Lena Zuckerkandel and Gabriel Teilhaber

Gabriel Teilhaber was born in Czernowitz in the province of Bukovina in 1880-1881. His mother was Sprinste Tresser Teilhaber. His father's name was later anglicized as Sam, Simon and Cecil. It may or may not have been Süsse.

According to Gabriel's Declaration of Intention and Petition for Naturalization, he arrived in NYC in late June or early July 1903. In his Declaration of Intention, he said his arrival was on July 8, 1903. In his Petition for Naturalization, he said he'd arrived on June 29, 1903, on the SS Neckar from Bremen. The problem is that according to the Ellis Island ship records, the Neckar hadn't done the Bremen/New York run in June since 1895 and had never done it in July. During 1903, it did this run in January, February, April, October and November. I wasn't able to find Gabriel in the Ellis Island records at all.

Whenever and however Gabriel got to NYC, he was definitely in Manhattan on July 8, 1906, when he married Lena Zuckerkandel. Lena was born in Austria in 1881-1886 and immigrated to the States in 1899-1900. She may or may not be the Leie Zuckerkandl who was born in 1881 in Potok Złoty in Galicia in the Austrian Empire and who arrived at Ellis Island on December 3, 1899.

Thirteen days after Gabriel and Lena's wedding, Gabriel filed of a Declaration of Intention to obtain US citizenship.

According to the obituary of Gabriel and Lena's youngest son, Morris/Murray, 1906 was also the year that Gabriel founded Cathedral Furniture House in Manhattan. I haven't been able to confirm this, but certainly Gabriel was working as a store keeper on July 7, 1909, when he filed his Petition for Naturalization. At the time the data for the 1910 US Census was collected, Gabriel was working as furniture dealer on his "own account." In 1918, he owned a furniture store at 2511 8th Avenue, near West 134th Street. By 1942, the store had moved to 124 West 116th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues. The first time I can find the name Cathedral Furniture House in print is in 1949, and at that time it refers to the 116th Street address. However, given the name of the store, I have to wonder if its original, pre-1918 location was on Cathedral Parkway, AKA West 110th Street.

The young couple seem to have moved around a bit in the first years of their marriage. On Gabriel's Declaration of Intention, he gave his address as 208 East 7th Street. Gabriel's sister Sofie, who arrived in NYC on April 4, 1907, gave his address as 364-6 East 10th Street.

Lena and Gabriel had a daughter born in Manhattan on May 25, 1907. Her birth record gives her first name as Cecelia. However, she appears to have been renamed almost immediately as Sophie. In the 1930 US Census, she's referred to as Sid.

Gabriel's brother Karl/Hyman arrived on December 5, 1907, to meet his brother at "231 East 23rd Street." This was probably a reference to 331 East 23rd Street, which is where the family was living in 1909-1910.

A second daughter, Frieda, was born to Gabriel and Lena in Manhattan on February 19, 1909. The name Teilhaber often did not fare well at the hands of North American record keepers. By me, Frieda's birth record wins the prize for most egregrious misspelling: Tailbarber.

Gabriel filed his Petition for Citizenship on July 7, 1909. According to this document, he was born on November 1, 1881, in Bokavina, and had arrived in NYC on July 8, 1903. He was working as a store keeper and living at 331 East 23rd Street. His wife Lena had been born in Austria in 1884. They had two children: "Sophie" born May 26, 1907 and "Freda" born December 14, 1908. Sophie's date of birth is only one day off the date in Cecelia's birth records, but Frieda's is too early by two months and five days. Gabriel was later to exhibit a similar degree of creativity with his own birthdate.

The 1910 US Census, officially dated April 15, 1910, found "Jake Tirlhaber" living at 331 East 23rd Street with his wife "Lenia" and their two daughters, Sophia (three years old) and "Fredia" (14 months old). "Jake" was a furniture dealer who worked on his "own account."

Two more children were born after 1910: Benjamin on June 22, 1911, and Morris on November 6, 1915.

By the time Gabriel registered for the WWI draft on September 12, 1918, the family had moved to 2471 8th Avenue, near Gabriel's furniture store at 2511 8th Avenue. This time Gabriel gave his date of birth as November 16, 1880.

The issue of the New York Age published July 9, 1921, reports under Manhattan news that Sophie Teilhaber had graduated from Public School 119, also known as the James Russel Lowell School, on June 28. Sophie would have been 14 at the time.

The issue of the New York Times published March 31, 1925, reported that G Teilhaber, along with B and A Josephson, had incorporated the Bergab Garage Corp in Manhattan with capitalization of $20,000.

The 1925 New York States Census found the Teilhabers living in the 13th Assembly District of Manhattan, which would be consistent with their 1918 address. Gabriel was listed as "Abraham" - was "Gabe" misheard as "Abe"? Living with him and his wife Lena were Sophie, Frieda, Bennie and Moe.

By 1930, the "Teidharbers" had moved to 1117 Gerard Avenue in the Bronx. Gabriel still owned a furniture business, where his son Benjamin worked as a helper. "Sid" - the former Sophie - was a decorator for an advertising business. Frieda was a typist for a shoe business, while Lena and 14-year-old Morris had no occupations. This marks the last time I was able to find any records for Sophie.

On June 22, 1930, Frieda married Lazarus "Larry" Litvinoff in Manhattan. Larry was born in New York on October 21, 1906, the son of Russian immigrants Morris Litvinoff and Anna Nishirewitz. On the marriage record, Anna's last name was anglicized to Nash and Lena's to Sugar, the English translation of Zucker. Frieda and Larry returned from their honeymoon cruise aboard the SS Bermuda on July 5, 1930, giving their address as 336 Neptune Avenue in Brooklyn. That's the last time I was able to find any records for Frieda. Larry passed away in Broward County, Florida, on September 12, 1988. When Frieda's brother Morris (Murray) passed away on October 2, 2008, his obituary mentioned that he was survived by, among others, his nephew Buddy Litvinoff of Milford, Connecticut, and Buddy's wife Roberta.

Benjamin married Thelma Sherwin on October 17, 1936, in Brooklyn. I'm fairly sure that she was the daughter of Morris Sherwin and Bessie Lavenberg, born on May 15, 1915, in New York. Thelma and Benjamin's son Bruce was born in or about 1938.

The 1940 US Census found Gabriel, Benjamin and Morris all working at the furniture store, Benjamin and Morris as salesmen. Gabriel, Lena and Morris were living in the Bronx at 2895 Briggs Avenue, while Benjamin, Thelma and Bruce were living in Brooklyn at 1402 West 4th Street. Both households had moved to these addresses between 1935 and 1940.

The 1940 US Census recorded the highest level of education each person had completed. Gabriel - a successful businessman - and Lena reported no years of schooling. Benjamin and Thelma had completed two years of high school, while Morris had completed four. Two-year-old Bruce had yet to get started.

By 1942, Gabriel and Lena had moved again, this time to 2776 Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. When he registered for the WWII draft, Gabriel knocked about 15 years off his age and reported that he'd been born in Bokowine on February 14, 1896. He also reported that he was self-employed at 240 West 116th Street in Manhattan, providing us with an address for his business at that time.

I couldn't find a WWII draft registration record for Benjamin, but I did find Morris' enlistment record. He enlisted on July 29, 1942, at Fort Jay on Governors Island, New York. His enlistment record describes him as a "retail manager" with one year of college. He served in Europe until November 14, 1945. In or about 1947, he married Edith Ablon, the daughter of David Ablon and Julia Goldberg, born February 11, 1927, in the Bronx.

Issues of the New York Age published January 15 through February 12, 1949, report that the Age was running a $5,000 Baby Contest and that ballots could be picked up at various neighbourhood stores, including Cathedral Furniture House at 240 West 116th Street. This is the first time I was able to confirm the name of Gabriel's store.

Lena Zuckerkandel Teilhaber passed away in 1951 and is buried in the Baron Hirsch Cemetery on Staten Island. Gabriel followed her in 1960.

Benjamin and Morris - now Murray - continued to run Cathedral Furniture House for some years. Murray, Edith and their family moved to Spring Valley in Rockland County, New York, in 1962. At some point Benjamin, Thelma and their family moved to Georgia.

Benjamin passed away in Georgia in either DeKalb or Fulton County (the two are adjacent) on April 3, 1998. He's buried in the Crestlawn Cemetery in Atlanta. Thelma followed him on December 24, 2001, and is buried with him.

Edith passed away in Spring Valley on June 2, 2001, and is buried in the Jewish Community Center Cemetery there. Murray followed her on October 2, 2008.

Murray was survived by a daughter, Marge Teilhaber, a son, Scott Teilhaber, and a granddaughter Kaela Teilhaber who was living with her mother, Judy Spielman. He was also survived by Benjamin and Thelma's sons - Bruce and his wife Davida (Friedman) and Murray and his wife Michele - as well as by Frieda and Larry's son Buddy Litvinoff and his wife Roberta. There was yet one more niece: Suzanne and her husband Lenny Wasserman. I don't know Suzanne's birth name. She might be Benjamin's daughter or Frieda's or even Sophie's.

I don't know which one of this younger generation of Teilhabers played basketball on the Regents team in the Paul Weisman Memorial Junior Division of the Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst Basketball League. (This tidbit comes to us from the issue of the Brooklyn Eagle published February 1, 1954.) However, it was definitely Bruce Friedman who purchased Friedman's Shoes from his father-in-law Phillip in 1972. Specializing in large sizes, Friedman's attracts many basketball players and other athletes. As a woman who usually buys mens' shoes in EE widths in order to get shoes that fit, I thoroughly approve of the fact that Friedman's carries "double wide" and "WW" women's shoes. Seeing as how my grandmother's brother was Bruce's grandfather's brother-in-law, maybe I could get a family discount?