A plug-in called rootsPersona has been installed on this site.  The application allows GEDCOM files from our Blumenthal’s of Chicago site on Ancestry Dot Com to appear in WordPress pages.  Each individual can have a page, but with over 500 names in our tree that’s probably overdoing it.

Our objective is still the same:  finding out more about our ancestors and locating long lost cousins, second or higher.  So instead of adding 500+ pages we are showing only the ancestors of the site owners with a few descendants thrown in.

Jeff’s Page

Joan’s Page

Blumenthal is the German word for “Valley of Flowers.”  The name was used by Moses Blumenthal, the first Blumenthal to live in America.  Despite my mother’s desire to change it to “Bloomingdale'” we’ve kept it as is.  The other sides of the family have had a number of changes, e.g. Marwilinsky, to Marwilsky, to Marwill.

For the most part, my research has only concentrated on the American side and not the European ancestors.  That may change if I keep running into some dead ends here in Chicago (and Texas).

I have been the recipient of many items from my parents, grandparents, and other relatives to the point where I would almost require the services of an archivist to organize and preserve.

One area of interest are the siblings of my grandfather Abraham who disappeared from the family.  Please leave comments or contact me if you have any information or need a verification of some of your own research.

Abe Blumenthal loved to tell stories and people liked to listen.  After some research, however, I have discovered that most of these stories suffer from much embellishment or are outright falsehoods, e.g. a sword supposedly used when he charged up San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt in reality was a ceremonial item for the Knights of Pythias.

Our research has concentrated mostly on the American side of the Blumenthal’s, but we do have some additional facts about the Marwillinsky family that leads us to believe that Abraham Blumenthal and his wife Hattie Marwill may have been second cousins.

Moses Blumenthal, my great-grandfather, is listed in the 1870 Census living in Chicago.  Also in the household are his wife Anna (Dubinski), daughters Rebecca and Rachel, and my Grandfather Abe.  He listed his occupation as “huckster” along with just about every other person in the boarding house where they lived.

In 1900 the Census listed him living in Chicago with Anna and two new sons Will and Harry.  Also listed is a grand daughter Belle Levy.  His occupation now was “capitalist” and either reflects the realities of Chicago in the post Haymarket Riot period or an American success story.

Except for Abraham, we have no information about the other members of the family.