Mollie Appelbaum and David Kedofsky

David Kedofsky was born in New York, the only son of Sarah Rabinowitz and Eli "Louis" Kedofsky to be born in the States. Per Louis' naturalization petitions and David's WWI and WWII draft registration cards, he was born on March 28, 1894. The 1900 census says January 1895. David's marriage record and the US Census records for 1920, 1930 and 1940 tend to report him as being slightly older, born in 1891-1893.

David lived with his parents and brothers at 79 Columbia Street at least through 1910. The 1910 US Census reports his occupation as "none," suggesting that he'd already left school at 16. (By contrast the family's servant, Gussie Zweig, is reported as being a student.) He wasn't reported as living with either his parents or his married brother Joseph in the 1915 New York State census. However, when he registered for the draft on June 5, 1917, he gave 79 Columbia Street as his home address and said that he worked there as a self-employed salesman.

Eighteen days later, on June 23, 1917, David married Mollie Appelbaum. Like David himself, Mollie was a first-generation New Yorker, born on June 4, 1893, to Louis Appelbaum and Fannie Axelrad. Mollie described her parents as being Austrian on the 1920 US Census and Russian on the 1930 US Census. I was unable to find anymore information about her parents or her life before marriage.

The couple had a daughter named Phoebe, born in or about March 1919. By 1920, they were living at 2116 Harrison Avenue in the Bronx. David was working as a woolens salesman.

1925 seems to have been an interesting year. A man named David Kedofsky, a 32-year-old salesman residing at 272 East Houston Street, was among 12 men arrested at an alleged gambling house on East Houston Street. The arrests were made under "the felony clause of Dowling gambling law." This appears to be a reference to Section 970 "which made it a felony for a person to own or operate a gambling establishment or device, rather than Section 973, which deals with persons wagering bets in gambling gains." In other words, the arresting officers attempted to go a for felony conviction rather than a misdemeanour. The issue of the New York Times published November 17, 1925, reported that indictments were returned by the Grand Jury but subsequently discharged by the Magistrates on the ground that "the felony charges alleged had not been proven."

Was this "our" David? Kedofsky wasn't a common name in New York City. All of the records I've been able to find under this name either definitely refer to Louis, Sarah and their sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren or can not be proved to definitely refer to someone else. So the name is right for "our" David, the age is right and the occupation is right. This leaves the address.

Unfortunately, I can't find listings for either Mollie or Phoebe in the 1925 New York State census. However, there seem to be two adult men living at 79 Columbia Street with Louis and Sarah: David born in the States in 1899 and Joe born in Russia in 1892. Louis, Sarah and Joe are all reported to have immigrated to the States in 1895. David's birth date is 4-5 years too young, while Joe's is 5-6 years too young if he's David's brother. Furthermore, David's brother Joseph (born 1889, immigrated 1890) was reported as living with his wife Esther and their two sons in Brooklyn at 175 Hewes Street. (It's possible that, of course, that Joseph was listed in duplicate.) There's certainly no David Kedofsky or any reasonable variant thereof listed as living at 272 East Houston.

The alleged gambling house was on East Houston. Did David think fast and pull a random building number out of his hat when the cops demanded an address?

By 1930, David, Mollie and Phoebe were back safely in the Bronx at 2188 Creston Avenue. Like his brother Joseph, David reported his occupation as a realtor. Unlike Joseph, he was still working in real estate in 1940. The data in the 1940 US Census was supplied by Phoebe, who gave their last name as "Kaye." The family was still living on Creston Avenue but had moved to 2150 sometime between 1935 and 1940. David was working as a real estate agent and Mollie as a milliner.

Phoebe, who was 21, describes herself as a "new worker" and doesn't give a place of employment, which sounds as if she was looking for a job. The interesting thing is that she graduated from the Walton Girls School (a high school) in 1935, when she was only 16. If she identified herself as a "new worker" in 1940, what had she been doing in the intervening five years? The 1940 US Census reports that she had completed three years of college but was not in school after March 1, 1940. For comparison, David had completed two years of college and Mollie, four years of high school.

The use of Kaye as the family name seems to have been a sometime thing. When David registered for the draft in 1942, he gave his last name as Kedofsky. His address was 2150 Creston, and he owned his own business at the same address.

Mollie Kedofsky passed away in the Bronx on December 31, 1969. She was buried at Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Queens.

David passed away on August 15, 1988, and was buried next to Mollie. The cemetery interment records list him as "Kedofsky, David (D Kaye)."