Tag Archives: North Philadelphia

The Long Depression, Part 2: Moving Back Home or Moving Away

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In the early 1870s Moses and Caroline (Dreyfuss) Wiler were living at 905 Franklin Avenue, just a few houses down from Caroline’s sister, Mathilde (Dreyfuss Nusbaum) Pollock and just three blocks away from their third sister, Jeanette (Dreyfuss) Nusbaum and her husband John, my three-times great-grandparents.  Ernst Nusbaum and his wife Clarissa were living down the block from his brother John. The area is known as the Poplar neighborhood in North Philadelphia. Plotting all their addresses on the map made me smile.  They must have all been so close, not only geographically but emotionally, to live so close to their siblings.  Imagine all the first cousins (some double first cousins) growing up within a short walk of each other.

map of nusbaum wiler simon homes 1870s

But as I wrote in my last post, things were not quite so idyllic in the 1870s.  The Panic of 1873 and the depression that followed had an impact on the family.  Like Mathilde and Moses Pollock, Caroline and Moses Wiler also must have felt some of that impact.  In 1873 Moses Wiler was listed in the directory without an occupation.  His partnership with his brother-in-law Moses Pollock had ended.  In 1875 he was still listed without an occupation, and they had moved from Franklin Avenue to 920 North 7th Street, still within two blocks of Caroline’s sisters.

Caroline and Moses Wiler’s son Simon also seems to have been affected by the Long Depression.  He had been part of the Simon and Pollock cloak and dry goods partnership of the late 1860s and early 1870s with his father and uncle.  After that business ended, Simon had a separate listing in the 1875 directory as a salesman, living at 701 North 6th Street, again in the same neighborhood as his extended family, just a few blocks south.  Simon was 32 and not married and presumably was doing well enough to afford his own place.  By 1877, however, he had moved back home with his parents at 920 North 7th Street.

In 1879, Moses Wiler was in the dry goods business, and his son Simon was a salesman, both living at 902 North 7th Street, as they were in 1880.  According to the 1880 census, Simon was a paper salesman, and Moses, who was 63, was a retired merchant.  Perhaps Moses had retired as early as 1873 when his listing no longer included an occupation.  Maybe he had done well enough to cope with the economic depression that occurred in 1873.

Poplar Street houses

House on Poplar Street, perhaps like those lived in by the extended Nusbaum-Dreyfuss family in the 1870s https://ssl.cdn-redfin.com/photo/93/bigphoto/440/6336440_0.jpg

By 1880, the three daughters of Caroline and Moses Wiler were no longer living with their parents.  Eliza Wiler had married Leman Simon in 1863, and in 1870 they had two children living with them, Joseph, who was five, and Flora, who was three. Sadly, in 1869, they had had a baby who was still born.   In 1870 they were living at 718 Coates Street, an address that appears not to exist anymore but was located where Fairmount Avenue is now located between the Delaware River and Old York Avenue.  Leman was in business with his brother Samuel, as he was in 1871. That business must have then ended.  According to the 1872 directory, Leman was then in the cloak business with his father Sampson Simon, who was living at the same address on Coates Street.  In 1874, Leman and Eliza had another child, Nellie, born on November 18 of that year.

By 1876, Leman was listed as a salesman, living at 920 North 7th Street with his in-laws, Moses and Caroline Wiler.  Like Simon Wiler, Leman must have been feeling the effects of that Long Depression to have moved in with his in-laws after having his own home.   The next time Leman showed up in my search, he and Eliza were living in Pittsburgh, and Leman was working in the liquor business, like his cousin Albert Nusbaum.  Although I cannot find Leman on an 1877, 1878, or 1879 directory in any city, Leman and Eliza had another child, Leon, who was born in Pittsburgh on June 13, 1878, so the family must have relocated to Pittsburgh from Philadelphia by then.

Leman and Eliza also had a daughter Minnie, who was apparently born in 1877.  I say “apparently” because I cannot find a birth record for her, and there are only two census reports that include her, the 1880 and 1900 census reports.  The first says she was 2, meaning she was born either in 1877 or 1878; the latter says she was born in December, 1877.  But if she was born in December, 1877, then Eliza could not have given birth to Leon in June, 1878, just six months later.  I do have an official record for Leon’s birthdate with Eliza Wiler and Leman Simon named as his parents, so either Minnie was born sometime before September, 1877 or she is not Eliza’s child.

There are no other records I can find to determine Minnie’s precise birthdate; her death certificate also only specified her age, not an exact date of birth, and it also is consistent with a birth year of either 1877 or 1878.  Minnie died on August 5, 1904, at age 26 (more on that in a later post), meaning she was born on or before August 5, 1878, but not any earlier than August 6, 1877.  Somehow it seems quite unlikely that Caroline gave birth in August 1877, got almost immediately pregnant, and then had another child ten months after Minnie, but….stranger things have happened.  Or perhaps Minnie was adopted. Since I cannot find a birth record for a Minnie Simon in Pennsylvania for either 1877 or 1878, that certainly is a possibility.

In any event, in 1880, Eliza (Wiler) and Leman Simon were living far from their families in Pittsburgh with their five children, Joseph, Flora, Nellie, Minnie, and Leon.  Leman was in the liquor sales business, and perhaps life was a little easier out in the western part of Pennsylvania than it was in Philadelphia.

Eliza’s younger sister Fanny Wiler married Max Michaelis on July 12, 1874, in Philadelphia.  I am still working on Fanny’s story, and there are a lot of holes so that will wait for a later post.

The youngest child of Caroline (Dreyfuss) and Moses Wiler was Clara Wiler, born in 1850.  In 1871, she married Daniel Meyers, a German born clothing merchant operating in the 1870s under the firm name D. Meyers and Company.  He and Clara were living at 718 Fairmount Street, and their family grew quickly in the 1870s.  First, their daughter Bertha was born on December 4, 1972.  Less than two years later, their son Leon was born on June 12, 1874, followed the next year by Samuel on December 15, 1875.  A fourth child, Harry, was born January 15, 1878, and Isadore on September 25, 1879.  Five children in seven years.  Wow.

And they were not yet done.  But that would bring us into the 1880s, and I am not there yet.   But Daniel’s firm must have been weathering the storm of the 1870s depression better than most, including many in the extended family.  In 1880, he was supporting five children plus his wife Clara and himself in their house on Fairmount Street.

Thus, the Wiler family like the Pollock family had its ups and downs during the 1870s.  There were marriages and babies, but also some economic struggles for at least some of the members of the family.  Adult children had to move back home, and some had to leave town to find new opportunities for making a living.

My Great-Grandfather’s Brother Joseph: 1848-1923

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Joseph was the first child of Jacob and Sarah Cohen to be born in the US; he was born on November 21, 1848, in Philadelphia, only four months after his parents’ arrival in July, 1848, meaning his mother was five months pregnant when she traveled from England to the US with her husband and toddler daughter, Fanny.  Joseph lived with his family at 136 South Street until he married Caroline Snellenburg around 1868.

Caroline was born in Germany around 1849 and emigrated to the United States with her family as a young child in 1857.  Although I cannot locate a specific marriage record for Joseph and Caroline, they probably were married sometime in or before 1868 because their first born child, Hart, was born May, 1869.  In June, 1870, when the census was taken, Caroline, Joseph and one year old Hart were living at 115 Congress Street in the same ward and district as Joseph’s parents, and Joseph was working as a tailor.

Joseph and Caroline Cohen 1870 US census

Joseph and Caroline Cohen 1870 US census

 

Then, later that year, little Hart was stricken with typhoid fever and died on November 21, 1870, only one and a half at the time.  So like his older sister Fanny and her husband Ansel who lost their daughter Rachel to typhoid fever in 1873 before she was two years old, Joseph and his wife Caroline lost a young child to typhoid.

Hart Cohen death certificate 1870

Hart Cohen death certificate 1870

I have speculated before about what these deaths must have done to young parents and whether it made them less able to attach to children or made them treasure each child more.  In the case of Joseph and Caroline, it seems they compensated by having another ten children after losing their first born.  At least one other child did not survive to adulthood, the last born child, Meyer, who was born in July 1889 and died the next month.  By having so many children, Joseph and Caroline were able to ensure that at least some of their children would survive the dangers of life back in the 19th century.

By 1875, Jacob and Caroline had four children, Jacob (1872), Bertha and Isaac (1874) and Nathan (1875) and were living at 221 South 2d Street, where they would live at least until 1886, according to various city directories.  This residence was located about half a mile north of where Joseph grew up on South Street and close to the city center of Philadelphia, near Walnut Street.

In 1875 Joseph was listed in the city directory as a clothier, and in 1879 he was in business as Cohen and Brothers with at least his younger brother Reuben and perhaps Hart and Isaac as well.  Although there is no description of what trade Cohen and Brothers were engaged in in the 1879 directory, on the 1880 census Joseph’s occupation was described as a dealer in clothing so he was still in the clothing trade.

Joseph Cohen and family 1880 census

Joseph Cohen and family 1880 census

In 1881, however, the city directory lists his business as being a pawnbroker, like his father and his brothers Isaac and Reuben (Hart was still a clothier), but also as a clothier at his home location.  So by 1881, Joseph had followed in his father’s footsteps and was working as a pawnbroker but also selling clothing.

Perhaps Joseph was engaged in two businesses for good reason.  By 1881, he and Caroline had five children, Sallie having been born in 1877.  By 1884, they had two more, Fannie (1882) and Julia (1884).  By 1886, the family had moved, perhaps to accommodate all these new and growing children, to 703 South 12th Street, and Joseph was in business with his younger brother Lewis Cohen and had a store at 701 South 12th Street, right next door to his residence.  This was a move closer to Broad Street near South Street, so presumably a good business location.   In 1887, Joseph and Caroline had two more children, twins named Morris and Samuel.

The business and the family remained at this location at least through 1889, and then in 1892, Joseph had a store at 1200 South Street and was residing at 710 North 5th Street.  This was a move four miles north, and so nearing the turn of the century, Joseph, like his sister Fanny, was living in North Philadelphia, part of the migration of Jews from the southern to the northern parts of the city.  Presumably, the business and the family were doing quite well.

Interestingly, in 1900, Joseph and Caroline and the children were living in Cape May, New Jersey, where Joseph was working as a pawnbroker.  I assume that he was working to establish a new store in a new territory, perhaps for one of his sons. Or maybe after the death of infant Meyer in August of 1889, they just needed a change of scenery.  Although the records conflict, some records indicate that the twins Morris and Samuel were born in Cape May in August, 1887, so it could be that this was a second stay for the family in Cape May.

Joseph Cohen and family 1900 census

Joseph Cohen and family 1900 census

Although Joseph and Caroline’s oldest son Jacob was already married at this point, he is listed on the census as living in Cape May with his parents in 1900.  (He is also listed as living with his wife and child back in Philadelphia, so I assume he was shuttling back and forth.)  His occupation was as a jeweler, a business that I know became a part of the Cohen family businesses.  His younger brother Isaac was working as a traveling salesman, and Nathan, then 25, was working as a clerk in the pawn store.

By 1903, however, Joseph was back in Philadelphia, working at the store at 1200 South Street, and in 1910 Joseph and Caroline were living with six of their adult children at 1915 Diamond Street, another few miles north and west of where they had lived in 1889.

Joseph Cohen and family 1910 census

Joseph Cohen and family 1910 census

Joseph was described as the proprietor of a business, but I cannot decipher the script for what type of business.  If one of you can, I’d love to know.

Detail: What is the word after "Proprietor" on Joseph Cohen's line?

Detail: What is the word after “Proprietor” on Joseph Cohen’s line?

Sam and Morris were working in a department store (maybe Ansel’s, maybe their father’s?), and Nathan was working as a loan officer in a bank.  Imagine that! A rebel in the family, abandoning the long tradition of being merchants and pawnbrokers.

On October 17, 1918, Joseph and Caroline lost another child, but this time an adult child.  Their son Morris, who was only 30 years old, died from pneumonia after having influenza.  Morris was married to Helen Goodman and working as a sheet metal worker in the manufacture of automobile radiators, according to his death certificate and 1917 World War I draft registration.  He had only completed that draft registration a few months before his death.

Morris Cohen death certificate

Morris Cohen death certificate

Morris Cohen draft registration for World War I

Morris Cohen draft registration for World War I

In 1920, Joseph and Caroline were living with just two of their adult children, Nathan, now 43 and still working as a loan officer, and Fanny, who was 35 and not employed outside the home.  Joseph had no occupation listed on this census, and he and Caroline were now 70 years old.  They were living at 1914 Erie Avenue, even further north and west from their prior home on Diamond Street.

Joseph Cohen and family 1920 census

Joseph Cohen and family 1920 census

Joseph died three years later, on June 10, 1923, from chronic endocarditis, another family member dying from heart disease.  The contributing causes were chronic parenchymalious nephritis.  According to my medical consultant and brother, this is form of kidney disease.

Joseph Cohen death certificate 1923

Joseph Cohen death certificate 1923

Caroline died the following year on April 3, 1924.  I do not have a death certificate for her, but both she and Joseph were buried in Mt Sinai cemetery.  Together they had endured a fair share of heartache, losing at least two children as babies and one as an adult, but they also had enjoyed a fair amount of financial security and the company of many of their children.  As with Fanny, Jacob and Sarah would have been pleased to know that their son Joseph had overall lived a good life.

 

 

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1846-1911:  Frances Cohen Hamberg, My Great-Grandfather’s Oldest Sibling

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By 1870, Jacob and Sarah’s oldest child, the baby they had brought with them from England, was married.  Frances, or Fanny, had married Ansel Hamberg in 1866, and they had had three daughters in those four years: Bertha (1866), Sarah (1868) and Hannah (1869).  Ansel was working as a pawnbroker with his father-in-law Jacob, according to the 1868 city directory.  The family was living in Ward 13, District 38, at 533 Lorain Street, a street that I cannot find on a current map.

Fanny and Ansel Hamberg and family 1870 census

Fanny and Ansel Hamberg and family 1870 census

One additional note on Ansel before we move forward, especially since this is Memorial Weekend.  He served as a second lieutenant in the Union forces during the Civil War and was cited in a number of newspaper articles as an example of the Jewish men who fought for their country during that war.  He was commissioned as a colonel after the war in 1872, and even volunteered his services to the Secretary of War in 1898 during the Spanish-American War.  I don’t know that he ever was called to duty during that war, however.  He was born in Germany and came to the US as a young boy, but obviously felt a strong tie to his adopted country.

In 1872 and 1877, Ansel was working as a pawnbroker at 233 South 9th Street, according to the city directories for those years.  At home, Fanny and Ansel were having more children.  Rachel was born in 1872, but died just a year later of typhoid fever.

Rachel Hamberg death certificate June 17, 1783

Rachel Hamberg death certificate June 17, 1783

Another daughter, Caroline, was born in 1879.   In 1880 the family was living on Lombard Street in the Seventh Ward, not too far from 136 South Street where Jacob and the other children were living.

Hamberg Family 1880 US census

Hamberg Family 1880 US census

Ansel was still working as a pawnbroker in 1881, now at 515 South 8th Street, just a few blocks away, so perhaps they moved to be closer to where he was working.

From 1882 through and 1884 Ansel continued to work as a pawnbroker, although moving to new locations in 1882 and in 1884.  I cannot tell from these records whether he was still working with Jacob or whether he was on his own, nor can I determine why he kept moving.

In 1887, the family was living at 1323 South Street, and Ansel was now listing his business as “livery” at 609 South 13th Street.  A year later his occupation in the directory was men’s furnishings, and he remained in the clothing business from that point on until his death.  The family also continued to live at 1323 South Street during this entire time period, a location right near Broad Street and further west from where Fanny had grown up.

In 1900, Fanny and Ansel were still living at 1323 South Street, and three of their daughters, Bertha, Hannah, and Caroline, now 33, 30, and 21, were living at home and all working as “salesladies,” perhaps in the “furnishing store” where Ansel worked and perhaps that he owned.  There was also a male servant living with them, Alexander Blunt.  From the address and the fact that they had a servant, I assume that the family was doing quite well.  Although I have not yet found a marriage record for the fourth sister, Sarah, I assume that sometime between 1880 and 1900, she had married, as I know from later records that she was married to a man named Harry Speare.

Hamberg family 1900

Hamberg family 1900

 

Sadly, on December 16, 1901, Ansel died at age 61 of heart disease and was buried at Mt Sinai Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Ansel Hamberg death certificate 1901

Ansel Hamberg death certificate 1901

In 1903, Frances, now a widow, was listed in the city directory, still living at the same address, under the “Men’s Furnishings” category, so it would appear that she took over running the store.  In 1910, Frances and two of her daughters, Bertha and Caroline (Carrie) were still living together, now at 1532 Page Street in North Philadelphia.  Frances’ occupation was owner/manager, if I am reading the handwriting on the 1910 census correctly.  Bertha was working as a mail order clerk for a department store, and Carrie was working as a saleswoman in a department store.  I am assuming that the department store was the family store, the one owned and managed by their mother.  Hannah had married by this time.

Hamberg family 1910

Hamberg family 1910

Ten years after Ansel died, his wife Frances, my great-grandaunt, died on October 24, 1911.  She was 65 years old.  The cause of death was hemiplegia, with contributing causes given as “nephrotic mitral stenosis,”, which, according to my medical expert, sounds like a combination of health issues—heart, kidney, and who knows what else.  Hemiplegia is defined as “total or partial paralysis of one side of the body that results from disease of or injury to the motor centers of the brain” by the Merriam-Webster online dictionary.  Overall, it sounds like Frances was in poor health for many reasons.  She was buried at Mt Sinai cemetery with her husband Ansel.

Fannie Cohen Hamberg death certificate 1911

Fannie Cohen Hamberg death certificate 1911

Looking back over Fanny’s life, it seems like a fairly good life, despite losing one child to typhoid fever.  She and her husband Ansel had a long marriage and seemed to build a business of their own once Ansel left the pawnbroker trade and focused on men’s clothing instead.  They lived in one location for many years after bouncing around earlier on when Ansel was a pawnbroker.  They raised four daughters and even had a servant living with them for some time.

At the end, Fanny and her daughters Bertha and Carrie were able to move to a neighborhood in North Philadelphia, the area where more and more Jews were moving by the end of the 19th century.  I imagine those last ten years as a time when these three adult women, Fanny, Bertha and Carrie, were, like their aunt Elizabeth Cohen, not living the traditional roles assigned to women.  They were all unmarried, working outside the home, and even owning a business.

If Jacob left England to find a better life for his family, Fanny’s life may have been some evidence that his hopes were fulfilled.

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I had thought I would write one post that covered four of the siblings, but now I see that that would make for very long posts.  For now, I will instead write one post per sibling and see how that goes.

 

 

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