By 1930, Dora Blumenfeld Livingston was gone, but seven of her eight children were still living as were her ten grandchildren, who ranged in age from Morton Livingston, who was thirty, to Ralph Livingston, who was two. This post and the three that follow will complete the story of those children and grandchildren, starting with Dora’s two oldest children and their families: Rosalie and Maurice.
Rosalie Livingston, widowed when her husband Albert died in 1928, moved to Chicago and was living with her son Morton in 1930.1 Morton had graduated from the University of Chicago in 1921 with a Bachelors of Philosophy, but had then returned to Bloomington until at least 1922.2 I don’t know when he moved back to Chicago, but in 1930 he was working there as a plumbing fixtures salesman.3
Morton Livingston, University of Chicago 1921 yearbook, “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012”; School Name: University of Chicago; Year: 1921, Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999
Morton married Helen Pflaum on January 14, 1932.4 She was the daughter of Abraham J. Pflaum and Harriet Ettenson and was born in Chicago on December 7, 1906.5 According to the newspaper article announcing their wedding, Morton’s mother Rosalie was living at the Chicago Beach Hotel at that time. Morton and Harriet had two children born in the 1930s. In 1940, they were all living in Chicago where Morton was now working as a salesman for an investment brokerage.6
Mrs. Morton Livingston, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, 31 Jan 1932, Sun • Page 84
Rosalie was also still living at the Chicago Beach Hotel in 1940.7 She died three years later on July 19, 1943, in Chicago;8 she was 74 and was the second of Dora and Meyer’s children to die—twenty years after her brother Maurice and fifteen years after her husband Albert. She was survived by her son Morton, who died in Chicago in May 1984;9 his wife Helen had predeceased him in 1976.10 They were survived by their children.
Maurice Livingston had died in 1923, as we saw. His widow Bertha and their two daughters remained in Bloomington until at least 1930 where Bertha appears to have taken over Maurice’s role at the department store.11 On December 1, 1937, their older daughter Ruth married Stanton Robert Schiller in Chicago.12 Stanton was born in Chicago on September 4, 1912, and was the son of Morris H. Schiller and Mary Burnstein.13 In 1940 Stanton and Ruth were living in Chicago where he was a clothing salesman.14 They had two children born in the 1940s. Ruth later relocated to California where her mother and sister were living.
Ruth’s younger sister Betty married Herman Bendix, Jr. on October 30, 1938, in Los Angeles where she and her mother were then living. Betty had graduated from the University of Chicago. Herman was born in Denver on August 9, 1910, to Herman Bendix, Sr. and Clara Kohn.15 When Betty and Herman married, he was in business in Portland, Oregon, where they then settled and where in 1940 Herman was working as a traveling salesman for a ladies’ garment factory.16 By 1946 Betty and Herman had relocated to Los Angeles where her mother Bertha was still living.17 I have not been able to find any records of children born to Betty and Herman.
“Local Girl Becomes Bride in California,” The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois
03 Nov 1938, Thu • Page 8
Bertha died on October 7, 1957, in Los Angeles.18 She was survived by her two daughters, Ruth, who lived to 106 and died on April 21, 2020, in Mountain View, California,19 and Betty, who died in 1983, in Los Angeles.20
Thus, the families of both Rosalie and Maurice Livingston had left Bloomington, Illinois, behind by the time their children were adults. In fact, by 1940, as we will see, only two of the eight siblings were still in Bloomington.
Next, the third Livingston sibling, Sigmund.
- Rosalie and Morton Livingston, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Page: 20B; Enumeration District: 0129; FHL microfilm: 2340155, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
- 1922 Bloomington directory, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 ↩
- See Note 1. ↩
- Morton A. Livingston, Marriage Date: 14 Jan 1932, Spouse: Helen B. Pflaum, Marriage Location: Cook County, IL, Marriage license: {78E80849-0E1C-40E8-892B-84CEBC8682FF}, File Number: 1333793, Archive collection name: Cook County Genealogy Records (Marriages), Archive repository location: Chicago, IL, Archive repository name: Cook County Clerk, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Marriage Index, 1930-1960 ↩
- Helen P Livingston, Nationality: USA, Age: 55, Birth Date: 7 Dec 1906, Birth Place: Chicago, Illinois, USA, Arrival Date: 12 Feb 1962, Arrival Place: Miami, Florida, USA
Airline: BWIA, Flight Number: 406, The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger and Crew Manifests of Airplanes Arriving at Miami, Florida.; NAI Number: 2788541; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787 – 2004; Record Group Number: 85, Ancestry.com. Florida, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1898-1963. “Out-of-Town Wedding,” St. Joseph (Missouri) News-Press, 13 Jun 1904, p. 6; Pflaum family, 1910 US census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Chicago Ward 3, Cook, Illinois; Roll: T624_243; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0235; FHL microfilm: 1374256, Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census ↩ - Morton Livingston and family, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00928; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 103-245,
Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩ - Rosalie Livingston, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00928; Page: 81B; Enumeration District: 103-238, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
- Rosalie Livingston, Death Date: 19 Jul 1943, Death Location: Cook County, IL,
File Number: 21087, Archive collection name: Cook County Genealogy Records (Deaths), Archive repository location: Chicago, IL, Archive repository name: Cook County Clerk, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Death Index, 1908-1988 ↩ - Morton Livingston, Social Security Number: 352-05-1727, Birth Date: 20 Oct 1900
Issue Year: Before 1951, Issue State: Illinois, Last Residence: 60035, Highland Park, Lake, Illinois, USA, Death Date: May 1984, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩ - Helen Livingston, Social Security Number: 325-38-3720, Birth Date: 7 Dec 1906
Issue Year: 1962, Issue State: Illinois, Last Residence: 60035, Highland Park, Lake, Illinois, USA, Death Date: Oct 1976, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩ - Bertha Livingston and family, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Bloomington, McLean, Illinois; Page: 19B; Enumeration District: 0011; FHL microfilm: 2340270, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
- Ruth J. Livingston, Marriage Date: 1 Dec 1937, Spouse: Stanton R. Schiller
Marriage Location: Cook County, IL, Marriage license: {2B03ABBF-478F-4796-AE43-5CD16AF78743}, File Number: 1557550, Archive collection name: Cook County Genealogy Records (Marriages), Archive repository location: Chicago, IL
Archive repository name: Cook County Clerk, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Marriage Index, 1930-1960 ↩ - Stanton Schiller, Birth Date: 4 Sep 1912, Birth Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois, Ethnicity: American, Gender: Male, Race: White, Father: Morris H Schiller, Mother: Mary Burnstein, FHL Film Number: 1288265, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Birth Certificates Index, 1871-1922 ↩
- Stanton Schiller and family, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00929; Page: 62A; Enumeration District: 103-267, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
- Herman Bendix, World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Oregon, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 8, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947; Bendix family, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Denver, Denver, Colorado; Roll: T625_162; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 242, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census.Clara Kohn, Age: 22, Gender: Female, Birth Year: abt 1883, Marriage Type: Marriage, Marriage Date: 25 Oct 1905, Marriage Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois, Spouse Name: Herman Bendix, Spouse Age: 30, Spouse Gender: Male, FHL Film Number: 1030393, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Marriages Index, 1871-1920 ↩
- Herman and Betty Bendix, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Portland, Multnomah, Oregon; Roll: m-t0627-03385; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 37-24A,
Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩ - Mrs Betty Livingston Bendix, Residence Date: 1946, Street Address: 682 S Irolo St, Residence Place: Los Angeles, California, USA, Party Affiliation: Democrat, California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Register of Voters, 1900-1968, Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Voter Registrations, 1900-1968 ↩
- Bertha August Livingston, Gender: Female, Birth Date: 29 Jan 1887, Birth Place: Other Country, Death Date: 7 Oct 1957, Death Place: Los Angeles, Father’s Surname: August, Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997 ↩
- See obituary at https://www.losaltosonline.com/people/obituaries/ruth-livingston-schiller/article_a37f4448-b9d6-5860-8ce7-d1d6ab3387c2.html ↩
- Betty Livingston Bendix, Social Security #: 572427551, Gender: Female
Birth Date: 22 Jan 1916, Birth Place: Illinois, Death Date: 3 Aug 1983, Death Place: Los Angeles, Mother’s Maiden Name: August, Father’s Surname: Livingston, Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997 ↩
Brotmanblog: A Family Journey 
I guess it was common for some widows to reside in hotels of they lived in an urban area and had the means.
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Yes, my great-grandmother did that in Philadelphia for many years at the end of her life.
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As we can see again in your post, newspaper clippings are an excellent resource for family research, especially when they provide such interesting details.
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I do get my money’s worth out of my newspaper database subscriptions!
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When I was young I really wanted to live in a hotel. I thought that would be the life of luxury! I got the idea by reading a biography of poet Sara Teasdale. I guess in those days some people did that. Maybe people still do?
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My great-grandmother did. I think today older people move to independent living places instead. And then there was Eloise who lived in the Plaza Hotel in NYC. 🙂
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LOL! Yes! The whole idea of a suite freshened up every day, room service with lots of yummy things to choose from (preferably silver service), and lots of people to investigate Harriet the Spy style. All I would miss would probably be the kitties. The Gardener would be busy arranging the general tipping situation.
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I love the images! Yes, I could never live anywhere without my cats. I already worry about what will happen if/when my three current kitties die. With any luck, it will be ten years from now. Will I get new cats when I am almost 80? Is that selfish? Uch. Let’s not go there!
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You are like me. I think the same things. I used to say I would just get some real oldsters from the shelter. But having just gone through Pear and Felix’s issues, they can be a lot of work. So my options as I see them now: foster kitties (they always need people to foster them and then they go to homes so they aren’t a long term commitment); take on middle-aged cats with the promise of my kids to take them if necessary, stick to the idea of seniors, or just take in whatever kitty passes through my life needing a home. As it stands, even when I had the six, my kids promised to divvy them up. We’ve even discussed who would take whom.
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I am so glad I am not the only one who thinks this way! I know one of my daughters would take a cat or two if she lives somewhere that allows cats. The other one has a son with allergies. And I agree—watching an older cat die would be too hard. I guess we will figure it out when we need to. Life has a way of doing that for us.
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Well put.
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I remember well the Chicago Beach hotel in its last incarnation as the Fifth Army HQ. It was situated at the north end of East End Park in Hyde Park, where I spent many afternoons in the park playground. I lived in Hyde Park until I was eight, and recall that on certain afternoons, the 5th Army band would perform at the north end of the park.
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Lovely memories. Chicago is a wonderful city—I’ve only been there twice, but really fell in love with its architecture and its overall feel. And yet I thought you were from New York!
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I also had several widows who lived in hotels. I think it would be nice for a week or two but after that, I’d want to be around my own things.
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Even when I travel, the luxury of hotel living wears thin after a few weeks.
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