Ruth (Fisher) Markman, 1891-1969
Ruth6 Fisher (Anna Binnard5, Bennet4, Mosiek3, Jacob2, Lewin1), youngest child of Nathan and Annie (Binnard) Fisher, was born 18 October 1891 in Colfax, Washington.[1] Her parents divorced in 1900,[2] and her father died in 1905,[3] when she was 14. She moved with her mother and siblings to Spokane, Washington, where she attended two years of high school.[4] In 1907, her freshman year, she was appointed to the staff of the Orange and Black, the high school’s student newspaper.[5]
Ruth’s schooling was interrupted in 1909 when she accompanied her mother and sister, Florence, to Phoenix, Arizona. They hoped the desert air would help Florence, who suffered from tuberculosis.[6] By April 1910 the family had moved to Los Angeles, where they were support by Ruth’s brothers Victor and Morris, who worked as salesmen.[7] Later that year Annie and Ruth again accompanied Florence to Phoenix after her health worsened.[8] It was in Los Angeles that Ruth became acquainted with Frederick Markman. Fred was born 7 March 1888 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin,[9] the son of Russian immigrants John and Sophy Markman.[10] He attended school there through the eighth grade[11] and in 1904, at the age of 16, accompanied his family to their new home in Minneapolis.[12] There he became a furrier, working for Wyman, Partridge & Company in 1906[13] and for Patterson & Stevenson Company in 1907.[14] A leather thimble he used is still owned by his descendants. When he registered for the draft in World War I at the age of 29, he was described as tall with a medium build, brown eyes and balding dark hair.[15] Fred is enumerated twice on the 1910 census: in Minneapolis with his parents,[16] and in Tacoma, Washington, where he was working as a fur cutter in a store.[17] Later that year, according to the family story, he headed to Reno, Nevada to see the “Fight of the Century” between the black boxer and World Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson and the former champion, James J. Jeffries, who was white. The event was scheduled for 4 July, but Fred ran out of money before making it to Nevada and never saw the fight. He ended up in Los Angeles, where he worked as a salesman in the jewelry store of Louis Rudnick.[18] Fred’s sister related that he and Ruth met when she and her mother went to the store to buy a clock.[19] About 1913 Fred moved to San Diego and opened a jewelry store at 755 Fifth in Los Angeles.[20] Around the same time, Ruth’s brother Victor and her uncle, David Richter, opened a liquor store nearby.[21] The rest of the Fisher family followed, and on 12 April 1914 Ruth and Fred were married at her mother’s home.[22] A son, Norman Bennett, was born them in San Diego on 27 June 1915.[23] Two years later Fred, in partnership with Abraham Binnard, his mother-in-law’s cousin, opened a jewelry store in El Paso, Texas,[24] and a second store in Deming, New Mexico.[25] Other family members were also residents of El Paso. Ruth’s brother-in-law, Ralph Lewin, became manager of the California Wine House. Victor Fisher and Abraham Binnard worked for the same company,[26] while Ruth’s uncle, Daniel Binnard, was manager of The Stag bar.[27] Fred’s sister and brother-in-law, Pearl and Benjamin Cohn, arrived a few years later and operated the Alhambra Jewelry Company.[28] Tragedy struck the Markman family in 1918 when baby Norman became ill with acute mastoiditis and tonsillitis. Despite three weeks of medical treatment, he succumbed on 27 January at the age of two and a half.[29] He was buried in Temple Mt. Sinai Cemetery in El Paso.[30] Infections such as this were a common cause of child mortality before the advent of antibiotics. Ruth and Fred continued to live in El Paso, where a second child, Mildred Norma, was born to them.[31] They remained in the city until about 1927,[32] when they returned to Los Angeles. Fred worked as a diamond merchant.[33] His business was located at 333 West 5th Street in 1929;[34] at 309 West 5th in 1932;[35] and at 220 West 5th, in the Jewelry Trades Building, by 1938.[36] In the 1940s he also had a business manufacturing military rings at 424 South Broadway.[37] Fred died in Los Angeles on 19 April 1956[38] and was entombed in the mausoleum at Beth Olam Cemetery,[39] today part of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. In her last years Ruth moved to Phoenix, Arizona to be near her daughter, Mildred. She died there on 13 March 1969.[40] She rests next to her husband in the mausoleum in Los Angeles.[41] Children: 1. Norman Bennett Markman, born 27 June 1915, San Diego, San Diego County, California; died 27 January 1918, El Paso, El Paso County, Texas[42] 2. Mildred Norma Markman ___________________________ [1] Ancestry.com. Washington, Births, 1883-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010, entry for ___ Fisher, born Colfax, Whitman County, 18 October 1891. A supplemental report on the next page gives the child’s name as Ruth Fisher. [2] Whitman County, Washington Superior Court Divorce Case File 7768, 1900, Annie Fisher v. Nathan Fisher. [3] “Lewiston,” The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington), 7 November 1905, p. 7. [4] 1940 U.S. census, Los Angeles City, Los Angeles County, California, ward AD5926, enumeration district 63-863, page 5B, dwelling house 102, family 129, entry for Ruth, wife, household of Fred Markman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); NARA microfilm T627, roll 406. The form says she completed the 10th grade. [5] “Editor Names Staff,” Spokane Press, 18 October 1907, p. 4. [6] “Personal Mention,” Colfax Gazette, 5 November 1909, p. [2]. [7] 1910 U.S. census, Los Angeles Township, Precinct 134, Los Angeles City, Los Angeles County, California, enumeration district 179, p. 6A, dwelling house 91, family 245, entry for Annie Fisher; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 July 2012); Family History Film 1374095. [8] “Personal Mention,” Colfax Gazette, 19 August 1910, p. 5. [9] “United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:MM9.1.1/KZX4-MQT : accessed 08 Mar 2014), Fred Markman, 1917-1918; citing El Paso County, Texas, United States , NARA microfilm publication M1509, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); Family History Library microfilm 1953280. [10] 1900 U.S. census, Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, enumeration district 297, sheet 17B, dwelling 267, family 343, entry for Freddie, son, household of John Markman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); Family History Library microfilm 1241788. [11] 1940 U.S. census, Los Angeles City, Los Angeles County, California, ward AD5926, enumeration district 63-863, page 5B, dwelling house 102, family 129, entry for Fred Markman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); NARA microfilm T627, roll 406. [12] Ancestry.com. Minnesota, Territorial and State Censuses, 1849-1905 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007; 1905 census, Minneapolis, entry for John Markman. The family stated they had been in Minneapolis one year. [13] Minneapolis City Directory, 1906 (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Minneapolis Directory Company, 1906), 1263. [14] Davison’s Minneapolis City Directory, 1907 (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Minneapolis Directory Company, 1907), 1111. [15] “United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” Fred Markman. [16] 1910 U.S. Census, 15th precinct, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, enumeration district 61, page 5B, dwelling 46, family 102, entry for Fred, son, household of John Markman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); Family History Library microfilm 1374714. [17] 1910 U.S. Census, precinct 5, Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington, enumeration district 224, sheet 1A, dwelling 8, family 9, entry for Fred Markman, roomer, household of Frank H.C. Warren; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); Family History Library microfilm 1375676. [18] Los Angeles City Directory, 1911 (Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles City Directory Company, 1911), 948, 1237. [19] Evelyn Grosby, Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Mildred Starr, letter, 27 June 1979. [20] San Diego City and County Directory, 1913 (San Diego, California: San Diego Directory Co., 1913), 653. [21] Ibid, 366, 812, 1363. [22] Petronius, “In Society,” The San Diego Union, 14 April 1914, p. 11. [23] “Texas, Deaths, 1890-1976,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K3WW-NY5 : accessed 09 Mar 2014, Norman Bennett Markman, 27 Jan 1918; citing certificate number 1877, State Registrar Office, Austin; Family History Library microfilm 2052019. [24] El Paso City Directory, 1917 (Dallas, Texas: John F. Worley Directory Co., 1917), 498. [25] “Los Angeles,” The Jewelers’ Circular-Weekly, 10 July 1918, p. 99. [26] El Paso City Directory, 1917 (Dallas, Texas: John F. Worley Directory Co., 1917), 242, 360. [27] Ibid (1917), 242. [28] El Paso City Directory, 1920 (El Paso, Texas: Hudspeth Directory Co., 1920), 425. [29] "Texas, Deaths, 1890-1976," Norman Bennett Markman. [30] JewishGen.org. JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Register, index and images, JewishGen (http://datajewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsearch~model2~[jowbr]J_TX_2_RECNUM30849 : accessed 12 April 2014), for Norman B. Markman, 1915-1918, Temple Mt. Sinai Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. [31] “Texas, Birth Certificates, 1903-1935,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X2RY-NVV : accessed 09 Mar 2014). [32] “California, County Marriages, 1850-1952,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K8NN-7ZF : accessed 02 Mar 2014), Victor Bennett Fisher and Lillie S Beer, 1927. Fred Markman, resident of Los Angeles, signed as a witness. [33] 1930 U.S. Census, Assembly District no. 57, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, enumeration district 19-100, sheet 17A, dwelling 248, family 363, entry for Fred Markman; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2012); Family History Library microfilm: 2339871. [34] Los Angeles Directory Co.’s Los Angeles City Directory (Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles Directory Company, 1929), 2473. [35] Ibid (1932), 2599. [36] Ibid (1938), 1320. [37] Los Angeles Exchange Telephone Directory, Central Section of the Los Angeles Extended Area (Los Angeles: Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1948), 729. [38] “California, Death Index, 1940-1997,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VPK6-G67 : accessed 09 Mar 2014) Fred Markman, 1956. [39] Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database entry (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 18 November 2013), entry for Frederick Markman, Memorial 123456330, created by Romper90069, records of Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles, California. [40] Ruth Markman funeral program, Beth Chaye Olom, Grimshaw Mortuary, Phoenix, Arizona, citing services on 16 March 1969. [41] Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database entry (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 18 November 2013), entry for Ruth Markman, Memorial 123456331, created by Romper90069, records of Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles, California. [42] “Texas, Deaths, 1890-1976,” and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K3WW-NY5 : accessed 02 May 2014), Norman Bennett Markman, 27 Jan 1918; citing certificate number 1877, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2052019. |