
Martha, Steve's Mom, told me the whole story decades ago when I first started genealogy after seeing Roots. I haven't been able to find any evidence of the Rabinowitzes yet, but here are my notes from what she told me:
Michael's father, Martha’s grandfather, also named Michael Frankel, drowned in a lake the day of his son’s birth. Martha claimed the lake was subsequently named for him. His parents died in pogroms. He was brought to the U.S. at approximately 3-5yo (probably after his parents died?) by the Rabinowitz family through Baltimore port. They raised him as one of their own. They traveled to Philadelphia and then New York, where they lived for awhile.
My recent theory or brainstorm was that maybe they were related closely...could Mrs. Rabinowitz have been a sister??? I don't know. And while I feel she may have romanticized the story a bit about a lake being named for Michael (Sr.), I'm sure she must've known the story from her father.