole geshichte that follows is based on a delectable combination of official records and personal recollections. 

So let’s talk about the Kronrots.

1. Mrs Abq Jew and her brother HG Kronrot are the children of Burton Kronrot z”l.
2.  Burton Kronrot was the son of Jack (Jacob) Kronrot.
3.  Jack Kronrot was a son of Max Israel Kronrot.

For years, that was about all that Abq Jew knew about the Kronrot line.

And then: One day, purely by chance, Abq Jew took a close look at HG Kronrot's Family Tree on Ancestry.

And Abq Jew discovered that HG Kronrot had added Julius Kronrot - Max Israel Kronrot's brother - to his Tree. Along with Julius's entirely new branch of the Kronrot Family Tree.

However – Abq Jew didn’t want to add Julius to his MyHeritage Family Tree until he was absolutely sure.

Well. A remarkably quick search on FindAGrave.com revealed that Max Israel Kronrot's father's name was Zelig Itzhak - which Abq Jew had not previously known. And that Julius Kronrot's father's name was the same - Zelig Itzhak.

Proof enough for Abq Jew.

So now, in our determined and timeless search for Truth - let's talk about Logic. And the name Kronrot.

One might think that

Kronrot = Red Crown

and that the name must be German. But HG Kronrot spent a few years in Germany (doing Opera!) during the 1970s - and couldn't find a single other Kronrot.

True, that was way before The Internet and MyHeritage and Ancestry. But still, one has to admit (yes, one does!) that Kronrot is a pretty weird name.

Which brings us to Abq Jew's Kronrot Family Axiom:

All Kronrots are related.

It must be noted (one supposes) that Abq Jew is not a linguist; not a philologist; not an etymologist. Also not an entomologist - but that's understood.

However (see April 2018's Fame, Fortune, and Four Wives), Abq Jew was formerly known as The Word Man.

Therefore: We proceed.

Eventually, Abq Jew discovered (to his great surprise, after years of just not looking) that there were several other Kronrot Family Trees on MyHeritage and Ancestry - and that those Trees did include a branch for Julius Kronrot. 

But listed as Julius (Yankel) Kronrot. Which really, really bothered Abq Jew.

Why? Abq Jew hears you ask. Because Yankel is Yiddish for Jacob. According to his headstone, Julius Kronrot's Hebrew name was Yoel Zalman. 

"Strange," said Abq Jew. 

But Abq Jew's research was progressing.

And then Miriam Kronrot Goldman showed up.

Miriam Kronrot Goldman

It all started when Abq Jew randomly discovered that one JE Goldman has quite a few Kronrots on his Ancestry Family Tree. So Abq Jew sent a message to JE Goldman, explaining that Mrs Abq Jew is a Kronrot, so, perhaps ... you know, we should talk?

So, we talked (exchanged emails, that is). And JE Goldman proudly showed Abq Jew that his great grandmother was, indeed, Miriam Kronrot Goldman. Married to one Harry B Goldman. One of Julius and Dora Kronrot's many children.

All was well and good until Abq Jew came to realize that JE Goldman had identified Miriam Kronrot Goldman as Miriam Fisher Goldman on FindAGrave. With a birth date of 1883.

Miriam Fisher Goldman's father’s name - on her headstone - was Yaakob Zev (Jacob Wolf). But Julius Kronrot’s name was Yoel Zalman.

"How interesting," said Abq Jew.

Interesting, yes. But what did it mean? Abq Jew wrote an email to JE Goldman, pleading for help! And pointing out that:

1. Abq Jew had been absolutely unable to connect any Miriam Kronrot to Julius Kronrot.
2. Julius Kronrot was born in 1868; he married Dora in 1892 at age 24; and he had Sara (1910 Census) in 1893 at age 25.
3. If Miriam Kronrot was born in 1883 – well, Julius Kronrot was only 15. Before his marriage to Dora Stone. This was highly unlikely.
4. If Miriam Fisher was born in 1890 – that was still before Julius Kronrot and Dora Stone were married. And there’s still the matter of the wrong father’s name on Miriam's headstone.
5. If Abq Jew drops Miriam off the Julius and Dora Kronrot's children's list, their children show (1910 Census) a nice sequence of marriage, followed by a new child every year or two. Miriam throws the whole thing off.

Now, Abq Jew is forced to concede that Miriam Kronrot does appear on other Ancestry family trees - as one of Julius and Dora Kronrot's children. 

But Abq Jew suspects that this is an all-too-common example of one careless genealogist copying from another careless genealogist without checking the records.

So, Abq Jew hears you ask -

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Almost everything. We've got Julius called Yankel. We've got Miriam not connected to Julius, and Miriam not connected to Max.And we've got Abq Jew's Kronrot Family Axiom:

All Kronrots are related.

So who is Miriam? At this point, Abq Jew just doesn’t know. 

Unfortunately, there’s about a zillion Harry Goldmans and Miriam Goldmans out there – so it looks like it’s going to take a long time to find the right Harry and Miriam. If there's even a record.

Bertha Kronrot Kaiman shows up.

Bertha Kronrot Kaiman

And the city of Shushan was farblonjet.

See Part 2 ... coming soon!