Update from Adam & Jen

Hey all -

Just a quick update to what Jen and I have been up to the past couple years. We had been living in Mooresville, NC since 2005, with both of us working at Bank of America's headquarters in Charlotte. In the summer of 2007, I (Adam) took a job I had long been waiting for and this ultimately led to us being relocated to St. Louis, MO this past April (actually just me, Jen is not here yet). The job I took is with the Treasury Department, and it required me to go away for 6 months of training in GA before I ever moved to St. Louis. So that 6 months, plus the 3 months I've been here in St. Louis, makes it 9 months since Jen and I (and our yellow Lab Cayman) have been living together. So it has been a difficult last 9 months in that respect, but also rewarding in that I really enjoy the new job. I am sick of being without them though so I am very much looking forward to moving them here in just a couple weeks now (Jen has been staying in NC until our home sells...which we've now decided not to wait any longer for as waiting for real estate to sell could end up being years in the current market)! Anyway, our new home will be St. Louis now, and if anybody is ever here (or perhaps somebody in the family already lives here...I have no idea!) my cell phone is 703-795-9217.

Love this new blog thing by the way (well, its new to me anyway); a great way to keep updated on everyone. Hope everybody is well!

- Adam

Oliver family part 2

First, if you're reading this and thinking "Oliver who?", please read Kerry's post directly below this one.

Hi newly found cousins. Here is some more background on me, including how I stumbled onto you and what I recently found out about the Tave egg farm, located about 5 miles from my current house.

Several months ago, my wife and I were redoing our bedroom closest (every story has to start somewhere) and stumbled across a small briefcase of my grandmother's old paperwork. While going through the materials, I found information on cemetery plots in Woodbridge for her father, Herman, and another Zwirn that ultimately led me to to the Israel Cantor Family Society (http://cantorfamilysociety.org/) which got me started on this whole quest. I had contacted them and was playing phone tag with my uncle trying to figure out a missing link when he passed. Upon relaying the news to Peter, my only link to the Zwirn side of the family (that I know, there are other cousins whose heritage I'm not sure of -- my dad had a lot, especially on his dad's side) I mentioned that I had been trying to figure out the family tree on my grandmother's side. Peter forwarded the email to Joe and that ultimately led me here.

Here is the Oliver/Zwirn family history (with dates, as I remember them) and other facts I've picked up over the last few months. Some of my information may be incorrect so feel free to correct it.

My great grandmother was Rose Ratner (changed from Rakovchik to Ratner somewhere along the way as my grandmother's birth certificate shows it as Ratner) Zwirn, a half sister of Nehama Gurion Rubinstein. Guta Kantorowitz, Nehama's mother, and Israel Kantorowitz were brother and sister. Yitzhak Kantorowitz, the second husband of Guta was the father of Rose Zwirn. Rose was married to Herman Zwirn.

My grandmother was Anna Zwirn (2/22/05 - 11/3/86), though she also went by Anne. My grandfather was Israel (Izzy) Oliver (4/19/99 - 10/28/68). My dad was Howard (3/26/32 - 4/11/88). His younger brother, Bernie, was born in 1936. They lived in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn in a walkup (2427 83rd St). Both my grandfather and father worked for the Amalgamated Bank of NY in Union Square. My grandmother was a homemaker and secretary. Bernie was a pharmacist.

We lived in Howard Beach, Queens. My mother is Toby Wolff Oliver (3/12/37 - present), a retired teacher, and now in a nursing home on Staten Island. I (b.5/1/68) am the eldest of 4. I have a sister, Rachel (6/3/69, married name of Ceasar), a deceased brother Daniel (8/10/70 - 7/17/85) and another brother Joshua (11/15/71). I'm an attorney editor at LexisNexis. Rachel is a buyer at Tommy Hilfiger. Josh is a bank exec at Societe General.

I remember a few of my grandmother's brothers (Emil/Amil? - he lived in Coney Island, near the Aquarium and died sometime after my grandmother) and Louis (he died a few years ago according to his son Rob who lives in Berwick, ME). I may have knew more of the family, but they probably died when I was still a child. I think there was another relative in Cranberry, NJ.

Bernie's first wife died some time ago and he was remarried and divorced over the last 5 years. My uncle also had 4 children, but I didn't see them much growing up as they lived upstate. They are Molly, George, David and Susan. They have several children, but the only one I really to talk to is George's eldest via Facebook.

My wife is Jennifer and we were married 11 years ago. We have a son, Ryan Howard (b.10/5/00) and a daughter Sabrina Anne (b.3/2/05). My sister and her husband, Steve, live in 5-Towns on LI and have no children. Josh and his wife Suzzane have a son, Jeremy Daniel (b. 10/8/03). I live in Manalapan, NJ (right next to Freehold and a few blocks from Bruce Springstein's Highway 9). Rachel lives in Woodmere on LI and Josh is moving to the So. Brunswick, NJ area next month.

Egg farm: Englishtown is a part of Manalapan (back in the 40s, Englishtown was "the town" and Manalapan was mostly farms, these days Manalapan is mostly suburban) and, via the Manalapan forum on NJ.com I found out what was the Tave egg farm may still exist. A lot of farms on that side of town (along Route 33) have been recently developed but if it's where I think it is, at least some of it is still a farm. Aside from an older house that has been expanded along Woodward, it is hard to see anything from the road (though I did see a glimpse of a big, modern barn like structure). There are a few other farms in the immediate area, but most are housing developments now. Of course, I'm assuming I was in the right place. If it was closer to Gordon's Corner, then it has been housing for 25-40 years.I found a half dozen Taves listed in my Monmouth County phone phone book living in nearby towns. (On a side note, my grandfather Izzy's brother in law, Harry Grau, also worked in the poultry business until sometime in the mid 70s (long enough for me to recall when he retired around age 80). I don't know where, though I'm wondering if it was the Tave farm?)

I have several old documents and photos scanned into my computer and posted them at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bduuce3.4jmp03ir&x=0&y=kajcrf&localeid=en_US. There are definitely Rubensteins, including a group photo from 5/13/51 that has many of your side of the family, including Nehama.

My email is olivermjr@optonline.net. Feel free to write. And if I've met some of you before (the only one I recall is Peter), feel free to tell me.

Michael Oliver

P.S. - my name shows up as damageddude as that is the name I have linked with my gmail account for my own blog

The Oliver Family

A big Rubinstein welcome to Michael Oliver of Manalapan, NJ and his family - wife Jennifer, son Ryan, and daughter Sabrina. Michael sent a brief email to Peter Rubinstein to let him know about the recent death of his uncle Bernie. After an exchange of condolences, a remarkable email exchange followed which has grown to include Peter, Larry & Joe Rubinstein and Judy Prigal. Joe says that he remembers playing with Bernie and his brother when he was a child on East Broadway, and says that Michael is a second cousin, once removed.

I couldn't begin to summarize the 17 emails that landed in my inbox, but suffice it to say that the topics included detailed attempts to reconstruct relevant genealogy, reminisces of visits to the Tave egg farm in Englishtown, NJ, old photos and much more. The Rubinsteins, Olivers and Taves are all related and Judy Prigal shared this memory of a visit to the Tave farm:

"I have photos of our visit at the egg farm in Nov. 1946 and it is marked "Tave's Farm, Englishtown." The visit left me with a lasting memory and I remember so many details: the cow (have photos of it with one of Tave's sons, about 7 or 8), the mechanized feeding of the chickens, the need for absolute quiet when looking in so as not to disturb their laying habits, candling the eggs, tasting a raw egg, etc. Sam seemed to be so happy at this work and it was the first time I had ever thought of a farmer as being Jewish."

It is a joy to learn more about this branch of the family tree and to get to know the Oliver family. I predict we will hear more about this at our reunion next year!