Treasure Chest Thursday: Abraham Garber Death Certificate

Abraham Garber only had about four years in the United States before he passed away. During those four years he reacquainted himself with his sons (three of whom had left for America more than ten years before Abraham became an immigrant); he worked side-by-side with his eldest son, Nathan, in the butter and eggs business; and he remarried.

1. Place of Death  Borough of Manhattan, 230 Madison St. Character of premises whether tenement, private, hotel, hospital or other place, etc.    tenement  Registration No.  376 2. Full Name Abraham Garber 3. Sex male 4. Color or Race white 5. Single, married, widowed or divorced: married 6. Date of birth January 2, 1864 7. Age 64 years 1 day 8. Occupation
     (a) Trade, profession, or particular kind of work Merchant 
     (b) Current nature of industry, business, or establishment in which employed (or employer) Butter and Eggs
9. Birthplace Russia 
9a. How long in the U.S. 4 y 
9b. How long resident in City of New York 4 y 
10. Name of father Max Garber 
11. Birthplace of father Russia 
12. Name of mother Mindel Shapiro   
13. Birthplace of mother Russia 
14. Special information [blank] 
15. Date of Death January 3, 1928
16. I hereby certify that the foregoing particulars (nos. 1 to 14 inclusive) are correct as near as the same can be ascertained, and I further certify that I attended the deceased from Dec. 6, 1927 to Jan. 3, 1928, that I last saw him alive on the 3 day of Jan. 1928, that death occurred on the date stated above at 11 P.M., and that the cause of death was as follows chronic rheumatic Endocardity. Duration 3 yrs. 6 mos.
Contributory (secondary): chronic nephritis 
Duration 2 yrs.
Witness my hand this 4th day of Jan. 1928. Signature ? Freedman, M.D. Address 150 Henry St.

17. Place of burial Montefiore Cem Date of burial Jan. 4, 1928 18. Undertaker Jacob Blum # 45 Address 210 E Bway
Side of 2nd page:   I hereby certify that I have been employed as an undertaker by Mrs. Garber the wife of deceased.

Abraham lived at 230-232 Madison Street the same building in which his son Nathan and Nathan's family resided.[1] Their store was located at 242 Madison Street.[2]

The family story is that Abraham's wife Khana, the mother of all his children, died in Europe. He was likely a widower when he emigrated in November 1922 (although I've examined, and will continue to examine, his manifest which indicated he was married t0 traveling companion Feiga Grinfeld). Feiga likely headed to Cincinnati shortly after arrival in New York. 

Sometime between November 1922 and the New York State Census enumeration on 1 June 1925, Abraham married a woman named Norma. I have been unable to locate any marriage records for this couple. Nor have I located Norma after Abraham's death. 

Abraham's father is identified on his death certificate as Max. This is an Americanization of Abraham's father's name. Abraham's father "Max" never set foot in the United States, and his name in Hebrew on Abraham's gravestone is Mordechai. Mordechai is also Abraham's son Max's Hebrew name.  

Notes:
1. 1925 New York State census, New York County, population schedule, Manhattan, Enumeration District 7, Assembly District 1, p. 22, entry 30, Abraham Garber; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 June 2012), citing New York State Archives, Albany, New York.
2. Polk's Trow's New York City Directory, 1922-23, Boroughs of Manhattan & Bronx (New York City: R.L. Polk & Co., 1922), 759, entry for Garber, Nathan; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 December 2013).