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97 Orchard Street
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Family >> 97 Orchard Street
Gumpertz Family
The Gumpertz family is the source for the interpretive program offered
in the second floor, northwest apartment at 97 Orchard Street. The
apartment has been restored and finished to appear as it might have
in 1878, when Natalie Gumpertz and her three daughters lived, and
may have worked, in the building. We believe that the family may
actually have resided in one of the third floor apartments. It is
possible that the Gumpertz story will move upstairs once this floor
is open to the public.
The interpretive program is based on a combination of known facts
and informed speculation. Through research in archival records we
learned some basic biographical data about the family. We learned
two provocative pieces of information: (1) Natalie's husband Julius
disappeared forever in the depression year of 1874; (2) a few years
later, Natalie began listing herself in the city directory as a
dressmaker.
From some valuable secondary works written by historians, we learned
that dressmaking was a trade often practiced by widows, and it was
the best among the few employment opportunities open to women in
the Victorian era. We also learned that dressmakers frequently used
their apartments as workshops, and fit customers right there. Based
on this information, we have created an interpretive experience
for visitors that explored how Natalie might have used her apartment
as her dressmaking shop. We speculate that she was at least moderately
successful because her family survived. We know this because we
can trace her family through a variety of records, and because the
tenement museum has located and contacted three of Natalie's great-grandsons
who still live in the New York area.
Like the Baldizzi exhibit, the Gumpertz apartment
was opened to the public on October 3, 1994.
Family Biography
(Please note that Natalie's maiden name is spelled two different
ways in accordance with the records, spanning some 30 years. For
more detail on this and other genealogical topics, please see
the reports prepared by Marsha Dennis in APPENDIX B.)
Natalie and Julius Gumpertz emigrated from two different states
in the eastern part of the German empire, also known as east Prussia.
Natalie Rheinsberg Gumpertz, was born ca. 1837 in "Prausnitz",
Silesia (now Prusice, Poland). We do not know whether the Reinsbergs
and Gumpertzs lived in the towns of Ortelsberg and Prausnitz,
or in the outlying, rural districts. Nor do we know whether Natalie
and Julius came straight to America, or whether they emigrated
first, as many others did, to larger towns and cities within Prussia.
We were unable to find records of ship passage for either Natalie
or Julius.
We believe Julius arrived in the United States in 1857-58. In
1858, he filed his first papers to naturalize as a citizen, called
his Declaration of Intent. He received his citizen papers on July
28, 1864. At the time, he was living on Broome Street, in the
heart of Kleindeutschland, or "Little Germany." We believe
Natalie also arrived in the U.S. around 1858, but her steps after
arrival are harder to trace. We found neither Natalie nor Julius
in the 1860 census.
We found Julius listed, for the first time, in the 1870 census
and in the 1869/1870 City Directory (precursor to the phone book).
He was living at 97 Orchard Street, married to Natalie, and listed
in both sources as a "shoemaker." Natalie is described
in the census as "keeping house."
No record of marriage was found for the couple. By 1870, Natalie
and Julius had two children: Rosa, born in 1867, and Natelea (also
called Nannie), born in 1869. Two more children were born at 97
Orchard Street: Olga in 1871, and Isaac in 1873.
Julius registered to vote in both 1872 and 1873; from these records
we know he lived on the third floor of the tenement. In 1872/73
the city directory lists him as a clerk. In 1873/74, he is listed
instead as a seller of "wrappers" (dressing gowns).
On Isaac's 1873 birth certificate, the attending doctor and friend
of the family described Julius as a merchant.
At 7am, on October 7, 1874, Julius apparently left the apartment
headed for his job "cutting heels" on Dey Street and
never returned. Years later, Natalie claimed she searched high
and low for him, enlisted friends in the search, and even wrote
to his family in Silesia. No word of him turned up. Nine months
later, on July 15, 1875, Natalie's baby son Isaac died of "infant
diarrhea."
In 1883, Natalie learned that Julius' father had died, and bequeathed
him "goods, chattels, and credits" valued at about $600.
(We assume but don't know whether this bequest was predominantly
cash). Natalie applied to the Surrogate's Court to have her husband
declared naturally dead and to be named the minister of his estate.
She presumably was granted this status. It is the written record
of her testimony, supplemented by affidavits from her daughters,
neighbor, and former landlord - and discovered by genealogist
Marsha Dennis - that first alerted the museum to the Gumpertz
household. This document provided much of the factual basis for
the subsequent interpretation.
In the record of her Surrogate Court appearance, Nathalia was
referred to as Natalie. She is described as the sole support of
the family. It had been nine long years since Julius' disappearance.
How had Natalie managed? Especially at a time when few types of
employment were open to women - and even fewer that paid a barely
livable wage - and when the country was in the midst of a brutal
economic depression. The clue to how she may have responded to
this challenge came from an 1879 listing in the City Directory:
"Gumpertz, Natalia, dressmkr, 97 Orchard."(For more
information on dressmaking in the 1870s and 1880s, please see
the GARMENT INDUSTRY: DRESSMAKING IN THE 1870s entry in the Source
Book)
In 1885, presumably after having received Julius' inheritance,
Nathalie and her three daughters moved to 237 East 73rd Street
and, in 1887, to 355 East 69th Street. In 1891, they all moved
nearby, to 333 East 69th Street. From then on, Natalie listed
herself in the directory, but as the widow of Julius, not as a
dressmaker. She died in 1894 at age 58, according to her death
certificate. Her death certificate also describes the class of
building she lived in as "tenement."
Soon after Natalie's death, all three daughters married. Rosa
married Morris Stern in 1895; they had a son named Bernard in
1898. Nannie married Samuel Cohen in 1905; they had no children.
Olga married George Fabian; they had a daughter named Natalie.
We first surmised that the Gumpertzes were Jewish by these marriages,
because the daughters married Jewish men. Also, Natalie seems
to have followed the Ashkenazi Jewish tradition of naming babies
after deceased ancestors. Daughter Rosa may have been named after
Rosella, Natalie's own mother, and son Isaac after her father
Isaac.
The Gumpertzs seem to have had some family in New York. Members
of the Callman family crop up at important times. Sallo Callman
was probably the physician listed as "S. Callman, M.D."
who attended Isaac when he took sick, and signed his death certificate.
Sallo's brother, Carl Callman was a co-administrator of Natalie's
estate after her death, along with Rosa Gumpertz. Carl Callman
was also a witness for both Rosa and Nannie's weddings. Carl was
married to Flora, whose mother's maiden name was Reinsberg. Reinsberg
is the key here, since both of Natalie's parents bore that name:
her father's name was Reinsberg, as was her mother's maiden name.
So Flora's mother, Frederica, may have been a sister of either
Isaac or Rosella Reinsberg. Flora may have been Nathalie's first
cousin, or possibly a niece.
Carl Callman sold straw goods, and at times also hats, from various
addresses on the Lower East Side. It is conceivable that he could
have used his connections in the millinery trade to assist Natalie,
perhaps by referring customers to her, extending her credit, or
assisting her in buying a sewing machine.
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