Henry Franklin AKA Heinrich Friedmann?

Through DNA testing we found a third cousin match with an ancestor named Heinrich Friedmann [son of Leopold and Betti Friedmann] that matches the details of our Henry Franklin Short.  Below is the side-by-side comparison of the two men:

HEINRICH FRIEDMANN vs  HENRY FRANKLIN SHORT

SIMILARITIES:

DNA MATCH:  I am a genetic match to [Private Name] on 23andMe.  She is listed as my second cousin once removed on my Mother’s side. Her grandmother was Dora Friedmann who had a brother named Heinrich Friedmann (the subject of this study).  If our Henry Short were really Heinrich Friedmann, then our shared common Ancestor would be Leopold Friedmann and Bettie (Heinrich/Henry’s parents).  That would make me their 2^nd Great Granddaughter (5^th generation) and [Private Name] would be their Great Granddaughter (4^th generation), making [Private Name] my second cousin once removed on my Mother’s side[1].  This is a Perfect match.

NAME: HEINRICH FRIEDMANN and HENRY FRANKLIN are quite similar.  He could have changed his name from Heinrich to Henry and Friedmann to Franklin and then added the last name Short to sound American or to hide from authorities.

BIRTH DATE: HENRY FRANKLIN SHORT gives his birth date as 13 March 1878[2].  We do not have a birth date for Heinrich Friedmann, but know he was older than his sister Dora who was born in 1888.  It is possible he could have been ten years older.

PARENTS NAMES: The names LEOPOLD and BETTI [Heinrich Friedmann’s parents] are similar to LEE and BEATRICE [Henry Franklin Short’s parents] [3].

BIRTH PLACE: HEINRICH FRIEDMANN was kicked out of [Czernowitz?], Austria by his parents when he was around 18 and sent to New York City (likely where he changed his name and was RE-BORN in NYC as Henry Franklin Short).  HENRY FRANKLIN SHORT gives his birth place as New York City (on various records including his marriage, insurance application, military etc.), and there is no record of a Henry Short born in NYC[4].

ARRIVAL IN AMERICA:  HEINRICH FRIEDMANN was kicked out of Czernowitz, Austria by his parents when he was around 18.  HENRY FRANKLIN SHORT showed up in Malden, MA in 1898 to enlist in the Spanish-American War, age 20-22.  He included no current address and no guardian/parent names, which was unusual.

IMMIGRATION TO NY VS MALDEN :  We find a Heinrich Friedmann who arrives to NYC in 1896, age 18[5].  Henry Franklin Short enlists in Malden, MA in 1898, age 20 [he is recorded as age 22 in military records date probably 1899].  These dates and ages match up if this is the same person.  Heinrich Friedmann stayed in New York or Boston for two years after his immigration.  BUT, There is some question as to his age, because of unclear dates of records.  But, assuming his marriage record is accurate, when compared to his age of 25 on his marriage record in 1902, we can confirm birth dates to about 1877.  Three years earlier in 1899, [date of his departure/muster out from military], he would have been 22, which is the age listed on his military record [this may confirm his military record date as 1899].  Therefore, making these two men about the same age.

VISITS TO NYC: HEINRICH FRIEDMANN had sisters who lived in New York.  HENRY FRANKLIN SHORT went on solo and secretive visits to New York City every year at least once a year.  He never took his family with him and never brought his NYC family back to Boston. 

RELIGION: HEINRICH FRIEDMANN was brought up in a strict Jewish Household, according to my DNA match [Private Name].  But, he was disowned from his family.  As an only son, this must have been a serious breach of some sort, likely religious.  We know Henry Franklin Short had two children out of wedlock with Mary Murphy and then married her with a Justice of the Peace.  Mary Murphy was a dedicated Catholic woman.  Perhaps, Henry Short was not Catholic therefore the reason for the delayed marriage and non-Catholic ceremony.

HEINRICH FRIEDMANN                                         HENRY FRANKLIN SHORT                             

born about 1880                                                           born 13 March 1878                  

Father: Leopold                                                            Father: Lee                            

Mother: Betti or Bella or Beila                                       Mother: Beatrice                             

Had Family in NYC                                                      Yearly visits to NYC to see Family                  

Was Jewish and disowned                                             Was not Catholic at time of marriage                       

Was disowned and sent to NYC about 1896                 MA in 1898 & born in NYC                            

No birth records found                                                  No birth records found              

Can’t find him after 1896 in NYC                                  Can’t find in NYC or MA before 1898                   Where was he after arriving in 1896                               Where was he before arrival in 1898

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[1] About.com, online chart, about.com, (http://genealogy.about.com/library/nrelationshipchart.htm : accessed 8 July 2014).

[2] "World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 April 2014), HENRY FRANKLIN SHORT, serial no. 1613, order no. A1600, Draft Board 22, Draft card S, Boston (J.P.), Suffolk County, Massachusetts; citing NARA microfilm publication M1509, Roll 1685015; AND, HENRY F. SHORT insurance, Certificate No. 329230, application for Duplicate certificate issued 12 September 1929,  transfer Plan D to Plan A of the Fifth Class,  issued 13 November 1917 (previously issued 6 November 1916), The Supreme Lodge Knights of Pythias, Insurance Department, Boston (Jamaica Plain), MA; photocopy (total of 4 pages) held by Noreen Finneran [address for private use], Hanover, MA, 2014; AND Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Certificate of Death, Number 17, volume 80, page 333 (24 February 1943),  HENRY F. SHORT, died 22 January 1934, Massachusetts Department of Health and Social Services, Office of the Secretary, death certificate no. 803, volume 7 page 266, Office of Vital Statistics, Boston.

[3] HENRY F. SHORT and MARY E MURPHY, married 30 October 1902, Malden, Massachusetts Department of Health and Social Services, Office of the Secretary, marriage certificate no. F 004206, volume 525  page 498, no. 317 Office of Vital Statistics, Boston, copy (issued 5 October 1988) held by Noreen Finneran [address for private use], Hanover, MA, 2014.  NOTE: this is the only record with his parents’ names at this time (their names are not on his death certificate either).

[4] NYC Department of Records, Municipal Archives, paid search performed by Leonora A. Gidlund, Director, on 3 March 2011 for HENRY FRANKLIN SHORT, born 1878, in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens, and Bronx, New York.  NO RECORDS FOUND. Search paid for by Noreen Finneran, 2011; AND, State of New York Department of Health, paid search performed by Denise C. Kelley, Registrar, on 5 May 2011 for HENRY FRANKLIN SHORT, born 13 March 1878, son of Lee and Beatrice Short in City of Albany, New York.  NO RECORDS FOUND (nothing even close). Search paid for by Noreen Finneran, 2011.

[5]“New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957,” digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 May 2014), manifest, S.S. Umbria, Liverpool, England to New York, arriving 1896 Nov 7, list ?, pg ?, line 93, Heinrich Friedmann 18,  with friends Franz Kirsch age 24, and Andreas Thomecky age 22  ; citing National Archives microfilm publication M237, roll 668. ; AND, “New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957,” digital image, EllisIsland.org (http://www.ellisisland.org : accessed 1 June 2014), manifest, S.S. Umbria, Liverpool to New York, arriving 7 November 1896, list [blank], line 93, Heinrich Freidmann.  NOTE: travelling together were; Heinrich Friedmann, Franz Kirsch [Kusch], and Andreas Thomecky [Shomecky].