Magaziners Coming to America

Many of the Magaziners never left Hungary, but many of them came to America, at various times to various places. Most of them came to Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and Chicago, but some came to Buenos Aires and Brazil! Many of them lived in the same area as their Magaziner cousins, but it's not clear whether they knew they had cousins in town.

This page reviews the stories of all of the Magaziner immigrants I know of in chronological order.

1865 Ohio New York City	Fanny Magaziner was probably the first member of the family to arrive in America. Certainly, she was the first one documented. She came from Bremen to New York on the SS New York in November 1865 with the children of her husband, David Shatz, some of whom were hers. They promptly settled in Ohio, first in Cincinnati, later in Cleveland, then back to Cincinnati. Later, the family moved to Manhattan, about a mile from where her niece, Emma was living at the time.
1860s Ohio	Pauline Magaziner was one of the first Magaziners to arrive in America. I have not found her immigrant ship manifest, or even her 1868 marriage to Joseph Bottenstein, but the marriage must have occurred in the United States because Joseph arrived in 1865. Pauline and Joseph settled in Ohio. the same state where her sister Fanny was living at the time, but not in the same area. The earliest record I have of Pauline in the United States is the birth of her daughter, Sadie Bottenstein, on May 28, 1869 in Circleville, Ohio. The Bottenstein family moved to nearby Columbus, Ohio by 1880 and Pauline lived there for the rest of her life. Some of her descendants are still there.
June 1867 Ohio	William Meisels arrived in New York on the SS New York in June 1867,the same ship that brought his cousin Fanny to America 18 months earlier. He promptly moved to Ohio, the same state where Fanny lived, though in the same part of the state. He lived within a mile of his first cousin Pauline's family for 30 years, but I don't know if they were actually in contact with each other. A great-great-granddaughter of Pauline did not recognize any of the Meisels family names when I discussed it with her. Ironically, William's grandson, Simon William Luley, Jr., was a Catholic priest in Ohio for many years, and Pauline's great-grandson, Sanford Edward Rosen, Jr., was a rabbi! William was buried in the same cemetery as Pauline, though it is a very large cemetery and I have no idea if they are buried anywhere near each other. Some of William's descendants still live in Ohio.
January 1880 New York City Philadelphia	Hannah Magaziner came to New York in December 1879/January 1880 on the Circassia with her husband, Kalman Jacobovics, and their nine children. They settled in New York City for a while, appearing in the 1880 census. At least two of their daughters married there. Around 1882 they moved to Philadelphia and adopted the surname Jacoby. Hannah died there in 1888. Her children mostly stayed in Philadelphia and its suburbs. One moved to Youngstown, Ohio, though it is not clear whether she was in contact with Pauline and William's families in Columbus or Moritz's family in Cleveland.
June 1880 Cleveland	Moritz Weinberger arrived in New York on the Herder in June 1880 and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. It is not clear whether Moritz was ever in contact with any of his many Magaziner relatives in Ohio. His aunt Fanny had lived in Cleveland for a few years but returned to Cincinnati before he arrived. His cousin William were settled in Columbus, Ohio by 1880. His 2nd cousin Lena Jacoby moved to Youngstown Ohio in the early 1910s, but again, I have no evidence of any contact. The only contact I have any evidence of is a meeting with two of his aunt Pauline's daughters in Columbus: A social note in the newspaper reported his surprise visit but confirmed that his cousins had never met him before and they did not did not know who he was! Moritz was an editor for local German-language newspapers. He married twice and had several daughters, though I have only found information about one of them and only a name for a second.
1884-1887 Philadelphia	Henry Magaziner's family came to America in the mid 1880s. His oldest children came first, each separately, to New York: Fannie in March 1884 at the age of 18 Lena in May 1885 at the age of about 16 Anthony in May 1886 at the age of 24 Hugo in July 1886 at the age of 18 Jeanette apparently came around the same time, though I have not found her ship manifest. I also have not found a manifest for Louis. Henry, Cecelia and the rest of their children arrived through Baltimore on the Hermann in June 1887. They all settled in Philadelphia. They were clearly in contact with Hannah's family, who had arrived in Philadelphia before them, because almost all of them were guests at the 1906 wedding of Hannah's granddaughter, Jenette Goldberger. The Jewish Exponent's wedding notice says that among those present were: Mr. and Mrs. Henry Magaziner, Dr. and Mrs. Neufeld, Mr. and Mrs. Herbach, Mr. and Mrs. Moskovitz, Mr. and Mrs. Markovitz, Dr. William Magaziner, Mr. Louis Magaziner, Miss Nellie Magaziner, Mr. and Mrs. Rosenthal, and Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Magaziner. They were also in contact with Henry's cousin Pauline in Columbus Ohio, because Hugo married Pauline's daughter Sadie and their marriage license accurately identified Sadie as Hugo's second cousin. It's not clear how much they were in contact with other Magaziners who came to Philadelphia later.
September 1889 Philadelphia	Serena Magaziner came to New York on the Augusta Victoria in September 1889. She traveled on her own less than a month after her 16th birthday. She later arrived in Philadelphia. I don't know if Serena was in contact with Hannah and Henry's families at the time of her arrival, but she was clearly in contact with them in later years. Serena made a memorial donation in honor of Hannah's daughter Esther in 1941, and memorial donations were made in Serena's honor by Henry's daughter Mrs. Bernath Markovitz and granddaughter Mrs. C. L. Caspary.
February 1890 New York City	Nathan Meisels arrived in New York on the Lahn in February 1890. It's not clear whether he was in contact with his uncle, William Meisels, who came to Ohio twenty years earlier, or any of the other Magaziner descendants in America. He settled down in Brooklyn, became an American citizen, and apparently was still living in Brooklyn in 1940. I have not found many records of him and don't even know when he died or where he was buried.
October 1893 Chicago	Sara Magaziner died in Hungary in 1889, but her widower Marcus Wächter emigrated to Chicago around 1892 and brought their children, along with his second wife (who was also his niece) and a child he had with her, in October 1893. They came from Hamburg to Montreal on the Polaria, then traveled to Chicago by train. Marcus's siblings, Simon and Fred, were already living in Chicago at the time. Marcus died not long after they arrived, and his second wife apparently cared for the children, though two of the five children were cared for at a mental hospital and a third I have never found in America. I have found no indication that any of the Wechters were in contact with any of the other Magaziners in America, but that is not surprising: their Magaziner mother died long before they came to America and they were closely tied to their local Wechter relatives, who were related both through their father and their stepmother who cared for them.
July 1896 New York City	Emma Grun came to New York in July 1896 on the Normannia with her three children. Her husband Frederick had arrived in October 1895. They promptly settled in an apartment in Manhattan. Emma's widowed mother, Johanna, joined them in the apartment in 1900 and later died in Manhattan. Emma served as the American contact for some of the Magaziners who arrived or visited later: Regina (Elsie) Magaziner, who emigrated in 1907 and Elza Magaziner, who visited in 1924 and 1925 but did not stay. Some of Emma's descendants are still in New York.
Around 1900 Cleveland	Rose Tyrnauer was the great-granddaughter of Rachel Magaziner of Humenne, who has not yet been confirmed to be part of this family. Rose was born in Humenne and came to America around 1900 and settled in Cleveland, where she married Joseph Marmorstein in 1903. I have no idea whether she had any contact with any of the other Magaziners in Cleveland or in Ohio generally.
October 1906 Pittsburgh Cleveland	Yolan Frisch came to New York on the Vaderland in October 1906. Her passage was paid for by her paternal uncle, Sandor Frisch (not a Magaziner). He also served as her contact in America. Sandor lived in Pittsburgh and owned a rooming house there, but Yolan quickly ended up in Cleveland. It's not clear whether Yolan knew that her uncle Moritz lived in Cleveland (only a few miles away from her), or that her great aunt Pauline lived in Columbus, or that her grandmother's cousin William lived in Columbus. Some of her descendants are still in Ohio but most are in other states. One descendant is in the Philadelphia area, where he is friends with one of Henry's descendants, but they had no idea they were 6th cousins until I found the connection!
March 1907 New York City	Regina Magaziner arrived on the Amerika in March 1907. In America, she was known as Elsie. She used her cousin Emma's husband Frederick Rosenberg as her contact in America but identified him as her uncle. I don't know if she was in contact with any other Magaziners in America. The passenger above her on the ship manifest was Stephan Hollo, who became her husband around that time. Stephan also identified Frederick Rosenberg as his uncle, though I have not yet determined if Elsie and Stephan were related before they married, or if they were already married before they arrived (the ship manifest says they were single and used her maiden name). They lived in Manhattan and had two children there but one died very young.
January 1914 Detroit Connecticut	Anthony Balkany arrived in Philadelphia on the Prinz Oskar in January 1914. His passage was paid by his older sister, Serena, who had lived in Philadelphia since the 1890s. His contact in Hungary on the ship manifest was his wife Ida, but Ida and their daughters never came to America and they divorced later. Anthony moved to Detroit shortly after arriving, having heard that it was a good place for Hungarian immigrants. He lived there for more than 10 years and was naturalized there. He moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut and remarried there in the 1930s.
February 1922 Buenos Aires	Paula Magaziner came to Buenos Aires, Argentina on the Teutonia in February 1922 with her three children. Her husband, Rezso Josefi, had arrived in December 1920. They had another child in Buenos Aires. Their descendants still live in Argentina.
November 1923 New York City Connecticut	Erzsebet Magaziner came to New York on the Berengaria in November 1923, with dreams of becoming a movie star. She had been a successful musical comedy actress and opera singer in Hungary. In America, she took the name Elsa Ersi. She worked with the Ziegfield Follies, traveled the country doing many performances for the Orpheum Circuit and vaudeville and receiving rave reviews from newspapers across the country. She did some movie shorts but she never achieved the stardom that she had hoped for, so she married in New York in 1932 and did a little Broadway. They divorced at some point and Elsa remarried. She and her husband moved to Bridgewater Connecticut in 1958. It is unclear whether she was in contact with her 2nd cousin, Anthony Balkany, who had lived in Connecticut since 1930 and died in Fairfield the year she moved to Connecticut.
October 1941 La Paz, Bolivia	In October 1941, Erna Magaziner emigrated to La Paz, Bolivia by way of Buenos Aires on the Buena Esperanza. Erna's 1922 conversion would not have saved her from the Holocaust, and her husband Julius Deutsch had spent some time in prison for his political views. Julius came to South America in May, 1940. In La Paz, Julius owned a bookstore, Libreria América. They returned to Vienna after the war and are buried there.
January 1949 New York City	Gyorgy Hermann, son of Ilona Rivka Fischer came to New York in 1949, with his new wife. In America, he was known as George Herman. George had married Lilian Maria Brichta, a survivor of the Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp, in November 1947. Lilian was a widow with a 6-year-old daughter. At the time of their immigration, they were unable to get a visa for Lilian's daughter, and the daughter was placed in a Swiss boarding school for a few months. She was able to join the family in New York in April 1949. George became a citizen of the United States in September 1954. George and Lilian lived out their lives in New York and had a son there. It's not clear whether they had any contact with any of the other Magaziners in New York or in America generally.
January 1952 Los Angeles	After Elemer Magaziner perished in the Holocaust, his gentile wife, Edit Balogh, emigrated to America with their two sons. They came first to Mexico, then crossed the border into Texas in January 1952. They later ended up in Los Angeles, where Edit remarried and they raised Elemer's sons. It is unlikely that they were in contact with any of the Magaziners in America, because their children were very young when Elemer was taken in the Holocaust, and their closest relative in America, Elemer's sister Elsa Ersi, had lost contact with Elemer.
September 1961 Chicago Alabama	Istvan Ternay came from Switzerland to Brazil with his third wife in May 1952. He didn't stay, though, because he was in Stuttgart, Germany a few years later. His second wife, Maria Aliz Arvai, came to America after they divorced with their daughter in September 1961 and lived out her life in America. Maria and their daughter were not in contact with any of Istvan's relatives in America, and may not have known there were any relatives here. They lived in Chicago for a time, and the daughter married a man from Alabama there. They moved to Alabama and Maria joined them in Alabama later. She died in Alabama in 1990. Their daughter and her family live in Alabama.
1962 Brazil Buenos Aires Chile	Julia Kornelia Gaal came to Brazil in 1962, shortly after her husband, Sandor Steiner, passed away. She came with her daughter, her daughter's husband, and their two children (Julia's grandchildren). The family later settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Julia died in Santiago, Chile. I don't think this branch was ever in touch with Paula Magaziner's family, who were also in Buenos Aires, because their descendants were not aware of each other when I was contacted by them!

Magaziners of Humenne

Magaziners Coming to America