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1917
1917
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Two significant events take place this year.
1--Serki Blitzer, Adolph's sister, immigrates and moves to Toledo, staying w/Lena and Adolph, at 2376 Vermont Ave
Sept 25, 1917 Serki marries Isser Malamad and live on State Street
2--Another significant event takes place this year--Chana, age 65, becomes recertified to practice midwifery. She advertises by placing her address and name, "Anna Reiter, midwife" in the Toledo city directory, separate from her husband Fischel's listing.
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Serki and Adolph Blitzer
Czernovitz, Bukovina, Austria - c 1911 |
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The following excerpt from my article "In search of my grandmother Chana, a graduated midwife" explains what took place. (complete article--see chapter 5, page 2)
……"A few years later I visited my elderly cousin Fanny Reiter Levy. She recalled Chana traveling with my aunt Lena to the Ohio State Medical Board in Columbus, Ohio where she took the 'midwifery' exam, in German, and was told she had a perfect score. They told my grandmother that her medical knowledge was such she could have passed the physician's exam, too, but because she didn't speak English (although she read and wrote in several languages) could never practice in an American hospital. Chana continued to practice among the immigrants for 10 more years, retiring at the age of 75.
One question continued to haunt me. Why did my grandmother, at this stage of her life, decide to return to the practice?
I found the answer in the Toledo City Directories, 1913-1928. They show my grandparents Philip and Chana Reiter starting out in a two-family house they shared with one of their sons. Over the next few years, they moved several times to smaller lodgings, yet the 1920s economy was booming. Finally, in 1928 (Philip died in 1921) Chana was renting the back bedroom of someone's home. I imagine the economics of her situation when she arrived to Toledo was a jolt to her self-image--for the first time Chana and Philip were dependent on their sons for sustenance.
Over the years, I gathered more information. When Chana lived with us (she moved from relative to relative), she would remain in her bedroom until formally dressed, as if going to work. Her wig, which she made from her own hair (my cousin Sadie Reiter Rubin told me Chana made wigs and later I learned this was a special art form) would be combed, and her gold watch and brooch in place. One day when my oldest brother, then about 16, sneaked a cigarette, Chana in her 80s said, "Let me have one, I used to smoke them in Europe."
Chana was a strict orthodox Jew, who read the Bible daily until she died. What was she doing and where could she have been in the late 1800s that smoking was acceptable for women? I never found the answer, but I surmise my disciplined grandmother clung to her professional persona as best she could. Contrarily, Chana could not change her ways, live as a housewife, and was chided for this by the female "in-laws" of the family. Petty jealousies rather than appreciation and/or respect for Chana and her accomplishments prevailed among them.
Thus, life in Chana's latter years is a sad contrast to what it had been in the old country. Perhaps her comment (again in her 80s) made to my sister who was about 12 sums up Chana's feelings: "A girl doesn't have to know too much in this world." Was this her way of expressing the difficulty she experienced juggling the roles of wife, mother, mother-in-law, professional, and immigrant?"
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1917
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Adolph-Lena, tailor, house 403 E. Bancroft St
Julius-Lena--#3 1952 Franklin Ave /Woodruff Street--6 apartment building
Anna Reiter, MIDWIFE, house 536 E. Woodruff Ave; separate listing--Philip, same address
Louis-Millie Reiter--Francis/Fanny Reiter, 536 Woodruff Street
Serki Blitzer (Adolph's sister) immigrates and moves to Toledo, staying w/Lena and Adolph, 2376 Vermont Ave. Sept 25, 1917 Serki and Isser Malamad marry, live on State Street
Max-Esther Leah Reinstein (tailor) house 206 W Delaware Ave
Louis Reinstein, tailor, house 2373 Vermont Ave
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