Broida Family (Click for Family Tree)
John Jacob “Zelig” Broida was in partnership with J. Yourkansky for quite a few years. The 1886 Pittsburgh City Directory lists Broida & Yourkansky at 71 Wylie in 1886 and 1887. By 1888 they had moved down the street to 96 Wylie, and were listed there in 1889, and 1890.
In February, 1891, the partners paid for a notice to be inserted in the Pittsburgh Dispatch from the 26th-28th of February, advising vendors and customers of the dissolution of the partnership. Any claims for payment needed to be submitted before 25 March, 1891, and any accounts that were due to the firm were to be paid to either of the partners.
On 01 April 1891, John Broida’s single proprietorship as a notions jobber was listed in the city directories located at 318 Fifth Ave., and continued there until 1895.
In the 1896-1899 city directories, “John Broida” was listed at 1102 5th Ave and “Dry Goods” as his wares.
Then in 1900-1906, “Jacob Broida” was listed at the same address, same goods. We know that John’s middle name was Jacob and he sometimes used that name. But we also know he was in Denver, Colorado, in the 1900 US Federal Census with his ill wife and two of his sons. Were others keeping the business going for him? Or had he sold the business?
In 1901, John Broida was listed in the Denver City Directory at 1628 Larimer, Denver, Colorado, selling mens furnishing goods. He resided at 1655 Eliot in Denver. His wife, Sarah Gitel Frank Broida passed away that year.
To add to the Broida entanglement, in 1902, in addition to the above Jacob Broida at 1102 5th Av., a “John Broida” was also listed in the Pittsburgh directory, at 911 5th Ave, working for Broida & Seder, a hosiery store. We know that John Broida moved back to Pittsburgh after his wife’s death, but apparently he did not go back to the dry goods business at 1102 5th Ave.
In 1903, John Broida was again listed as in the hosiery business and living at 45 Miltenberger. The year 1904 shows him still in the hosiery business, then at 915 5th Ave., and living at 1813 Forbes.
1905 still shows Jacob Broida at the store at 1102 5th, with John Broida continuing at the 915 5th Ave. work address, but living at 904 Locust.
In 1906, in addition to the Jacob Broida noted above, there was a “John Broida” listed at 1034 5th Ave, in the hosiery business, and he changed his residence to 1614 Center.
Directories for 1907 and 1908 are not available.
The years 1909-1910 are even more puzzling- Jacob Broida was still selling dry goods at 1102 5th Ave., and Joseph J Broida, L Broida (likely Louis), and Phil Broida, all John’s sons, were living at 2106 Center Ave. per the directories. There was no John Broida listed. Joseph J was working at 1038 5th Ave. in both years, but the others do not have work addresses listed. L. Broida was absent from the 2106 Center Ave. home in 1910.
Now to REALLY make it puzzling, the 1910 PA Miracode lists Louis as being in the household of his brother. The 1910 US Federal census, however, lists Jacob Broida and Fannie (John’s/Jacob’s second wife), sons Joseph, Louis, Max, Philip, and Theodore as living at 206 Hull Alley, with John/Jacob being the proprietor of a clothing store, Joseph as a merchant, Louis as a clerk in a clothing store, and Max, Philip, and Theodore working as a laborer in a shop.
No city directory is available for 1911, and Jacob Broida was selling his dry goods from 1100 5th Ave. in 1912. John and Joseph J were not listed. (There is another Jos J Broida who is listed as a clerk or agent through the years included in this directory as well.)
In 1913, two Jacob Broidas are listed in the Pittsburgh City Directory, with only “1100 5th av” listed after the first, and “dry goods 1100 5th av” listed after the second Jacob. (The Jacob Broida who is a clerk is also listed.)
John Jacob “Zelig” Broida had a brother named Jacob who also lived in Pittsburgh- might he have sold his business to his brother Jacob?
More research is apparently needed.
Searching for more information about Zelig’s brother Jacob Broida, who likely was born about 1852, probably in Russia/Lithuania, and his wife Chaneh “Jennie” Broida (1822-1904), might be a start. We know that he had emigrated to Palestine by 1935 per his brother Pincus Broida’s obituary, and was still there on 01 Dec 1939 when he was listed in his brother Abraham’s obituary. We believe he died in Palestine.
Notes, Sources, and References:
1) Notice above published 26-28 February 1891 in the Pittsburgh Dispatch, n.v. (“46th year”), n.n., page 3, column 7.
2) We have been unable to find any other information on John’s partner, J. Yourkansky.
3) Special thanks to Mitch Gooze for his excellent research in the city directories. His spreadsheet made finding the specific location information easy!
Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
