JENKINTOWN, Pennsylvania (GBT) — A long-standing family history mystery was solved late last week with the discovery of two documents from AncestryLibrary's Richmond, Virginia, family records. Katie Anflick, Morris Anflick's paternal grandmother, was listed by name as Katie Shapiro in both the 1920 federal census and the 1926 Philadelphia City Directory. She was living at the time with her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Serody, of 514 Sigel St., Philadelphia, but no explanation for Katie's unexpected surname had been apparent until now.
A marriage record from AncestryLibrary's Virginia, U.S., Marriage Registers, 1853-1935, collection indicates that Katie Anflick married an Aaron C. Schapiro in 1906, back when most Anflick's were still living in Richmond. The record indicates that Katie was unable to identify her parents at the time of the marriage. It isn't clear why Katie chose to leave her new husband, but between 1906 and 1910 most Anflicks, including Katie, migrated from Richmond, Virginia, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
When Katie appeared in the 1910 federal census in Philadelphia, she offered no indication of her then-recent Richmond marriage to Aaron C. Schapiro. Living with her daughter, Annie, in a multi-family unit on S. 4th St., Katie identified herself as a widow, and used her original married name Anflick. Sometime before 1920, Katie moved in with her daughter, Mary, and her daughter's husband, Harry Serody, who identified Katie in the 1920 census by her legal married name.
Aaron C. Schapiro remained in Richmond after Katie left, and officially divorced her in 1921, according to records from AncestryLibrary's Virginia, U.S., Divorce Records, 1918-2014, collection. Mr. Schapiro was the plaintiff in the divorce, and identified desertion as the cause. City directories indicate that at the time of his marriage to Katie, Mr. Schaprio was the manager of a family furniture store. The Richmond Times Dispatch reported, at the unveiling of his grave monument in 1931, that Mr. Schapiro was considered "an authority on the Talmud and Jewish History".
Genealogy By Tim G. webmaster and family historian Tim G. used wildcard search functions to discover the records, which were improperly indexed. "It's a common mistake," said Tim. "The 'n' in 'Anflick' is often misread as a 'u'. Louis and Esther Anflick's Philadelphia marriage license application was like this. It was filed under 'Au' instead of 'An'."
AncestryLibrary allows users to replace individual letters in search terms with question marks and series of letters with asterisks. In this case, a search for records in Richmond, Virginia, containing the surname 'A?f*k' returned both the 1906 marriage record, which was indexed under the surname 'Auflick', and the divorce record, which was indexed under the surname 'Anfleck'. ⬮
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