Gussie  (“Hannah Gittel”) Brotman was Bessie and Joseph’s first child born in the United States.  She was born September 23, 1895.  Joseph died when she was just five, and her mother remarried when she was twelve.  Rather than move with her mother and younger siblings to live with Philip Moskowitz, Gussie chose to go live with her older sister, Tillie, where she helped take care of Tillie and Aaron Ressler’s three boys,  Joe, Leo, and Harry, and lived until she was married.

She married Isadore Goldschlager in 1916 (?) and had three children, Elaine, Maurice and Florence.  Isadore, who had immigrated to the US from Iasi, Romania, in 1903, was a milkman.  Gussie and Isadore lived in Brooklyn for many years and then moved to Parkchester in the Bronx in the 1940s.  Isadore died  May 3, 1957, and Gussie died in August, 1975.

Although Gussie had a difficult life, losing her father at a young age, living away from her mother starting when she was 12, and losing her sister Frieda in 1924, her grandchildren all saw her as fun and loving.  She was a great cook and loved cats, dogs, birds—any kind of animal.

 

Isadore Goldschlager and Gussie Brotman had the following children:

1. i. ELAINE GOLDSCHLAGER was born on 14 Oct 1917 in New York. She died on 24 Mar 1995 in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Florida, United States of America. She married PHILIP LEHRBAUM. He was born on 31 Dec 1911 in New York. He died on 27 Sep 2007 in Massachusetts. They had two children, Jeffrey and Jody.  They moved from Parkchester to White Plains, NY, in the early 1950s.  Philip owned a paint store in the Bronx, and Elaine worked as a paraprofessional in the White Plains public schools for many years.  They retired to West Palm Beach, FL, in the 1980s.  Elaine died March 24, 1995, and Philip died September 27, 2007.   Jeff died in 2004.
   

   Elaine 1926

    

1. 

   1927

   

   Goldschlagers 1926

   Goldschlagers c 1928

   

   Elaine 1933

   

   Elaine high school graduation

   

   Elaine 1943

   

   Elaine and Jeff 1949

   Elaine was the family historian and the matriarch for Gussie’s grandchildren after Gussie died.  She was funny, clever, warm, and affectionate.  Without her stories and memories, much of what we know about the Brotman family would have been lost forever.

   ii. MAURICE L GOLDSCHLAGER was born on 10 Jun 1919 in New York. He died on 24 Apr 1978 in Hartford, Connecticut.  He married  MARILYN BRODSKY. She was born on 17 Aug 1923 in New Jersey, USA. She died on 05 Sep 1966 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Maurice and Lynn Brodsky had three children, Beth, Suzanne, and Robin.  Maurice owned a meat packing business in Hartford, CT.  Maurice remarried Diane Brodsky and had one child with her, James.

    

1. 

   Goldschlagers 1926

   

   Goldschlagers 1931

   Golds

   

   Maurice 1939

   

   Maurice 1942

   chlagers 1935

   

   Maurice and Lynn 1946

   Maurice was a warm, loving man and an incredible tease.  He was adored by his children and his nieces and nephews.  He was proud of his military service, but almost never talked about it.  Like most of the family, he loved animals of all kinds.

   iii. FLORENCE GOLDSCHLAGER was born  in Brooklyn,New York, USA. She married JOHN NUSBAUM COHEN on September 9, 1951. He was born  in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Florence and John Cohen have three children, Amy, Julie and Ira.  John is an architect, and Florence taught and continues to tutor children with learning disabilities.

   

   Florence Goldschlager 1931

    

Gussie Elain

e and Florence 1934

Gussie has fourteen great-grandchildren living today: Zachary, Jessie, Mark, Steven, Ben, Marissa, Sharon, Lindsay, Kristen, Michael, Mackenzie, Mason, Rebecca and Maddy.  There are also seven great-great-grandchildren.

Some of Gussie’s descendants

For more pictures of Gussie’s descendants, go to this link.

Related articles

• Mt Zion and Mt Hebron (brotmanblog.wordpress.com)
• The Lower East Side (brotmanblog.wordpress.com)