Max Newmark

File:Max Newmark and Sophie Glusker Family.png

Max, Sophie and their children: Helen, Frances, Zena, Leonard

The Family of Max Newmark and Sophie Glusker

Max Newmark

Born:

Died:

Max is the oldest son of Zalmon and Tsippe Newmark. NOTE: Some archives list him as Max Jacob Newmark, but don't yet have documentation that this is correct. Also unclear is whether Max stood for Maximillian. Post immigration, he went by Max.

TBD: Immigration records

Sophie Glusker Newmark

Born:

Died:

Sophie is the daughter of Jacob Glusker and Leah Newmark Glusker.

Marriage

Max and Sophie were married on xxx in xxx.

After marriage they lived in Attica, Indiana where they raised their children. They owned a department store....

In 19xx they moved to Miami, Florida..

In 19xx, Max and Sophie celebrated their 50th anniversary in San Diego. This was one of the events that helped spur the Newmark Glusker Reunions.

Children

Frances Newmark

Helen Newmark

Zena Newmark Schapiro

Leaonard Newmark

Max's Early Life

In 1975, Leonard Newmark recorded an oral history of a discussion with Max. Leonard transcribed this discussion. The full text of this and other family memoirs is available on the Memoirs page.

The text below draws from that memoir, Mark Newmark's family history (also available on the memoir page) and family memories.

Max Newmark and Sophie Glusker Newmark

This page focuses on Max's early life and personal story. Max wed Sophie Glusker in 1919. For more about the family and their children, please visit Max and Sophie's page.

For more about Max's parents, brothers and sisters, and life in Samotevich, please visit Zalmon and Tsippe Newmark's page.

Historical Context

During most of the 19th century, Jews were required to live in shtetls in the Pale of Settlement

The failure of the Russian revolution in 1905 and economic and political turmoil of the Russo-Japanese war, led many to use Jews as a scapegoat for their failures. Pogroms started in various cities throughout the Pale, and around 1909, the Newmarks living in Samotevitch thought that moving to Lithuania might be safer.

At age 21 or 22, boys were drafted into the Czar's army and expected to serve 4-5 years. This was a dreadful prospect for Jewish boys as anti-Semitism was encouraged in the military. There was no possibility of promotion. required to do the dirtiest jobs, and no help after being released. Many Jewish boys maimed or crippled themselves to avoid serving, others lived in cellars for years with the goal of contracting TB in order to be rejected.

Families of rabbis were able to live a bit better than their neighbors. However, the boys were expected to study torah in the evenings, which meant there was no opportunity for conventional school. And some jobs were considered below their status. Most of Max's siblings did not receive any formal education. Morris was the only one of Max's siblings to attend college.

1914 WW1 in Europe

• 1917 free Russa, but overthrown by Bolsheviks

• 1918 U.S. Draft - immigrant draftees received citizenship

Early Life

• 1893: July, 25 - Born Max Jacob Newmark in the town of Samotevitch in what is now Belarus.
• 1906: At the age of 13, Max was sent to Novo Myesto where his paternal grandfather, Albion, was rabbi and shochat.
  • Max recalls being very lonely and spending many sleepless nights.
    • He helped with butchering during the day, and studying at night via a Hebrew book on zoology, "Tuvat Soris"
      • Sefer HaTevuah" (ספר הטבעות) in Hebrew, which translates to "The Book of Nature" or "The Book of Zoology." This text is attributed to Rabbi Shlomo ben Yehuda of Marseille, a 13th-century French rabbi and scholar.
• 1909, Spring - Max joyfully returns to Samotevitch and family, what he recalls as the happiest days of his life.
  • But in 3 weeks, contracts typhoid fever.
    • No doctors or medicines available, hovering between life and death, he slowly recovered through the care of his mother and family
• 1909-1911 Max was sent to Lithuania to work for his paternal uncle Leibe Newmark (who had written that he needed a boy) in Ponemun, Lithuania, with the goal of finding a business and eventually move the family from Samotevitch to Lithuania.
  • He stopped on the way to visit relatives in Surazh, then took his first ever train ride to Novozybkov, then to Kovno, and then a10 mile walk to Ponemun
  • His job was to supply soldiers in hidden forts near Kovno, often passing "Napolean mountain" where xx's of frozen bodies of soldiers from the Napolean wars were piled up. Click here to see more of Max's recollections of this job.
• 1912 Disappointed at having failed to find business for the family, and with very little to show for his 3 years, Max returns to his family in Samotevitch.
  • Boris (15) helping shochat
• Sam and Max got a job hauling logs to Dnepr river
• 1913: Faced with the heartbreaking propect of having 6 boys in the Czar's Army, the family 's remaining hope was the USA.
• They wrote to Uncle's Morris Newmark and Zellig Newmark who were in America, and requested they send tickets to give Max and his next oldest brother Sam, tickets to the U.S. (Click here for information on how Morris and Zellig made it to the U.S.)
  • Since mail was carried by boat, letters took months to reach their destination. The nearest post office was in Haiduovka (add link and story of Court Hallinsky). Sam and/or Max walked daily to anxiously await a reply. Meanwhile, Max and Sam got their passports in order.
  • After many months, they received their tickets.

Immigration to the U.S.

• 1913: Very sad to leave their families, knowing they might never see them again, Max and Sam traveled first to   Surazh and Novozybkov. to say goodbye to family before heading to Warsaw and then Rotterdam, their point of departure.
  • Speaking no Dutch, afraid to wander too far, they spent 3 weeks in a Rotterdam waiting for the boat. They subsisted on a sack of black bread provided by their mother.
• A 14 day boat ride from Rotterdam to Ellis Island. Ship was likely the SS Noordam (TBD More research needed)
  • Max was sick the entire time, something he attributes to gorging on a meal of fatty stew the first night of the trip. Sam was not, and helped Max up to deck each day.
• 1913: December 13 - Max and Sam arrived in Ellis Island, riding past the statue of Liberty (what Max describes as "The most beautiful sight of our lives")
  • They go directly to the train station for Philadelphia where Uncle Zelig met them
  • Speaking no English, Max got a job rolling out barrels at a general store, but shortly found another job deliver rolls/bagels for breakfast, and dinner and making deliveries. so he could attend night school. Sam got a job at candy factory.
• Uncle Harry bought grocery store and needed help. (link to Uncle Harry)
  • Max moved to chicago to stay with the Gluskers. Sam moved there shortly thereafter. {Link to Gliusker boardinghouse]
  •    All their kids+ boarders:  Joe Kahn, Leo Wilensky, Sam Cherin (Mary's husband), Sam Newmark,
  • Sam Cherin sold horse/wagon/ ice route to Sam Newmark and moved to Detroit
  •    Sam Newmark coal and ice route (Max tried, but unable to make it)
• 1914  Max job at Chicago Screw Company which he liked a lot
  • But soon changed to ammo, and Max quit because afraid bullets might kill someone
  •   Max -> Sears Roebuck as packer
  •   Max bought laundry route
• 1918 Max was drafted and sent to Fort Crook in St.. Louis (where he was given citizenship) then Camp Funston, Kansas. 
  • camp commander General Wood
  •    chaplain: Rabbi Singer
  • Friends: Meyer Shapiro, Sam Teradish (an anarchist), Cooper (a boxer), a biologist who was the director of the Marks Nathan Jewish Orphan's Home,
•   War ended and
• Joe and Anna Kahn -> Veedersburg, Ind on advice of Simon Hunter
• Sam bought grocery store in Yeddo.  (story of buying chickens from man who had stolen them from Sam the night before)
•    Sophie helping. 
• 1919 Max to Veederburg to visit Joe and Anna

Marriage and Family, and Attica Indiana

•     Married Sophie, Feb 1919, Danville, IL  worked with Joe.  Best man: Simon Hutner
•    Moved to Lexington, KY for store Uncle Harry had leased for them..  Simon helped arrange credit
•    Uncle, Tante, Benny, Nathan, Lillian, Sophie, Max all slept in one bed til found a room.
•    Rosenberg family store across street subleased the store, bought their merch and moved back to Veedersburg
• Simon Hutner dry goods store Pine Village (pop 300) sold store to them on monthly payments
•    Stayed with Mr and Mrs Jacobs
• 1920 Sophie birthed Frances
• 1923 Moved merchandise to Attica
• Helen born on day bridge over Wabash opened, and so was store
• Uncle Morris and Tante Lillian moved to Newtown, Ind from LA
• Zelig, Etta and family also moved back to the midwest.  Every Sunday visits

July 4, 1925: The Rest of the Family Immigrates

• Family in Russia that little they owned ahad bee confiscated and money taken
• Worked to get papers
• 1924 Family moved to Latvia to wait for quota numbers.
• Remainder of Newmark family arrived at Ellis Island in New York on July 4th!! Ship may have been the SS Volendam from Rotterdam, Netherlands (TBD further research needed)
• Railroad station in Chicago
• Lillian married Sam Fogel
• 1927 Father died
• 1928 Fire in store.  Fire sale.   (Max accidentally hit in eye with fire hose)
• Bought building prev occupied by store owned by Pres of Attica Bank for $25K
• added front, space where movie had been, combined spaces and for 35 years:  Newmark's Dept store.
• Opened 10cent store in old space, but closed it for lack of good help
• 1929 Stock market crash
• 1932 Same, Mae & kids to Attica from Chicago. Bought mens clothing store
• Sam Max playing basketball w/ merchants group.  Sam polio (Max: infantile paralysis)
• 1933 US recognition of USSR
• 1934 Ruth (Sam/Mae's daughter) died of tetanus

1934: First Return Visit to Russia

• Max and Sam Simon to Russia
• SS. Paris -> Plymouth England (5 days)->London->Hoek van Holland, train to Berlin ->Riga, Latvia
• ->Vitebsk ->Leningrad
• then Belynkovitch(Byalynkavichy, Belarus?)  and horse/wagon to Samotevich
•     Parents house still there and most \bldgs, but many had left for bigger cities after 1918 revolution.
• Then Ponemun, Lithuania and on to Paris -> Le Havre
• 1935 400 acre farm for $35/acre
• Families would get together  on weekends
•    Sam &Mae, Boris and Anna from Kingman, Lou and Sylvia, Uncle Morris and Tante anna, Uncle Zelig and Tante Etta & Famiies, Joe and Anna Kahn, Sam & Mary Cherin families.
• Belonged to both Orthodox and reformed temples in Lafayette.
• Attica; Jewish ladies group

Miami, Florida

• Buys house in Miami. See Max and Sophie for more on the house and the many family gatherings.
• Opened a concrete block plant in Miami, Florida with brothers Morris and Irving.
• Helps son-in-laws Hank Schapiro (New Shape Brick) and Eleazer Greenstein (Sun Gold Septic Tank) open businesses in the same location
• Becomes a member of the Masons. (Perhaps this was before Miami?).
  • Interesting article about the history of Jews and Freemasonry (https://www.cairn-int.info/journal-archives-juives1-2010-2-page-30.htm)
• Sophie dies January 18, 1977 in Miami
• Has leg amputated due to diabetes
• Dies Nov 15, 1977 in Miami.
• ----
• House sold.
• House torn down to make way for multiple houses.

Clothing

• Max recalls that he usually wore blue denims with a shirt and belt over it.
• In 1911, he received his first gray suit, one of Uncle Leibe Newmark's that was cut down for him, which Max only wore for attending synagogue on Saturdays and holidays.
• In 1912, he remembers buying a ready-made brown jacket with a half-belt in back that he wore all year and his first year in the U.S.

Education

In addition to Russian, Max grew up learning Hebrew and Aramaic from his rabbi father in order to study Jewish holy books.

Because of his travels, Max knew more of science and

Once in the U.S., speaking no English at all, Max went to night school whenever possible to learn. He sought out jobs that would allow him to go to night school.

He recalls reading Darwin's "Origin of the Species" on his train trip to Fort xx/

Fun Facts

As the oldest, and because of his travel to work for relatives, Max was exposed to technology that others in the family had not. He first saw a train at age 1 "", and almost assuredly the the first to take a train ride in.

Max appeared in a drag show in TBD

Max tasted his first orange while sick with typhoid fever. One that his mother likely acquired from his Glusker relatives in Surazh.

His father and the car.

The Block Plant

The block plant was near Tropical Park Race Track in Miami, Florida, and from the tower used for making concrete, one could supposedly see some of the track. Whether this had anything to do with the fact that some relatives recall Max having known Meyer Lansky makes for a fun speculation.

TBD: Evan to fill in memories of the block plant. Kelly and Louis. Segregation in Miami