Growing up, the only things I knew about my grandfather, Irving, was that he had a hat company and that he was a womanizer. Just how many wives did he have?
Our Maternal Grandfather Irving
There are still so many unanswered questions about Irving, but here are things we do know about him.
Isador (Isie, Irving) was born Jakub Isak Woznicer on Dec. 13, 1883, to Tuvia (Gutman Tobias, Towie) and Seri/Serel Huttner (Hittner) in Tarnow, Galicia, Poland.
He came to the United States in 1901, entering at Newark, NJ. He was about 18 years old. (According to Isabel’s Declaration of Naturalization. See below.)
On September 13, 1903, he married Minnie Leber in Manhattan.
From 1906 – 1918, he was employed as a hatter at the Hudson Hat Company owned by his Uncle Max, his father’s brother.
Irving and Minnie lived within a few blocks of the other Wosnitzers in Newark’s Third Ward (now called the Central Ward), so I would assume that they socialized with their Wosnitzer Aunts, Uncles, and cousins.
From 1908 – 1909, Irving’s sister, Ester, lives with him and Minnie.
They were married for 15 years and were childless. Finally, in 1918, they adopted a little girl, my mother May.
In the 1918, Newark, NJ directory, Irving is still living in Newark and working at the Hat Factory. When did they move to the Bronx?
On the 1920 Census report they are living in the Bronx, NY. His daughter’s name appears as Elsie, but by the 1925 Census report, they had started calling her Mae. (Even though on the 1925 census, it says Moa.)
In 1921, his mother begged him to return to Tarnow to help take care of her. His father was also sick and died in that same year. Did Isie get to see him one last time?
Irving’s Passport Application. See the letter from his mother under the Tobias and Seri Section.
After his return, he started going by the name Irving. Also, his sister, Bella, immigrated to the United States. Although she does not live with them, Minnie signed as a witness on her naturalization papers.
Irving and his daughter, May
In 1924, an Isador Wosnitzer, got divorced from a Jane Diamond. Is this our Irving or someone else? Could this be why the 1925 Census report is so strange? Did Minnie not want to admit that Irving had left (see census report above)?
In 1931, Irving marries Isabel/Ita Peterfreund in Sparkhill, NY. She applies for Naturalization in 1937 and on the form Irving Wosnitzer is listed as her husband and also a Men’s hatter. In 1940, Isabel divorces Irving.
In 1936, The Watson Hat Co. leased space in Philadelphis. Is this the start of Irving’s business? In 1942, the I. Watson Hat Company shows up in NYC listings. In 1948 he is involved more than one lawsuit and awarded fees from his accounts.
On his WWII draft card, he lists Ida Wosnitzer as his next of kin. Ida will be his last wife.
Even though he was divorced, did he continue to support his daughter?
According to my father. Bernard Blieden, my mother did not see her father for at least 10 years. After my parents got married, my father encouraged her to look him up. She did, and my father even worked for him for a while. However, my grandmother did not like that arrangement so the association was short-lived. My mother did continue to see him as she always told me that he gave me a toy telephone for my first birthday.
According to one of my mother’s first cousins, Irving always sent money for at least my mother’s clothes as she was always well-dressed. Millie A., my mother’s cousin, met him for the first time right after I was born. She went to visit my mother and to meet me and when she got to the apartment, Irving was holding me. She knew immediately he was May’s father, since she thought May looked just like him. She was flabbergasted to find out in 2018, that Irving was not May’s birth father. Sin her mind, there was a strong facial resemblance.
Irving died on Feb. 28, 1949. He is buried in Wellwood Cemetery in Long Island, NY. My mother was distraught since she had only recently got to know him again.
Outstanding Question:
- How did Irving and Minnie meet?
- Where did Irving live and work between 1900 and 1905?
- What did Minnie do for all the years she did not have a child?
- When did Irving start working for his Uncle Max
- When did Irving and Minnie get divorced?
- When did he start the I. Watson Hat Company?
- Was he married to a Jane Diamond?
- Was Joseph Wosnitzer, Max’s brother? Is that why Max settled in Newark?
- What did he die from?