Finding Your Roots, Maya Rudolph

Post date: Jan 20, 2016 10:13:27 PM

The following is a discussion of the first of the three segment of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr., Season 3, Episode 3, In search of Freedom.

This episode explored portions of the family histories of Maya Rudolph, Shonda Rhimes, and Keenen Ivory Wayans. This is a discussion of the segment on Maya Rudolph.

As much as I, as well as other views, would like there to be more of a focus on the research performed in putting these segments together, the show is generally more focused on how the experiences of our ancestors may have combined to help shape who we, as individuals, are today.

(Before you read any further, I highly recommend that you watch the episode first.)

Unfortunately, this particular segment failed at both of these things. Instead, this episode seemed to be more about impressing us with the rare records in Lithuania that they were able to find, and we will simply have to take their word for the fact that they actually found records relating to Ms. Rudolph's lineage, and not for another family with similar names.

We jump from a document that identifies the date and place of birth for Julius RUDOLPH (Maya Rudolph's great-grandfather - formerly Judel RUDOSHEWSKY - more on this below), to "a RUDOSHEWSKY family birth record" that they found in the Lithuanian State Archives. The implication is that this record was for Julius, though we don't actually know this for certain that this is the case, nor are we shown any evidence that connects this elusive record to Julius, or to anyone other known ancestors of Maya Rudolph's.

The RUDOSHEWSKY surname is a toponym, meaning that it has been derived from a location, as opposed to an occupation, a physical characteristic, a father's given name, etc. Prior to the beginning of the 1900's, it would have been unusual for Jews in Lithuania to have a surname. Jews were not forced to take surnames in this region until around 1815. As a result, if the RUDOSHEWSKY surname had originated near Vilnius (in Vilna Gubernia), it likely came from a town with a name like Rudamina, which happens to be in Vilna province, and is only 7 miles from Vilnius. Wherever this surname originated, other, unrelated families from this same town likely also took this same surname. This means that "a RUDOSHEWSKY family birth record" may not necessarily be from Maya Rudolph's RUDOSHEWSKY family.

As always, i assume that the research that has been done for this show is excellent, however, the way that the research was presented in this segment made it look as if it was performed very poorly.

When looking into the origin of Julius Rudolph, Maya’s great-grandfather, Mr. Gates says “we found our first clue in a ship’s manifest…” Exactly why this would have been their first clue is somewhat confusing. There is nothing in that manifest that that suggests that the individual that they have identified, “Judel RODESHOWSKY” is actually Julius.

• Sure, the name is similar, but that isn’t conclusive.

• Also, his date of birth is a little outside of the expected range. In the 1910, ’20, ’30, and ’40 US Federal Censes, Julius identified his date of birth has having been somewhere between 1883 and 1887. The individual in the manifest had been born in 1881.

• More importantly, Judel in the manifest was en route to New York, not to Pittsburgh.

Now, I do understand that this is the manifest for Julius RUDOLPH. The fact is, however, that Mr. Gates was not able to magically locate this manifest and identify it as having been the correct manifest for Julius RUDOLPH before what was actually his first clue. Not only this, but the manifest offered information seems to have been ignored, which could have shed light not only on Julius's origin, but on his life in the States.

Julius’s Petition for Naturalization, which clearly identifies the ship on which he arrived in New York as well as the date of his arrival, was the only thing that could have led the researchers to that manifest. At the same time, the naturalization documents also identify Julius’s place of birth. So while the manifest may have been helpful in that it confirmed the place of birth for Julius, it was by no means their first clue.

Jumping to a manifest like this, without supporting documentation is exactly the type of practice that leads many amateur genealogists to jump to inaccurate conclusions.

Also, when Mr. Gates shows Maya Rudolph the manifest, he states that “that’s his real name, his original name”. This is not necessarily an accurate statement. The names under which many immigrants traveled were not their “real” or “original” names. I know KORTCHMARs who traveled under the surname "GARTMAN", as an extreme example. On top of this, he likely had more than one "real" name. He likely had a Hebrew given name, a Russian given name, and possibly a Yiddish given name.

He then goes on to say that Julius was “totally by himself”, prompting Maya Rudolph to remark on how lonely it must have been for Julius. The reality, however, is that the manifest shows Julius traveling with others of about the same age, and from the same area. Moreover, the manifest also shows that Julius had been en route to his brother-in-law, indicating that he had had some family that were already in the States!

Then Mr. Gates goes on to explain that “Maya was eager to know where Julius had come from, but the manifest didn’t say. We needed more information”.

Again, the reality is different than what was portrayed on the program. If one looks at the manifest, one can see that it clearly states that Judel’s last residence had been in “Winla”, now Vilnius, Lithuania. Although this does not mean that he had been born in Vilnius, it is certainly a big clue as to where he has been. More significantly, we already had more information in order to find the manifest. Recall the Petition for Naturalization that I mentioned above. On that petition, Julius stated that he had been born in Vilna. Do we really need more of a clue than this?

It is also important to keep in mind, when looking at these records, that it was not Vilna had not just been a city, but a district and a province. Even if Julius had not been born in the city itself, but in a smaller town or village potentially hundreds of miles away from the city, he was likely to have identified the gubernia rather than the town. The fact is that we do not yet know where Julius had actually been born, but we have a general vicinity. Had Julius been from Rudamina (about 7 miles SSE of Vilnius), for example, odds are very good that he would still have identified his place of birth as having been in Vilnius.

This is another very common mistake made by amateur genealogists.

Mr. Gates then states that “you are Lithuanian!” This is also untrue. Julius was Jewish, not Lithuanian. He was genetically distinct from other Lithuanians, and would not have been treated the same as other non-Jewish Lithuanians. He would have been fairly indistinguishable, however, from Jews who had been born in what is now Belarus, or elsewhere in the Pale.

Mr. Gates and Maya discussed how religious Julius had been (“big time” in Mr. Gate’s words), and how surprising it was for his son, Sid, to have moved away from religion.

A more interesting story than impressing us with names and dates in Lithuania would have been to have expanded upon Julius in the United States. For example, it is unusual for a religious Jew to not have had Hebrew or at least Yiddish on their headstone, but it appears that neither Julius nor his wife, Nellie, have any signs of these languages on their headstone.

More interesting, and perhaps more telling, however, is that Julius has a Masonic symbol on his headstone. If Julius had been a very “religious” Jew, it would have been very usual for him to have also been Freemason in the 1920’s or ‘30’s. Exploring Julius’s connection to Freemasonry rather than his connection to Vilnius may have made for a more interesting segment, and perhaps one more in line with what may have actually shaped Sid’s upbringing.

That said, Maya Rudolph's ethnic origins (her subregional admixture) were very cool and very interesting!