Family Story Finder

The sweep of family history across the generations

A surprising double marriage in London
  • March 1911 - 2020

Rosa Ringel married Pinkas Twiasschor in a borough of London in January 1911, at the same time that Twiasschor's sister wed another Berlin businessman. What was that all about?

An afternoon at Lake Merrit
  • -

In July 2003, Stan and Helga came to the East Bay for a golden summer outing.

Demise of the cultured Lewi family
  • 1902 - 1942

Five siblings who stayed true to German ideals until the bitter end

Ed Eilertsen tribute puzzle
  • -

Ed loved crosswords, so Dan Ruby created a tribute puzzle for his memorial. Kate and Twyla were the clue crew.

Hilda's fabulous lifestyle with Joe Liebman
  • January 1943 - February 1978

After the war, Joe Liebman came back to Paris with a glamorous new wife. Oh, what a life they led

Lest we forget—family Holocaust testimony
  • 1941 - 1942

Remembering our Ringel and Wohlgemuth/Paechter family members who perished in the Shoah.

Love conquers all as Gerhard marries Ilse
  • 1931 - 1939

Two young Berliners make a modern marriage—with lasting consequences

Shtetl life in Russian Rezhitsa
  • 1790 - 1875

Today it is Rezekne in Latvia. In the 19th century, it was the village in Vitebsk Province where our Tulbowitz clan lived in the old Yiddish way

Stan finds love outside of a 20-block radius
  • April 1946 - June 1947

Home from the war, Stan Ruby was a graduate student in physics at Columbia University. Helga Ringel was a smart, pretty war refugee from Berlin

The Kauflers of Krakow
  • -

Our best documented family line is Feige Kaufler's ancestry among the Jewish families of Krakow.

The Rabinowitz family in Jewish Harlem
  • 1875 - 1917

Joseph and Lena Rabinowitz were Russian immigrants who ran a corner grocery in Jewish Harlem. Their nine children were native Americans

The Wohlgemuths on the Woelckpromenade
  • 1912 - 1942

In 1912, Isaak and Betty Wohlgemuth moved to the German capital and settled in Weißensee, where their two daughters came of marriageable age

The Yeserskys of Volkovysk
  • -

Joseph Rabinowitz’s mother was Bertha Yesersky. Was she related to Sora Yesersky, the wife of Rabbi Elchanon Spektor?

Two Ringel sisters manage on their own
  • -

The Ringel sisters, Betty Twiasschor and Rosa Schattner, lived with their children in adjacent apartments on Lothringerstraße. 

Walter's first draft of family history
  • 2006 - Present

Cherry picking the best content from our founding document written in 2006: "The Ruby Family Histories — The Early Lives of Stanley and Helga Ruby" 

When Ed Eilertsen "crossed the bridge"
  • -

In a dramatic moment while crossing the Mississippi River, he broke with his parents' austere Lutheranism for a more ecumenical approach