Bamberger’s Hat Shop

Jacob Bamberger opened his hat shop, The Avenue Store, in Sandusky in 1914 at 162 Columbus Avenue.  The Avenue Store had a big hat sale to celebrate its fifth anniversary in 1919.

You can see a portion of Bamberger's  Avenue Store in the picture below, taken in 1925. Eventually the name of the store became simply, Bamberger’s.

             

Jacob Bamberger was born in Germany in 1888, and he came to the United States in 1909. He and Alice Dreifuss were married in 1921. While on their honeymoon in Washington D.C., Mr. and Mrs. Bamberger were the guests of Congressman James T. Begg.  In 1934, the Bamberger store moved to West Market Street in the Hotel Rieger building. In the 1947 Twin Anniversary Edition of the Sandusky Register Star News, Mr. and Mrs. Bamberger  ran this advertisement.

Mrs. Alice Bamberger passed away in 1963. Jacob Bamberger operated the hat shop until the late 1960s. He died on February 22, 1972. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bamberger were members of the Oheb Shalom Temple, and were buried in the Jewish Cemetery on South Columbus Avenue. This lovely hat, once worn as an Easter bonnet, is now in the collections of the Follett House Museum. The hat was purchased at Bamberger’s store in the 1950s or 1960s.

Abraham Bear, A Leading Citizen of Sandusky

Pictured above are employees of Bear and Ruth in 1898. At the time this picture was taken, Abraham Bear and Jacob Ruth had a pork packing and provision business, with locations at 809-811 Water Street and 58 Railroad Street, which is now Shoreline Drive. Abraham Bear was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1842 to Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Bear. The family relocated to Sandusky when Abraham was very young. Nathan Bear had a grocery business in Sandusky, and then he formed a provision business with F.W. Alvord. By 1867, Abraham Bear joined his father Nathan in the fish business, known as Bear and Son. A few years later Abraham and Nathan Bear joined with Jacob Hosmer to form Hosmer, Bear and Company, which dealt in pork and fish packing as well as a commission business.

After the death of Nathan Bear, Abraham Bear formed a partnership with Jacob Ruth, and the company was known as Bear and Ruth. An article in the October 18, 1958 issue of the Sandusky Register stated that “For about forty years the name of Bear & Ruth meant a high quality of pork products. Their trademark of a bear was a familiar one in Sandusky and over the north central states. Hickory smoked, extra sugar cured hams and bacon were their specialty.”  When Abraham Bear died in 1919, the headline of his obituary which appeared in the November 4, 1919 Sandusky Register read “Leading Citizen, Abraham Bear, is Called by Death.”

Abraham Bear was buried in the Oheb Shalom Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Flora, and daughter, Mrs. Leo Asch of Philadelphia.

Moses Lebensburger, Sandusky Merchant

According to the book, History of Erie County, Ohio, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich, Moses Lebensburger was born in Bavaria, Germany, December 10, 1813, and came to America in 1840. Mr. Lebensburger married Caroline Monat in Dayton, Ohio in 1852. By 1860, Mr. and Mrs. Lebensburger were residing in Sandusky, Ohio, and Moses was a salesman at Leopold Monat’s men’s clothing store.  The Lebensburgers raised a large family of seven children. By 1867, Moses Lebensburger and Leopold Monat were partners in a store that sold ready-made men’s wear in West’s Block in downtown Sandusky. In 1875, Moses Lebensburger took over the men’s clothing business. In the 1870s, his store was at 161 and 163 Water Street. In 1880, Moses Lebensburger retired, and his sons took over the family business. For many years, Mayer and Abraham Lebensburger ran a menswear store on Columbus Avenue across from the old Post Office. The advertisement below appeared in the May 27, 1890 issue of the Sandusky Register.

On February 8, 1898, Moses Lebensburger died at the family residence on Washington Street. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Dr.Machol of Cleveland, Ohio, and burial was at the Oheb Shalom Cemetery. An obituary which appeared in the February 11, 1898 Sandusky Register reported that the last rites over the remains of Mr. Lebensburger were witnessed by many friends and family of the deceased.

The Oheb Shalom Cemetery

The Oheb Shalom Cemetery is located south of the Erie County Fairgrounds, at the intersection of Columbus and Dewitt Avenues, in Perkins Township (near the Ohio Veterans Home). The land for this cemetery was purchased in 1854, according to an article in the Sandusky Daily Commercial Register, October 4, 1854.The first burial at this Jewish cemetery was Max Teshner, a Civil War veteran who died December 9, 1864. Although his name is given as Max Teshner in the cemetery records, he is probably the person recorded in the Ancestry Library Edition database (a Clevnet database) as Michael Tashner, who enlisted December 4, 1861 as a private at age 18. He eventually was promoted to Full Principal Musician of Company G, 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On December 9, 1864, he died from wounds suffered in a battle at Nashville, Tennessee. He is buried in the cemetery with several other members of the Teshner family (sometimes spelled Teschner).

David and Rachael Frohman, along with some of their children, are also buried in the Oheb Shalom Cemetery. David was an uncle to the theatrical Frohmans, Charles and Daniel.

Moses Lebensberger, a native of Bavaria, Germany, migrated to Sandusky in 1857. He was involved in the clothing business in Sandusky for many years, first with a Mr. Minott, then with his son. The business, on Columbus Avenue in downtown Sandusky, is shown in the image below (from 1908). He is buried in the Oheb Shalom Cemetery with members of his family.
A booklet entitled The 100th Year History of Reform Judaism in Sandusky, Ohio is part of the Churches Collections in the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library. The interment records for the burials at the Oheb Shalom Cemetery are available on microfilm in the Archives Research Center.