Only a few fragments (and those mostly unverifiable) remain of
the personal histories of bygone European Ehrlichs, Rotmanns,
Kohns and Schwartzes. More can be said about the uncle, aunt,
and cousins who welcomed Joseph, Mathilda, and Martha to
Chicago—though even those prove elusive at times. (I have been
unable to locate either the elder Kohns or the Ruhigs in the
1920 and 1930 censuses, which were handwritten and variably
transcribable.)
This appendix presents my assembled research notes.
The Elder Kohns
Samu/Samuel
(Sam) Kohn
was born in 1867 or 1868, most likely in Temesvár
from which his brothers Móric and Geza moved to Kolozsvár.
According to the 1910 census he emigrated to Chicago in 1907,
though he doesn’t appear on the same ship’s manifest with his
wife and children. In 1910 his family lived at 4203 [South?]
Langley Avenue; in 1923 at 1024 Irving Park Boulevard;
and in 1930 at 642 [West?] Cornelia Avenue (per a blurry
telephone directory). Sam died on July 24, 1934, aged 66 or 67,
and was buried in Forest Park’s “Northwest Charity Cemetery.”
(Part of the Jewish Waldheim Cemeteries?)
Jeni
(Jenni, Jennie, Jenny, Jenka) Liebmann
Kohn was born on June 12, 1871,
the daughter of Adolf Liebmann of Temesvár; she married Sam Kohn
on October 28, 1893. Jeni and her three children left Europe
aboard the SS President Grant on October 26, 1907 and
arrived in New York on November 7th. The 1910 census indicated
that she only spoke Hungarian,
whereas the rest of her household could speak English. In July
1923 Jeni applied for a passport to visit relatives in Romania
and Hungary, and was evidently sailing there at the same time
the Ehrlichs were traveling to America. After Sam’s death Jeni
lived as a boarder at “3153 Amsley” [West Ainslie?] in 1937; the
address in the 1940 census appears to be 3045 Ainslee. She died
in 1944, aged about 73, and was buried in Waldheim Cemetery.
(Martha Ehrlich’s brother George was taught to call Sam and Jeni
“Grandpa and Grandma Kohn.”)
The Ruhigs
Rózsa/Rose Kohn Ruhig,
eldest child of Sam and Jeni, was born on September 1, 1895, one
day before her cousin Mathilda. She married Béla Ruhig in
Chicago on January 28, 1914. When the Ehrlichs arrived in 1923,
the Ruhigs lived at 945(?) Irving Park Boulevard, down the
street from Rose’s parents. By 1937 the Ruhigs moved to 640˝
Cornelia Avenue, close to the Kohns’s 1930 address. Rose did
not become a naturalized citizen until 1946. She died on
October 3, 1990, aged 95, and was buried (as “Beloved
Matriarch”) in the Columbarium of Graciousness at Hillside
Memorial Park in Culver City, California.
Béla Ruhig
was born in Szeged, Hungary
on November 13, 1887, the son of Kalman Ruhig (1860-1955)
and Rózsa Dukesz; he was living in Vienna when he left for
Chicago in 1907. Béla’s name often got recorded as “Ben” or
“Benjamin”—confusingly, since he had a younger brother Beno
(1897-1964) who was also in the fur business in Chicago; as was
their brother Michael (1893-1965), all three working
separately after failing to work together. Béla became a
naturalized citizen in 1926. He belonged to many lodges and
favored liberal if not radical causes—owning the complete works
of Lenin, declaring he was “opposed to war in general” and
should be exempt from the draft, taking out ads in the
labor-sponsored “Red weekly” Chicago Star, etc. His fur
shops were located at 3136 Broadway (1917), 3939 Sheridan
(1930), and 734 North Sheridan (1947). Béla died on February
26, 1966 in California, aged 78, and was buried in Hillside
Memorial Park.
Violet Evelyn
(Eve)
Ruhig Sessler,
first child of Rose and Bela, was born in Chicago on April 6,
1915; she graduated from Lake View High School in 1934 and was
working as a beauty operator in 1940. On January 17, 1942 she
married Albert Bela Sessler (1906-1978), a painter
and decorator of homes. They had three children:
Robert/Bob
(born 1946), Bertha/Birdie (born 1949) and
Sandra/Sandy (born 1955). Eve signed “An Open Letter to
President Johnson and the Democratic Party,” protesting the
Vietnam War, that appeared in the June 23, 1967 Los Angeles
Times.
Four years later she and Albert encountered George Ehrlich and
family in London.
Eve died in 2020, aged 105, and was buried (as “Beloved wife,
mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and humanitarian”) with
her husband and parents in Hillside Memorial Park.
Theodore Frank
(Ted/Teddy) Ruhig,
second child of Rose and Bela, was born in Chicago on March 12,
1917; he too graduated from Lake View High School in 1934,
then pursued social work. On June 18, 1943 he married
Nancy (Nan) Ingram (1918-2006), a
teacher and composer, in an army base chapel in Nan’s native
Mississippi. They had three children: Rosemary
(born c.1947), Wendy (born c.1953) and
Franklin (1958-2001), moving from Illinois to Hawaii,
Sacramento, and finally Ohio. Ted was a newspaper columnist,
political activist, and leader of the Gray Panthers; besides
serving in the California Senior Legislature and testifying
before Congress on behalf of reauthorizing the Older Americans
Act, he sued the California Department of Aging for age
discrimination—and won. Ted died on May 18, 2012, aged 95.
The Temmers
Margit/Margaret Kohn Temmer,
second child of Sam and Jeni, was born on March 22, 1897 and
accompanied her mother and siblings from Temesvár to Chicago in
1907. She married Markus Temmer on February 3, 1917;
they settled in Racine, Wisconsin, before moving to Kenosha in
1948. In widowhood she and her cousin Mathilda Ehrlich would
share apartments in Los Angeles for nearly two decades.
Margaret died on July 1, 1987, aged 90, and was buried in
Hillside Memorial Park.
Markus
Temmer
was born February 2, 1885 in Temesvár, the son of Samuel Temmer
(1853-1937) and Mary Schlesinger (1857-1937);
he arrived in America in 1904 and became a naturalized citizen
in 1913. Markus operated the Racine Towel Supply Co. and, after
relocating to Kenosha, founded Temmer Industrial Cleaners.
After a long illness he died on January 21, 1956, aged 70.
Ernest
(Ernie) Temmer,
first child of Margaret and Markus, was born on December 28,
1917 in Racine and graduated from Washington Park High School in
1935. Enlisting for military service in 1942, he spent World
War II “island-hopping” the South Pacific as part of the 230th
Signal Operations Company.
Ernie married Ruth Rachel Gale (1916-2020) on
February 5, 1946; they had two daughters, Susan
(born 1947) and Marlayne (born 1959). After
Markus’s death, Ernie sold the Kenosha laundry business and
moved to southern California, beginning the family circle’s
exodus from the Midwest. In retirement he was a longtime
volunteer at the Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance,
where he was known as “E.T.” Ernie died on October 16, 1994,
aged 76, and was buried in Hillside Memorial Park.
Alexander (Alex) Temmer,
second child of Margaret and Markus, was born May 28, 1919
in Racine. He graduated from Washington Park High School and
earned a degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin;
enlisting in the Army in 1941, he served as an officer in the
Intelligence Corps. On December 25, 1941 Alex married
Shirley Salochek
(1921-2003) of Detroit; they had a daughter Marsha
(born 1946). Alex died in Allen Park, Michigan on June 4, 1951,
aged only 32, and was buried in Ferndale’s Machpelah Cemetery.
Leo and Evelyn
László/Leo John Kohn, third child of Sam
and Jeni, was born on April 10, 1902 in Hungary
and emigrated to America with his mother and sisters in 1907.
He moved to Racine by 1930, when he lived with the Temmers and
worked as a machinist at the Nash Motors auto factory.
When Leo registered for the draft in 1942 his contact was “Miss
E. Hoffman”: Evelyn Antoinette Elvina Hoffman
(1905-1986), whom Leo married after his war service with the
Quartermaster Corps—also, perhaps not coincidentally, after his
mother Jeni’s death. By 1950 he worked for Webster Electric as
a parts inspector. Leo evidently took his bride’s Catholic
faith:
he was a member of St. Mary’s Church in Racine and died December
15, 1953, aged 51, at St. Mary’s Hospital. (“Rosary will be
recited.”) He was buried in Marinette, Wisconsin’s Forest Home
Cemetery and later joined there by Evelyn.
The Hoyers
Katalin/Katherine (Kati, Katie,
Katica) Ruhig Hoyer, younger sister of
Béla Ruhig, was born on February 6, 1892
and emigrated to Chicago in 1910. She married István/Stefan
(Steve) Hoyer (1888-1982) on
March 30, 1912; he worked as a machinist in 1920, an auto
mechanic in 1930, and a janitor in 1940. Kati became a
naturalized citizen in 1940; she died in Los Angeles on
September 5, 1974, aged 82.
William Adolph (Bill) Hoyer,
first child of Kati and Steve, was born on January 21, 1913
in Chicago amd graduated from the Armour Institute of Technology
in 1935. Bill met his wife Harriet Lesniak
(1911-1994) as a member of the Chicago Modern Dance Group; they
married in 1940 and had a daughter Susan (born
c.1944) and a son Peter
(born c.1945). Bill was employed at several engineering
plants before founding his own consulting firm in 1960.
In retirement he not only helped Evanston set up its first
recycling program, but became a tai chi instructor and a master
weaver of Navajo-style art. Bill died on July 12, 2000, aged
87.
Ernest Carl (Ernie) Hoyer,
second child of Kati and Steve, was born on December 6, 1915
in Chicago, and became a successful electrical engineer. He
married Aviva Silbert (1917-2012) in East St.
Louis, MO in 1941; she was a pioneering woman physician and and
one of the first women to be board-certfied as an
anestheisologist. They had four children: Paul
(born c.1943), Stephanie (born 1944),
Jennifer and Daniel.
The Hoyers “became a fixture of the Los Angeles community,
supporting liberal and Jewish organizations.” Ernie died on
March 4, 2007, aged 91; he and Aviva were both buried in
Hillside Memorial Park.
Notes
