Moshe Ephraim Strzyza

First: the surname. The name was originally spelled in Polish, so various English spellings can be found. I am using Strzyza, which is the most frequently used spelling in the records, although it is different from what my mother wrote.

Moshe Ephraim (Moszek Froim) Strzyza was my great-great-grandfather. He was born sometime between 1827 and 1841. Why the discrepancy?

In support of 1827: His death record lists the date of 9/6/1927 in the town of Pultusk. Age at death, according to the record, was 100 years old. That would have been quite an unusually old age at that time. Two witnesses attested that he was in fact that age, but of course, they were not alive for 100 years to know for sure. Anecdotes say that sometimes the figure "100" was used to indicate a "very, very old person." His original birth record appears to have been lost in a devastating fire in the town of Pultusk in 1975.

In support of 1841: The birth records of several of his children, written in Russian (because the area of Poland where they lived was part of the Russian Empire at that time), state the ages of the parents at the time of the birth registrations. Calculating the father's birth year using the age in the birth records yields a birth year of 1841. Using this year, his age at death would have been 86 -- still a "very, very old person."

There is handwriting on the back of the above photo, which appears to be Yiddish. I had it translated:

Moshe Ephraim [variation of Strzyza]

96 years old From Pultusk, Poland 6 children 31 grandchildren 23 great grandchildren

Here, 96 years old.

Next: Learning about those descendants.