Goldfoot Genealogy

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

Audrey Hess Zeitz has been a big part of our Goldfoot family.  She is the mother of my son's wife, Molly.  She just passed away yesterday at 4:42 am at the hospice in Vancouver, Washington.  Audrey lived for 94 years 8 months 25 days.  

 Audrey had lived here in the Suburban Mobile Estates a year longer than I have.  She and her husband, Irving Zeitz, who passed away March 25, 2010, moved here from Florida after one of those horrible hurricane hits that happened in 2009.  

I've been so lucky to live so close and get to know Audrey as well as I have.  She was 8 years older than I am, but close enough to share much of the same memories that I have.  She was born in Elbow Lake, Minnesota, and she and Irv then lived in Connecticut. I'm a native Oregonian.  My maternal grandmother was from Sweden, and Minnesota was full of Swedes.  I think a brother in law of hers was Swedish.  We had fun chatting about our families.   

The most exciting thing for me to find out was that Audrey and I were connected by DNA.  Here it is.  It doesn't show up on FTDNA, but I found the information at GedMatch.com, the webpage that researchers like to use because of just this reason.  If you share a small amount such as 3cMs, it will show up on GedMatch.  FTDNA registers people who must share a segment 7cMs, at least.  Though this is small, I don't think they are showing specks of dust.    Chromosome 15 holds our biggest segment of 5.6cMs AND another small one of 3.2cMs.  It appears that Audrey's ancestors and my ancestors knew each other sometime in the past.  Audrey, you were related either to the Goldfoot side or the Jermulowske side.   Her maternal grandmother was a Mollie Medved of North Dakota.  Audrey was Audrey Hess before marriage.  Her family had been from Austria, Bohemia, etc. 
                            

Audrey and Nadene's shared DNA in chart below: 6 segments shared: Largest segment = 5.6 cM  

Chr	B37 Start Pos'n	B37 End Pos'n	Centimorgans (cM)	SNPs
2	239,406,446	240,401,778	3.7	254
3	192,293,753	193,724,534	3.7	273
10	2,991,774	3,715,765	3.8	296
11	18,796,480	19,962,033	3.8	372
15	28,013,600	30,369,914	5.6	394
15	78,101,909	80,061,726	3.2	521

         My brother, David, also matched Audrey with DNA.

Chr	B37 Start Pos'n	B37 End Pos'n	Centimorgans (cM)	SNPs
2	71,020,254	74,200,833	4.6	579
9	137,384,140	137,968,826	4.1	217
10	130,633,376	131,540,063	4	290
11	577,534	1,689,325	3.6	257
11	18,796,480	19,962,033	3.8	381
12	43,406,549	47,498,533	3.2	673
19	40,691,632	44,118,680	3.8	549

Largest segment = 4.6 cM
Like many siblings, David and I only share with Audrey on one Chromosome, #11 with 3.8cMs.  Otherwise, he matched different chromosome segments than I had.

Our cousin, Sandra Oster, brings Goldfoot and Jermulowske genes as well as Oster genes. She also shares with us the segment on #11, only she only had 3cMs.  Sandra, Audrey and I shared chromosome #15, the one I had 5.6cM.  Sandra had 3.8cMs.  

Chr	B37 Start Pos'n	B37 End Pos'n	Centimorgans (cM)	SNPs
1	15,471,992	17,425,829	3.1	362
1	116,336,876	119,500,773	3	709
1	242,440,891	244,319,340	4.1	380
4	103,387,419	108,047,174	3.2	690
6	167,334,382	168,458,074	3.5	229
8	51,550,158	54,540,154	3.9	570
8	127,399,987	128,660,096	3.4	373
11	382,912	1,642,602	4.1	271
11	18,993,465	19,843,574	3	275
15	28,299,454	29,866,274	3.8	208
17	77,423,753	78,297,779	3.9	221
22	49,779,586	51,089,213	3.1	358

Largest segment = 4.1 cM                        

I think this is amazing and I think it surprised Audrey, too.  We had a lot of similarities and differences to talk about.  She was a dancer.  I had a background in dancing.  She was outgoing, I was shy. We were able to go together to family parties and celebrations.  We both had dog; she boys, and I had a girl.  I'd walk to her house and take a break there with my dog, and the dogs had a social together.  Then, Audrey would walk to my house, and we'd do the same.  Then came the time when my dog just couldn't walk anymore at all.  Audrey would come over anyway.  It was impossible to take a walk without stopping with dogs who were used to visiting each other.    The funny thing was that my dog loved treats.  I kept offering treats to Audrey's boys, but they never liked anything I offered.  My dog, also another Molly, would pounce on the unwanted treat and gobble it up.  She loved to see them come calling !.

Audrey was worried that she'd pass away and asked me if I would then take her dog, and of course I said I would.  As it turned out, both her little male doggies passed away before she did.  That's what we grandmothers worry about; even the lives of our little doggies.  

Audrey also knew her memory was fading.  She was highly aware of it.  That's the bad thing that often comes with old age.  Then, when that fading memory mechanism sets in as an unwanted visitor, you're not aware of it, which is a blessing.  

                                                                             

                         November 2019 and Audrey was still out walking in our park.  She was 93 !

I've missed the times the two of us got in the car and drove to a restaurant for dinner.  We were two grandmas having fun together.  It was also nice to have Audrey and Molly over for Shabbat dinner once in a while.  All this caused the past 15 years go by so fast.  I just can't believe it's been 15 years here, but it was the Spring term time at TVCC when I drove here from Ontario, Oregon with my bird and Mom's cat in the car with me.  My mother had passed way on October  5, 2005, and I decided to join Steve and Molly and all my relatives  who lived in and around Portland.  Steve and Molly had found a home in the same park that Molly's parents were in, so that seemed perfect to me.   

It's very hard losing a parent.  Audrey will be very much missed.  She was a little dynamite.  We'll never forget  her 90th birthday to have clowns, bands, you name it.  She had such a strong personality. She had been a clown in her youth. 

 

Labels: Audrey Zeitz, Irving Zeitz

# posted by Nadene Goldfoot @ 10:11 PM 0 comments

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

I have more DNA relatives with the surname of Cohen than any other surname.  I match 132 people with Cohen according to my Family Tree DNA company.  That's a mixture of men and women with that surname so some of the women could be married to Cohen men who have not tested with me.  However, Cohen is the most popular surname.  That isn't even counting people like Herb Hochfeld who is a Cohen yet wouldn't be in the count because of his different surname.  Interesting.

I note on my brother's page with FTDNA, that 5,659 people have tested on our father's side but only 242 on my mother's side.  

As for Cohens on our genealogy tree, let's take a look:  I have 31,200 people in my tree including both sides of my family.  It includes everyone's extended family that they don't even know about as long as I could keep finding people, so none of these Cohens are known to me.  Some are even 3rd cousins, but mostly they would be 5th or more remote cousins.  

For instance, I have an Anne Guterson b: 1904, surname attached to L. Slifman Goldfoot, and Anne was married to a Cohen.  I can't say that I have found any Cohen on our immediate tree that we would be related.  

Now to see information on my 132 person Cohen matches.  FTDNA gives us a page of matches that can hold 20 on one page.  I have 8 pages.  The first male 3rd to 5th cousin to come up was G. Cohen sharing 79cMs with the longest segment of 14cMs.  The big surprise is that we have an X (23rd chromosome) match of 10.92cMs.  that means we share a female match of origin, no doubt.  Our biggest match was on chromosome #1 with 14.18cMs.  No wonder we might be 3rd cousins.  This shows that our genealogy is so lacking.  It's just skimming the surface.  I must realize, also, that this is just testing people who thought of being tested.  Thank goodness they did or I wouldn't have the information I do have to get a better picture of our ancestor's life.  This Cohen was already designated as being from my father's side with the blue icon.  Some are not.  

The interesting thing about Cohens is that they are direct descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses, a part of the tribe of Levi since both Moses and Aaron were known to be from  Levi, one of the 12 tribes of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham.  They have a pretty distinctive Y haplotype.  G. Cohen is a J-M267.  The basic name for a Cohen has been J1, so this is one of them. 

Cohens have different customs in Jewish cemeteries.  Their tombstone may display 2 hands with the hands turned so as the fingers are pointing at each other.  

That this surname came up more often than others scientifically connected to me tells me more than even my own genealogy.  Miller was the next surname most often connected, and that could be from either side of my family.  Smith was the 3rd and last most common surname, and that is from my mother's  side.  

All this is true of my brother, David, as well.  His 3 most common surname matches are also Cohen, Miller and Smith.  Is it true for our children?  My son most common surnames are the same only Cohen s amount to only 79 matches.  That means from one generation we went from 132 to 79, a loss of 53 matches.  Think how many more my father would have matched!  if this number holds true for my grandson, he might only match 26, etc and eventually the match to that surname is forever lost.  Also, the loss each generation need not be 53, either.    

Traditionally, only a man can be a kohen, and the status is transmitted from a father to his son. The daughter of a kohen traditionally has special obligations and privileges, but these last only until she marries – and she does not pass these down to her own children. In some egalitarian congregations, the daughters of a kohen continue to be called for special honors even after she marries. Few Reform congregations observe the kohen traditions, and not all Conservative ones do. (https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/kohanim-jewish-priests/)

According to Jewish law (Leviticus 21:7), a kohen is restricted from marrying a woman who has converted to Judaism, or a woman who has been divorced. Different communities have different levels of adherence to this law. It is still practiced by Orthodox communities, and some Conservative communities, but rabbinic authorities sometimes make exceptions.

Jewish law (Leviticus 21:1) also forbids a kohen from having contact with corpses, other than those of close family members. This means that a kohen might avoid entering a cemetery, or attending a funeral unless it is for a close relative (mother/father, sister/brother, son/daughter, spouse). Some kohanim are especially careful about this rule, and may even avoid entering a museum that contains mummies.

Since kohen status cannot be proven (although widespread DNA testing may eventually change that), synagogues giving special honors to kohanim rely on individuals to identify themselves.

These facts are especially helpful to geneticists, as it helps in the tracing of family.  

If families have been able to remain intact enough the line is known by each father handing down the information of being a Cohen to his sons, orally.  Being a Cohen gives that person the responsibility to be the first of the readers of the Torah on Shabbat.  

Labels: Cohen, dna, genealogy., J-M267

# posted by Nadene Goldfoot @ 9:56 AM 0 comments

 Nadene Goldfoot

I've been reading the book, Heshel's Kingdom by Dan Jacobson about his Lithuanian family and grandfather, Rabbi Heshel Melamed of Lithuania who's father-in-law and the author's great-grandfather, Zvi Yakov Opppenheim.  The book tells of intimate details about Lithuania, even mentions Telz, which is also spelled as Telsiai, where our Goldfus/foots were from.

On our family tree, we have many Oppenheims and Oppenheimers on our Telsiai branch of the tree.  The Oster line that has married into our line also has many Oppenheimers on it.  We are related by DNA to the Oster line even though we have no connection from eastern Europe.  It must have happened while both were Jews in Germany at the beginning of our German experience of becoming Ashkenazim and must have been quite close at one time being our closeness now.

On Family Tree DNA, I myself have 8 matches with Oppenheim. One is a 3rd cousin; 2 are 4th cousins and 5 are 5th cousins.  The 3rd cousin is female, S. Oppenheim which could be a married name, so a man would be Dr. R. Oppenheimer on my father's side with the icon, 4th cousin. I match Dr R.O. on chromosome #7 with my brother, and Ian; on #10 with myself, David, Ian and Sandra, and #14 with myself, David.   With another set of people, I see that chromosome #18 had a female 5th cousin A Oppenheimer match David, Myself and 3rd cousin Mrs. Andi Z with a small segment.  I'm going by the color coding chart with is easy to use 7 people at one time to check on matching.  

OPPENHEIM, town in Germany. Jews are first mentioned there in the tax register of 1241, according to which they were obliged to pay the emperor an annual tax of 15 marks. The Jews of the town, legally the property of the emperor, were placed under the protection of the officers in charge of the local fortress, to whom they paid their taxes. They also paid a house tax to the archbishop of Mainz. *Rudolf of Hapsburg and other kings gave letters of credit to various noblemen which were to be defrayed from the taxes paid by the Jews of Oppenheim; at times, they also leased these taxes. The burden of their taxes appears to have caused several Jews of Oppenheim to join the group that fled from the Rhineland and, under the leadership of *Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg, attempted to emigrate to Ereẓ Israel (1285). At the end of July 1349, during the persecutions that followed the *Black Death, most of the Jews of Oppenheim were murdered, while others chose martyrdom (*kiddush ha-Shem) and burned themselves to death in order to escape forced conversion at the hands of the mob. Among the martyrs was the rabbi Joel ha-Kohen. (more info in resource), below.)

People in my "The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia" are listed:  

Samuel Oppenheim/Oppenheimer b: 1630 philanthropist, court Jew, Germany to Vienna, Leopold's I's agent and financier.  

David Oppenheim b: 1664, rabbi born in Worms, Germany nephew of Samuel Oppenheimer

Joseph ben Issachar Susskind Oppenheimer 1698, financier in Germany

Hermann Oppenheim b: 1858 Germany, neurologist

Moritz Daniel Oppenheim b: 1800 Germany, painter

Oppenheimer, David b: 1832 Canada, founder of city of Vancouver, Ontario, mayor

Oppenheimer, Sir Ernest b: 1880 South Africa, mining-Kimberley, probably Lithuanian, baptised

Franz Oppenheimer, b: 1864 Germany

Robert J. Oppenheimer b: 1904, US physicist, U of C, atomic energy research

Through genealogy, I see this connection:

Descendants of Sender Opengeim Oppenheim

1  Sender Opengeim Oppenheim b: Abt. 1814 in Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania

. 2  Iontaf Jontaf Opengeim b: 1839 in Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania

..... +GUTTA GOLDA bat Nochem GOLDFUS b: 1839 in Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania m: September 04, 1859 in Telsiai, Lithuania m: September 04, 1859 in Telsiai, Lithuania

. 2  Iosif OPPENHEIM b: Abt. 1841

..... +Guta (Golda)

. 2  [1] Shaia Opengeim OPPENHEIM b: Bet. 1842 - 1843 in Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania

..... +Zlate Pere

. *2nd Wife of [1] Shaia Opengeim OPPENHEIM:

..... +Tsipe Guta b: 1843 in Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania m: Bef. 1865 in Telsiai, Lithuania m: Bef. 1865 in Telsiai, Lithuania

. 2  [2] Leib Opengeim OPPENHEIM b: Abt. 1845 in Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania

..... +Rokhel b: Abt. 1845

. *2nd Wife of [2] Leib Opengeim OPPENHEIM:

..... +Grunia

. 2  Iomta Opengeim b: Abt. 1849 in Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania

..... +Gute b: Abt. 1849 in Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania m: Abt. 1869 m: Abt. 1869

Labels: dna, encyclopedia Oppenheim, genealogy, Germany, Heshel's Kingdom, Lithuania, Oppenheimer, South Africa, USA

# posted by Nadene Goldfoot @ 11:44 PM 0 comments