Hey you're all over my posts today! :) Thanks. The name changing story was one that was told to me, but it does seem unlikely. He was born in NYC, but married a girl an hour away in NJ. It would make sense that the families already knew each other. The Hamelskys I have found seem to all be from Ukraine (Chernigov) so I'm going to sort through that area next I guess!

I don't have his birth record yet, but I have a marriage record of A Friedman and Bella Selberglet, so I've been trying to go on that. Unfortunately Friedman and all the variations of Selberglet are pretty common. I'll find it though!