TAPE DONE BY HERMAN EMERMAN

· Derek - Debbie (unintelligible)

 1977

Your mother has suggested that you may be interested in learning something about the Emmerman family. As you know, your grandmother Sybil was an Emmerman before she married your grandfather, Herschel Cricker. Your grandmother Sybil, being my cousin, makes you my cousins twice removed. The information which I am giving you is from memory, of course, and what I have picked up over the years. I do not pretend to know all of the family history, but I may have a few matters which you'll find of interest.

My father was Alexander Joseph Emmerman, who was a brother to your great-grandfather, Herman Emmerman. His name is the same as mine. The name Herman Donald Emmerman, that of your great- grandfather and mine, is a common name in the Emmerman family, although I never did learn why that name is so highly esteemed in the family. I know of at least two others of the some name.

One was a cousin of my father and your great - grandfather who operated a scrap yard in Maslan. He became associated with General Jacob Coxie, who led a march in the early part of the century to Washington by the unemployed. You may remember in your history books some reference to what is called Coxie's Army. If my recollection is correct, that occurred during the administration of William McKinley and was in protest of unemployment at that time.

Along about the 1930s, Coxie ran for senator and at that time the Herman D. Emmerman in Maslan was his campaign manager. Coxie lost that contest.

There was another Herman D. Emmerman from Chicago, who was also a cousin of my father and your great-grandfather. My information is that he was in the used machinery business and owned a hotel in Miami, Florida and became very wealthy. He endowed a dormitory at Brandeis University in Waltham, which was known as Emmerman Hall. I visited the campus at Waltham about ten years ago and saw the building there. So far as I know, it is still there.

The oldest of the twelve brothers that I spoke of a moment ago was Ben Emmerman, who came to this country probably between 1885 and 1890 and established a scrap iron yard in Erie, Pennsylvania. He was one of the pioneers of the scrap metal industry in this country. He had become sufficiently prominent by the time that he died that he rated an obituary in the New York Times. and the Cleveland Plain Dealer had quite an editorial recognizing how much he had done for the steel industry.

As Ben Emmerman prospered, he brought his other brothers and his family and other members of the family to this country and established them in scrap yards in and around the Great Lakes region. One of those yards was operated in Maslan, Ohio by the Herman D. Emmerman I spoke of not too long ago. Another one of those yards was operated in Canton and was owned by Ben Emmerman's son-in-law, Meyer Green, whose wife had been Lizzie Emmerman.

The other members of that firm were a Mr. Dreyer and a Sam Luntz That business was the predecessor of what is now known as the Luntz Steel Company. Mr. Luntz was related to Leah the wife of Ben Emmerman.

Your great - grandfather operated a scrap yard in Belair, 0hio, across the river, the Ohio River, that is, from Wheeling, West Virginia, where my father had a scrap yard at one time. They later merged in a scrap iron business in Wheeling which was operated by your great-grandfather, my father, and their brother-in-law, Jake Miller, who was married to their sister, Bessie.

That business terminated about the year 1908 or 1909, right after a bad depression that was called the Money Panic.

Your great-grandfather then settled in Newark (?), 0hio, where he operated a scrap yard.

Later, he and his family moved to Canton, where he became associated with the State Metals and Steel Company, which was then operated by Lewis Caven and later by Joseph Klein and Morris Klein. That business is no longer in existence.

Your great-grandfather became an expert in dismantling and salvaging obsolete factories and railroads.

Your grandmother Sybil has two sisters and a brother, but I will let her tell you about their successes. Other members of the Enmerman family settled in Cleveland and I have heard of one Emmerman family in Detroit, and one in Cincinnati. I have met the family in Detroit, spelled their names Immerman. I went to school with one son of that family and they appeared to be quite prosperous. They, too, were in the scrap metal business. I never did learn anything about the Cincinnati family.

The Ben Emmerman from Erie that I referred to was apparently the patriarch of the family and was referred to by my parents very respectfully as Uncle Ben and Tanta Leah. Apparently the whole family was grateful to the Uncle Ben because he had done so much in getting the rest of the family established.

There were at least two of the brothers who settled in Cleveland. I knew one member of that family, probably a son, that is a nephew of Ben Emmerman, who was a lawyer. His name was Adolph Emmerman and I understand that there are still Emmermans in Cleveland.

Over the years, and as I recall our father telling us, there was probably two families somewhere along the line, probably a remarriage by one of our ancestors. There were several members of that family, one of which was Sam Emmerman, who also had a scrap yard in Belair. He died at an early age and left his widow, Anna Emmerman, with small children.

She continued the operation of the scrap yard and did a very fine job in raising the children. There were three daughters and three sons.

One of the daughters was Frieda Arcove, who died recently. She was the mother of Shelly Alcove, who has the drugstore on 30th Street Northwest in Canton.

There was also another daughter, whose name is Miller, and they operate a furniture business in East Liverpool. Two of the sons have died, but one of them, Aaron, is still living in Cleveland.

Another member of that family was Max Emmerman, who for many years lived in New Jersey. He moved to Pittsburgh, where he died recently.

He has a daughter, whose name is Silverman, who still lives in Pittsburgh.

I understand they have a plastics manufacturing business.

Another member of that family was Mrs. Rental, who was the mother of Frieda Shipman, married to Carl Shipman. Their son is Arnold Shipman.

My father and your great-grandfather had two sisters. Bessie Miller was married to (intelligible SKIP IN TAPE) had three sisters. One of them was Bessie Miller, who was married to Jake Miller, referred to earlier.

Another one was Lina Hoffman, who has three daughters, two of them, Sally Moses and Doris Burke, live in Cleveland.

The other daughter, Rita Phillips, lives in New York. She has a son who lives in the Boston area.

Another sister was Margaret Katz who was the mother of Dorothy Ellen Katz and Rabbi Harold or Hyam Katz. 0ur father told me that he came from Kuvne Kuberna or province (?) and our cousin Ray, whose name now is Shambrum, told me that the city was Nishni Novgorod (?) which I checked on the map and find is now called Gorki. I understand that in the Russian language, the letter G is pronounced something like our letter H.

Our father told me that the family in Europe were millers and the farmers used to bring their grain to their mill to be ground.

The Emmermans household had branches in Africa and South America. You have met the Fishers from Rhodesia, and there is another family in South Africa.

They are part of that branch of the Emmermans to which Max Emmerman and Mrs. Randall belonged. I am informed that the Emmerman name was Klutz and the Africa and South America families still go under that name. I am not sure how the name was converted to Emmerman, except that there was a town probably not too far from the place where the family originated called Emmerheim, which was close to the Polish-German border and it very well could have been that that was the origin of the name. At that time, the immigration officials were not too literate and of course the people that came to this country could not speak the English language very well, nor understand it and it well could have been that when they were actually I do not know that that is a fact, that's merely speculation on my part.

I mentioned the name Sklorman, which I -- Mrs. Sklorman, I understand was a sister of Ben Emmerman and my grandfather, which of course would have been your great - grandfather. There is a Ruth Sklorman living in Canton who made a career out of working for the Ohio Power Company. She has a sister, Lina Brodell, who was married to Nat Brodell and lived in the Youngstown area for a long time.

She now moved back to Canton. Mrs. Sklorman and Mrs. Jake Kramer were sisters, being in Wooster, and is a successful insurance man there. Mrs. Jake Kramer was a sister to Mr. Sklorman. She was the mother of Dave Kramer, who was a lawyer, and Manny Kramer, still practicing law in Canton. She was also the mother of Dora Gottlieb, formerly Helling, and is the mother of Victor Helling, practicing law in Canton.

Another brother of that family was Marvin Kramer, who since has died. She was also the mother of Rose Fisher, who is married to Joe Fisher, who founded the Fisher Foods in Canton. They have several supermarkets in and around the city of Canton. Joe and Rose Fisher have two sons who operate the supermarkets.

Before I close this account, it also might be well for you to remember that I am the husband of Florence Emmerman, who has become very fond of you and your family and by this time is as much of an Emmerman as any other member of the Emmerman family.

If there is any virtue in being an Emmerman, she has acquired all of those virtues and I am sure that your grandmother will want to add much information in respect to the Emmerman family and also give an account of the history of her mother's family.

End of tape.

I AM NOT SURE WHO TRANSCRIBED THE TAPE BUT HAVE LEFT IT IN THE ORIGINAL.

ALL SPELLING, GRAMMAR AND TYPING MISTAKES ARE AS PER THE TYPE WRITTEN SHEETS.

PLEASE FILL ME IN ON WHO ALL THESE PEOPLE ARE?

REGARDS DAVID.