So, until I finally research the European side of our family, and find evidence to prove one or the other, both cities are in play as the original birthplace of our family.
Jews had lived in Hungary since the 11th Century, but most fled or were killed during the Turkish occupation in the 16th-17th Century. The Hapsburgs began to retake the country in the late 1600’s, and in the 18th century, Jewish immigrants arrived. They were mostly urbanized, German-speaking people who settled in western and central Hungary. The Yiddish-speaking, Orthodox immigrants from rural parts of Galicia (today eastern Poland and Ukraine) settled primarily in eastern and northeastern Hungary.
In the first half of the 19th century, the Jews in Pest and other large cities, were influenced by the progressive Berlin Haskalah movement, and began petitioning the government for emancipation and modest religious reforms. Shortly after, the Hapsburgs granted Hungary equal footing in the new Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1867, and the liberal government approved the emancipation of the Jews. The Jewish Congress, convened in 1868-1869, was meant to clarify the relationship between Jewish organizations and the state, but it ended in disunity. The Jewish community split into three groups: the Neológs promoted modest reforms and assimilation, the Orthodox adhered strictly to traditions; and the Status Quo Ante group wished to preserve pre-congress conditions
The new Monarchy brought on rapid economic development and industrialization. The Jews contributed to the changes, and the Hapsburgs even bestowed noble titles on nearly 350 Hungarian Jewish families.
Between 1867 and 1914, anti-Semitic movements in Hungary were fairly short-lived and not state-supported. The founders of modern Zionism, Herzl and Nordau, were Budapest natives, but attracted much less of a following in Hungary than in Poland or Russia, possibly due to the relative weakness of anti-Semitic pressure.
Samuel Freed, born in 1859, was nourished from the beginning by the influences of the extraordinary progressive, secular environment existing in Hungary at that time.
Sam Freed was charming, creative, quick-witted, and had finished elementary school. While he attended classes, he learned to speak English. Sam began his life’s work as a tailor.
The butcher, Samuel Bruder, who was considered “wealthy”, had a daughter, Fannie, with whom Samuel Freed, the tailor, had fallen in love. But, Sam Freed was not welcomed by the Bruder family as a suitable husband for Fannie.
Fannie contracted Smallpox, and while in her delirium, Sam visited and gently cleansed the scabs from her face. His attention was appreciated by the family, especially Fannie. Impressed by the compassion shown by the tailor, Samuel Bruder accepted Sam Freed as a suitor for his daughter. Fannie later told her children that his attentions were selfish. She maintained that Sam believed that disturbing the healing process would produce greater scarring; and her ravaged face would diminish his competition for Fannie’s hand. It’s interesting how the two sides of this story passed down the generations…Samuel’s side related by Max to his children, and Fannie’s side related by Rose and Nora to their children.
Sam was born on Dec 25, 1859, and Fannie on April 01, 1862. They were married sometime in 1883 or 1884, and their first son, Aladar, was born on July 24, 1885. Max followed on May 06, 1887.
Sam emigrated from Hungary, leaving Hamburg, Germany on the SS Hammonia. He arrived at Ellis Island, New York, on October 19, 1888.
Sam didn’t know that he left something behind when he began his journey to America. Nine months later, on July 12, 1889, Fannie gave birth to Rudolf, my grandfather.
It was common to have a family member, or friend, welcome and sponsor a new immigrant to America. It is difficult to believe that Samuel left his young family and came to America all alone. In spite of the fact that he spoke English, he faced trying to make a living in an alien culture.
There is a young man from Hungary listed on the ship’s manifest who might have traveled with Sam, but I have no proof that they knew one another. As I research the European roots, perhaps I will find some clue to this aspect of the journey.
Pennsylvania
The story told is that while waiting for release from Ellis Island, Samuel was recruited for employment in Mauch Chunk (Leni-Lenape Indian name for “Bear Mountain”), PA, in Carbon County. This city was renamed Jim Thorpe, PA, in 1953. It was a center for railroading, canal trade and coal shipping, a popular summer resort area, and the home of one of America’s wealthiest tycoons, Asa Packer, the founder of Lehigh University.
It wasn’t until the 12th of Aug 1893, five years after Sam left Hungary, that Fannie, Aladar, Max and Rudolph disembarked the SS Maasdam (departed Rotterdam) at Ellis Island, New York.
Samuel, 1893
Fannie, Aladar, Rudolph, Max, 1893
Soon after they arrived in Mauch Chunk, the local priest came to call. He spoke with Sam about the three boys playing ball on Sunday. “All the other children are in church”, the priest said, “It sets a poor example”. Sam sent his sons to church on the following Sunday, and every Sunday after that.
I always wondered about the religious conviction of my family, and now I see that there was none. They did what was necessary for the children to survive, to be accepted into America. I feel the same way more a hundred years later!
Charles Freed was born in Mauch Chunk, PA, on Aug 13, 1894, one year almost to the day, after Fannie’s arrival in America.
After researching the 1890 Mauch Chunk census, I find very few immigrants, and most of them from Germany. I can only assume that there were very few Jews settling there in the mountains of Pennsylvania, and the Freeds apparently did not identify strongly with Jewish dogma, so it was not a problem.
I can only imagine the culture shock Fannie must have endured leaving a European city for this backwater. But, she had waited five years for the passage money to be saved, chose to leave her family and all familiar things behind, made the journey across a continent and an ocean, and was optimistic about the future with Sam in a new world.
New York City
The family left Pennsylvania and moved to New York City where Rose was born in 1897, Louis was born in 1899, and Anna in May, 1900.
Samuel, Fannie, Adolph, Morris, Rudolph, Charles, Rose, Louis and Anna were listed as residing on East 13th Street in Manhattan, in the 1900 Census. Sam’s widowed sister-in-law, Rose Freed, also lived with the family.
Nora was born in 1902, after the death of baby Anna, who fell from a bed, breaking her neck.
Fannie was so grief-stricken she visited the grave every day. Finally, Sam brought her back to reality, pointing out that she was neglecting the living children.
In the summer of 1904, Sam walked home from the movies in the rain. A few days later, he developed flu-like symptoms, fever and cough, called “la grippe” in those days. The symptoms grew worse, and Sam was diagnosed with Tuberculosis.
It was feared that Fannie, who was pregnant again, and the children were at risk of contagion, so they accepted the landlord’s offer to use a vacant top floor apartment to quarantine Sam.
The boys carried a bed upstairs, but there was no extra furniture, not even a lamp. There was a light fixture on the wall at the top of the stairs outside the apartment door, providing enough light to minister to his needs.
Sam’s condition quickly deteriorated. Too weak to eat, starvation hastened the course of the disease.
On August 14th, Sam began drifting in and out of consciousness, and it was evident that the end was near. The boys comforted him as best they could.
During the night of August 18th, Aladar (now called Albert) and Max (now called Ralph) sat on the steps, talking. Sam appeared in the doorway and turned out the hall light. He said “You can go to bed now, boys. I’ll be leaving in a little while”. He returned to bed, and died at 4:30AM, he was 44 years old.
Fannie was 42 years old, and was now solely responsible for the welfare of her eight children