Barry's Blog

A blog by Dr. Barry Lever. Follow the links for the first post and second post in this series.

Our search to learn more about the individuals whose marriage the Golombek Ketubah records now moves beyond the walls of the Jewish Museum Maryland. Accompanied by, JMM Summer Intern and my research partner, Ephraim Harel we travel to the Edward C. Papenfuse Maryland State Archives in Annapolis, Maryland.

The Maryland State Archives, exterior (above) and interior (below).

Images courtesy of the MSA website.

For anyone interested in Maryland History this is the mother-lode where all prospecting begins. After registering and completing a request form we patiently wait until a very knowledge staff member directs us to the records that we hope will reveal our subjects by their complete English Names.

Since the Golombek Ketubah established the Hebrew date of the marriage as the 11th day of Tammuz, 5605, in the City of Baltimore, we know that corresponding English date was Wednesday, July 16, 1845. Our first request therefore was a search of the marriage licenses of the Baltimore County Court from 1839-1846 which are kept on microfilm.

At times copies of microfilm documents are very hard to clearly reproduce, but we were fortunate that the page shown below is relatively legible.


The headings at the top of this microfilmed page, reading left to right, denote the columns below them in the following manner:

“when (the license) granted” “No.” “Males” and Females” “Minister” “1845” “month day”

As we look down these columns we discover that on July 14, 1845 (license) No. 273 was granted to Wolf Solden and Teressa Habal.

It was when we had this document that we discovered that groom’s name was not Golden, as it had originally been read from the signature on the Golombek Ketubah, but rather Solden, and his bride’s full English name was finally revealed.

The last column on the page corresponding to the heading “Minister,” also notes the name of an individual, Ansell, who this records seems to indicate will be the individual who will officiate at the ceremony that was held two days later.

This is first time the name Ansell appears in relation to this marriage. Our next blog will explore more about who these individuals were and about their lives.