Edward Sol Goliger (1905 - 1985)

Born 23 Sep 1905 in Shargorod, Russia

Ancestors

Husband of Martha Julienne (Fleischer) Goliger — married 4 Mar 1928 (to 18 Aug 1985) in Queens, NY [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 18 Aug 1985 at age 79 in Plantation, FL

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Rick Adler [send private message] and Jeff Goliger [send private message]

Biography

Edward was born about 1905. Edward Goliger ... He passed away about 1985. ^[1]

Edward was born in the town of Shargorod, about 40 miles southwest of Vinnitsa, in what then was Russia. Now it is in the Ukraine. He grew up speaking Russian, and was the fifth of five siblings (all brothers). Edward also spoke French, Yiddish, eventually English, and could read Hebrew if not speak it.

During part of Ed's childhood his father, Sol, lived separately 200 miles to the northwest in Lvov, Austro-Hungary for what we believe were business reasons. However, it is possible Ed's parents separated without divorcing. Whatever the circumstances, they were relatively properous for their time and place. It certainly was the case Sol had dear friends in Lvov whose *family* in the US were leather hat makers. After Sol emigrated to America (1913/14) he reached an agreement with the US branch of his Lvov friends to take their leather scraps in order to make cap shields and hat sweatbands. These became sufficiently popular Sol's factory employed 30 people.

Years later Ed and a partner, David Singer, ran their own leather tanning business with operations in Westborough, MA and Gloversville, NY. This was the last of many entrepreneurial efforts Ed undertook in order to make ends meet during the Great Depression and thereafter. Simultaneously, he was a member of the Workingman's Circle, with his brother Louie.

Returning to Ed's childhood, he and Bernie (three years older) were sent to boarding school in Vinnitsa. They were there during the Russian Bolshevik Revolution (11/7/1917), and as boys of 12 and 15, had to make there way 40 miles home during a chaotic period. A cooperative farmer took them the last leg of their journey via his horse-drawn sled.

We believe a little more than a year after the communist revolution, Sol sent Ed's brother, Joe, already living in America, back to Russia with money pooled from friends in order to retrieve Rifka, Bernie and Ed--as well as family of Sol's Lvov friends. What followed was two years of hardship as they made their way from Russia to Bessarabia (Balti? [1]), and by Spring 1921 across Europe to Le Havre, France. They arrived in Ellis Island, NYC on 6/22/21, with Joe returning seven weeks later (8/10/21) from Southampton, England. [2] Sol died fairly early in the long emigration process, and never saw his family get resettled in the Philly area.

At some point around the birth of (son) Eugene, Edward and Martha moved in with her brother Irving Fleischer. They all lived together for a couple of months (years?). Here is the summary of the 1930 US Census record for Ed, Martha, and Eugene indicating they were living southwest of the intersection between Rockaway Blvd and 140th Street, in South Ozone Park, Queens: [3]

Thereafter the young family moved to Avenue U in Brooklyn. In 1934, about 18 months after Gwen was born, Ed and his family moved to 122 Bay 38th St. There were twelve families in that three story quadraplex. Ed's family lived in a back unit on the first floor. Around January 1942, they moved up the block (110) to a two story, two family house. Around September 1944, Ed and family moved to 88-15 Francis Lewis Blvd in Queens. Gwen moved out upon marriage in March 1952. Around August 1955, Gene moved to an apartment complex (8 or 13 stories) in Fresh Meadows, Queens. (Flo moved in next month upon marriage.) At about the same time Ed and Martha moved to 122(?) Grace St, Plainview, NY. For a few weeks during the transition they stayed with Al and Bianca Schwartz in Great Neck, NY. (Around October 1957, Flo and Gene moved to 64 Winthrop Lane in Plainview.) In 1966, Ed and Martha moved to Checkerberry Ln in Framingham, MA, and in 1970(?) permanently retired to Plantation, FL.

Edward is buried in Montefiore Cemetery, Jenkinstown, PA, just outside Philadelphia, along with his wife, parents, and son-in-law.

Upon immigration to the US, Edward's birth year was listed as 1907, rather than the actual 1905.

On November 13, 1944 Edward had a successful final hearing in U.S. District Court to become a naturalized American citizen. This was at 271 Washington St, Brooklyn, NY. File #325769.

The SS Death Index lists 101-05-0748 as Ed's SS#.

Edward always said his family was related to the family of Boris Pasternak. Leon Goliger says the GOLIGER and PASTERNAK families are in-laws, but the precise connection to the author Boris Pasternak is not clear. Mordcho (Mordecai) GOLIGER married Basi PASTERNAK before 1875 in the city of Tarnopol (Ukrainian: Ternopil), then on the far eastern side of the province of Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian empire and now in Ternopil Guberniya, Ukraine. The couple initially lived in Worobijowka | Vorobijivka | Vorobeyevka, probably 25 miles east of Tarnopol. They both were born before 1865, and probably closer to 1850. [4] [5]

Edward's descendants pronounce the family name /golIger/ while the descendant's of his brother Joseph pronounce the family name /galIger/. Whatever the pronounciation, it is an extremely rare name. The 2000 Census indicates there are less than 100 in the US and does not list it among the 150,000 most frequent last names. BTW, the following is purely speculative, but I've got a sneaking suspicion Goliger is a variant of the German Galizer (meaning from Galizien | Galicia).

Note: before WWI, Bessarabia was the eastern portion of the Principality of Moldavia within the Russian Empire. However, eight months after the February 1917, democratic Russian Revolution toppled Tsarist Russia, and the Bolshevik Revolution was about to take place, Bessarabia declared its independence as the Moldavian Republic. Six months later (April 1918) it voluntarily joined the Kingdom of Romania. So, at the time Ed, Bernie and his mother escaped Russia to Balti/Balfi, Bessarabia, 70 miles south of Shargorod, it was part of Romania. Currently, Balti/Balfi is in Moldava. [6]

Also note: the Workingman's Circle was "organized in 1892 at a meeting in New York of like-minded eastern European immigrant Jews who were inspired by the potential reforms connected to socialist ideals and by the growth of American labor movements—but also by socialistic and humanistic themes in Jewish history and literature—the Arbeter Ring reached a national membership of 80,000 during its peak years in the 1930s. With branches in many North American cities as well as Los Angeles, it provided a forum for Jews who were either disaffected from or simply disinterested in the religious parameters of Jewish life, but were nonetheless keen to preserve and transmit Jewish heritage through Yiddish—the language of Jewish labor during the immigrant era. Its network of schools and summer camps, together with its rich variety of adult programs, offered secular Jewish education and activities within the framework of Yiddish culture.

In effect, the Workmen’s Circle also served as a secular alternative to the synagogue and to the European-style [kahal or] k’hilla (organized community) by providing for the personal, family, and even spiritual needs of its members (mutual aid, welfare, funeral and burial, visitation and organized companionship) and by fashioning new versions of traditionally grounded holiday celebrations and ceremonies shorn of their religious reference. Its socialist and labor orientation, its commitment to progressive causes, and its advocacy for social justice and a more equitable society were pursued well within the context of American liberal democracy. In fact, the Workmen’s Circle was critical of the Soviet Union as early as the 1920s. Not without its fair share of dissension among its ranks in its formative years, internal struggles for control between pro-communist and non- or anti-communist elements ended when, by 1930, the former withdrew altogether to form the International Workers Order." [7]

(11/28/11@12:30A)

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Tapes #1 and #2:

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• Shargorod: "low city"
• tailors, shoemakers, merchants, a lot of churches, some temples, grist mill, sugar refinery
• many surrounding villages containing serfs and free peasants working the fields to produce wheat corn, and sugar beats, totaling 100,000
• gather in town square every Sunday for trading animals and then purchase supplies in the local stores
• local school only went to 4th grade, then you had to go to a bigger city; Jews students were on a quota system
• Sall was a manufacturer's representative in Lvov (Kingdom of Poland) selling woolens and linens from mills he represented; he had to cover merchandise that was returned; thus he suggested Rifka open a store as an outlet of these returns; the store was so successful she made more money than he
• Rifka was very focused on education and was a very good business woman
• Rifka employed several clerks; they had a maid
• Joe was permanently expelled from gymnasium (5th-12th grade)
• most of Rifka's family already was living in Philly; there were many sisters and brothers; so she brought Joe to her brother Ike in Philly (1913); they spelled their name "Brounstein"
• Rifka wrote Sall in Lvov from Philly about moving to the US but he choose not to go; so she returned to Shargorod
• Sall took sick, changed his mind, and embarked to the US while Rifka returned home; during their travels, or soon after WWI started, people got stuck where they were (Rikfa's passport was cancelled)
• Ed graduated 4th grade after Rifka returned (~1914/15); she took Bernie and Ed to gymnasium in Vinnitza; they boarded with a teacher; Lou remained at home; Harry already was married with a child and lived in a small town within at most 100 miles away
• Vinnitsa was a beautiful city on the Bug River. E&B loved it there. They returned home several times on vacations, but the travel was difficult
• Bolshevik Revolution led to civil war; Ukrainian general

Petliura wanted to secede from Russia; fighting was heavy in Podolia and were very anti-semitic often pillaging and killing Jews; the Bolsheviks would drive the secessionists from Podolia; eventually the secessionists would take hostages (since there was little else to rob) and the Jews would ransom them because the peasants said the Jews had a lot of money; you had to stand in bread lines for most of the day and often went hungry

• last trip from Vinnitsa took place during winter: no more trains toward Shargorod because of the fighting; however an engine going to retrieve empty cars would get relatively close to Shargorod (money in shoes and pockets); the engineer agreed to take them after first refusing but eventually took their pocket money minus a few rubles for food; half way thru the trip the engine had burned all its wood fuel; they proceeded to chop and load wood from a nearby forest in bitter cold; a storm raged thru the nite; in the morning they reached the empty cars near midnite (still 60? miles from Shargorod); the town was shut down, but found a man on the street who said there was an inn about 1/2 mile away but it probably was closed; the innkeepers took pity on the 16 and 12 yr old brothers; it was full with people sleeping on the floor; they found a spot and slept for a few hours; then they asked if someone could take them to Shargorod; the female innkeeper suggested a person willing to risk having his horses confiscated by soldiers in order to escape the area himself; a boy led them to the man's house; he agreed because of their promise to put him up in Shargorod; he gave them two fur coats and a fur blanket and proceeded by sleigh on the frozen river before they were hit by a terrible snow storm; they road about half-way to the empty house of one of his friends and stayed there overnite; they made it home the next day; because the front had moved he decided to return home and ferried passengers on the return trip
• Bernie avoided the draft by enlisting as a cadet in a Moscow military school training officers
• after two yrs of misery and hardship they suddenly learn Joe is on Bessarabian border
• they Bernie got back from Moscow
• family of dear friends from Lvov lived in Philly and were tanners and leather cutters who made sweatbands for companies like Knox and Stetson; Sall was given the scraps who made leather shields for caps and narrower sweatbands for two-pointed military caps; employed 30 people in his factory
• Sall died in 1919; his will specified Joe's first action was to bring the family to the US; those family members still in Russia did not learn of Sol's death until shortly before reaching the US, nearly two years later
• HIAS or HYAS /haiyas/ (HEIS?) helped Russian Jewish families immigrate to the US and was very active at this time; they delegated to Joe, who was attending UPenn, responsibility for bringing out as many Jews from Shargorod as he could; money came from the Shargoroder Society in NYC to bring out ~30 families
• Joe had to deal with gansters in order to smuggle the families out of Russia just before Xmas 1919; both the Russian and Bessarabian gansters robbed the party; they crossed the partially frozen (Dneister) river and were taken to a farmer's house to temporarily hide; the farmers bribed the local soldiers and when the road was clear they were taken to Goritza,

Bessarabia; there they bought some clothes before the Goligers and three children from three different families headed to relatives in Balti who owned a large home with a smaller servant quarter where they stayed; of the three children two were boys and one was a girl (17 yrs old)

• Joe was able to procure Romanian passports thru bribery; it's likely Rifka didn't need to get separate passports for children younger than 17; regardless she reported Ed's age as 13 rather than 15 and the girl's age as 15 rather than 17
• then Joe sent them to Bucharest, where Joe knew the US ambassador to Romania; there they waited to obtain their visas for more than six months in the face of quotas while Joe continued to smuggle Jews over the Dneister
• they left Bucherest in late 1920 and went thru Budapest to Vienna where they stayed for almost a month because of a railroad strike
• they continued on to Bern and Geneva, Switzerland over thre weeks before making it to Paris where they waited seven weeks for Joe to finish his efforts
• finally Joe tells them to proceed to Le Harve where they had to pass a physical exam before boarding; unfortunately the girl was found to be suffering from some ailment (probably head lice); consequently they waited for 2-3 weeks for the girl to recover under doctor's care (head lice?)
• they boarded, second class, the brand new ship named "Paris" and raced a German ship across the Atlantic until they hit a hurricane; nevertheless the "Paris" made it to Ellis Island despite a list
• after passing an on-board physical exam they went to relatives in the Bronx and on to Philly the next day; they stayed with relatives in Philly for a little while before getting an apartment and starting work in the Goliger factory; unfortunately the business had fallen apart
• Joe knew of a Camden firm that peeled wool from sheep skins and arranged to buy the hides; he then opened a tannery in Camden
• the family moved to Camden where Ed enrolled in high school shortly after learning enough English to graduate from elementary school; Camden High was on a hill in a park he would reach via a bridge over a creek near the wool plant
• Ed spent two hours/day working in the wool plant after school learning how it operated
• Joe then started the tannery (to be made into sweatbands)
• Ed, Bernie and Lou joined the tannery where they worked for three years

(11/29/11)

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Tape #3 is very poor quality:

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• the parents weren't happy about the cousins marrying
• while still in high school Ed got a job working as a shoe salesman in a dept store on 52nd Street based on his experience with leather and he quickly became manager getting to know the manufacturer's sales reps (but that didn't pay off)
• graduated HS
• enrolled in Temple University but left after one semester
• 1926 moved to NY with Harry and lived with them for more than one yr
• Ed promptly checked the NYTimes want ads and was offered a job during his first interview in a shoe store that was opening another in NJ; the boss quickly grew comfortable with his abilities and left Ed in charge of the store while he switched to the NJ location; after a while his boss convinced Ed to work at the NJ store; however the commute was tough; e.g. he closed the store 6:30P but didn't arrive in Middle? Village, Queens? were Harry lived until 9P
• Ed's NJ shoe store was on the corner next to a movie house and candy/cafe lunch shop which was frequented both by Ed and a very fine Greek gentleman named Mike Bacos
• met Nana, age 16, while working at the NJ store, but only had time to see her on the weekends
• after a few yrs Ed grew tired of the commute and lack of time for a social life; so Ed resigned; his boss countered with a raise; simultaneously another shoe company offered him an opportunity; unfortunately it was in a tough neighborhood; Ed also was offered an opportunity by Mike Bacos
• Mike owned 20-odd movie theaters making a lot of money selling candy and ice cream in-house while his brother made the ice cream cones
• Mike noted there were no shoe stores where he lived, he had recently opened a theater in his neighborhood, and that there was a good, empty store next to his theater; so he invited Ed to visit his family on a Sunday and then check out the store; Ed enjoyed the family visit and thought the store was viable; Mike asked how much money Ed thought it would take to start the shoe store; when Ed said $5k Mike said he would give it to Ed if Ed came up with $500; Ed said he didn't even have $5
• Ed borrowed $500 (from Nana's maternal inheritance) and opened a very successful shoe store next to Mike's movie house
• Rifka had recently moved to NYC; so Ed rented a new apartment near his new store where he and his mother lived
• about one yr after opening the store Nana gave Ed an ultimatum about getting married; it was a small wedding; they honeymooned in Manhattan but it was cut short by Mike Bacos requesting Ed return because they were short-handed
• after the talkies arrived, for some reason, Mike no longer was able to sell candy/ice cream and his business began to suffer; so Ed asked Mike to buy him out and close the shoe business to recover his investment; after first refusing, Mike paid Ed $3500
• Ed was given the opportunity to become an insurance agent for the Mackey? agency by Nana's uncle; the 10/29 Crash came soon thereafter; in order to avoid policy lapses, thereby loosing his commissions, Ed began to pay policy premiums and, eventually, to submit fake policies; eventually Ed quit
• Harry's neighbor was a salesman for a company packing elishes/condiments (pickles, tomatoes, olives, peppers, etc) when they used to be sold individually out of a barrel; they would pay for used glass jars
• Ed spoke with Mr. Goldman at the backing company and turned the tables getting him to agree to supply Ed; so Ed had tables

built, got health dept approvals, started gathering and disinfecting glass jars, packing them with Goldman's produce and selling it under his own label ("Deluxe Packing") with the logo of a big olive with a smiling face

shoes, insurance, relishes/condiments

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Tape #4:

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• Martha (at age 16/17) loaned Ed the $500 from her small maternal inheritance
• Martha's very close friend, Rose Schechter introduced her to Ed
• Irving didn't date easily so he often took Martha to theater, museums, art exhibits; consequently he competed with Ed for Martha's time while Ed's free time was quite limited
• Martha was living with her aunt and uncle in Middle Village, Queens; despite being treated well, Martha wanted her independence
• Ed was serious about Martha but felt given their ages (17/22) they should wait 5-6 yrs; after two yrs of dating Martha said they needed to get married within a year or break-up
• Ed's folks weren't too thrilled, but they were married 3/4/1928 (Sunday) by a rabbi at his home; they went to a fine restaurant on 40th St and Broadway where they met their immediate family (parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins)
• about mid-1930 moved to Forest Hills, approx one yr after moving to the apartment near his shoe business
• Ed bought first car from neighbor; the "Iron Horse" was in very poor condition; Ed painted and fixed it up
• "Deluxe Packing" competed with canned goods and Heinz; payment was in cash; catered to Italian and Spanish neighborhoods;

owned two trucks;

• started buying enough ketchup from a small German company named "Voss" with a nice factory, garage and office who proposed

they merge; though Ed's partner initially was against it Ed eventually persuaded him to merge by focusing on the growth

opportunity and that they would have a secretary

• Voss's son returned from school in Germany
• Voss also started producing ketchup without preservatives
• supermarkets (King Kullen, and then Bohacks and A&P) were just starting and Voss was successfully supplying them (also

Woolworth's and Kresge's)

• they also started selling one pound of potato salad; but the small retailers didn't know it needed to be refrigerated
• returns started?
• went to an attorney
• Depression worsened and it was very difficult to get a job
• moved to Ave U, Brooklyn and opened a store there selling leather coats/jackets but it quickly failed
• Joe went into business for himself (I think this is in NYC and Ed helped)
• ...
• WWII started and Ed was classified 1A; he appeared before the draft board, but was deemed too old
• Ed continued working with Joe thru the end of WWII
• Bernie moved to CA soon after WWII ended
• Ed partnered with a Fleisher? cousin with some military contract (probably supplying sweatbands) for about one yr
• Ed partnered with Murray/Larry Weisman? in a leather cutting shop with silk screening one floor up, but the building caught

fire and collapsed

• Ed took the money and bought a tanning business and, somehow, got govt contracts for sweatbands; it was successful for five

years but began having considerable problems with a union and the city began to bother them because they wanted to rezone

Brooklyn to eliminate businesses in certain areas

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Tape #5:

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• formed a tannery in Puerto Rico with a local manager; made about 9 trips to PR over the next yr so they sold the place
• after about 5? yrs bought another varous nice tannery in Rhode Island; then liquidated the Brooklyn tannery
• had heart attack and wound up in the hospital for 3 and 1/2 weeks
• after six months back in the office Ed asked to be bought out and was
• stopped at counter 150, missed last 142

No more info is currently available for Edward Goliger. Can you add to his biography?

Sources

• Laura Adler, taped interview of Edward from the late 1970s.
• Gwen Adler, firsthand knowledge.
• Gene Goliger, firsthand knowledge.
• Leon Goliger email to Bob Adler sent 10/16/11
• Bob Adler, firsthand knowledge.

See the Changes page for the details of edits by Bob and others.

1. ↑ Entered by Bob Adler, May 22, 2011