Talk:Mildred Mottahedeh

Root?
Okay, first things, since NYT articles are often behind paywalls, I looked in Wayback and find a link that doesn't ask me for a subscription. I always look for parents and find nothing at all for Mildred Root. But then I found this this. Pretty sure it is her, same birth date, same birth place and photo looks to be the same woman, though younger. If you don't have a subscription, you can just sign up. It's free. Following that line, I come up with parents Flora Margolius and Jacob B. Wurtzel were Jewish. They apparently had a tumultuous relationship. Her father was the owner of a grocery in Seabright and her mother was the daughter of Joseph Margolius, who owned the Hotel Brighton in Long Branch, New Jersey. When the parents divorced, the three children went to live with their mother. (Flora's brother Max lives in Perth Amboy, this is important later, and apparently she was pregnant at the time because a 4th child appears in the paper and on census records, below.) Pretty sure it was Mildred who was kidnapped. Flora worked in a store as a clerk. Mildred attended Garfield Avenue School in Long Branch, and then I'm pretty sure she is the Mildred Wurtzel who attended the New Jersey College for Women. It says she was from Perth Amboy. Her Uncle lived there and census records confirm that Flora moved there around 1920 with the children.1910 p 11A-11B, lines 47-52, 1915 p 10A lines 42-46, 1920 p 12A lines 34-38,1930 p 8A lines 32-35 Wanted you to look this over and advise. I'll do a light copyedit, without additions. Looks to be in pretty good shape to me.SusunW (talk) 16:16, 21 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Can you check this The couple visited Jingdezhen, China in 1979, their first time traveling to the country. I don't have access to the source, but it conflicts with the NYT's article which says When her husband died in 1978, Mrs. Mottahedeh succeeded him as president and remained active in the company, even after it was sold, until her retirement in 1998 Couldn't find an obit for Rafi, but doing due diligence, this confirms he was dead by October 1978. I think it is important to put in that she ran the company from that point, so I moved that from later in the article. SusunW (talk) 16:48, 21 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I've made some minor changes to the text as requested. Please ping me if I can assist further. SusunW (talk) 17:56, 21 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Wow,, you really are Amazing! I've fixed the bit about flying with her husband (it was another man, but if memory serves at least one source gets this wrong). Thanks so much for having a read-through So for all of that information you dug up early life, how much of that would you say I could add in with the understanding that censuses can be iffy? I'm thinking something like what follows. I'm not familiar with how or when citing family search records are appropriate, so if you could show me what you would do for that, I'd greatly appreciate it. Unfortunately, I think the article about kidnapping may be a bit of a stretch to definitively say it was her, though I'd agree it seems awfully likely that it was. I also found a newsBank obituary of a 'Samuel Wurtzel' that says He is survived by his wife, Stephanie Wurtzel; two sons, Alan L. Wurtzel of Richmond, and David M. Wurtzel of Florence, Italy; two stepsons, Norman Sylvester of Armonk, N.Y., and Timothy Sylvester of Denver; two sisters, Mildred Mottahedeh of New York, and Esther Nelson of Spokane, Wash. Which may help make the connection more explicit? Thank you so much, again. Eddie891 Talk Work 19:10, 21 December 2020 (UTC)

Mildred Ruthe Wurtzel was born on August 7, 1908 in Sea Bright, New Jersey to Flora Margolius and Jacob B. Wurtzel. Her father was the owner of a grocery in Seabright and her mother was the daughter of Joseph Margolius, who owned the Hotel Brighton in Long Branch, New Jersey. They had married in 1903. By 1911 the couple was in the process of getting a divorce, and Mildred was living with her two siblings and her mother. She was educated at the Garfield Avenue School in Long Branch and attended the New Jersey College for Women.
 * Proposed addition


 * That looks fine to me. Again, you don't have to use the census records, they simply are due diligence to confirm the other info is about her. To ensure that everything fits together, no gaps in the sources as far as I can tell, as they all seem to confirm the same info repeatedly. There's a lot of misunderstanding about using primary records on WP. It isn't OR if you are simply stating what the source says without drawing any conclusions. (And yes, it would be a stretch to definitively state it "was" Mildred who was kidnapped, but she does appear to be the only three year old in the family at that time ;) .) And good find on Samuel's obit. Another piece of evidence tying them all together. SusunW (talk) 19:42, 21 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I also note that her dad was Austrian and her mom was Russian, so their pronunciation of Ruthe would have been more like Root, or Ruta. SusunW (talk) 19:59, 21 December 2020 (UTC)