“Something bad happened.” The eldest living descendant of Aaron Lefkowitz and Rose Holt Lefkowitz doesn’t know what tore the Lefkowitz family apart. Whatever happened was never discussed in their hearing. They don’t know why their ancestors changed their surnames. They don’t know why their Hungarian heritage was hidden. They never heard the name Lefkowitz. They don’t know why their Jewish ethnicity was not only hidden, but forbidden. They didn’t know there were estranged family members.
Only when the youngest child of the Lefkowitz couple suffered from dementia and started speaking Yiddish were the suspicions of Jewish heritage confirmed.
The family fractured about 1914. The Chicago Jewish Historical Society published an article about how the Jewish communities in Chicago reacted to the outbreak of World War I that year. Perspectives varied based on country of origin. Perhaps Aaron Lefkowitz had a very different perspective from his wife and children. However, it seems unlikely that a political difference of opinion could be enough to split the family. There must have been a personal matter.
Aaron and Rose Lefkowitz had eight children. All were born in Manhattan except Kalman, who was born in Brooklyn. Both Carrie and Jacob died in Manhattan. The eight children can be divided into four groups.
Died young:
- Carrie Lefkowitz was born 15 February 1887 and died 12 March 1887.
- Jacob Lefkowitz was born 16 July 1900 and died 24 May 1901.
The Kramer-Holt group:
- Joseph Lefkowitz was born 19 March 1888 and changed his name to Joseph Holt.
- Friedrich Lefkowitz was born 4 April 1891 and legally changed his name to Fred Mark Kramer.
- Kalman Lefkowitz was born 1 May 1896. He changed his name to Charles Lee Kramer and also went by Kelly.
- Lilly Lefkowitz was born 11 November 1904 and changed her name to Lillian Kramer.
Lefkowitz-Baruck:
- Betty Lefkowitz was born 28 November 1893. She changed her name to Flora and married John Baruck.
Lefkowitz-Black:
- Sarah Lefkowitz was born 22 March 1902 and went by Sadie and Sydell. She married Edward “Edwin Ira Bloch” Black and changed her first name to Carolyn.
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The Lefkowitz family moved from Manhattan to Chicago about 1908. The 1910 census of Chicago showed the Lefkowitz family as a unit, except Joseph, who had left home and was boarding with another family.
Events of 1914
The Chicago city directories provide a timeline. The Lefkowitz family all lived together at 1621 Prairie Avenue when the 1914 Chicago city directory was compiled, probably in the spring. All the adult workers were listed at that address: Aaron, Flora, Frederick, Joseph and Kelly. The unity would not last another year.
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| Lefkowitz Names in the 1914 Chicago City Directory Included are five family members living at 1621 Prairie Avenue: Aaron, a tailor, working at 221 E 22nd Flora, no occupation listed Frederick M. a bookkeeper at 205 N Union Avenue Jos. H, a commercial traveler Kelly C, a clerk |
In the fall of 1914, Flora and Fred made big changes in their lives. While the events are documented, the intents, causes and results are not known.
Fred Lefkowitz filed with the court for a name change. On September 21, he officially became Fred M. Kramer and obtained a marriage license under his new name. On the Saturday after Yom Kippur, Fred married a Gentile, a Swedish-American, in a civil ceremony officiated by a Judge of the Municipal Court. That same day, October 3, Flora Lefkowitz and John Baruck obtained a marriage license at the courthouse. They were married later that day by a Rabbi, in what was likely a religious ceremony.
The following year, the 1915 city directory showed a divided family. Joseph was found with the surname Holt, which was his mother’s maiden name. Charles had the surname Kramer and Fred was listed under both Kramer and Lefkowitz. The source of the Kramer name is unknown.
The Family Groups
The family split into two or three fragments. The Kramer-Holt group was the largest. It consisted of Joseph Holt, Fred Kramer, Charles Kramer and Lillian Kramer. This group is the focus of my family research. Each of the Kramers left the Jewish faith, married spouses of Swedish descent and hid their Jewish ethnicity from their children. There was no knowledge imparted to descendants about sisters Flora or Sadie/Carolyn.
Flora Lefkowitz Baruck was not acknowledged by the Kramer-Holt group. She retained her Jewish identity and brought her children up in the Jewish faith. She named her father as Aaron Lefkowitz in her Social Security paperwork. The Kramer descendants were not aware of Flora before this research project.
Sadie Lefkowitz (Carolyn Black) is a puzzle. She may have chosen to simply remove herself from the conflict. She married within the Jewish faith, but had no children. While she married under the name Lefkowitz, her father was named as Aaron Kramer on her death certificate. She took the name Carolyn, which may have been based on Caroline, the name of her maternal grandmother. She appears to have been more aligned with the Kramer-Holt group, but that group did not acknowledge her or pass on any knowledge about her.
Death of Aaron Lefkowitz, 1916
The 1916 death of Aaron Lefkowitz from cancer provides some clues. His death certificate showed that he was divorced and lived at the same address as his son-in-law, John Baruck. Apparently Flora was caring for her father during his final days. Did the family fragment because of the parents’ divorce or perhaps due to some issue leading to the divorce? The cause may never be known.
Aaron’s will left the bulk of his estate to Flora, with smaller bequests to his underage daughters, Sadie and Lillie. His sons were not included, nor was his former wife. His death notice listed only daughter Flora Baruck as a survivor. While death notices were not free, the omission of all the other children seems an obvious slight. Aaron was buried in Waldheim Cemetery, Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois.
Death of Rose Holt Lefkowitz, 1920
Rose Lefkowitz and daughters Sadie and Lillian were living together at the time of the 1920 census. Rose was working as a cook in a restaurant and Sadie was a stenographer. In November of that year, Rose died and was also buried in Waldheim Cemetery. It is not known if she and Aaron are buried together. No death notice was found for Rose.
After her mother’s death, Lillian Lefkowitz was raised by her brothers, rather than by a sister. Lillian chose to use the surname Kramer until her marriage.
Sadie was 18 and employed when her mother died. She married two years later, changed her name to Carolyn and disappeared from Kramer-Holt family knowledge.
Joseph Holt was the first of the Kramer-Holt group to die, with tuberculosis taking his life in 1926. The obituary listed his survivors as Fred, Charles and Lillian Kramer. No mention was made of sisters Flora or Carolyn. That pattern continued with the deaths of Fred and Charles. Flora died in 1977, Lillian in 1992 and Carolyn in 1996. Flora’s obituary did not mention her two surviving sisters. Obituaries have not been located for Lillian and Carolyn.
In the 1930 census, Flora and Carolyn named their father’s birthplace as Hungary, while members of the Kramer group named their father’s birthplace as New York. The Kramer cover-up was complete and the next generation was kept ignorant of their Hungarian-Jewish ancestry.
Supporting DNA
One of the Kramer descendants has taken an Ancestry DNA test, as have some of the Baruck descendants. The match values are strong enough to support that the paper trail for the Kramer branch is accurate. Because of their Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, their DNA match is affected by endogamy, which is outside my area of expertise. Following are the Ancestry values and the relationships, according to the paper trail, for anyone who wishes to review and analyze them.
Sources
- NYC Municipal Archives Historical Vital Records, a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov
- New York vital record indexes, Ancestry.com
- US Census records, Ancestry.com
- Chicago and other newspapers, Newspapers.com
- Chicago vital records and indexes, FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com
- Chicago city directories, Ancestry.com
- Chicago Jewish Historical Society, chicagojewishhistory.org
- Illinois Wills and Probate Records collection, Ancestry.com
- California vital record indexes, Ancestry.com
- Florida death certificate, Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics
- Ancestry DNA
