The Jews of Windsor, 1790-1990. Jonathan V. Plaut

17, 1912, married 20-year-old Millie Berenholz on March 24, 1935.⁶⁵

      Isaac Weingarden eventually established a second-hand store, which he later sold to his brother-in-law, David Meretsky who eventually ran it in partnership with his brother-in-law, Joshua Gitlin.

       The Kovinsky Pioneers

      Jacob, Joseph, and Samuel Kovinsky and their three sisters — Yenta, Lena, and Lottie — were born in Suwalk Guberna, Russian Poland. Although their parents, Frank and Molly, never immigrated to North America, every one of their children did. Joseph Kovinsky, born in 1875, must have learned about Windsor and the opportunities it had to offer from the Barowsky’s — Aaron Meretsky’s parents-in-law — at whose tannery he had worked in Poland. He arrived in New York in 1887. There he met and married Annie Subelsky. Their first-born son, Simon, died in New York as a small child; their second son, Abraham, also born in New York in 1894, later became a physician. He changed his last name to Kovan and was married three times. It is uncertain where Joseph and Annie’s eldest daughter, Lottie, was born. It may still have been in New York or her birthplace may have been Windsor, since her parents had decided to move there in about 1894. She eventually married Ed Wolfe and they had four children — Roy, Morton, Stanley, and Charles.⁶⁶

      Despite the fact that the City Directory listed a number of Kovinskys, Kovenskys, Kovanskys, and Kowinskys between 1893 and 1894, Joseph likely was the only one to permanently settle there.⁶⁷ First working as a peddler, he later became a scrap iron dealer, while both his brothers eventually went into the junk business — Samuel in Chatham, Ontario and Jacob in Pontiac, Michigan. One or two of their sisters either took up residence on the Canadian or on the American side of the Detroit River.

      While living in Windsor, Joseph and Annie Kovinsky had eight more children. Their second daughter, Sarah, was born in 1898; she eventually married Dr. Harry Lewin. Their third girl, Betty, arrived two years later; she became the wife of Morris Passman. Their fifth child was stillborn, but in 1901, Annie gave birth to twin boys — Benjamin and Charles. It is unknown who eventually became Benjamin’s wife. However, since Charles was killed in an auto accident at the age of 21, it is unlikely that he ever married. Another son, Tonnie, was born in 1904. He married Irene LaPointe, who bore him two children — William and Anna. In 1909, Annie Kovinsky gave birth to Milton; he married Betty Salsky in 1929 and they had two children — Iris, born in 1932, and Henry, in 1940. The Kovinskys’ youngest child was Minnie, who became the wife of Arthur Hirschman in June 1928.⁶⁸

      Joseph Kovinsky’s brother-in-law, Louis Subelsky, also had come to Windsor, some time after 1897. Records indicate that he first worked as a peddler and he later acted as an agent for Stelo Washed Wipers, but also ran a scrap metal and waste paper business, which his son, Harold, took over on April 1, 1923.⁶⁹

      Joseph Kovinsky and all the members of his family became well-respected and prominent citizens of Windsor. Like the Meretskys and the others who had come from Suwalk and Shtabin, their transition from the old world to the new had been successful because they had consistently strengthened their family ties.

       The Gellers

      Not all the immigrants had come to Windsor through family connections. Samuel Geller, born in Kolaby-Brody, then Austria, in 1862, was a “lone pioneer.” Having taken a circuitous route via New York, Halifax, and Toronto, he finally landed in this fledgling community, where he became a city peddler. He soon married Mary Borof, who bore him thirteen children: Max, Francis, Edward, Donna, Eileen, Helen, Jacob, William, Byron, Maurice, Milton, Dorothy, Milton, and Peter. Samuel Geller died on October 31, 1931.

      Samuel’s cousin, Jacob Joseph Geller, also had arrived in Windsor prior to 1900. However, he went back to his native Austria to find a wife, but never returned to Windsor. Another relative of the Geller family was Jacob Topkin. Listed as a Windsor peddler between 1891 and 1900, additional records indicate that he filed a lawsuit against the city in 1895, charging that he had received a short weight of coal. He won the case and, subsequently, was awarded damages in the amount of $60.⁷⁰

       Other Pioneer Settlers

      Most of the Jewish immigrants arrived in Windsor during the late 1800s. However, little or nothing is known about those who stayed only for a comparatively short time and then left for Detroit or other cities in the United States. Among them was Joseph Mintz, who had been brought over by his brother-in-law, Aaron Meretsky. Working in Windsor as a junk dealer, he and his wife, Annie, lived at 116 Mercer Street. Ten years later, they moved to Detroit, where all their children were born. Their daughters now live in Cleveland, Ohio, while their son took up residence in Oak Park, Michigan.⁷¹

      Joseph Labetsky was among those Jews who also moved to Detroit during the 1900s. However, he must have maintained his ties with Windsor’s Jewish community, since some people remembered him as the very religious and knowledgeable gentleman who, occasionally, conducted their High Holiday services. He also must have regularly returned to the farm he owned in Belle River, since others recalled that he often brought strawberries from there to his Windsor friends.⁷²

      Typical for those Jews who remained in Windsor is the fact that the majority, at first, made peddling the mainstay of their existence. Michael Rosen, born in 1866, peddled scrap iron before going into business with one of the Meretskys.⁷³ The sign above their store read: “Meretsky and Rosen. Highest price for rags, scrap iron and copper, brass, rubber etc. phone 234.” Shown in 1896 as a resident of 50 Howard Street (Avenue), Rosen moved to 30 Assumption Street three years later.⁷⁴ He was married to the sister of Michael Meretsky’s wife Rachel, née Kahn. Two of their children eventually settled in the United States — Samuel in Nashville, Tennessee, and Monte in Indiana; their daughter, Sadie, died at the age of 21. Michael Rosen passed away on January 17, 1944.⁷⁵

      Photo courtesy of Mr. I. M. [Slaw] Meretsky

      The sign here reads “Meretsky & Rosen, Richest Prices Fine Rags, Scrap Iron/Metals/Copper/Brass/Rubber.” Pictured from the left are Michael Meretsky, Michael Rosen, Aaron Meretsky, and an unknown person, 1890.

      Meyer (formerly Inegrove) Wine, whose name appeared in Windsor’s City Directory as early 1891, was a resident of 91 Mercer Street.⁷⁶ After pursuing Hebrew studies in his native Poland, he had planned to enter the rabbinate there. However, since it had been his fervent wish to come to Canada, he abandoned that idea, boarded a boat, and eventually settled in Windsor; the rest of his family followed some time later. He married Reva Leah Stolnitsky, who bore him six children: two boys — Harry and Louis — and four daughters. Sara later became Mrs. Blaustein, Mary married a Mr. Pregerson, Bessie became the wife of a Mr. Glick, and Julia that of a Mr. Rabin. For the first two or three years after coming to Windsor, Meyer Wine worked as a peddler. He then went into business with Berman Sarasohn, apparently a relative of Rebeccah, Herman Benstein’s second wife. Since he had chosen to use his first name as his last, their clothing store became known as the Berman-Wine Company.⁷⁷

      Joseph and Elizabeth Stein, parents of one daughter, were first listed as Windsor residents in 1895. Joseph may have had a sister, Yetta, whose name appeared in the 1891 city directory as a clerk, working and boarding in Detroit. Abraham Stein, possibly a relative, apparently, entered the produce business in 1899. He and his wife, Lena, were the parents of one daughter.⁷⁸

      Possibly related to the Steins, were Benjamin and Nathan Kaplan. Although little is known about Benjamin, except that he was a resident of 127 Goyeau Street in 1897, Nathan, born in 1859, is remembered as a bearded gentleman, who served Windsor as a shochet for a time. He and his wife, whose first name is unknown, had four children — three sons and one daughter.⁷⁹

      Joseph Stone was related to Katherine Meretsky. However, around 1895, there may have been two Jewish men with that name in Windsor. Between 1905 and 1911, one apparently earned his living as a peddler and milkman, residing first on Mercer and then on Aylmer Street. The other Joseph Stone was also a peddler, but the records show that he died in Detroit’s