Seeking Sidney Wolfe

I’d been looking for the birth record of Sidney Wolfe. His father, Moses, was married twice, to Ida then to Rose. Rose’s sister Bertha was my great-grandmother. The story that was passed down through our family said that Moses’s first wife was Rose’s half sister, and when she died, he sent for Rose. I have never found any evidence of this yet, and some documents I’ve found more recently are leading me to believe otherwise. I’m still looking.

Moses had four children with Ida and six with Rose. I had the birth records for all of them except for Sarah, the first born in Russia; Joseph, the second born in Massachusetts; Hilda and Frank, the last two born in Maine which were too recent for me to order copies; and Sidney, from the middle of the family. From census records, I knew he was born around 1904 or 1905 in New York. I checked the New York City birth index for anyone named Sidney Wolfe and Wolf (as they were usually spelled back then) and did not find him. I didn’t pursue it much, figuring he could have been born anywhere in the state.

Another document I came across stated he was born in New York City. That gave me more of a puzzle since I had already looked there for his birth.

More recently, I was organizing all the photos I’ve scanned from relatives over the years. From Ron Wolfe, one of the things I scanned were the pages of a calendar kept by Rose Wolfe (in Yiddish), then her daughter Hilda added some items (in English). While organizing the photos, I didn’t actually organize those images yet, but I did flip through them again.

Rose's Calendar

The entry for April 1st noted Sidney’s birth date in New York City. I finally had more to go on. I checked the index again, finding only two male Wolfs born on that date: Naftalis and Louis. As soon as I saw that first one, I somehow knew it was him. Visiting the FHL, I scanned the record and proved it.

Birth of Naftolis Wolfe - Sidney Wolfe

So maybe Sidney finally does want to be found now. I’m so glad.

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