Grostein Family
|
Moses Jacob Grostein and his wife Bena Herschell were from Rypin, Poland.[1] Their birth years are unknown. Moses may have been born as early as 1792[2] or as late as 1813[3]and Bena anywhere from 1803[4] to 1818,[5] depending on which record is consulted.
Moses was forced to leave the country in to avoid retaliation for his support of Napoleon, according to a family story. After a year he sent for his wife and children.[6] Information differs on when he came to America and where he lived. He could be the Maurice Grostein who is listed at 41 Broome in the 1837 New York City directory.[7] Other places he is said to have lived include Albany, New York;[8] Mason [Macon?], Georgia for six years;[9] and Alabama.[10] By 1855 Moses and his wife, called Betsey, were in Buffalo, New York with children Ruben, age 21; Rachel, age 18; Isaac, age 15, and Lewin, age 3. They reported having lived in the city for 13 years. All were aliens except the youngest, Lewin, who had been born in Erie County.[11] Moses was a merchant tailor in 1860,[12] a peddler in 1863,[13] and the owner of a clothing store in 1865.[14] In 1870 Moses and Bena left New York to join their children in Lewiston, Idaho.[15] He died in on 26 November 1886 and she passed away 2 December 1890, according to their monument in Normal Hill Cemetery.[16] Their oldest son, Robert, called Ruben on the 1855 census, was born in Rypin.[17] The 1900 census gives his birthdate as July 1835.[18] He may be the child named Marek born to Mosiek Grossztein in Rypin in 1835.[19] Robert left home as a young man, first going to New York City.[20] He then joined the Gold Rush, traveling down the East Coast, across Nicaragua, then up the West Coast to San Francisco.[21] He worked as a clerk in a store in Sacramento,[22] then tried mining for two years in Downieville.[23] He next went to Portland, Oregon, where he met Henry Heppner. The two young men started a fruit store in The Dalles with only $1.65, increasing that amount to $11, 000 in just two years.[24] By this time the search for gold had spread to Idaho. Seeing an opportunity to make money supplying the mines, Robert moved to Lewiston.[25] A story is told about his arrival: In Lewiston, Idaho, there is a historical tree. A merchant who rode a lazy mule to this city in 1861, the scene of future business enterprise of great magnitude, used on the journey from Walla Walla a poplar switch. That switch, which was by hard service on the journey reduced to a stout club, bruised and peeled, was set in the ground nourished and grew to be a tall, straight tree, the first on the then barren sandbar. That tree still flourishes by the edge of the sidewalk on Main street. It is seventy-five feet high and eight and a half feet in circumference. And this tree is the parent of all the trees in this valley of the poplar kind. Twigs were severed from this parent poplar as the years went by, till now every street in the city is shaded by a line of them on each side; the lanes in the country are lined with them; farmers have ornamental trees, groves and windbreaks—all in a direct line of ancestry from the club Robert Grostein used to encourage his mule when he came to this city, in the history of which he has been so extensively associated.[26] Robert opened a store in partnership with S. Alexander.[27] At first they operated from a tent, ordering their merchandise from Portland and selling it in exchange for gold dust. By 1864 they were able to build a store out of logs.[28] When Alexander left, Robert offered a partnership to Abraham Binnard, husband of his sister, Rachel.[29] Abraham and Rachel and the youngest Grostein brother, Lewin, now called Louis, arrived in Lewiston from Buffalo on 12 May 1867.[30] In 1864 Robert married Rosa Newman.[31] She was called Rosy. She was born in December 1848 in New York,[32] the daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Newman.[33] In 1860 the Newmans, natives of Bohemia, were farmers in Sacramento County, California.[34] Robert Grostein and Abraham Binnard gradually expanded their business, opening branch stores in Clearwater Station, Newsome Creek, Elk City,[35] Warren, Mt. Idaho, and Genesee, as well as Colfax in Washington Territory.[36] All supplies were transported to the stores by pack train, and at one time the partners owned 200 mules.[37] In 1873 Robert was indicted for complicity to rob the quartermaster’s stores at Fort Lapwai. After 18 hours of deliberation the jury pronounced him not guilty.[38] Evidently the charge did not affect his relationship with the military. During the Nez Perce, Cayuse, and Bannack wars Grostein and Binnard rented mules to the army at considerable profit.[39] Robert bought property and erected several business blocks in Lewiston. In addition he owned 3,500 acres of land on which he grew wheat.[40] In 1886 he spent $15,000, a large sum for that time, on a new residence. It was considered the finest in Idaho Territory.[41] Four years later, in 1890, Grostein and Binnard built a new store in Lewiston. It measured 50 by 100 feet and consisted of two stories and a basement. In 1899 the stock of merchandise was worth $60,000.[42] Robert and Rosy had eight children: Leah, Bella, Henry R., Isaac, Louis, Ruth,[43] Milton,[44] and Early.[45] Robert passed away 29 December 1907 in Lewiston.[46] After his death Rosy and the children incorporated the Robert Grostein Estate Company with capital of $100,000.[47] Rosy moved to Spokane about 1909[48] and died there 10 November 1916.[49] Their Lewiston residence was purchased by the Vassar family in 1907 and converted to a funeral home. The building was cut in half in 1912 and part of it moved to another location.[50] Rachel, only daughter of Moses and Bena Grostein, married Abraham Binnard about 1860, probably in Buffalo.[51] She may be the daughter Raytze born to Mosiek and Byne Grosszsteyn in Rypin, Poland in 1836.[52] Abraham, the son of Morris and Julia (Wolenberg) Binnard, was born 19 November 1834 in Rypin[53] and came to America as a child with his family. In 1860 he and Rachel lived with her parents in Buffalo.[54] The 1863 Buffalo city directory shows him as the operator of a clothing store at 41 Main, just a few blocks from his father Morris’s store at 397 Main.[55] In 1867 Rachel and Abraham, along with Rachel’s younger brother Louis, left Buffalo for Lewiston, Idaho, where Abraham became partners with Rachel’s older brother, Robert, in his mercantile business.[56] As the Grostein and Binnard business grew, Abraham and Rachel purchased real estate in Lewiston. In 1890 they built a large residence on First Avenue. The building later fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1966.[57] Abraham died 16 November 1898[58] and Rachel passed away 12 July 1902,[59] both in Lewiston. They are interred in the Normal Hill Cemetery there.[60] They had ten children: Lila, Sarah, Hinda, Birka, Phoebe, Anna, Isaac M., Amelia, and two who died young whose names are unknown. In 1907 the Binnard Estate Company was incorporated in Butte, Montana, by Anna Binnard, Sarah Binnard, Birka Binnard, Gussie Binnard, I.M. Binnard, Rosa Binnard, and Samuel Goldstone. The capital was $105,000.[61] After the deaths of Samuel Goldstone and I.M. Binnard in 1932, the company was reincorporated in Lewiston as the Pioneer Estate Company by Anna Binnard Goldstone, Amelia Binnard Davis, Birka Binnard, and Gussie Binnard.[62] Isaac, second son of Moses and Bena, was probably the child named Icick born to Moziek and Byny Grosszteyn in Rypin, Poland in 1839.[63] He was brought to America as a child and at age 15 resided with the family in Buffalo in 1855.[64] He is not enumerated with them in the 1860 census.[65] In 1872 he was in Newsome Creek in Idaho, where he and his younger brother Louis ran the Grostein and Binnard branch store.[66] Isaac married Julia Newman on 19 October 1873 in Nez Perce County.[67] She was born about 1844.[68] She may have been a relative of Robert’s wife, Rosy. Isaac was a merchant at Warren, Idaho in 1875. He died of heart disease at Lewiston about 27 March 1876.[69] He and Julia had a child, whose name is not known.[70] Julia moved to San Francisco and at the time of the earthquake in 1906 lived at 506 ½ 20th Street.[71] By 1909 she had moved to Oakland and was residing at 3900 Broadway.[72] She died 20 January 1910 in Alameda County, California.[73] Lewin, the youngest child of Moses and Bena Grostein, was born 26 July 1852 at Buffalo, New York.[74] He was called Louis. In 1867, at the age of 15, he came to Idaho with his sister and brother-in-law, Rachel and Abraham Binnard.[75] He worked at the Grostein and Binnard branch store at Clearwater Station in 1869, and at Newsome Creek with his brother Isaac in 1872. He and Major Birka Binnard were in partnership at Elk City until 1875, when he went to Warren and ran a store there for five years.[76] In 1879 the so-called Sheepeater Indian War broke out between the settlers of central Idaho and the Shoshone Indians. Louis was one of a party of sixteen men from Warren who went for help when Indians surrounded a block house on Slate Creek.[77] The 1880 census shows Louis residing by himself in Washington, Idaho County.[78] The next year, on 23 February, he married Clara Jane Writer at Walla Walla, Washington.[79] She was born 30 August 1863 at Florence, Idaho to William and Mary Writer, farmers from Iowa.[80] On her death record her parents’ names are given as William Rhett and Marie Turner.[81] In 1900 Louis and Clara resided in Lewiston with their children Isaac, Eunice, Jacob, and Mary. A fifth child, name unknown, had died young.[82] Sometime between 1908 and 1910 they moved to Spokane. There Louis worked as an inspector for the city street department.[83] It was about this time that they changed the spelling of their last name to Grostine. In 1916 the family resided in Lewiston again,[84] then moved to Seattle by 1920.[85] Clara died there 27 September 1922[86] and is buried in Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park.[87] Louis continued to live in Seattle and in 1925 had the occupation of quilt maker.[88] He died in Walla Walla on 14 May 1929[89] and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery there.[90] _________________________ [1] “Died: Grostein,” Lewiston Teller, 2 December 1886, page unknown; “Robert Grostein,” An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1899), 403; “Be Held Tuesday,” Lewiston Morning Tribune, 30 December 1907, p. 4. Robert Grostein’s obituary states he was born in “Rapine,” Poland. [2] “Louis Grostein,” An Illustrated History of North Idaho Embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, State of Idaho (S.l.: Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903), 255. [3] 1855 New York state census, First Election District, Buffalo, Erie County, New York, family 214, entry for Moses Grosten; Family History Library microfilm 825678. [4] “Louis Grostein,” An Illustrated History of North Idaho, 255. [5] 1860 U.S. census, 2nd Ward, Buffalo, Erie County, New York, p. 83, dwelling house 574, family 569, entry for M Grostien; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); citing National Archives microfilm M653, roll 745. [6] “Robert Grostein,” An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1899), 403. [7] The Classified Mercantile Directory for the Cities of New York and Brooklyn (New York: J. Disturnell, 1837), 282. [8] “Louis Grostein,” An Illustrated History of North Idaho, 255. [9] “Robert Grostein,” An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho, 403. [10] “Died: Grostein,” Lewiston Teller, 2 December 1886, page unknown. [11] 1855 New York state census, First Election District, Buffalo, Erie County, New York, family 214, entry for Moses Grosten; Family History Library microfilm 825678. [12] 1860 U.S. census, 2nd Ward, Buffalo, Erie County, New York, p. 83, dwelling house 574, family 569, entry for M Grostien; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); citing National Archives microfilm M653, roll 745. [13] Thomas’ Buffalo City Directory for 1863 (Buffalo, New York: E.A. Thomas, 1863), 213. [14] “New York, State Census, 1865,” images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-12331-61361-5?cc=1491284&wc=M6LP-3WG:57532501,57613101 : accessed 15 Mar 2014), Erie > Buffalo, Ward 01, E.D. 01 > image 37 of 55; citing State Library, Albany. [15] “Robert Grostein,” An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho, 403. [16] Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database entry (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 29 January 2014), entry for Moses Grostein, Memorial 113426378, and Bena Grostein, Memorial 119398001; Records of Normal Hill Cemetery, Lewiston, Idaho; created by Karen Hunter. [17] “Be Held Tuesday,” Lewiston Morning Tribune, 30 December 1907, p. 4. [18] 1900 U.S. census, West Lewiston Precinct, Lewiston, Nez Perce County, Idaho, enumeration district 87, sheet 4B, dwelling 85, family 91, entry for Robert Grostein; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 July 2012); Family History Library film 1240234. [19] Gminażydowska, Rypin, Matrykuła, 1808-1865. Birth records of the Jewish community of Rypin, 1835, record number 23 for Marek Grossztein. Family History Library film 715063. [20] “Be Held Tuesday,” Lewiston Morning Tribune. [21] “Robert Grostein,” An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho, 404. [22] “Be Held Tuesday,” Lewiston Morning Tribune. [23] “Robert Grostein,” An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho, 404. [24] “Be Held Tuesday,” Lewiston Morning Tribune. Heppner went on to found the town of Heppner, Oregon. [25] “Robert Grostein,” An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho, 404. [26] “A Historic Poplar,” Leavenworth Herald (Leavenworth, Kansas), 6 July 1895, p. [4]. [27] “Be Held Tuesday,” Lewiston Morning Tribune. [28] “Robert Grostein,” An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho, 404. [29] “Be Held Tuesday,” Lewiston Morning Tribune. [30] “Louis Grostein,” An Illustrated History of North Idaho, 255. [31] Ibid. [32] 1900 U.S. census, West Lewiston Precinct, Lewiston, Nez Perce County, Idaho, enumeration district 87, sheet 4B, dwelling 85, family 91, entry for Robert Grostein; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 July 2012); Family History Library film 1240234. [33] “Washington, Death Certificates, 1907-1960,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N3LY-ZYB : accessed 15 Mar 2014), Rose Grostein, 10 Nov 1916; citing Spokane, Spokane, Washington, reference cn 951, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Olympia; Family History Library microfilm 1992417. [34] 1860 U.S. census, Centre Township, Sacramento County, California, p. 176, dwelling 1585, family 1494, entry for Isaac Newman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 July 2012); Family History Library microfilm 803063. [35] “Louis Grostein,” An Illustrated History of North Idaho, 255. [36] “Be Held Tuesday,” Lewiston Morning Tribune. [37] “Robert Grostein,” An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho, 404. [38] “North Idaho,” Idaho Statesman (Boise, Idaho), 31 May 1873, p. [2]. [39] “Robert Grostein,” An Illustrated History of the State of Idaho (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1899), 404. [40] Ibid. [41] Ibid. [42] Ibid. [43] 1880 U.S. census, Lewiston, Nez Perce County, Idaho, enumeration district 22, p. 20, entry for Robert Grostein, dwelling 214, family 228; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 July 2012); Family History Library film 1240234. The oldest six children are listed in this census. [44] 1900 U.S. census, West Lewiston Precinct, Lewiston, Nez Perce County, Idaho, enumeration district 87, sheet 4B, dwelling 85, family 91, entry for Robert Grostein; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 July 2012); Family History Library film 1240234. Milton, the seventh child, born 1882, is listed on this census. [45] Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database entry (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 29 January 2014), entry for Earley Grostein, Memorial 127572004, created by Kerry Moser, Records of Normal Hill Cemetery, Lewiston, Idaho. Earley was born in July 1885 and died in April 1886. [46] “Robert Grostein Dead,” Lewiston Morning Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho), 29 December 1907, p. 6. [47] “New Corporations,” Seattle Daily Times, 8 February 1908, p. 12. [48] R.L. Polk & Co.’s Spokane Directory (Including Hillyard), 1909 (Spokane: R.L. Polk & Co., 1909), 460. [49] Ancestry.com. Washington, Select Death Certificates, 1907-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014; Rose Grostein, Spokane, 1916. [50] Steven D. Branting, Historic Firsts of Lewiston, Idaho: Unintended Greatness (Charleston, South Carolina, History Press, 2013), 114-115. [51] 1860 U.S. census, 2nd Ward, Buffalo, Erie County, New York, p. 83, dwelling house 574, family 569, entry for M Grostien; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); citing National Archives microfilm M653, roll 745. [52] Gminażydowska, Rypin, Matrykuła, 1808-1865. Birth records of the Jewish community of Rypin, 1836, record number 29 for Abram Bynard. Family History Library film 715063. [53] Gminażydowska, Rypin, Matrykuła, 1808-1865. Birth records of the Jewish community of Rypin, 1834, record number 16 for Raytze Grosszteyn. Family History Library film 715063. [54] 1860 U.S. census, 2nd Ward, Buffalo, Erie County, New York, p. 83, dwelling house 574, family 569, entry for M Grostien; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); citing National Archives microfilm M653, roll 745. [55] Thomas’ Buffalo City Directory for 1863 (Buffalo, N.Y.: E.A. Thomas, 1863), 365. [56] “Louis Grostein,” An Illustrated History of North Idaho Embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, State of Idaho (S.l.: Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903), 255. [57] “Going Down,” Lewiston Morning Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho), 9 Dec 1966, p. 12. [58] “Death of A. Binnard,” Lewiston Daily Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho), 22 November 1898, p. [4]. [59] “Lay Corner Stone; New Edifice at Yakima Dedicated; Other News and Notes from State of Washington and the Northwest," Seattle Daily Times, 14 July 1902, p. 3. [60] Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database entry (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 29 January 2014), entry for Abraham Binnard, Memorial 27975418, created by Floral~Lady, and Rachel Binnard, Memorial 89205813, created by Cowgirl, Records of Normal Hill Cemetery, Lewiston, Idaho. [61] “Articles of Incorporation,” Idaho Statesman (Boise, Idaho), 15 Jun3 1907, p. 6. [62] “Incorporations,” Seattle Daily Times, 5 January 1933, p. 27. [63] Gminażydowska, Rypin, Matrykuła, 1808-1865. Birth records of the Jewish community of Rypin, 1839, record number 15 for Icick Grossztein. Family History Library film 715063. [64] 1855 New York state census, First Election District, Buffalo, Erie County, New York, family 214, entry for Moses Grosten; Family History Library microfilm 825678. [65] 1860 U.S. census, 2nd Ward, Buffalo, Erie County, New York, p. 83, dwelling house 574, family 569, entry for M Grostien; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); citing National Archives microfilm M653, roll 745. [66] “Louis Grostein,” An Illustrated History of North Idaho, 255. [67] Ancestry.com. Idaho, Select Marriages, 1878-1898; 1903-1942 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2014, Isaac Grostein and Julia Newman, 1873. [68] Ancestry.com. California, Death Index, 1905-1939 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013, Julia Grostein, 1910. Ancestry has incorrectly indexed the death year as 1918. The index gives her death date as 20 January 1910 and her age as 66, making the year of her birth about 1844. [69] “Northern Idaho,” Idaho Tri Weekly Statesman (Boise City, Idaho), 11 April 1876, p. [3]. [70] Ibid. [71] “Oregon Journal of Portland Wants the Addresses and Whereabouts of the Following People to Wire to Anxious Relatives,” Oakland Tribune, 28 April 1906, p. 7. [72] Husted’s Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda Directory, 1909 (Oakland, California: Polk-Husted Directory Co., 1909), 409. [73] Ancestry.com. California, Death Index, 1905-1939. Ancestry has incorrectly indexed the death year as 1918. [74] “Louis Grostein,” An Illustrated History of North Idaho, 255. [75] Ibid. [76] Ibid. [77] Ibid, 255-256. [78] 1880 U.S. census, Washington, Idaho County, Idaho, enumeration district 15, p. 8D, dwelling 73, family 73, entry for Lewis Grostein; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); Family History Library microfilm 1254173. [79] Ancestry.com. Washington, Marriage Records, 1865-2004 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012, L. Grostine and Clara Jane Wreiter, 1881. [80] “Louis Grostein,” An Illustrated History of North Idaho, 255. [81] Ancestry.com. Washington, Select Death Certificates, 1907-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. [82] 1900 U.S. census, East Lewiston Precinct, Nez Perces County, Idaho, enumeration district 86, p. 4B, dwelling 77, family 80, entry for Louis Grostein; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); Family History Library microfilm 1240234. [83] 1910 U.S. census, Allen Precinct, Spokane, Spokane County, Washington, enumeration district 148, p. 6B, dwelling 129, family 140, entry for Louis Grostine; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); Family History Library microfilm 1375683. [84] R.L. Polk & Co.’s Nez Perce, Latah, Lewis and Clearwater Counties, Idaho and Asotin County, Wash. Directory, 59.1916-1917 (Seattle, Washington: R.L. Polk & Co., 1916), p. 59. [85] 1920 U.S. census, Precinct 245, Seattle, King County, Washington, enumeration district 309, sheet 8B, dwelling 214, family 227, entry for Lewis Gerostina [sic]; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); Family History Library microfilm 1821930. [86] Ancestry.com. Washington, Select Death Certificates, 1907-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014, Mrs. Clara Jane Grostine, 1922. [87] Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database entry (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 29 January 2014), entry for Clara Jane Rhett Grostine, Memorial 27420607; Records of Evergeen Washelli Memorial Park, Seattle, Washington; created by Carolyn Farnum. [88] Seattle City Directory, 1925 (Seattle, Washington: R.L. Polk & Co., 1925), 652. [89] Ancestry.com. Washington, Select Death Certificates, 1907-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014, Louis Grostine, 1929. [90] Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database entry (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 29 January 2014), entry for Louis Grostine, Memorial 79476746; Records of Mountain View Cemetery, Walla Walla, Washington; created by Tracy Turner. |