Roger Tilles: Who Do You Think You Are?

Presented by the

Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island

October 30, 2011

Research Committee:

Nolan Altman Rhoda Miller Judy Simon

Renee Steinig

What Roger knew:

• Supplied us with 2 charts

• Branches in Krakow, Arkansas, Australia,

• South America to Charles Town, WV to Great Neck? Stanley Silverstein m. Renee Tilles

• Braddock, PA connection

• Elie’s burial place unknown

• No known relatives in Globocknie or Europe

• No knowledge of Holocaust related events – 2 Tilles names on Schindler’s List

Hlybokaye, Belarus

Alternate names: Hlybokaye [Bel], Głębokie [Pol], Glubokoye [Rus], Glubok [Yid], Glubokojė [Lith], Glybokoje, Hłybokaje, Hlybokae, Hluboka, Glebokoye, Globokie, Glubokie, Gleboke, Glembokie

Region: Vilna

Town District Province Country

Before WWI (c. 1900): Glubokoye Disna Vilna Russian Empire

Between the wars (c. 1930): Głębokie Dzisna Wilno Poland

After WWII (c. 1950): Hlybokaye Soviet Union

Today (c. 2000): Hlybokaye Belarus

1875 Revision List

village of Drusevichi Disna Vilnius

TYLES Dovid Abram Head of Household

30

no real estate, arrived from Glubokye

7 February 1875

257 823

Residents LVIA/381/11/1573

TYLES Abram Dovid Son 5

7 February 1875

257 824

Residents LVIA/381/11/1573

Scenes of pre-war Glubokye

Hlybokaje, Belarus Today

1851 Revision List Glubokye has 19 Tyles households

This one is promising!

Town UyezdG uberniya

Surname Given Name Father Relationship

Age This Age Last

Reason Left Year

Date

Page Registration Former Registration

Publication Type Archive / Fond etc

Glebokie Disna Vilnius

TYLES Azriel Neukh Head of Household

47 Died 1840

3 January 1851

397257 Revision List LVIA/515/15/878

TYLES Shlioma Azriel Son 33 16

TYLES Azriel Shlioma Grandchild 11

TYLES David Shlioma Grandchild 4

TYLES Etka Azriel Wife 60

TYLES Basa David Daughter-in-Law

29

TYLES Fruma Shlioma Grandchild 2

Gilbert Tilles

Elie Tilles

David Tilles

Roger Tilles

Abraham Tilles

Elie Tilles – 1903 Manifest

Source Citation: Year: 1903; Microfilm Serial: 15;

Microfilm Roll: T715_398; Line: 13; Page Number: 50.

Name: Elic Filas

Arrival Date: 29 Sep 1903

Birth Year: abt 1886

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Hebrew

Port of Departure: Antwerp

Port of Arrival: New York

Ship Name: Zeeland

Elie Tilles – Naturalization Declaration of Intention – 1903 in New York, NY Naturalization Petition – 1912 in Pittsburgh, PA

Name: Elie Tilles

State: Pennsylvania

Court Type: District Court

Court Location:

Western District, Pennsylvania

Naturalization Record Type:

Petition for Naturalization

Naturalization Record Number:

6661

Braddock, PA

1214 Braddock Ave, Braddock PA

Elie Tilles – WW I Draft Registration

Source Citation: Registration Location: Queens County, New York;

Roll: 1818487; Draft Board: 184.

Elie Tilles Family – 1920 Census

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Queens Assembly

District 4, Queens, New York; Roll: T625_1234; Page: 20A;

Enumeration District: 289; Image: 41.

Elie Tilles Family – 1930 Census 21 167th St., Jamaica, NY

Source Citation: Year: 1930;

Census Place: Queens, Queens, New York; Roll: 1597;

Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 319; Image: 119.0.

Elie Tilles – Arrival 1936

Source Citation: Year: 1936; Arrival: New York , United States;

Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: T715_5778; Line: 9;

Page Number: 113.

Elie Tilles – WW II Draft Registration

Source Information:

Ancestry.com. U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-

line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Original data:

TILLES Family Tree

4. David TILLES (b. abt. 1840 d. 15-Dec-1926)

+ Rachael RUBIN (b. abt. 1842 d. 31-Mar-1932)

3. Elie TILLES (b. 15-May-1886 d. 18-Apr-1949)

+Esther MALKIN (b. 28-Feb-1885 d. 10-Mar-1931)

2. Gilbert TILLES (b. 31-Dec-1916 d.14-Nov-1990)

+Rose KATZ (b. 21-Jan-1918 d. 11-Sep-2009)

1. Roger TILLES

David Tilles (Tylis)Passenger Manifest May 1904 – going to 123 Madison St.

Source Citation: Year: 1904; Microfilm Serial: T715;

Microfilm Roll: T715_460; Line: 13; Page Number: 134.

David Tilles Family – 1910 Census 231 Madison St., NYC

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Manhattan Ward

7, New York, New York; Roll: T624_1008; Page: 4A;

Enumeration District: 0078; Image: 12; FHL Number: 1375021.

The Mystery – Bessie Cohen Mother of David or Rachel Tilles?

What to do?

Death certs of siblings in Pittsburgh

Obituary of Morris Rubin

The Jewish Criterion Feb. 4, 1921

• Known as “one of Pittsburgh’s oldest

Talmudic scholars”

• Member of Beth Hamedrash Hagadol

• Zionist

Obituary of Emanuel Rubin

The Jewish Criterion Oct. 16, 1931

Brothers of Rachel Rubin Tilles

Washington Cemetery – brother of the Pittsburgh Rubins

Cemetery Information

1. Information from the office staff.

2. Headstone information

3. Patronymics

4. Landsmanshaft and society sections

5. Documentation

Parents

Beth Moses Cemetery, Pinelawn, NY

Gilbert TILLES Rose KATZ TILLES

TILLES Family Tree

2. Gilbert TILLES (b. 31-Dec-1916 d.14-Nov-1990)

+Rose KATZ (b. 21-Jan-1918 d. 11-Sep-2009)

1. Roger TILLES

Ester Malkin Arrival - 1904

Source Citation: Year: 1904; Microfilm Serial: T715;

Microfilm Roll: T715_476; Line: 16; Page Number: 91.

Paternal Grandparents

Elie (Eliyahu ben David) TILLES Esther (Esther Gitel bat

Chaim Meir) MALKIN TILLES

Montefiore Cemetery, Springfield Gardens, Queens, NY

TILLES Family Tree

3. Elie TILLES (b. 15-May-1886 d. 18-Apr-1949)

+Esther MALKIN (b. 28-Feb-1885 d. 10-Mar-1931)

2. Gilbert TILLES (b. 31-Dec-1916 d.14-Nov-1990)

+Rose KATZ (b. 21-Jan-1918 d. 11-Sep-2009)

1. Roger TILLES

Paternal Great Grandparents

Washington Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY

David (David ben Avraham

Shlomo) TILLES

Rachael (Tzerna Ruchel bat

Gavriel) RUBIN TILLES

5 Generation TILLES Family Tree

5. Avraham Shlomo TILLES (based on son’s patronymic name)

+ Unknown

4. David TILLES (b. abt. 1840 d. 15-Dec-1926)

+ Rachael RUBIN (b. abt. 1842 d. 31-Mar-1932)

3. Elie TILLES (b. 15-May-1886 d. 18-Apr-1949)

+Esther MALKIN (b. 28-Feb-1885 d. 10-Mar-1931)

2. Gilbert TILLES (b. 31-Dec-1916 d.14-Nov-1990)

+Rose KATZ (b. 21-Jan-1918 d. 11-Sep-2009)

1. Roger TILLES

Roger TILLES

Gilbert TILLES

Elie TILLES

David TILLES

Avraham Shlomo TILLES

Unknown

Rachel RUBIN

Gabriel RUBIN

Bessie Beile COHEN

Esther MALKIN

Hyman MALKIN

Unknown Unknown

Sara Beile JOFFEE

Unknown Solomon JOFFEE

Rose

KATZ

5 GENERATION

TILLES Paternal

ANCESTRY CHART

Parents

Beth Moses Cemetery, Pinelawn, NY

Gilbert TILLES Rose KATZ TILLES

KATZ Family Tree

2. Rose KATZ (b. 21-Jan-1918 d. 11-Sep-2009)

+Gilbert TILLES (b. 31-Dec-1916 d.14-Nov-1990)

1. Roger TILLES

Maternal Grandparents

Mt. Lebanon Cemetery, Glendale, Queens, NY

Hyman (Chaim) KATZ Gussie ( Goldie ) DASPIN

KATZ Family Tree

3. Hyman KATZ (b. 15-Mar-1888 d. 09-Oct-1953)

+Gussie DASPIN (b. abt. 1891 d. 11-Mar-1947)

2. Rose KATZ (b. 21-Jan-1918 d. 11-Sep-2009)

+Gilbert TILLES (b. 31-Dec-1916 d.14-Nov-1990)

1. Roger TILLES

4 Generation KATZ Family Tree

4. Moshe Zev KORCZOWER?

+ Freda TANZER

3. Hyman KATZ (b. 15-Mar-1888 d. 09-Oct-1953)

+Gussie DASPIN (b. abt. 1891 d. 11-Mar-1947)

2. Rose KATZ (b. 21-Jan-1918 d. 11-Sep-2009)

+Gilbert TILLES (b. 31-Dec-1916 d.14-Nov-1990)

1. Roger TILLES

Roger TILLES

Rose

KATZ

Hyman

KATZ

Moshe Zev KORCZOWER?

Unknown Unknown

Freda

TANZER

Unknown Unknown

Gussie DASPIN

Morris DASHPIN

Yosef DASHPIN Anna

FRANK

Rachel

PRICE

Rivka

REIS

Isaac

PRICE

Gilbert TILLES

5 GENERATION

TILLES Maternal

ANCESTRY CHART

Daspin/Katz

TILLES / MALKIN / SELDIN

Montefiore Cemetery, Springfield Gardens, Queens, NY

TILLES / MALKIN / SELDIN

Esther bat Chaim Meir Keisha Ruchel bat Chaim Meir

Sara Beile bat Saul

Chaim Meir MALKIN

(Buried in Europe?)

Where is Morris

DASHPIN?

Montefiore Cemetery,

Springfield Gardens,

Queens, NY

Block: 84

Gate: 90S

Section: 5

Row: 21

Grave: 4

ROGER TILLES

Tracing maternal and paternal lines using DNA

Y-DNA mtDNA

Looking for TILLES in Eastern Europe

Some variations on the name TILLES:

TILES, TILIS, TILLIS, TALLIS, TALIS, TELLES, TELLEZ,

TILS, TILZ, TYLES, TYLAS, TILETZ, TELMAN, TYLMAN,

TILTSHE, TILKE, TILKES, TILKOVICH, TYLKEVICH,

TYLKIN, TILKER

Derivation of the name:

Daughter of TILE (Yiddish)

Odilia/Otilia (German Gentiles, Middle Ages)

brought to Slavic countries by Jews

Beider, Alexander; Dictionary of Jewish Surnames From the Russian Empire, Avotaynu, Bergenfield, NJ, 2008.

Beider, Alexander, Dictionary of Ashkenazi Given Names, Avotaynu, Bergenfield, NJ, 2001.

Where in the world is TILLES?

TILLES and variations in JewishGen databases:

Most commonly in

Lithuania, Belarus, Poland,

Also found in

Latvia, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, Moldova,

Spain, Mexico, Cuba

Is Tilles Family from Vilna related

to Tilles Family from Krakow?

Cannot find common ancestor using paper trail

Can Y-DNA help?

Male Tilles on Krakow branch had his Y-DNA

tested, did NOT match Roger Tilles’ Y-DNA

Vilna and Krakow Tilles branches NOT related

Roger Tilles’ Y-DNA matches in Family Tree DNA

database are mostly Ashkenazi Jews from:

Lithuania Poland

Belarus Ukraine

Also a few Y-DNA matches from:

Romania Hungary Spain

PATERNAL LINE

Possible Sephardic Ancestry?

Ashkenazi Y-DNA matches with oral Sephardic

history

One match is from Tunisia, another descends from

Chueta

What is a Chueta?

Chueta (or Xuete) refers to the descendants of

fifteen converso families (crypto-Jews) from the

Island of Majorca off the coast of Spain

1691 in Palma de Mallorca (Palma, major city Majorca, capital of

Balearic Islands off coast of Spain)

Inquisition condemned 73 people

3 were burned alive in Gomila Plaza in a “bonfire of the

Jews” while 30,000 people watched

One of these three was Rafel Walls

Fifteen families including Rafel WALLS’ family were

sentenced to penalties to last for at least two generations:

* could not hold public office

* could not carry jewelry

* could not ride a horse

* could marry only another Chueta

“Rabbi Wallis, 64, who was born in Israel and raised

in New York, is the son of two Holocaust survivors

from the Dachau camp. His father, he said,

remembered an old family Bible, lost during World

War II, with the name of Rafael Valls at the top of

the list of ancestors with birth and death dates that

listed him as burned at the stake.”

In Majorca, Atoning for the sins of 1691, New York Times, May 7, 2011.

New York Times article on May 7, 2011:

Rabbi Joseph Wallis returns from Israel to

14th century synagogue, now a Roman Catholic

church, to say kaddish for his ancestor

Rafel Walls

14th century synagogue in Palma, Majorca, now a Roman Catholic church

Roger Tilles and Rabbi Joseph Wallis

have matching Y-DNA

Chance that Roger Tilles and Joseph Wallis share

a common ancestor:

Within last 12 generations (300-400

years)…….………..78% 16 generations (400-533

years)……….……..94% 24 generations (600-800

years)……….………99%

MATERNAL LINE

Full Genomic Sequence of mtDNA

Matches small Ashkenazi cluster with ancestry from

Belarus, Lithuania, Poland

Cluster identified by mutations, group called H6a1a

Found in small numbers in Eastern Europe, Western

Europe; haplogroup may have originated in Central Asia or

Caucasus

Public mtDNA websites and message boards:

H6a1a with ancestry from Spain, Canary Islands and Cuba

Counting the Founders: the Matrilinear

Genetic Ancestry of the Jewish Diaspora,

Doron Behar, et al, 2008:

H6a1a NOT one of the Ashkenazi founding mothers;

not common among Ashkenazi Jews

Similar mtDNA haplogroup found in Turkey

What is the origin of haplogroup H6a1a ? Possibly Central Asia (Altai Mts), Caucasus, Mid East?

Need more Mizrahi to test mtDNA!

Holocaust

Ida Haberman

Values

Community

Entrepreneurship

Real Estate

Active in Jewish affairs

Roger Tilles

Gilbert Tilles

Hyman Salowe

Solomon Choolodowsky

Srul Cholodowsk

y

Mary Gross

Golda Eisdorfer

Unknown

Esther Malkin

Abe Kowalsky

Movsha Wulf Kowalsky

Itsik Kowalsky

Fanny Kotlowitz

Moses Isaac Kotlowitz

Wolf Tsvi Kotlowitz

Tsippie Riva Goldstein

Chaika

Roger Tilles: Who Do You Think You Are?