by Morris Travis, circa 1960
Father: Louis Travis, born Wilkomir, Lithuania, 1870, died July 1937
Mother: Bessie Levine Travis, born Sirvinty, Lithuania 1870, died October, 1935
Children:
– Philip, born Wilkomir, Lithuania, Feb 10, 1897. Married Sept 3, 1922
– Morris, born Wilkomir, Lithuania, Sept 25, 1988. Married Nov, 1922
– Rose, born Wilkomir, Lithuania, 1901. Married June, 1923
– Charles, born Wilkomir, Lithuania, 1903
Louis arrived in the US in 1903. Bessie and the children arrived in 1905.
History
Louis Travis’ father was named Yesheil and his mother was named Fiega. Louis’s father was a merchant of some sort in Wilkomir. Louis had a brother, Sam, who immigrated to England as a youth. He also had three sisters, Deena, Rochel, and Pera Pia. Sam married in England and his children were Rose, Mary, Dora and Jack. After World War I my father received a couple letters, but after awhile no more correspondence was resumed and we heard no more.
The sister Deena, was married and lived in Riga, and that is all I know about her. Rochel married Moshe Block and they had two sons. One, Israel, who died at an early age, and Philip, who died in New York City during the 1918 Flu Epidemic.
Rochel died at an early age and then Moshe Block married the younger sister, Pera Pia, who was to bear four children by Moshe. These children were Ida, Harry, Sidney, and Lillian. Pera Pia died in 1909 in Wilkomir and Moshe was killed in 1910 when he was attacked by thieves while he was traveling between Wilkomir and another town. Mosha was a drayage man, having a horse and wagon.
Louis Travis arrived in this country in 1903. His passage was paid for by Moshe Levine, brother of my mother. After working here in Cincinnati for about a year, Louis went on to Chicago Illinois, hoping to better himself. Here in Cincinnati, he worked at his trade as shoe cobbler for a man named Klein who operated a second hand store on 5th St. between Central Ave. and John St.
In Chicago, he worked for a man named Gaffin. My father found Chicago not to good for his trade so he returned to Cincinnati and went back to work for Mr. Klein. It was in 1912 that my father left Mr. Klein and then operated his own shoe repair shop at 521 Smith St. This store was owned by Mr. Effron, who wold second hand clothes. In 1916, my father purchased all stock and fixtures from Mr. Effron thereby becoming sole owner of the store. My father continued on in this business till 1926 when he was laid low by sickness. After one year of sickness, he passed away in July 1927. My mother passed away in October 1935.
Louis never worked on Saturdays or any of the Jewish holidays. Weekdays he worked (at Klein’s) from 7 in the morning til 6 in the evening. On Fridays or days preceding holidays he would stop working at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. He worked each Sunday from 8am till 12 noon. And his wages were $6.00 per week til his family arrived from Europe. Then he was raised to $8.50 per week. The most he received for his work was $12.00 per week as a shoe cobbler for Mr. Klein.
After he joined Mr. Effron, my father continued to observe the Sabbath as his store was never opened up from 4pm Fridays til sunset on Saturdays. Mr. Effron was a man in his 70’s and very religious. After my father took over the store for himself, he kept up the practice of not working on Sabbath days or any of the Jewish holidays.
My father’s relatives here in this country consisted of his nephew, Philip Block (who died in 1918); Ida Wankovsky (niece); Harry Block (nephew); Sidney Block and Lillian Block. The above were children whose mothers were the two wives of Moshe Block. Sidney Block also died during the 1918 Flu Epidemic, in Chicago. Lillian Block Travis passed away in 1933. Harry Block passed away in a954. Ida’s husband, Louis Wankovsky, passed away in 1933, about two months before Lillian Block Travis died.
Other relatives of my fathers were namely (all cousins): Hanna (wife of Moshe Levine); Ben Wides, whose son Joseph at present owns a drug store in Hartwell; Yetta Romiger; Mrs. Liebovitz of Chicago; Harry Horwitz; Ike Horwitz (1951); Louis Horwitz (1943), and a sister of the Horwitz boys, whose name sounds like Mrs. Warman. This Mrs. Warman, I cannot recall. I knew all of the above very well excepting for Mrs. Liebovitz whom I met only once and this Mrs. Warman.
Hannah Levine was a sister to Ben Wides. The only one still living of my father’s first cousins is Harry Horavitz, who must be about 75 years old now. He died in 1957. Louis passed away about 1943.
My mother, Bessie Travis, was the daughter of Dovid and Chia Levine. She was born in Sirvinty, Lithuania. She was one of three children. Her brothers were Archic Levine and Moshe Levine. Her parents both died in Sirvinty. I cannot recall Dovid, but I did know Grandma Chia because after my father left for America, our mother took us to live for one year in Sirvinty. Chia passed away about 1918.
Moshe and Hannah Levine came to this country in 1900. As I mentioned previously, Hannah Levine was a first cousin to my father. The children of Moshe and Hannah are namely: Al, Sol, Dave, Harry, and Sam. Moshe passed away about 15 yeaers ago. Hannah passed away about 10 years ago.
My mother’s other brother, Archic, who was older than Moshe, passed away in 1935, two days prior to the day my mother died. Archic’s wife was named Mashittel. Their children were namely Sam, Alex, Teddy, David, Tammy, and Alex. The second oldest passed away about ten years ago. (1951)
Archic and his wife and children, Sam, Alex, and Teddy Levine arrived in this country about 1912. Mashittel passed away about 1940.
Here I will relate a few facts about my father’s life in Lithuania. My father could not read or write in any language. He did know how to pray from the Hebrew Prayer books. In Lithuania, every Jewish boy got started reading from the Hebrew Prayer books at the early age of three years. This I know from experience because my older brother Philip and myself used to pray each morning and evening and that was when we were 3 or 4 years old. In Lithuania, boys started Hebrew School (cheder) at the age of 3. I recall very plainly how our Rabbi called for Philip and myself each morning as early as seven o’clock and he marched us off to cheder. I recall there must have been a group of 10 or 12 boys marching together for about a mile. And that went on each day, excepting Saturdays. And it was about five o’clock in the afternoon when the Rabbi brought us back to our home. No wonder we could recite our prayers at the age of 4 or 5. Eight or nine steady hours of Hebrew each day. By the time you were 9 years old, you either were sent to Yeshiva for further study or else if your Rabbi finds that you are not fit for further book learning then you were boarded out to some tradesman to learn a manual trade.
That is what was my father’s lot. At nine years of age, his father sent him to live with a shoe cobbler who taught my father the trade. At the age of 18 he was drafted into the Russian Army where he had to serve til he became 21. After 21, he had to report each year for three month’s service in the Reserves. At the age of 30 he was mustered out completely. Even after my father got married, he still had to report each year for the three month service. It was in the year 1895 that the Russia-Turkish War happened and my father was shipped to the Russia-Turkish border.
The Russian Army had a military post in the city of Wilkomir, our home city, so the time my father had to spend in the military service was not the worst thing that could happen to him. While in the service and the time he had to report in the reserves, my father kept at his trade of making military boots and repairing any that were worn down.
We lived in two basement rooms with three floors above us. This I remember from my own memory although I was only three years old. The two rooms we occupied had to be for sleeping, bathing and my father’s work bench. My father was always busy making boots for military officers who liked his work. But in all he was not too happy about his being called up each year for military service, so his fortune turned when a big fire broke out in Wilkomir. After he helped his own family to safety and that of his sister, Pera Pia, then he took off. He left Wilkomir with several other Jewish young men and after a couple day’s hiking by foot and wagon, they reached the German border.
My father contacted our uncle, Moshe Levine, here in Cincinnati and soon thereafter he received a ticket to come to America. Those days, no quota was in force and any human being who could show a boat ticket was allowed into this country. I think the cost of the ticket was $200.
Only one person have we ever met, who arrived in America on the same boat with my father. He was Mr. Morris Gordon, who also was born in Wilkomir. At present Mr. Gordon resides in Avondale. Years ago Mr. Gordon and his family lived on Mauss Ave in Price Hill. His daughter Sylvia attended nurse’s school at the same time Beverly took her nurse’s training.
Mr. Gordon was only a very young youth when he arrived in America. He must be in his late 70’s now. Mr. Gordon was a fruit peddler all his working days here in Cincinnati. I have talked to him several times in the past, but I never had the opportunity to talk to him about my father and their experience about their trip to America.
I do not know much about my mother’s education or experience of her early girlhood. I do not know whether she too was boarded out for her keep or boarded out to learn a trade, but I do know that my mother took no second place to any woman when it came to cooking, baking, and sewing. My mother also was very proficient in reading Hebrew and Yiddish and also in writing Yiddish.
In Lithuania it was the custom to board out young girls as well as the boys to earn their keep by working at some trade or skill. All able-bodied boys and girls were required to learn a trade or, in the case of the boys, those who qualified were sent to a Yeshiva to learn for the Rabbinate. The men who could not qualify for the Rabbinate after many years of study went on to work as Hebrew teachers or schocters (slaughterers) of cattle and chickens.
My mother’s father, Dovid, was a “Tokker” (word carver). In American he would have qualified as a cabinet maker. Her father would carve such things as spinning wheels, and make chairs and tables, and also carve wooden trinkets such as apples, pears, etc. These apples and pears were hollow, so they could be used for keeping small items such as pins, coins, buttons, etc. He also lacquered these apples and pears with colors to match the real fruit. He also made other items from wood such as breadboxes and noodle rollers, and anything else people required which were necessary for the household in those days, when appliances and machinery were never heard of. And everything he made was done with his two hands. He had no machinery. He only had such items as saws, hammers, and knives.
I was told by my mother that when enough stock was made up, that her mother would travel to the larger communities where she would set herself up in the marketplace and try to sell their wares. That is the only way my grandparents made their livelihood.
It was in Sirvinty where my mother and her parents made their home. As I mentioned previously, my mother had two brothers – Moshe Levine and Archic Levine. Archic was the older and I do know that he carried on the wood sawing tradition in his family. But, in Archic’s time, he himself did not have to take his wares to other cities. Things were a little better. The middle man came to life and the salesman would come to Uncle Archic to buy the read-made items and take them to the marketplace.
Another story told by my mother was that Uncle Archic, with the help of his two oldest sons Sam and Alex and a couple of other men, built the first synagogue in Sirvinty, and all by hand. It was a wooden structure and I still recall being in that synagogue several times. I was four or five years old at the time.
The Felson Family 