Jessica's Family History
Jessica was born in New York in 1937 to Jack (1897-1973) and Belle (1903-1981) Kramer. Since many of the extended family were in the New York City area, there were lots of cousins, aunts, and uncles around.
Jessica's older brother, Arnold, was born in 1931, and after college and graduate school at MIT, settled in the Boston area (Lexington).
She never knew her grandfathers, who both died before she was born, but regularly saw her grandmothers.
She was named for her great-grandmother, Jenny Friedkin ("Chisie" is Yiddish, the Hebrew is Zissa), hence Jessica in English. Her middle name, Ruth, is named for Raksha Goldberg, her other maternal great-grandmother.
Jack Kramer, Jessica's father
Jack (Jacob) was born in New York in 1897 to Benjamin (d. 1932) (a tailor) and Rebecca Kramer. They had immigrated to the U.S. in 1890 with their two children from Myszyniec (Poland). Their other children (including Jack) were all born in America.
1920: Jack Kramer journal from U.S. Merchant Marine (62 pages, 28MB)
(Use the "Page Fit" option under "Automatic zoom" to see the two-page spreads better.)
He served in the U.S. Merchant Marine from 1919-1921 as a wireless (Morse Code) operator, and kept a journal during his time in the service, which Jessica kept and scanned in 2001.
Later, he was a buyer for May Department Stores during the course of a more than 35-year career there.
Jessica's grandmother, Rebecca Kramer (~1862-1949), lived in Brooklyn during Jessica's childhood, and she has relayed many happy memories of her parents, Arnold, and her going to visit her each weekend from Mount Vernon, NY (roughly an hour away).
No extant photos exist of Benjamin (Jessica's grandfather), that we know of.
Jessica traced the history of her grandparents in a monograph she published in 2016 after more than a decade of research, as described in this page here on this site. Her history goes back to roughly 1795-1800.
Belle Goldberg Kramer, Jessica's mother
For her mother, there appear to be more family history photos, but less genealogy
is known, past a certain point. Belle was born in 1903 in New York to
Avram Gedaliah Goldberg and Rose
Friedkin Goldberg (1880-1955), who had married in 1900. Belle was the oldest of three daughters, with Sylvia born five years later (1908-1970) and Dorothe being much younger (1919-1977). [Interesting note: Dorothe was born the same day Theodore Roosevelt died (January 6, 1919) and thus was given a middle name of Theodora.]
Their father, Avram Gedaliah, died at age 47 in 1926, i.e., when Dorothe was still a young child. (All the males in the next generation (sons of Avram's three daughers) were named for their grandfather: Arnold Guy Kramer (Jessica's brother) and first cousins Andrew Guy Pollet and Stephen Avery Fogelson.)
Avram Gedaliah was the son of Max and Raksha Goldberg.
Jessica's grandmother, Rose (Avram's wife), was the daughter of Asher and Jenny (Chisie) Friedkin,
who had arrived in the US by 1894.
1894: Jenny and Asher Friedkin
Caption in Belle's handwriting
1902: Goldberg family
Jessica wrote a caption for this photo in March 2023 in which she said,
Further, Jessica wrote:
So the other names come from two other sources, an annotated version from an (unknown to us) cousin (Ron Honig) and a genealogical record (not included on this page), both sent in June 2023 from Steve Fogelson, Jessica's first cousin and son of Sylvia Goldberg Fogelson (daughter of Rose and Avram). The information also meshes well with a family tree created by Jack Kramer (in the 1960s?).
[This version of the photo (used for the annotation) appears to have been taken by someone wearing a checked shirt
reflected in an under-glass, wall-hanging version of the photo!]
Jessica's great-grandparents Max and Raksha Goldberg and their nine children (plus two spouses and one grandchild)
All Goldbergs, except as noted.
Standing, from left: Avram, Israel, Lena, Solomon, Sarah, Nathan Breslof (son-in-law).
(This includes Jessica's grandparents Avram and Rose Goldberg, shown at left.)
Click triangle arrow for complete caption.
Seated from left: Rose Friedkin Goldberg (daughter-in-law), Max, Raksha, Lillie Goldberg Breslof
Four children: Hyman, Frida, Lillie's son (Breslof), Esther.
"I do not know the names of all these relatives, because after Grandpa Avram Gedalia died in 1926, no one in my generation knew him, except for descriptions and stories told by my mother (Belle) and her sister, (Sylvia). Dorothe did not really know him, for she was born in 1919 and did not remember him.
After Grandpa's death in 1926, there was little contact between Grandma Rose and her
dead husband's family, as can happen in families.
Finally, this photo was taken between 1900 (when Grandma Rose and Grandpa Avram Gedalia were married,) and 1903 when my mother, Belle, was born."
Israel Goldberg
(1887-1964, Wikipedia),
who became a writer of Jewish history under the pen name of Rufus Learsi (Rufus means "red" and Uncle Iz had red hair; Learsi is Israel spelled backward! He was my (Jessica)'s great uncle, but I called him Uncle Iz.) I do not know the names of the last four siblings or husbands of siblings of Uncle Iz and his brother, Grandpa Avram Gedalia.
Uncle Iz was the only child in the family who went to college (CCNY), which was known for its very bright children of immigrants. In addition, there was no tuition at this college!
1902: Goldberg family annotated
1948ca: Rose Goldberg with three grandchildren
Jessica, Shari, and Steve (children of Belle Goldberg Kramer, Dorothe Goldberg Pollet, and Sylvia Goldberg Fogelson, respectively).
A couple more family photos of Jessica with Goldberg relatives:
The first shows Rose with three of her grandchildren (one from each of her
daughters), circa 1945.
And the second one shows Rose, with her sister, all three daughters, and
Jessica at a Passover Seder in 1953.
1953ca: Jessica with her mother, grandmother, and aunts at March 30, 1953 Seder
Jessica, "Auntie Dear" Sarah Friedkin Waldman (Rose's sister), Belle, Rose, Sylvia, Dorothe.
Some other family photos
Jack and Belle lived 1000 miles away from Jessica and Michael and family in St. Louis, so while they loved their grandchildren, and communicated with letters and cards, they did not see one another all that often.
The first two photos show Rachel (1962 photo) and David (1966 photo) as toddlers with their grandparents. The next photo below shows Jack narrating a family photo album to Rachel and David, during a January 1972 visit, as the family returned from Michael's London sabattical and a trip to South Africa, stopping off in New York on our way back to St. Louis.
Jack died of cancer in May 1973, and the next photo shows Belle having come to St. Louis that summer for an extended visit, shown here at a family picnic.
She then moved to St. Louis in the summer of 1976, and lived just two miles away. So the photo of Belle, Jessica, and Rachel lighting Shabbat candles was simply a regular Friday night, not a special from-out-of-town visit.
1962-Apr.: Belle and Jack Kramer with Rachel
Photo by Michael
1966-Mar.: Jack Kramer with grandson David
Photo by Michael
1972-Jan.: Rachel and David Friedlander with grandfather Jack Kramer
Photo by Michael
1973-Jul.: Jessica with Belle, David, Rachel at picnic
Photo by Michael
1979-Nov.: Three generations lighting Shabbat candles
Belle Kramer, Jessica Kramer Friedlander, Rachel Friedlander
St. Louis, MO
Photo by David