Milton Goldsmith: A Victim of Conscience

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Amy

In my last post we saw what my cousin Milton Goldsmith predicted for the 21^st century; in this post, we will start to look at his life in the 20^th century.

In 1900, Milton was recently married to Sophie Hyman of New York City, and the newlywed couple were living in Philadelphia where Milton continued to make a living as a clothing merchant. Their first child, Rosalind, was born on February 1, 1901, in Philadelphia,¹ and a second daughter, Madeleine, followed on May 20, 1904, also in Philadelphia.²

By this time Milton had published his first novel, Rabbi and Priest (1891), as discussed here, as well as a second novel, A Victim of Conscience (1903).³

A Victim of Conscience takes place in the 1850s in a city that is unnamed but (based on the street names) is most likely Philadelphia. The main character is a recent German Jewish immigrant named Isaac Schwartz. He has been in America for four years at the beginning of the novel and is living in dire poverty, desperate for a way to earn enough money to support his family. He finally decides to go to California to join the gold rush. There he encounters anti-Semitism and abuse and ultimately commits the crime that makes him a “victim of conscience.”

The principal theme of the book is atonement. Isaac seeks advice from a rabbi about how to atone for his crime and is discouraged by some of the rigidity of Jewish law. He then considers converting to Catholicism and studies with a priest, but ultimately decides that he can’t accept the notion that mere faith in Christ as his savior will provide salvation. In the end he learns that Judaism can provide a path to forgiveness and expiation for his sins.

The book’s focus is thus on Isaac’s struggle with his conscience and how religion affects that struggle. But the book is of more interest to me in the way that it reflects the way my cousin Milton understood his own family’s story—their life in Germany, their reasons for leaving Germany, and the life they found when they first settled in the US fifty years before he wrote this book. A few excerpts will illustrate what I mean.

Although I have no reason to assume that Milton was being at all autobiographical in describing the lives of some of his characters, I did wonder whether this description of Isaac’s life in Germany was based on his father Abraham’s life in Oberlistingen before emigrating:⁴

Isaac’s father, old Meyer Schwartz, was a power in his native village of D. He was in fair circumstances, and educated as far as education went in those days; for the Jews, rich and poor alike, were denied the privileges of the village schools, and were limited in their instruction to the teachings of their “Cheders ” and the scraps of information which they could impart one to the other. Old Schwartz was a profound Talmud scholar, and was deemed as wise as he was devout, which was no equivocal compliment, for he was pious indeed. … It was [his] ambition to make a Rabbi of [Isaac], but in spite of his earnest and painstaking instruction, Isaac never got beyond the general outlines of the law and the Talmud. Buying and selling afforded him more pleasure than poring over parchments, and, after a vain effort to keep him to his studies, old Schwartz reluctantly allowed him to follow his own inclinations.

Milton also provided some background for the reasons so many German Jews emigrated:⁵

In those days the Jews in Germany had few rights and many grievances. Harsh measures were devised, stringent laws enacted to drive them out of the country, or at least to restrict their increase. The possession and cultivation of land, the study of a profession, the following of the fine arts, were all interdicted. Buying and selling, borrowing and lending, were the only channels in which the Israelites were allowed to exercise their ingenuity, and grievous was their condition in consequence. Worse still, a Jew was not allowed to marry until some co-religionist in the community had died or had moved away.

His main character Isaac decides to emigrate because he wants to marry the woman he loves, Lena, and cannot stay in his home community and do so.

Milton also described the hard lives of the Jews who made a living as peddlers after coming to the US, as his father Abraham probably did:⁶

A number of peddlers were among the visitors, stalwart young fellows but lately arrived from Germany, who, with a heavy pack on their shoulders, or, if their means allowed, with horse and wagon, wandered through the State, hawking a varied assortment of merchandise, and seeking to master the American tongue while they accumulated American dollars. It was a hard experience, but a salutary one. For the pious Jews, peddling meant untold privations, a total abstinence of all food except eggs and such “Kosher” dried meats as they could carry with them. It meant a weary trudging through unfamiliar villages, over stony roads, amid hostile surroundings, from Sunday morning until Friday evening, and a short rest on the Sabbath in some synagogue town.

It was a career which might well have daunted the most enterprising youth, and yet thousands of “greenhorns ” adopted it, thrived at it, became wealthy through it. It was not considered degrading in those pioneer days, but eminently proper for a new arrival.

19th century etching of a peddler by Granger found at http://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-peddler-19th-century-granger.html

The book also sheds light on the lives of German Jewish families in Philadelphia during that time period—the level of observance of Jewish law, the economic and social conditions, and the relationship between the Jewish and non-Jewish communities. The book is likely more valuable today for what it reveals about its times than for its literary merit, but for me, it was a worthwhile read.

Thus, by 1903, Milton had published two novels and written many essays, short stories, and even a musical. He and his family must have decided that it was time to leave Philadelphia and move to New York City where he might have more opportunities to pursue his literary career.

You can download a free copy of A Victim of Conscience here.

Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Births, 1860-1906,” database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VBYW-R9L : 9 March 2018), Rosalind Goldsmith, 01 Feb 1901; citing bk 1901 p 107, Department of Records; FHL microfilm 1,289,340. ↩
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Births, 1860-1906,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VBBL-N5K : 8 December 2014), Madeline Goldsmith, 29 May 1904; citing cn 22583, Department of Records; FHL microfilm 2,110,933. ↩
Milton Goldsmith, A Victim of Conscience (Henry T. Coates & Co., 1903). ↩
Ibid., p.6. ↩
Ibid., p. 7. ↩
Ibid., pp. 84-85. ↩

More Goldschmidts Become Goldsmiths in Philadelphia

Posted on February 2, 2018 by Amy

In my last post we saw how my three-times great-uncle Jacob Goldsmith came to the United States and settled in Philadelphia by 1850, then married and had seven children in the 1850s and 1860s. He also established a retail clothing business on Market Street.

But Jacob was not the only child of Seligmann and Hincka to come to the US as early as the 1850s. His younger brother Abraham was the second of Seligmann and Hincka’s children to come to the US. Abraham was born in March 13, 1832:

Birth record of Abraham Goldschmidt
Geburtsregister der Juden von Oberlistingen (Breuna) 1826-1852 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 668)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Wiesbaden, p. 4

Abraham arrived in the US on August 21, 1850, listing his occupation as a merchant:

Abraham Goldschmidt passenger manifest 1850
Year: 1850; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 091; Line: 1; List Number: 951

On January 17, 1858, he married Cecelia Adler in Philadelphia. Cecelia was the daughter of Samuel Adler and Sarah Kargau, and she was born on November 26, 1838, in Würzberg, Germany. She and her parents had immigrated to the US by 1850 and settled in Philadelphia where her father was a merchant.

Marriage record of Abraham Goldschmidt and Cecelia Adler
Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records; Reel: 792
Organization Name: Congregation Rodeph Shalom
Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1669-2013

In 1860, Abraham and Cecelia were living in Philadelphia, where Abraham was a clothier with $15,000 worth of personal property. That he amassed that much money so quickly indicates to me that he must have been either a very successful business person, or either his parents or his in-laws provided a substantial financial cushion. Note that Abraham, like his brother Jacob, had Americanized his name from Goldschmidt to Goldsmith.

Abraham and Cecelia (Adler) Goldsmith 1860 census
Year: 1860; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 13, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: M653_1163; Page: 914; Family History Library Film: 805163

Abraham and Cecelia had six children between 1861 and 1870: Milton (1861), Hildegard (1862), Edwin (1864), Rose (1866), Emily (1868), and Estelle (1870). In 1870, Abraham now claimed he had $25,000 worth of real estate and $20,000 worth of personal property. He continued to be in the clothing business. Cecelia’s parents were also living with Abraham and Cecelia and their six children in 1870, as well as three domestic servants [shown on the next page of the census].

Abraham Goldsmith and family 1870 census
Year: 1870; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 12 District 35, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: M593_1396; Page: 133B; Family History Library Film: 552895

Thus, like his older brother Jacob, Abraham was quite well-settled in Philadelphia by 1870.

The youngest son of Seligmann and Hincka, Meyer, was the third brother to immigrate. He was born October 25, 1834, apparently registered with the name Rafael. I still believe that this was the same child later known as Meyer, based on his age on several US records and the fact that the 1900 census says that he was born in October 1834, and there is no other birth registered to Seligmann Goldschmidt and Hincka Alexander for that month and year.

Birth record of Rafael/Meyer Goldschmidt 1834
Geburtsregister der Juden von Oberlistingen (Breuna) 1826-1852 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 668)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Wiesbaden, p. 5

Meyer arrived in the US on July 8, 1852. He was seventeen years old.

Meier Goldschmidt passenger manifest
Year: 1852; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 116; Line: 1; List Number: 895

According to the 1900 census, in 1859, Meyer married Helene Hohenfels, daughter of Jordan and Adelaide Hohenfels, all of whom had emigrated from Germany to the US by 1850. Meyer and Helene’s first child Eugene was born on October 6, 1859, in Newton, New Jersey, which is about 100 miles north of Philadelphia and sixty miles west of New York City.

In 1860 Meyer, Helene, and Eugene were living in Newton; Meyer was working as a “merchant tailor” and had $4000 worth of personal property. Also living with them were a servant and a thirteen year old boy named George Stone from the Hesse region, whose relationship to the family I’ve not determined. Like Jacob and Abraham, Meyer had changed the spelling of his surname to Goldsmith.

Meyer Goldsmith and Helene Hohenfels 1860 census
Year: 1860; Census Place: Newton, Sussex, New Jersey; Roll: M653_709; Page: 605; Family History Library Film: 803709

By 1863 or so, Meyer and his family had relocated to Philadelphia where his siblings were living. On the 1870 census, you can see that while his first two children were born in New Jersey, the third, who was seven in 1870, was born in Pennsylvania. By 1870 Meyer and Helene had five children: Eugene (1859), Heloise (1860), Maurice (1863), Samuel (1867), and Rosa (1869). Meyer was working as a wholesale clothier and claimed $2000 in personal property. (I guess all those children ate into the $4000 worth of savings they’d had in 1860!) A sixth child, Florence, would be born in 1872.

Meyer Goldsmith 1870 census
Year: 1870; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 13 District 39, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: M593_1397; Page: 465A; Family History Library Film: 552896

Levy, the second oldest son of Seligmann and Hincka, was the next to come to the US. He was born November 10, 1824. He arrived in the US on September 20, 1853, and also settled in Philadelphia.

Levy Goldschmidt passenger manifest
Year: 1853; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 132; Line: 1; List Number: 991

Two years after arriving he married Henryetta Lebenbach in Philadelphia on March 21, 1855.

Marriage record of Levy Goldschmidt and Henryette Lebenbach
Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records; Reel: 792

In 1860, they were living in Philadelphia with two daughters, Eva (1856) and Estella (1859). He claimed $7,000 worth of personal property, and like his brothers, was now using the surname Goldsmith. Interestingly, he also seems to have changed the spelling of his first name from Levy to Levi. It looks like Henryette had also adopted a new spelling of her name—Henrietta.

Levi Goldsmith and family 1860 census

Levi was, like his three brothers, in the clothing business. A search of the Philadelphia directories for these years revealed that at least Abraham and Levi were in business together.

Title: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1862
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995

Goldsmiths in the 1866 Philadelphia directory
Title: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1866
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995

I say “at least” Abraham and Levi were in business together because I think it’s possible that Jacob was also in the same business. If you compare these two directory listings, one in 1862, one on 1866, you can see that whereas in 1862 Jacob was at 335 Market Street and Levi and Abraham at 532 Market Street, in 1866 they’d reversed—Jacob was at 532 and Levi and Abraham at 335.

By 1870, Levi (here spelled Levy) and Henrietta had seven children. After Eva and Estella came George (1861), Felix (1862), Helen (1865), Blanche (1868), and Sylvester (1869). Levy reported that he was in the wholesale clothing business and that he had $25,000 in real estate and $50,000 in personal property. He obviously was doing quite well.

Levy Goldsmith and family 1870 census
Year: 1870; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 20 District 64, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: M593_1406; Page: 293B; Family History Library Film: 552905

Although by 1853, all four sons of Seligmann Goldschmidt and Hincka Alexander had thus left Germany for the United States, their four sisters—Sarah, Bette, Eva, and Rose—were still in Germany at that point. But soon enough two of them also would come to the US.

In 1856 my great-great-grandmother Eva Goldschmidt arrived with her husband Gerson Katzenstein, and they, too, settled in Philadelphia, as I’ve written about previously. They came with their three oldest children: Scholum (1848), Jacob (1851), and Brendina (1853). And as noted before, traveling with them were some of the children of Gerson’s sister Hannchen Katzenstein Mansbach, who were also cousins to the children of Eva Goldschmidt’s sister Sarah Goldschmidt Mansbach. As already described, Eva and Gerson would have three more children in the US: Perry (1856), Hannah (1859), and my great-grandmother Hilda (1863).

Seligmann and Hincka’s youngest child, Roschen or Rosa, was born on October 27, 1837.

Birth record of Roschen Goldschmidt
Geburtsregister der Juden von Oberlistingen (Breuna) 1826-1852 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 668)AutorHessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Wiesbaden, p. 9

She arrived in the US on July 9, 1860:

Roschen Goldschmidt passenger manifest
Year: 1860; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 202; Line: 1; List Number: 597

On January 20, 1864 she married Bernhardt Metz, another German immigrant. They would have four children between 1865 and 1870: Hattie (1865), Paul (1867), Emily (1869), and Bertha (1870). In 1870, they were living in Philadelphia where Bernhardt was a cloak manufacturer. He claimed $10,000 of real estate and $2000 of personal property:

Bernhardt and Rosa (Goldschmidt) Metz 1870 census
Year: 1870; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 20 District 66, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: M593_1407; Page: 438B; Family History Library Film: 552906

Thus, by 1860, all but two of Seligmann and Hincka’s children had emigrated to the US, and by 1870, those in the US were all living in Philadelphia and married with children; all the sons were working in the clothing industry.

Only two siblings were still in Germany: Sarah, the oldest daughter, and Bette/Biele. After 1870, the children of Sarah Goldschmidt and her husband Abraham Mansbach II would also begin to emigrate, followed by Sarah and Abraham themselves in 1882, as discussed in my next post.

The Goldschmidts Come to America

Posted on January 26, 2018 by Amy

I was all set to be logical and sequential and report on each of the children of my three-times great-grandparents Seligmann and Hincka (Alexander) Goldschmidt, starting with their oldest child Sarah Goldschmidt and her husband Abraham Mansbach II. I began their story in this post, but then I realized that I could not tell the rest of the story of the children of Sarah and Abraham without some background regarding the other members of the Goldschmidt family.

What triggered this realization was this ship manifest:

Henry Schoenthal and Helene Lilienfeld with Analie Mansbach on 1872 ship manifest lines 95 to 98
Year: 1872; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 359; Line: 1; List Number: 484

Notice that this is the 1872 manifest for Henry Schoenthal, the brother of my great-grandfather Isidore Schoenthal. Henry had settled in Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1866, but then returned to Germany to marry Helen Lilienfeld. Then on May 24, 1872, Henry and Helen returned to the US, as shown on this manifest.

Why am I talking about a Schoenthal in the context of telling the story of the Goldschmidts?

Because on that manifest (lines 6 and 7, above) were two eighteen-year-old women both named Amalie Mansbach who were apparently sailing with Henry and Helen (lines 5 and 8). I believe that one of those two Amalie Mansbachs was Merla Mansbach, the daughter of Sarah Goldschmidt and Abraham Mansbach II. Merla Mansbach was born on December 10, 1853, meaning she would have been eighteen in May, 1872.

Birth record of Merla Mansbach
HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 384, p. 55

But why would Merla Mansbach be sailing with Henry Schoenthal? He was from Sielen, his wife Helen was from Gudensberg, and Merla was from Maden—all towns within a reasonable distance of each other in the Hesse region of Germany, with Maden and Gudensberg being very near each other. There had to be a connection.

And that drove me back to my earlier posts about Henry Schoenthal and how he ended up in Washington, Pennsylvania, a small town in western Pennsylvania about 30 miles from Pittsburgh. And those posts reminded me that Henry was not the first Schoenthal to settle in western Pennsylvania—his father Levi’s sister (my three-times great-aunt) Fradchen Schoenthal had preceded him some twenty years before.

And Fradchen Schoenthal was married to Simon Falcke Goldschmidt, the brother of Seligmann Goldschmidt and great-uncle of Merla/Amalie Mansbach:

So I am going to digress a bit from the story of the family of my three-times great-grandfather Seligmann Goldschmidt to tell the story of his younger brother Simon Falcke Goldschmidt because telling the story of the Goldschmidt’s immigration to the United States has to start with Simon, who was the first to arrive.

Simon was the youngest of the four sons of Jacob Falcke Goldschmidt and Eva Reuben Seligmann; according to numerous US records, he was born in 1795. In 1822, he married Eveline Katzenstein of Grebenstein (no known familial connection to my Katzensteins). Together they had five children: Jacob (1825), Lena (1828), Hewa “Eva” (1836), Joseph (1837), and Jesajas (1839), all born in Oberlistingen.

Notice the large gap between Lena, born in 1828, and the next child Hewa born in 1836.[1]

David Baron located a record that perhaps provides a reason for that gap; it seems that in 1826 Simon was charged with burglary and attempted robbery. (HStAM Fonds 261 Kriminalakten 1822-1836 No G 40.) I requested a copy of the file from the Marburg archives and learned that the file covers Simon’s appeal of a ten year sentence for his criminal activity. The listing online indicates that the date of appellate decision was December 24, 1830.

The contact person at the Marburg archives did not reveal the outcome of the appeal, so I am now hoping to find someone who might be able to go to Marburg and provide me with a summary (in English) of the judgment. (I could order a copy, but it would be costly and in German. My German has improved, but 130 pages of a legal decision would be too great a challenge!)

Since Simon and Eveline had three more children beginning in 1836, I suppose it’s possible he served some of that ten year sentence. Sadly, Simon and Eveline’s last two babies did not survive. Both Joseph and Jesajas died in infancy.

Joseph Goldschmidt death record
Sterberegister der Juden von Oberlistingen (Breuna) 1827-1852 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 671), p. 6

Josajas Goldschmidt death record
Sterberegister der Juden von Oberlistingen (Breuna) 1827-1852 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 671), p. 7

And then Simon lost his wife Eveline as well. She died on August 19, 1840, in Oberlistingen:

Eveline Katzenstein Goldschmidt death record
Sterberegister der Juden von Oberlistingen (Breuna) 1827-1852 (HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 671), p. 8

Simon was left on his own to raise his fifteen year old son Jacob, twelve year old daughter Lena, and four year old Hewa/Eva.

Four years after Eveline’s death he married my three-times great-aunt Fradchen Schoenthal on September 10, 1844. Fradchen, the daughter of my three-times great-grandparents Heinemann Schoenthal and Hendel Berenstein, was 37 years old when she married Simon. Thus, as early as 1844, my Schoenthal and Goldschmidt lines had merged, explaining why Merla/Amalia Mansbach would have been sailing with Henry Schoenthal in 1872.

Marriage of Simon Goldschmidt and Fradchen Schoenthal
HHStAW Abt. 365 Nr. 669, S. 11

A year after marrying, Simon and Fradchen left Germany for the United States, arriving in Baltimore with Simon’s youngest daughter Eva on September 20, 1845.

Passenger manifest for Simon Goldschmidt, Fanny Schoenthal and Eva Goldschmidt
Ancestry.com. Baltimore, Passenger Lists, 1820-1964 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
Original data: Selected Passenger and Crew Lists and Manifests. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

They must have settled first in Baltimore because Simon and Fradchen had two children who were born there, Henry on January 10, 1847, and Hannah on June 5, 1848. I assume that Henry was named for Heinemann Schoenthal and Hannah for Hendel Berenstein Schoenthal, their maternal grandparents and my three-times great-grandparents.

By 1850, Simon and Fradchen (also known as Fanny) were living in Pittsburgh with Henry and Hannah as well as two of Simon’s children from his first marriage, Lena and Eva. Simon was working as a tailor and had Americanized his surname to Goldsmith.[2]

Simon Goldschmidt and family 1850 census
Year: 1850; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 3, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: M432_745; Page: 135A; Image: 274

Simon lost his second wife Fradchen/Fanny soon thereafter; she died on August 11, 1850, at age 43. (The year on the headstone appears to be incorrect; based on the age given on both the marriage record and manifest, Fradchen’s birth year would have been 1807, not 1800. The 1850 census said she was then 39, not 50. Plus it’s unlikely she had children at ages 47 and 48.) She left behind two very young children, Henry and Hannah, as well as her three stepchildren, Jacob, Lena, and Eva, and her husband Simon.

Meanwhile, Simon’s son Jacob from his first marriage had settled in Washington, Pennsylvania, by 1850; he was working as a tailor and living with two other men who were tailors. Like his father Simon, Jacob had changed his surname to Goldsmith.

Jacob Goldsmith (Simon’s son) 1850 US census
Year: 1850; Census Place: Washington, Washington, Pennsylvania; Roll: M432_834; Page: 363A; Image: 244

Sometime after 1850 Jacob married Fannie Silverman. (The 1900 census reports that Jacob, who was then widowed, had been married 51 years, but given that he was still single in 1850, that seems unlikely).

Jacob and Fannie had thirteen children between 1853 and 1871—first, six daughters, then three sons, then another four daughters. Wow. I will report on them in more detail in a later post. For now, I will only name those born between 1853 and 1860: Ellena (1853), Emma (1854), Anna (1855), Rachel (1857), Leonora (1858), and Celia (1860). Six daughters in seven years.

Sometime after Fradchen died, Simon moved to Washington, Pennsylvania, to be with his son Jacob. In 1860, Simon and his two youngest children, Henry and Hannah, were living with Simon’s son Jacob and Jacob’s wife Fannie and their six daughters. Henry and Hannah were only five and six years older than their oldest nieces, Emma and Anna. I assume that Simon needed Fannie and Jacob’s help in raising Henry and Hannah.

Jacob Goldsmith and family 1860 US census
Year: 1860; Census Place: Washington, Washington, Pennsylvania; Roll: M653_1192; Page: 1188; Image: 627; Family History Library Film: 805192

Simon’s other two children, Lena and Hewa/Eva, were married and on their own by 1860. Lena had married another German immigrant, Gustave Basch in 1856. In 1860, they were living in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, with their first two children, Frank (1858) and Jacob (1859).

Lena Goldschmidt and Gustave Basch and sons 1860 census Year: 1860; Census Place: Connellsville, Fayette, Pennsylvania; Roll: M653_1110; Page: 422; Family History Library Film: 805110

The story of Simon’s other daughter Eva has already been told. She married Marcus Bohm, an immigrant from Warsaw, Poland, and they had a daughter born in 1862 named Ella who married my great-great-uncle Jacob Katzenstein (son of Gerson Katzenstein and Eva Goldschmidt and thus also Ella’s cousin). Ella and one of her sons died in the Johnstown flood in 1889. With Ella Bohm’s marriage to Jacob Katzenstein, my Goldschmidt and Katzenstein lines had merged.

I won’t repeat the research and story of Eva Goldsmith and Marcus Bohm, but despite further searching, I unfortunately have not yet found any record for either their marriage or Eva’s death. What I have concluded, however, is that Eva had died by 1870 because by then her daughter Ella was living with Eva’s brother Jacob Goldsmith.

Jacob Goldsmith and family on the 1870 census
Year: 1870; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 12 District 36, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Thus, by 1860, all the members of the family of Simon Goldschmidt were living in western Pennsylvania, most of them in Washington, Pennsylvania, where Fradchen’s nephew Henry Schoenthal would arrive six years later, soon followed by his siblings.

By the 1880s, there were thus familial connections between the Goldschmidt family and the Schoenthal family and also between the Goldschmidt family and the Katzenstein family. These overlapping connections laid the groundwork for the 1888 marriage of my great-grandparents, Isidore Schoenthal and Hilda Katzenstein, whose mother was a Goldschmidt. It’s amazing to see how the many lines in the family came together in the pairing of two of my direct ancestors.

——

[1] I do not have German birth records for Jacob or Lena, only US records. For the last three children, I was able to locate Oberlistingen birth records.

[2] The names on this census are switched around. Simon’s wife was Fanny, not Lena, and his daughter was Eva, not Fanny. Another reminder of how unreliable census records can be.

A Year with the Katzensteins

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Amy

Hilda Katzenstein Schoenthal, my great-grandmother

When I finish (as much as we ever finish) telling the story of a particular family line, I always have mixed feelings. In some ways I feel a sense of relief—I’ve accomplished my goal. It feels good to know that I’ve covered to the best of my ability the story of my direct ancestors and their descendants in that family as well as the stories of their siblings and their descendants.

But it is also in some ways bittersweet. Each family brings its own color and depth to my family history, and each time I’ve been so fortunate to find living descendants—people who share that history, but know it from a different perspective. As I move away from that story, it feels like leaving a family after a long visit. You’ve just gotten to know them, and now it’s time to move on. Not that I ever forget, and I always try and stay connected with the cousins I’ve found, but my focus shifts. So it’s a separation, and those are always bittersweet.

I have been studying the Katzenstein family for over a year now, starting with my great-great-grandfather Gerson and his descendants and then on to each of his siblings and their stories. I have found and in some cases met wonderful new cousins—many cousins who descend from Gerson’s sister Rahel and her husband Jacob Katz and who settled in Kentucky and Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Abraham Katz and family c. 1906
courtesy of the Katz family

Jake Katz
Photo found in Stanley Tucker Whitney Houston, Stillwater (Arcadia Publishing 2014), p. 38

There were the descendants of Hannchen Katzenstein Mansbach who lived in West Virginia and Maryland. These are all places where I never imagined I had cousins.

Some of those cousins came as children from Germany with their parents to escape Hitler. Some ended up in the US, others in South America, South Africa, and Israel.

Front row: Eva Baumann, Fred Abrahams, Martin Abrahams, Margot Baumann. Courtesy of Martin Abrahams

Other cousins have roots in the US going back to the Civil War. One cousin fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

H.H. Mansbach
Courtesy of John Fazenbaker at FindAGrave
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=85694927&PIpi=56133066

My cousins were mostly merchants, and some were cattle ranchers. One of my great-grandmother’s brothers lost his wife and child in the Johnstown Flood. Some cousins lived incredibly long lives; some died far too young. Some were wealthy; some were not. And some never made it out of Germany. Far too many were killed by the Nazis. One was still singing at 93, and one was killed by a terrorist when he was in his 30s.

It has been a fascinating and rewarding year for me. I have learned so much about this family and about my Jesberg roots—the town where my great-great-grandfather Gerson grew up and the town he left as a young man with three children in 1856 to come to Philadelphia. My great-grandmother Hilda never saw Jesberg, the town where her father was born and where three of her siblings were born. But I did. I was able to visit Jesberg in May and see where my Katzenstein family had its roots. It was a moving experience that would not have been nearly as meaningful if I hadn’t already spent seven months learning about all those Katzenstein ancestors who lived there.

So it is bittersweet to move on.

I have now written about all eight of my great-grandparents—-Joseph Brotman, Bessie Brod, Moritz Goldschlager, Ghitla Rosenzweig, Emanuel Cohen, Eva Mae Seligman, Isidor Schoenthal, and Hilda Katzenstein. Those are eight of the family names with which I had the most familiarity before I ever started down this path.[1] The names ahead are less familiar—the names of some of my great-great-grandparents—Jacobs, Hamberg, Dreyfuss, Goldschmidt, Schoenfeld, Bernheim, Bernstein, and so on. Which one comes next?

Stay tuned. But first some posts to catch up on a few other matters.

[1] I did not know the birth names of my great-grandmothers Bessie and Ghitla. And I did know one more name—Nusbaum, my father’s middle name and the birth name of my great-great-grandmother Frances Nusbaum Seligman.

My Great-Grandmother Hilda

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Amy

I have now written about all of the siblings of my great-grandmother, Hilda Katzenstein Schoenthal, as well as about her parents and some of her aunts, uncles, and cousins. I still have more of the Katzenstein extended family to discuss, but first I want to look back at the life of my great-grandmother. Her story has been covered only in bits and pieces through the stories of her husband and children and through the stories of her parents and siblings. Isn’t that all too often the case with women—that their stories are seen only through the stories of those who surrounded them? Especially since this is Women’s History Month, I wanted to be sure to give my great-grandmother her own page, her own story.

Hilda Katzenstein Schoenthal, my great-grandmother

Hilda was the third daughter and sixth and youngest child of her parents, Gerson Katzenstein and Eva Goldschmidt. She was the third of the six to be born in the United States—in Philadelphia on August 17, 1863.

When Hilda was three years old, her sibling closest in age, Hannah, died at age seven from scarlet fever. Hilda was seven years younger than her brother Perry, who was the second closest to her in age, and so there was a big gap between Hilda and her surviving older siblings. Joe was fifteen years older, Jacob thirteen years older, and Brendena was ten years older than Hilda. My great-grandmother was the baby of the family, and I would imagine that after losing their daughter Hannah, her parents must have been very protective of her.

Gerson Katzenstein and family 1870 census, Year: 1870; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 16 Dist 48 (2nd Enum), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: M593_1429; Page: 708B; Image: 96949; Family History Library Film: 552928

Her sister Brendena married Jacob Schlesinger in 1871 when Hilda was just eight years old. By the time Hilda was ten years old in 1873, her oldest brother Joe had moved to Washington, Pennsylvania, and within a few years after that her other two brothers, Jacob and Perry, had also moved to western Pennsylvania. Thus, Hilda was still quite young when her older siblings left home, leaving her to live with just her parents.

Year: 1880; Census Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1173; Family History Film: 1255173; Page: 274B; Enumeration District: 219; Image: 0561

Katzenstein family Year: 1880; Census Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1173; Family History Film: 1255173; Page: 274B; Enumeration District: 219; Image: 0561

But her brother Joe’s move to Washington, Pennsylvania proved fateful for Hilda and for my family as it was there that she met her future husband, my great-grandfather Isidore Schoenthal, who had only arrived in the US a few years earlier from Sielen, Germany.

The Daily Republican
(Monongahela, Pennsylvania)
11 Aug 1887, Thu • Page 4

Hilda married him in 1888 when she was 25 years old and settled with him in Little Washington where he was a china dealer. Their first son, Lester, was born that same year.

Isidore Schoenthal

Then a series of tragic events hit the Katzenstein family. In the spring 1889, Hilda’s brother Jacob lost his wife Ella and both of his sons, one before the Johnstown flood and two as a result of the flood. The following year, my great-grandfather Gerson died at age 75. Hilda named her second child for her father; Gerson Katzenstein Schoenthal was born on January 20, 1892. A year later Hilda lost her mother, Eva Goldschmidt Katzenstein, on September 6, 1893; she was 66.

Hilda did not have another child until August, 1901, when my great-uncle Harold was born—more than nine years after Gerson. Just a few months after Harold’s birth, Hilda’s brother Joe died in December, 1901; just over a year and a half later, her brother Perry died in August, 1903. Hilda was forty years old and had lost her parents and three of her five siblings. Only Jacob and Brendena remained.

In March, 1904, my great-grandmother Hilda gave birth to her last child and only daughter, my grandmother Eva Schoenthal, named for Hilda’s mother Eva Goldschmidt Katzenstein.

My grandmother, Eva Schoenthal

When my grandmother was just a small child, her parents decided to leave Washington, Pennsylvania, and move to Denver, Colorado, believing that the mountain air would be better for their son Gerson, who had developed asthma.

Thus, Hilda packed up her children and belongings and moved far away from her two remaining siblings: Brendena, who was living with her husband Jacob and family in Philadelphia, and Jacob, who by that time had remarried and was living with his second wife Bertha and their children in Johnstown. I don’t believe Hilda or Isidore knew anyone in Denver, but somehow they started their lives over in this city far from their families back east.

They remained in Denver for at least twenty years, raising my grandmother and my great-uncles. During the many years that Hilda lived in Denver, her brother Jacob died, and her sister Brendena lost her husband as well as both of her daughters. It must have been hard to live so far away from all of her family during those painful times.

Isidore, Hilda (Katzenstein), and Eva Schoenthal in Denver

After many years in Denver, Hilda and Isidore moved back east. Their son Harold had gone back east for college, and my grandmother had moved to Philadelphia after she married my grandfather, John Nusbaum Cohen, in 1923. She had met him when, after graduating from high school, she’d gone to visit relatives in Philadelphia, probably Brendena’s family.

My father and aunt were born in the 1920s, and they were my great-grandparents’ only grandchildren at that time. I assume that they were part of the reason that by 1930, my great-grandparents returned to the east and settled in Montclair, New Jersey, where their son Harold lived and not far from my grandmother and my aunt and father.

HIlda (Katzenstein) Schoenthal, Eva (Schoenthal) Cohen, Eva Hilda Cohen, and Harold Schoenthal

Hilda and Isidore lived in Montclair until 1941 when they moved to Philadelphia so that my grandmother could take care of them, both being elderly and in poor health by that time. Hilda died from pneumonia on August 17, 1941, just seven months after the move to Philadelphia; she died on her 78^th birthday. Her husband Isidore died eleven months later on July 10, 1942. They were buried at Restland Memorial Park in East Hanover, New Jersey.

Looking back over my great-grandmother’s life, I have several thoughts. Although she was the baby of the family, she was also the only one who ventured far from where her family lived. Her brothers left Philadelphia, but never left Pennsylvania; her sister lived in Philadelphia for her entire life after arriving as a child from Germany. Hilda moved across the state to marry Isidore Schoenthal, and Hilda was the only Katzenstein sibling to leave the east, moving with her husband and four children all the way to Colorado.

Her life was also marked by many losses, some quite tragic: a sister died as a young child, her parents died before Hilda was thirty years old, and two of her brothers died before Hilda was forty. Several nieces and nephews also died prematurely. Her brother Jacob also predeceased her; she was 52 when he died. So many losses must have had an effect on her perspective on life.

On the other hand, she had a long marriage and four children who grew to adulthood. She lived to see two of her grandchildren, my father and aunt, grow to be teenagers. My father remembers her as a loving, affectionate, and sweet woman; she loved to cook, and when for a period of time he lived near her in Montclair, she would make lunch for him on school days.

Hilda saw more of America than her parents and siblings, and she lived longer than any of them except for her sister Brendena, who survived her. She endured many losses in her life, but the love she received from her family must have outweighed all that sadness, for my father recalls her as a very loving and positive woman.

Jacob Katzenstein’s Second Family: Conclusion

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Amy

As I wrote in my last post, as of 1940 my great-great uncle Jacob Katzenstein’s second family was still centered in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Although his daughter Helen was living in New Rochelle, New York with her husband John A. Rodgers, a career Army officer, and their three children, and his son Maurice and his wife Grace were living in Michigan, Jacob’s widow Bertha and their other four children (who were all in or close to their forties by then)—Gerald, Eva, Leo, and Perry—were all still in Johnstown. Gerald, Eva, and Leo were unmarried and living with their mother Bertha. Perry was married and had two children; he and his wife lost their almost-four month old daughter Judith in March 1940.

Then on November 10, 1940, Helen Katzenstein Rodgers died; she was only 48 years old and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery where her husband John would later be buried. I could not find an obituary or a death record for Helen. She was survived by her husband and three daughters as well as her mother and five siblings.

Ancestry.com. U.S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Original data: Interment Control Forms, 1928–1962. Interment Control Forms, A1 2110-B. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985, Record Group 92. The National Archives at College Park, College Park, Maryland.

The only Katzenstein brother for whom I found a World War II draft registration was Gerald because the online databases only include the cards for the so-called Old Man’s Draft, i.e., for those born between April 28, 1877 and February 16, 1897. Leo, Maurice, and Perry were all born after February 16, 1897, and so are not in the database. Gerald’s card shows that he was working at Lee’s Clothing and that he was living at 221 Haynes Street where his mother, his emergency contact, also resided. Also, the draft card states that Gerald was missing the first joint on the index finger of his right hand.

Gerald Katzenstein World War 2 draft registration
The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Draft Registration Cards for Fourth Registration for Pennsylvania, 04/27/1942 – 04/27/1942; NAI Number: 563728; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147

On February 12, 1943, Bertha Miller Katzenstein died from a coronary occlusion and generalized arteriosclerosis; she was 75 years old. She was survived by her remaining five children and was buried with her husband Jacob at Grandview cemetery in Johnstown. She had outlived him by 27 years.

Bertha Miller Katzenstein death certificate
Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Pennsylvania, USA; Certificate Number Range: 010551-013400

Headstone for Bertha Miller Katzenstein
courtesy of Find-A-Grave Member Brian J. Ensley (#47190867)

Sometime after 1942 when he registered as single for the draft, Gerald Katzenstein married Florence Mae Lint. Gerald would have been in his early fifties; Florence, who was born in 1902, would have been in her forties. Florence was, like Gerald, a native of Johnstown, the daughter of Joseph Lint, who worked as a brakeman in a steel mill, and Eva Ann Thomas, another Johnstown native. Eva Ann Thomas Lint died in 1938, and in 1940 Florence and her father were living with Florence’s sister Gussie Henton and her husband. Florence was a milliner working in a retail hat store called Keyser-Lint Hats, a business in which she presumably had a partial ownership.

Florence Lint on 1940 census
Year: 1940; Census Place: Johnstown, Cambria, Pennsylvania; Roll: T627_3455; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 11-97

Gerald and Florence must have married by 1945 because Florence is listed in the Johnstown directory of that year as the wife of Gerald Katzenstein; she was still working at Keyser-Lint Hats. Her father died March 21, 1945, and Gerald’s mother had died two years before. Had Florence and Gerald waited until their parents were gone to marry? Gerald was now working as a division manager for Sears, Roebuck and Company.

Katzensteins in the 1945 Johnstown directory
Title : Johnstown, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1945
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Original data: Original sources vary according to directory.

Leo Katzenstein was living with Gerald and Florence at 303 Franklin Ave in 1945, and he was working as the manager of P & Q Clothes. Eva Katzenstein continued to work as a bank teller and also continued to live at 221 Haynes Street where her mother and brothers had once lived. The youngest sibling Perry continued to do advertising sales for the Johnstown Tribune and lived with his wife and family on Vickroy Avenue. Two years later in 1947, the only change in the listings for any of the Katzenstein siblings was that Leo was now living with Eva at 221 Haynes instead of with Gerald and Florence.

Maurice, the only surviving sibling not living in Johnstown, worked as an electrician for Nash Kelvinator at their defense plant in Lansing, Michigan from 1942 until 1945, and then in 1946 he became a design engineer for the State Highway Department in Lansing, where he lived with his wife Grace. “Highway Design Engineer Retires After 20 Years,” Lansing State Journal (March 3, 1966, p. 11).

Two years later, Grace died on Christmas Day, 1948; she was 49 years old. She was buried in Mount Hope cemetery in Lansing, Michigan. She had been married to Maurice for only ten years when she died.

Headstone for Gladys Weixenbaum Katzenstein
https://billiongraves.com/grave/person/11198057#/

Seven months later, Maurice remarried. On July 20, 1949, he married Sara Bailey in Angola, Indiana. Maurice must have gone home to Johnstown to court Sara because she was born in Johnstown and was living there when they married. She was a school teacher, like Grace had been, and she was the daughter of William Bailey, a plumber, and Harriet Carthew, both of whom were also Johnstown natives.

Indiana marriage record of Maurice Katzenstein and Sara Bailey
Ancestry.com. Indiana, Marriages, 1810-2001 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Original data: Indiana, Marriages, 1810-2001. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013

The Johnstown directory for 1949 shows little change for the Katzenstein siblings living there. Lee was now working for Glosser Brothers, another clothing store, and living with Eva at 221 Haynes; Eva was still a bank teller. Gerald had no occupation listed, but his wife Florence was still listed as working at Keyser-Lint Hats; they were still living at 303 Franklin. Perry was still an advertising solicitor for the Johnstown Tribune, living with his family on Vickroy Avenue.

Katzensteins in 1949 Johnstown directory
Title : Johnstown, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1949
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Original data: Original sources vary according to directory

The 1950s brought two major developments. Sometime after 1953 and before 1957, Leo Katzenstein moved from Johnstown to Miami, Florida, and married for the first time; he was in his mid-fifties. He married Mary Driscoll, who, although born in Kentucky, had spent most of her childhood in Johnstown. She had been previously married to Henry Rossman Smith, a Johnstown native, who had died in 1951. She had three grown children from her first marriage. I inferred the date range of her marriage to Lee based on the fact that he is last listed in Johnstown in 1953 without a wife’s name and first appears in Miami with Mary as his wife in 1957. In 1957, Lee (as he is listed there) was working as a branch manager for Wells, which I assume, given his past experience, was a clothing store.

Mary Driscoll and family in Johnstown on the 1910 census
Year: 1910; Census Place: Johnstown Ward 7, Cambria, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1323; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 0126; FHL microfilm: 1375336

Thus, as of the mid-1950s, only three of the Katzenstein siblings remained in Johnstown: Eva, who continued to work at the bank; Gerald, who is once again listed as a division manager for Sears; and Perry, who still worked for the Johnstown Tribune.

Gerald Katzenstein died on November 9, 1957; he was 64 and had suffered from coronary artery disease for a year before his death from a heart attack. He was buried at Richland cemetery in Geisland, a town near Johnstown; he was survived by his wife Florence, who was buried beside him when she died in 1991. Gerald and Florence had no descendants.

Gerald Katzenstein death certificate
Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Pennsylvania, USA; Certificate Number Range: 099301-102000

Headstone for Gerald and Florence (Lint) Katzenstein
FindAGrave memorial by JM
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=169359892&PIpi=145414417

As the 1960s began, the status of remaining two Johnstown Katzenstein siblings was much the same as it had been: Eva was still a bank teller and Perry was still an advertising solicitor for the Johnstown Tribune. One of his sons was also working in advertising in Johnstown. Lee Katzenstein and his wife Mary were still living in Miami, where Lee was now a salesman at the Golden Gate Men’s Shop.

Maurice Katzenstein retired from the Michigan State Highway Department in March, 1966, as reported in this article from the Lansing State Journal of March 3, 1966 (p. 11):

Lansing State Journal, March 3, 1966, p. 11

Perry Katzenstein, the youngest sibling and the first to marry, was the third sibling to die; he died on February 28, 1972. He was 67 years old and was survived by his wife Helene and their four children. He was buried at Grandview cemetery in Johnstown, where his infant daughter Judith had been buried 32 years before and where his wife Helene would also be buried in 1986, when she died.

That left only Eva, Leo/Lee, and Maurice, all of whom lived into their eighties. Lee died on November 15, 1979, in Miami; he was eighty, and his wife Mary had died the year before. I don’t know where they are buried.

Eva died at age 92 on April 22, 1987, in Johnstown, and is buried with her other family members in Grandview cemetery. She had never married, but family lore is that she was in a long term relationship with a local man, according to research done by David Baron.

Eva Katzenstein headstone
“courtesy of Find-A-Grave Member Brian J. Ensley (#47190867)

Maurice died on May 20, 1990, when he was 89. He was buried in Miami; his second wife Sara died in 2003.

When I look back on the lives of Jacob Katzenstein’s second family, I am struck by a number of things. One, it is striking how many of his children not only lived in Johnstown for most of their lives, but married people from Johnstown; Helen, Gerald, Lee, Maurice (his second wife) and Perry all married people from Johnstown. It also appears that not one of the siblings married someone Jewish, except for Maurice’s first wife Grace.

Second, out of six children, only two have descendants. Gerald, Lee, and Maurice married relatively late in life and did not have children; Eva never married. Thus, of the six siblings, only Helen and Perry had children and thus any living descendants.

Finally, all the siblings except Maurice had remarkably consistent jobs throughout their adult lives. Eva started her career as a bank teller and stayed in that job for over forty years. Gerald and Lee worked in the clothing business all their lives, following in the footsteps of their father Jacob. Perry started and ended his career selling advertising for the local newspaper. Only Maurice moved around a lot—not only from place to place, but also from job to job. But he outlived all his siblings, so perhaps that was a healthy thing.

Overall, there is a consistency to the lives of most of the children of Jacob and Bertha (Miller) Katzenstein—in their careers, their personal lives, and their choice of staying in Johnstown for at least a substantial part of their lives.

Jacob Katzenstein’s Second Family

Posted on March 9, 2017 by Amy

When Jacob Katzenstein died in 1916, he left behind his second wife, Bertha Miller, and their six children: Helen, who was then 24, Gerald (23), Eva (22), Leopold (18), Maurice (16), and Perry (12). His wife Bertha was 49 years old. As I learned from Leonard Winograd’s book, The Horse Died at Windber: A History of Johnstown’s Jews of Pennsylvania (Wyndham Hall Press, 1988), Bertha’s brother Maurice Miller had been in business with Jacob as owners of a clothing store. That business continued to support the family, as we will see.

In 1917, the oldest child, Helen Katzenstein, married another Johnstown native, John Augustus Rodgers. John had been the captain of the football team at Greater Johnstown High School in 1909 and went on to Penn State for college, according to the 1909 Greater Johnstown High School yearbook, The Spectator, found on Ancestry.com.

In June 1917 when he registered for the World War I draft, John was a physical training teacher at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was still single at that time, so Helen and he must have married sometime after June.

John Rodgers World War I draft registration
Registration State: Pennsylvania; Registration County: Cambria; Roll: 1893244; Draft Board: 1
Description
Draft Card : R
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

He started his service in the US Army in August, 1917, in the Officer Reserve Corps, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in November, 1917. He was stationed stateside during World War I, serving at Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia first, then at the Springfield (MA!) Armory, and then in Camp Meade, Maryland. He was promoted to first lieutenant in September, 1919.

John Rodgers application for Veterans Compensation
Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, WWI Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Original data: World War I Veterans Service and Compensation File, 1934–1948. RG 19, Series 19.91. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, Helen’s younger brothers were also dealing with the impact of World War I. Gerald, the oldest son, was working as a clerk at M.Miller & Son, the store owned by his uncle Maurice Miller and, until his death, his father Jacob Katzenstein. Gerald claimed an exemption from service because he was supporting his dependent widowed mother, as seen on his draft card.

Gerald Katzenstein World War I draft registration
Registration State: Pennsylvania; Registration County: Cambria; Roll: 1893243; Draft Board: 1
Description
Draft Card : K
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Leopold or Leo Katzenstein, as he was then known, was in high school in 1917; he was a senior at Greater Johnstown High School and vice-president of his class.

Leo Katzenstein, 1917 Greater Johnstown High School yearbook
Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original data: Various school yearbooks from across the United States.

When he registered for the draft in September, 1918, he was a student at Lehigh University, studying to be a metallurgy engineer. He joined the service on October 2, 1918. He served in the Student Army Training Center at Lehigh until December 11, 1918. He never served overseas during the war.

Leo Katzenstein World War I draft registration
Registration State: Pennsylvania; Registration County: Cambria; Roll: 1893243; Draft Board: 1
Description
Draft Card : K
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line].

Maurice, the third son, was still in high school when he registered for the draft in September, 1918. From his 1919 high school yearbook entry, it seems he was interested in music as he sang in an operetta, was in the spring concert, and was a member of the Lost Chord Club. As far as I can tell, he never served in the military.

Maurice Katzenstein, 1919 Greater Johnstown High School Yearbook
http://usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/images/spectator-19/p031.jpg

Maurice Katzenstein World War I draft registration
Registration State: Pennsylvania; Registration County: Cambria; Roll: 1893243; Draft Board: 1
Description
Draft Card : K
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]

Helen (Katzenstein) and John Rodgers had a baby in November, 1919, but Helen and the baby were not living with John in 1920 when the 1920 census was taken. At that time he was stationed in Koblenz, Germany, and Helen and her child were living in Johnstown with Helen’s mother and her five younger brothers.

John Rodgers 1920 census
Year: 1920; Census Place: Coblenz, Germany, Military and Naval Forces; Roll: T625_2040; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: Infantry Barracks; Image: 304

Bertha Miller Katzenstein and children 1920 census
Year: 1920; Census Place: Johnstown Ward 6, Cambria, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1546; Page: 12B; Enumeration District: 176; Image: 851

As the census report indicates, in 1920 Gerald Katzenstein, the oldest son, was working as a clerk in a clothing store, presumably the store once owned by his father and uncle, M. Miller & Company. Eva was working as a bookkeeper in a bank. The other family members, including Helen, were not employed outside the home.

But by 1922, Bertha had taken on an official role in the family business. She is listed in the Johnstown city directory for that year as the Vice-President and Treasurer of M. Miller & Co; Gerald and Leo were employed as salesman in the store. Eva was working as a teller in the bank, and Maurice and Perry were in school. (I assume Maurice was in college, but I don’t know where.) They were all living together at 838 Franklin Avenue in Johnstown.

Katzensteins in 1922 Johnstown directory
Title : Johnstown, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1922
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Helen and her husband John were listed in the same directory as residing at 227 Locust Street, but John was still in the US Army, and according to his obituary, he served in Germany from 1919 until 1923. “Col. Rodgers, 82, Army Veteran of 2 World Wars,” Washington DC Evening Star (August 25, 1972, p. 26).

Perry, the youngest sibling, graduated from Greater Johnstown High School in 1922. He was on both the varsity football and basketball teams. I wonder how accurately the quote reflects his personality—“Happy I am, from care I am free.” According to the yearbook, he was known as Puz, was always in a hurry, and had a weakness for “the ladies.”

Perry Katzenstein, 1922 Greater Johnstown High School yearbook
Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original data: Various school yearbooks from across the United States.

As listed in the 1925 Johnstown directory, the whole Katzenstein family other than Helen were all still residing together at 838 Franklin Avenue, and they had the same occupations as in 1922, except that Maurice was now working as a window trimmer for a store called Nathan’s. I assume this means he did the window displays for the storefront. The 1929 directory also shows no changes, except that Maurice is missing and Perry is now employed as an advertising solicitor for the Johnstown Democrat, a newspaper.

Katzensteins, 1929 Johnstown directory
Title : Johnstown, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1929
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]

Helen and John Rodgers were no longer listed in the Johnstown directory in 1925. John had made the Army his career, and in 1930, he was stationed in Haverford, Pennsylvania, and living with Helen and their three children. According to his obituary, John directed the Reserve Officers Training Corps at City College in New York City during the early 1930s. “Col. Rodgers, 82, Army Veteran of 2 World Wars,” Washington DC Evening Star (August 25, 1972, p. 26)

As for Helen’s siblings and mother, they were all still living together in Johnstown in 1930. Gerald and Leo were salesmen in a clothing store, Eva was a bank teller, Maurice was now working as a salesman for the newspaper, and Perry had no occupation listed. I wonder whether the last two entries are accurate, as Perry was the one working for a paper in 1929 and Maurice had no listing; I think the enumerator must have switched the occupation entries for the two brothers.

Bertha Katzenstein and family 1930 census
Year: 1930; Census Place: Johnstown, Cambria, Pennsylvania; Roll: 2012; Page: 20A; Enumeration District: 0056; Image: 201.0; FHL microfilm: 2341746

That is even clearer when the 1931 city directory is examined: Maurice was working as a collector for a clothing store (Eagle Clothing), and Perry was still an advertising solicitor for the Johnstown Democrat. Gerald and Leo were still clothing salesman, and Eva was still a bank teller.

Interestingly, the first of the Katzenstein brothers to marry was Perry, the youngest. On July 30, 1930, he was engaged to marry Helene Haws, also a Johnstown native. Although I don’t have a date for their wedding, their first child was born in 1932.

Other changes started to occur as well. Maurice became the first of the brothers to leave Johnstown. (Helen had obviously left some years before with her husband John.) In 1931, Maurice is listed in both the Johnstown directory, as noted above, and also in a directory for Springfield, Illinois, which listed him as an advertising manager for the Famous Department Store. He is also listed in Springfield in 1934 and 1935. Then in 1936, he is working as a window trimmer again, now in Lima, Ohio.

While working there, he met Gladys Weixelbaum, a Baltimore native who had lived most of her life in Ohio and who was working as a school teacher in Lima in 1930. Maurice, the second youngest brother, became the second to marry when he married Gladys in Lima in 1938. He was 38, and she was 39.

Engagement of Maurice Katzenstein and Grace Weixebaum Lima (Ohio) News, June 5, 1938, p. 20

Engagement of Maurice Katzenstein and Grace Weixelbaum
Lima (Ohio) News, June 5, 1938, p. 20

The remaining siblings continued to live in Johnstown. In 1938, Gerald, Leo, and Eva were living with their mother Bertha at 221 Haynes Street. Leo was the manager of a store called Lee’s, perhaps his own store, and Gerald was a salesman there; Eva continued to be a bank teller. The 1940 census report reflects these same facts:

Bertha Katzenstein and family 1940 US census
Year: 1940; Census Place: Johnstown, Cambria, Pennsylvania; Roll: T627_3454; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 11-65

Perry was also still in Johnstown. Although I cannot find him on the 1940 census, in both 1938 and 1941 he and his family were living at 415 Vickroy Street, and he was working as a clerk and then a solicitor for the Johnstown Tribune. By 1940, Perry and Helene had had three children, but tragically their daughter Judith died just before she was four months old from pneumococcal meningitis. She died on March 1, 1940, which might explain why Perry and Helene are not on the 1940 census; perhaps they were out of town, perhaps the enumerator knew they were grieving and skipped their home.

Judith Katzenstein death certificate
Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Pennsylvania, USA; Certificate Number Range: 025901-028900

Maurice and Grace were living in Marion, Indiana, in 1940; Grace’s mother was also living with them. Maurice was working as a display manager for a department store. A year later they had moved to Flint, Michigan, where Maurice was the advertising manager for a business called The Fair.

Maurice and Grace Katzenstein 1940 census
Year: 1940; Census Place: Marion, Grant, Indiana; Roll: T627_1047; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 27-9

Helen and John Rodgers and their children were living in New Rochelle in 1940; John had no occupation listed on the census. Perhaps by then he had retired from the army. He would have been fifty years old in 1940.

John and Helen (Katzenstein) Rodgers on 1940 census
Year: 1940; Census Place: New Rochelle, Westchester, New York; Roll: T627_2809; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 60-213B

Thus, as of 1940, four of Jacob and Bertha (Miller) Katzenstein’s children were still living in Johnstown; three were still unmarried and living with their mother, and two were following in their father and uncle’s footsteps in the clothing business. Perry was still living in Johnstown, working in newspaper sales, and married with children. The other two siblings had moved away from Johnstown: Helen had left years before with her husband and children and was living in New Rochelle, New York, and Maurice had moved to the Midwest where he had gone from Illinois to Ohio to Indiana to Michigan. He and Grace did not have children.

The 1940s would present some changes and some losses. More on that in my next post.

Katzenstein to Kay, Part II

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Amy

In my prior post, we saw how the family of S.J. Katzenstein had moved on from Little Washington, Pennsylvania, after S.J. died. His daughter Moynelle married Bert Spanye, who was a very successful businessman in Cleveland, and all but one of the five Katzenstein sons as well as S.J.’s widow Henrietta had also moved to Cleveland. Two sons went to college, and three served in World War I.

Moynelle and Bert had two children, Edward and Margaret. When Bert retired in 1924, Edward was working as a salesman and still living at home with his family in Cleveland in 1924. Margaret was just thirteen.

Then on July 2, 1926, Edward died at age 23 from a “twisting of mesentery by ileus of small bowel.” According to my medical consultant, the mesentery contains the blood vessels to the intestines, and when it twists, it can lead to “dead bowel” syndrome—that is, a blockage of blood to the intestines. Even today this condition is quite lethal if not treated quickly (and sometimes even with treatment). Edward’s death certificate states that he was an apprentice for a lithography company at the time of his death. What a terrible shock this must have been for his family.

Edward Spanye death certificate
“Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9PJ1-S35L?cc=1307272&wc=MD9X-1PD%3A287601201%2C294566201 : 21 May 2014), 1926 > image 2692 of 3564.

As for the five Katzenstein brothers, all had changed their name to Kay by 1920, and none had yet married. On July 25, 1925, Milton (also known as M. Boyd Kay), who had by then relocated from Pittsburgh to Detroit, married Dorothy V. Reese. He was 44, she was 27. The marriage did not last, as Dorothy divorced him one year later on December 20, 1926, on grounds of extreme cruelty. (The petition had been filed on August 9, 1926, just over a year after they’d married.)

Marriage register for Milton Kay and Dorothy Veese
Ancestry.com. Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Original data: Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867–1952. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics.

Divorce of Milton Boyd Kay by Dorothy Veese 1926
Ancestry.com. Michigan, Divorce Records, 1897-1952 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Original data: Michigan. Divorce records. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing, Michigan

The other brothers—Howard, Earl, Ivan, and Vernon—are missing from the Cleveland directories for several years after 1921. In 1927, however, three of them are listed in the directory for that year. Earl was working as a salesman for the Scott-Ullmann Company and living with his sister and her family at 11338 Belleflower; Howard was a merchandise manager for The Ames Company, still living at 7100 Euclid Avenue, as was his brother Vernon, who was the secretary-treasurer of the company where his older brother Earl was a salesman, Scott-Ullman. Ivan is not listed, and I am not sure where he was living at that time.

Kays in 1927 Cleveland directory
Title : Cleveland, Ohio, City Directory, 1927
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

As of 1930, three of the brothers were still living in Cleveland. Vernon and Ivan were living with their mother. Ivan was a superintendent in a department store, and Vernon was the manager of an electric factory. Earl was living in a hotel, working as a salesman of electric fixtures. (I assume Earl and Vernon were both still working for Scott-Ullmann, which must have been a lighting company.)

Howard and Ivan Kay and their mother on 1930 census Year: 1930; Census Place: Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: 1772; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0825; Image: 413.0; FHL microfilm: 2341506

Vernon and Ivan Kay and their mother on 1930 census
Year: 1930; Census Place: Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: 1772; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0825; Image: 413.0; FHL microfilm: 2341506

The oldest brother M. Boyd Kay was still living in Detroit in 1930; he was living in a hotel and practicing medicine. By 1932, he had relocated to Miami, Florida.

I couldn’t find Howard on the 1930 census, although I found his 7100 Euclid Avenue address on the census report. He was not listed in what appears to have been a multi-family dwelling at that location.

I also could not find the Moynelle and her family on the 1930 census despite having the exact address of where they were living (11338 Belleflower Road, their home since at least 1910). In 1930, Bert, Moynelle, and Margaret traveled together to Europe and listed their address as 11338 Belleflower Road in Cleveland. Yet when I went through the enumeration district that includes that address on the 1930 census, that house number was not listed nor was the Spanye family.

On January 4, 1933, Moynelle and Bert’s daughter Margaret (also known as Mardi) married William Saul David Wolf. William, also a Cleveland native, was the son of Jacob Wolf and Jennie Schonberger and was working as a salesman when they married.

Marriage license of Margaret Spanye and William Wolf
Ancestry.com. Ohio, County Marriages, 1774-1993 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
Original data: Marriage Records. Ohio Marriages. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, UT.

Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 2, 1933, p. 16

Margaret (also known as Mardi) and William had two children in the 1930s.

Meanwhile, none of the Katzenstein/Kay sons were married as 1935 began. Then, on June 1, 1935, the youngest child of S.J. Katzenstein, Vernon, married Beatrice L. Miller. They were married by a rabbi in Cleveland. Vernon was 43, Beatrice 29. Vernon listed his occupation as an engineer.

Vernon Kay marriage license
Cuyahoga County Archive; Cleveland, Ohio; Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Marriage Records, 1810-1973; Volume: Vol 173-174; Page: 165; Year Range: 1934 Oct – 1935 Aug

On June 1, 1936, Henrietta (Sigmund) Katzenstein died at age 84. She was buried in Washington Cemetery in Washington, Pennsylvania, with her husband S. J. Katzenstein, who had died 35 years before. (This information was provided by the Washington Cemetery and is also found on FindAGrave and here.) She was survived by her six children, five of whom had lived nearby in Cleveland. When she died, only two of her children were married, and she had just one grandchild, Margaret Spanye Wolf, her daughter Moynelle’s daughter.

Within a few years of Henrietta’s death, several of her sons married. Earl married Violet Heineman Willis on May 29, 1937. She had been married once before and widowed. She was 39 and working as a bookkeeper when they married. Earl was 51 and living at the Hotel Statler and working as a salesman. They were married by a justice of the peace.

Marriage license for Earl Kay and VIolet WIllis
Cuyahoga County Archive; Cleveland, Ohio; Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Marriage Records, 1810-1973; Volume: Vol 180-181; Page: 571; Year Range: 1937 Jan – 1937 Aug

On March 30, 1940, Milton Boyd Kay married Cassie Leopold Winkler in Miami. She was a widow who had previously lived in Pittsburgh before her first husband Leo Winkler died, so perhaps M. Boyd knew her from his days living there. He was 59, she was 57. They were married by a county judge.

M Boyd Kay marriage to Cassie Winkler
Ancestry.com. Florida, County Marriages, 1823-1982 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
Original data: Marriage Records. Florida Marriages. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, UT.

On July 15, 1940, Howard Kay married Estell Goodhart Kaufmann in Cleveland, though he was already residing in Miami by then; he was 57, she was 47 and had been widowed twice before marrying Howard. Estell had also grown up in Cleveland, so perhaps Howard had known her when he was younger. On the marriage registry, Estell gave her address as 11338 Belleflower Road, the address where Howard’s sister Moynelle and her family as well as his mother and he and his brothers had lived at various times over the years. Howard reported his occupation as a hotel manager on the marriage record.

Howard Kay marriage to Estell Kaufmann
Cuyahoga County Archive; Cleveland, Ohio; Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Marriage Records, 1810-1973; Volume: Vol 191-192; Page: 83; Year Range: 1940 Apr – 1940 Aug

Although I don’t have the exact date, Ivan was also married by 1940, as indicated on the 1940 census. His wife’s name was Rhea Kaufman, and in 1940, she was 50, Ivan was 55. Rhea was an instructor for a telegraph company and Ivan was still a superintendent in a department store.

Thus, within a few years after their mother died in 1936, all five Katzenstein/Kay sons were married whereas none had been married at the beginning of 1935.

In 1940, Moynelle and Bert Spanye were counted twice on the census. First, on April 9, they were included in the census report for Miami, Florida, where they were guests in the Triton Hotel, along with their daughter Margaret. Moynelle’s brother Howard was also residing in the hotel and is listed as the hotel manager.

Howard Kay and Spanye family on 1940 US census
Year: 1940; Census Place: Miami Beach, Dade, Florida; Roll: T627_581; Page: 83B; Enumeration District: 13-38B

But on April 12, 1940, Bert and Moynelle were enumerated in Cleveland at their home at 11338 Belleflower Road; Bert reported that he was now working in the real estate business. And Margaret was back with her husband and children in Cleveland by April 26, when they were enumerated. William was a salesman for a gas valve manufacturing company.

Six months later, on November 20, 1941, Bert Spanye died at age 73 in Miami, according to the Florida Death Index on Ancestry. Three and a half years later Moynelle Katzenstein Spanye died on March 14, 1945 in Cleveland, according to the Ohio Deaths database on Ancestry. She was 76 and was survived by her daughter Margaret and her two grandchildren. She also was survived by her five younger brothers, Milton, Howard, Ivan, Earl, and Vernon.

In 1945, Howard Kay and his wife Estell were living in Miami where Howard was now an account executive with Merrill Lynch. He died four years later on February 12, 1949, in Miami, and was buried at Mayfield Cemetery in Cleveland. He was 66 years old. Estell died four years later on August 9, 1953, and she is buried with Howard at Mayfield Cemetery, according to information provided by the cemetery. She was 60 years old.

M. Boyd Kay, aka Milton Boyd Katzenstein, died on October 13, 1952, in Miami, according to the Florida Death Index. He was 71. He was buried in Washington, Pennsylvania, where he’d been born and where his parents were buried. His widow Cassie died in 1964 when she was 81, and she was buried at West View Cemetery in Pittsburgh, where her first husband Leo Winkler was buried.

The remaining siblings, Ivan, Earl, and Vernon, all lived much longer lives. In 1942, Ivan and his wife Rhea were still living in Cleveland where he was employed by the May Company. By 1945, they had moved to Miami as had Howard and Milton and their wives. Ivan lived in Miami until he died on July 6, 1972, according to the Florida Death Index. He was 88 years old. His wife Rhea died a month later on August 7, 1972; she was 82. I do not know where they were buried.

Vernon Glyde Kay and his wife Beatrice were also still in Cleveland in 1942, but like his brothers, he also moved away. Although I’ve not found any records or even news articles about his life after 1942, his wife’s obituary revealed some information about their lives. They lived in Chicago for a number of years and then in Hartsdale, New York. When I read that, I realized that they were living only a few miles from where I was living as a child. Vernon was my grandmother’s first cousin and was living close by, but I never met him and doubt even my father would have known who he was.

Vernon died on August 10, 1977; he was 85 years old. His wife Beatrice died on December 19, 2006, almost 30 years later, in West Hartford, Connecticut. She was just a few months shy of her 104^th birthday. Both Vernon and Beatrice were buried in Washington Cemetery in Washington, Pennsylvania. In Beatrice’s obituary, Vernon was described as “the love of her life.”

The last surviving child of S.J. Katzenstein and Henrietta Sigmund was Earl. Like his brothers Howard and Ivan, in 1942 he and his wife Violet were still residing in Cleveland. They were living at the Commodore Hotel, and Earl was working for Kay-Dee Tailoring Company. He and Violet relocated to Miami by 1945, where he was retired. But Earl and Violet did not stay in Miami. By 1954, they had relocated to San Diego, California, where they lived for the rest of their lives. According to the California Death Index, Earl died on January 6, 1979. He was 93 years old. Violet died September 20, 1983; she was 86. Like S.J. Katzenstein, his wife Henrietta, and their sons Vernon, Howard, and Milton, Earl and Violet were buried at Washington Cemetery.

The S.J. Katzenstein Mausoleum at Washington Cemetery
Courtesy of Joe at FindAGrave
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/find-a-grave-prod/photos/2016/232/168667419_1471722303.jpg

Looking back at the children of S.J. Katzenstein and Henrietta Sigmund, they appear to have been a close family. Five of the six lived close to each other for most of their adult lives—growing up in Washington, Pennsylvania, then moving to Cleveland, and finally retiring to Miami. All five of the brothers married late in life, four not until after their mother died in 1936 when they were already in their 50s; none of the five brothers had children. In fact, only their sister Moynelle had children, and only her daughter Margaret survived to adulthood and had children of her own.

Fortunately, for me, one of Moynelle’s descendants is my cousin Roger, whose husband David has been such a tremendous help to me in my research of the Katzenstein and Goldschmidt families.

From Katzenstein to Kay: America, the Land of Immigrants

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Amy

This is the story of how the grandchildren of my great-great-grandparents became assimilated into American society. Their father, S. J. Katzenstein, was born in Germany and came to the US as a young boy; he became a successful business man in Washington, Pennsylvania, where his sister, my great-grandmother Hilda Katzenstein, had also lived after marrying my great-grandfather, Isidore Schoenthal. His children, born in Washington, Pennsylvania, like my grandmother, grew up to become full-fledged Americans.

S.J. Katzenstein had died in 1901 when he was only 53 years old. He and his wife Henrietta Sigmund had six children: Moynelle (1879), Milton (1881), Howard (1882), Ivan (1884), Earl (1885), and Vernon (1892). Moynelle, the oldest child, had married Bert Spanye on October 10, 1900, in Washington, Pennsylvania.

Moynelle Katzenstein and Bert Spanye marriage record
Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Marriages, 1852-1968 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
Original data: Marriage Records. Pennsylvania Marriages. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, UT.

Bert was born September 24, 1868, in what was then a town in Hungary called Giralt. (Today it is known as Giraltovce and is in Slovakia). According to a family genealogy website, Bert came to the US in 1887 with his uncle, CK Sunshine. His parents, Emanuel and Rose Sonnenschein, did not emigrate. Bert changed his surname from Sonnenschein to Spanye, unlike much of the rest of his extended family in the US who changed it to Sunshine.

According to an article written in the December 20, 1924 Cleveland Plain Dealer (p.15), when he first came to the US, Bert taught Latin, Greek, and German at Farmington College in Hiram, Ohio. Then his uncle started him in business in a small Ohio town, and a few years later in February, 1899, Bert along with his uncle and another partner, Louis Black, started the Bailey & Company department store in Cleveland. It became very successful.

When he and Moynelle were engaged, the news was was written up in the June 17, 1900 Cleveland Plain Dealer (p. 10):

Then the company threw a surprise reception in his honor as described in the October 5, 1900 Cleveland Plain Dealer (p. 8):

After they married, they settled in Cleveland; their first child, Edward, was born on September 19, 1902. On the 1910 census, Bert, Moynelle, and their son Edward were living at 11338 Belleflower Road and Bert’s uncle Charles (CK) and Moynelle’s mother (listed as Hattie here) were living with them as well as two servants.

Bert and Moynelle (Katzenstein) Spanye 1910 census
Year: 1910; Census Place: Cleveland Ward 26, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: T624_1176; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 0388; FHL microfilm: 1375189

By that time at least three of Moynelle’s brothers had also relocated to Cleveland. Her brother Earl appears in the 1907 Cleveland directory, listing his occupation as a salesman (perhaps for his brother-in-law’s store). Ivan Katzenstein is listed in the 1909 Cleveland directory as a department manager, and Earl as a clerk. They and their mother Henrietta were all living at 11338 Belleflower Road, the home of Moynelle and Bert Spanye.

Katzensteins in 1909 Cleveland directory
Title : Cleveland, Ohio, City Directory, 1909
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

In 1910, Vernon, the youngest brother, and Ivan were living together as boarders. According to the 1910 census report, Vernon had no occupation listed (he was 18), and Ivan reported that he was a manager in a department store, again presumably the one owned in part by his brother-in-law Bert.

On June 26, 1911, Moynelle and Bert had their second child, Margaret.

Moynelle’s brother Howard had moved to Cleveland by 1912. In the 1912 Cleveland directory, Howard is listed as a buyer for Bailey & Company, Earl as a department manager for Bailey & Company, and Ivan as a commercial traveler. They were all living together at 1946 East 71^st Street NE in Cleveland.

Katzensteins in 1912 Cleveland directory
Title : Cleveland, Ohio, City Directory, 1912
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Original data: Original sources vary according to directory.

At that time, the youngest brother, Vernon, was a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Class of 1913. I was able to find this class photo and a legend that helped me find Vernon in the photo:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Class of 1913
Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original data: Various school yearbooks from across the United States.

Vernon Katzenstein, MIT Class of 1913

The only brother who did not move to Cleveland was the oldest, Milton. Milton was a graduate of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, and a member of the class of 1905 at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.

Milton Boyd Katzenstein, 1904 yearbook for the UPenn Medical School
Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original data: Various school yearbooks from across the United States.

In 1910, he was practicing medicine in Pittsburgh and boarding with a family there.

Milton enlisted in the US Army in May, 1917, as a first lieutenant. He served in the medical division from June 5, 1917 until March 28, 1919, including almost two years overseas in France during World War I. He was promoted twice—to captain on November 24, 1917 and to major on November 19, 1918.

Milton Boyd Katzenstein military record
Box Title : Kapp, Edward B – Kauffman, Frank (221)
Source Information
Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, WWI Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Original data: World War I Veterans Service and Compensation File, 1934–1948. RG 19, Series 19.91. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg Pennsylvania.

Box Title : Kapp, Edward B – Kauffman, Frank (221)
Source Information
Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, WWI Veterans Service and Compensation Files, 1917-1919, 1934-1948 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Original data: World War I Veterans Service and Compensation File, 1934–1948. RG 19, Series 19.91. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg Pennsylvania.

He was not the only Katzenstein brother to serve in World War I. According to The Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the World War (Volume 9), Ivan Katzenstein joined the Ohio National Guard on August 13, 1917. He served in the field artillery in the Guard until August 31, 1918. He then was sent to France where he served in the 135^th Field Artillery, Company C, until July 5, 1919, and fought in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. He was honorably discharged on July 11, 1919.

Title : The Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the World War Volume 9
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S., Adjutant General Military Records, 1631-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Series II: Questionnaires: Jews; Record Group Description: (A) General Files, Army and Navy (Boxes 2-4); Box #: 3; Folder #: 9; Box Info: (Box 3) Cleveland: Privates, H-P
Description
Folder Content Description : (Box 3) Cleveland: Privates, H-P

Vernon also served during World War I. He was a first lieutenant in the Officers’ Reserve Corps beginning July 6, 1917, serving in the Ordnance Corps. He served in the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I from December 3, 1917 until June 17, 1919, and was honorably discharged on June 25, 1919.

When the US entered World War I, Howard Katzenstein was working as the assistant field director for the American Red Cross at Camp Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, according to his draft registration card:

Howard Katzenstein World War I draft registration
Registration State: Ohio; Registration County: Cuyahoga; Roll: 1831766; Draft Board: 07

Earl Katzenstein was living in Cleveland and working as a traveling salesman for the S & S Shirt Company of Phillipsburg Center, Pennsylvania, according to his draft registration:

Earl Katzenstein World War I draft registration
Registration State: Ohio; Registration County: Cuyahoga; Roll: 1831766; Draft Board: 07

By 1920, all of the Katzenstein brothers had adopted the surname Kay instead of Katzenstein. Had they all decided that Katzenstein was too Jewish? Too German sounding after World War I? Too long? I don’t know. But like so many other children of immigrants, they changed their name and shedded part of their original identity.

Three of the Kay brothers were living in Cleveland. According to the 1920 census, Howard and Vernon were living together in a boarding house at 1946 71^st Street; Howard was working as a buyer in a dry goods store, and Vernon was a manager in an electric washing machine manufacturing business.

Howard and Vernon Katzenstein 1920 US census
Year: 1920; Census Place: Cleveland Ward 22, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: T625_1371; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 433; Image: 988

Interestingly, the 1920 Cleveland directory shows both Ivan and Vernon living at 1943 East 107^th Street, but Howard is not listed; the 1921 directory lists all three brothers. Ivan and Vernon were both still living at 1943 East 107^th Street; Ivan had no occupation listed, and Vernon was the vice-president of the Bell Washer & Wringer Company (a laundry business, I’d assume). Howard was living at 7100 Euclid Avenue; he had no occupation listed. I cannot find Ivan on the 1920 census.

Howard, Ivan, and Vernon Kay 1921 Cleveland directory
Title : Cleveland, Ohio, City Directory, 1921
Source Information
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Original data: Original sources vary according to directory.

Meanwhile, in 1920 Earl was living in a boarding house in St. Louis, working as a traveling salesman.

By 1920, Milton was again boarding with a family in Pittsburgh and practicing medicine. Here is his listing from the UPenn alumni magazine for 1922:

1922 Catalog of the University of Pennsylvania
Ancestry.com. U.S., College Student Lists, 1763-1924 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Original data: College Student Lists. Worcester, Massachusetts: American Antiquarian Society.

As for Moynelle Katzenstein and Bert Spanye, in 1920 they and their children were living with Moynelle’s mother Henrietta and four servants in their home at 11338 Belleflower Road. Then in 1924, Bert retired from Bailey & Company after 25 years, as reported in the December 20, 1924 Cleveland Plain Dealer (p. 15):

Thus, by 1925, the children of S.J. Katzenstein and Henrietta Sigmund had in many ways achieved and perhaps exceeded the dreams their grandparents Gerson and Eva must have had when they left Germany in the 1850s. Moynelle had married an immigrant who had quickly become a highly successful businessman. Two of the Kay/Katzenstein sons were graduates of two of America’s elite universities, one an engineer, the other a doctor. Three had served their country in World War I, fighting against the country where their parents and grandparents were born.

All of them were giving back to America whatever America had given them. As immigrants have always done and will continue to do.

Continued in my next post.

After the Flood, More Tears

Posted on January 5, 2017 by Amy

In my last two posts I wrote about the tragedies the Katzenstein family endured in 1889 when Jacob Katzenstein, my great-grandmother Hilda’s brother, lost his son Edwin and his wife Ella (who may also have been related to me through my Goldschmidt line) in the devastating Johnstown flood of May 31, 1889. This post will follow up with the rest of my great-great-grandparents’ family.

Here is a family group sheet for the family of my great-great-grandparents, Gerson Katzenstein and Eva Goldschmidt and their six children, five of whom survived to adulthood.

A little over a year after the flood, on July 22, 1890, my great-great-grandfather Gerson Katzenstein died of dropsy at age 75 in Philadelphia. According to several sources, “dropsy” is an old-fashioned term for edema or swelling of body tissues, whether it’s the brain, the heart, or some other body part or organ. I don’t know what type of edema afflicted Gerson or why it killed him. He was buried at Adath Jeshrun cemetery in Philadelphia.

Gerson Katzenstein death certificate “Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-68NW-375?cc=1320976&wc=9FR3-SP8%3A1073244201 : 16 May 2014), > image 340 of 1712; Philadelphia City Archives and Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

In March, 1891, his son Jacob remarried two years after losing his wife and son in the Johnstown flood. Jacob married Bertha Miller, the daughter of Samuel Miller and Eliza Leopold, whom I mentioned here. (As I described, Jacob’s first father-in-law, Marcus Bohm, would later be living with Jacob’s second wife Bertha Miller’s aunt, Minnie Leopold Reineman, in 1910 in Johnstown.) Bertha’s parents were both born in Germany, and her father Samuel was a “merchant tailor” in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in 1880.

Jacob Katzenstein wedding to Bertha Miller
PHiladelphia Times March 12 1891 p. 3

Bertha and Jacob had a child Helen in 1892, and they had a second child on June 8, 1893, whom they named Gerald, presumably for Gerson Katzenstein, Jacob’s father, my great-great-grandfather. He was not the only grandson named for Gerson. On January 20, 1892, my great-uncle Gerson Schoenthal was born, son of my great-grandparents Hilda Katzenstein and Isidore Schoenthal. In addition, SJ Katzenstein and his wife Henrietta also had a child possibly named for Gerson: Vernon Glyde, born on February 8, 1892.

My great-great-grandmother, Eva Goldschmidt Katzenstein, died on September 6, 1893. She was 66 years old and died of “carcinoma ventric omentum.” According to my medical consultant, today that is called “carcinoma of the ventral omentum, which is a part of the lining of the abdomen near the stomach.”

Eva also had grandchildren named for her, including my grandmother, Eva Schoenthal. Jacob and Bertha’s third child, born December 2, 1894, was also named Eva.

Eva Goldschmidt Katzenstein death certificate “Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DY6W-VS?cc=1320976&wc=9FRF-GP8%3A1073237701 : 16 May 2014), > image 1467 of 1730; Philadelphia City Archives and Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Jacob and Bertha had two more children by 1900: Leopold (1898) and Maurice (1900). As pointed our earlier, they were living in Johnstown in 1900 with Jacob’s first father-in-law Marcus Bohm and Bertha’s brother Maurice. Jacob was working as a clothing merchant.

Jacob Katzenstein and family 1900 census
Year: 1900; Census Place: Johnstown Ward 1, Cambria, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1388; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 0124; FHL microfilm: 1241388

SJ Katzenstein and his family were living in Washington, Pennsylvania in 1900, where he was still a clothing merchant as well. Their children were all still at home and at school, except for Howard, who was working as a clerk.

SJ Katzenstein and family 1900 census
Year: 1900; Census Place: Washington, Washington, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1494; Page: 16B; Enumeration District: 0173; FHL microfilm: 1241494

Brendina Katzenstein Schlesinger and her family were still in Philadelphia, and her husband Jacob listed his occupation on the 1900 census as a meat salesman. Their oldest son, Solomon Joseph, was a manager of a laundry, and Alfred was managing a newspaper. Sidney was working as a clerk in a clothing store. The two daughters, Heloise and Aimee, were not employed.

Brendina and Jacob Schlesinger 1900 census
Year: 1900; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 20, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1463; Enumeration District: 0421; FHL microfilm: 1241462

Perry Katzenstein and his wife Rose were also living in Philadelphia where Perry was in the clothing business. They had no children. Rose’s sister Flora Elias was living with them.

Perry and Rose Katzenstein 1900 census
Year: 1900; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 32, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1474; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0830; FHL microfilm: 1241474

And, as I’ve written before, my great-grandparents Hilda Katzenstein and Isidore Schoenthal were living in Washington, Pennsylvania, with their two older sons, Lester and Gerson, and my great-grandfather was working in the china business there.

HIlda Katzenstein and Isidore Schoenthal 1900 census Year: 1900; Census Place: Washington, Washington, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1495; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0175; FHL microfilm: 1241495

So as the century turned, my great-grandmother Hilda and her siblings had lost both of their parents, but the next generation of the family was growing. As of 1900, there were eighteen grandchildren—my grandmother’s first cousins and brothers— and my great-uncle Harold was born on August 28, 1901, bringing the total to nineteen. My grandmother and one more first cousin were yet to be born. All of them lived in Pennsylvania, spanning from Philadelphia in the east to Washington in the west with family living in Johnstown in between.

But the start of the 20^th century was not very kind to the Katzenstein family. On December 7, 1901, my great-great-uncle SJ Katzenstein died at age 53. He left behind his wife Henrietta and six children, ranging in age from Moynelle, who was 22, to Vernon, who was only nine years old.

Then less than two years later, SJ’s younger brother Perry died. He was just a few days shy of his 47^th birthday. According to his obituary, he had been living in Washington, Pennsylvania, not Philadelphia, at the time of his death. Perhaps he had taken over SJ’s clothing business. Perry died from appendicitis and peritonitis. He was survived by his wife Rose.

Perry Katzenstein obituary Canonsburg PA Daily Notes August 8, 1903 p.2

But Rose did not last very long without him. While visiting her sister in Chicago on February 24, 1904, she took her own life. Her death was ruled a suicide, strangulation by hanging. Perry’s death must have been too much for her to bear.

Rose Elias Katzenstein death certificate “Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-67QH-3T?cc=1320976&wc=9F5B-VZS%3A1073109202 : 16 May 2014), > image 232 of 538; Philadelphia City Archives and Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Rose Elias Katzenstein obituary
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, February 26, 1904, p. 5

Thus, by February, 1904, my great-grandmother Hilda had lost her parents, two of her three brothers, two nephews, and two sisters-in-law. She also had her fourth and last child that year, my grandmother Eva, who was born on March 4, 1904, shortly after Rose’s death.

Eva Schoenthal Cohen, my grandmother

Jacob Katzenstein and his second wife Bertha also had their final child in 1904; he was born in August 1904 and was named Perry, obviously for Jacob’s brother Perry who had died the year before.

My great-great-grandparents Gerson and Eva (Goldschmidt) Katzenstein were thus survived by 21 grandchildren, including my grandmother Eva. In posts to come, I will share their stories.

For now, I will be taking a short break from research, but will be sharing some of the photographs and records I’ve received but have not yet had a chance to post.

Brotmanblog: A Family Journey

Adventures in Genealogy

Tag Archives: Pennsylvania

Milton Goldsmith: A Victim of Conscience

More Goldschmidts Become Goldsmiths in Philadelphia

The Goldschmidts Come to America

A Year with the Katzensteins

My Great-Grandmother Hilda

Jacob Katzenstein’s Second Family: Conclusion

Jacob Katzenstein’s Second Family

Katzenstein to Kay, Part II

From Katzenstein to Kay: America, the Land of Immigrants

After the Flood, More Tears

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