Green Family (Click for Family Tree)

Mary Cecelia GREEN was the sister of Bessie (GREEN) BROIDA, and lived in St. Louis, Missouri her whole life. She was the daughter of Rose BRAVE and Abraham M. GREEN, and born 17 November 1895 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Mary was a career woman and a buyer for nice department stores. She traveled by air to New York City when that was still a novelty, and was one of the first members of the “Mile High Club”- back in those simpler and more circumspect days, it was someone who had flown a certain number of miles (maybe 10,000? IIRC her story), not those other things suggested in today’s wilder society.

Mary fell in love with someone of another religion, and both sets of parents prohibited them seeing each other. Mary and the love of her life obeyed their parents, as was done in those days, and the relationship ended. Mary never married.

Mary was very smart and lived to be 95-1/2 years old- sharp throughout her years, and passing away 23 June 1991 in St. Louis, Missouri.

It was a surprise (to this author), however, to learn that she had painted!

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest and the author’s recollections of conversations with Aunt Mary.

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Broida Family (Click for Family Tree)

Gertrude Belle Broida was not quite eight years old when her mother, Bess Dorothy (Green) Broida, took her to St. Louis, Missouri, on a visit from their home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They most likely took the train to St. Louis, and arrived at beautiful Union Station. We can imagine that Gertrude and her mother would have stepped down from the train and walked from the dozens of tracks inside the station toward the Grand Hall. Family may have met them at the train- back then, one could actually go all the way to the train even if not a passenger- or waited patiently in the Grand Hall for them to arrive. All were probably dressed beautifully- back then, one dressed up to travel, and since both families worked mostly in the clothing industry, their clothes were likely the latest fashion and impeccably tailored.

Bess and Gertrude might have been met by their Broida family. Bess’ husband and Gertrude’s father, Phillip E. Broida, had quite a few family members in St. Louis. His father, John “Zelig” Broida was 62 in 1919, but had been listed in the St. Louis City Directory in 1917. We don’t know if he was still in St. Louis or had already immigrated to Israel, but perhaps Bessie and Gertrude visited to see him before he left. There were quite a few Broida cousins in St. Louis, too.

Bessie’s Green family may have met them at the station as well. Bessie’s father, Abraham Green, and her mother, Rose (Brave) Green, made St. Louis their home. Additionally, Bessie’s sisters lived in St. Louis, and two of the three had families of their own, as did her brother Herman Green.

We can only imagine the joy Bessie would have felt as she hugged her sisters, Estelle (Green) Ledwidge, Ann (Green) Stampfer (or had she married Charles White by that date?), and Mary Green. They all would have commented how big each of the children had grown since their last visit.

Gertrude would have been thrilled to see her older cousin (Sarah) Jane Ledwidge, who would have been 12 in 1909. Jane’s little sister Helen D. Ledwidge, lovingly known as “Sis” her whole life, was only about three months older than Gertrude. Esther S. Stampfer would have been 11. The four cousins would probably have linked arms and marched down the walkway to the Grand Hall, probably giggling and skipping all the way. The family was always very close.

Union Station was, at one time, the busiest and largest train station in the world, and once they all reached the Grand Hall, it would have been quite impressive to a little girl. (It was impressive even into the 1960s and 1970s.)

As the group exited the station, they would have waited for a streetcar if one of the St. Louis families did not have their own car. Looking back, Union Station was as beautiful from the outside as the inside:

Herman L. Green was the lone brother in the family, and he had a son, Preston M. Green, who would have been just 4 that year. (His son Harold Green would be born in 1921.) Abraham and Rose Green, Bessie’s parents, would most probably thoroughly enjoyed having all their children and grandchildren around them. The families likely had a wonderful visit. Parting when Bessie and Gertrude were scheduled to return to Pittsburgh must have been painful for all.

Of course, we do not know if all the details described above are totally true. But this little snippet in the Society section of the Pittsburgh Jewish Criterion allows us to imagine what life was like for Bess (Green) Broida and Gertrude Broida  as they travelled to St. Louis for a treasured visit.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Jewish Criterion, 25 July 1919, Society Section, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Vol. 51, No. 22, Page 16. The Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project, posted with kind permission. http://doi.library.cmu.edu/10.1184/pmc/CRI/CRI_1919_051_022_07251919.

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“The hand hammered brass mortar and pestle given … Dec. 1967 by Aunt Mary Green- who inherited it from her Mother Rose Brafe Green Jan. 1935.”

Transcription: “Rose Brafe Green’s Mother Sarah Brafe who owned it for many years brot [sic] it to the United States in Mar. 1888- We do not Know if she inherited it or purchased it before coming here to live- but its origin we believe was Kovna (Kaunas) a state in Russia near the German border.”

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) The family name has also been spelled “Braef” or “Brave.”

2) Family oral and written history.

3) Kovna/ Kovno was the Yiddish form of Kaunas, which is in Lithuania. The Russians controlled the country at the time the Brafe-Green family immigrated to the US.

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Copyright 2013 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm/jrw.