ABRAHAM GROSSMAN and LENA BERNSTEIN

Abraham Grossman was born in Russia or Poland on July 10, 1867 and immigrated to the United States about 1888. He went to New York, where he met and, in about 1892, married Lena Bernstein, who was born in Suvalch, Poland on May 20, 1867.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE   The Grossman surname is historically an Ashkenazi Jewish or a German name meaning a large man. One author suggests it may have been a translation of the Hebrew name Gedalia, meaning a great man of G-d. Our Grossman Y-dna results indicate that our paternal ancestors, unlike most ancient Jewish ancestral lines, seem to have migrated into Eurasia after the end of the last glacial expansion thousands of years ago, and then spread around Europe. This separation would have taken place many thousands of years before the Torah was given at Mt. Sinai, so it seems likely that, somewhere along the way many generations ago, one of our male ancestors converted to Judaism.

We are sure that Abraham and Lena (aka Elina and Tessa) Grossman moved to Seattle, Washington, where they had their daughter Bessie Grossman in 1895, and possibly one other child, Mose (or Elmer), in 1896.

However, there are both census records and family stories that they had one more son who died as a child. We think he is likely to be the David Isaac Grossman who was apparently born in California in 1892, and definitely passed away in New Westminster, British Columbia, in 1897. See below for more about this. It appears that Abe and Lena may actually have lived in California before moving to Seattle!

In any event, after living in Seattle, they moved to New Westminster, British Columbia in Canada, where they had two or three more children, Moses (or Elmer), Samuel and Jacob Grossman. Their youngest child, Solomon, who was later know as Emil, was born in New York in 1904, but we do not know if the whole family had moved to New York, or for how long, or if Lena had simply gone to New York alone, visiting her parents when she had Solomon.

The Grossman's in California

Abe and Lena Grossman had definitely moved to Alameda, California with their five children by the time of the 1910 Census. Abraham Grossman listed himself as a merchant in 1910, but by 1920 had become a Real Estate Broker.

Their daughter Bessie Grossman was born in Seattle Washington on May 20, 1895, and later became known as Betty Grossman. She married Morris Lerman, who was born May 21, 1895. Morris apparently owned the Bireley's Beverage Company in Oakland by the 1940's or 1950's. They settled in Piedmont, California, and had no children.

Mose Elmer Grossman, who was either born in Seattle on August 6, 1896, or in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada in 1898, married Phoebe Leah Blumstein, who was born in London, England, on December 15, 1896. They had three children, all born in Oakland, California: Paul, Sid, and Eleanor, all of whom married and had children. Mose Grossman was in the jewelry business in Oakland, but the family moved to Watsonville, and then Salinas in the 1930's, where he founded Sid's Department Store, specializing in men's clothing.

Samuel Grossman, who was born in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada on June 2, 1899, married Pauline Bradley, who was born in Idaho on March 9, 1916. They had two children in Oakland, California. Sam worked on the longshoreman docks, checking cargo, and also owned a tobacco shop.

John Grossman, who was born July 14, 1901 or 1902, married Florence Shatkin, who was born on August 12, 1901. John attended law school, and worked at the Collection Agency he co-owned. John and Florence Grossman had one son, Bruce David Grossman, who was born in Oakland, California on October 31, 1924, who married Florence Shatkin, who was an artist. They had one child, a daughter, before Bruce Grossman passed away due to an accident on June 10, 1948.

Emil Grossman, who was born as Solomon Grossman on February 26, 1904 in New York, was a lawyer and a member of the California Bar Association. He married Irene (Ida) Ethel Tannenbaum, who was born in Denver, Colorado on December 22, 1914. Emil and Irene Grossman had two children, both of whom married and had children.

If you know or are a member of the Grossman family, please note that we are not listing the names of people if they or their siblings are still living, in order to protect the privacy of the living. If you find any errors, have more information you would like to see added to this page, or are a Grossman just wanting to say "hello," please do contact us.

ABRAHAM LEVITT and ANNIE SCHULMAN

Holidays and special family occasions included visits with the Levitts in San Francisco, who were very distantly related to us by marriage only. Abraham Levitt, who was born in 1878, and passed away in 1972, and his wife Annie Schulman, who was born in 1883 and passed away in 1959, were both born in Russia. Abraham Levitt was a clothing salesman, and was interviewed in the local television news in the 1960's or 1970's as an old-timer who could talk about his memories of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.

Abraham Levitt's relative, Samuel Levitt, was the first husband of Mose Grossman's second wife, Edith Kasviner. Samuel and Edith Levitt had two children in Southern California in the 1920's, and Abraham and Annie Levitt had three daughters in San Francisco, California about 1910. If you are a member of this family, please do get in touch with us.

GROSSMAN FAMILY PUZZLES

There are a number of riddles in the Grossman family which revolve around questions of which of Abraham and Lena Grossman's children were born when and where. By 1910, the Census records indicate that they had had six children, only five of whom were living at that time. As an adult, their daughter Betty had said that she had a brother who passed away as a child, but no one has seemed to know who he was, or precisely when or where he was born.

However, we did locate a death certificate for a David Dizek [probably Isaac] Grossman, who was about 5 years old when he passed away in New Westminster in 1897. There is a good chance that he was a son of Abe and Lena, but his father signed the death certificate "A.B. Grossman" and there was another Abraham B. Grossman living nearby at the same time, putting an element of doubt into whether he was our family member.

We are hoping to obtain a birth certificate for the child. However, we are not sure exactly where he was born. His death certificate says he was born in "Trionty, Cal," but no such place exists. If it was Trinity in Trinity County, there was no record located there. However, there are other possible towns with similar names in other counties, as well as other towns in Trinity, and we will continue trying.

Then, we also are not at all sure of where their sons Mose, Samuel and John were born. Our family lore has it that Mose Grossman was born in Seattle, Washington, although he is listed in the 1901 Canadian Census as having been born in British Columbia. Family lore also has it that Sam Grossman was born in New York, but he is listed in the 1901 Canadian and 1910 United States Census Records as having been born in British Columbia.

We think that Abraham and Lena Grossman's son Jacob Grossman, who is listed in the 1910 and 1920 US Census Records as having been born in Canada, is probably John Grossman. However, family lore has it that Uncle John was born in New York, so we are not sure.

Jack Grossman is listed in the 1921 Oakland City Directory as being employed as a ship worker at the Union Construction Company, where our Samuel Grossman was also listed as being employed at that time. Jack may well be our John Grossman.

We are continuing to gather data to help with resolving these inconsistencies, and if you have any definitive information or corrections, or wish to assist in scanning or ordering records, please do contact us.

REFERENCES

1. Interviews with family members
2. Census of Canada for 1901, available online from ArchiviaNet at "Library and Archives Canada" at http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/020122_e.html, and also by either personal subscription, or for free through Public Libraries which subscribe, from Ancestry.com.
3. United States Federal Census Records for 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930, available online (by subscription and at Public Libraries) at Ancestry.com and at Public Libraries through the Heritage Quest Census database.
4. Oakland, California City Directory for 1921, available at some public libraries and online at http://DistantCousin.com/Links/Surname.html.
5. World War I Draft Registration Cards, available online at http://landing.ancestry.com/military/titles.aspx?html=ww1draft by subscription, and occasionally for free from Ancestry.Com's special offers
6. California Birth Index 1905 to 1995, database at Ancestry.com available by subscription and online for free from some public libraries.
7. California Death Index 1940 to 1997, at http://vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ca/death/search.cgi?cj=1&o_xid=0000584
8. Social Security Death Index, available online at http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com
9. Records and tombstones at Home of Eternity Cemetary, Oakland, California
10. Death certificate for David Dizek Grossman

NOTE: The links below will take you off of our personal family site, to various articles at the Learning Center at http://www.ancestry.com