The extended Sigmund family suffered one more loss between 1910 and 1920 when Leo Sigmund, Ella and Albert’s son, died at age 54 on July 31, 1913. According to his obituary, he had suffered from a nervous condition for two years. Leo’s children were only thirteen (Tracy Edna) and eleven (Albert Lloyd) when their father died. As the obituary points out, Leo was the only remaining family member carrying on the hat and fur business started by Albert Sigmund in 1846, A. Sigmund & Son.
“Well-known Merchant Who Died Yesterday,” The Baltimore Sun, August 1, 1913, p. 12
The obituary is as much a tribute to Leo’s wife Claudia as it is to Leo; it describes how she took over and even improved the business while Leo was ill as well as nursing Leo and taking care of the household.
Unfortunately, Claudia found herself in a struggle to keep the business after Leo’s death. According to a complaint she filed in 1916 to have receivers appointed to the business, her own brother Michael Hirsch fraudulently induced her to sell him the business for far less than its value in the aftermath of Leo’s death. She claimed that the business was worth at least $45,000 (if valued at more than $60,000 in assets with $14,800 in liabilities) and that she sold it to Michael for only $8,000, leaving her with only $1,600 after paying off the debts.
“Receivers for Furriers,” The Baltimore Evening Sun, December 13, 1916, p. 9
“Receivers for Sigmund & Son,” The Baltimore Sun, December 14, 1916, p. 13
I don’t know whether Claudia ever received any compensation for the alleged fraud committed by her brother as I could find no story that reported on that question. As for Michael Hirsch, he and his wife started another business, and it also ended up in bankruptcy.1
In 1920 Claudia Hirsch Sigmund and her two children, now 20 and 18, were living in Baltimore with her mother and sister. Claudia was not employed outside the home, but her daughter T. Edna was working as a stenographer for a soil improvement company and her son A. Lloyd was an office helper in a straw hat factory.
And the business started by Albert Sigmund in 1846 and that supported his family for so many years was gone.
Claudia Hirsch Sigmund and family, 1920 US census, Census Place: Baltimore Ward 13, Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland; Roll: T625_658; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 203
Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census
Fortunately, the 1910s were better years for the rest of Ella Goldschmidt Sigmund’s children and grandchildren, as the next post will reveal.
- The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, 02 Apr 1918, Tue • Page 15 ↩
Brotmanblog: A Family Journey 
I hate when people financially destroy and cheat their own family!
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Yep. And yet it happens all the time.
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I know! It happened in my family. Still stings.
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That’s awful—so sorry.
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This is truly a sad story. It shows how greed for money can destroy not only a business but also ruin a family relationship. Reading this post, I feel like turning back the clock and helping poor Claudia to find justice.
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I am hoping that somehow she did get compensated in some way. Unfortunately I can’t find any news story about the aftermath of her lawsuit. Thanks for your thoughts, Peter. I agree!
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Peter has said so well how I feel. It’s such a shame you haven’t been able to find any more about her lawsuit. She certainly deserved compensation; though that wouldn’t be able to make up for the emotional damage done.
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It wouldn’t—but it might have made her family more secure. Thanks, Su.
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True.
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Wow that is some story and family drama. First her husband passes and then her brother takes advantage but she fought back. What I find interesting is she seems to have some pretty good business sense. I wonder what led her to accept her brothers offer in the first place. I suspect foul play on his part. Sharon
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I do, too. I think she trusted him because he was her brother only to learn that he had been defrauding her. Very sad.
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Unless you have evidence to the contrary I would say it’s highly probable that he suffered from Mad Hatter‘s disease. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erethism
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Why do you think that? Would he have been exposed to mercury as a milliner or furrier?
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Ah, now I see the comment about the vapors used to stiffen the felt. Very interesting! Could be…
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That was really fascinating and horrifying to read. I went back to see what his father Albert died from, and all his obituary says is that he, like Leo, was ill for two years. Hmmmm….I wonder if he suffered from this poisoning.
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It’s a horrifying process and disease–and so sad to think of all those men who died this way because of their profession, which they probably thought was a safe and possibly lucrative way to make a living. Now I wonder, too, about Albert. You don’t have a death certificate or record?
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No—just the obituary. There might be one, but I’ve pretty much exhausted my budget for ordering records from Maryland. They charge $25 for each one….
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GOOD GRIEF! That is ridiculous. $15 should be the max anybody charges for this stuff. And most of it should be free.
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I agree—and I’ve already ordered six of them so I am maxed out for now.
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I agree with Peter’s comments, and Claudia’s brother must have somehow felt entitled to defraud his own sister, or maybe it was the greed of the wife. The deception was low-life.
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He may not have felt entitled—he may just have been a bad person! Thanks, Shirley.
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Poor Claudia – what an ordeal. I had no idea that Tracy was a name used in 1900 – I thought it was a more “current” name.
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I didn’t either! Maybe that’s why they called her Edna?
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Oh, drat, just as the story was heating up the trail went cold! How I wanted Claudia to win that suit. We’ll never know why her brother and sister-in-law’s second business went bankrupt. I just feel that all the previous developments set up the background for an absorbing novel based on the events.
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Thanks, Emily. There are novels behind ALL of our families’ stories. If only we had the time and talent to write them!
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That is true.
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