THE DOUBLE ‘OO’ IN SHOOSTER
Close-up of 1910 Census Frank Shuster living with his sister, her husband and kids. Shuster, Frank, Brother in law, age 20, single, from Russia
Cose-up 1920 Census Frank Shooster, Head of houshold, age 27, Dora 27, and kids Note the ‘oo’ in Shooster
Frank Shooster Dora Shooster
Cose-up to Right, 1920 Census Frank Shooster, Head of houshold, age 27, Dora 27, and kids Note VFrank Shooster’s place of birth.
Stephen Shooster - Our family name comes from an edict in the 1850s requir- ing all Jews to have last names. The reason for this ruling was tax collection. Before the 1850s, Jews used names like Joseph Ben-David (Joseph son of David). It was a village mentali- ty. Most people lived and died near their birth- places making last names unimportant. Once the government required second names, voca- tions were a practical choice; thus, Baruch, the shoemaker, becomes Baruch Shuster.
Once Frank was in the United States, somehow the spelling of our family name became rather unique. I have seen it spelled Shuster, Schuster, Szuster, and in a few rare cases, Shooster. We have no idea why it ended up being spelled with a double ‘OO’. I have found an early census showing the name as Shuster and a later one where the script could be interrupted as a lazy ‘U’ or a double ‘O’.
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