Marx Friedman
Your great great grandfather was Marx “Max” Friedman (1850-1934). According to family lore, he stepped off the boat from Eastern Europe saw the Friedman Cracker Company sign and swapped his difficult to pronounce old world name for the one in the advertisement. He established the successful M. Friedman Co., selling furniture and housewares near Union Square in San Francisco. Marx, and his wife Julia (1855-1924), had eight children, including Grandpa Milt’s father, Henry Albert Friedman (1878-1948).
Marx Friedman was born on July 10, 1850 to Louis Friedman (1820) and Cyril Davis (1821). Marx’s father was a bookbinder, according to a ship’s manifest. The couple had six children, Sarah (1845), Marx (1850), Joseph (1853), Bessie (1856), Hirsh (1859), and Mendel (1861). Marx was born in Suwalki in the Polish part of Russia. Sulwalki is currently in northeastern Poland, just nineteen miles from the Lithuanian border. By 1857, it had a population of 11,257.
Marx’s Russian Roots
Marx grew up in the Jewish Pale of Settlement, within the Russian Empire. We don’t know the specific reasons that Marx decided to leave his homeland and head for America. However, we do know he immigrated to the US in 1870, fully a decade before the biggest waves of Jewish immigration to the US, sparked by Tsar Alexander III’s pogroms and anti semitic laws (1881-1882) against Jews in the Russian Empire.
Professor Tomas Balkelis argues the main reason many Jews left at this time was due to a poor economy, “There is considerable consensus that the key motive for their emigration was the lack of economic opportunity ... Yet in the case of the Jews...the political pressure from the authorities served as an additional “push factor.” He also notes that the first Jews left their homes after the crop failure of 1867 and the starvation and cholera outbreak that followed.
According to his biographical sketch which appeared in the book, Western Jewry, An Account of the Achievements of Jews and Judaism in California, Including Eulogies and Biographies, “The Jews in California,” by Martin A. Meyer, Marx Friedman was “educated in his native country until the age of eighteen at which time he was a teacher of Hebrew for two years.” (Who would have thought, another teacher in the family?) The article also indicates that, “he moved to New York at the age of twenty…” This comports with census data that lists Marx’s year of immigration to the US as 1870. However, he did not come directly to the San Francisco Bay Area, but lived in New York, “engaged in mercantile pursuits.”
An affidavit shows that Marx sailed from Hamburg, Germany. He arrived before New York’s famous immigration station Ellis Island opened in 1892. Most likely Marx stepped off the boat into Castle Garden, on the tip of Manhattan. From 1855 to 1890, Castle Garden was America’s first immigration center.
Marx and Julia in New York
Marx married Julia Schlomsky (1855) on October 3, 1873 in Manhattan. According to their marriage certificate, Julia was 18 at their ceremony, while Marx was 23. Her parents were Jacob Schlomsky and Hannah Lichtenstein, who hailed from Kalwaiia, Russ. Poland. Kalwaiia is in southwestern Lithuania, just 24 miles from the town of Suwalki. (It is also only 12 miles from Mariampole, where Nathan Newman grew up. Small world.) It appears that Marx had found a local girl from the old country, when he made his match in New York.
The Jewish residents of Kalwaiia numbered more than three thousand. In describing emigration from Julia’s hometown, professor Balkelis writes, “intense early migration started from the districts of Kalvarija and Volkovishki in Suvalki: both losing 300 and 250 emigrants respectively. Almost two-thirds of the migrants were town dwellers and overwhelmingly Jewish.”
Marx Friedman and his new wife lived and worked in Troy, New York. The Troy Street Directories show that in 1875 Marx (Max) was a peddler, living on 162 Fifth Street, right next door to his younger brother Joseph Friedman. He moved to 128 River Street in 1876, and in 1877 he changed jobs, working in a “variety store.”
The couple had their first child, Israel, in 1874. Their second boy, Samuel, was born in 1876. However, their third child, Henry Albert Friedman, was born on November 28, 1878 in San Francisco. As it turns out, my grandfather, and your great grandfather, Henry Friedman was the first of the Friedman children to be born in California. In San Francisco, Marx and Julia would add four daughters, Celia (1884), Lilian (1888), Etta (1890), and Dorothy (1893), and one more son, Abraham (1886) to their family. Therefore, two of the eight Friedman children were born in Troy, New York, and the remaining six were California babies.
The Friedmans in Troy
Marx moved to California in 1877. We presume he felt his business prospects would be better on the West Coast. Marx’s parents arrived in Troy two years after he left. Louis and Cyril Friedman left Hamburg on the ship Cimbria, arriving in New York City on July 10, 1879. They lived their American lives in Troy, along with several of Marx’s brothers ans sisters.
Marx’s mom Cyril died on March 6, 1883, only four years after her arrival. Louis remarried a woman named Deborah. Marx’s father, Louis lived until 1897. He passed away on Christmas, December 25, 1897 at the age of 78.
Louis Friedman’s Will tells us a lot about the Friedmans in Troy, NY. The document was executed a little over a month before his death on November 19, 1897. In it he leaves his wife Deborah $150 and the household furniture. The Will also stipulates that If she should “discontinue housekeeping” the household items should be sold and the proceeds divided between Deborah and son Mendel, whom he also leaves the feather bed and three pillows. He asks his son, Harris (Hirsch), to take $100 to pay for a headstone. To his married daughters, Sarah and Bessie, he bequeaths $20 each. Only $1 is allocated to his sons, Joseph and Harris. The document makes clear that Louis Friedman was a religious man. $5 is allotted to the Rabbi to perform prayers for seven days after his demise. The Beth Tephiliah Synagogue of Troy is the recipient of one set of Louis’ religious books, with his son Harris receiving the remaining ones. Louis stipulated that if there was anything is left over, it should be left to Mendel.
Marx’s brothers, Harris and Joseph, each established their own furniture stores in Troy, New York. As early as 1887 H & D Friedman company was advertised in the Troy Street Directory as selling “Furniture, Carpets, and Oil, & Cloths.” It was located on 150 River Street. The H in the store name was Marx’s brother Harris (Hirsh), and the D was Delia Friedman, Joseph’s wife. By 1895 Joseph/Delia and Harris each had their own places of commerce. There was D. Friedman Furniture on 158 River Street, advertising wholesale and retail furniture. Meanwhile, H. Friedman Furniture, now on 166 River Street, continued to feature Furniture, Carpets, Oil, and cloths, but also added in smaller print: “window shades, stoves, refrigerators, baby carriages etc.”
The Friedmans in San Francisco
While most of the Friedmans remained in Troy, Marx established himself in San Francisco and Julia soon followed. His early years in business were not easy ones. We get a much more detailed account of Marx’s early life in San Francisco from a speech he gave in 1913 on his 40th wedding anniversary. He explains,
I arrived here in San Francisco in the year 1877, on the 15th day of September. Mama arrived three months later. She did not travel in a Pullman, as we could not afford it at that time. She came by immigrant train. If I remember rightly, it took ten days to get out here.
We took up our first residence on Mary Street, which is a small street near Fifth and Mission Streets. We had three rooms there and paid a rental of $15.00 a month. Our family at that time consisted of two children, Israel and Sammy, and they were mere babies. At the time we had no carpet as we could not afford to buy it. Mama did her own cooking, nursed the children, and scrubbed the floor. In other words, she was her own chamber maid, nurse, cook, besides doing all the other work, and she was very happy to do it until I could afford to hire one servant and that made things a little easier for her. I went out peddling, selling goods. I sold and delivered all the goods on foot or by street car, as we had no automobile. The next year I bought a horse and buggy and delivered the goods to my customers by buggy. I kept this until the year 1884.
Then I started a store on what is now known as Grant Avenue, at that time it was called Dupont Street, with a Mr. Brown. I stayed in business with him just three months, until he got good and drunk and wanted to kill me, so I had to dissolve the partnership with him and sold out to him. Then I contracted a partnership with a Mr. Stein. He did not get drunk and did not want to kill me, but he was a very poor business man, and I saw I would lose every dollar I had if I stayed in business with him. I sold out and left him to go into business for myself. My capital at that time was very small. It was not quite $3,000.00, and represented the savings of about eight or nine years.
My next business venture was to start a store for myself on Geary Street. I was there about six months and lost one-half of my capital, and gave up the business. After I had all this hard luck and made up my mind not to go into business anymore, but to keep peddling for a living and live a private life. But Mama inspired me and encouraged me to start again. She told me that she would help me and that I should not get discouraged or be afraid and that together we would build up a good business. Having a great deal of faith in Mama’s advice I followed it and started business again in the year 1885 on Stockton Street near Post.
Our store was 13 feet in front by 70 feet deep. We lived in the back of the store and had a frontage of 13 x 20 for store space. I attended to the outside business and Mama was inside attending to the family, also selling goods: that is, she was cook, chamber maid, nurse, sales lady, store keeper and manager of the business. She performed all these duties at once. Well, we were very prosperous for a few years, and then my brother-in-law also came out from New York and helped me a good deal and things went along nicely for us until the year 1896, when we moved to the building where we are now.
Then we had lots of misfortunes — they followed us one after the other. First we had the flood, through which we lost $75,000.00, then followed the strike, earthquake, and panic: and still after all these misfortunes, thank Heaven, today we are now on our feet once again with a big business. We employ 120 people, pay our bills to the minute, and pay all our men good salaries. We have a good name in the city and the State, and also in the East where we buy our goods our credit is good.
In his speech, Marx credits God and his wife Julia for his success,
Now, what is the cause of all this good luck? First we have to thank the Almighty God for it, and second you have to be thankful to your mother for everything. Your mother was always a good wife, she was good in adversity and in prosperity. In adversity she helped to do all the work and did not find fault as some women would.
M. Friedman Co. in Union Square
According to his short biography in the book Western Jewry, Marx Friedman was a prominent figure in San Francisco’s Jewish community. He owned a lucrative furniture store, the M. Friedman Co. Like his father, Marx was an observant Jew. He belonged to the Ohabai Shalome Congregation, a part of the Conservative branch of Judaism. While the Newmans were attending the reform synagogue,Temple Emanu-El, the Friedman’s synagogue was on Bush Street in the Western Addition. In addition, Marx was president of the Ophir Lodge, a pioneer Jewish organization on the West Coast, and he also participated in the Federation of Jewish Charities.
On May 8, 1924 Julia Friedman passed away at the age of 69. She and Marx were married for 50 years. Marx would live ten more years, reaching the age of 84.
Of Marx’s eight children, his son Henry Friedman would graduate from Stanford in 1901. He helped his father run the family business, marrying Helen Eisner (1889-1963) in 1910. The couple had four children: Margaret (1912-1993), Milton (1914-1991), Virginia (1915-1980), and Beatrice (1919-1997). Milton Friedman would become Milton Forrest, your grandfather.
What’s in a name?
And what of the family story that our Friedman name was invented by Marx from a cracker billboard in New York Harbor? Our uncle, Milt Silverman, thought it was true. In a family tree he made in the 1980’s, he said Marx’s real surname was Sacherwalski. If it was true, Marx never mentioned it. In fact, in his 1913 Anniversary speech he explained why his name, Friedman, and Julia’s last name, Shlomsky, were were chosen by a higher power:
…. There is a saying that “Matches are made in Heaven.” I will prove that our match was made in Heaven. Mama’s name before she was married was “Shlomsky.” Now the word “Shlomsky” originates from the Hebrew world “Shalom” and “Shalom,” as I said before, means Peace.
My name is “Friedman.” “Friedman” in German means “freed man,” so my name is Peace in German and Mama’s name is peace in Hebrew, which shows that the Almighty God was right in His match-making as our names harmonize. Both mean peace in different languages which indicates that the Almighty new what He was doing when He made our match.
Whatever his surname, our immigrant patriarch Marx Friedman made his fortune in San Francisco through smarts, grit and determination. Thanks to Marx and Julia, their California descendants would thrive and grow.
DF - March 9, 2016 and Revision 2019