Ezra "Edward" Mandel was born July 9, 1900 in Chicago. He had a wonderful voice and was being trained as a cantor at the local synagogue. But that didn't work out. He was also artistically talented. He graduated from the 8th grade and attended night classes at the Chicago Art Institute. But when his mother died suddenly in 1917 the family broke up and he took many jobs to help support his siblings. In 1919 he joined the Army Air Corps and was stationed at Kelly Field in Texas. After the army he and a friend tried homesteading on an acreage in Colorado which didn't work out. Then he returned to Chicago and opened his own business of furniture refinishing. There he met his future wife. In Cheyenne, Wyoming, May 2, 1936 Ed married Ina "Marie" Klingaman. They lived in Denver. Marie had a daughter from a previous marriage, Elaine, born in 1928.
For several years after Ed closed his furniture refinishing shop the family owned and operated a private club, Belleview Park, in Cherry Hills where they catered to families and groups for daytime swimming and evening barbeque/swimming parties. Ed and Marie had three children together:Lois Jane, Edward Franklin and Claire Elizabeth. In 1981 Ed and Marie retired to Arizona where he died in 1988 of complications of emphysema brought on by years of smoking and she died in 1993 of asthma. Their ashes were spread there.

Harry Arthur was born October 10, 1902 in Chicago. He was about 15 when his mother died and he went with his brothers to live with his mother's cousin Sarah Dulsky Barnett for at least three years. He married Claire Louise Adams in 1941. They had no children. Harry graduated from Northwestern University as a Second Lieutenant due to his background in the R.O.T.C. For a time he was the Commandant of the Madison Street Armory in Chicago. He was in the 32nd division of the 133rd Battalion. Harry was very active in the South Pacific during WWII. After the war he was assigned to the staff of General MacArthur in Japan as a Lieutenant Colonel. While there he had a severe stroke. After his recovery he retired from the service as a full Colonel. He and Claire moved to Denver where he died in 1960 from a heart attack. Harry was buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Chicago. Claire stayed in Denver for a while after his death but eventually returned to Massachusetts where she had been reared.

Julius was born in 1904 in Chicago. He married Agnes (?) about 1941. They had no children. Jule, lived with his mother's cousin, Sarah Dulsky Barnett and her husband Frank for about three years after his mother died. His father, Abe had remarried. Jule wanted to join the army and when he was 16 he lied about his age, ran away and signed up. Later he left the army and joined the Navy. While serving in the Navy he developed rheumatoid arthritis and became severely crippled. He was sent to Hot Springs, Arkansas for treatment including gold shots, etc. but never recoverd his health. He was forced to retire from the service. For a time he was a plant manager for a manufacturer in Morris, Illinois. He and Agnes retired to Denver where he died in 1957 of uremic poisoning from the medications for pain he had taken for many years.

Faye was born in 1907 in Chicago. Her mother died in March 1917, when she was just nine years old. After that loss Faye lived with her father and his new wife. But she was unhappy there and then lived with several other relatives, including her father's brother, Philip and his wife and some other cousins of her parent's, the Dalsey/Dunsky family until she married Max Egert. Max and Faye had two children, Maurice and Audrey.For a while Faye’s nephew, Leroy “Lee” Goldberger lived with their family after his mother, Minnie Berger Goldberger died. For many years Faye worked for the office of the Mayor of Chicago. She and Max retired to Florida but after Max died she returned to Chicago where she died in 1987. Audrey died in the 1990's of diabetes and never married.

LOCATIONS: Abraham was born and grew up near the borders of what was then Russia, Poland and Lithuania. He arrived in the U.S. from Bremen, Germany on the S.S. Oldenberg Jan.21,1899 after a two week voyage. His original departure was from the village of Lipsk in Suwalki. His occupation was listed as a joiner, a carpenter who did cabinetry. His age was shown as 29. The next record of Abe found in this country so far is in 1907. This was on the birth certificate for his daughter Faye,who was born in July of that year where the family is shown living at #10 Solon Place in Chicago. (Note: Solon Place has been changed to Aberdeen St.)
Next, the 1910 Census lists the family's address as 1111 Franks St. Building "N". By 1913 they had moved again to a building on South Wood Street. It was near West Park #1. The original Cub's ballpark, before it was moved to Wrigley Field, was one block away. This is where they lived when their son, Edward received his bar mitzva. The children attended the John M. Smythe School. Later the County Hospital was built on that block.
After that they were living at 1630 S. Ridgeway Avenue in the Lawndale area which was about two miles or so west of the Loop. This is the address given on the death certificate of Leah in 1917. After Leah died, they moved across the street on Ridgeway and lived there a short time. Then Abe remarried and the family broke up. It is not known where Abe lived after that. He has not been found in the 1920 census.

DEATH: Abraham died of pneumonia on June 27, 1927 and he was buried in the Waldheim Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.

FURTHER NOTES: Shortly after his marriage Abraham was drafted by the Russian Army. He had a sabre fight with another soldier and cut off the fellow's ear. He was arrested and held. He wrote to his father, Haskell/Casper or Kasper, who was already in the U.S.A. and asked for his father's help with money to escape to the United States. He came to Chicago and joined his father and his Uncle Sam and other relatives in 1899. Leah arrived later in 1899 according to information on the Fed. Census of Illinois of 1910. The Census also shows that Minnie and Bessie accompanied their mother to the USA in 1899. The ship that brought Leah and the girls has not been identified yet nor has the family been found on the Illinois Census records of 1900. Since their son, Edward was born July 9th of that year at the Michael Reese Hospital, they must have been living in Chicago at that time. Edward, Harry, Julius and Faye were all born in Chicago.

Abe became heavily involved in the beginnings of the Union Movements in Chicago that were forming early in the 20th Century. Because of labor problems there, he was often unable to find work. This caused financial hardships for the family, especially when the men were on strike. Being a carpenter and a cabinet maker he was able to find work at the shipyards in Pennsylvania but this took him away from home for long periods of time. Frequently he was called to New York at Ellis Island where he helped with translation for the new arrivals as he could speak, read and write Yiddish, Polish, Russian, German and English.

Abe's son, Edward remembered his father as a happy and idealistic man who stood six feet tall. When Leah died suddenly in 1917 from diabetes the family soon broke up. The younger children went to live with relatives and the older ones made their own way in life from that time. Not long afterwards, Abe remarried but it was not a happy situation and he was soon divorced.

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APPRECIATION IS DUE FAYE CORNET WHO HAS HELPED WITH THIS RESEARCH

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