Category Archives: Places My Family Has Lived

The Family of Ernst Blumenfeld Escaped to America (And His Widow Married My Cousin from Jesberg)

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The Nazis altered the fates of all seven of the grandchildren of Moses Blumenfeld IIA. Whereas the two children of his daughter Antonie Blumenfeld Katz safely escaped to Palestine and his grandson Albert Kaufmann, son of Hedwig Blumenfeld Kaufmann, escaped to Brazil, his granddaughter Anna Kaufmann Leyser and her husband and sons were murdered at Sobibor in 1943.

As for the family of Ernst Blumenfeld, the youngest child of Moses Blumenfeld IIA, although he died at 42 in 1935, leaving behind his young widow Bella and their three young children, Bella and their children all ended up escaping Nazi Germany by coming to the US on December 5, 1939, and settling in New York City, where in 1940 they were living with Bella’s parents Levi and Rosa (Katz) Tannenbaum.1

Bella Blumenfeld and children on passenger manifest, Year: 1939; Arrival: New York, New York, USA; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Line: 1; Page Number: 132, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957

Two years later Bella remarried. Her second husband was Gustav Katz,2 born in Jesberg, Germany, on October 24, 1893, to Josef Katz and Roschen Stern.3 When I saw Katz and Jesberg, I speculated that somehow Gustav was related to my Katz and Katzenstein relatives from Jesberg, and sure enough, Gustav was my fourth cousin, twice removed! My five-times great-grandfather Schalum Katz was Gustav’s three times great-grandfather.

Gustav arrived in the US just a few weeks after Bella and her children on December 22, 1939, listing his occupation as textile merchant.4 But on his Declaration of Intention filed on July 8, 1940, he reported that he was a laundry worker,5 a sign of how challenging it must have been for some middle-class German Jews who escaped Nazi Germany to adapt to life in the US. Gustav died in February 1964; he was seventy.6 Bella outlived her second husband by 23 years. She died March 11, 1987 at the age of 87.7

Bella was survived by two of her three children with Ernst Blumenfeld, her son Paul having predeceased her by less than ten months on June 13, 1986, at the age of 54.8 I wonder whether Paul’s death hastened Bella’s demise so soon afterwards. Paul was married to Edith Stark, a Baltimore native, who was born there on March 27, 1933, and died there on April 12, 2014.9 Paul and Edith are survived by their four children and their grandchildren.

Ernst and Bella’s daughter Lore Blumenfeld married Manfried “Fred” Oppenheim in 1947.10 Fred was also a German refugee; he was born on June 12, 1920 in Kassel, Germany to Hermann Oppenheim and Esther Lehrberger.11 Fred came to the US on March 12, 1938, and in 1940 was living with his parents in New York and working as a waiter.12 His World War II draft registration shows that he was working for the Jones Beach Catering Corporation.

Manfred Oppenheim, World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for New York City, 10/16/1940 – 03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 [

Fred enlisted in the US Army on September 21, 1943, and served until June 8, 1946.13  Lore Blumenfeld Oppenheim died on November 14, 1991; she was 64.14 Her husband Fred Oppenheim died the following year on March 31, 1992.15 They were survived by their children.

Finally, Ernst and Bella’s other son Franz became Frank in the US. When he registered for the draft, he was living in New York with his mother and stepfather and working at Volume Dress Company. Frank married Rita Rae Nelkin, a native of Houston, on December 16, 1956.16 They had three children. Frank died when he was 73 on March 22, 200217. According to his obituary, “He was proud to be an American, having served in the First Infantry Division in his birthplace, Marburg. He moved to Houston in 1955 where he met his wife. In 1957 he founded Formcraft, Inc., the largest independently owned business forms company in Houston. He was known to have a kind and generous heart, a winning personality and a great sense of humor as well as being an avid fisherman, shrewd businessman and a lover of classical music.”18

Franz Blumenfeld, World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for New York City, 10/16/1940 – 03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

Fortunately Moses Blumenfeld IIA has many living descendants today in Israel and in the United States because the children of his children Antonie Blumenfeld Katz and Ernst Blumenfeld all left Germany in time, but tragically his daughter Hedwig Blumenfeld Kaufman has no living descendants since her son Albert had no children and her daughter Anna and her husband and their two children were wiped out by the Nazis. How cruel is fate that allowed some to escape and others to face a brutal death.

UPDATE: I received an email today (1/5/22) from the daughter of Paul Blumenfeld. I learned from her that Albert Kaufmann did have a daughter named Inge and that Inge had two sons. So Albert Kaufmann, and thus his mother Hedwig Blumenfeld Kaufmann, do have living descendants!

 

  1. Bella Blumenfeld and children, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: New York, New York, New York; Roll: m-t0627-02676; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 31-2115, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  2.  Bella Blumenfeld, [Bella Tannenbaum], Gender: Female, Race: White, Marriage Age: 42, Birth Date: Mar 1900, Birth Place: Germany, Marriage Date: 30 Aug 1942
    Marriage Place: New York, Manhattan, New York, New York, USA, Residence Street Address: 558 W. 164 St., Occupation: None, Father: Levi Tannenbaum, Mother : Rosa Tannenbaum, Spouse: Gustav Katz, Certificate Number: 17286, Current Marriage Number: 1, Witness 1: Leopold Blum, Witness 2: Herman Katz, New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Marriage Licenses; Borough: Manhattan; Year: 1942, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, Index to Marriage Licenses, 1908-1910, 1938-1940 ↩
  3.  Gustav Katz, Gender: männlich (Male), Birth Date: 24 Okt 1893 (24 Oct 1893)
    Birth Place: Jesberg, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office: Jesberg, Father: Joseph Katz, Mother: Röschen Katz, Certificate Number: 67, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 920; Laufende Nummer: 3824, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901 ↩
  4. Gustav Katz, ship manifest, Year: 1939; Arrival: New York, New York, USA; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Line: 6; Page Number: 99, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
  5. Gustav Katz, Declaration of Intention, The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; NAI Title: Declarations of Intention for Citizenship, 1/19/1842 – 10/29/1959; NAI Number: 4713410; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943 ↩
  6.  Gustav Katz, Social Security Number: 087-12-5580, Birth Date: 24 Oct 1893, Issue Year: Before 1951, Issue State: New York, Death Date: Feb 1964, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  7. Death notice, The Evening Sun, Baltimore, Maryland
    17 Mar 1987, Tue • Page 51 ↩
  8. Paul F Blumenfeld, Gender: Male, Race: White, Birth Date: 2 Feb 1932, Birth Place: Marbery [sic], Federal Republic of Germany, Death Date: Jun 1986, Father:
    Ernst Blumenfeld, Mother: Bella Tannenbaum, SSN: 105247709, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  9. Edith S Blumenfeld, Birth Date: 27 Mar 1933, Address: 2413 Sugarcone Rd, Residence: Baltimore, MD, Postal Code: 21209-1033, Ancestry.com. U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1. The Baltimore Sun; Publication Date: 8/ Nov/ 1959; Publication Place: Baltimore, Maryland, USA; URL: https://www.newspapers.com/image/375160159/?article=b20a5477-efc0-41f3-948f-67ae9c33effd&focus=0.28432477,0.12329582,0.3987464,0.16311908&xid=3398,
    Ancestry.com. U.S., Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-current. Obituary,The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, 12 Apr 2014, Sat • Page A16 ↩
  10. Lore Blumenfeld, Gender: Female, Marriage License Date: 18 Feb 1947, Marriage License Place: Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, Spouse:
    Manfred E Oppenheim, License Number: 5280, New York City Municipal Archives; New York, New York; Borough: Manhattan; Volume Number: 8, Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018. ↩
  11. Manfried Oppenheim, [Manfrede Fred Oppenheim], Gender: Male, Race: White, Birth Date: 12 Jun 1920, Birth Place: Federal Republic of Germany, Death Date: 31 Mar 1992, Father: Hermann Oppenheim, Mother: Emma Lehrberger, SSN: 130128175, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  12. Manfried Oppenheim, Petition Age: 23, Birth Date: 12 Jun 1920, Birth Place: Kassel, Germany, Record Type: Naturalization Petition, Arrival Date: 12 Mar 1938, Arrival Place: New York, New York, Petition Date: 18 Dec 1943, Petition Place: Birmingham, Jefferson, Alabama, USA, Petition Number: 5477, National Archives and Records Administration; Washington D.c.; ARC Title: Petitions For Naturalization, Compiled 1909 – 1991; NAI: 4522188; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States; Record Group Number: 21, Ancestry.com. Alabama, U.S., Naturalization Records, 1888-1991. Oppenheim family, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: New York, New York, New York; Roll: m-t0627-02674; Page: 64B; Enumeration District: 31-2035, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  13. Manfred F. Oppenheim, National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, USA; Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946; NAID: 1263923; Record Group Title: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1789-ca. 2007; Record Group: 64; Box Number: 14938; Reel: 5, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 ↩
  14. Lore Gertrude Blumenfeld, Gender: Female, Race: White, Birth Date: 13 Mar 1927, Birth Place: Marburg, Federal Republic of Germany, Death Date: 14 Nov 1991
    Father: Ernest Blumenfeld, Mother: Bella Tannenbaum, SSN: 132142097, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  15. See Note 11, above. ↩
  16. Frank Martin Blumenfeld, Gender: Male, Marriage Date: 16 Dec 1956, Marriage Place: Harris, Texas, USA, Spouse: Rita Rae Nelkin, Document Number:  216758, Harris County Clerk’s Office; Houston, Texas; Harris County, Texas, Marriage Records,
    Ancestry.com. Texas, U.S., Select County Marriage Records, 1837-1965 ↩
  17. Frank Martin Blumenfeld, Gender: Male, Race: White, Birth Date: 21 Mar 1929
    Birth Place: Marburg, Federal Republic of Germany, Death Date: 22 Mar 2002, Father:
    Ernest Blumenfeld, Mother: Bella Kannenbaum, SSN: 120204479, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  18. Obituary, Houston Chronicle on Mar. 24, 2002, found at https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/houstonchronicle/name/frank-blumenfeld-obituary?id=10274095 ↩

Moses Blumenfeld IIA’s Grandchildren: Did They Survive The Holocaust?

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By 1939, all three of the children of Moses Blumenfeld IIA had died, leaving behind their children, the seven grandchildren of Moses Blumenfeld IIA. Their fates were determined by the Nazis. This post will examine the fates of the children of Moses’ daughter Antonie Blumenfeld Katz and her sister Hedwig Blumenfeld Kaufmann as well as that of Antonie’s husband Moritz Katz.

Antonie’s husband Moritz Katz stayed in Marburg after Antonie died in 1939 until he was deported to Theriesenstadt on September 7, 1942; he was killed there on September 11, 1944, at the age of 73. He and Antonie were survived by their two children, Artur Katz and Margarete Martha Katz Jacobsohn. Those two children survived by leaving Nazi Germany and immigrating to Palestine (now Israel) in the 1930s.

Moritz Katz Page of Testimony at Yad Vashem, found at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=1627679&ind=1

Artur was a lawyer in Berlin until the Nazis deprived of him his right to practice law after 1933. According to his nephew Yoram Jacobson, Artur soon left for Palestine, where he changed his name to Avraham (which was probably always his Hebrew name). According to a profile on MyHeritage, Avraham was married to Edith (Hannah) Walter, and they had three children. I have no other sources so far to verify that information. Avraham Katz died on October 22, 1978, in Haifa, Israel.

Artur Avraham Katz gravestone on Gravez, found at https://gravez.me/en/deceased/275CF393-EB17-4B26-8BBF-D82EC06FEB94

Antonie’s daughter Margarete Martha Katz had married Friedrich (Fritz) Max Jacobsohn sometime before they immigrated to Israel in 1939. Fritz was born in Hanover, Germany, on July 13, 1899; his father’s name was Abraham. I have no information about his mother. Fritz, an insurance agent, had been taken to Buchenwald Concentration Camp after Kristallnacht in November 1938 and was determined to leave Germany once he was released. With the help of his brother-in-law Avraham Katz, he and Margarete immigrated to Palestine/Israel on July 24, 1939. They became citizens of Palestine on October 20, 1941.1

Margarete and Fritz Jacobsohn Palestine citizen certificate, found at the Israel State Archives website at https://www.archives.gov.il/

Margarete and Fritz had one child, their son Yoram, who was born on November 27, 1944, in Haifa. Yoram Jacobson became a prominent Kabbalist and Hasidic scholar. He taught at several academic institutions in Israel, including Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University, and overseas, including at Harvard. He was also the author of many books and articles. Yoram was married twice and had four children.

Fritz Jacobson died August 24, 1963, in Haifa. He was 64. He was survived by his wife Margarete Katz Jacobson, who died forty years later on April 12, 2003, at the age of 96. They were survived by their son Yoram and his children. Yoram died April 16, 2017, in Israel. He was 72.

Although Moritz Katz died at the hands of the Nazis in Theriesenstadt, the two children he had with Antonie Blumenfeld survived by immigrating to Palestine. Today they have living descendants in Israel.

The story of Antonie’s sister Hedwig Blumenfeld Kaufmann does not end as well.

Hedwig’s daughter Anna Kaufmann and her husband Julius Leyser did not go to Palestine with their cousins. They did, however, leave Germany for Amsterdam, but sadly that was not enough to escape the Nazis. Anna, her husband Julius, and their two young sons Ernst and Hans were all deported from the Westerbork detention camp in Amsterdam to the extermination camp at Sobibor on July 23, 1943, and were murdered there. Anna was 42, Julius was 45, Ernst thirteen, and Hans eleven.  An entire family wiped out, including two young boys.

Anna Kaufmann Leyser page of testimony at Yad Vashem, found at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=3827826&ind=1

Julius Leyser Page of Testimony at Yad Vashem, found at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=808099&ind=1

Ernst Leyser Page of Testimony at Yad Vashem, found at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=8897102&ind=1

Hans Leyser page of testimony at Yad Vashem, found at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=8897103&ind=1

Hedwig’s son Albert Kaufmann survived the Holocaust by immigrating to Brazil. His marriage to his first wife Dorothy had ended before she died on March 31, 1938, in Berlin, Germany.2 Albert had traveled to Brazil in 1924 before he’d married Dorothy, so perhaps he knew it was a good place to immigrate.3 He died in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 10, 1986, at the age of 84. According to his death record, he was survived by his second wife Georgina Correa. She was born in Brazil in 1921, the daughter of José Correa de Mendonça and Anna Emilia da Conceicao.4 The death record indicates that Albert left no children. He died from cancer.

Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Registro Civil, 1829-2012,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6QQP-KV?cc=1582573&wc=9GYK-DPJ%3A113334201%2C120190503%2C122537201 : 7 January 2019), Rio de Janeiro 02ª Circunscrição Óbitos 1985, Nov-1987, Jan image 172 of 304; Corregedor Geral da Justicia (Inspector General of Justice Offices), Rio de Janeiro.

UPDATE: I received an email today (1/5/22) from the daughter of Paul Blumenfeld. I learned from her that Albert Kaufmann did have a daughter named Inge and that Inge had two sons. So Albert Kaufmann, and thus his mother Hedwig Blumenfeld Kaufmann, do have living descendants!

The story of the family of their brother Ernst will be told in the next post.

  1. The immigration papers for Fritz and Margarete (Katz) Jacobsohn can be found at the Israel State Archives website at https://www.archives.gov.il/. You can also see them here at Friedrich Max Jacobsohn and Margarete Katz immigration documents from Israel Archives. Some of the information in this paragraph also came from the online interview with Fritz and Margerete’s son Yoram, found here. ↩
  2.  Dorothy Kaufmann, Maiden Name: Schimmelpfennig, Gender: weiblich (Female)
    Age: 30, Birth Date: abt 1908, Death Date: 31 Apr 1938, Civil Registration Office: Wilmersdorf, Death Place: Berlin, Berlin, Deutschland (Germany), Certificate Number: 545, Berlin, Deutschland; Landesarchiv Berlin; Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Laufendenummer: 1625, Ancestry.com. Berlin, Germany, Deaths, 1874-1955 ↩
  3. Albert Kaufmann, ship manifest, Albert Kaufmann, Gender: männlich (Male), Ethnicity/Nationality: Hessen, Marital Status: ledig (Single), Departure Age: 22, Birth Date: abt 1902, Residence Place: Marburg, Departure Date: 9. Jul 1924 (9 Jul 1924)
    Departure Place: Hamburg, Deutschland (Germany), Destination: Buenos Aires
    Arrival Place: La Coruna; Vigo; Rio de Janeiro; Buenos Aires; Brasilien; Uruguay; Argentinien, Occupation: Kaufmann, Ship Name: Württemberg, Shipping Clerk: Hamburg-Amerika Linie (Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft)
    Shipping Line: Hamburg-Amerika Linie (Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft), Ship Type: Dampfschiff, Ship Flag: Deutschland, Accommodation: 3. Klasse, Volume: 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 316, Staatsarchiv Hamburg; Hamburg, Deutschland; Hamburger Passagierlisten; Volume: 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 316; Page: 90; Microfilm No.: K_1856, Staatsarchiv Hamburg. Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934 ↩
  4. Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Registro Civil, 1829-2012,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:77HZ-FXW2 : 9 April 2020), Albert Kaufmann in entry for Georgina Correa Kaufmann, ; citing Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil; Corregedor Geral da Justicia (Inspector General of Justice Offices), Rio de Janeiro. ↩

Moses Blumenfeld IIA’s Surviving Children All Died Between 1930 and 1939

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Moses Blumenfeld IIA and his wife Fanny Bachrach had two children who predeceased them, Frida and Karl, and three children who survived them after Moses died in 1911 and Fanny in 1928: Antonie Blumenfeld Katz, Hedwig Blumenfeld Kaufmann, and Ernst Blumenfeld. By 1939, all three had died, Ernst at 46, Hedwig at 57, and Antonie at 63.

Hedwig died first on September 5, 1934 in Marburg.

Hedwig Blumenfeld Kaufmann death record, Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5744, Year Range: 1934, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

She was survived by her husband Moritz Kaufmann, who died just four months later on January 10, 1935. He was 79 years old. He also died in Marburg.1 I found it interesting to see that Hedwig and Moritz had returned to Germany after living some years in Paris, where their children were both born.

Hedwig and Moritz were survived by those two children. Their daughter Rachel Gertrude Anna Kaufmann (known as Anna) had married Julius Leyser on February 9, 1928, in Marburg. Julius was born in Marburg on June 2, 1898 to Markus Leyser and Lina Baum.2

Marriage record of Anna Kaufmann and Julius Leyser, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5650, Year Range: 1928, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Julius and Anna had two children: Ernst, born on February 7, 1930, in Marburg,3 and Hans, born June 18, 1932, in Marburg.4

Moritz and Hedwig’s second child, their son Albert, married Dorothy Alice Schimmelfennig in Berlin on February 10, 1928. Dorothy was born in London on April 11, 1907, the daughter of Leo Schimmelfennig and Cecelia Sarah Pick. As far as I’ve been able to determine, they did not have children. Their marriage ended in divorce.

Dorothy Schimmerfennig birth record, Registration District: Fulham, Subdistrict North East Fulham, County of London, 1907.

Marriage record of Albert Kaufmann and Dorothy Schimmelfennig, Landesarchiv Berlin; Berlin, Deutschland; Personenstandsregister Heiratsregister; Laufendenummer: 132, Register Year or Type: 1928 (Erstregister), Ancestry.com. Berlin, Germany, Marriages, 1874-1936

Ernst Blumenfeld, Moses and Fanny’s only surviving son and last born child, died on April 24, 1935, in Marburg. His three children Lore, Franz, and Paul were only eight, six and three years old, respectively, when they lost their father. Ernst was also survived by his wife Bella, who was widowed at 35.

Ernst Blumenfeld death record, Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5745, Year Range: 1935, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

Antonie Blumenfeld Katz was the first-born child of Moses and Fanny and the one who survived the longest. She outlived all her younger siblings. Yet she was only 63 when she died of uterine cancer on April 24, 1939, in Marburg. She was survived by her husband Moritz Katz and her children Artur/Avraham and Margarete.

Antonie Blumenfeld Katz death record, Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5754, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

Antonie’s death record is one of the very few German death records I’ve seen that listed a cause of death, and it was very useful to resolve a question I had about a document filed at Yad Vashem by Antonie’s son Artur, later known as Avraham. He wrote that his mother Antonie had been murdered. I found this a bit surprising since in April 1939, as far as I knew, Nazis were not generally killing Jewish women in their hometowns in Germany, though certainly there were persecution and deaths even that early. Why would Antonie have been killed at that time?

Antonie Blumenfeld Katz, Page of Testimony at Yad Vashem, found at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=842831&ind=1

In searching for the answer, I asked for help in translating Antonie’s death record. Kira Dolcimascolo of Tracing the Tribe first alerted me to the fact that the death record included a cause of death and that it was uterine cancer, and  then Cathy Meder-Dempsey and Katherine O’Grady of the German Genealogy group  were able to transcribe and translate the remainder of the cause of death—cancer achexia or extreme weight loss and muscle wasting.

Antonie was not murdered, but died of natural causes, according to her death record. Did her son Avraham not believe the death record? Or did he somehow link his mother’s medical condition to the Nazi persecution going on in Germany in the 1930s? Was she unable to get medical help? Had she refused medical help because of persecution? I don’t know. 5

In any event, by April 1939, all three of Moses IIA and Fanny (Bachrach) Blumenfeld’s children had died. What about the seven grandchildren—the children of Antonie, Hedwig, and Ernst? Their story will be told in the next post.

 

 

  1.  Moritz Kaufmann, Age: 79, Birth Date: abt 1856, Death Date: 10 Jan 1935
    Death Place: Marburg, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office: Marburg, Certificate Number: 21, Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5745, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958 ↩
  2. Julius Leyser birth record,Birth Date: 2 Jun 1898, Birth Place: Marburg, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office: Marburg, Father: Markus Leÿser, Mother: Lina Leÿser, Certificate Number: 306, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5583, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901 ↩
  3. Entry at Yad Vashem, found at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=11572295&ind=1 ↩
  4. Entry at Yad Vashem, found at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=4266841&ind=1 ↩
  5. I also found an interview that Antonie’s grandson Yoram Jacobson gave in 2012 in which he said his grandmother died in 1939, but did not attribute her death to the Nazis. See the interview at http://www.garten-des-gedenkens.de/?page_id=414&lang=EN ↩

My Cousin Moses Blumenfeld (1849-1911) of Momberg, Part I

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I now turn to the fifth of the eight children of Abraham Blumenfeld II and Giedel Strauss, their fourth son Moses Blumenfeld IIA, named presumably for his grandfather Moses Blumenfeld, the brother of my 3x-great-grandmother Breine Blumenfeld Katzenstein.  He was one of six cousins named Moses Blumenfeld on my tree, all presumably named for their grandfather (or great-grandfather) Moses Blumenfeld I.  I am referring to this Moses as IIA, the A signifying Abraham II, Moses Blumenfeld I’s oldest son and father of Moses IIA.

Moses IIA was born on December 31, 1849, in Momberg, Germany.

Arcinsys Archives Hessen,HHStAW Fonds 365 No 628, p. 17

On May 25, 1875, he married Fanny Bachrach. She was born in Rhina, Germany, to Kallman Bachrach and Jette Klebe on October 30, 1853.1

Marriage record of Moses Blumenfeld and Fanny Bachrach, Arcinsys Archives Hessen, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 585, p, 27

Moses IIA and Fanny had five children. Their first was Antonie Blumenfeld, born March 8, 1876, in Momberg.

Antonie Blumenfeld birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5555, Year Range: 1876, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Second born was Hedwig Blumenfeld, born in Marburg on July 8, 1877.

Hedwig Blumenfeld birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5556, Year Range: 1877, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Frida, a third daughter, was born on December 29, 1879.

Frida Blumenfeld birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5559, Year Range: 1880, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

She was followed by Moses IIA and Fanny’s first son, Karl, who was born on November 27, 1881, in Marburg.

Karl Blumenfeld birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5560, Year Range: 1881, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Sadly, both Frida and Karl died in March, 1882, Karl on March 3 at three months of age, and Frida eleven days later on March 14 at age two . I can’t begin to imagine the family’s grief over losing these two young children. 2

Frida and Karl Blumenfeld deaths, Arcinsys Archives Hessen, HHStAW Fonds 365 No 586 p. 35

Moses IIA and Fanny had one more child, another son, Ernst, born February 22, 1889, seven years after the deaths of Frida and Karl.

Ernst Blumenfeld birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5570, Year Range: 1889, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901

Fortunately, Ernst and his older sisters Antonie and Hedwig lived to adulthood.

Antonie married Morris Katz sometime before 1902. Morris was born in Mollenfelde, Germany, on October 28, 1870.3  Antonie and Morris had two children, a son Artur (Avraham) Katz, born September 6, 1902, in Goettingen, Germany,4 and a daughter Margarete Martha Katz, born in Marburg on September 17, 1906.5

Hedwig Blumenfeld married Moritz Kaufmann on March 16, 1900, in Marburg. Moritz, son of Jacob Kaufmann and Betty Mayer, was born on July 12, 1855, in Schotten, Germany. He was living in Paris when he married Hedwig.

Hedwig Blumenfeld and Kaufmann marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5614, Year Range: 1900, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Their two children were born in Paris where they settled: Rachel Gertrude Anna Kaufmann, born on January 12, 1901, and Albert Kaufmann, born on May 15, 1902.

Rachel Gertrude Anna Kaufmann birth record, Archives de Paris; Paris, France; Etat Civil 1792-1902, BrowseLevel: 62058_B964336, Paris, France, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1792-1930

Albert Kaufmann birth record, Archives de Paris; Paris, France; Etat Civil 1792-1902, BrowseLevel: 62058_B960111, Paris, France, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1792-1930

Moses Blumenfeld IIA did not live to see his youngest child and only surviving son Ernst get married. He died on June 3, 1911, in Marburg when he was 61.

Moses Blumenfeld IIA death record, Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5700, Year Range: 1911,  Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

Ernst Blumenfeld married on December 12, 1921, ten years after his father died . He married Bella Tannenbaum in Bad Hersfeld, Germany, where she was born on March 2, 1900, to Levi Tannenbaum and Rosa Katz.6

Ernst Blumenfeld and Bella Tannenbaum marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 907, Year Range: 1921, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930

Ernst and Bella had three children. Lore was born in Marburg on March 13, 1927.7 Her brother Franz was born two years later on March 21, 1929, in Marburg.8 The third child Paul was born three years after Franz on February 2, 1932, in Marburg.9

Fanny Bachrach Blumenfeld did not live to see the births of her last two grandchildren Franz and Paul. She died at 74 on April 9, 1928, in Marburg. She was survived by three of her children, Antonie, Hedwig, and Ernst, and by seven grandchildren.

Fanny Bachrach death record, Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5731, Year Range: 1928, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958

Unfortunately, the three surviving children of Fanny and Moses Blumenfeld IIA would not survive the 1930s. More on their stories and those of Moses and Fanny’s grandchildren in my next post.

  1. Arcinsys Archives Hessen, HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 687, 49. ↩
  2.   A separate death record for Karl states that he died on March 10. I don’t know which one is more accurate. See Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 915; Laufende Nummer: 5662, Certificate 90, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958 ↩
  3. Moritz Katz, Gender: männlich (Male), Nationality: Deutsch Juden, Residence Age: 68, Record Type: Residence, Birth Date: 28 Okt 1870 (28 Oct 1870), Birth Place: Mollenfelde, Sojourn Start Date: 2 Sep 1939, Residence Place: Marburg Marburg an der Lahn, Sojourn End Date: 5 Sep 1942, Reference Number: 02010101 oS, Document ID: 70454287, Arolsen Archives, Digital Archive; Bad Arolsen, Germany; Lists of Persecutees 2.1.1.1, Ancestry.com. Free Access: Europe, Registration of Foreigners and German Persecutees, 1939-1947. I was unable to locate an actual birth record for Moritz or a record of his marriage to Antonie. ↩
  4. The only “source” I could find for his birth date was an entry on Geni at https://www.geni.com/people/Abraham-Katz/6000000028354088593?through=6000000028354250250. I don’t know how reliable this is given that no real sources were provided on Geni. ↩
  5. Margarete’s birth date was found on her Palestine immigration papers found at the Israel State Archives, by searching for her Friedrich Max Jacobsohn,https://www.archives.gov.il/en/catalogue/group/1?kw=max%20jacobsohn ↩
  6.  Bella Tannenbaum, Gender: weiblich (Female), Birth Date: 2 Mrz 1900 (2 Mar 1900), Birth Place: Hersfeld, Bad, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office: Bad Hersfeld, Father: Levi Tannenbaum, Mother: Rosa Tannenbaum, Certificate Number: 39, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 907; Signatur: 907_7150, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901 ↩
  7. Lore Gertrude Blumenfeld, [Lore Ger Oppenheim], Gender: Female, Race: White
    Birth Date: 13 Mar 1927, Birth Place: Marburg, Federal Republic of Germany, [Marbury, Federal Republic of Germany], Death Date: 14 Nov 1991, Father: Ernest Blumenfeld
    Mother: Bella Tannenbaum, SSN: 132142097, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  8. Frank Martin Blumenfeld, Gender: Male, Race: White, Birth Date: 21 Mar 1929
    Birth Place: Marburg, Federal Republic of Germany, Death Date: 22 Mar 2002
    Father: Ernest Blumenfeld, Mother: Bella Kannenbaum, SSN: 120204479, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  9. Paul F Blumenfeld, Gender: Male, Race: White, Birth Date: 2 Feb 1932, Birth Place: Marbery, Federal Republic of Germany, Death Date: Jun 1986, Father:
    Ernst Blumenfeld, Mother: Bella Tannenbaum, SSN: 105247709, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩

Dora Blumenfeld Livingston’s Two Youngest Children Irvin and Harold

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We have already traced the stories of the six oldest children of Dora Blumenfeld Livngston and her husband Meyer Livingston, the six who were born in Germany and who came to the US with Dora in 1882 when they were young children. This last post about Dora will discuss her two youngest children, the two who were born in the US, Irvin and Harold.

Irvin Livingston, the seventh of the eight children of Dora Blumenfeld Livingston, was still a practicing lawyer in 1930, living with his wife Helen and their three children in Glencoe, New Trier, Illinois.1

Their daughter Julie married Gustav Freund (“GF”) Baer in Chicago on July 18, 1939.2 Gustav was born in Chicago on July 27, 1916, to Walter Baer and Hennie Freund. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1938.3 In 1940, they were living in Chicago where Gustav was working as a manager for Universal Wheel & Abrasive Corporation.4 Julie and Gustav had two children.

In 1940 Irvin was still practicing law and living in Chicago with Helen and their two sons. Robert was also a lawyer by that time.5 He married Gertrude Abercrombie later that year on August 29, 1940, in Chicago.6 Gertrude was the daughter of two opera singers, Thomas Abercrombie and Jane “Lulu” Janes. She was born in Austin, Texas, on February 17, 1909.7 Gertrude was already a recognized artist by the time she married Robert. She won first prize at the 1935 Chicago Art Institute Show and had a one-woman show there in 1944.

UPDATE: Thank you to Janice Webster Brown for calling to my attention this essay written by Dina Livingston, Robert and Gertrude’s daughter, about her mother’s art and how she used symbols to reveal her feelings about her marriage to Robert and other relationships.

But her marriage to Robert Livingston did not last. In 1948 she married Francis Sandiford, Jr. Robert also remarried, although I’ve yet to learn when or where or even the full name of his second wife, only that her first name is Virginia.8

Irvin and Helen’s youngest son Irvin, Jr., was a student at the University of California Berkeley when he registered for the draft on February 14, 1942.

Irvin I Livingston, Jr., World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Illinois, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1071, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

On July 19, 1947 he married Jean Louise Swarts in Chicago. Jean, the daughter of Charles Eugene Swarts and Louise Friedman, was born in Chicago on January 23, 1923,9 and like her husband Irvin, grew up in Glencoe, New Trier Illinois. Irvin, Jr., and Jean had two children.

Sadly, Irvin, Sr., did not live to see his five grandchildren grow up. He died suddenly on July 10, 1949, at the age of 65,10 just three months after the death of his brother Alfred. Irvin was the fifth sibling to die. He was survived by his wife Helen, his three children, and his remaining siblings: Herman, Gussie, and Harold.

His son Robert also was not blessed with longevity. He was only 52 when he died on August 1, 1967, in New York City. Robert had been a lawyer like his father and had been general counsel and then president of Walter E. Heller & Company, at that time the fourth largest commercial financing company in the US. He was survived by his mother and siblings as well as his wife Virginia and daughter.11

Robert’s mother Helen outlived him fifteen years; she was 91 when she died in June 1982.12 Her younger son Irvin, Jr., died on May 6, 1995, in California; he was 74.13 His sister Julie was blessed with her mother’s longevity; she was 93 when she died on October 25, 2012.14

The youngest child of Dora Blumenfeld Livingston was her son Harold Livingston. He was one of the two siblings still in Bloomington, Illinois, in 1930, along with his brother Herman. He was living with his wife Marion and son Ralph and continued to own the family department store at that time.15 In 1938, he had switched businesses and was now the owner of The House of Flowers in Bloomington. He is also listed there in 1940 with Marion listed as his wife, but by 1941, there is no listing for Harold in the Bloomington directory.16

The 1940 census record for Harold is rather confusing. It shows Harold as the owner of the flower shop living at the same address in Bloomington, but lists his wife as Lucille and son as Harold. At first I thought this was a different Harold Livingston, but given that he was the flower shop owner, I think the census record is just wrong.

Harold Livingston, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Bloomington, McLean, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00841; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 57-13, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census

In any event, Harold did not stay in Bloomington much longer. By the time he registered for the World War II draft in 1942, he had relocated to Chicago and was self-employed.

Harold H Livingston, World War II draft registration, The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War II Draft Cards (Fourth Registration), for The State of Illinois; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147; Series Number: M2097, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942

By 1944 his marriage had ended and Marion had remarried.17 Harold died in Chicago on July 2, 1950; he was 62.18 He was survived by his son Ralph and his two remaining siblings, Gussie and Herman. Ralph married in 195719 and had two sons. He died February 23, 2008, in California, at age 79.20

As we saw, Herman died a year after Harold in 1951, and Gussie, the last remaining sibling, died in 1957. Not one of the siblings made it to eighty years old, though most lived into their seventies. They are survived today by their many descendants.

Thus ends the story of Dora Blumenfeld Livingston, born in 1847 in Momberg, Germany, the fourth child of Abraham Blumenfeld II and Gidel Straus, the mother of eight children, a woman who uprooted herself from her homeland, sailing with six of her eight children to America, and who lived to see all eight reach adulthood and attain prosperity in her new country. Dora left Germany in 1882 and by doing so changed the fate of her children and their descendants.

Next we turn to her younger brother Moses Blumenfeld IIA and his story.

  1. Irvin Livingston and family, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: New Trier, Cook, Illinois; Page: 18A; Enumeration District: 2207; FHL microfilm: 2340238, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
  2. “Livingston-Baer,” Hyde Park Herald, August 24, 1939, p. 2 ↩
  3. Gustav Freund Baer, Gender: Male, Race: White, Birth Date: 27 Jul 1916, Birth Place: Chicago, Illinois, Death Date: 2 Jun 2001, Father: Walter S Baer, Mother:
    Hennie Freund, SSN: 322186356, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007. Gustav Baer, “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012”; School Name: University of Michigan; Year: 1938, Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999 ↩
  4. Gustav and Julie Baer, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00928; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 103-240, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  5. Irvin Livingston, Sr., and family, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: New Trier, Cook, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00783; Page: 63B; Enumeration District: 16-311, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  6. Robert I. Livingston, Marriage Date: 29 Aug 1940, Spouse: Gertrude Abercrombic
    Marriage Location: Cook County, IL,Marriage license: {4DDD0318-39EE-48C2-81D8-0E8A8EB63F37}, File Number: 1651842,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 ↩
  7. Gertrude Abercrombie, Birth Date: 17 Feb 1909, Gender: Female, Birth Place: Austin, Travis, Texas, USA, Father: Thomas Abercrombie, Mother: Lula M James
    Mother Residence: Chicago, Illinois, Ancestry.com. Texas, U.S., Birth Certificates, 1903-1932 ↩
  8. “R. Livingston Services To Be Held Here,” Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, 03 Aug 1967, Thu • Page 60 ↩
  9. “Wedding July 19, ” Chicago Daily News, June 25, 1947, p. 26. Jean S. Livingston
    Maiden Name: Swarts, Gender: Female, Death Age: 86, Birth Date: 23 Jan 1923, Birth Place: Chicago, Marriage Date: 19 Jul 1947, Residence Place: Danville, Death Date: 10 Jul 2009, Death Place: Danville, Calif, Father: Charles E. Swarts, Mother:Louise Swarts
    Spouse: Irvin Livingston, Mercer Island Reporter; Publication Place: California, USA; URL: http://obituaries.blackpress.ca/obits.new.php?cmpRegion=&paper=201&paperSelect=0&submit=&name=&skip=630, Ancestry.com. U.S., Obituary Collection, 1930-Current ↩
  10. Death notice, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, 11 Jul 1949, Mon • Page 46. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/195693240/irvin-i-livingston : accessed 04 November 2021), memorial page for Irvin I. Livingston (1884–1949), Find a Grave Memorial ID 195693240, citing Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Jim Craig (contributor 46551563) . ↩
  11. See Note 8. ↩
  12.  Helen Livingston, Social Security Number: 357-38-5531, Birth Date: 1 Aug 1890
    Issue Year: 1963, Issue State: Illinois, Last Residence: 60022, Glencoe, Cook, Illinois, USA, Death Date: Jun 1982, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  13. Irvin I Livingston Jr, Gender: Male, Race: White, Birth Date: 3 Apr 1921, Birth Place: Chicago, Illinois, Death Date: 6 May 1995, Father: Irvin I Livingston,
    Mother: Helen Baer, SSN: 322166988, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  14.  Julie L Baer, Social Security Number: 334-38-8021, Birth Date: 7 Jan 1919, Issue Year: 1962, Issue State: Illinois, Death Date: 25 Oct 2012, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  15. Harold Livingston and family, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Bloomington, McLean, Illinois; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 0011; FHL microfilm: 2340270, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
  16. Harold H Livingston, Bloomington City Directories, 1938, 1940, 1941, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 ↩
  17. Marion K. Livingston, Marriage Date: 19 Jun 1944, Spouse: Murray S. Mahler
    Marriage Location: Cook County, IL, Marriage license: {DDB7A346-6764-42A1-AAF7-F746F4DB826F}, File Number: 1818237, 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. ↩
  18. Harold Livingston, Death Date: 2 Jul 1950, Death Location: Cook County, IL, File Number: 6048068, 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 ↩
  19. Ralph Livingston, Marriage Date: 1 Apr 1957, Spouse: Joan M. Aubineau, Marriage Location: Cook County, IL, Marriage license: {DE63F65C-99FC-44CB-AC2C-F9A71E20936A}, File Number: 2436286, 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 ↩
  20. Ralph H Livingston, Gender: Male, Birth Date: 17 Nov 1928, Death Date: 23 Feb 2008, SSN: 351202225, Enlistment Branch: A, Enlistment Date: 16 Jun 1951, Discharge Date: 27 Jan 1953, Page number: 1, Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 ↩

Dora Blumenfeld Livingston’s Children Herman, Alfred and Gussie

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I hope all my US readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate!

Here is the penultimate chapter in the story of Dora Blumenfeld Livingston. Thanks for reading! I am grateful to you all for doing so and for all the help and support I’ve gotten from my readers. You help to give me hope and light in this darkest time of the year.

By 1930, almost all of Dora Blumenfeld Livingston’s seven surviving children had left Bloomington. The three oldest children were no longer there. Rosalie had moved to Chicago to be near her son Morton after losing her husband Albert in 1924, Maurice had died and his widow and children had moved away, and Sigmund and his family had moved to Chicago.

Herman Livingston, the fourth child, was one of the two children of Dora and Meyer still living in Bloomington as of 1930. He was still a department store owner and living with his wife Dorothy.1 By 1940 Herman was retired, and he and Dorothy were still in Bloomington.2 They lived there the rest of their lives, but also spent time in Florida. After suffering a heart attack in Florida, Herman was on his way back to Bloomington, but was taken to the hospital in Chicago where he died on February 17, 1951. He was 76. He was survived by his wife Dorothy, who died two years later.3

Alfred Livingston and his wife Eva and their daughter Miriam/Marion were living in Chicago in 1930 where Alfred had become the secretary of a musical instrument manufacturing company.4 In 1940 he was working as a representative of a wholesale gift company.5

On April 22, 1937 Alfred and Eva’s daughter Miriam married Robert Gruen in New York City.6 Robert was a native of New York, born there on April 2, 1913, to Toby Gruen and Ethel Janowitz.7 Robert was a graduate of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, majoring in painting and decorating.8

In 1940 Miriam and Robert were living in New York City and Robert was a junior executive in the motion pictures industry.9 However, on his World War II draft registration filed on October 16, 1940, he described himself as self-employed. On a 1946 temporary immigration card to Brazil, Robert described himself as a “desenhista-industrial,” or an industrial designer. Miriam and Robert had two children born in the 1940s.

Robert Gruen, World War II draft, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for New York City, 10/16/1940 – 03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

Digital GS Number: 004548695, Ancestry.com. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Immigration Cards, 1900-1965

Miriam’s father Alfred did not live long after the births of his grandchildren. He died on April 1, 1949, in Chicago.10 He was seventy years old. His obituary reported that he was “preceded in death by his parents and three children.”11 I don’t know whether the newspaper was in error and that should have read siblings, as he was preceded in death by his siblings, but by four of them: Rosalie, Maurice, and Sigmund, and also by his brother Irvin, as we will see. I have not seen any records indicating that Alfred and Eva lost three children. In 1910, three years after they’d married in 1907, Eva reported that she had had no children, living or dead. In 1920, Marion (Miriam) is the only child listed on the census. It’s possible that Eva had had three other children who had died between 1910 and 1920, but I think it’s more likely that Alfred’s obituary is wrong since I cannot find any other birth or death records for a child of Robert and Eva.

Eva Siegel Livingston died six years after her husband Alfred on April 11, 1954; she was 71. She died in Los Angeles and was survived by her daughter Miriam Livingston Gruen.12 Miriam died on November 22, 1978, at age 66 after a long illness, according to her obituary. Her obituary described her as someone “who helped turn many of East Hampton (NY)’s old homes into historic landmarks.”13 She was survived by her husband Robert Gruen, who died 21 years later in 1999,14 and their two children.

Gussie Livingston Salzenstein had lost her husband Solomon Salzenstein in 1924, but by 1930 she had remarried. Her second husband was Sam Wertheimer, whose first wife had died. Sam was born in 1871 in Buffalo, New York, to Henry and Regina Wertheimer. Sam grew up in Buffalo, but by 1898 he had relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, where he married his first wife Cora Becker.15 Cora died in 1924,16 just as Gussie’s husband Solomon had, and by 1930 Gussie and Sam had married and were living in Omaha with Gussie’s son James Salzenstein and Sam’s son, Sam, Jr. Sam was in the cattle feed business.17

James Salzenstein was still living in Omaha in 1936, working as a clerk,18 but by 1939 he had relocated to Los Angeles. That year on July 10, 1939, he married Gertrude Goodman in Chicago.19 Gertrude was born there on February 11, 1917, to Milton E. Goodman and Jessie Reinach.20 According to an article announcing their marriage, James was at that time living in Los Angeles.21 James and Gertrude settled in LA where James was working as a merchandising trainer for Sear Roebuck in 1940.22 James enlisted in the US Army on December 21, 1942, and served until October 14, 1945.23 He and Gertrude had three children.

James Salzenstein, World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for California, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1584, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

James and his family returned to the Chicago area by 1946.24 His mother Gussie was still living with her husband Sam in Omaha. Gussie died on September 12, 1957 at age 75; she was buried back in Bloomington with her first husband Solomon Salzenstein.25 She was survived by her son James and his children. James died when he was 76 on March 16, 199026 and was survived by his wife Gertrude, who lived until 201127, and their children.

Next, the two youngest children of Dora Blumenfeld Livingston, Irvin and Harold, and the final chapter in the story of the Livingston family.

 

  1. Herman and Dorothy Livingston, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Bloomington, McLean, Illinois; Page: 17B; Enumeration District: 0011; FHL microfilm: 2340270, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
  2. Herman and Dorothy Livingston, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Bloomington, McLean, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00841; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 57-10, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  3. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9199176/herman-livingston : accessed 04 November 2021), memorial page for Herman Livingston (29 Dec 1874–17 Feb 1951), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9199176, citing Jewish Cemetery, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Robin Farley Dixson Coon (contributor 46558224). “Herman Livingston,” The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois, 18 Feb 1951, Sun • Page 12 . Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9199180/dorothy-livingston : accessed 04 November 2021), memorial page for Dorothy Ensel Livingston (4 Nov 1882–17 Nov 1953), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9199180, citing Jewish Cemetery, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Robin Farley Dixson Coon (contributor 46558224) . “Mrs. Dorothy Bloomington,” The Pantagraph
    Bloomington, Illinois, 18 Nov 1953, Wed • Page 21 ↩
  4. Alfred Livingston and family, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0177; FHL microfilm: 2340156, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
  5. Alfred and Eva Livingston, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00929; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 103-257,
    Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  6. Miriam Rose Livingston, Gender: Female, Marriage Date: 22 Apr 1937, Marriage Place: Manhattan, New York, USA, Spouse: Robert Gruen, Certificate Number: 8497,
    Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937 ↩
  7. Robert Gruen, World War II draft registration, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for New York City, 10/16/1940 – 03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947; Robert Gruen
    Gender: Male, Race: White, Birth Date: 2 Apr 1913, Birth Place: New York City, New York, Death Date: 7 Jun 1999, Father: Toby Gruen, Mother: Ethel Janowitz
    SSN: 131105816, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  8.  “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012”; School Name: Carnegie Institute of Technology; Year: 1934, Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999 ↩
  9. Robert and Miriam Gruen, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: New York, New York, New York; Roll: m-t0627-02644; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 31-867,
    Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census. ↩
  10. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9199178/alfred-livingston : accessed 04 November 2021), memorial page for Alfred Livingston (15 Jan 1879–1 Apr 1949), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9199178, citing Jewish Cemetery, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Robin Farley Dixson Coon (contributor 46558224) . ↩
  11. “Alfred Livingston,” The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois, 02 Apr 1949, Sat • Page 3 ↩
  12. Eva S Livingston, Gender: Female, Birth Date: 27 Jun 1882, Birth Place: Iowa
    Death Date: 11 Apr 1954, Death Place: Los Angeles, Father’s Surname: Seigle, Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997 ↩
  13.  Miriam Gruen, Social Security Number: 068-22-2120, Birth Date: 22 Mar 1912
    Issue Year: Before 1951, Issue State: New York, Last Residence: 10021, New York, New York, New York, USA, Death Date: Nov 1978, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014. “Miriam L. Gruen,” Newsday (Nassau Edition)
    Hempstead, New York, 26 Nov 1978, Sun • Page 30. ↩
  14. Robert Gruen
    Gender: Male, Race: White, Birth Date: 2 Apr 1913, Birth Place: New York City, New York, Death Date: 7 Jun 1999, Father: Toby Gruen, Mother: Ethel Janowitz
    SSN: 131105816, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  15. Marriage record of Sam Wertheimer and Cora Becker, State Library and Archives, Nebraska State Historical Society; Lincoln, Nebraska; Nebraska, Marriage Records, Year Range: 1897-1899, Ancestry.com. Nebraska, U.S., Select County Marriage Records, 1855-1908 ↩
  16. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/223889386/cora-b-wertheimer : accessed 04 November 2021), memorial page for Cora B Wertheimer (1879–17 Feb 1924), Find a Grave Memorial ID 223889386, citing Pleasant Hill Jewish Cemetery, Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska, USA ; Maintained by Mike Hughbanks (contributor 47582335) . ↩
  17. Sam Wertheimer and family, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0088; FHL microfilm: 2341011, Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census ↩
  18. James Salzenstein, 1936 Omaha, Nebraska City Directory, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 ↩
  19. “Gertrude F. Goodman to be a Bride Tomorrow,” Chicago Tribune
    Chicago, Illinois, 09 Jul 1939, Sun • Page 79 ↩
  20. Gertrude Frances Goodman, Birth Date: 11 Feb 1917, Birth Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois, Gender: Female, Father: Milton Goodman, Mother: Jessie Reinaet [sic], FHL Film Number: 1276276, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Birth Certificates Index, 1871-1922 ↩
  21. See Note 19. ↩
  22. James and Gertrude Salzenstein, 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll: m-t0627-00401; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 60-301, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  23. James Livingston Salzenstein, Gender: Male, Birth Date: 2 May 1913
    Death Date: 16 Mar 1990, Cause of Death: Natural, SSN: 547125166, Enlistment Branch: ARMY, Enlistment Date: 21 Dec 1942, Discharge Date: 14 Oct 1945
    Page number: 1, Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 ↩
  24. “S. Livingston’s $500,000 Estate Left to Family,” Chicago Tribune
    Chicago, Illinois, 28 Jun 1946, Fri • Page 30 ↩
  25. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9198642/gussie-l-wertheimer : accessed 04 November 2021), memorial page for Gussie L Wertheimer (27 Oct 1881–12 Sep 1957), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9198642, citing Jewish Cemetery, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Robin Farley Dixson Coon (contributor 46558224) . ↩
  26. James L Salzenstein, Death Date: 16 Mar 1990, Death Location: Cook County, IL
    File Number: 6005377, 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 ↩
  27. Gertrude G Salzenstein, [Gertrude G Goodman], Gender: Female
    Race: White, Birth Date: 11 Feb 1917, Birth Place: Chicago, Illinois, Death Date: 26 Jul 2001, Father:Milton E Goodman, Mother:Jessie B Reinach, SSN: 526266835, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩

My Cousin Sigmund Livingston, The Founder of the Anti-Defamation League

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Although traditional genealogy research tools gave me many of the bare bones details of the life of Sigmund Livingston, it wasn’t until I googled his name after reading his obituary that I learned that he had founded the Anti-Defamation League and was quite an exceptional person. He thus merits his own separate post.

We’ve already seen that Sigmund was a lawyer. According to a biography published on the McLean County Museum of History website, he graduated from the law school at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington in 1894 and was second in his class. After graduating, he and William R. Bach, who had ranked first in the class, became law partners in Bloomington. Their practice was primarily devoted to civil matters.

According to the museum’s biography:1

In numerous newspaper articles, Sigmund was described as extremely intelligent and well respected. One article claimed, “he gives promise of becoming one of the ablest as well as the most prominent attorney in the state.” However, Livingston gave a personal account in his book Must Men Hate? of how, outside of dear friends, he had a “general distrust to overcome” because locals had never known of a Jewish lawyer when he was beginning his career. Livingston recalled that after a few years, he had earned their trust.

Sigmund was involved in many civic activities in Bloomington. He was active in Republican politics and a loyal supporter of the American Red Cross and of efforts to support America and its soldiers in World War I. But he is best remembered for his efforts to support Jewish Americans and to fight anti-semitism. In 1894 he became president of the Bloomington chapter of B’nai Brith, and in 1899 he was elected vice-president of the 6th district of B’nai Brith.

The museum biography described in detail the experience that Sigmund had that motivated him to become more involved in the fight against anti-semitism:

Shortly after the turn of the century, he had an experience that impacted the trajectory of the rest of his life. When he was in Chicago on business, Livingston decided to drop into a vaudeville theater to while away a couple of hours before an appointment. The show began like many others with the usual trained dog acts, jugglers, and acrobats. However, when the show turned to a couple of comedians with a “routine of bum jokes, told in dialect and at the expense of Jews,” Livingston had enough and walked out of the theater. It was this life changing event that made him decide then and there that he would try to do something about the prejudicial caricaturing of Jews.

Livingston was most disgusted with the portrayal of Jewish people in vaudeville shows and films. ….Following the show, Livingston spoke with the managers to make them aware of their cruel and inaccurate depictions of Jews. Surprisingly, the managers were willing to make a change despite them not being aware of their offense.

Believing that publicity would help to alleviate prejudice, in 1908, Livingston established the Publicity Committee of the Publicity Bureau within the B’nai B’rith, which evolved into the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) five years later. The Publicity Committee, based in Bloomington, was created to consider the problem of the defamation of Jews and named Livingston its chairman.

The website for The Pantagraph, the local Bloomington newspaper, published an article on July 11, 2010, about Sigmund and included this description of his involvement in the fight against anti-semitism and the founding and growth of the Anti-Defamation League in 1913.2

[In 1912] Livingston embarked on a lengthy tour of Europe and the Middle East, with stops in Vienna, Jerusalem, Cairo and elsewhere. In London he delivered an address titled “The Condition of the Jew in America,” and in Berlin, at an international meeting of B’nai B’rith, he spoke on the moral necessity of intervening in the internal affairs of sovereign nations “when humanity and civilization dictate.”

The Anti-Defamation League was established in Bloomington in October 1913 as an arm of the B’nai B’rith, with Livingston as its first director.

The museum biography noted that:

The organization had a fairly humble start. The ADL was established in the First National Bank building in Chicago. Livingston started out with only a $200 budget and two desks in his law office, but the ADL quickly grew into a nationwide organization. Members, led by Livingston, planned to campaign along three lines of education, vigilance, and legislation. Livingston believed that hate and fear could be overcome through education and had faith in “the essential goodness of the American people.”

As we saw, Sigmund married his wife Hilda in 1918, and their son Richard was born in 1920. In 1929, after practicing law in Bloomington for 35 years, Sigmund and his family moved to the Chicago area, where he continued to practice law. He was still practicing law there in 1940.3 Here is a photograph of Sigmund and Hilda taken around this time.

Sigmund and Hilda (Freiler) Livingston c. 1940. Courtesy of Art Zemon, found at https://genealogy.zemon.name/gramps/ppl/0/d/b21ea1d3dd971e202d0.html

He also authored ten books as well as continuing his work with the ADL and his other civic activities. His best known book, entitled Must Men Hate, was published in 1944.

Sadly, Sigmund died just two years later on June 13, 1946, at age 73.4 According to his obituary, he was a “leading Chicago corporate counsel” and had been in failing health for the past year. He was survived by his wife Hilda and their son Richard, who was at that time studying at Duke University after serving four years in the Army Air Force.5

Richard Livingston graduated from Duke in 1947, and the following year on May 30, 1948, he married Miriam “Mimi” Spector in New York City. Mimi, the daughter of Samuel and Tessie Spector, had graduated from Wellesley College.6 Richard and Mimi settled in New York and had three children.

Richard’s mother Hilda died February 20, 1962, in Highland Park, Illinois.7

Richard became a successful business owner and moved from New York City to Scarsdale in 1959, where he and his family lived until 1986. He later moved to Larchmont, New York, and also had a home in Boca Raton, Florida. He was not only successful in business; he was active in civic affairs in many different organizations as well as numerous philanthropic endeavors. He died while vacationing in Turkey on October 5, 1994, when he was 74. He was survived by his wife Mimi, their children, and grandchildren.8

Sigmund Livingston was the third of the eight children of Dora and Meyer to be born, and he was the third to die, following his brother Maurice and sister Rosalie. He was born in Germany and came to the US as a young boy with his mother. He was a successful lawyer in Bloomington and Chicago. He definitely made a lasting mark on Bloomington, but also should be remembered by all Jews everywhere for his work with the Anti-Defamation League, which continues today its hard work of fighting not only anti-semitism but all forms of prejudice and discrimination.

 

  1. A version of the biography that provides citations to its sources can be found at https://mchistory.org/perch/resources/biographies/sigmund-and-hilda-livingston-2021.pdf ↩
  2. “Bloomington Lawyer Led Anti-Semitism Fight,” The Pantagraph, July 11, 2010, found at https://pantagraph.com/special-sections/news/history-and-events/bloomington-lawyer-led-anti-semitism-fight/article_19b023ee-8c8e-11df-badf-001cc4c03286.html ↩
  3. Sigmund Livingston and family, 1930 US census, Year: 1930; Census Place: New Trier, Cook, Illinois; Page: 24A; Enumeration District: 2220; FHL microfilm: 2340238,
    Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census; 1940 US census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00929; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 103-257, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  4. Sigmund Livingston, Birth Date: abt 1873, Death Date: 13 Jun 1946, Death Place: Highland Park, Lake, Illinois, Death Age: 73, Gender: Male, Father Name: Mayer Livingston, Mother Name: Dora Blamenfeld, Spouse Name: Hilda F., FHL Film Number: 1991309, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947 ↩
  5. “Sigmund Livingston Dies in Highland Park,” The Pantagraph,
    Bloomington, Illinois, 15 Jun 1946, Sat • Page 3 ↩
  6. “Bride of Former Bloomingtonian,” The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois
    01 Jun 1948, Tue • Page 6 ↩
  7. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9198509/hilda-v-livingston : accessed 03 November 2021), memorial page for Hilda V Freiler Livingston (25 Apr 1891–20 Feb 1962), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9198509, citing Jewish Cemetery, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Robin Farley Dixson Coon (contributor 46558224) . ↩
  8. “Richard M. Livingston, businessman, philanthropist,” The Daily Times
    Mamaroneck, New York, 11 Oct 1994, Tue • Page 6 ↩

Dora Blumenfeld Livingston’s Children and Grandchildren: The Departure from Bloomington

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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.

  1. 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 ↩
  2. 1922 Bloomington directory, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 ↩
  3. See Note 1. ↩
  4. 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 ↩
  5.  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 ↩
  6. 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 ↩
  7. 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 ↩
  8. 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 ↩
  9.  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 ↩
  10.  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 ↩
  11. 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  ↩
  12. 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 ↩
  13. 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 ↩
  14. 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 ↩
  15. 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 ↩
  16. 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 ↩
  17. 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 ↩
  18. 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 ↩
  19. See obituary at https://www.losaltosonline.com/people/obituaries/ruth-livingston-schiller/article_a37f4448-b9d6-5860-8ce7-d1d6ab3387c2.html ↩
  20. 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 ↩

Dora Blumenfeld Livingston and Her Family in the 1920s: Years of Loss

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After Meyer Livingston died in 1915, his widow Dora and many of his children continued to live in Bloomington, Illinois, although some relocated to Chicago. And the family continued to grow.

Rosalie, the first-born child of Meyer and Dora, was living in Bloomington with her husband Albert Livingston and their son Morton in 1920; Albert was a dry goods merchant.1 Her brother Maurice and his wife Bertha and their two daughters Ruth and Betty May were also living in Bloomington, and Maurice listed his occupation as the proprietor of a department store.2

The second oldest son, Sigmund, married Hilda Freiler in Chicago on December 18, 1918. She was the daughter of Philip Freiler and Lizzie Ehrlich and was born on April 25, 1891, in Elgin, Illinois.3

Sigmund Livingston marriage, found at https://genealogy.zemon.name/gramps/ppl/0/d/b21ea1d3dd971e202d0.html Courtesy of Art Zemon

Here is a photograph of Sigmund and Hilda taken on their honeymoon.

Sigmund Livingston and Hilda Freilder on their honeymoon 1918. Courtesy of Art Zemon, found at https://genealogy.zemon.name/gramps/index.html

Sigmund and Hilda settled in Bloomington, where in 1920 Sigmund continued to practice law.4 Their son Richard was born on March 8, 1920, in Bloomington.5 There will be more on Sigmund and his career in a separate post.

Herman, the next oldest sibling, and his youngest brother Harold were still single and living at home with their mother Dora in 1920. Both Herman and Harold listed department store owner on the 1920 census as well as on their World War I draft registrations.6 Harold served in the Finances and Supplies Detachment of the Surgeon General’s Office of the US Army during World War I.7

Herman Livingston, World War I draft registration, Registration State: Illinois; Registration County: McLean County, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

Harold Livingston, World War I draft registration, Registration State: Illinois; Registration County: McLean County, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

Gussie, who had moved to Virginia, Illinois, with her husband Solomon Salzenstein after marrying him in 1906, had returned to Bloomington with her husband and their son James. In 1920 Solomon was working as a corn farmer.8

So in 1920 six of the eight Livingston children were still living in Bloomington. The other two, Alfred and Irvin, were in Chicago. On his 1918 registration for the draft, Alfred reported that he was the sales manager for a piano manufacturer; in 1920, he was living with his wife Eva and their daughter Miriam/Marion in Chicago, and now he described his occupation as “piano manufacturer.”9

Alfred Livingston, World War I draft registration, Registration State: Illinois; Registration County: Cook, Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

Irvin was practicing law in Chicago and living with his wife Helen and their two older children in 1920.10 Their youngest child, Irvin, Jr., was born the following year.11

The 1920s brought many changes for the family, including some very sad losses. First, Maurice Livingston died on November 19, 1923, in Bloomington. He was only 52 years old, and making it even sadder, his two daughters Ruth and Betty were only ten and seven, respectively. His wife Bertha was only 37.12 The Pantagraph, the local Bloomington newspaper, published this obituary, which reported that Maurice had been in poor health for a few years, but died suddenly of a heart attack after a night at the theater with his family.

“M. Livingston Is Suddenly Taken,” The Pantagraph, November 20, 1923, p. 5

Just a year later, Gussie Livingston lost her husband Solomon Salzenstein on September 9, 1924, in Bloomington. He was only 55, and his only child James was just eleven when he lost his father. Gussie was 43.13

There was some good news in the 1920s when the two remaining single brothers married. Herman Livingston married Dorothy Ensel in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 14, 1922. Dorothy, the daughter of Gustave Ensel and Sophie Lieber, was born in Somerset, Kentucky, on November 4, 1882.14 Herman and Dorothy settled in Bloomington.

“Ensel-Livingston,” The Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal, March 12, 1922, p. 8

Harold, the youngest child of Dora and Meyer Livingston, married Marion Kunstadter, the daughter of Samuel Kunstadter and Theodora Hess, in May 1926 in Chicago. Marion was born on October 6, 1905, in Chicago. Harold and Marion also settled in Bloomington.15

But those two happy events were bookended by two more losses in the 1920s. On January 15, 1927, the family lost its matriarch, Dora Blumenfeld Livingston; she was 79 years old.16 She was survived by seven of her eight children and her grandchildren. Dora had successfully given birth to and raised eight children and left her homeland in Germany to settle in the middle of America with her husband Meyer and his many Livingston relatives in Bloomington, Illinois. That fateful decision meant that her children and their children were spared the horrors that many of her relatives who stayed in Germany had to endure.

Dora’s death was followed by another loss a year later. Dora’s oldest child, her daughter Rosalie, lost her husband Albert Livingston on January 7, 1928.17 He was 65 years old and was survived by Rosalie and their son Morton, who was 28.

Thus, in the span of just five years from 1923 to 1928, the family suffered four losses—Maurice, Solomon, Dora, and Albert. Fortunately, the decade ended with a birth. Harold Livingston’s wife Marion gave birth to Ralph Hirsch Livingston on November 17, 1928, in Bloomington.18 Ralph was the tenth grandchild of Dora and Meyer and the last to be born.

I found it interesting that although Dora and Meyer’s children grew up with so many siblings, one of those eight children had no children (Herman) and five had just one child (Rosalie, Sigmund, Alfred, Gussie, and Harold). Only Maurice (2) and Irvin (3) had multiple children. If not for the fact that these siblings appeared to stay connected to each other geographically and presumably otherwise, I might have thought their choices to have small families were a negative response to their own childhood experiences. And if not for the fact that the family was prosperous, I might have thought that it was an economic choice.

But perhaps it was just other forces—fertility issues, the desires of their spouses, or the demands of time. And of the times themselves.

  1. Albert Livingston and family, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Bloomington Precinct 18, McLean, Illinois; Roll: T625_387; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 108, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  2. Maurice Livingston and family, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Bloomington Precinct 11, McLean, Illinois; Roll: T625_386; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 101, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  3. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9198509/hilda-v-livingston : accessed 02 November 2021), memorial page for Hilda V Freiler Livingston (25 Apr 1891–20 Feb 1962), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9198509, citing Jewish Cemetery, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Robin Farley Dixson Coon (contributor 46558224). Phillip Feilen [sic], Gender: Male, Marriage Date: 8 Jul 1883, Marriage Place: Kane, Illinois, USA, Spouse Name: Lizzie Ehrlich, Spouse Gender: Female
    Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Marriage Index, 1860-1920. Freiler family, 1900 US census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Elgin Ward 1, Kane, Illinois; Page: 3; Enumeration District: 0092; FHL microfilm: 1240311, Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census ↩
  4. Sigmund and Hilda Livingston, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Bloomington Precinct 19, McLean, Illinois; Roll: T625_387; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 109,Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  5. Richard Mayor Livingston, Gender: Male, Race: White, Birth Date: 8 Mar 1920
    Birth Place: Bloomington, Illinois, Death Date: 5 Oct 1994, Father: Livingston, Mother:
    Hilda V Feild, SSN: 322148741, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 ↩
  6. Dora, Herman, and Harold Livingston, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Bloomington Precinct 11, McLean, Illinois; Roll: T625_386; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 101, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  7.  The National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985; Record Group Number: 92; Roll or Box Number: 437, Description Date Range: 14 Mar 1918-26 Jul 1918, Ancestry.com. U.S., Army Transport Service Arriving and Departing Passenger Lists, 1910-1939 ↩
  8. Sol Salzenstein and family, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Bloomington Precinct 1, McLean, Illinois; Roll: T625_386; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 91, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  9. Alfred Livingston and family, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Chicago Ward 6, Cook (Chicago), Illinois; Roll: T625_309; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 306,
    Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  10. Irvin Livingston and family, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Chicago Ward 6, Cook (Chicago), Illinois; Roll: T625_309; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 305,
    Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  11. Irvin P Livingston, Birth Date: 2 Apr 1921, Birth Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
    Gender: Male, Father: Irvin L Livingston, Mother: Helen Baer, FHL Film Number: 1309494, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Birth Certificates Index, 1871-1922 ↩
  12. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9198500/maurice-livingston : accessed 02 November 2021), memorial page for Maurice Livingston (14 Jan 1871–19 Nov 1923), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9198500, citing Jewish Cemetery, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Robin Farley Dixson Coon (contributor 46558224) . ↩
  13. Sol. Salzenstein, Birth Date: 3 Dec 1868, Birth Place: Pleasant Plains, Ill
    Death Date: 9 Sep 1924, Death Place: Bloomington, McLean, Illinois, Burial Date: Sep 1924, Cemetery Name: Jewish, Death Age: 55, Occupation: Real Estate, Race: White
    Marital status: M, Gender: Male, Residence: Bloomington, McLean, Illinois, Father Name: Jacob Salzenstein, Father Birth Place: Germany, Mother Birth Place: Germany
    Spouse Name: Lussie [sic] Salzenstein, FHL Film Number: 1493146, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947 ↩
  14. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9199180/dorothy-livingston : accessed 02 November 2021), memorial page for Dorothy Ensel Livingston (4 Nov 1882–17 Nov 1953), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9199180, citing Jewish Cemetery, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Robin Farley Dixson Coon (contributor 46558224). Ensel family, 1880 US census, Year: 1880; Census Place: Somerset, Pulaski, Kentucky; Roll: 440; Page: 94C; Enumeration District: 086, Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives; Frankfort, Kentucky.
    Description: Film 7017487: All Counties, Ancestry.com. Kentucky, U.S., Death Records, 1852-1965 ↩
  15. Marion Kunstadter, Gender: Female, Marriage Date: 1926, Marriage Place: Champaign, Illinois, USA, Spouse: Harold Livingston, Various Illinois County Courthouses; Marriage Records; Collection Title: Marriage Records, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1800-1940. Marian Kunstadter Livingston
    Gender: Female, Race: White, Birth Date: 6 Oct 1905, Birth Place: Chicago, Illinois
    Death Date: 29 Aug 1987, Father: Samuel Kunstadter, Mother: Theodora Hess
    SSN: 341206539, Death Certificate Number: 125588, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007. Marriage announcement, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, 23 May 1926, Sun • Page 91 ↩
  16. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9198506/dora-livingston : accessed 02 November 2021), memorial page for Dora Blumenfeld Livingston (27 Jun 1848–15 Jan 1927), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9198506, citing Jewish Cemetery, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Robin Farley Dixson Coon (contributor 46558224) . ↩
  17. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9198010/albert-livingston : accessed 02 November 2021), memorial page for Albert Livingston (31 Jan 1862–7 Jan 1928), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9198010, citing Jewish Cemetery, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Robin Farley Dixson Coon (contributor 46558224) . ↩
  18.  Ralph H. Livingston, Social Security Number: 351-20-2225, Birth Date: 17 Nov 1928, Issue Year: Before 1951, Issue State: Illinois, Last Residence: 94941, Mill Valley, Marin, California, USA, Death Date: 23 Feb 2008, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩

Dora Blumenfeld Livingston’s Growing Family, 1887 to 1915

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By 1887, Meyer and Dora (Blumenfeld) Livingston, as they were now known, had eight children and were living in Bloomington, Illinois, surrounded by Meyer’s siblings and their ever-growing dry goods businesses. There were over twenty individual listings for people and businesses named Livingston in the 1889 Bloomington directory.1

The 1893 city directory also lists numerous Livingstons, including two Miss Rosalie Livingstons, one presumably the daughter of Meyer, the other the daughter of Isaac. Sigmund Livingston is listed as a law student, Maurice (formerly Moritz) as a bookkeeper for M Livingston & Co, his father’s business.

1893 Bloomington, Illinois directory, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995

I located this photograph (available under a Creative Commons license) of the six Livingston brothers taken in the late 1890s on a Flickr site belonging to Geoff Livingston, great-grandson of Irvin Livingston:

Back Row (left to right): Irvin Livingston, Alfred Livingston, Herman Livingston
Front Row (left to right): Sigmund Livingston; Harold Livingston; Maurice Livingston. From the Flickr site of Geoff Livingston, found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoliv/3894617201

On November 10, 1897, Dora and Meyer’s oldest child Rosalie married Albert Livingstone (spelled that way for both Rosalie and Albert in this wedding article). They were described as “among the most prominent members of the Hebrew society in Central Illinois,” and Rosalie was described as the daughter of “Mayer Livingstone, a wealthy merchant of this city.”

Marriage of Livingstone / Livingstone -

“Livingstone-Livingstone,” The Inter Ocean (Chicago), November 11, 1897, p. 3.

Albert, who was likely related to Rosalie although I’ve not yet figured out exactly how, was born in 1862 in Germany,2 but by 1880 when he was eighteen he was living in Bloomington.3 Albert is listed in the 1893 Bloomington directory as a “merchant tailor” in business with Julius Griesheim.4 Albert and Rosalie had one child, a son Morton born in Bloomington on October 20, 1900.5

In 1900, Meyer and Dora Blumenfeld Livingston were living with the other seven of their eight children in Bloomington, Illinois.6 The seven children living at home were Maurice (30), who was working as a merchant, Sigmund (28), a lawyer, Hermann (24), a clothing clerk possibly in his father’s store, Alfred (21), Gussie (19), Irvin (16), and Harold (12), all at school.

Meyer Livingston family, 1900 US census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Bloomington Ward 1, McLean, Illinois; Page: 6; Enumeration District: 0080; FHL microfilm: 1240321
Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census

Between 1900 and 1910, two more of Meyer and Dora’s children married, but surprisingly it was not two of the older children, but two of the younger ones. Gussie Livingston married Solomon Salzenstein on October 17, 1906. Solomon was born in Pleasant Plains, Illinois, on December 3, 1868, to Jacob and Hanna Salzenstein.7  In the newspaper article announcing their engagement, Solomon was described as a “junior member of the dry goods firm of Salzenstein Brothers in Virginia, Illinois,” and Gussie was described as “a popular society girl of Livingston.”

“Short Telegrams,” Evening Times-Republican, Marshalltown, Iowa, 30 May 1906, Wed • Page 8

Marriage record of Gussie Livingston and Sol Salzenstein, “Illinois, County Marriages, 1810-1940,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L924-RDGN?cc=1803970 : 28 November 2018), image 1 of 1; county offices, Illinois.

In 1910, Gussie and Solomon were living in Virginia, Illinois, where Solomon continued to work as a dry goods merchant.8 Solomon and Gussie had one child, James Salzenstein, born in Bloomington on May 2, 1913,9 indicating that by that time Solomon and Gussie had relocated to Bloomington from Virginia, Illinois.

Gussie’s brother Alfred also married before 1910. He married Eva Seigel on November 6, 1907, in Chicago, Illinois.[^9] Eva was born in Des Moines, Iowa on June 27, 1882, to Solomon Seigel and Mary Cohen.10 In 1910, Alfred and Eva were living in Chicago where Alfred was a lawyer in general practice. They had one child, a daughter Miriam, though sometimes identified as Marion, born in Chicago on March 22, 1912.11

Although he was not yet married, Irvin Livingston, the second youngest child of Dora and Meyer, had also moved out of the home by 1910. In 1908 he was living in Chicago, studying law at the University of Chicago, having already obtained his bachelor’s degree from Illinois Wesleyan University.

Irvin Livingston, U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012″; School Name: University of Chicago; Year: 1908 Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999

By 1910, he was practicing law in Chicago, living as a lodger.12 On January 19,1914, Irvin married Helen H. Baer,13 daughter of Joseph and Emilie/Amelia Baer, in Chicago. Helen was born on August 1, 1890, in Chicago.14 Irvin and Helen had three children: Robert, born in Chicago on December 30, 1914;15 Julie May, born January 7, 1919, in Chicago;16 and Irvin T. Livingston, born April 3, 1921, in Chicago.17

The other four sons of Dora and Meyer Livingston were still single and living at home in Bloomington in 1910. Interestingly, Dora is referred to as Toni here, a reference I’ve seen in several other places starting around this time and going forward. Meyer still owned a department store, and it appears that three of the four sons living at home were working in the family business: Morris (Moritz or Maurice), Harry (probably Herman by age and process of elimination, and Harold (although it looks like “Jarold” on the census record). Sigmund was working as a lawyer.

Meyer Livingston family, 1910 US census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Bloomington Ward 1, McLean, Illinois; Roll: T624_306; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 0081; FHL microfilm: 1374319, Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census

Later that year on November 15, 1910, Maurice married Bertha August in Rochester, New York. She was the daughter of Jacob August and Henriette Meyer and was born in Germany on January 29, 1886.18 She immigrated with her parents when she was a young child and grew up in Rochester.19 Maurice and Bertha settled in Bloomington where their two children, Ruth and Betty May, were born, Ruth on August 17, 1913,20 and Betty on January 22, 1916.21

Marriage of Bertha August and Maurice Livingston, Year Range: 1908 – 1912
Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1847-1849, 1907-1936

Meyer Loewenstein/Livingston did not survive to see the births of all his grandchildren. He died on October 10, 1915, in Bloomington when he was 75 years old.22 Meyer was survived by all eight of his children, most of whom were still living in Bloomington, and by ten grandchildren. Many of those children and grandchildren continued to contribute to the Bloomington business community for years to come, as we will see.

  1. 1889 Bloomington, Illinois City Directory, Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 ↩
  2. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9198010/albert-livingston : accessed 28 October 2021), memorial page for Albert Livingston (31 Jan 1862–7 Jan 1928), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9198010, citing Jewish Cemetery, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Robin Farley Dixson Coon (contributor 46558224) . ↩
  3. Albert Livingston, 1880 US census, Year: 1880; Census Place: Bloomington, McLean, Illinois; Roll: 230; Page: 180A; Enumeration District: 161, Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census ↩
  4. See image above. ↩
  5.  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 ↩
  6. As noted in my prior post, the notation that Dora had had eighteen children and only eight survived is an error, corrected on the 1910 census.  It also erroneously reports that the family immigrated in 1871. ↩
  7. Sol. Salzenstein, Birth Date: 3 Dec 1868, Birth Place: Pleasant Plains, Ill, Death Date: 9 Sep 1924, Death Place: Bloomington, McLean, Illinois, Burial Date: Sep 1924
    Cemetery Name: Jewish, Death Age: 55, Occupation: Real Estate, Race: White
    Marital status: M, Gender: Male, Residence: Bloomington, McLean, Illinois, Father Name: Jacob Salzenstein, Father Birth Place: Germany, Mother Birth Place: Germany
    Spouse Name: Lussie Salzenstein [sic], Comments: 11y of this place, FHL Film Number: 1493146, Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947 ↩
  8. Solomon and Gussie Salzenstein, 1910 US census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Virginia Ward 3, Cass, Illinois; Roll: T624_232; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 0029; FHL microfilm: 1374245, Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census ↩
  9. Alfred Livingston, Age: 28, Gender: Male, Birth Year: abt 1879, Marriage Type: Marriage, Marriage Date: 6 Nov 1907, Marriage Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
    Spouse Name: Eva Seigle, Spouse Age: 23, Spouse Gender: Female, FHL Film Number: 1030431, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Marriages Index, 1871-1920 ↩
  10. Eva S Livingston, [Eva S Seigle], Gender: Female, Birth Date: 27 Jun 1882
    Birth Place: Iowa, Death Date: 11 Apr 1954, Death Place: Los Angeles, Father’s Surname: Seigle, Place: Los Angeles; Date: 11 Apr 1954, Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997. New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G5QY-Q7W?cc=1923888&wc=MFVY-TM9%3A1029870501 : 2 October 2015), 4136 – vol 9244-9245, Sep 24, 1928 image 446 of 813; citing NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). The spelling of Eva’s birth name varies between Seigle, Siegle, and Siegel. ↩
  11. E.g., Miriam Livingston, New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G5QY-Q7W?cc=1923888&wc=MFVY-TM9%3A1029870501 : 2 October 2015), 4136 – vol 9244-9245, Sep 24, 1928 image 446 of 813; citing NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). Marion Livingston, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Chicago Ward 6, Cook (Chicago), Illinois; Roll: T625_309; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 306, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
  12. Irvin Livingston, 1910 US census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Chicago Ward 6, Cook, Illinois; Roll: T624_245; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0314; FHL microfilm: 1374258, Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census ↩
  13. Irvin J. Livingston, Age: 30, Gender: Male, Birth Year: abt 1884, Marriage Type: Marriage, Marriage Date: 19 Jan 1914, Marriage Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
    Spouse Name: Helen H. Baer, Spouse Age: 23, Spouse Gender: Female
    FHL Film Number: 1030564, ncestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Marriages Index, 1871-1920 ↩
  14. Baer family, 1900 US census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Chicago Ward 3, Cook, Illinois; Page: 4; Enumeration District: 0077; FHL microfilm: 1240247, Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census; Helen Livingston, Gender: Female, Age: 48
    Birth Date: 1 Aug 1890, Birth Place: Chicago Ill, Arrival Date: 13 Feb 1939, Arrival Place: Miami, Florida, USA, Ship: Florida, The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: U.S. Citizen Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Miami, Florida; NAI Number: 2774842; 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 ↩
  15. Robert Irvin Livingston, Birth Date: 30 Dec 1914, Gender: Male, Father: Irvin Livingston, Mother: Helen Baer, FHL Film Number: 1288338, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Birth Certificates Index, 1871-1922 ↩
  16. Julie May Livingston, Birth Date: 7 Jan 1919, Birth Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
    Gender: Female, Father: Irwin Livingston, Mother: Helen Baer, FHL Film Number: 1276449, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Birth Certificates Index, 1871-1922 ↩
  17. Irvin P Livingston, Birth Date: 2 Apr 1921, Birth Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
    Gender: Male, Father: Irvin L Livingston, Mother: Helen Baer, FHL Film Number: 1309494, Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, U.S., Birth Certificates Index, 1871-1922 ↩
  18. 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, Place: Los Angeles; Date: 7 Oct 1957, Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997 ↩
  19. August family, 1900 US census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Rochester Ward 16, Monroe, New York; Page: 6; Enumeration District: 0098; FHL microfilm: 1241076, Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census ↩
  20. See obituary at https://www.losaltosonline.com/people/obituaries/ruth-livingston-schiller/article_a37f4448-b9d6-5860-8ce7-d1d6ab3387c2.html ↩
  21. 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, Place: Los Angeles; Date: 3 Aug 1983; Social Security: 572427551, Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997 ↩
  22. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9198505/mayer-livingston : accessed 28 October 2021), memorial page for Mayer Livingston (Nov 1839–10 Oct 1915), Find a Grave Memorial ID 9198505, citing Jewish Cemetery, Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Robin Farley Dixson Coon (contributor 46558224) . ↩