I started out earlier in the week to tell the sad story of Max Rothschild's demise in Chariton during the fall of 1916 --- and then that project got sidetracked, as sometimes happens. That's Max's tombstone at left in Des Moines' Jewish Glendale, courtesy of Find a Grave.
So I wrote instead about Max's father-in-law, the venerable Rabbi Joseph Handler, of Oskaloosa, who with his wife, Anna, moved to what now is the state of Israel during 1905 to live out the remainder of their lives.
At the time the Joseph Handlers left Oskaloosa, 10 of their children and approximately 40 grandchildren also lived there. Their daughters included Sarah, who had married Max Rothschild in Oskaloosa during May of 1898.
Like Sarah, Max was a native of Russia, born there in 1869, a son of Moses and Anna (Cohen) Rothschild, and probably had gotten his start in business as a peddler, as had his Handler brothers-in-law.
By 1905, Max and Sarah had two children, Barney and Sarah, and a small store-front business in Oskaloosa. Soon thereafter, they moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, to start another business, and then during the spring of 1916 relocated to Chariton.
By that time, at least two of Sarah's nephews also were in business in Chariton. Ben Handler was managing for his Oskaloosa-based father, Simon, a store on the east side of the square called The Economy, which offered shoes and mens furnishings.
Frank N. Handler had two business operations --- a bulk flour and livestock feed store on North Grand Street, just north of the square, and a scrap metal yard on the levee in northwest Chariton.
Max and Sarah purchased a building on or near the levee that spring and opened a business they named the People's Grocery.
The Rothschilds seemed to be doing well, so there was considerable shock and consternation on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 30, 1916, when it was discovered that Max had taken his own life. Here's a report on his death from The Herald-Patriot of Thursday, Oct. 5:
Mr. Max Rothschild, who recently opened a general store near the C.B.&Q. depot, committed suicide sometime Saturday morning. He and his wife and son and daughter had been in Des Moines a few days attending the celebration of the Jewish New Year and on Saturday morning about 2:30 o'clock he and his son, Barney, returned to their home here, the son going home with a friend to stay all night. Mrs. Rothschild and daughter, Sarah, went from Des Moines to Oskaloosa for a brief visit.
On Saturday morning about 9 o'clock, a lady went to the store to make some purchases but failed to gain admittance. As she passed the window she noticed Mr. Rothschild sitting in a chair. Failing to rouse him by knocking on the door, she called the officers who effected an entrance to the business and found the room full of gas and Mr. Rothschild sitting there dead, in front of a gas stove, both burners of which were open. The cracks to the windows and door had been stuffed, so it was evidently a case of suicide, and the coroner's jury returned a verdict to that effect.
Mr. Rothschild was about 50 years of age and is survived by his wife and the son and daughter mentioned above. The family came here recently from St. Joseph, Missouri.
Mrs. Rothschild and daughter arrived Saturday afternoon from Oskaloosa in response to a message conveying the terrible news, and with the son accompanied the remains of the husband and father to Des Moines Saturday night, where interment took place in the Jewish cemetery. No reason can be assigned for the awful deed. The sympathy of the community will be extended to the grief stricken relatives.
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Following Max's death, Sarah continued to operate the grocery for two years --- until September of 1918, when she sold the operation to Frank G. Holmes and moved to Des Moines. Son Barney eventually settled in Los Angeles and the two Sarahs, mother and daughter, moved to the Chicago area.
Max, who was buried not far from his Handler in-laws in Jewish Glendale, has a nice stone --- but so far as I can tell retains the distinction of being the only Rothschild buried in Polk County.
1 comment:
Max was one of six brothers from today's Virbalis, Lithuania. They had three sisters, including my great-grandmother Emma Rubinson.
As you know from your blog on Joseph Handler, one of his daughters was a Wetsman. The Wetsman family underwrote "Odyssey of an American Family" by Phil Applebaum.
According to that book, it was in 1902 that Max left Oskaloosa for Chariton where they ran the "People's Grocery." When Bessie refused to help, Shprintze's brother Yoel sold a farm in Osceola to finance the store, but he lost the money when the store failed.
Applebaum was probably relying on oral history and did not know to search the Chariton newspaper microfilm. Also, Chariton town directories are not on Ancestry. The death record is also not in Ancestry, but I found it on familysearch.com. Before reading this blog, I would never have thought to do that. I assumed he died in St. Joseph, MO, where he was listed in the 1916 city directory.
Max was in Des Moines from 1905 through 1911, and around 1912 moved to St. Joseph. I cannot account for 1903 and 1904. Is there any chance he was also in Chariton then?
You are right that Max was the only Rothschild brother buried in Des Moines. Clarence's first wife Ida (Caplan) died in 1905 and is buried in the small Children of Israel cemetery just off the I-235 freeway at Delaware and Easton.
Max's wife is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and Barney and Sally are buried in Eden Cemetery in the San Fernando Valley. Barney married, but had no children. Sally never married.
Thanks for your research. I've done some blogging, but I'm focused on a book version of my genealogy. I've included a few sentences about Paul Burlin of blessed memory, my 2nd cousin but not the Rothschild branch. If you know Pam Burlin and her boyfriend Jeff, make their day and say hi for me.
-David Feinberg davfeinberg@gmail.com
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