Sidney Kessler was born Simeon Kesler
I have been looking through Ancestry's copious record collection for Sidney Kessler, primarily his travel records to and from San Juan and St. Thomas. There are also good census records of not only his married family but also his birth family, including this 1900 U.S. census that shows his family residence when he was three years of age.
The family lived at 14 Stanton St. in Sheepshead Bay. We recognize the parents Louis and Yette from later records, but their last name is given with just one s, Kesler. The eldest child as shown in the record is Simeon Kesler, which was the birth name of the man later called Sidney Kessler.
He is listed as Simeon or Simon in New York and U.S. censuses in 1905 and 1910, and although he is Sidney in 1915 and 1920, he goes back to Simeon Kessler in the 1925 New York census, the first time he is listed as a married man and father.
Our interest will be returning to Sidney Kessler, so it is useful to get a clearer picture of his youthful identity.
