My father, Harris (Zvi/Hirsch), was the youngest child of his family. There was a 25-year gap between him and his oldest brother Isaac (whom we dubbed "Uncle Itchy" on his arrival here in 1914 at age 70) - thus Uncle Itchy was born in 1845. My father had mentioned at various times that his family lived in Minsk, Kovno, Vilna, and that the "original" Russian Danzig emmigrated from the city of Danzig when Western Russian farm lands were thrown open to farmers from Germany, Poland , etc. According to my father, this immigrant was his grandfather, for whom he was named. Harris, my father, was an uncommunicative and undemonstrative person as far as his immediate family was concerned. He believed, or so we interpreted, his lack of communication with us, that any show of affection or feelings was a weakness that had to be curbed and controlled. What ever information I have came bit by bit over the years, a patchwork of memories and recollections, many of them from other members of the family - - a few from Uncle Itchy, some from Aunt Rochelle ( the gutteral "ch", not the sibilant) and even fewer from Aunt Leah* who arrived from Romania in the late 1920's, a beaten-down, thrice married (one divorce, two widowhoods) sweet "little girl" who was always a little girl and always sweet (an unusal Danzig).
There were goodness knows how many brothers and sisters between Uncle Itchy and my father. There were at least four sisters, two of whom I knew (Rochelle and Leah) and three brothers. Two of the sisters, Rochelle and "Aunt Cohen" lived in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, my father having sent for them in the 1880's when he lived there and was an itinerant (redundant) peddler. Aunt Cohen remained in Mississippi when Rochelle moved north in the 1920's, about the time Leah arrived from Romania. The fourth sister was living in Minsk, U.S.S.R., at the time of the German invasion in 1940, and has not been heard of since.
Of the three other brothers, I recall hearing that two of them came to the States; when, I cannot say -- perhaps just before or just after World War I -- I am inclined to think it was before. One of them worked in my father's factory for a short period and promptly fell into disfavor when he attempted to form a union among his brother's employees and was fired. He and the other brother returned to Russia. So it must have been before World War I. The third brother remained a shadowy figure, or may not even have existed -- but I do recall talk about such a brother. This would therefore add up to five brothers, beginning with Itchy and winding up twenty-five years later with Harris (Zvi/Hirsch) my father, who came to Mississippi in 1884, at age 14, and as a peddler, brought half a dozen relatives there, at least one each year. In between, there were those four sisters, Rochelle, Leah, Cohen, and Greenspan, the one who remained in U.S.S.R., and who disappeared in the Nazi onslaught. There may have been others, but I never heard of others.
Now then, if we assume Itchy was born twenty-five years before my father, 1845, we should think his father, Abraham, married at age 20, and was therefore born in 1825 (or 1824). It is the father(2) of this grandfather(1) (your great-grandfather) (1), or your great-great-grandfather(2) who is reputed to have migrated to Russia from Danzig, and who married, raised his family, and made his living in Russia. The story goes that sometime before my father, your paternal grandfather was born, his grandfather Harris (2) (Zvi), returned to the City of Danzig and was not heard from for many years. He was presumed to have died by the time my father was born and was named for him. Then, to the consternation and embarrassment of everyone, the old boy reappeared and thus a scandalous situation ensued -- a child named for a living person. But the local rabbi solved the problem by ordaining that my father's name be changed from the Hebrew Zvi to the Yiddish Hirsch, both meaning the same thing, "Deer". Eventually, Zvi(2), left Minsk, or Kovno, or Vilna, or wherever the holl they were living, for good at the age of 110, or so they say. In short, and at great length, he passed away.
Thus, if we do assume that the European males of Danzig did mary at age 20, there would seem to be a discrepancy as the old boy (Zvi(2)) would then have been born at the turn of the century, and could not have been 110 when he went to his just reward -- unless my father's father (Abraham (1)) was also the youngest of a slew of children, which could make his father's (Zvi(2)) birth circa 1775, a coincidental Yankee Doodle Boy.
As to how and when my father, Zvi/Hirsch, or Harris, arrived in the States, that was in 1884 the way he told it. He was 14, the first of his family to venture out of the Pale. He never disclosed how it was that he landed in Mississippi nor why or how in Rolling Fork, of all places (population 300). But he did land there, and each year sent a "Schiffs Carte" -- or ticket -- to Rochelle, then to "Aunt Cohen", then to nephew Hyman (who was older than he was) and to nephew Abe (both being sons of Itchy). So a tribe of Danzigs was established in Mississippi. Eventually, my father made his way to New York, not being able to endure Mississippi any longer, either because of conditions there or because of too many relatives established there by that time. Perhaps he did not wish to be reminded daily that he was responsible for their being there -- or perhaps, like many others, he couldn't bear daily contact with that many of the family. One at a time, yes -- but a gathering of them .........
Tennyrate -- to get back to 1884 -- my papa came to these shores by boat, sail and steam combo, that took a month. It was a horrible voyage according to what little he told me of it -- and that little, only when I told him I'd been offered a job as assistant purser on a steamer to Japan, summer of 1921 or 1922. This was the only time he ever made any definite statements about my life, or said anything positive in a directional way. He absolutely forbade my taking the job -- so his experience crossing the Atlantic must have been pretty bad. By the same token, this was one of the few times I took his advice -- and so I suppose one would say I really didn't want the job. But I did. Like many other times in my life, I was too inert to break away and assert myself, do what I did really wish to do. But that's something else again. There are a number of things I would not be deterred from doing -- and that's one of the reasons you exist. And thank goodness for that.
On October 4, 1894, Harris was granted U.S. Citizenship by the Superior Court of the City of New York under the name of Harry Danzig.
Your maternal grandfather was granted citizenship on August 5, 1901 by the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. He came to the United States in 1889, and curiously enough, also was a peddler in the south (Georgia) for a number of years before coming to New York City.
*Couldn't have children (HD)
[The following note is added by Nachum Danzig]
I recently came across two places Danzigs can trace their lineage to. It seems some Danzigs, possibly HD also, are from a small town in White Russian called Uzda. (Interestingly, Rav Moshe Feinstein is also from Uzda). I know this because a certain Danzig, Jacob Danzig who was likely a brother of HD and who was in fact sponsored by HD wrote when immigrating to the US that he was from Uzda in his immigration papers. He listed HD as his "sponsor".
The Markowitzs are Kedainiai Lithuania .