Nelson Family Name

 
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I'd always assumed that the Nelson name was taken only in the US, upon or just before immigration.
I may be wrong. Zhitomir is a city in the Ukraine whose institutions hold some documents from Lokatch.
In an archive of a large Zhitomir Jewish cemetery I found an entry for Mikhail Lvovich Nelson (1901-1991) and Tsina Abramovna Nelson, 1908-1989.
I have no idea whether they are related to us, but this strong evidence for Nelson origins as a European name.

Нельсон



Both Joe Chandler's original scroll and the Excel tree claim that Avram Michel Schleger changed the name to Nelson.
The claim also appears in "Dearest Rachel": Michel Schleger changed his name to "Nelson".


Undated letter from Irving Robinson to Sue Cook. Max would be Max Nelson.

1904 Joseph Zvi Hirsch Schlager/Joseph Harry Nelson arrived in US as Joseph Schlegar
November 11, 1905: Portland marriage Rose Nelson and Jacob Robinson
1909 Portland Directory: junk, 134 Newbury (Max Robinson et al #160); rms. 9 Vine (see Abraham Cook)
1936 U.S. Social Security Administration Application lists father as Abraham Mitchell Slager

November 11, 1905: Portland marriage Rose Nelson and Jacob Robinson

November 11, 1905:
Portland marriage Rose Nelson and Jacob Robinson

The earliest document I have so-far found for Max Nelson is:
April 15, 1910 Census 2826 Dickson Street, St. Louis: Max Nelson 32, Tailor

August 13, 1922, Portland, Maine: Marriage Sarah Nelson & John Schwartz
1922 Marriage Sarah Nelson & John Schwartz

September 24, 1924, Portland, Maine: Tobie Nelson Marriage: Daughter of Isaac Robinson
1924 Tobie Nelson Sacknoff Marriage
September 24, 1924
, Portland, Maine: Tobie Nelson Marriage: Daughter of Isaac Robinson

December 8, 1936: Joseph Harry Nelson AKA Joseph Zvi Hirsch Schlager Social Security Application

December 8, 1936: Joseph Harry Nelson AKA Joseph Zvi Hirsch Schlager Social Security Application


December 11, 1946: Social Security Application for Max Nelson. In the matter of his father's name, note that his gravestone
identifies him as "Menachem Mendel son of Avraham Michel."


June 4, 1964
: DS Page ltr for Etta Chase Etta Nelson Chase Immigration file (crop)

The chidren of Isaac Yecht and Resnick sisters Anya and Rosa

Dearest Rachel, by Joseph Chandler:

...Toybe, one of the sisters of the three Filler brothers. We called her Meema Toybe and she was married at age 14 to Michel Schleger. He had been married once before to another sister of the three Filler brothers, Rachel (Rochel), who had burned to death. They lived in the town of L'Katsch. (These names are spelled phonetically and may actually have been spelled differently.) I was told that Rochel and Toybe were half sisters, but I haven't yet determined where the "half" came in.

....

You have to know that the families, Filler/Robinson, were large families, especially in the generation starting with the three brothers their immediate offspring, and the "in law" families with whom they became associated. Besides the three original brothers, they had a sister, Malka Simmah, who married a Mordechai Schiff, and their daughter Bessie married Yossef Hirsch Nelson, the son of Malka's sister, Rochel (Michel Schleger's first wife). His mother was one of the Filler/Robinson sisters and she died in a fire. Rochel's child, Rivka, and her entire family of husband and their two children and their families of five and six people, respectively, were killed by the Nazis. One of Rochel's daughters, Chana (Anna), was married to the Rabbi Moshe Rokeach and they have an extensive family in the New York area. A sister of Chana's was named Pesse and she was the matriarch of our cousins, the Cook family. The last sister of the original Filler and Robinson triumvirate was Fayga (Francis is one translation). She married a Nachman Wolf Ca(h)n and became the matriarch of the Cohen family of cousins.

For the Yecht family overview, including how Joe Chandler is related to Nelson/Shleger family, look here:
This page, as all others, rewards the viewer who wishes to zoom in.

Joe Chandler's Family History new!

Nelson Photos

Genealogies here

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