Morris Paktorovics and Bertha Perlmutter.
The Ellis Island record above rather illustrates some of the problems one can encounter in interpreting documents relating to family events and movements (see sidebar, right). This document shows that one "Paktorovics, Mor" (Line 23), a 17 year old passenger from Ketergény, Hungary, left Bremen, Germany aboard the Kaiserin Maria Theresa on 30 October 1900 and arrived in New York Harbor on 08 November 1900. Although his birth date is given elsewhere as 29 July 1882, the fact that the age for passenger #23 appears to be a year off is probably not remarkable for the time, and I am fairly sure that this document recorded the arrival in the US of my grandfather's older brother, Morris.
Morris subsequently changed his surname to "Pactovis", married Bertha Perlmutter (whom I knew later as my Great Aunt Bertha), and started a family. Census records, from the 12th (1900) to the 15th (1930), present a fairly consistent story (with some discrepancies in dates), congruent with details I remember from childhood. Mor Paktorovics entered the US too late to be included in the 1900 census, but Bertha Perlmutter was already living in Newton, MA (see reproduction below, lines 19-24). The 1900 record shows an interesting family situation for Bertha (15 years old); she is listed in a household headed by an older brother, Edward (28). Four additional brothers, William (20), Morris (12), Herman (10), and Abie (6), complete the family. Edward is listed as having entered the US in 1890, while all of his siblings arrived in 1897. This would be consistent with the oldest brother having a 7 year head start to establish himself, then sending for all his siblings to join him. The parents may have been deceased then, or they may have chosen to send the rest of their children to join Edward while they themselves remained at home. Interestingly, their country of origin is given as Austria, but in later records Bertha is listed (along with Morris) as Hungarian; this is not inconsistent for the period, depending on where in the Austro-Hungarian Empire the Perlmutters came from, when they left, and their attitudes about nationality and assimilation. For example, the 1930 record lists Yiddish as the language of both Bertha and Morris before entering the US, in contrast to my own grandparents, who listed Hungarian instead, though they were conversant in Yiddish as well.
Alfred Pactovis, from my mother's album. This was in a section of photos from around 1937-1938. Alfred was a first cousin of my mother.
Researching old records seems to require not only language and logical skills, and some appreciation of history, but also that one be a handwriting expert (I'm not)-or at least good at recognizing shapes and patterns, and organizing and interpreting the relationships between them (I am good at those, being a molecular spectroscopist by profession). The Ellis Island immigration record here came up in a search for "Paktorovics" or variants thereof, but as an entry denoted "Hor Pakforovics" from "Kotorgeny." Firstly, to my eyes, the letter that would have to be interpreted as capital "H" does not look like other instances of "H" in the same document (visible nearby). What it does look like to me is an "H" that was corrected by the same writer to an "M" (compare other instances of capital "M" that are visible nearby). Secondly, the letter that would have to be an "f" doesn't look like other instances of "f" in the document (sorry none are visible in this section); all instances of "f" are clearly looped above the line, and usually below the line. In this case, on close inspection, there actually is no segment below the line; I believe the appearance that there might be comes from the letter being run into the capital M on the line below. If one removes that, the closest resemblance is to other instances of "t" in the document, of which several are visible nearby. These are clearly of open triangular shape, like the letter in question. The crosses of many of these are rather short, and in one or two instances are barely perceptible, as it is in this case. Finally, the city of origin is clearly a misinterpretation of Ketergény, as there was no place in Hungary called "Kotorgeny." I have little doubt this person was named Mor Paktorovics, whether he was my grandfather's brother or not.
Ten years later, the 1910 US Census shows Morris and Bertha Pactovis living (on 16 April) with their three children, Louis J. (6), Abraham S. (3), and Julius E. (2), at 15 Cook Street in Newton City, MA (see reproduction below, lines 63-67). This record is the earliest I have that shows the change of surname to Pactovis (although it appears to have been initially misread as "Betoris," and then corrected, in the database entry at Ancestry.com; see additional sidebar note), and it lists his age at last birthday as 27, which is more or less consistent with the age 17 given for Mor Paktorovics on his arrival at Ellis Island in 1900. It lists his date of entry into the US as 1899 [my reading], however, although this seems like a rather minor discrepancy. Bertha's age is listed as 25, the date of her entry into the US is given as 1896, and the birthplaces of Morris, Bertha, and their parents are clearly listed as Hungary ("Hun. Magyar"); all of their children were born in the US. The record shows that Morris and Bertha have been married for 7 years, consistent with a wedding around 1903-1904. Morris' occupation is listed as streetcar conductor.
Source for all US Census document images used below: Ancestry.com.
Twenty years after that, the 1930 US Census shows the family living (on 09 April) at 15 Mechanic Street in Quincy, MA (see reproduction below, lines 66-70). By this time, Louis has moved on, but they have another son, Alfred (16; photo below). Interestingly, this record lists Morris' age at last birthday as 46, which is again consistent with the age 17 given for Mor Paktorovics on his arrival at Ellis Island in 1900, and Bertha's age as 44. One problem, though, that this Census record lists the year of his (and Bertha's) immigration to the US as 1904. At first I was stumped by the problem of reconciling these dates, but I propose the following hypothesis. Some time around 1903-1904, Morris Pactovis and Bertha Perlmutter returned to Hungary for their wedding, or to visit friends and family afterwards, and they returned together to the US in 1904. Then they may have simply cited the year of their return,1904, as the date of (re-)entry for both of them. Bertha is listed as 18 years old at the time of her marriage; Morris, at that time, was 20, which is again consistent with a wedding some time around 1903-1904. I think this is a plausible story, which I hope to confirm with further research. In any case, Morris' profession is now listed as a retail merchant with a shoe store. Although Morris Pactovis died before I was born, I knew my Great Aunt Bertha, who visited us periodically when I was growing up in Queens, NY. Her family still owned the shoe store in Quincy, and she always brought a brand new pair of shoes (of current style, good quality, and the correct size) for my brother and me whenever she came to visit.
Page from the 12th US Census (1900). My thanks to Jacqueline Waldstein Schwab for bringing this record to my attention, and for some interesting, helpful discussions about Perlmutter families.
