Last update of this page 2023.SEP.28
Kate had passed away earlier in the year. Jacob was despondent. The full extent of his agony cannot be known. He hanged himself inside the family home. He was found by Ida and Ruth, his two youngest daughters.
Below is his last note, written in Yiddish. It opens with “Meine Liebe Kinder.”
This is the translation.
My dear children,
I do this because of you, that you didn’t have to suffer too much. You have to pay the rent by December 1 from the $500. The rest you will put aside for yourselves. It will be easier to live. My life is ugly and wrecked. There’s nothing to wait for.
Your father, who can’t endure your pity. Nothing helps. Therefore, what else is left of my life?
* * * *
The rent payment is likely related to the mortgage, as the family owned the house. The $500 is almost certainly the death benefit from Jacob’s membership in the Brith Abraham society.
The house became the family automobile business, run by oldest son Nate, who was then 29. Daughter Ida finished high school in 1932 in Shickshinny and was sent to live with sister Edith Simon Levy, then married to Herman Levy and living in Binghamton. Daughter Ruth went to Tampa to live with sister Esther Simon Wohl, then married to Isador Wohl. Children Abe and Dora were teenagers in 1929 and close to self sufficient.
This obituary appeared in the Pittston Gazette, May 6, 1929. We have no other details about his being a professional bondsman. Jacob had three sons, but Philip (Pete) had died a few years before.
This news item shows the major details of his will, with the estate valued at $7,500. Nate got the garage business. Property on Front Street in Binghamton was left to Edith. No other details of the housing arrangement for Edith are known. The 1930 United States census shows Edith and her family living at 2 McDonald Street. The balance of the estate was left to Katie, but since Katie predeceased Jacob, Nate was given the letters of administration. This meant that Nate became the executor. The 1930 census shows that the Mocanaqua house was valued at $4,000
There was a complexity with Jacob’s estate. Jacob had a remaining debt to Abram Salsburg.