Tag Archives: University of Pennsylvania

Henry Goldsmith, Part VIII: Milton Goldsmith’s Second Marriage

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While many of the children of Henry Goldsmith moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s, three remained in Pittsburgh, not far from Connellsville where they were all born and raised. The three who stayed behind—Milton, Walter, and Helen—remained in the area for the rest of their lives. This post will focus on Milton.

Milton had some sad times in the years after 1930. His wife Luba died on October 7, 1931, at the age of 52.1 According to her obituaries, she had been sick for over a year and died after an operation at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  The obituaries not only discussed her medical career and accomplishments but also her literary skills and accomplishments:

“Dr. Luba Goldsmith Dies in Mayo Clinic,” The Pittsburgh Press, October 7, 1931, p. 6

“Dr. Goldsmith Rites,” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 8, 1931, p. 5

Luba was survived by her husband Milton and sons Norman and Albert. Norman had just graduated from the University of Pennsylvania medical school in June, 1931,2 and his younger brother Albert was only sixteen and still in high school. After graduating from high school, Albert went on to the University of Pittsburgh, from which he graduated in 1936:

School: University of Pittsburgh, School Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USAYearbook Title: Owl, “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012”; Yearbook Title: Owl; Year: 1936, Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990

School: University of Pittsburgh, School Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Yearbook Title: Owl, “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012”; Yearbook Title: Owl; Year: 1936, Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990

He then received a master’s degree in 1937 from Harvard.3

In 1940, Milton and his two sons were living together in Pittsburgh; Albert had no occupation listed on the census, and Milton and Norman were both practicing medicine.4

Then on March 17, 1941, Milton remarried. I found this in the most indirect way and late in my research. (In fact, I’d already started drafting this post when I found this second marriage.) I was searching for Milton in Pittsburgh directories in the 1940s to see whether he was still practicing medicine, and I noticed that some of the listings in the 1940s listed him with a wife, Fanny—for example, this one in 1949.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1949, Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995

I had not realized that Milton had remarried until I saw those listings, so I searched for information about this second wife, Fanny. I then found this announcement in the March 19, 1941, Pittsburgh Press (p. 25):

When I saw that Fanny’s birth name was Goldsmith and that she was from Philadelphia, I wondered whether she was a member of my extended Goldsmith family. There were many Fanny Goldsmiths on my tree, most born too early to marry Milton, but some were possibilities. Plus there were many other Fannie or Fanny Goldsmiths who were not related to me or to Milton.

Then I found one who died in Pittsburgh in July 1975 on the Social Security Death Index.5  So I turned to the newspaper databases, and I found this death notice for Fannie G. Goldsmith,6 who was indeed Milton’s wife:

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 28, 1975, p. 24

And when I saw that she had a brother named Lester and a nephew George, things started to click. Fanny Goldsmith Goldsmith was the daughter of George Goldsmith and the granddaughter of my first cousin, four times removed, Jacob Goldsmith, and the great-granddaughter of Simon Goldschmidt. George Goldsmith died suddenly in 1899  from pneumonia when Fanny was only ten, as I wrote about here. By 1900 Jacob and most of his children had moved west, and I had wondered whether George’s children had much of a relationship with the other Goldsmiths, especially after their grandfather Jacob died in 1901.

But apparently there was still some connection, as Milton and Fanny found each other in 1941 when he was 63 and had been a widower for ten years and Fanny was 51 and marrying for the first time. They were half-first cousins, once removed. Fanny was the daughter of Milton’s half-first cousin, George, as this chart indicates:

(The chart, generated by my Family Tree Maker software, fails to show that Henry’s mother was Fradchen Schoenthal, not Eveline Katzenstein, and that thus Henry and Jacob were half-brothers.)

My guess is that the extended family somehow facilitated this connection, but this was not a second marriage where a father was searching for a woman to care for his children. Milton’s sons Norman and Albert were adults themselves in 1941. The fact that  Fanny’s death notice identified Albert as her son suggests that there was a close familial relationship between Fanny and Milton’s children.

So I was happy to discover that Milton had remarried after losing Luba. Meanwhile, his sons were living their own lives. More on them in my next post.

  1. Death County: Olmsted, State File Number: 010312, Certificate Number: 010312,
    Certificate Year: 1931, Record Number: 601288, Ancestry.com. Minnesota, Death Index, 1908-2002. “Dr. Luba Goldsmith Dies After Illness Extending Over Year,” The Connellsville Daily Courier, October 10, 1931, p. 7. ↩
  2. “Penn Graduates,” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 18, 1931, p. 6. ↩
  3. “Who’s Who in Pittsburgh Music Circles,” The Pittsburgh Press, June 4, 1950, p. 75. ↩
  4. Milton Goldsmith and sons, 1940 US census, Census Place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: m-t0627-03653; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 69-84, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census ↩
  5.  Number: 188-36-5720; Issue State: Pennsylvania; Issue Date: 1962, Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ↩
  6. As so often happens, some records spell her name Fannie, but most spell it Fanny. ↩

The Legacy of Flora Baer Adler

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I am back after two weeks with family members—first, a wonderful week with our grandson Nate and then a week with the extended family.  We had gorgeous weather, lots of laughs, and too much good food.  But now things are quiet, and I am returning to finish the story of the children of Amalia Hamberg.

It’s been a long break since I last posted, so I thought it would be helpful to clarify where I was when I left off. I had been discussing the many children of Amalia/Mlalchen Hamberg, who was a first cousin of my great-grandfather Isidore Schoenthal through his mother Henriette Hamberg.

corrected relationship isidore schoenthal to malchen hamberg

I have already discussed six of Amalia’s nine children, including Maurice, Hattie, Josephine, Amanda, Alfred and Tilda.  That leaves three more: Elsie, Lawrence, and the subject of this post, Flora.

Although Hattie Baer died at a young age as did her brother Alfred, most of the other siblings lived long lives.  As we saw in the earlier posts, Amanda lived late into her 90th year, and Josephine lived to 97. Their sister Elsie also lived to 97, and Tilda was within a few months of her 90th birthday.

Unfortunately, their sister Flora did not live as long a life.  As I wrote here, Flora  married Julius Adler, an engineer who had worked for the Philadelphia highway department, supervising the construction of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.  They had three children between 1917 and 1920, Stanley, Jerrold, and Amy.  Thanks to one of the grandchildren of Flora and Julius, I now have some photographs of the family.

Wedding photograph of Flora Baer and Julius Adler, March 15, 1915 Courtesy of the Adler family

Wedding photograph of Flora Baer and Julius Adler, March 15, 1915
Courtesy of the Adler family

Flora Baer Adler and one of her children

Flora Baer Adler and one of her children

 

In 1940, all three children were still living at home with their parents in Philadelphia.  Julius listed his occupation as an independent civil engineer.  Their son Stanley was working as a chemical engineer for a chemical company, and their daughter Amy was a social services worker at a hospital.  Jerrold had no occupation listed; perhaps he was still in school.

Flora Baer Adler 1943

Flora Baer Adler 1943, courtesy of the Adler family

 

Jerrold Adler, Flora Baer Adler, and Julius Adler 1943 Courtesy of the Adler family

Jerrold Adler, Flora Baer Adler, and Julius Adler
1943
Courtesy of the Adler family

Then tragedy struck.  On August 27, 1945, my cousin Flora died from fluoride poisoning; her death was ruled a suicide by the coroner.

FLora Baer death certificate preliminary

FLora Baer death certificate with coroner result

Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Julius and the three children somehow recovered from this tragedy.  Julius married his second wife Katinka Dannenburg Olsho in 1971 when he was 84 years old.

Julius Adler, 1977 Courtesy of the Adler family

Julius Adler, 1977
Courtesy of the Adler family

When he died in 1993 at the age of 106, the Philadelphia Inquirer published a wonderful tribute to him:

… [Julius Adler] was an erudite man who could quote long passages from Kipling, recite Latin and Greek verse, and speak authoritatively on any of his varied interests, which included growing roses and playing bridge, according to his family.

“This man was unique, just an extraordinary human being,” said Mr. Adler’s son-in-law, Leonard Malamut. “In everything he did, he was top-notch. And he was a man of great dignity. He grew up at a time when decency and ethics and morality were the guiding principles of how one lived.”

Mr. Adler was born in Memphis, Tenn., and moved to Philadelphia as a child. He was a graduate of Central High School’s 109th class in 1904 and a 1908 graduate of the School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, which he attended on an academic scholarship. His family believes he was the oldest living graduate from Central and Penn.

Mr. Adler’s supervision of the Ben Franklin Bridge paving took place when he was deputy chief of the city’s highway department, his son-in-law said. The bridge, when it was built, was called the Delaware River Bridge.  He also supervised the repaving of Broad Street after the construction of the Broad Street Subway.

Mr. Adler taught at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Washington. He was a member of the Engineers Club of Philadelphia, the American Society of Civil Engineering and the American Society for Testing Materials.

For 70 years, he was a member of Congregation Rodeph Shalom.

Mr. Adler was, as well, a devoted fan of the Phillies. “He could tell you players’ ERAs and batting averages with great accuracy until he was 100,” Malamut said. “I regret that he died in the season the Phillies are having such a great season – that he had to die before the season was over.”

Stanley, Amy, Julius, and Jerrold Adler 1960 Courtesy of the Adler family

Stanley, Amy, Julius, and Jerrold Adler 1960
Courtesy of the Adler family

Julius and Flora’s three children also all lived productive lives.  Their daughter Amy died in 2003 of a heart attack; she was 83.  According to her obituary:

She served as a hospital volunteer when she was a teenager and later studied X-ray technology and electrocardiography.  In 1942, she met Dr. Leonard Malamut when she was working at Jewish Hospital, now Albert Einstein Medical Center. The couple married in 1944.

Dr. Malamut opened a practice near Albert Einstein Medical Center in Olney after serving several years in the Army during World War II. Mrs. Malamut joined him in the office. She managed the practice, keeping the books and helping with electrocardiograms, blood work and other tests.  She enjoyed attending concerts and the theater with Dr. Malamut.

Amy’s older brother Stanley died on April 21, 2006; he was 89 years old.  According to his obituary, like his father, he was an engineer who had graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.  The obituary reported:

During World War II, Stan was an aircraft inspector for the United States Navy. …. He was active in Reform Judaism, scouting, and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He wrote many technical papers. His interests included amateur radio, bridge, calculus, gardening, classical music, and a more cooperative world.

Stanley Baer Adler Fold3_Page_1_Selective_Service_Registration_Cards_World_War_II_Multiple_Registrations

Stanley Baer Adler
Fold3_Page_1_Selective_Service_Registration_Cards_World_War_II_Multiple_Registrations

The last surviving child of Flora Baer and Julius Adler was Jerrold, who died on March 5, 2008, when he was, like his brother Stanley, 89 years old.   He had attended the University of Pennsylvania and had served in the army during World War II.

Jerrold Adler draft registration Fold3_Page_1_Selective_Service_Registration_Cards_World_War_II_Multiple_Registrations

Jerrold Adler draft registration
Fold3_Page_1_Selective_Service_Registration_Cards_World_War_II_Multiple_Registrations

Jerrold Adler, courtesy of the Adler family

Jerrold Adler, courtesy of the Adler family

He had married Doris Elaine Getz on October 6, 1946.

Wedding of Jerrold Adler and Doris Getz, October 6, 1946

Wedding of Jerrold Adler and Doris Getz, October 6, 1946

Although Flora’s life ended tragically, she left behind the legacy of three successful children.  Their lives enriched the country that Flora’s mother Amalia had moved to as a young woman back in the 19th century.  They served in our armed forces during World War II and contributed to society through their chosen careers.  Like so many of us, the grandchildren of immigrants, they justified the risks their grandparents took when immigrating to the United States.

 

 

 

 

 

A Decade of Heartache for Caroline’s Family

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The 19th century ended badly for the extended family of Caroline Dreyfuss and Moses Wiler.  Their daughter Eliza Wiler Simon died in August 1897, and their son-in-law Daniel Meyers, Clara’s husband, died in 1902, following several years of financial distress and legal problems.   Unfortunately, it only got worse as the 20th century began.

First, on April 23, 1901, Flora Simon’s husband Nathan Strouse died from myasthenia gravis.  He was 24 years older than Flora, but only 58 years old when he died.  Their son Lester was only thirteen years old when he lost his father.  I found it rather interesting that Nathan’s occupation on the death certificate was given as “gentleman.”

Nathan Strouse death certificate

“Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JDLH-SJ1 : accessed 11 February 2015), Nathan Strouse, 23 Apr 1901; citing cn 22852, Philadelphia City Archives and Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; FHL microfilm 1,845,290.

 

Two years later Flora married Alfred C. Heulings, a New Jersey lawyer who, in contrast to her first husband, was almost twelve years younger than Flora.

Then in 1904, there was another disaster for the family.  Minnie Simon, the younger daughter of Eliza Wiler and Leman Simon, committed suicide.  Her death certificate stated that she took her life “by inhaling gas while temporarily insane.”

minnie simon death cert 1904

“Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JDGP-4DQ : accessed 11 February 2015), Minnie Simon, 05 Aug 1904; citing cn 19898, Philadelphia City Archives and Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; FHL microfilm 1,004,045.

 

Apparently her death created some controversy based on this news article from the Philadelphia Inquirer, August 9, 1904,  covering the coroner’s inquest:

minnie suicide 1

 

minnie suicide 2

 

minnie suicide 3

minnie suicide 4

Paper: Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) Volume: 151 Issue: 40 Page: 5 August 9, 1904

From Joseph’s description of his sister’s personality, today she might have been diagnosed and treated for bipolar disease or depression.  But in 1904 that was not possible, and so Minnie succumbed to mental illness and took her own life.  She was only 26 years old.

Two years after losing his daughter Minnie and nine years after losing his wife Eliza, Leman Simon passed away on October 13, 1906, from a cerebral hemorrhage.  He was 72 years old.

Leman Simon death cert

“Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JK98-3Q6 : accessed 11 February 2015), Leman Simon, 13 Oct 1906; citing cn 25343, Philadelphia City Archives and Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; FHL microfilm 1,319,469.

 

Thus, in the ten years between 1897 and 1906, the family lost five members:  Eliza Wiler Simon, Nathan Strouse, Daniel Meyers, Minnie Simon, and Leman Simon.  The Simon family in particular must have been quite devastated.

Not all was sad, however, in the first ten years of the 20th century.  Nellie Simon married Louis Boughen Loux on April 30, 1908.  They were married in the Eleventh Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.  Louis was 21, and Nellie was 33.  Like her sister Flora’s second marriage, this was a marriage between a man and a significantly older woman, which must have been quite unusual in those days.

Thus, by 1910, the family had changed quite a bit.  Leman and Eliza Simon were both gone, as was their daughter Minnie.  Flora was living with her second husband Albert Heulings and her son Lester Strouse at 913 North 16th Street.  Albert was practicing law.  Lester, who had graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1909, was now 21 and working in the advertising business for the Quaker City Publicity Company.  There were also two servants in the household.

As for Flora’s siblings, I am once again having a terrible time finding them on the census.  Nellie Simon and her husband Louis Loux had a child Florie born on March 3, 1910, in Philadelphia, but I only know this from Florie’s death certificate.  I cannot find a birth record, nor can I find Nellie and Louis on the 1910 census.  I found a Leon Simon listed in the 1908 Philadelphia directory at 541 Fernon Street, working as a bookkeeper, but he is not at that address on the 1910 census.  Joseph Simon’s address in 1904 was 136 Farson Street in West Philadelphia, according to the news article about his sister Minnie’s death.  But he is not at that address on the 1910 census.  I have some possible listings for Joseph, but given how common his name was, I just am not certain.

As for the family of Clara Wiler Meyers, Clara in 1910 was a widow, still living at the long-time family home at 920 Franklin Street, with nine of her children. Her oldest son Leon Meyers (36 in 1910) had by 1902 become an optician and was still living at home as late as 1904.  In 1910 he was living at 1628 North 13th Street, according to the Philadelphia directory, yet he is not listed there on the 1910 census, nor is he listed on the census at 1904 Somerset Street, where he is listed as residing in the 1911 directory.  I think Leon, like his Simon cousins, just eluded the census taker.  His younger brother, Benjamin Franklin Meyers, 25 years old in 1910, was living as a boarder in Trenton, New Jersey, where he was working as a watch maker in a watch factory.

The other nine Meyers children were still living with their mother Clara.  All were unmarried.  Samuel (34) was like his brother Leon an optician.  Harry (33) was a tailor.  Isador (30) was a “commercial traveler” for a men’s clothing business.  Max (28) was a draftsman for a machine works business. Clarence (24) was a cotton yarn salesman. Frank (22) was an optician like his two older brothers Leon and Samuel.  The three youngest children Lottie (20), Miriam (17), and Milton (14) were all at home and not occupied.

Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 20, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1394; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0334; FHL microfilm: 1375407

Source Citation
Year: 1910; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 20, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1394; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0334; FHL microfilm: 1375407

I cannot imagine what this house looked like that accommodated all of those people.  I’ve tried to locate a photograph, but have had no luck.  Google Street View shows a modern apartment building at that address today.

Fanny Wiler Levy’s three sons were also still single and living with their father Joseph and stepmother Bella at home at 2122 Camac Street in 1910.   Their father Joseph Levy was living on his “own income,” according to the 1910 census.  Alfred, now 41, was a lumber salesman, and Leon (37) and Monroe (35) were clothing salesman.  Their half-sister Miriam (27) was married to Arthur Hanff, a traveling shirt salesman.

Levy family 1910

Year: 1910; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 32, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1403; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 0750; FHL microfilm: 1375416

 

Levy occupations 1910

Simon Wiler, the only son of Caroline Dreyfuss and Moses Wiler, was living in a large boarding house on Spruce Street in 1910.  He was working as a salesman in a paper warehouse.  Simon died the following year on October 23, 1911.  He died from shock after a prostatectomy, according to the death certificate.  Although the death certificate says he was residing at 1905 Diamond Street prior to his death, he is not listed there on the 1910 census.  The informant on the certificate was A. Freed, the undertaker, who did not know the names of Simon’s parents, but given the name, the age, and the occupation, it seems reasonable to conclude that this was Simon, the son of Caroline and Moses.  Like the other members of his family, he was buried at Mt. Sinai cemetery.

Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Original data: Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Thus, as of 1911, the only child of Caroline Dreyfuss and Moses Wiler who was still alive was Clara Wiler Meyers. Between 1897 and 1911, there had been many deaths, but only two weddings and only one birth.  There were a number of adult cousins still living at home with their parents.  The next ten years  brought continued heartache and loss.

 

 

The Dinkelspiel Descendants in the 20th Century

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In my last post, I covered four of the five children of Paula Dinkelspiel and Moses Simon.  The remaining child was their fourth child, Flora, born in 1868.  Flora Simon married Charles Mayer in 1889.  Charles was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1857, the son of Jacob Mayer and Mathilde Shoyer.  The family had moved to Philadelphia by the time Charles was three.  His father was a merchant on the 1860 census and in the wholesale liquor business on the 1870 census, but by 1880 and thereafter, he listed his occupation as a dentist.  He was a man with eleven children, and that made me wonder how he became a dentist while raising such a large family.

Most early “dentists” were actually barbers, blacksmiths, or apothecaries.  Sometimes physicians would do extractions.  Infection control was minimal, as was anesthesia.  According to the American Dental Association website, the first dental school in the world was established in 1841 in Baltimore.  Alabama enacted the first law to regulate the practice of dentistry also in 1841, but it was never enforced.  The American Dental Association was founded in 1857.  Pennsylvania had three dental schools by 1880, the newest being that established by the University of Pennsylvania.

Perhaps Jacob Mayer attended one of these, although I do not know when he would have had the time.  The earliest reference I could find to a Pennsylvania law regulating the practice of dentistry was this April, 16, 1879 article from the Harrisburg Telegraph, describing a bill being considered by the state legislature.

Harrisburg Telegraph April 16, 1879 p.1

Harrisburg Telegraph April 16, 1879 p.1

The bill was passed on a second reading, according to a May 16, 1879, article in the same paper (p.1).  Here is a description of that bill as reported the next day:

Harrisburg Telegraph May 17, 1879, p. 4

Harrisburg Telegraph May 17, 1879, p. 4

Thus, by the time Jacob Mayer was practicing dentistry, there was some state regulation of the practice.

At any rate, his son Charles did not follow him in to this practice.  By 1875 when he was eighteen, Charles was working as a salesman, though still living at home.  In the 1879 Philadelphia directory, he is listed as a bookkeeper, and on the 1880 census, he is a clerk, but in the 1880 directory, his occupation is salesman.  He was still living at home with his parents at this time.

After marrying Flora Simon in 1889, Charles and Flora remained in Philadelphia for a few more years and  Charles continued to work as a salesman.  Their first child Jerome was born in 1890, and their second child Madeline was born in 1892.  A third child, Evelyn, was born in October, 1895 according to the 1900 census (although her headstone says 1894), but I am not sure whether she was born in Philadelphia or in Lancaster because by 1896, the family had relocated to Lancaster, where Charles had been born almost forty years earlier.  He is listed in the 1896 Lancaster directory as the proprietor of the Parisian Cloak and Suit Company.  The family remained in Lancaster until at least 1901, when Charles is still listed as the proprietor of the same company.

"Downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1874" by Author unknown. From the personal collection of historian Ronald C. Young of Brownstown, Pennsylvania. Published in the Lancaster Sunday Newspaper in November 2008. - http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/5/229862/mon2. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Downtown_Lancaster,_Pennsylvania_1874.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Downtown_Lancaster,_Pennsylvania_1874.jpg

“Downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1874” by Author unknown. From the personal collection of historian Ronald C. Young of Brownstown, Pennsylvania. Published in the Lancaster Sunday Newspaper in November 2008. – http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/5/229862/mon2. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Downtown_Lancaster,_Pennsylvania_1874.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Downtown_Lancaster,_Pennsylvania_1874.jpg

By 1904, however, the family had returned to Philadelphia, and Charles is listed as affiliated with the A.J.S. Bowers Company, also known as the Philadelphia Cloak and Suit Company.  He listed his occupation on the 1910 census as a clothing manufacturer and continued to be associated with A.J.S. Bowers.  By 1914, however, he had started his own business, Charles S. Mayer & Co, and on the 1920 census described his business as a manufacturer of ladies’ dresses.

The three children of Flora and Charles Mayer, all now in their twenties, were still living at home with their parents in 1920.  Jerome was working as a salesman of ladies’ dresses, presumably in his father’s business.  Madeline was a primary school teacher, and so was her sister Evelyn.

Madeline married Gustave Winelander in 1925. Gustave was a 1914 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Chemistry.  He served in the US military forces during World War I and then was working as a chemist in 1918 according to the 1918 Philadelphia directory.  The 1920 census records that he and his father Max had their own extract business, and from later census and directory listings I determined that he was selling flavoring extracts used in baking.   Gustave and Madeline would have one daughter, Joan.

Flora and Charles Mayer’s youngest child, Evelyn, married Irving Frank sometime in or before 1922, as their son Irving was born in York, Pennsylvania, in January, 1922.  Irving, Senior, was born in New York City in 1893, but by 1903 he and his parents and siblings had relocated to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where his younger sister Mildred was born.  In 1910, his father was a milliner, like Flora’s uncle, Joseph Simon.  Since York was only 26 miles from Lancaster, perhaps the two hat merchants knew each other.

Irving attended Lehigh University in 1912 and 1913, as a civil engineering major.  On his World War I draft registration, he listed his occupation as a manager at M. Frank in Lancaster, but by 1920 he was living in York with his aunt and uncle, working as a clerk in a department store.  Maybe he met Evelyn while working there when she was visiting her aunt and uncle, Joseph and Emilie Simon.  After marrying sometime thereafter, Irving and Evelyn settled in York, as Irving is listed a buyer there in the 1925 York directory.  By 1927, however, he was the proprietor of the Fashion Millinery in Lancaster, joining the same trade as his father and Evelyn’s uncle Joseph Simon.

Jerome, Madeline, and Evelyn’s mother Flora Simon Mayer died August 20, 1927, and was buried at Mt. Sinai cemetery in Philadelphia.  She died of bronchial pneumonia.  She was only 59 years old.

Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

After Flora died, her husband Charles and her son Jerome continued to live together and work together in the women’s clothing business at least until 1930.  Sometime between 1930 and 1940, Jerome married Mabel Bamberger Sichel, who had a daughter Marion from an earlier marriage.  On the 1940 census, Jerome, Mabel, and Marion are living in the same house on Diamond Street that Jerome had lived in with his parents and sisters, and his father Charles and Mabel’s mother Rose Bamberger were living with them as well.  Jerome was working in the cheese business.

Irving  Frank remained a milliner in Lancaster for many years, at least until the early 1940s.  He died November 14, 1946, and was residing in York at that time. He was only 53 years old.  He was buried at Prospect Hill cemetery in York where Joseph, Emilie, and Moses Joseph Simon were buried.

 

Charles Mayer outlived his wife Flora by almost thirty years, dying at the age of 98 on July 7, 1955.  He was buried with her at Mt. Sinai cemetery.  His son Jerome died in December 1966 and is also buried at Mt. Sinai with his wife Mabel, who died in 1973.  Jerome’s sister Madeline died in 1968; her husband Gustave lived until 1989 when he was 95 years old; they also are buried at Mt. Sinai in Philadelphia.

For longevity, however, the prize goes to Evelyn Mayer Frank, who died in 2002 at the age of 107.  She is buried with her husband Irving in the Prospect Hill cemetery in York, Pennsylvania.  Imagine the changes she saw in her world between her birth in 1894 and her death in 2002.  I hope that her descendants and her siblings’ descendants had many opportunities to learn from her experiences and to hear her stories.

 

 

Elizabeth Cohen’s Descendants: The Story Continued

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In an earlier post, I detailed the difficult search for the story of Elizabeth Cohen and the lucky break I had in finding one little newspaper mention of a charitable donation that opened the door to the rest of her story: that she had first married Benjamin Heyman and had two children, Florence and Herbert, that Benjamin had died before Herbert was two years old, and that Elizabeth later married Bernard Sluizer with whom she had another child, Mervyn Sluizer.  That was where the post ended.

I have been very lucky again in finding one of Bernard and Elizabeth Sluizer’s great-granddaughters, Janet Elizabeth Sluizer (named for her great-grandmother, Elizabeth Cohen Sluizer).  I now know more about Bernard and about their descendants including some photographs that bring these names to life.  Bernard was the first born child of Meyer and Margaret (nee Lince) Sluizer, who were both born in Holland in the early 1830s.  The records conflict as to when they arrived in the US, but by 1860 they were certainly living in Philadelphia as Meyer filed a Declaration of Intent to become a citizen that year and Bernard was also born in Philadelphia in 1860.  Meyer was first a tobacconist and later became a china dealer, according to several Philadelphia directories.  He and Margaret had six more children, the last born in 1877.  Meyer died in 1880, leaving Margaret with many young children still at home.  Margaret lived to be 88, dying on August 20, 1921.

Bernard, who was twenty when his father died, was employed as a salesman in 1880, but no specific business was given on the 1880 census.  He remained a salesman of some kind at least until he married my great-grandaunt Elizabeth Cohen in 1892, when not surprisingly he became a pawnbroker.  As I’ve already written, Bernard took in Elizabeth’s two children from her prior marriage to Benjamin Heyman, and then in 1893, Bernard and Elizabeth had a child of their own, Mervyn.

Mervyn married Irma Wise in 1916 when he was 23 years old and she was 21.

Mervyn Sluizer, Sr.

Mervyn Sluizer, Sr.

Irma Wise Sluizer

Irma Wise Sluizer

Mervyn also became a pawnbroker, working in his father’s store. Here is a wonderful photograph of Bernard (far left) and his son Mervyn (far right), working in his pawnshop.  This is the first photograph I have seen of one of the many family pawnshops.  I love the musical instruments in the background, the huge trunks in the foreground, and all the other signs and details that help convey a sense of what these stores were like.

Bernard Sluizer's pawnshop Bernard, far left; his son, Mervyn, Sr., far right

Bernard Sluizer’s pawnshop
Bernard, far left; his son, Mervyn, Sr., far right

Mervyn and Irma had two children, Mervyn, Jr., born in 1920, and Margaret, born in 1924.  Margaret must have been named for Mervyn’s grandmother, Bernard’s mother, Margaret.  It is a little surprising that Mervyn did not name his daughter for his mother, Elizabeth, who had died in 1923, instead of his grandmother, but perhaps it was just too close to the time she had died.  In 1930, Bernard, now a widower, was living with Mervyn, Irma, and their children.

Sometime between 1932 and 1935, Mervyn and Irma divorced, according to their granddaughter Jan Sluizer.  On the 1940 census, Irma was living with her two children, Mervyn, Jr. and Margaret.  Mervyn, Sr., had remarried by 1940 and was living with his new wife, Anne, and her two children from a prior marriage, Bernard and Sidney Riskin.  Mervyn Sr.’s father Bernard was also living with him and his new family.  Mervyn, Sr., and Anne moved to Atlantic City sometime after the census and were living there for several years.

Mervyn Sluizer's house in Atlantic City

Mervyn Sluizer’s house in Atlantic City

Mervyn, Sr. (far left) and Anne (center) in Havana, 1937

Mervyn, Sr. (far left) and Anne (center) in Havana, 1937

Mervyn Sluizer, Sr., third from right

Mervyn Sluizer, Sr., third from right

Anne and Mervyn Sluizer, Sr., far left

Anne and Mervyn Sluizer, Sr., far left

In 1941, Merv, Jr., graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an engineering student and a member of Sigma Tau, the engineering honor society.

1940 University of Pennsylvania Yearbook

1940 University of Pennsylvania Yearbook

Merv Penn 2

(Ancestry.com. U.S. School Yearbooks [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original data: Various school yearbooks from across the United States.)

His grandfather Bernard died in 1944, and six years later his father Mervyn, Sr., died also.  Mervyn, Sr., was only 57 years old.  Meanwhile, in 1942 Mervyn, Jr., had married Shirley Harkaway, whom he had met at the University of Pennsylvania.  Here is a picture of Shirley as a young child with her mother Ida,  as well as a picture of Ida as a child with her sisters:

Shirley Harkaway with her mother Ida Lutsky Harkaway

Shirley Harkaway with her mother Ida Lutsky Harkaway

Ida Lutsky, rear center, with her sisters

Ida Lutsky, rear, right, with her sisters

 

Mervyn, Jr. and Shirley had two children, including Jan, the cousin who has supplied me with all of the wonderful photos posted here.

Mervyn Sluizer, Jr.

Mervyn Sluizer, Jr.

Mervyn, Jr.’s sister Margaret also married and had three children.  Her husband, Dr. Manfred Goldwein, had been one of the children who had been taken out of Europe to England on the Kinder Transport to escape the Nazis; the rest of his family was killed in the Holocaust.  He became a medical doctor and one of the top rated doctors in Philadelphia.

Jan also provided me with two newspaper articles about her father, Mervyn, Jr., including his obituary.  Both portray a man who was a lifelong volunteer in his community and one who had a special passion for the Boy Scouts. The first article, published by the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent in August, 1962, when Mervyn, Jr., was 42, described his history of service to his community.  According to this article, Mervyn, Jr., was active in the Allied Jewish Appeal in Philadelphia and had recently been named Chairman of its Metropolitan Division after serving as Vice Chairman and also playing an active role in the organization since 1948.  He also was active in B’Nai Brith and on the national board of trustees of his college fraternity.   He had been actively involved in scouting since he was a boy and was at that time the scoutmaster of Troop 185, which was affiliated with Adath Jeshurun synagogue.  Mervyn Jr.’s grandfather, August Wise, his mother’s father, had been one of the founding members of Adath Jeshurun.  Mervyn was himself a member of Beth Tikvah synagogue and served at one time as its president.

Mervyn Sluizer, Jr.

Mervyn Sluizer, Jr.

Philadelphia Jewish Exponent August 1962

Philadelphia Jewish Exponent August 1962

Irma Wise Sluizer (1895-1969)

Irma Wise Sluizer
(1895-1969)

Mervyn Sluizer, Jr., died on October 12, 2000.  He was eighty years old.  The obituary below, which appeared in the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, also portrays a man who lived a full life, dedicated to service and to his profession as well as to his family.  There is a scholarship in his name created by alumni of his troop, Philadelphia Troop 185, to honor his memory and to provide financial support for Philadelphia area Boy Scouts pursuing higher education. It is specifically provided to Eagle Scouts, as Mervyn spent a great deal of time helping scouts achieve that difficult level of scouting.   There is also a second scholarship in his name sponsored by his fraternity at the University of Pennsylvania, Pi Lambda Phi.

Mervyn Sluizer, Jr. obituary

Mervyn Sluizer, Jr. obituary

My great-grandaunt Elizabeth Cohen, who died when her grandson Mervyn, Jr., was only three years old, would undoubtedly have been very proud that he grew up to be such a generous and decent man, a college educated professional, one of the first in the family, and a man who gave so much to his community.  He would have turned 94 just this past weekend on July 12.