Rose Goldman: A Life’s Story

According to family lore, Rose Goldman was married twice, the second time to a Samuel Edelman. The children of her first marriage took the last name of the second husband. My son-in-law descends from the second marriage with Samuel. Half siblings were known to be Ida, Louis, and Abraham. The story however, turned out to be a bit different.

On 28 Dec 1901 Rose Goldman married Morris Edelman in Manhattan. She had relatively recently arrived from Poland. Both the 1905 NY State census and the 1910 Federal census have her immigration date as 1900. I have not yet found her actual immigration papers. Morris had immigrated in 1892 from Russia, and was still an alien in 1910.

Rose and Morris had four children in 1910: Jacob, Ida, Louis and Abraham. Then disaster struck. Morris died on 29 Jan 1912 in Mt. Sinai Hospital. He is buried in Washington Cemetery, Bay Parkway, Brooklyn.

In 1915 Jacob and Ida are enumerated in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in Manhattan. I found the records of the Asylum on Ancestry, and a whole story unfolded.

Child	Admission	Discharge	DOB or Age	Parent	Parent Address at discharge	Address before admission	Remarks
Jacob Edelman	15 Feb 1912	18 Feb 1912	15 May 1903 (8)	none listed	none listed	205 East 99 Street	Ran away from reception area
Ida Edelman	15 Feb 1912	9 Sep 1915	7 July 1904 (7)	Rose Edelman	232 E 103 Street	205 East 99 Street	able to maintain
Jacob Edelman	6 March 1912	8 Nov 1915	4 March 1904 (8)	none listed	none listed	205 East 99 Street	able to maintain, remarried
Ida Edelman	13 Sep 1917	14 Jan 1918	10 Aug 1908 (9)	Rose Widoff	159 E 105 Street	308 E 101 Street	able to maintain
Jacob Edelman		14 Jan 1918	not listed	Rose Widoff	159 E 105 Street	308 E 101 Street	able to maintain
Louis Edelman	13 Sep 1917	15 Apr 1918	10 Aug 1908 (9)	Rose Edelman Widoff	East Main Street, Penn’s Grove, NJ	308 E 101 Street	able to maintain
Bessie Widoff	13 Sep 1917	18 Jun 1919	11 Sep 1910 (7)	Samuel Widoff	77 W Main Street, Penn’s Grove, NJ	308 E 101 Street	able to maintain
Rose Widoff	19 May 1914	7 Nov 1915	23 Aug 1908 (5)	Samuel Widoff		2027 Bathgate Ave

When Morris dies, Rose is forced to put her two oldest children (Jacob and Ida) in the Asylum. In 1915, when she gets the kids back, she is listed as Rose Edelman.

On 13 Sep 1917, Ida and Louis (and probably Jacob) are again committed to the Asylum. When Rose takes on her children again, she is listed as Rose (Edelman) Widoff, and she is living in Penn’s Grove, NJ. On the same date and with the same previous address, a Bessie Widoff is also admitted. Her father is Samuel Widoff, and he is also living in Penn’s Grove, NJ in 1919, when Bessie is discharged.

It seems that somewhere between 1915 and 1919 Rose and Samuel Widoff got married. Samuel’s wife Ida Marionsky had died in 1913, according to Rose Widoff’s admission application. There is a certificate for Samuel Widoff and Rosie Eidelman in 1915 in Manhattan (which I still have to look up). They have a son in 1916, who however, goes through life with the name Joseph Edelman (I have not been able to find his birth certificate yet).

I still have not been able to find them in the 1920 census, nor in the 1915 and 1925 NY State census. Bessie and Dora Widoff are listed in the 1915 census as boarders on Staten Island with a Edward Deppe; Bessie is listed in 1920 and 1925 at the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society in Mount Pleasant, New York.

So in the end it seems that indeed some one changed the last name, but it was not the children from the first marriage, but Rose and the son of the second marriage. Rose Edelman is in the 1930 census as head of the household as Edelman, not as Widoff.  Family story is Samuel left her. Did he do this in 1917, when Rose put her children back in the Asylum?

Rose’s life was hard, and she must have been a strong person to get through all her trials. She died in 1958, living close to her daughter in Brooklyn. I salute her!