Family Stories: Kantorovich

The Kann Brothers of Lyakhovichi and Western Pennsylvania
By Beatrice Rubin, from the research of Beverly Lipsitz, copyright retained 2008

Bev Lipsitz uncovered this memoir illuminating the lives of the brothers of her great-grandmother. The Kann (ne Kantorovich) Brothers of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, was written by Beatrice Ruben the daughter of Western Pennsylvanian pioneer Saul Kann. Thanks Bev for sharing it!

This postcard appeared in its publisher's catalog in 1908 but was taken prior to the 1907 Etna Flood. That disaster destroyed homes and businesses and forced the Kanns to try their next business venture in Pittsburgh's Mill District.

A manifest fragment from the Graf Waldersee at the port of New York reporting Saul's Henry Street home address, that he had been in the US five years, and that the 28 year old merchant had presumably left most of his money with his Lyakhovichi family as he was entering the US with just twelve dollars on hand. Had he been traveling to see his parents? To attend a happy family event or a sad one? Help us find more documentation that would inform us as to the reasons someone would travel to the old country in the Russian Czarist period.

The article below on the Great Etna Flood is out of copyright. But I acknowledge the great service the site www.gendisasters.com has done in providing information on events that touched our ancestors lives.

The Washington Post, Washington, DC 15 Mar 1907 THOUSANDS ARE HOMELESS Conditions in Pittsburgh and Vicinity Worst in History. Train, Trolley, and Telephone and Telegraph Service Badly Crippled—Theaters Closed—Guests Use Skiffs to Reach Hotels—Property Damage, $1,000,000 in Pittsburg and $2,000,000 in Connellsville District—Factories Idle.

Pittsburg, Pa., Mar. 14.—The greatest flood in the history of Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Eastern Ohio is being experienced to-night. Thirty-one lives have been lost in the various swollen streams and flooded district, and property damage incalculable has been sustained.

A large part of Pittsburgh is submerged, and 100,000 persons are thrown out of employment.

At 7 o’clock the water reached a stage of 34.6 feet at Herrs Island, and 34.3 feet at Market street. The water continues to rise steadily about two-tenths of an inch an hour. At the headwaters the rivers are now stationary. The crest of the flood reached here about midnight, when 35 feet was recorded. This stage is 13 feet above the danger mark. The river is now higher than it has ever been for seventy-five years.

At 4 o’clock this afternoon the thirty-mile ice gorge at Parker, Pa., broke and is moving toward the city. The immense gorge in the Clarion River has also started down stream. Both gorges, however, are old and the ice is soft. On this account the arrival here is not expected to cause much damage.

Many Stores Inundated.

Conditions in this city to-night are the worst ever recorded. The whole lower down-town district is underwater and people are moving about in wagons and skiffs. Duquesne way, Pennsylvania avenue and Liberty street, running parallel with the Allegheny River, are submerged to a depth of several feet. Hundreds of business houses located in this district are flooded. In a number of instances the water is almost up to the second flood.

The Gavets, Belasco, Alvin, and Bijou theaters are surrounded by water, and will be unable to open for several days. Water has destroyed or greatly damaged the power plants of all four theaters.

The patrons in the Colonial, Lincoln Annex, and Anderson hotels are either marooned or compelled to use skiffs to and from the buildings.

The car service between Pittsburgh and Allegheny was suspended early to-day, and to-night the scenes at the Union Depot of the Pennsylvania Railroad are almost beyond description. Great placards announcing the inauguration of a special train service to Allegheny are displayed all through town. At the depot are thousands of people, a chaotic mass of humanity, shouting and pushing in their efforts to board these trains for Allegheny or the many suburbs adjacent to the city. Patrolmen in large numbers are endeavoring to bring some kind of order out of the situation, but without avail.

Original article abbreviated here.