Person:Lena Littman (1)

Lena was born about 1868, probably in Hungary. In 1887, at age 19, she and her younger sister Bertha sailed out of Bremen to New York. While Bertha stayed in New York, Lena moved on to Chicago, probably about 1890, where she had two sons and a daughter in the 1890s. It is not known whether she had met and married her husband Hermann Tannenbaum back in Hungary, or whether she met and married him in Chicago. He was a few years older than her, and also apparently from Hungary. When she came to the US in 1887, she traveled only with her sister, and used her maiden name, but was listed as a "wife" on the manifest. Sadly, she died at a young age (about 32) in 1900, leaving her husband and three children, ages 8, 6, and 4.

Tannenbaum family about 1893

Tannenbaum family in 1900 census

1887 ship passenger list for SS Elbe

1. ↑ When and where Lena was born is not precisely known. Like many of her contemporaries, various documents that indicate her age and place of birth are not entirely consistent. Her reported age on various documents has her born anywhere between 1866-1871. If you believe that her earliest report of age 19 on her 1887 ship's manifest, captured by people who spoke her native language, is most reliable, that would have her born in 1868. Her nationality / place of birth is listed variously as Hungary, Austria, and Germany, with Hungary being most prevalent as well as what was reported on the 1887 ship's manifest. Hungary is further confirmed by photos in the possession of her sister Bertha, apparently of other siblings of theirs, with photographer's marks from Kassa and Miskolcz, both Hungarian towns. Here is a list of documents that reference her age and nationality:
   
   
   
   • doc date, age (birth year), birthplace, document
   
   
   • 11/1887, 19 (cal.1868), Hungary, ship's manifest
   
   
   • 06/1892, 21 (cal.1871), Austria, David birth
   
   
   • 03/1894, 27 (cal.1867), Hungary, Bennie birth
   
   
   • 04/1896, 27 (cal.1869), Germany, Sadie's birth
   
   
   • 06/1900, 30 (Jan 1870), Austria, US census
   
   
   • 11/1900, 34 (cal.1866), Hungary, death cert
   
   
2. ↑ Lena has apparently died before 1908, as the 1910 census shows Herman Tannenbaum with a 2nd wife of 2 years, and with the 3 children he had with Lena. A Nov 1900 death certificate for a Lina Tanenbaum in Chicago Ward 14 is most likely her, although the death certificate form is disappointingly devoid of any family information to be completely certain.
3. ↑ The death cert of Lena Tannenbaum shows she was buried on 23 Nov 1900 at Waldheim. A 7/25/2012 email from Debra Maropoulos <debbie@waldheimcemetery.com> confirms "Lena Tannenbaum is buried in our Kalvaria Anshe Sholom Cemetery Gate 20, Lot 0S,Section A, Row 49, Grave 291, her date of death was 11/22/1900 at the age of 34." Looking more closely at a cemetery map, her row is in a section of single graves outside of the Kalvaria Anshe Sholom plot (a burial society for a shtetl in Lithuania). Gate 20 appears to be at roughly 1451 Des Plaines Ave, south of Roosevelt, across the street from a Walmart, in Forest Park, IL. A 7/30/2012 follow-up email response from the cemetery adds "There are no other Tannenbaum’s in the area and yes Lena has a headstone."
4. ↑ Death certificate