Ari informed me that he was helping his great aunt who was doing a family tree for her in-laws. The surname of that family is “Waronker”—the maiden name of my great grandmother, Fannie. During Ari's research, he came across my Lemanowitz site. He was able to piece together that Fannie was likely to be one of the 5 Waronker siblings of that family. (I didn't know Fannie had siblings until then.) We shared information with each other and were able to confirm this connection.  Ari has been incredibly generous with his time and even expanded his research into the Lemanowitz side of the family. He has sent me some great documents which I will be adding to this site. One of them, which I never knew existed, is the 1913 Last Will and Testament of Simon Lemanowitz, which is fascinating to read. I should note that Ari's detailed spreadsheets that he sent me have been an enormous help. (They've also helped me get past my aversion to spreadsheets which plagued me throughout my pre-retirement working days. If only I had known then how helpful they are….)

While the misspelling of names, changing of names, inconsistent dates, etc. make this research difficult, it's incredibly rewarding when you find one or more clues that allow you to piece it all together. More than once, while we were both trying to figure out something about a member of the Lemanowitz or Waronker Family, I've stumbled upon one document while at the same time, Ari has found another—or other related information which helped to confirm a fact about the family.

Fannie's parents were Sam (Hebrew name: “Shmaryahu “) and Sarah Waronker. As is frequently the case with families coming over from Russia or other countries in that region, there are often discrepancies in the spelling of a last name (or an outright different last name) and some variations of first names. At times, Waronker has been seen with a “V” instead of the “W” etc. Sarah's maiden name is often listed as “Badunar” and other times as “Rubin.” As usual, we attribute it to difficulty with handwriting, or issues with whoever collected information (such as census takers) not understanding their accents, etc. Or perhaps not caring enough to even try to understand them. Other times individuals within a family felt it would be best to change their name to something “more American sounding” or “less Jewish sounding.” Given what they escaped from in Russia and other areas of Eastern Europe, it's understandable that they would feel the need to do that.

When Ari first contacted me, it was the first time I learned that Fannie (aka “Feige Dvora”) Waronker Lemanowitz appears to have had 4 siblings. Ari noted that all 5 of these siblings are buried at Montefiore Cemetery! (Yes, Ari—that did answer in part, the mystery of why Fannie was in Montefiore!) The siblings were Jacob (“Yankel”) Waronker, Eva (“Sheine Chava”) Waronker Alper, David (“Michael David”) Waronker, and POSSIBLY, Nathan Zuckerman (also spelled “Zukerman.”)

At this time (June 2024), Ari and I are both perplexed as to how or why Nathan's last name came to be Zukerman. As Ari noted, Nathan appears to have been the middle child, so it's unlikely his father married another woman named Sarah. Perhaps it's another example of a name changed by somebody to make it sound more “American.” Or was it a situation where Nathan was taken in by Sam and Sarah Waronker who raised him as their own child? (In doing this research, I've learned to stop thinking with a 2024 mindset and think in an early 1900's mindset.) Oddly, after Nathan's death in 1947, his death certificate, lists his parents as Sam and Sarah—but with the last name of Zukerman not Waronker. The informant on Nathan's death certificate appears to be Simon Zukerman, the oldest son of Nathan and his wife, Lena. In the Last Will and Testament of Simon Lemanowitz (Fannie's husband) that I mentioned above, he refers to Nathan as his “brother-in-law.” I have not seen any indication that Simon Lemanowitz had any sisters, at least not one married to a Nathan Zuckerman and living in the US that he could refer to as his “brother-in-law.” Additionally, Jacob Lemanowitz, Simon and Fannie's son, was listed as the witness on Nathan Zuckerman's petition for Citizenship.

Another indication that Nathan might be a sibling to the Waronkers is that Nathan (who died in 1947) and Lena (who died in 1936) are buried at Montefiore Cemetery. They appear to be buried next to each other in Section N; Lot 182; Graves 4,5. Fannie (aka Fega) is also in Section N at Montefiore. In addition to Fannie Lemanowitz, Eva Waronker Alper, and Nathan and Lena Zuckerman, 5 of the 16 people with the surname of Waronker are in section N. (All the Waronkers buried in Section N died in the years of 1917-1950, the rest after 1950 are in other sections.) I'll continue to try to figure out or confirm the relation between Nathan and the Waronker siblings—and if he's a sibling, what led to his name of Zuckerman.

JUNE 2024: As I noted on a recently added page about my great-grandfather, David Schwartz, I had taken a break from researching my family history. When I began to restart my research into the family, I wanted to really learn more about who my great-grandparents, Simon and Fannie Lemanowitz were, their families, and some additional details about the siblings of my grandfather, Jacob Lemanowitz. As you've seen by now, the original focus that I had was on Jake, his first wife, Hannah, his second wife, Rose (my grandmother), and their 6 daughters. While I still don't have much information on Simon's past, I have learned a great deal about Fannie, her siblings and some of their children which I will provide here. Hopefully, I'll eventually learn more about Simon—and perhaps even find a picture of him somehow!

In April 2024, I began rereading what I had documented on this website, as well as looking again at other documents and emails that I had saved from family members. Some of the emails went back to 2006. I began poking around again on Ancestry and other sites—many that didn't exist when I started this project. Just then, in what turned out to be not just perfect timing, but a huge help to me in getting more information (not to mention in motivating me to step up my efforts) I was contacted through an Ancestry message by a man I didn't know yet—Ari Wigdor.