Sometimes when you aren’t even looking, an answer to an earlier mystery pops up unexpectedly. That’s what happened when I started researching the marriages of Abraham Goldsmith’s four oldest children, all of whom were married in the 1890s.

First, Edwin Goldsmith married Sarah Virginia Friedberger in 1891.¹ Sarah Virginia, who was known as Jennie, was born in Philadelphia on January 17, 1866, to Henry Friedberger and Caroline Bellstrom.² Her father was in the wholesale millinery business.  Edwin and Jennie had their first child on January 28, 1892, and they named her Cecile, presumably for Edwin’s mother, Cecelia Adler, who had died so young.³ A second child, Henry Friedberger Goldsmith, named for Jennie’s father, was born on September 8, 1893.⁴ In 1900 Edwin and Jennie and their sons were living in Philadelphia where Edwin continued to be a clothing merchant.

Then, two of Abraham’s older daughters married in 1892. Emily Goldsmith was married on January 28, 1892, to Felix N. Gerson.⁵ And her marriage to Felix N. Gerson led me down quite an interesting rabbit hole and to a surprise—a solution to an unsolved mystery. Remember the “other” Harry Goldsmith—Harry N. Goldsmith, son of Raphael Goldsmith, who was living with Eva Goldsmith Anathan in 1910? I had been completely befuddled because I could not figure out why this Harry N. Goldsmith was living with my cousin (and the cousin of my cousin Harry Goldsmith) when he seemed to have no familial connection to my Goldsmiths. Well, stay tuned. It’s a bumpy ride.

I searched for background information on Felix N. Gerson as the husband of my cousin Emily Goldsmith. I found him on both the 1870 and 1880 census, living in Philadelphia with his parents, Aaron and Eva Gerson.  His father was a furrier, born in Prussia, and his mother was born in Pennsylvania.⁶

Then I found Felix on the Social Security Applications and Claims Index, giving his birth date as October 18, 1862, and his full name as Felix Napoleon Gerson. But what really jumped out was that his mother’s birth name was Eva Goldsmith.  This was confirmed on the death certificate for Felix Gerson—his mother was Eva Goldsmith, born in Philadelphia.

At first, I groaned. Oh, no, another intrafamily cousin marriage, I thought. Which Eva Goldsmith was this? So I searched for more information about Eva Goldsmith Gerson and found this record:

This Eva Goldsmith was the daughter of Napoleon Goldsmith and Zerlina Rosenthal. I knew immediately that those names looked familiar, but they were not part of my Goldsmith family.  Napoleon and Zerlina Goldsmith were the grandparents of that mysterious Harry N. (for Napoleon) Goldsmith who’d been living in 1910 with my cousin, the other Eva Goldsmith who’d married Nathan Anathan. Their son Raphael was Harry Napoleon Goldsmith’s father.

Napoleon and Zerlina Goldsmith were also the grandparents of Felix Napoleon Gerson, who married my cousin Emily Goldsmith. Felix’s mother Eva Goldsmith Gerson was the sister of Raphael Goldsmith. So Felix Napoleon Gerson and Harry Napoleon Goldsmith were first cousins, both named for their grandfather Napoleon.

 

Now’s where it gets a bit trickier. Felix Gerson married Emily Goldsmith. Emily Goldsmith Gerson and Eva Goldsmith Anathan were first cousins also; Emily’s father Abraham and Eva’s father Levy were brothers (and had been in business together.)  Still with me? Here comes the final twist.

 

When Harry Napoleon Goldsmith moved in with Eva Goldsmith Anathan around 1910, he was living with the first cousin of the wife of his first cousin. That is, Harry Napoleon Goldsmith was the first cousin of Felix Napoleon Gerson. Felix Napoleon Gerson was married to Emily Goldsmith, whose first cousin was Eva Goldsmith Anathan. Got it? Here’s a chart:

 

Now I knew how Harry Napoleon Goldsmith ended up living with my cousin Eva Goldsmith Anathan. They were connected by the marriage of their respective first cousins—Felix and Emily.

Of course, I wasn’t done digging yet. I needed to determine whether Napoleon Goldsmith or his wife Zerlina nee Rosenthal were somehow related to me directly, not just by these circuitous connections. After hours of digging, I’ve concluded that they were not. Or at least in no obvious way. Napoleon Goldsmith was born in Nassau, Germany in around 1803 and came to the US in 1836. By 1840 he was married and living with one child in Philadelphia. His wife Zerlina was also born in Germany in around 1813, but I don’t know where. Her mother Rachel Rosenthal also immigrated, perhaps in the 1830s with her husband Seller, but I am not certain about that. At any rate, I think it’s just coincidence that these two separate Goldsmith families ended up connected by marriage.

But the good news was that I’d figured out why there was another unrelated Harry Goldsmith living with my cousin Eva Goldsmith in 1910.

Let’s return then to Emily Goldsmith and her husband Felix Napoleon Gerson. According to his entry in Who’s Who in Pennsylvania,⁷ Felix went to Philadelphia public schools and then studied civil engineering; in the 1880s he served in the department of the Chief Clerk, Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company, and then in 1891 he changed careers and became the managing editor of Chicago Israelite.  In 1892, Felix became the managing editor of the Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia.

As noted above, he married my cousin Emily Goldsmith on January 28, 1892. Their wedding was a very small and modest affair.

Given Abraham’s one-time prosperity, I was surprised that Emily’s wedding was so understated. But then I learned from Abraham’s obituary⁸ that in 1890 or so he had suffered a serious stroke that left him disabled and in poor health. As his children were moving on to adulthood, his health was in decline.

Emily and Felix’s first child Celia was born on October 27, 1892.⁹  She was also presumably named for her grandmother, Emily’s mother Cecelia Adler Goldsmith. A second daughter, Dorothy, was born on June 2, 1897.¹⁰ In 1900, Emily, Felix, and their daughters were living in Philadelphia., and Felix was working as an editor.

Emily’s sister Rose Goldsmith married Sidney Morris Stern on May 25, 1892.¹¹ Sidney was born January 14, 1861, in Philadelphia, and was the son of Morris Stern and Matilda Bamberger, who were German-born immigrants. His father was in the retail clothing business.¹²  Rose and Sidney’s first child, Sylvan Goldsmith Stern, was born on March 2, 1893.¹³ Two years later Rose gave birth to twin boys, Allan Goldsmith Stern and Howard Eugene Stern, on August 6, 1895.¹⁴ I could not find Rose and her family on the 1900 census despite having their address in 1899, 1900, and 1901.  They were living in Philadelphia during those years, and Sidney was in the jewelry business with his brother Eugene.

The next wedding in the family of Abraham Goldschmidt was that of his oldest child, Milton.  On Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1899, Milton married Sophie Hyman in New York City. ¹⁵ Sophie was the daughter of Nathan Hyman and Rose Friedberger. And Rose Friedberger was the sister of Henry Friedberger, whose daughter Jennie had married Milton’s brother Edwin in 1891. So Milton married his sister-in-law Jennie’s first cousin, Sophie Hyman.  Sophie’s father Nathan was a corset manufacturer.

I found it interesting that although Sophie selected Milton’s sister Estelle to be her only attendant, Milton did not select either of his brothers—Edwin or Louis—to be his best man or one of the ushers. Instead he selected a first cousin, Samuel Goldsmith (son of Meyer Goldsmith) to be his best man. His mother and other sisters and brother Edwin are listed among those attending the wedding; Louis was not listed, but perhaps the list did not include everyone attending.

In 1900 Milton and Sophie were living in Philadelphia where Milton continued to work as a clothing merchant.¹⁶

Thus, by 1899, Abraham Goldsmith had four married children and seven grandchildren. In 1900, he was living with his second wife Frances and his remaining five children. Estelle, his youngest child from his first marriage to Cecelia Adler, was now thirty years old and working as a school teacher.  As for Abraham’s four children with Frances, Albert, now 22, was working as a salesman. Bertha was 21 and working as a “saleslady.” Perhaps they were both working in their father’s clothing store. Alice, 18, was a milliner, and Louis, 17, was still in school. Abraham’s mother-in-law Sarah Adler, his first wife’s mother, was also still living with them. Although the census lists her as a teacher, since she was 87 years old, that seems unlikely.

The 20th century would bring new challenges and new accomplishments for the family of my three-times-great-uncle Abraham Goldsmith.