David and Thalia Meranski and eight
children about 1911
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#360 p 45 #997
Individual enlargements of each family member are on this website and can be
seen by entering their names on "keyword" space of this photobook.Front row
left to right are Harry May 1891 Rebekah November 1, l906, David March l865,
Israel Peter November 1903, Thalia Goldfeld Meranski probably born 1870 or
l869 Brody Austria married August 8, l890 Germania Hall, Main St. Hartford
Ct, Sophie Ruth (author of memoirs)October 4, l901, Esther November 19,
1894- and standing, back Abe 1896 Ben November 1, l892, and Bertha probably
July 23, l898.Photo was probably at September holidays 1911.--- John Barrett
My grandmother Thalia or Tally, Thaly Tillie Tolley Goldfeld was probably
born in Brody, Galicia then in Austria now Ukraine about 1869-1870. She was
in Hartford Connecticut by August 8, 1890, when she married David Meranski,
probably born March 1865 in Brest on the Bug River now in Belarus on border
of Poland. Thalia had a younger brother Jacob, hard of hearing alive in
Hartford in 1931. The spelling of his name in Hartford directories was
changed in 1915 to Goldfield. Their parents' first names were Abel and
Bertha. Thalia Goldfeld had eight children Harry Uriah May 1891; Benjamin
Franklin born November 1, 1892, Esther born November 19, 1894, Abe born 1896
or 1897, Bertha born 1898[married Samuel Pollack of Minsk]; Sophie Ruth born
October 4, 1901 [married John Berchmans Barrett, U.S. naval officer]; Dr.
Israel Peter Meranski born 1903 [married Jeanette Goldberg of Baltimore];
Rebekah born 1906 [married Dr. Isadore Geetter in Hartford - he was native
of Stryj or Stryy in Lemberg L'viv province Galicia]. Thalia Goldfeld my
grandmother died of gall bladder cancer September 1925 in Hartford Ct. She
was buried in Zion Hill Cemetery, Hartford. The Meiselmann and Witkower
families of Hartford are believed to have sponsored Thalia Goldfeld and her
brother Jacob, and she probably lived with the Meiselmanns prior to her
marriage. These families are said to be from Brody, Galicia - then Austrian,
now in Ukraine. In 1909 Thalia Goldfeld and her husband David Meranski and
eight children lived on Portland Street for about a year and were neighbors
of a Goldfield family, who might be related. There is a possibility that the
Meiselmanns and Witkowers were related or knew Thalia and Jacob Goldfeld and
their parents in Galicia. The Witkowers are believed to have been from Brody
originally but spent time in Vienna, Austria, where one of their sons was
born. Rebekah Geetter of Hartford said her mother came to America via
Hamburg, Germany. Sophie Barrett believed her mother spoke of being in
Vienna and specifically of the Danube River. David Meranski believed born
Brest 1865 may have been in Brody as a seventeen-year-old refugee about 1882
when there was persecution on the Russian side of the border, and Brody was
a refugee center. He may have met Brody families at that time, and they may
later have encouraged him to come to Hartford. His daughter Sophie Barrett
believes he emigrated via the Black Sea port of Odessa and she remembers him
wearing a fez in a photo in Turkey. Many emigrants from Russia at this
period desired to settle in the Holy Land, but whether or not David Meranski
was ever there, he learned tailoring in Cairo, Egypt and came to Hartford in
time to be married at Germania Hall at Main Street Hartford August 8, 1890.
He worked as a tailor until about 1910, mostly in the northeast section of
Hartford. One work address was American Row. He probably lived on Morgan
near Front St. 1894, Front Street 1901, Orchard St 1903, and Pleasant St.
1906. Around 1906-7 there was a financial panic, and David Meranski accepted
tailoring work on New York Lower East Side offered by a former Hartford
friend Samuel Shlimbaum. His daughter Sophie remembers her mother followed
by train with the eight children, though the youngest had measles. She
believes they lived on New York Twenty Seventh Street near Third Avenue. The
job proved temporary, and Daivd Meranski 1908-9 sewed custom made men's
overcoats for Gimmel Burnham company of Hartford in his front parlor on
Portland Street. Then he began a restaurant at 25 Morgan Street, where
Jewish musicians performed during the main noon meal for workmen. According
to family tradition he continued a clientele which had been developed by
Charles Abuza, father of entertainer Sophie Tucker, though directories
suggest Abuza's restaurant was on nearby Front Street. Thalia Goldfeld
Meranski did most of the cooking, while her husband greeted customers and
handled cash receipts and management. The best known of the traveling
musicians were Boris Thomacevsky and family of the Second Avenue Yiddish
Theater, New York. Thalia's dasughter Bertha was invited to join the touring
singers 1914, but her family felt she was too young. Thalia's eldest son
Harry Meranski wrote and performed songs in public with his friend
Kupperstein, using the stage names "Cooper and Meran". In the fall of 1916
David Meranski moved to 2-4 Wooster Street near Canton Avenue and operated a
grocery store. Directories indicate Jacob Goldfeld [unmarried, hard of
hearing] remained at 25 Morgan Street with a grou of tailors. Esther, Bertha
1917, and Rebekah 1925 took business courses at Hartford Public High School,
but Sophie 1919 and Israel 1921 took the pre-college course. Harry, Ben, and
Abe were drafted into the Army in 1918, and Thalia their mother was so
frightened when the draft notices came that she put salt instead of sugar
into jelly she was making. Two of her sons had severe influenza at Forts
Devens and Dix. Thalia Goldfeld developed gallstones that were not properly
diagnosed, and by the time they were operated on in 1921, she had gall
bladder cancer. She was told she had adhesions. She was able to attend her
daughter Sophie's May 1923 graduation from Mount Holyoke College in South
Hadley, Massachusetts, which gave her satisfaction, and her son Israel
completed Trinity College Hartford 1925 and was accepted at University of
Maryland Medical School, but Thalia Goldfeld died September 1925, aged about
fifty-five years according to information entered by Dr. Kaitz on her death
certificate- informant was her son Benjamin Franklin Meranski. |