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A TALL FAMILY TREE


Trees are an interesting horticultural phenomenon.  They have strong roots deep in the ground and their branches are rarely ever straight, curving and taking detours.  They provide much-needed shade and can give back to the earth their beauty, fruit, and nourishment.  Every now and then, a strong wind or lightning bolt will break off a branch or destroy the whole tree.  I think the tree is a wonderful metaphor for life, our own and for those who preceded us.

BIG NANA

Hannah (Big Nana) as a young girl

As previously mentioned, in our family, my maternal grandmother Fannie was always known to me as "Little Nana", so it befell my paternal grandmother, as she was the taller of the two, to acquire the moniker of "Big Nana".  Going to visit just "Nana" would have been very confusing to a child in my situation.  How can I describe this very classy woman?  She prevailed despite heartbreak in her life, both in her marriage as well as her parenthood.  Being married to a "shaker and mover", she had to host many friends and acquaintances, entertain at many events with her beautiful operatic voice, and raise a family of four kids.  She introduced me to my favorite dish, linguini and white clam sauce even though she didn't have an ounce of Italian blood.  She was always interested in my wanting to become a doctor, even though she had practiced Christian Science for not a few years after the death of her young son, Leroy.   She sang at weddings, meetings, community events and other venues.  I recently found a 78rpm recording she made many years ago.  She was very active in her community groups, particularly the United Order ofTrue Sisters, founded in New York City in 1846.  They were a female version of B'nai B'rith, the Masons, and the Odd Fellows, seeking "refinement of the heart and mind and moral improvement", doing great community activities for immigrants, the poor, and the sick.

As I've mentioned, she was a great hostess, always entertaining at their country house on Lake Peekskill during the Fall and Summer seasons.  She kept an interesting log of all their guests, what they ate and enjoyed, and of all their activities.  She even noted guests who would volunteer to chop wood! It was at the Lake that I have my only memory of my grandfather, fishing with me in a row boat, watching a catch wriggle and struggle until he released it back into the lake, providing lots of giggles from 4-year-old me.   I will discuss Grandpa Leo later in another posting.

The country home on Lake Peekskill

Her real name was Hannah, although I never knew that, as she went by the name of Helen, I guess to be more Americanized.  She was, in fact, American, born in Astoria, Queens in 1887.  Her ancestry was 3/4 Dutch and 1/4 German.  She was one of three children, although her older brother, Godfrey, died at age 3 days in 1886.  Her younger brother, Ira, died at age 47 in 1939.  Ira was married to Beatrice Wittenberg and they had two sons, Jay and Clifford, my dad's first cousins.  I was recently very excited to receive an e-mail a few weeks ago from a woman in Texas, Cheryl Burgos-Debear, who had found me through Ancestry.com.  She is Clifford's grand-daughter and I learned Clifford is still living on Long Island.

As I grew into college age, I was happy to spend some time with Helen and get to know her.  We even corresponded in long hand and somewhere, I have kept her last letter to me...wish I could find it!

HELEN AND ME IN THE 1960'S

MY NAMING:
I was named after Hannah's mother who passed away shortly before my birth.  In Judaism, the custom is to name a baby after someone who has died by using the first initial of that relative, irregardless of gender...so I was named after great-grandma Sarah.  Sarah, to me, was notable as she had an unusual name, having been re-married after her first husband's death: Sarah Frankfort Debear Wolff.  She ended her days living in my grandparent's house on Summit Avenue in Mt.Vernon, but not before being feted in 1941 at a big 77th dinner party attended by the whole family. She died at age 80 in 1944.  Her birthday party even made the newspaper!

SARAH FRANKFORT DEBEAR WOLFF

THE FRANKFORTS:


SARAH

My great-grandmother, Sarah, as a young woman...the "S"in my name!

Sarah was born in London, in 1864 to Dutch parents, Judah Frankfort and Hannah Hambro.  According to Dutch records, I've found her real name was probably Hamburger but when she got to England, it probably became Hambro.  Imagine, Mr. Frankfort marrying Miss Hamburger...sounds more like a barbecue!  They were part of a group in the East End of London that were known as the "Chuts".  Judah came from an old Dutch Jewish family that I've traced back to the early 1600's in Amsterdam, the Frankforts.  Judah left Rotterdam in April, 1855 for London, where he, along with other Dutch Jews settled in the East End.   Hannah's journey from Holland occurred in October of 1854, having been born in Amsterdam in 1839.  Hannah and Judah were married in the Great Synagogue of London (destroyed in the Battle of Britain) on July 25, 1858.  Many of the Dutch here were either cigar makers, like Judah, or cap and slipper makers.  They were well-ensconced in Spitalfields, Whitechapel where Sarah was born.  "Chut" apparently comes from the Dutch word "goed".  One story has it that when the English greeted them on the street and asked them "How are you?",  the Dutch would answer "goed" which sounds, in Dutch like "chut"!  Thus, the name.

Judah Frankfort, Sarah's father

Hannah Hambro Frankfort, Sarah's mother

The Chuts were treated with suspicion by the other Jewish communities in England as they had developed their own specific customs and practices going back to the first Amsterdam synagogues in the early years of the 17th century.   Most remarkably, the East End Dutch Jews were well accustomed to the sea, and ate seafoods considered not kosher by other Jews.  Thus, the linguini and clam sauce!   Just about all the Chuts left London for other parts of the world as Eastern European immigrants began to move into their enclave of around 1,000 people.  They left Holland for the chance of greater economic stability in London and they left London because they might have felt more isolated and disrespected.  On June 18th, 1864, in the midst of our American Civil War, they sailed for America on board the SS American Congress, Judah, age 29 and Hannah 27, with their three children in tow, including Sarah.

 They were to have 4 more children in the United States.  When Judah died in 1874, he basically left Hannah destitute with 7 kids to care for.  She placed at least two of the children in the Jewish Orphan Asylum of New York City which must have been heartbreaking but a necessity.  Five months after entering the first two children into the Asylum, she then, also gave up her 5 year old son, Louis.  Note the comment on Louis's entry papers about the older sister, Sarah, making $3 a week and the rest nothing.  Despite this early adversity in their lives, all seven grew up to be fairly successful in their lives.

HEYMAN AND LINA'S ENTRY INTO THE ORPHANAGE ASYLUM

Louis's entry leaving my great-grandmother as the family support at $3/week!

They all grew up, got married, and had families of their own.  Daughter, Esther married into another huge Dutch family, the Mocks who founded one of the largest hosiery companies in America,  Mojud Hosiery, in Greensboro, N.C. and NYC.  It hired hundreds of employees and even had its own newspaper.  The plant still stands on the National Register of Historic Places.  Probably most Frankforts and Mocks in America today are all related as they all had huge families.

Mojud's New York City plant

Ad from the 1930's

Sarah married Solomon DeBear, my Great Grandfather, in 1885 in NYC and they were married for 31 years before his death in 1916.  I will discuss the Debears in the next post.

NEXT: THE DEBEARS