Prelude: Bessie (Besha) Starkman, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, married baker and driver Harry Tobins in Toronto in 1907 and gave birth to daughters Gertrude in 1909 and Lilly (Leah) in 1911. They lived at 92-1/2 Agnes (Dundas) Street in 1909 and 63 Chestnut Street in 1911. In 1912 an Italian immigrant named Rocco Perri…
Lawrence Solman, Canada’s Uncrowned Amusement King (1926)
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From The Toronto Star Weekly, November 18, 1926 ◊ Profile of the remarkable Toronto-born entrepreneur Lawrence “Lol” Solman (1866-1931), who was managing director of the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Sunnyside Amusement Park, Hanlan’s Hotel, Hanlan’s Point Amusement Park and the Mutual Street Arena in Toronto; owner of the Toronto Ferry Company and the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball…
Emma Goldman, Toronto’s anarchist guest (1926)
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From the Toronto Star Weekly, December 31, 1926 by Frederick Griffin You can’t imagine the gigantic United States with all its doughboys and buddies being scared of a woman. It is like a man being scared of a mouse. And yet we have the fact that they were so frightened over there by the presence…
Oppenheimer-Marks “Rainbow Wedding,” 1902
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From the Toronto Star, September 24, 1902 A fashionable audience of guests gathered this afternoon in Holy Blossom Synagogue to witness the marriage of Mr. Joseph Oppenheimer of New Orleans to Miss Lottie Marks, daughter of Mrs. D. Marks of 526 Euclid Avenue. The bride entered leaning on the arm of her grandfather, Mr. N.…
Obit: Mary Wilensky (d. 1958)
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From the Toronto Star, May 13, 1958 Funeral service for Mrs. Mary Wilensky, eight-six, a Russian immigrant who raised four daughters who became professional women in Toronto and the United States, will be held at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in Park Memorial chapel, Spadina Avenue. Interment will be in Roselawn cemetery. Mrs. Wilensky died of a…
Obit: Sports hero Harry Sniderman (1976)
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From a Canadian newspaper, August 20, 1976 By Mordecai Hershenson Harry Sniderman was a colourful figure in the Toronto scene for three decades — an able athlete, gracious sportsman and promoter and a Babe Ruth of the Bellwoods Park softball teams. During the late 1920s and 1930s, “Iron Man,” “What-A-Man Sniderman” was the king of…
Obit: Sam Shopsowitz, hot-dog king, dead at 63 (1984)
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Based on article from the Canadian Jewish News, Sept. 20, 1984 Sam Shopsowitz, the pastrami and hot dog king whose Shopsy’s deli on Spadina at Dundas was a city landmark for more than half a century, died last week of a heart attack at age sixty-three. His wife Lillian, also sixty-three, predeceased him by only…
Fine tailoring pays off for Harry Rosen (1984)
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Abridged from The Canadian Jewish News Harry Rosen, known across Canada as a master craftsman in the art of tailoring, describes himself as “just an old fashioned schnider [tailor] who believes in old fashioned high quality.” At fifty-three, Rosen was celebrating his thirtieth anniversary as a retailer. He and his brother, Louis Rosen, opened the…
List of European Jews seeking relatives in Canada, 1922
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The Canadian Jewish Immigrant Aid Society published the following list of names in the Canadian Jewish Review in 1922 under the heading, “List of Letters from Europe for Relatives in Canada.” See the list below for full details. Butshatsky – Frazek Boxer – Praber from Taravize, Kiever Chia Dviore Grinspoon from Veinberg, Benderske, Chersaner Kvitko,…
Crowd scene beside City Hall at 1914 Armistice
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A jubilant crowd gathered at Queen & James beside Toronto City Hall upon news of the armistice ending First World War, November 11, 1918. Note the marching bands, evidently part of a parade.
