SEARCHING FOR BORIS MAJOR

I had admired an impressionist landscape painting owned by Lorna Tinsley of Harlan, Iowa, ever since I first saw it in the early 1980’s.  Lorna’s mother had purchased it as a housewarming gift for her uncle, Dr. Henry Kleinpell, and when he passed away, the painting returned to Lorna’s mother, and when she passed away in 1974, Lorna received the painting.  In 1991 Lorna gave me the label attached to the back of the painting so that I could research the artist.  All we knew at this time was that the artist was “B. Major”, and the work was an original oil painting, distributed by Edward Gross & Co, a New York City publishing house.  This was pre-Internet days, and I got as far as Davenport’s Guide at University of Iowa Art Library for a listing of auction prices for the artist’s works, and a very brief bio on the artist, simply 20th century, landscapes, no birth or death date and only first initial, basically information provided by looking at the paintings themselves. 

Lorna passed away in 2001 and her children gave the painting to me.  I began research in earnest, now with the help of the Internet.  I still had little luck with library resources, and searching for information on “B. Major” on the Internet was just about impossible.  I hit upon the idea of using e-Bay to search for B. Major’s works because e-Bay items were categorized and I could limit a search to artwork.  This was immediately successful in that at my first attempt, a B. Major painting was up for auction, offered by a dealer in Canada.  The seller did not have any biographical information on the artist, however, but I scrambled to set up an e-Bay account so I could bid on and, in fact, buy the painting.  I took this work to an Iowa City art gallery/framing studio, Hudson River Gallery, to have the painting cleaned, revarnished and reframed.  The owner of the Gallery, Nick Hotek, has been very supportive of my search for the true identity of B. Major.  I also brought him the Lorna Tinsley painting and we determined that it did not need cleaning or reframing. 

(Side note: Lorna’s painting is especially interesting because it is painted on canvasboard.  In this case, the canvasboard was created by gluing canvas to the back of a piece of a large paperboard poster advertising Old Gold cigarettes, probably a Depression-era economy measure.  Lorna’s sister, Katie Schmeichel, was with her mother when the painting was purchased from Marshall Fields in Chicago in 1938.  Katie, who studied art at the University of Iowa, was very excited about my search for B. Major, and was able to see my collection before she passed away in 2004.) 

(Side note:  Dr. Kleinpell, the uncle for whom Lorna’s painting was originally purchased, was a physician in Chicago.  He moved to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, to avoid being forced into service by Chicago mobsters, mending their wounded.) 

I decided to search the Smithsonian website and discovered the SIRIS database.  This is a listing of works in public and private collections done by American artists prior to 1914.  There were four works by B. Major registered.  I wrote to the individuals listed as owners of two of the works, and received replies, but no additional biographical information.  I did locate a service within the Smithsonian website called “Joan of Art”.  Questions about artworks could be e-mailed to a real person (Joan Stahl) who would do research and respond.  This was a major breakthrough as Joan did indeed respond to my inquiry.  She had an archivist review the dockets for the four works listed in SIRIS, and one of the dockets included a reference to Montclair, New Jersey, and the Montclair Art Museum. 

Calls to the Montclair Art Museum did not generate any new information.  They did not have any B. Major’s in their collection.  Further Internet research pointed me to the Montclair Art Museum’s Library, a separate component of the Museum Website.  The library had a searchable index of a collection of materials on local artists held in the library.  This database included a listing for a Boris Major, identified as an illustrator.  I e-mailed the Montclair Museum Library asking if it would be worth my trouble to fly to Montclair to review the docket on Boris Major.  (My niece lived in nearby Scotch Plains, so such a trip would also be a family reunion.)  A library representative called me the next day and said they could fax me the entire collection of information on Boris Major, which consisted of two newspaper clippings with typewritten transcriptions and a Xeroxed photo of a B. Major painting that was exhibited at the Museum.  The newspaper articles included a reference to Boris' wife, and gave a home address in Montclair.  The articles described a two year journey (1929-1930) the Majors had just completed in North Africa and the Mediterranean area for the purpose of creating paintings (50) and watercolors (60).

I located a name for the current resident of the B. Major home address in Montclair, New Jersey, on the Internet, and I sent this individual a letter requesting that he review the abstract for the property for the years 1926 through 1946 to see if there is any information that could be used to construct a biography of Boris.  I included a SASE for the reply and a small matted reproduction of a B. Major watercolor (purchased as part of a set from e-Bay) as a gift for their trouble.  After a couple of months, the package was returned to me unopened and undeliverable, “addressee unknown”. 

Now that I had a first and last name for Boris, I could begin genealogical research.  I was able to locate a U.S. Federal Census listing for Boris and his wife in New Rochelle, NY, in 1920, listing Boris’ and Anna’s ages, and Boris’ profession as “Artist”.  This is where I learned Boris’ wife’s first name, Anna.  I was also able to locate Boris’ Selective Service application of 1918, listing a different New Rochelle, NY, address, a birth date, and also identifying Anna as his wife and “Artist” as his profession.  Boris and Anna did not appear in the 1930 U.S. Census, the latest available, because they were out of the country and renting their Montclair home during the time the census was taken.  Their renters were listed at the address in this census and in the Montclair city directory. 

I also found a reference for a Naturalization Petition dating to 1891, and I eventually ordered this document.  The individual represented himself as being at least 21 years old and a resident of the United States continuously for the last 5 years.  This would push Boris’ birth date back to 1870 which was not consistent with the other documentation I had collected.  I assumed that if this individual was indeed the Boris Major I was researching, he may have misrepresented his age and arrival date in order to gain citizenship through the state courts before the newly established precursor of the INS took over immigration centrally in January, 1892.  This was not uncommon at the time.  I later discovered that this was not the Boris Major I was looking for. 

I could not find a listing for Boris in the Social Security Death Index, but I found two listings for an Anna Major with appropriate birth years, and selected the most likely candidate (New York City resident), and ordered a copy of her application for a Social Security Account Number (SS-5).  The data in the document was consistent with the census data, and included Anna’s birth name, and her parents’ names. 

In early 2004, my Colorado sister and I took a trip to Connecticut to visit both of her daughters (my nieces).  I made a side trip to Montclair, New Jersey, and spent an afternoon in the Montclair Public Library researching microfilmed copies of city directories and the Montclair Times newspapers.  I also examined a special collection of newspaper clippings and brochures relating to historically interesting people living in Montclair, and these were assembled alphabetically based on the article’s primary subject.  I realized that searching the Newspaper film for an obituary was not realistic without an actual date of death, so I abandoned that part of my search.  I did not locate any news on Boris in the newspaper clipping collection.  I did confirm his residence in Montclair from 1926 through 1941 in the city directory search. 

Later, I discovered I could request a copy of a marriage certificate for marriages taking place in any of the boroughs of New York City via the NYC Department of Vital Statistics.  I did so for the time period between 1910 and 1915, and was very fortunate to locate Anna and Boris’ marriage certificate dated 1914.  A couple of new clues became available:  an alternative spelling of Anna’s birth name, and a notation that indicated that Boris was a widower and this was his second marriage (it was Anna’s first).  Anna’s and Boris’ parents names were also given, and Anna’s birth name and parental data matched that on her SS-5.  In addition, witnesses listed on the certificate were Elias Skolnick and Abraham Horr. 

This new spelling of Anna’s birth name allowed me to find her arrival at Ellis Island on the Ellis Island website.  It also listed relatives in New York with whom she would be staying, a sister and brother-in-law, Elias and “Ray” Skolnick.  Using census documents, I attempted to track this family to see if I could find living relatives of Boris and Anna.  This search was not initially productive, but I have had very kind and encouraging replies from individuals I have written to.  I now know that the Elias Skolnick who signed Boris and Anna’s marriage certificate was Anna’s brother-in-law. 

I stumbled upon a web site for Italian Genealogical research that included 3 major databases relating to New York City vital records:  Deaths, Marriages, and Naturalization Petitions, all searchable online.  I was able to locate Boris and Anna’s marriage certificate, which I already had, and more importantly, I was able to locate a certificate number for Boris’ Naturalization Petition dated 1911, and I ordered a copy of this certificate from the National Archives.  The document arrived in short order and provided a wealth of information:  Boris’ birth name, the date of his arrival in America, the ship he arrived on, his first wife’s name and date of her death, and again, his profession is listed as artist.  Boris was officially granted citizenship on November 21, 1911.  The Ellis Island web site did not have an indexed record of Boris’ arrival, but an exhaustive search of the ship’s manifest located his listing, matching the information in his Naturalization Petition, and this time his occupation was listed as “Painter”.  Included with the Naturalization Petition and Declaration of Intention was a transcription of a deposition given by Boris indicating his reasons for requesting to officially change his name from Boris (Berko) Mesherowsky to Boris Major. 

Using the Italian Genealogical site, I located the death certificate of Boris’ first wife, Mary.  A copy of this document was received from NYC Vital Records.  It was listed under Mary Major, so Boris was already using Major as his last name before the Naturalization Petition made it official.  Mary’s parents were Aaron and Sophie (Kuman) Erdman.  Mary’s last illness was Graves’ disease, and she was hospitalized for nearly a month at New York Hospital before she died.  She was buried at Mt. Zion Cemetery in Maspeth, Queens, NY.  The cemetery office verified this burial.  They also checked for burial records for Boris and Anna Major, and none were found.  This cemetery is well known for the small photographs of the deceased that have been fired onto porcelain and mortared into small niches in the gravestones.  A book of photographs of these grave porcelains was published in 2001 (author/photographer John Yang).  I was able to acquire a used copy of this book through Amazon, and it is also available in the University of Iowa Art Library.  Mary Major was 26 when she died and Boris’ second wife, Anna, died 86 years later at the age of 107. 

In my search for Boris’ date of death, I have received verification from New Jersey that they have no record of his death through 1957.  I have certification from New York City that they have no record of his death through 1948.  New York City vital records from 1949 to the present are not subject to freedom of information act and are only available to family members and documented heirs.  The NY Times does not have an indexed obituary for either Boris or Anna. I was able to gain certification that there are no records of his death in any other city in New York through 1954. 

Many of the works I have since acquired on e-Bay have labels similar to the one on Mrs. Tinsley’s painting, indicating the work was distributed by Edward Gross & Co., NYC.  I have acquired 3 catalogs for this company, which distributed original artworks and reproductions to furniture galleries, gift shops, interior design studios and larger department stores throughout the country.  The catalogs date from 1910 (est.), 1955 and 1959.  All three catalogs feature works by B. Major.  His paintings are featured exclusively on the cover of the 1910 catalog.  A New York Times article indicates the company filed for bankruptcy in 1965. 

Using the Ellis Island web site, I have located two trips Boris took in 1911 and 1913, to Europe and to South America.  The ship’s manifest for the 1913 trip lists Boris’ address as “care of” A. Horr, 1329 Prospect Avenue, New York, NY.  This entry also references Boris’ November 21, 1911, naturalization.  Anna arrived in America in 1913 and she and Boris were married in 1914.  They lived in New Rochelle in 1918-1920, and were in Montclair, New Jersey from 1926-1940/41. City directories were not available for Montclair from 1942-1945, and in 1946 they are no longer listed as residents.  Anna was in New York City when she applied for a SSN in 1957, and when she died in 1997. 

During an oft-repeated search for Boris’ name to appear in the Ellis Island index, I discovered listings for the arrival in America of Boris’ brother, Samuel Meserowski, and sister, Chane Meserowski. Samuel arrived in New York aboard the SS Amerika on June 3, 1911, and Chane arrived aboard the SS Noordam on October 3, 1911. Samuel was 24 years old and Chane was 18. Neither sibling was married at the time of their arrival.  Both list their birthplace as Elisabethgrad, Russia, and both list Boris (including their relationship to him) as their contact in America.  The address they both give for Boris is the same address on Mary Major’s death certificate.  Through a search of SSDI, I located a Samuel Major (making the assumption that Samuel also changed his last name to Major) with the same birth year as Boris’ brother.  This Samuel Major was foreign born and he died in San Diego, CA, in 1974.  I requested his SS-5 from the SSA and his death certificate from California State Office of Vital Records to verify that this person is in fact Boris’ brother. 

I also requested that the SSA do a search for Boris’ date of death, through a search of Anna’s records.  They did not have a date of death on record, but they were able to provide me with a copy of Boris’ SS-5 dated 7/24/1951.  He resided at a rural address in Lakewood, New Jersey, at this time.  Six years later, we find Anna in New York City.  Since New Jersey had already verified that they have no record of Boris’ death in New Jersey through 1957, I located a microfilm copy of the Index to Deaths, New York City, 1888-1965, at the LDS Family History Center in Iowa City and searched backwards from 1960 through 1951.  His death is recorded as having occurred in the Bronx on December 5, 1951.  A major piece of the puzzle is found at last! 

In January, 2006, a renewed search of Ellis Island website records for Boris Major provided a link to a ship’s manifest indicating that Boris and Anna returned from an overseas voyage on August 14, 1937, aboard the SS Statendam, which had departed Rotterdam on August 6, 1937.  The manifest gave 122 Willowdale Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey, as their home address and referenced Boris’ November 21, 1911, naturalization.  The SS Statendam was a large ocean liner, (2264 passengers and crew) launched in 1929 and destroyed in 1940 during a Nazi bombing of Rotterdam. 

I received the SS-5 and the California death certificate of Samuel Major and the data on the documents indicated that he was Boris’ brother (birth location, parent’s names).  Samuel Major died in San Diego March 8, 1974.  His death certificate lists his birth date as December 4, 1886, and his occupation for most of his life as jeweler.  He was divorced at the time of his death and had spent the last two years of his life in the La Jolla VA Hospital.  During my Navy days, I spent much recreational time in this area of San Diego in the summers of 1972 and 1973, at the same time that Samuel was living here.  His application for a Social Security account number dated November 27, 1936, lists his birth date as December 25, 1889, and his place of birth as Elisabethgrad, Russia.  Both documents list his parents as Joseph and Ethel (Linetsky, Leonard) Major.  The informant on the death certificate is listed as Axel Horn of South Salem, New York.  Mr. Horn (also known as Axel Horr) was a New York muralist, sculptor and designer.  He was born in New York in 1913 and died in Danbury,Connecticut, in 2001.  His wife, Ethel, was born in 1912 and died in 1984.  I located a family in South Salem, Todd and Ann Horn, and I wrote to them in hopes that they may be related to Axel and would know the relationship between Axel and Samuel. 

While waiting for a reply from the Horns in South Salem, I located an entry in the 1920 Federal Census for Arel Horr, born in 1913, during an Ancestry.com search.  Since Arel Horr would have been 7 years old in 1920, this listing would include his parents’ names.  When I opened the document, the parents were Abraham and Anna Horr, and the son, Arel, was actually Axel.  Axel’s listing indicated he was 7 years old, and was born in New York, which matches the information I had already collected on Axel Horn.  Anna Horr’s first name, age, place of birth and date of arrival in America matched Chane (Anna) Mesherowsky’s.  Abraham’s profession was listed as mechanical dentistry.  In addition to the matching information, the census placed the Horr family in New Rochelle, New York, only 16 blocks from where Boris and Anna Major were living in 1920.  Abraham Horr is most likely the “A. Horr” referenced in the ship’s manifest for Boris’ 1913 South American trip and the Abraham Horr listed as a witness on Boris and Anna’s marriage certificate.  All of this information indicates that Axel Horr is Boris’ nephew.  I have located Abraham Horr’s Selective Service Registration card, his death certificate (California, 1966) and his application for a Social Security number.

On March 15th, 2006, I had a voice message waiting for me when I got home from work from Ann Edwards in South Salem.  Mrs. Edwards had been notified by Ann Horn that I was looking for information on Axel Horn.  Ann Horn and her husband were not related to Axel, but they knew that Ann Edwards was a friend of Axel’s son, Chris Horn, who lived in New York City.  Ann Edwards called Chris and passed my information on to him and on Thursday, March 16th, 2006, Chris and I had a lengthy phone conversation. 

Chris verified that Boris was Axel’s uncle (and Chris’ great uncle).  Chris was about 11 years old when Boris died, but he had met Boris and did remember him.  We have since e-mailed several times, passing family information back and forth.  Chris remembered that Boris had a third sibling, Sarah, who had lived in California and would send dates back to the family in New Jersey during the holidays.  Chris also told me that his grandmother, Anna Horn, had divorced his grandfather and remarried later, to Emanuel “Rob” Robbins.  Before this marriage, Anna and Axel lived with Boris and Anna (referred to as Nunja, pronounced “Noon-ya”) Major in Montclair, New Jersey.  Axel wrote a wonderful poem about Boris, telling about his life and his career as an artist.  He also wrote a delightful poem about Nunya.  Chris sent me both poems.  I had asked Chris if he had any photographs of Boris and he said that he and Nunja lived near each other in New York City for a short while and she gave him a box of old family photos.  None of the photos were labeled, and Chris eventually threw them away.  When Chris’ father died, he acquired another box of old family photos.  He still had this collection and he went through it and found several photos that he thought would be of interest to me and scanned them and emailed them to me.  It was such a thrill to finally see an image of Boris! 

I began researching data on Sarah Major, and thought this would be difficult because Chris did not know if she had ever married.  The only clue we had was that she had lived in California.  One of the databases available on Ancestry.com was a listing of State of California Death Certificates.  This database includes search capability on parent’s names.  I was able to find Sarah’s arrival in America on the Ellis Island web site, which gave me her birth year.  Using only her birth year, her first name and her mother’s maiden name, I was able to find her California death certificate.  Her married name was Robbins, the same as her sister Anna’s.  Chris was astonished to learn this.  I spent several months trying to locate information on Sarah’s husband, Israel Robbins, to see if he was related to Anna’s husband, Emanuel Robbins.  I found lots of data on Emanuel, but the only additional information I could find on Israel was his California death certificate and his application for a Social Security number.  The information on Emanuel plus the information on Israel indicates that they were not siblings (different parents), but it does not rule out the possibility that they were related – cousins perhaps.  Emanuel’s data gave me his original Russian surname, but Israel’s did not. 

Once I learned that Anna Horr had remarried I started new searches on Anna and Emanuel Robbins and I found their applications for Social Security Numbers (which were sequential), and their Social Security Death Index records.  Emanuel Robbins had been married previously and I found the certificate for his first marriage, and located information on a son by that marriage, Leon.  I wrote Chris to bring him up to date and mentioned that Anna and Emanuel ran a summer camp in New York.  He had a vague memory of this and also mentioned that his father (Axel) and mother met at this camp. 

Sarah and Israel are buried next to each other in a famous cemetery, Hillside Memorial Park, in Los Angeles.  I have not been able to find any records that indicate they had children.  Boris did not have any children and at first I could not find any indication that Samuel had children.  Anna’s only child was Axel.  This would make Chris Horn (born in 1940) the only living relative of Boris who actually knew Boris when he was still alive.  Chris has a brother, Andrew (born in 1952), who is a filmmaker living in Berlin.  Chris is a film editor and his daughter, Jennifer, is a graphic artist.  I was so very lucky to have made the connection with them. 

In July, 2010, I was contacted by Leslie Larsen of Madison, Wisconsin.  Leslie and her daughter Britt Larsen-Kovak had located my B. Major website while doing a search for information about the signature on a painting the Larsen's owned.  The signature was "Mesherowsky", which was Boris Major's original Russian surname.  It was a revelation to them to discover that Boris Major was originally Boris Mesherowsky.  Lelsie's father was Anatole Skolnick, son of Elias and Raissa (Ray) Skolnick, and Raissa's sister was Boris' wife, Anna.  Leslie is Anna Major's great niece.  Leslie's mother, Mira Skolnick Raisman, is 96 years old and lives with Leslie and her husband, Brent.  I was invited to visit Mira and the Larsens in Madison and I spent a couple of days with them listening to family history, scanning photographs, sketches and documents, and photographing paintings. 

I learned from Mira that Elias and Raissa divorced in the early 1920's and 12-year old Anatole went to live with Boris and Anna Major.  He worked with Boris in the third floor studio in his Montclair, New Jersey, home.  After a year with Boris, Anatole dropped out of school and became an adventurer, working on cruise ships and traveling around the country.  His journeys took him to Florida and Texas and eventually, as a 20-year old, he ended up in Los Angeles.  Also living in California at this time, 1930, was Abraham Horn, who was remarried and was working as a dental laboratory technician.  Mira's father, Miron Garfinkel, a former dentist in the Czar's armies, had immigrated to the United States in 1921 with Mira and her mother and siblings.  His Russian dental degree, although earned before the Bolshevik Revolution, was not recognized in America and he was unable to practice dentistry without going back to school and earning an American degree.  He managed a spa in Alden, New York, for a while and it was here that he first met and befriended Abraham Horn.  After the death of his wife, Miron and his children moved to Santa Monica, California.  Abraham Horn continued his friendship with Miron in California and one afternoon he invited Miron and 17-year old Mira, who had attended a Los Angeles Symphony concert, to join him at his home for lunch.  Newly arrived Anatole Skolnick had also been in contact with Abraham, and he was invited to come to lunch that afternoon as well.  Mira and Anatole fell in love and quickly began a life together that took them back to New York where Mira was enrolled at Hunter College and Anatole was working for Claude Neon as a designer in the brand new field of neon lighting.  Anatole's work gave him an opportunity to consult for the industry in Australia and New Zealand and together, Mira and Anatole spent a magnificent two year adventure living in these countries and traveling  throughout the Pacific Ocean environs on their 6-month voyage back to the East Coast after their work in Australia and New Zealand was finished.  They had two children, Steven "Mick" and Leslie.  When Boris Major died, Anna Major lived with Mira and Anatole for several years.  Anna eventually got an apartment in New York and Mira and her family stayed in touch with Anna until her death in 1997, at the age of 107. 

When I first started researching Boris Major, I had discovered the Skolnick family connection and had attempted to locate children and grandchildren of Elias and Raissa.  The 1920 census is the first Federal Census that lists the Skolnicks, and Anatole's name is spelled "Anagol" and I wasn't able to follow this link.  In the 1930 Federal Census, Elias is remarried and Anatole, who had long left the family, was not included.  Raissa also remarried, but I didn't know her new married name so that line of research was halted.  Before I could dig deeper into the Skolnick clan, I discovered Boris' siblings and was led back to Abraham Horn and, eventually, his living grandson, Chris Horn.  It is serendipitous that the most obscure part of Boris' history, his original last name, Mesherowsky, allowed the Skolnick family to find me!  The painting that led Leslie and Britt to my website can be dated to before 1911 when Boris officially changed his name to Major. 

I am forever grateful to Mira and Leslie and Brent for their unfaltering memories and generous hospitality.  Mira passed away in April, 2012, and I am so thankful that I was able to meet her and talk to her about Boris and Anna Major. 

Brent and Leslie Larsen, Mira Skolnick Raisman, Kirby Tenhulzen - July 2010

One of the documents that Mira shared with me was a photograph of a young boy clipped from a Hebrew language newspaper.  The photo's caption was simply "Eugene Major".  This was in a collection of letters and other documents that belonged to Boris' wife Anna.  Mira did not know who Eugene Major was, but she let me take the clipping for my collection.  The question was answered in August of 2013 when I received an email from Leslie Glater of Dallas, Texas, area.  Leslie was researching a B. Major painting she owned and found my B. Major website and discovered the information I had written about Samuel Major.  Leslie's mother was Josephine Major Glater, Samuel's daughter, and Eugene Major was Samuel's son.   Until Leslie's email, I did not know Samuel's wife's name and did not know if he had children or not.  Once I learned that Josephine and Eugene were Samuel's children I was able to search US census documents and located their records.  When Samuel and his wife, Minnie Weider, were divorced Samuel eventually relocated to California and Minnie remained on the east coast with the children.  Josephine and Eugene lost touch with their father and Leslie and her siblings and cousins had very little information about Samuel.  Josephine and Eugene have both passed away, but their children and grandchildren survive them.