Once upon a time in a village in far away Turkish Armenia a beautiful young women lived in dutiful marriage with a significantly older man. She had born two strong sons to this significantly older man and was dutifully raising them when a fast talking American of Armenian birth came to town. "I am a wealthy man in America, but I am in need of a wife to spend my fortune. Come with me and we will walk the golden streets together." Apparently the beautiful young woman found this offer inviting, even after she discovered that the fast talking stranger was only willing to pay passage for one of her two sons. It was decided that the younger son, David, would be ticketed, and the older son, John, would stow away. David would sustain John during the long voyage by sneaking food to him. This evolving family arrived at New York City in 1891 - perhaps one of the last to disembark at Castle Garden (Ellis Island opened for business soon after). By means unknown they found their way to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and made Fairfield County their home for the rest of their lives. David proved to be an able student and eventually qualified to attend Yale in some capacity. (I have had no luck finding a record of this attendence) He rode his bicycle from Bridgeport to New Haven to attend Yale until his academic ascendance abruptly ended at age 21 in a battle lost to disease (probably pneumonia). John's star rose not so high but burned much longer. In 1906, immediately after attaining the legal age of 21, John applied for citizenship and it was granted. Before 1910, John returned to Constantinople to find a bride. There he married Margaret Babikian and their first child, Marie, was born. The new family returned to America in the Winter of 1912-3. John could not deal with the excretory excesses of the newborn and so Margaret prepared 44 diapers to last them for the duration. After each changing John would dutifully and gingerly propel the fouled nappy to the stern quarter and preside over its burial at sea. On the Origin of the Jacobson nameMy notes show that June Reopel thought she remembered that the name may have sounded like "ya-go-bi-an" in Armenian. And that the person in line ahead of them was named Jacobson, and that sounded close enough, so they adopted it. (I have done some research that shows that Hagobian would be the Armenian equivalent to Jacobson, so that is consistent.)Victoria Jacobson Cromwell remembered another story: John somehow got off the boat and made his way to a street corner in New York. There he met two young boys who offered him a smoke. While they were indulging, a policeman stopped and questioned them. John (perhaps concerned about the legal consequences of stowing away) posed as a member of the family and his new friends took him to their home. Their family name was Jacobson, so he took that name for himself. The first story seems more plausible, the second more interesting. Time passes and we are nearing the end of the 1920sIt is not clear if John and David's mother (her name may have been Rose or Rosa) ever married her fast talking mate. It is not clear under what name they lived in Bridgeport. Victoria remembers visiting her "grandparents" in their corner apartment located "catty corner" from Warren G Harding High School. She thinks he used the given name ???.I have searched street directories in the area for homes having Rose and ??? living within and have not yet been successful.
We have a pretty good handle on the history of John Jacobson in America from his naturalization papers, trip to Turkey, birth records of his children, and presence in US Census records. With regard to David, their mother, and the "step-father", the opposite is true. I have been unsuccessful in finding any immigration or naturalization records for them. I have found no mention of them in census records, and I have yet to locate any marriage or death records for them. While I have not exhausted all avenues of inquiry, as yet, I have decided that the effort is too great to be pursued at this time, and so am declaring this a Brick Wall and placing further research on the back burner. Before doing so, I want to document some findings that should bring things up to date: We are fortunate that the City of Bridgeport has a quite complete set of city directories available on-line for years before 1895 to after 1930. The following table summarizes my findings regarding the Jacobson name in Bridgeport during that time period. (I did explore some surname alternatives, but only pages containing Jacobson are reported here.)
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1910: Jacob P, chauffer 1911: Phillip, New York Elec Const, lv 1 Sylvan 1912: Phillip, New York Elec Const, lv 1 Sylvan 1913: Phillip, elec, lv 1 Sylvan 1914: Phillip, elec, lv 1 Sylvan 1915: Phillip, Broadway Illuminating, lv 22 Hurlburt 1916: Phillip, elec, lv 22 Hurlburt 1917: Phillip, Roosenstock and Jacobson, lv 22 Hurlburt Jacob, plumber, 46 1/2 Hurlburt 1918: Phillip, elec contractor, lv 607 Elm Jacob rem to Bridgeport 1919: Phillip, elec contractor, lv 607 Elm 1920: no further references found |
![]() Wed Dec 01 1920 |