GROSSMANN-WEISINGER GENEALOGY

THE LAST 150 YEARS

Grossmann Coat of Arms

Coats of Arms were developed in the Middle Ages. The original colors of the GROSSMANN ARMS is black with 3 GOLD STARS, 3 BLACK MOUNTAINS placed side-by-side with a BLACK BORDER. The SHIELD itself is bordered in GOLD. Above the shield and helmet is the CREST which is described as: A GOLD STAR between 2 BLACK ELEPHANT TRUNKS each charged with 2 GOLD horizontal BANDS. (Gold denotes generosity, valor & perseverance. Source: RIETSTAP's ARMORIAL GENERAL.)

Great-grandparents Frank M & Louisa Grossmann

"Frank & Louisa Family" picture provided by FRANK (NMI) Grossmann, great-grandson of Frank (seated in photo) & grandson of Frank (standing, far left) and HELEN Holzhaur Grossmann, Bethpage, NY. (Thank you!)

The Grossmann - Reis Connection

~ 1900 ~

(Above - front row) Frank & Louisa Reis Grossmann and sons (L to R) Frank Max(18), Bernard Joseph(14), Charles Henry (16), and George Edwin (17). In 1900 (about when this pictures was taken) Frank Grossmann had been married 19 years to Louisa Reis Grossmann. He was forty years old, owned (mortgage free) the house he lived in at 31 Hemlock Street, Brooklyn Ward 23, Kings County, New York.

He was a carpenter by trade and a good provider for his family which included four sons. The young men were employed year-round; Frank M. as a carpenter with his father and the others worked in a factory. Louisa was the home-maker/mother/wife. Born in September 1862 in Germany, she immigrated to the United States (1864) when she was 2 years old. The elder Frank was born in New York City in 1860.

~ 1910 ~
By 1910 Frank (50) had built and moved the family to 57 Hemlock Street. Son Frank M. married Mary Elizabeth Lyons-Farr about 1902 and had two sons; Frank H. and Eugene J. and had their own place at 37 Hemlock Street (built by the Grossmanns). He rented the upstairs apartment to John Gotterup, who immigrated from Denmark, his American-born wife Minnie and their children Howard and Julia. Their neighbors at 31 Hemlock Street were the Hendershots and McGoverns. The McGoverns had eight children, five girls and three boys. The Hendershots had two daughters. On the other side at 39 Hemlock Street were the Goetzs, Betzs and Braggs. Nine children were in the household which included three generations. Fifteen people lived in the house. Philip & Ursula Betz were the grandparents and immigrated from Germany. By 1910 Frank and Louisa’s two oldest son’s (Frank & George) had married and left the nest at 57 Hemlock Street. Bernard (“Bernie”), now 24, was employed as a laborer for the gas company. Charles (“Chas”), 27, was in construction. Both still lived at home. Louisa and Frank also took in their nephew William H. Reis (10). William attended school.

Their neighbors at 61 Hemlock Street were August and Elizabeth Nida. They had three daughters; Crystal, Caroline, and Marion. The neighbors at 63 Hemlock Street (another Grossmann-built house) were Arthur and Rose Smedley. Their boarders were Frank’s son George, now 27, and his new bride Louise Beros Grossmann, 24. In 1909 he was out of work for eight weeks but that didn’t stop him from getting married. George was employed as a steamfitter (pipefitter /plumber) on houses.

~ 1920 ~
In 1920 Frank and Louisa were still living at 57 Hemlock Street. Bernie and Charles had moved on. In the meantime they took in William Reis’ three siblings. William, now 20 and employed as a machinist, was joined by his sister Gladys Reis (14) and twins Charlotte and Frank Reis (12). Gladys, Charlotte and Frank attended school.

Frank, 60, was still working as a carpenter and paying a mortgage on the home. Louisa, still busy rearing children, this time nieces and nephews. His son Frank M. 38, and Mary Elizabeth were still living at 37 Hemlock Street, now with three children after the birth of Mary E. in 1912.

Meanwhile, George E., now 36, wife Louise 34, and a daughter Georgiana 9, were living in an apartment at 434 Elderts Lane in Brooklyn located at the corner with 190 McKinley Avenue. George was still working as a steamfitter. Living with them at the time was George B. Falvey 18, a cousin. He worked as a clerk for an insurance company. They all paid rent to her parents Louis 56, and Mary Beros 56, who lived in the other apartment. A sister, Lorraine 12, still lived at home.

Bernie married around 1916. He moved up the ladder at his job and by 1920 was an inspector at the gas company. He, his wife Catherine 26, lived at 405 Etna Street in Brooklyn with their son, Charles who was nearly 4 years old by then. He owned the house but still paid on the mortgage. He rented an apartment to John and Pauline Costa and their daughter Mildred.

(Note: There were no records of Charles after the 1910 Federal Census was taken. Bernie and Charles appeared to have been close. Growing up two years apart, they worked together in a factory from their mid-teens; and living at home with Frank and Louisa thru their mid-twenties. It’s seems suspicious to me that Bernie would name his first-born son after his brother unless it was possibly to memorialize his name because of an early death. It was traditional, almost required, to name the first-born child after the father. There are numerous instances of it throughout the Grossmann family tree. Even Bernie’s older brother George named his first-born daughter Georgianna.)

~ 1930 ~
By 1930 Frank was 70 years old and living alone. Sometime between the 1920 and 1930 US census, Louisa had passed. Their sons had moved on and started families of their own. The nieces and nephews by Louisa’s brother were also on their own.

Frank M. Grossmann 48, was living at 37 Hemlock Street and was employed as a custodian for the city. He was father to four children after the birth of Leonard W. in 1921. The eldest, Frank H. Grossmann 26, married Caroline Biermann in 1924 and was living at 10-671 95th Street, Ozone Park, Queens. He made a living as an inspector in a factory. At the time they had one son, Frank 5, and a daughter Dolores, 4. Eugene 24, was still living at home. He was employed as a carpenter and was the boss (probably taking over the family business after Frank got the job with the city.) George E. Grossmann 47, paid rent ($30 a month) at 434 Elderts Lane, Brooklyn with Louise 43, and a daughter, Georgianna 19. She lived at home. He was a plumber.

Bernard J. Grossmann 44, rented their home ($40 a month) at 278 Mellville Road, East Farmingdale in Suffolk County, New York with his wife Catherine C. 36, a son Charles E. 14, and daughter Louise P., 7. He had a civil service job. Radio’s availability was coming into being about this time and Bernie as well as the rest of the family excluding the elder Frank had one in their homes.

In 1930 William H. Reis 30, was living at 355 Himrod Street in Brooklyn at the corner with Wyckoff Avenue with his wife Hilda, 25. It was an apartment house and they paid $28 per month in rent. They had married in 1923. William was a mechanic for a motor truck company.

Frank and Charlotte Reis (twins at birth) were living together with their respective spouses at 116-04 South Ozone Park in Queens. The rent was $35 a month. Charlotte married John A. Gremer in 1929. Frank married John’s sister Frances Gremer in 1927. Their son Frank L. was born in 1928.
~~~

My father, Leonard W. Grossmann, was the youngest of four children of Frank Max (b: 1881) and Mary Elizabeth (b:Lyons) Farr Grossmann. Frank M. (left) was a building contractor and owned the house at 37 Hemlock Street in Brooklyn, New York. "That's where your father learned all his carpentry skills," my mother used to say. Frank M. was 39 years old when my father was born. The area around Hemlock Street at the time was a German neighborhood also known as New Lots, a part of New Brooklyn, the area developing as the population spread further from Manhattan and "Old" Brooklyn.

His first-born son, Frank H. married Caroline Biermann and lived at 63 Hemlock, a home built by the Grossmanns but owned privately. They rented an apartment there. Sister Marie later married Charles Erdmann, a New York City policeman, and lived with Mary Elizabeth "Mame" after Frank Sr.'s death. Eventually they would relocate upstate to Deposit, NY. His brother Gene would move to Valley Stream, NY and Frank H. settled in New Jersey. After his WWII service ended Leonard W. returned to Brooklyn, moved to Bethpage for a brief time; then moved upstate to Sanford, New York.

Warren was a part-time bartender at the Shamrock Inn on Loomis Hill in the 60s and 70s owned at the time by Bill and Ann Scott.

From September 1941 until September of 1942 he worked as a Chauffeur at Garage-Canade at 118th Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. He enlisted in the Navy at age 21 on September 23, 1942 and served 3 yrs 1 month & 17 days. He received an Honorable Discharge October 9, 1945. During that time he was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Ranger in the North Atlantic. Between 1942 and 1945 he was enroute, stationed at or pulling temporary duty in Newport RI, Newfoundland, Boston, Norfolk & Brooklyn. In Jan of 1943 the Ranger was on the Casablanca Trip to North Africa.

He was left handed. Educated in Catholic schools, he was forced to write with his right hand by nuns who would strike him with a ruler if he did otherwise.
After moving to upstate New York in the mid-1950's he worked in construction on the Cannonsville Dam Project, later for the Town of Tompkins Higway Department and finally in maintenance for the state college SUNY at Delhi, New York. He was a tap dancer and talented drummer, playing for many years with The Westeraires at the Bell Hotel in Schenevus, NY.

Aviation Electrician's Mate 3C Leonard W. Grossmann 707-12-79
V6 United States Navy

37 Hemlock Street, Brooklyn 1940s.

Mame with grandchildren Pat & Eileen Erdmann.

Mame's husband Frank Max Grossmann, my grandfather and a local contractor, built the original family home. After the war my parents married and returned to Brooklyn. By the end of the decade the neighborhood was changing. Dad's brothers, who were several years older had left Brooklyn. Mom's brother and sister had married and moved out on the island to Oceanside and Bethpage as did their mother and her new husband, Elmer Moebius. We lived for a short time on Pershing Avenue in Bethpage before moving upstate and saying good-bye to Greater New York City and Brooklyn forever.

37 Hemlock Street, Brooklyn 1997.

(photo left) - Lucille Tootie Grossmann relaxing at home 1997. She enjoyed reading and doing crossword puzzles.

My mother, Lucille Angelina Weisinger Grossmann was born June 8, 1925 in Brooklyn, the oldest daughter of Gladys Ann Finley and Edward John Weisinger. As an adult she moved to upstate New York with her husband and family. Sister, Dolores (Baur) and brother Edward, settled in Bethpage and Oceanside, respectively.

They grew up in several locations in Brooklyn. "We were always moving," she would recall in later years. "and my mother would always take the top floor apartment." She remembers always having to climb stairs. She was very active and could often be found playing handball in the streets.
(photo right) - Mother at Forest Park in Brooklyn, Easter Sunday 1945, two before months before her marriage.

Edward J. Weisinger Sr. (b: May 22, 1901) was the son of Fred and Louise Vilard Weisinger. He was the fifth-born son of six boys and had three older sisters. A WWI veteran, he received an Honorable Discharge from the army at Camp Upton, NY on May 15, 1919. He got a job at C.H.Brown & Company. "He installed rugs for a living," my mother said. He was an avid fisherman preferring deep sea fishing in the ocean off Long Island. He married Gladys Ann Finley and after 13 years they separated and later divorced. In later years he was a truck driver and his last address was 217 East Main Street, Babylon (Queens), NY.

Gladys Ann Finley Weisinger Peck Moebius was born November 23, 1903 at 87 Madison Street in Brooklyn; the daughter of Lucy Brown Finley. Gladys was married three times. Her second husband, George Peck "was a very nice man", my mother would say later. After George died my grandmother married for a final time to Elmer R. Moebius, an engineering assistant from Pennsylvania, retired from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The date was October 10, 1956. They were married for 27 years when Grandma died at 80 years.

My parents spent a lot of time at the beach. In this picture Warren, sister Marie Erdmann & wife Lucille "Tootie" taken July 22, 1948, hang out at 111th Street, Rockaway Beach. Although my mother loved the beach she rarely ventured into the water. She was not a swimmer, preferring the safety and calm of dry land and the feel of sand between her toes. "I like solid ground beneath my feet," she said.

Pictured here at the Club 880 on Jamaica Avenue in Brooklyn NY in April 1946 (from left:) my mother Lucille A. Weisinger Grossmann & father Leonard W. Grossmann, friends Mary & Sonny, (back:) Brud Crinion, my mother's sister Dolores, Bill F. and my mother's brother (far right:) Edward J. "Buddy" Weisinger.

Other popular stomping grounds included Forest Park (above) and the Club 880 (left) on Jamaica Avenue. My parents were married June 11, 1945 in Norfolk, Virginia.

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