Last update of this page 2021.MAR.22
Jacob was not forthcoming about his origins. What we claim to know about him is conjecture, and the details may have been altered in repeated retelling. He supplied inconsistent information on legal forms, and the exact truth is hard to extract
We believe he was born to a Jewish family in Odessa about 1872. (The year 1872 appears on his grave marker.) Jacob revealed virtually nothing, but there are various claims. These are all uncertain and should be regarded as hearsay.
(1) His mother Dora died during his birth. [This would raise questions as to how he was nursed during infancy.]
(2) He lived with his father, Nusin-Meir until Nusin-Meir died in the early 1880s. [There is no firm data on Nusin-Meir.]
(3) Jacob was sent to the United States about 1884 at age about twelve and never again had contact with his family. [There exists a steamship record showing a Jacob Simon immigrating in 1884, but this may not be our Jacob; moreover this record may be the origin of the 1884 story. However, on multiple U.S. census documents, he listed his date of immigration as 1891.]
(4) The surname was not Simon. Jacob may, or may not, have suggested that the surname was Steinberg, or something similar, in Odessa.
(5) Nusin‑Meir had a candy factory in Odessa. This is plausible but not verified. In some the stories, the product was described as marmalade.
(6) Jacob’s older brothers emigrated to Africa. [This would almost certainly mean Johannesburg in South Africa or Salisbury in Rhodesia. Jews would have made those journeys through London. Archives of Jewish “holding places” in London have yielded no clues.]
(7) Jacob was sent before his bar Mitzvah to board with a family in Newark. This family then kicked him out after the bar Mitzvah. The timing would require Jacob’s arrive in the United States in 1884, which we do not believe. Moreover, thorough examination of the New Jersey census fails to affirm this story.
Judy Simon has done very extensive searches on a variety of archival sources. Doubts about Jacob’s origin name have made the search process very difficult.
Perhaps DNA can provide clues. Our primary searching mechanism is the Y‑DNA, the sex chromosome among the 23. Only males possess the Y chromosome, and this is passed down from father to son. There are occasional minor mutations, but these mutations are so minor that fathers and sons can be assured to have identical or nearly identical Y‑DNA. Thus Jacob had the same Y‑DNA as his sons Nate, Philip, and Abe.
Nate’s Y‑DNA passed to his son Maury, and then to Maury’s sons Scott and Marc. Marc does not have children. Scott is out of touch with the family, but we believe he has a son.
Philip died as a teenager.
Abe’s Y‑DNA passed to his son Gary, then to Gary’s three sons (Ian, Jay, and Andy), and then to grandsons.
Gary’s Y‑DNA was submitted to genetic databases around 2005. Male relatives near to Jacob, along with their male descendants, would have Y‑DNA that matches Gary’s. There are two large difficulties with this approach.
First, descendants of those male relatives near to Jacob would have to submit their Y‑DNA for analysis. There is no way around this problem, but at least the genetic testing companies are widely promoting their services.
Second, not-so-near male relatives would also match Gary. For example, Jacob might have had a fourth cousin related through all-male lines of descent. Finding such a person (or his descendants) would not allow us to say much about Jacob, since almost no one can give all the links involved in a fourth cousin relationship. For this problem, the mutation rate gives clues. If two males match on 98% of the markers tested, the relationship is close. If they match on only, say, 92% of the markers, the relationship is more remote.
A few close Y‑DNA matches were found early in the search. Did these have family histories from Odessa or from other parts of Ukraine? One early match, GZ, claimed his family migrated from Palestine through Turkey to Ukraine. Another match, SM, had stories about Ukraine, but from western Ukraine and not enough to make meaningful links. A match LK, found in 2021, also had ancestors from western Ukraine. We are, of course, working through the fog of time. Jacob left Odessa sometime around 1890, around 130 years ago.
Additional DNA detail comes from the remaining 22 chromosomes, the autosomal chromosomes. At each conception, the child inherits a mix, approximately 50‑50, from the two parents. Each person has about 50% of the father’s DNA and about 50% of the mother’s DNA. Full siblings will have about 50% of their DNA in common.
Why? Of the 50% of your DNA from Dad, approximately half of that will also go to your sibling; you and your sibling will have about 50% × 50% = 25% common DNA from Dad. You’ll also have about 25% common DNA from Mom, and 25% + 25% = 50%.
You and your Dad’s brother (your uncle) will share about 25% of your DNA.
Why? Your father has about 50% of his DNA in common with his brother. You’ll get about half of that commonly-held part, or 25%.
These can be worked out for various relationships, including half-siblings, half-cousins, and the like. This will come to, for example, about 3.125% for a second cousin. A first cousin twice removed, 1C2R for short, will also share about 3.125%. The randomness in the mixing of chromosomes at conception adds variability at the level of a couple of percentage points. It’s very easy to identify siblings using autosomal DNA, but it is difficult to sort out relationships at levels like 2C2R, 3C1R, and the like.
As of 2021.MAR.22, we have found useful DNA links to Odessa through a woman in Argentina. These are being explored carefully, and we hope to update information soon.