52 Ancestors: Loss - Levy Bros. Profit & Loss Records

I've had this book, which belonged to my grandfather Sig Levy, for many years sitting on a table.  I'd glanced through it a few times but it wasn't until this blog prompt came up that I spent more time with it.  Remember, my grandparents saved everything.

Here's the first page.

When I looked at this it occurred to me to search for it to see if I could find any history on it.  While I didn't find history, I did find an identical book selling on eBay for $31.45.

Look at that - a Profit and Loss Statement for May.  Actually, there are pages and pages for each month but this is just an example.

And on the opposite side of each month is individual years - this is 1931-1936.

Even though my father thought I'd be a good accountant, I quickly realized that profession was not for me.  So I'd really have to study this to figure out what it all means.

I found the salary detail interesting - this is from Jan 1-June 30, 1941.  I laugh to myself that each time the four brothers were listed it is always in age order - Herb, Leon, Sig, Ben.  So they each made $1500 dollars over 6 months or $250 per week.  In today's dollars that would be $4618 per month.  

And look at that - a couple of other Levys were working with the firm.  Herb Levy, Jr. was Herb's only son.  And Robert Levy was Sig's oldest son and my uncle.  In 1941 Rob would have been just 21 years old and about ready to enlist.  I can see that the following 6 months (July 1 - December 31, 1941) he earned $117 and the following six months was just $18.  Probably just a part time job.

And Herb's daughter, Barbara, also worked for the firm in 1944 and made a whopping $92 for the year.  

The commission page was especially interesting to see what properties sold for back then.

I looked up the house at 647 No. Van Ness Avenue, built in 1932, and Zillow shows the estimated value of $260,000 today.  And the house at 610 Pine Avenue, built in 1935, has an estimated value of $592,352.  

Levy Bros. was a successful business until 1965 after Ben's death left Sig as the only remaining brother.  Hopefully, the business never experienced a "Loss".

 

52 Ancestors: Favorite Name

This week’s prompt is:  Favorite Name

I don’t know that I have a favorite name among my ancestors – what I do like is when someone is named for an ancestor, a memory, or something else that held a memory for those who named them. 

There are different Jewish naming traditions – some Jewish families (Ashkenazi) name a newborn after a deceased relative , while others (Sephardic) may honor a living family member.  Or, some parents use only the first letter of the relative’s name, while others may choose a name that is not identical, but rather similar in sound, spelling or some other manner. One additional way to honor and commemorate through the name is to make a newborn child’s middle name, as opposed to the first name, similar or identical to that of a special relative.

Since today would have been my Dad’s 91st birthday, I will start with him – Gordon Floyd Levy. 

Gordon Floyd Levy – c. 1933

The name Gordon is in memory of his paternal grandmother, Goldie Benas Levy, who died 19 Jan 1926, just over a year before Dad was born.  And I believe Floyd came from the long-time family physician, Floyd L. R. Burks.  I wrote a little about him HERE. 

My mother, Geraldine Martin, told me once that her name, had she been a boy, would have been Fitzgerald, her mother’s maiden name.  While she didn’t care for the name Geraldine (a nod to the name Fitzgerald), we both laughed that she got the better end of the deal. 

Geraldine Martin – c. 1932

Mom was not given a middle name, but somewhere along the line she ‘adopted’ the name Ann in order to honor her great aunt, Anna Theresa Fitzgerald Sronce, who she lived with for a period of time as her parents were going through a divorce.  And, thus, she passed the name on to me as my middle name.

When our oldest daughter was born, we decided to give her the middle name of Rebecca as that was what I was originally going to be named.  And the first time my grandmothers met her, they both told me that their ‘favorite’ grandmother was named Rebecca.  I never let on that I hadn’t known that in advance!

Rebecca Waller McAboy

Grandmother of my maternal grandmother, Clara Fitzgerald

Rebecca Steen Schwartz

Grandmother of my paternal grandmother, Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer

Not wanting my youngest daughter to feel left out, when we named her we asked Daughter #1 what she wanted to name her and she came up with the name Kristi.  We took that suggestion and gave her the middle name of Kristina so while not named after someone, she was named because of someone.

And that leads to my grandmother, Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer.  I never knew my grandmother by any name other than Loraine – I can’t blame her for that, who would want to go by Mildred?  And she was always Grandma Loraine rather than Grandma Levy, Nanna, Granny, or any other endearing name. 

Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer – c. 1898

My dad’s brother, Robert Levy, was likely named for Rebecca Steen Schwartz (above) who died about 18 months before Robert was born.  And his middle name was Sigmund after his father.

And that leads to two of my grandchildren.  Our oldest grandson has the middle name of Austen, which is very cool for a family with no sons.  And our youngest granddaughter’s middle name is Loraine, after her 2x great grandmother who she never knew.  I think she looks a little bit like her and I also think she’s going to have her spunk!