Treaure Chest Thursday: Jack Garber WWI Draft Registration Card

A recent review of my grandfather's World War I Draft Registration Card, one that I've had in a file for more than five years, surprised me. Oh, I'd seen the information before. But, it never made an impression. Item 9: Jacob Garber was financially supporting his wife, his mother and his father. 

"World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 May 2008), card for Jacob Garber, no. 277, Kings County Draft Board 80, citing World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917 - 1918, National Archives microfilm publication M1509; imaged from Family History Library microfilm roll 1,754,612.

Back in June 2012 I posted an article about my great grandmother Chana (Anna) Mazewitsky Garber. At that time I used birth dates of grandchildren, especially those whose names were clearly bestowed in memory of Chana, to postulate when she might have passed away in the Russian Empire. Now, here, with this draft card record, I have another independent source showing that on 5 June 1917, Chana was, likely, still alive.

REGISTRATION CARD

No. 277 

1. Name in full  Jacob Garber

2. Home Address  453 Williams Brooklyn NY

3. Date of birth  Dec 15 1893 [1]

4. Are you (1) a natural-born citizen, (2) a naturalized citizen, (3) an alien, (4) or have you declared your intention (specify which)?
Alien

5. Where were you born?  Lubin Voline Russia

6. If not a citizen, of what nation are you a citizen or subject?  Russia

7. What is your present trade, occupation, or office?  Glazier

8. By whom employed?  IM Meyers [2]

    Where employed?  66 - 6th Ave NY

9. Have you a father, mother, wife, child under 12, or a sister or a brother under 12, solely dependent on your support (specify which)?  Wife & Mother & Father

10. Married or single (which)?  Married

    Race (specify which)? Cauc.

11. What military service have you had? Rank, branch, years, Nation or state  [blank]

12. Do you claim exemption from draft (specify grounds)?  Support of Family

I affirm that I have verified above answers and that they are true.

/S/ Jacob Garber        

------------------------------

31-9-80-A                   REGISTRAR'S REPORT 

1. Tall, medium, or short (specify which)?  Tall

    Slender, medium, or stout (which)?  Med

2. Color of eyes  Gray

    Color of hair  Black

    Bald  No

3. Has person lost arm, leg, hand, foot, eye, or both eyes or is he otherwise disabled (specify)?  No

I certify that my answers are true, that the person registered has read his own answers, that I have witnessed his signature, and that all of his answers of which I have knowledge are true, except as follows

/S/ Robert Weine        

Precinct  55 ED  22 AD
City or County  Kings                                      6/5/17

State  NY

------------------------------

Now, of course, we all know that there would have been ample reason to lie or, at least, stretch the truth if one did not want to serve in the U.S. military. But, in this case, Jacob would have achieved the desired effect without additionally listing his mother (i.e., "have a wife and father to support" would have been sufficient to meet the conscription exemption criteria). In addition, Jacob and his wife Dora had their first child Leah three months later. Had Chana been dead at that point, Jacob and Dora would likely have named their daughter after her grandmother. So, I think the footing on determining Chana's date of death is getting firmer. 

Notes:  
1. On other documents, Jacob's birth date is listed as 15 Dec 1894: application for Social Security Card (SS-5 filed 28 May 1937), World War II Draft Registration Card (April 1942) and Petition for Naturalization (26 June 1924).
2. Myer Myers, Dora Morris Garber's great uncle, owned a glass store at 66 - 6th Avenue in Manhattan at this time.

Tombstone Tuesday: Joseph and Rose Adler Myers

Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, New York, Block 89, Gate 156N, Line 6R, Grave 1 & 2,
 photographed 2 September 2008.

MYERS

 Here lies

Reisa daughter of Yitzchak

Died 5 Tishri 5728

May her soul be bound in the bonds of eternal life

______

ROSE

DIED OCT. 9, 1967

AGE 75 YEARS

DEVOTED WIFE

BELOVED MOTHER

AND GRANDMOTHER

___________________________

Here lies

Yosef son of David

Died 11 Teiveit 5706

May his soul be bound in the bonds of eternal life

______

JOSEPH

DIED DEC. 15, 1945

AGE 56 YEARS

DEVOTED HUSBAND

BELOVED FATHER

AND GRANDFATHER 

____________________________ 

Joseph Myers, born Jossel Malzmann on 15 January 1889 in Lubin, Russian Empire (also known as Labun and, now, Yurovshchina, Ukraine), was the third son and fifth child of David and Ida (Chaye) Myers.  

Joseph left Hamburg, Germany on 2 November 1906 and arrived in the Port of New York on 16 November 1906. [1] He identified himself as a glazier on his manifest and, like all his brothers and brothers-in-law, worked as a glazier in New York City.

Joseph married Rose Adler on 25 March 1913 in Manhattan. [2] They had three children: Lillian Myers Langer (born 15 February 1914), Marvin L. (10 January 1917-15 August 1917) and Eugene (10 August 1918-19 November 2001).

Notes:

1."New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 19 June 2009), manifest, Batavia, Hamburg to New York, arriving 16 November 1906, p. 18, line 10, Jossel Malzmann; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715, Roll 798.
2. New York County, New York, Certificate and Record of Marriage number 5284 (25 March 1913), Joseph Myers and Rose Adler, New York City Municipal Archives, New York.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Louis Myers' Obituary

New York Times, 9 November 1938

LOUIS MYERS IS DEAD;

EX-THEATRE OWNER

_______________

Was a Fouder and Official

of Anti-Nazi League

_______________

   Louis Myers, a founder and acting treasurer of the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League and former operator of motion-picture theatres, died yesterday at his home at 1,605 Walton Avenue, the Bronx, after  long illness. His age was 82.

   Mr. Myers was a vice president of the Order Sons of Zion and a treasurer of the Independent Theatre Owners Association. Until recently he had been the operator of the Five Boroughs Theatre Circuit.

   A native of Russia, he came to the United States as a child. During the World War period he entered the moving-picture industry, developed his own chain of houses throughout the Bronx, and ten years ago established his own glass manufacturing and importing business.

   Surviving are his widow; a daughter, Miss Renee Myers, and a son, Dr. Bernard Myers.

   Funeral services will be held today at the Park West Memorial Chapel, 115 West Seventy-ninth Street. Burial will be in Montefiore Cemetery, Springfield, L.I.

_______________________

This New York Times  obituary is notable for several reasons. First, its existence is an indication that immigrant Louis Myers, unlike any other member of his family, had been a successful and acknowledged leader in his adopted country. 

The obituary is also notable for more than one mistake in covering Louis' life story. Louis was not a child when he arrived in the United States. His manifest indicates that he was 20 years old when he arrived in 1904.[1]

Louis Myers started, like the rest his family, as a glazier in New York City. I have located city directories, including one as early as 1910, where Louis is identified as a glazier. Even in the 1930 Census, he is listed as in the glass business. It was only much later that he began investing in movie theaters.

Notes:
1."New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 11 January 2012), manifest, Main, Bremen to New York, arriving 25 November 1904, p. 1, Leiser Malzmann; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715.

Tombstone Tuesday: Louis Myers

Montefiore Cemetery, Queens, New York,
 Block 89, Gate 156N, Line 6R, Grave 6,
 photographed 2 September 2008.

MYERS

Here lies
Eliezer son of David
------•------
BELOVED HUSBAND

DEAR FATHER

LOUIS

MAR. 4, 1886

NOV. 8, 1938

HE DEVOTED HIS LIFE

TO THE CAUSE

OF HIS PEOPLE

____________________ 

Successful businessman, glazier, movie house owner, and social activist, Louis Myers was also remembered by many in his family as a caring and generous relation. Second son and fourth adult child of David and Ida Myers, he was born in Lubin, Russian Empire (also known as Labun and, now, Yurovshchina, Ukraine).

He arrived in New York Harbor as Leiser Malzmann in November 1904. [1] Like his brother, Myer, who had emigrated before him, he became a glazier. Louis and his cousin Jacob Myers (Zachary Myers' son), were business partners in Myers' Plate Glass Company, Inc.

Louis was married twice. His first marriage occurred in the late 1910s (I have been unable to locate a marriage certificate) to Dora Waxenberg, also a former Lubin resident. This marriage produced a son, Bernard Myers (4 May 1908 - 28 February 1993) who earned a PhD. and was a Professor of art history and author. 

Louis' and Dora's marriage ended in divorce shortly after Bernard's birth (I have not found the divorce records). On 10 October 1915, Louis married Yetta G. Hirschhorn. A daughter, Renee Myers Adelstein (26 May 1917 - 5 October 1945), was born of this union.[2]

Louis acquired several small movie theaters including the Lido on Fordham Road in the Bronx. He provided jobs for several family members, including Saul Morris (his sister Sarah's youngest son). In the 1930s Louis held the office of Secretary in the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League.

Notes:

1."New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 11 January 2012), manifest, Main, Bremen to New York, arriving 25 November 1904, p. 1, Leiser Malzmann; citing National Archives Microfilm Serial T715.
2. Louis Myers, Petition for Naturalization number 144361 (4 June 1923), New York Supreme Court, New York County, Volume 604, Page 11.