Goldberg, Hearst, Segal Families

Irwin in the back
Third Row:
Shy looking woman in the upper left is Sarah.
To the right is Yetta
Unknown woman
Aunt Minnie, face looking up, behind Pinie
The oldest woman is Pinie
The young woman in the upper right of Pinie is Dottie.
Unknown woman
Second Row:
Young girl, my mother Bertha
Beside her is Mary
Unknown
Front row:
Aunt Susan, my mother's sister
The boy making a face in the front is Ben. He was always making fun
Aunt Libby on the right

Other Hearst Siblings: Mary, Dottie, Ben, Sarah

 

 Mary Hearst was born 24 Mar 1916 in Montreal. She had a remarkable memory and was a fascinating storyteller. I listened to a tape that her son Dan did in 1988 with his mother and Aunt Minnie. Mary described incidents in her mother's life, her father's career as a policeman and her brothers' Jack and Irwin's personalities in very moving detail. She married Philip Jaffe 24 Feb 1943 and was divorced in 1969.  She died 12 Sep 2007 in Los Angeles. 

Sister Dottie Hearst , born Dora Herscovitch, was born 10 May 1912 in Montreal. She and her sister Mary lived together in New York on 40 Lincoln Rd, as shown in the 1940 Census. Dotty and her husband Sol Press also moved to Los Angeles. She died 6 Sep 1995.  

Their brother Ben Hearst has 2 birth records. The first has his birth name as Beryl Bennie Herscovitch, born 15 Apr 1914, registered by his father, Max, 18 Oct 1914. The second has his birthdate 22 Apr 1914, registered by his father, Max, 29 Dec 1924. Ben married Ethel Goldstein, Oct 1940. He died of a heart attack 20 Mar 1986.

Sarah Herscovitch, the oldest sister, was born 10 Apr 1909 in Montreal. She had a form of retardation and when the family was going through turmoil after Max died and Yetta had a nervous breakdown, Sarah was put into a nunnery/ convent in St Anne de Beaupre. I have not been able to find any records for her.

Irwin Hearst

Irwin Hearst was born Isidore Herscovitch, 25 Dec 1907.

Irwin finished high school and then left for New York, the first to move. His mother's brothers, Israel and Moe were already there. Irwin and Moe had a van and opened one side, followed the carnivals and sold cotton candy.

Amongst the many stories that Mary, his sister, told was that Irwin socked someone and was thrown into jail.

It was Irwin who came to the rescue when Jack abandoned the family in Sudbury, brought them to Montreal and later found an apartment for them to live in New York.

Mary described him as a hustler, slim, good-looking and had beautiful girlfriends. He was into many ventures. He worked at an ice cream parlour from 9am until noon and from 5-8pm. He was on call to sell blood. He donated his blood and they gave him money. He also ran an apartment for poker games, selling cigarettes, sandwiches and coffee. Mary said he read books on how to display books on shelves, ahead of his time. Then he became a peddler selling aspirin and nylons. He rented a store in New York and brought back his brothers, Jack and Ben from Los Angeles telling them business was good along with his brother-in-law Phil and Sol.

Mary recounted that their mother had told Irwin not to get married before his sister Dotty did. He had married Bea Levinson 15 Jan 1939 in Luzerne, Pennsylvania. He felt bad so he looked for a husband for Dotty. He knew a cousin of Sol's who lived at Harvey's Lake outside Wilkes Bay. Sol got together with Dotty.

Irwin worked as a travelling salesman. A story he recounted was that he got his first car for $200 when he was living in New York. It was a convertible and when he couldn't put the top up, he made a roof out of cardboard.

Irwin married Bettie 13 Jun 1967. He had divorced Bea. Bettie died 19 Feb 1999 in Los Angeles.  Irwin died 6 Sep 2006.

Samuel Jack Hearst

Samuel Jack Hearst was born Sam Herscovitch and was known as Jack. The birth was registered many years later, 23 May 1929. The birth date was written as 6 Jun 1907. However Aunt Minnie said that she was 2 months older than Jack. Minnie was born 26 Mar 1906, so the birth year in the record should be 1906.

What I know about Jack is from how his sister Mary described him in a tape done in 1988. Jack did not go to high school. He found an advertisement in the Jewish newspaper that got him to go the outskirts of Sudbury. Mary says her brother was only 13 or 14. The 1921 Census lists all her siblings living at 1426 Fabre in  Montreal so he may have left after that time.

It was Jack who arranged a friend who was a pilot to take their father to Mayo Clinic. The pilot was killed on his way back home. After his father died, he brought the family to Sudbury. Mary remembers being passed from one lap to another during the long trip. Once his family was in Sudbury, Jack couldn't cope with his mother. According to his sister Mary, he was a playboy and shirked his responsibilities. He was always in debt. He took off and left the family stranded with a bunch of bills. Irwin, her brother, came from New York to bring them back to Montreal.

In this 24 Nov 1941 Border Crossing through Blaine Washington, Jack gives his grandmother's name as Polly , rather than Pinie, as his contact at 2806 Hochelaga St., Montreal. In this record, Jack says he is a truck driver  and lives with his wife Elsie at 311 West 50th St , Los Angeles. From the years 1932 to 1941, he gave both New York City and Los Angeles as the places he lived.

Jack had married Elsie in Las Vegas. Mary said that her sister Dotty was hung up on being Jewish and told Jack that had their mother been alive, she would have died knowing that Jack had married a shiksa. To which, Jack answered, he would not have married a shiksa if his mother were alive.

There is a military record dated 30 Mar 1943 indicating that Jack was a private. He died 14 Jan 1986 and was buried at the US Veterans Gravesite, 22 Jan 1986.

Elsie Amelia Dewane, Jack's wife, was born 23 Sep 1903  in Nebraska and died a few months after Jack, 20 Aug 1986 in Los Angeles. They adopted 2 daughters, Patty and Jackie but I have not been able to find out anything about them.

Max Herscovitch

            Max, the only Jewish Policeman in Montreal

Max ( Moses ) Herscovitch was 23 when he married Etta Goldberg , 5 Nov 1905.

He had left Romania to avoid conscription. A sister and brother remained in Romania.

Samuel Jack, Max and Etta's firstborn, was named after Max's father Shimon.

Max was a carpenter by trade but there was no work available. He became the only Jewish policeman. He had pull through an alderman. As a policeman, he would have received a pension but after 16 years, they railroaded him. Mary, his daughter says that her father got sick because of that.

Aunt Minnie, youngest sister of Etta, described an incident that happened after her father, Jacob had died  (25 Jan 1918 ). Max's police station was near where Minnie lived. He had a certain beat and would warm up at Minnie's house. It was cold and he would stay by the stove and had tea. Her brother Moe, in his 20s, was in the kitchen reading the newspaper near the gas stove. Max took out the bullets from his gun. He thought he had taken out all six. He said, " Hands up", to Moe. After the fifth time, Moe told him  to take it away. Then the bullet went off into the stove and into the pots and pans. The bullet broke the iron door, made holes right through to the pots and pans that her mother kept inside. The kitchen was full of smoke. Moe was perspiring. Max thought he had killed Moe. Her mother thought it went to her ears. She knew it was an accident and Aunt Minnie said her mother wasn't angry. Max had to account for every bullet so he asked Minnie's 2 brothers, Israel and Moe, to get a spare bullet at his home, a half hour away by streetcar.

Mary, youngest daughter of Etta and Max, recounted how her father would take his gun and throw it over his chair at home. All her siblings were well- trained not to touch it. She said in a family tape that it was a miracle that nothing happened. Other neighbours' children also visited.

Mary told the story of when her father risked his life when there was a fire at the synagogue. A timber fell on his arm. He saved the Holy Scrolls. Everybody was proud of him.

Another time he saw some gangsters on St Catherine St at 2 am. They told him that they would pay him. They wanted him on the other side of the street, away from the Birks jewelry store. Her father told them, "If I catch you, I will shoot you." Mary said her father would never take bribes. He was honest.

There were a lot of arguments. Her brothers did not get along with her father. He wanted them to knuckle down. Mary said her father meant well, that he was a sweet man, not a tyrant. Her mother tried to make peace.

It was so moving for me to listen to the tape. Mary described how she polished the buttons on her father's uniform. She was only 14 when he died. Her life fell apart after this.

Max became sick. The doctor drained fluid from his abdomen. He had what Mary called, cirrhosis of the liver. The doctor told the family to bring him to Mayo Clinic. Oldest son Jack came back from Sudbury. He was  about 19 or 20 as Mary said and got a friend of his who had a small plane to fly her father to Rochester, Minnesota. When the pilot returned home, the plane crashed and the pilot was killed. Mary said she could never forget that. The family believed that her father was cured , that he was coming back for Passover. Tragically Max had a hemorrhage and died.

Etta Goldberg Herscovitch

Etta Goldberg also known as Yetta was born 25 Jul 1881 in Botosani, Romania. the oldest daughter of Pinie Schwartz and Jacob Goldberg. Interestingly Jacob's age is given as 29, more closely related to the age he got married ( at age 30 ) than the age that relatives gave when he was smuggled by his mother into Romania.

The 1911 Census has her arrival in Montreal as 1902. Her daughter Mary Hearst Jaffe ( most of her children changed their name from Herscovitch to Hearst ) tells on a family tape from 1988 that Yetta met Max in a synagogue. Women and men were separated. Max looked up and saw Yetta in a red sweater. He found out who she was, pursued her and courted her.

Etta and Max Herscovitch  had 6 children:

Samuel Jack Hearst

Irwin Hearst

Sarah Herscovitch

Dottie ( Dora ) Hearst

Ben Hearst

Mary Hearst

Etta lost her husband who died 3 Apr 1931 and was abandoned by her son Jack in Sudbury. She and her family were brought back to Montreal by her son Irwin. It was all too much and Yetta had a nervous breakdown. Mary, her daughter, described how the family was destitute, needed welfare, groceries and coal. Aunt Minnie said Pinie's step-brother Bentzine (Benny) bought them coal. Mary left school to take care of her mother. The family put her sister Sarah into a nunnery/ convent in St. Anne de Beaupre, "Why I don't know". Her sister Dotty snuck across the border to work. They lived on St Lawrence Blvd. Mary got a job as an usherette.

Mary was alone with her mother and knew she wouldn't be able to answer questions for immigration to the US. Her Aunt Pearl ( wife of Yetta's brother Max Goldberg ) posed as her mother. Mary was 17 at the time so it was about 1933 when she bought  tickets for the train. Her mother was not capable of answering any questions. Mary said she was very noble and would not get her aunt into trouble for posing as her mother for immigration.

At Rouse's Point, she and her mother were put in jail for the night. They slept together on a cot. The next day they were put on a train and sent back to Montreal.

Irwin, Mary's brother, again rescued them. He came back to Montreal with a car and was able to take his mother across the border. He put all of them in an apartment.

I was told that Yetta was hospitalized at the end of her life.  I have not been able to find where she died and was buried.