The Markow Family Tree

1880 Census - lived at 78 Harrison Street West Side, 26 years old, wife Rebecca 20. Lived with brother Simon who was 23 and son Louis who was 2. Harris was a shoemaker as well as Simon, and Rebecca was in housekeeping. All from Poland except Louis who was born in Maryland.

Family tradition is that Harris, Louis' father, was born near Warsaw, Poland (LSO), arrived in America about 1875 (SS), at age 16 (ES, but it could have been Rebecca Buckner, his wife, who was 16 when she arrived in America), and died about 1924 (LSO). He is said to be buried at United Hebrew Cemetery (LSO, AS, MGR) with his wife, father of unknown name, mother's name also unknown, with at least his children Cima and Celia (AS, MGR). According to Shirleigh Silverman (SS), Chaim (Harris) and Becky Buckner knew each other in the old country. Becky had several siblings (Louis, Solomon, Hyman, Carrie, and maybe Lena). Her sister Carrie married Chaim's brother Mosharin. Chaim earned passage across the Atlantic by signing up other immigrants and came to Baltimore where Louis Buckner, Rebecca's brother, had already settled. Sometime later, he sent for Rebecca, "his future wife", although both are said to have come to America c.1875. Harris's brother Mosharon also settled in Baltimore (and married Carrie, Rebecca's sister), but some of Harris' family (probably Simon, at least) went to Ashville, North Carolina and Roanoke, Virginia. According to Madeline Goldie Rubenstein, Harris' parents did not come to America, but Harris brought his brother over. They came from a town near Warsaw. Harris staked his brother $50,000 when he went to Richmond. Maybe not Richmond, maybe Roanoke. The family neverheard from him again. He never called or responded to letters or inquiries. MGR. [The brother who went to Virginia appears to be Simon - ed.] The birth of Harris' and Rebecca's first child is recorded on March 2, 1878, under the names of "Arias and Betsy Silverman", reflecting perhaps the language difficulty of new immigrants. The birth of the male child was at 74 Harrison Street. Rebecca is identified as "Betsy (Buckner) Silverman," born in Germany, and Harris is identified as Arias Silverman, a shoemaker, also born in Germany. Although Harris' brother Mosharin appears in the 1877 City Directory for Baltimore, Harris first appears later. I did not check the 1878 Directory, but Harris is in the Directory for 1879. He and his brother Simon are both "shoemkrs" , and both live at 78 Harrison Street, the street of many Jewish immigrants over the years, including Hamburger family members. Indeed, at the time, Mosharin (Moses), also a shoemkr, is living at 22 1/2 Harrison. Harris is listed as "Harry." At the time of the 1880 census, Harris and Rebecca, their two year old son, and Harris' brother Simon lived at 78 Harrison Street, quite near many of their siblings. Harris and Simon are (still) shoemakers; Rebecca is "HouseKeeping." The 1882 birth of Harris' and Rebecca's child Moses is apparently, inexplicably, the subject of two birth certificates. The first records the birth of a male child, the parents' third, on October 26, 1882 at either number 10 or number 70 [actually, the number is hard to decipher] Harrison Street. The mother is identified as Rebecca Buckner Silverman, born in Europe, and the father is identified simply as H. Silverman, a shoemaker, born in Europe. A second certificate (A-59909) is recorded on November 29, 1882 under the name of H. and Bettie Silverman. The contents of this certificate has not been checked, but the November date corresponds with the census of 1900. The 1884 Baltimore City Directory lists Harris Silverman, shoes, 84 Harrison St. His brother Simon is still living at Harris' former address, 78 Harrison, although two years later Simon is selling shoes at 84 Harrison. By that time Harris has gone into the liquor business with his brother Moses. The 1885 Directory includes Harris Silverman "(Silverman & Bro), h 100 Light St whf," the same listing as Moses. In fact the business is listed separately as Silverman & Bro. (Moses and Harris Silverman), liquors, 100 Light st whf. Daughter Rose was born January 29, 1885, at 94 Harrison Street. This birth was unusual among all the birth certificates I have checked in that it was attended by a physician, Daniel Moyer of 192 Aisquith Street. The mother is recorded as Rebecca Buckner Silverman born in Poland, but the father is recorded under yet another variation of his name as Henry Silverman, a "Shoe Dealer" also born in Poland. The 1886 Baltimore City Directory changes the listing a little, adding the business for which Harris is known in the family oral tradition: clothing. Harris is listed as "(S & Bro) 100 Light," just as Moses is, and the business is Silverman & Bro. (M. and H. Silverman) saloon and clothing, 100 Light. This time, and this time only, Solomon Silverman is also listed at the same address, without an occupation. This is probably their father. The next year (1887 City Directory), the brothers are listed exactly the same, except that the address is now "304 Light St (100)." This is the same place. At this time, the City renumbered street addresses and the City Directory listed both the new address (304) and the old one (100). The address for Harris, the business, and for Moses is the same in the 1888 Directory, except that the business is now clothing, not liquor or saloon and clothing. A birth certificate is recorded in the Baltimore City indexes for the birth of a child to "Harry and Becka" Silverman on April 11th, 1887, but the certificate itself is missing and apparently does not exist. This would be Celia Silverman. Another missing certificate is noted in the City indexes, recorded under the names of Harris and Rebecca Silverman, July 25, 1889. Date of birth (month, year) provided by the 1900 census when Cima was a student and lived with her parents. However, a birth certificate recorded under the names of Harris and Rebecca indicates that a child was born circa July 25, 1889. The certificate itself (number A-13478) is missing. I have assumed that this is the certificate for Cima, although the 1900 census says that Cima was born July, 1890. It is possible if unlikely that an otherwise unknown child was born to Harris and Rebecca a year to the month before Cima, and died young. The listing in the 1890 City Directory is unusual because it has both Harris and Rebecca. Harris is a salesman, and Rebecca's occupation is "clothing." Both live and presumably work at 324 Light. The image conjured up is of Rebecca making clothes, and Harris selling them, some years before Harris prospered as a clothing manufacturer. The next year (the 1891 Directory), only Harris is listed, and his occupation is now "clothing" at 324 Light. [N.B. Another Harris Silverman is listed as well, here in the 1891 Directory and later in the census, in burial records, and elsewhere.] The listing is unchanged in the 1902 Directory. At the time of the birth of Harris and Rebecca's daughter Taube, in 1891, the certificate apparently identifies the parents as Rebecca and Herman Silberman (spelled with a "b" and not a "v" again), indicating once again the variety of names attributed to Harris. The certificate itself is missing, but its existence is recorded in the City index. Indexes for Baltimore City Court indicate that a Harris Silberman filed a Naturalization Record for Minors on April 8, 1899 and that he and Simon Silverman filed Naturalization Applications in 1899, though the documents have not been reviewed. Whether Silberman, with a b, is equivalent to Silverman, with a v, and whether these are family members, is unclear. At the time of the 1900 census, Harris and Rebecca are renting a home at 833 Hollins with twelve other people in the household, including seven children (Louis, Moses, Rosa, Celia, Cima, Tobia, Solomon), Harris's mother Miriam, a niece Dena, Harris' sister Fannie Myerberg, a boarder, and a servant. Given the form, Dena's last name is Hamburger, and she would then be the daughter of one of Harris' brothers. She is 18 years old, born July 1881 in Maryland. Perhaps, though, her last name is simply omitted, and she is the daughter of Fannie Myerberg, who is also in the household. Or perhaps she is a niece of Rebecca, and even the mysterious Lena Buckner (which see). This 1900 census is the first source to give us the month of Harris birth (March) and the month and year of Rebecca's (December 1858). Both were born in "Poland (Russ)" and both immigrated in 1876. While Harris can read, write, and speak English, Rebecca can neither read nor write but can speak English. Harris is a clothing manufacturer. They have been married for 23 years, and Rebecca has had eight children, eight of whom are then living. (Actually, the 8 is crossed out and replaced with seven, and while she is living with seven of her children, we know she has eight children alive at the time. Similarly, Miriam has 5 children then alive, but the number is crossed out and replaced with 1, and while she is living with one child we know 5 are then alive (Harris, Solomon, Yetta, Fanny, and Moses; we don't know about Simon). Similarly still, Fanny is shown as having 4children then alive, but the four is crossed out and replaced with a zero, even though we know she more than zero children then alive.] The 1905 Baltimore City Directory also lists Harris as a clothing manufacturer at 6 n Liberty st. However, his residence is now 1519 McCulloh St. His son "Lewis" [note the spelling] is a credit man ; his son Aaron is a civil engineer; and his son Moses is his father's manager, all also living at 1519 McCulloh. ADD REVERAND SILVERMAN. Madeline Goldie Rubenstein: Harris was the founder, not of Chizuk Amuno, but of Sherr Tefiloh on Achentoroly Terrace. MGR. Grandson Ed Silverman says the synagogue was just a block up Achentoroly Terrace from the Silverman house. He too remembers hearing that Harris may have been a founder, and Ed was Bar Mitzvah'd there after being tutored in the Hebrew reading by one of the rabbinical students who would live with them. The synagogue was orthodox and old fashioned, and is still there [1996], although the neighborhood is no longer Jewish. He also remembered that Harris picked out his burial spot on a hill with a sure view at the cemetery on the old road to Washington, and that perhaps he was a founder of the cemetery or one of the first to be buried there. ES. A grandchild brought up in the house says that Harris was well liked, and had a lot of friends even though he was rough. He had a big walrus mustache, smoked cigars, and maintained a tough exterior. Grandmother Rebecca, on the other hand, "was a marshmellow." She was perhaps five foot one or two inches tall, just a little shorter than Harris. Together they spoke lots of Yiddish, but their English was accent free and the children all spoke English only. Rebecca kept a kettle on the stove all the time for coffee, and every single time she passed by she would add a handful of grounds so that it was incredibly strong. The home was "very orthodox" although on Yom Kippor she would set up the back porch with bread for Ed and Madeline, while the rest of the house had only matzah. ES. On Sunday nights, the house hosted regular poker games with cousins and friends, including the Harris and Lewis families, and Charles Rudo. The Harrises were relatives who lived around the corner on Mondawin (next to Phil Silvers). Charles Rudo was a football star at City College and later became president of Brunswick Sporting Company. ES. [Rudo was the married name of Harris' sister Yetta; and Rebecca's sister Lena Buckner married Heyman Harris - WPO.] A descendent of Lena and Heyman Harris recalled Rebecca, saying that "Aunt Becky was a household word with us." On any family event or gathering, my mother [Ceil Harris Robinson] always said, "We have to go for Aunt Becky's sake." We repeated that line dozens of times over the years, as a sort of inside family humor.- [See Herbert Robinson, below.] According to granddaughter Madeline Goldie Rubenstein, Harris had a factory with three floors, and remembers visiting the showroom on the first floor. MGR. Harris' grandson Ed says that the business was Silverman Bros. Inc., and did manufacture clothing. The factory was said to be the biggest clothing factory south of New York, and its three story building took up the whole square block. The showroom and the office were on the first floor; the second and third floors were used for production. It was a busy place. When Ed visited, Keys - "a colored guy" - would take care of him. ES. Harris reportedly got started in the clothing business by buying old clothes and uniforms and refurbishing them for resale. He then moved onto new clothes, and then to manufacturing. He would bring over from the old country lots of people already in the clothing business with skills, and hire them as designers and cutters. Among these are some who went onto establish their own clothing manufacturing business, including especially Grieff, a company still in business today (1996). ES. [ed.: based on my readings, Silverman Brothers did not rank as a particularly large enterprise, although it may have been quite prosperous. Levi Grief started his company, which did become the second largest in America, in 1858, well before any Silverman emigrated.] Madeline describes the family was very prosperous indeed. She lived in the household with Harris and Rebecca, their daughter Cima (Madeline's mother), uncle Sol and Sol's son Eddie, and uncle Mose. The family was orthodox and kept Kosher, and in fact had three sets of dishes. If Harris and Rebecca did not want the children to understand, they would sometimes speak Yiddish. Harris put "everyone" through college, including Arnold, Shirleigh, Sol, and the girls in Pittsburgh (Florence, Sylvia, ...), except that after his death the money for Madeline ran out. [Most of these are Harris' grandchildren. - ed.] Ed remembers the house as a big three story with a porch built on the back. The family lived there until moving to Park Heights, Edgerton Roda he thinks, in 1938 or 1939. His room was directly above Mose's, on the third floor in the back. His fathe Sol had a great room on the third floor. One neighbor was "that fellow who was involved n the McCarthy smears and with Alger Hiss; he had a green shade which was never ever raised." Phil Silvers (later a comedian and TV star) lived around the corner. When Harris died, his coffin was in open for viewing in the front living room of their house. The funeral procession itself extended for two or three blocks. Harris walked to work and was a friendly man, and all the businessmen and shopkeepers joined in the procession. ES. According to his death certificate, Harris died August 15, 1925 at his residence 3312 Auchentorily Terrace in Baltimore. He was 72 years old, born in 1853 in Poland, and came to America and Baltimore 45 years earlier (i.e., 1880). He was in the clothing manufacturing business. This death certificate, informed by his wife Rebecca, identifies his father as Solomon Silverman, born in Poland. Unfortunately, the name of his mother is illegible, although she too was born in Poland. The place of burial is given as "Hebrew Wash. Rd" on August 17, 1925, Jack Lewis, undertaker. The undertaker's records (at JHS) say that Harris was 70 years old; that he lived at 3312 Auchentoroly Terr.; that he [like his wife] was a member of the Unity Lodge; that he was buried at Aitz Chaim; and that notice of his death was sent to the [Baltimore] Sun. "Hebrew Washington Road," the place of burial noted on several Silverman death certificates is today United Hebrew Cemetery. Barney said that Harris participated in a Landsman society, a fraternal welfare organization, often of Jewish families from the same old world town, which provided burial and other family insurance and benefits, and the this Landsman society burial grounds were at Harris' cemetery. AS. Ed Silverman recalled that Harris himself picked out the spot in a cemetery on the old road to Washington on a hill with a sure view, and perhaps was a founder of the cemetery or one of the first to be buried. ES. [A tour of the cemetery shows that many gravestones are much older than Harris', although his parents' are among the oldest. According to Joel Frankel, at the cemetery, it was opened in 1888. Solomon Silverman died in 1894. Harris and Rebecca and Solomon and Miriam and Moses Silverman, Sarah and Solomon and Esther Buckner, some Myerbergs, and Bernard and Yetta Silverman Rudo are all buried in the old section of the Cemetery called the Eden Section after the "old Eden Street Synagogue", or Aitz Chaim (Leroy Akery). Aitz Chaim began in 1887 and was called the Prushnnitz Synagogue (Earl Pruce, author of book on Baltimore synagogues). Anshe Emunah was another Eden section (Frankel)(see Cima Silverman Goldie and daughter Madeline). Aitz Chaim is old Eden Street Synagogue (Akery) and Aitz Chaim and Anshe Emunah congregations merged and eventually became Liberty Center Synagogue (see Aaron Silverman). (Earl Pruce's book on Baltimore synagogues). When the Eden Street Shul closed, many of their members joined Chizak Amunah (Joel Frankel)(see Louis Silverman).] JC. I was told that Harris is in the Eden section of the cemetery, 3rd Road L1. On the office card (count 1388) Louis Silverman (2807 Lawina Ave. or 3806 Edgerton Road) appears as one who arranged for or paid for the burial, and Arnold Silverman appears, probably as one who arranged for upkeep. (JC: Akery.) Harris and Rebecca were about three-quarters of the way up the center road, on the left - not situated as suggested by Ed (see above). Behind a big SILVERMAN stone is a footstone for Harris and another for Rebecca. It was too wet to take a rubbing of the Hebrew writing. Upon Harris' death, his sons Sol and Louis "attempted to run" the clothing business, and couldn't do it. Son Aaron never did enter "the business." MGR. A more detailed accounting is rendered by Harris grandson Ed Silverman: When Harris died, Louis led the company; Aaron ran the factory; and Sol was a salesman on the road. He is clear that Louis ran the company, and was not on the road. The business failed in the depression. As he describes it, outstanding orders from customers were simply canceled. The company was left with much material and no orders, and had to close. ES. Or, consider this from a letter from Donald Little (March 29, 1996): "Even though I was very young, I remember [Rebecca] as a sweet old lady. As far as the clothing business I remember our grandfather had a fine clothing manufacturing business but after he died the 4 boys couldn't run it. From what I vaguely recall at one time they were recognized as 2nd to Hart Schafner & Marx in the U.S.A. [ed.: family lore only]." In any event, following Harris' death, the business failed sometime after Harris' chief cutter left to go to work for Grief. The household "went from very wealthy to hard times." When Roosevelt announced Social Security, Rebecca remarked that it might provide Madeline a clothing allowance. They lost the big house, maybe to the bank. Rebecca, Cima [Rebecca's daughter and Madeline's mother], Madeline and Eddie [Madeline's cousin] had to move a very inexpensive apartment in Forest Park. Two years later, Rebecca came down with pneumonia and died; Madeline remembers riding in the ambulance to the hospital with her. MGR. Family tradition says that Rebecca (Becky) Buckner was also born near Warsaw, Poland, and died in 1940. (LSO) Rebecca's death certificate gives her date of death as February 5, 1939, at age 79 (meaning she was born c1860) and that she had lived in Baltimore and in America 60 years (meaning she immigrated c1876, although the number is hard to decipher). She was born in Poland, and her father is identified as Harry, her mother as Rurah, both also born in Poland. Her address at the time was 3800 Egerton. Louis Silverman of Lawina Road was the informant, and Jack Lewis the undertaker. She was buried on the day of her death at Washington Blvd. Notes from the funeral home, on which the death certificate may be based, adds only that the remains were removed from Sinai to 2100 Eutaw Place (ed.: the funeral home, I believe); that the grave is located at "Aitz Chaim, Wash. Rd".; and that Louis's address is 2802 Lawina Road; and, significantly, that her mother was Sarah. Also, Rebecca was a member of the Unity Lodge, and I O B A of N.Y. #164; but neither the Jewish Historical Society of MD nor I have been able to identify either organization. The funeral home records are at JHS. A notice of death in the Jewish Times notes simply: - Rebecca Silverman (nee Buckner). Bur. Aitz Chaim Cemetery. Died 2/5/39. Wife of Harris Silverman of 3800 Egerton Rd.- Jewish Times, February 10, 1939. JHS. Genealogical information about the Buckners is provided following the Silverman genealogy. The order of Harris' and Rebecca's children and grandchildren was first provided by Arnold Silverman, and has been confirmed so far. AS.

Lists place of birth, but no source noted, so unsure how accurate.