Genealogy Stuff – Magaziners, Burwicks, Wychevskys – My mother’s side of the family.

The mystery in this 1948 photo of the Magazine siblings and their partners – the two seated on the lower left. The man seated far right with the slightly protruding ears, David Levine and I believe to be Harry Burwick. He is David’s maternal grandfather and we are pretty sure, Grandma Sarah Wishensky Magaziner’s brother. One of he siblings. How many other siblings did Sarah Magaziner and Harry Burwick have?

Notes on a Zoom (like) discussion with (I believe) second cousin David Levine

David Levine and I believe  we have uncovered one piece of the puzzle through comparing matching photos. The mystery in this above 1948 photo of the Magazine siblings and their partners – the two seated on the lower left. All the rest most of my remaining cousins can easily identify.

Levine showed me a photo of his maternal grandfather, Harry Burwick, who looks very much like the man seated far right in this group photo with the slightly protruding ears. He appears to be wearing the same gray suit in the photo David Levine showed me. For myself, this constitutes a match.

Harry Burwick is Grandma Sarah Wishensky Magaziner’s brother, one of her siblings.

How many other siblings did Sarah Magaziner and Harry Burwick have?

1.

Sometime in December of last year (2024). a David Levine from San Diego contacted me by email. He had been reading my blog, particularly the articles on family history and thought we might be related, the connection being on my mother’s extensive side of the family. He recalls that at his Bar Mitzvah in central Massachusetts in the late 1980s that an “Aunt Bea” and her sister “Aunt Mal” from New York City were in attendance along with a young teenage girl – perhaps one of my two sisters although neither of them have any memory of having gone to a Massachusetts bar mitzvah at that time.

There was also the family name on his mother’s side – Burwick, his grandfather having been one Harry Burwick and that the family name Wychevsky (many spellings) came up. Our maternal grandfather was a Wychevsky and it is a name that is a part of our family history although the precise connections have been lost.

At the time David Levine contacted me I was in the midst of radiation treatments – twenty over a four week period – for prostate cancer. While the treatment itself was painless the after effects were not. Among other side effects, radiation resulted in constant fatigue  and even foggier thinking than I am used to. I suggested to contact me again sometime in January 2025 after the effects of the treatment had subsided.

This he did by email about a week ago (on Friday, January 17, 2025). The meeting lasted an hour and a half. Before going into the details- those I can remember of the discussion which did produce some connections which still need further substantiation, some brief information about David Levine from our conversation.

Although he and his wife now live in Southern California,  David Levine grew up in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, went to Brandeis University; like me he started college as a pre-med major but switched – in his case – to economics if I recall right. He got a Masters’ degree, worked for a while at the major security think tank, the RAND Corporation before working in a number of financial institutions, eventually becoming a financial planner before retiring. Levine’s wife is key to his genealogical researches it appears; That and his own admirable persistence, tenacity and care – I might add – have helped fuel his efforts.

2.

Having run into certain roadblocks in my own genealogical ventures, and having uncovered some interesting history of bod sides of our family (Prenskys and Magaziners), soon thereafter “the well dried up” a few years ago until David contacted me. Our connection has rekindled my interest to “reopen the file” and explore some more.

What are the methodological problems with the Prensky-Magaziner research?

The main problem is simple and clear cut and it is this: our Magaziner grandparents – both Grandfather Julius (d. 1924) and Grandmother Sarah (d. 1947) had a lot of siblings – almost all of which are lost to me. Finding and identifying them has not been possible to date although there are a host of last names on this side of our history: Magaziner, Magazine, Burwick, Wychevsky, Landsman. But precisely how that mix is connected remains unclear.

3.

What were the pieces of the genealogical puzzle that David Levine shared with me? What could I share with him? If you are interested in learning more details, respond to this email. I understand that some of you are completely uninterested in family history, think that you are all “self-made” people for whom family history is tedious, if not irrelevant to your situation, that we/you do not stand on the shoulders of those who preceded us. For those of you who are so inclined, I have neither the time nor the patience to convince you otherwise. Continue in your ignorance, enjoy the illusion of your self-made existence and success and that your family history has no bearing – none – on the people you have become.

For the rest of you, those who want to know more about the maze of connections between Magaziners, Burwicks, Wychenskis, etc – all you have to do is send me an email with the words “I am in” – and we’ll put together a little group email and see if we can dig up some more of these connections – our connections to our past and to each other.

David Levine and I believe  we have uncovered one piece of the puzzle through comparing matching photos. The mystery in this above 1948 photo of the Magazine siblings and their partners – the two seated on the lower left. All the rest most of my remaining cousins can easily identify. Levine showed me a photo of his maternal grandfather, Harry Burwick who looks very much like the man seated far right in this group photo with the slightly protruding ears; Harry Burwick. He appears to be wearing the same gray suit in the photo David Levine showed me.

He is Grandma Sarah Wishensky Magaziner’s brother, one of her siblings.

How many other siblings did Sarah Magaziner and Harry Burwick have? Julius Magaziner also had siblings. We need to probe his family lines too.

___________________________________