My GGM was Rose Feiner Friedenberg Semmel, one of 5 children. Her nephew, Joseph, is Perry’s great-grandfather.

Joseph Feiner

My name is Perry Eisman and I live in NYC. I am doing research on my family history and I believe we may be related. My maternal grandmother was Anna (Chana) Feiner. Her father was Joseph Feiner. I came across Joseph’s name in your website. I am fairly certain this is the same Joseph Feiner. I have been trying for quite some time to get information on this part of the family. It has been quite difficult especially since my grandmother’s mother (Joseph’s wife) died in childbirth and I have no record of who she was. Joseph came to the US (1904) having left his pregnant wife back in Poland. He remarried (Rose Boehm) and had 3 other children (Hy, Nettie, Helen). My grandmother eventually came to the US as well when she was 17, having never met her father before.

I would love to know if we are talking about the same person.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience. As you might guess, I am very excited at the prospect of this part of my family tree may being filled in at last.

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According to the records from Joseph’s immigration, he came from Neustadt and lived in Port Chester. My grandmother actually come through Boston, not Ellis Island in 1921. Her name was spelled Fajner on the ships log. I do have a few pictures of my great-grandfather as well as my grandmother (who died in 1971). I will try to scan as many as possible and send them to you tomorrow.

As I mentioned previously, Joseph Feiner also had 3 other children with his second wife. If you are interested, one of those children (Helen) actually became a fairly important member of the Jewish Women’s movement and had a biography published about her a few years ago (Always Up Front, as told to Myrna Katz Frommer). You can see it at Amazon.com). Helen died in her 90s and I actually went to her 90th birthday party. I didn’t real know her until just before that as my family didn’t have much to do with my grandmother’s step-siblings.

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Anyway, I did see the reference to the marriage you wrote about yesterday. However, I also saw a marriage reference for 1903 (Josek Fajner and Malka Gitla Wolman). Is it possible this is the correct one or do you have additional info about Joseph that makes you certain the marriage to Blima is the one I am looking for. It actually makes more sense to me that they he would have been married in 1903 since my grandmother was born in 1904. How likely do you think it was back then to wait 6 years to have a child if he had been married in 1898? (DRS: YES, Malka makes more sense!)

Many, many thanks, Perry Eisman

Entire Feiner family (my grandmother- Joseph's daughter, by his first wife from Poland, is third from the right). That's Joseph and his second wife Rose in the center.

My grandmother's wedding pic (Anna Feiner Kleiner)

My grandmother as a baby with her aunt who raised her after Joseph left for America