plodded along and, thanks to the strong identity he had gained as a Jew and as a respected member of his community, he apparently led a rewarding life.
Eli Herman Benstein
Eli Herman Benstein, Max Bernstein’s cousin, did not come from Shtabin. Born in 1865 in the then-Polish town of Grodno, Russian Poland, he was the son of Itzchak Benstein and his wife, whose first name is unknown but whose maiden name was Teplitz. Neither they nor their son Edsel ever came to Canada. But their daughter Eva and Edsel’s children (Vichna, Sarah, Mary, and Isaiah) joined Herman in Windsor, soon after his arrival in the early 1880s. Eva eventually married a peddler by the name of Philip Fisher. Living at 31 Mercer Street, in the heart of Windsor’s Jewish ghetto, they had three sons — Milton, Herman, and Roy — and two daughters — Fanny and Rose. Fanny married Sam Schwartz, and Rose became the wife of Harry Freidgert.60
Unable to speak English, Herman Benstein started out as a peddler, trading eggs, produce, and other wares, most of which he would acquire in Detroit. Venturing into the countryside on Monday mornings, always taking along his own food supplies and carrying a pack on his back, he would return home at the end of the week in time for the Sabbath.61
Herman did well in business and, in 1891 or 1892, married his niece, Vichna, who was about six months older than he. Since no rabbi was available in Windsor to perform the ceremony, the wedding took place in Detroit. Vichna and Herman had four children. Mary, the eldest, was born in 1890. She eventually married Joseph Becker and they had one son, Edsel, and two daughters — Vivian, born November 10, 1914, who became the wife of Louis Berry, and Leah, born August 1, 1918, who married Albert Kaplan. The Benstein’s second daughter, whose name and birth date are unknown, was crippled and lived in a home in Toronto; a third girl died of diphtheria at a very young age. In 1898, shortly after giving birth to her youngest and only son, Edsel, Vichna developed pneumonia and died a few months later.62
Two years after her death, Herman married Rebeccah (Rifka) Sarasohn. The couple’s extended family included Herman’s nieces — his late wife’s sisters — who all were married by then: Sarah had become Mrs. Samuel Sumner and Mary the wife of Bernard Moskovitz (Moss). They had two daughters — Gert, who married a Mr. Moss and Ida, who became Mrs. Harris. Herman’s nephew Isaiah, who had crafted furniture for the Czar before coming to Canada, married a woman named Jennie, whose maiden name is unknown.63
Herman was still listed as a peddler in 1902, although he had, by then, built Windsor’s first apartment house. Located at the corner of Pitt and McDougall streets, across from the city market, it was adjacent to Windsor’s first synagogue. In 1903, he opened a general store in the same building and, similar to other merchants, chose to live in the apartment above the shop. Since customers from his peddler days continued to buy from him, his business grew steadily. Besides taking care of the small children from his first marriage, Rebeccah also must have contributed to her husband’s success, since she was known as a very good dressmaker, who also excelled in embroidery, crocheting, and other types of needlework. Between 1905 and 1906, the following advertisement appeared in the local newspaper as well as in the Windsor City Directory:
Herman Benstein, the only general store in the city. Dry goods, clothing, gent’s furnishings, boots, and shoes, groceries, crochet, and glassware, 56–58 Pitt Street East.64
Like many other Jewish shopkeepers, Herman was in a quandary when it came to working on the Sabbath. An observant Jew, but also anxious to improve his financial condition, he now had to choose between keeping the store open and transgressing the law. Transgressing the Sabbath raised the ire of co-religionists who insisted on the traditional observance of the Sabbath. They lost two days’ income, since the town’s Sunday closing regulations were strictly enforced.
Many years later, Herman’s son, Edsel, ran the family store. He had married Ida Jalofsky in 1928 and they had two children — Eli Herman, born in August 1929, who eventually married Shulamith, the daughter of Rabbi Morris Adler, and Vicky Elaine, born February 28, 1935, who became the wife of an Avrum Greene of Toronto.
Following a lengthy illness, Herman Benstein died on December 26, 1928. Leaving behind a lasting legacy of loyalty and dedication to Windsor’s budding Jewish community, he was survived by his children and his wife, Rebeccah. She and Simon Meretsky’s wife, Nelly, died tragically in 1950, as a result of a train accident.
The Weingarden Family
Isaac Weingarden, who was born in Russia in 1872, came to North America in 1890 as a young man of 18. He spent some time in New York and Buffalo, but then decided to move on to Detroit. On his way there, he stopped over at the Bernsteins’ house in Windsor, where he met his future wife, Bella, daughter of Jacob Meretsky. The idea of staying there must have appealed to him. He soon acquired a horse and wagon, and started to travel through the countryside, buying muskrat skins from farmers around LaSalle and selling them in Detroit.
In 1891, Isaac married Bella Meretsky and she bore him eleven children — three daughters and eight sons. Lillian, the eldest, born in 1892, was married twice — first to Joe Finkel and then to William Gottesman. Her sister, Anne, born in 1907, became the wife of Jack Greenberg (Greene) on October 17, 1926; her other sister, Florence married Larry Margolin. The Weingardens’ eldest son, David, became a doctor; he also fought in World War I. He married twice; first, Rosena Lemle of Monroe, Louisiana, and then Ethel Bress. His brother Abner, born on October 9, 1895, married Esther Bennett. Her sister, Gertrude, born February 14, 1907, became the wife of Abner’s younger brother Dan, born on January 1, 1901. Brother Harry was married to Lena Orechkin. Brother George became the husband of Molly Ghinason of Detroit; brother William also took a wife, but her name is unknown. Brother Max became the husband of Dorothy Talberg, and Arthur, born on May 17, 1912, married 20-year-old Millie Berenholz on March 24, 1935.65
Isaac Weingarden eventually established a second-hand store, which he later sold to his brother-in-law, David Meretsky who eventually ran it in partnership with his brother-in-law, Joshua Gitlin.
The Kovinsky Pioneers
Jacob, Joseph, and Samuel Kovinsky and their three sisters — Yenta, Lena, and Lottie — were born in Suwalk Guberna, Russian Poland. Although their parents, Frank and Molly, never immigrated to North America, every one of their children did. Joseph Kovinsky, born in 1875, must have learned about Windsor and the opportunities it had to offer from the Barowsky’s — Aaron Meretsky’s parents-in-law — at whose tannery he had worked in Poland. He arrived in New York in 1887. There he met and married Annie Subelsky. Their first-born son, Simon, died in New York as a small child; their second son, Abraham, also born in New York in 1894, later became a physician. He changed his last name to Kovan and was married three times. It is uncertain where Joseph and Annie’s eldest daughter, Lottie, was born. It may still have been in New York or her birthplace may have been Windsor, since her parents had decided to move there in about 1894. She eventually married Ed Wolfe and they had four children — Roy, Morton, Stanley, and Charles.66
Despite the fact that the City Directory listed a number of Kovinskys, Kovenskys, Kovanskys, and Kowinskys between 1893 and 1894, Joseph likely was the only one to permanently settle there.67 First working as a peddler, he later became a scrap iron dealer, while both his brothers eventually went into the junk business — Samuel in Chatham, Ontario and Jacob in Pontiac, Michigan. One or two of their sisters either took up residence on the Canadian or on the American side of the Detroit River.
While living in Windsor, Joseph and Annie Kovinsky had eight more children. Their second daughter, Sarah, was born in 1898; she eventually married Dr. Harry Lewin. Their third girl, Betty, arrived two years later; she became the wife of Morris Passman. Their fifth child was stillborn, but in 1901, Annie gave birth to twin boys — Benjamin and Charles. It
