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May 17, l990
Mrs. Marcia D. Teschner 255 Fort Hill Road Scarsdale, N. Y. 10583 Darling Marshala, |
 MOSES OELBAUM, Estelle Oelbaum Dinhofer's Father |
If we were "have nots" when I was small, I wasn't aware of it because the "haves" didn't have much more than we did. Whenever my father had something worthwhile peddling, he rented a pushcart, part time. If business was good we lived in a whole tenement flat of five rooms. We called it "our rooms" not an " apartment," because sometimes it was only a part of the floor, three rooms, a front room a kitchen and a bedroom, the front room larger, the kitchen then the bedroom--a typical railroad flat. In 1910 we lived in "rooms" at 292 Delancy Street about the time they finished the blasting and building of the Williamsburg Bridge. From there we moved to 258 Delancey, a better house because it was only three stories high and we didn't have to walk up so many flights to get to the top floor. We were living there when I graduated from P. S. 110. I liked the three room apartments best because of the front room which was mine with the rest of my brothers and sisters. If we had relatives (greenhorns) boarding with us after their emigration from Europe, before they learned English, learned a trade and began to support themselves, we all moved to the rear room and my mother and father slept in the kitchen. |
 ROSE KIRSCHENBLUTH OELBAUM, Estelle's Mother |
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| Saul(1859-1929) and Sarah (Sussman) Dinhofer (1865-1929), parents of Julius "Jay" Dinhofer (1887-1947), Estelle Dinhofer's first husband and father of Sylvia, Marcia and Milton | Saul & Sarah Dinhofer, Estelle (Oelbaum) Dinhofer, Milton Dinhofer, Marcia Dinhofer and Sylvia Dinhofer, on the way to Coney Island, c. 1926 |
| Sometime in 1910, the first day that they opened the bridge to walkers, I took my two younger sisters and we started to run across the bridge. Because we had only torn shoes we went bare-footed. Half-way across, at Clinton Street we could see the windows of our flat. When we reached the building the three of us started to holler, "Mama," until my Mother heard and came to the window and pointed ahead to Brooklyn, motioning that we should continue on our way. At the end of the bridge, in Brooklyn, there was a playground with swings, a sliding pond and climbing ladders. I was the tough guy and demanded the other kids give up their swings to my sisters, Helen and Rae. Then I pushed them both up to the sky. Before that we played at Hamilton Fish Park around the corner from Stanton Street where we once lived. There were schools under the bridge--rach houses or bungalows--one story school houses from Clinton to Garrick Street for about 1/2 a mile and I went to that school until I graduated in February 1912 (P. S. #110). They didn't have swings-nothing but three or four classrooms on the street. I chose my best friends if they had a piano. Fanny's father had a shoe store downstairs and lived one flight up. She gave me the China Dragon Tea Set at my linen shower. The boys hung-out across the street at the school and I played the piano at Fanny's apartment and sang loudly so that they would look up and see me. That was my biggest joy--the best time I ever had. On the top floor I also had a friend named Sarah. She had a toy piano. Of course I befriended her and started to play "America" with one hand which was easy--"my country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, etc." Her mother was very jealous because her daughter couldn't do that and she kicked me out, locking the piano with a key. My Brother, Abe and Sarah's brother, Sammy were friends and Sammy used to open the piano for me. The next song I learned was the "Star Spangled Banner." All I had to do was become friendly with someone I knew who had a piano. Fanny's parents were upset because their daughter had no friends so they did not object to me and I had the use of their piano. I still play the piano and sing without ever having taken a lesson, just hearing in my mind do-re-me-fa-sol-la. |
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When I graduated from P.S. 110, my mother took me to Grand Street to buy a dress for the first time in my life. I got this beautiful white dress for $3.00 or $4.00 and thought I was the best-dressed in the school. Before that my father used to go to a charitable organization, the East Side Jewish Sisters and he would tell them he had a daughter 8 or 10, demonstrate how tall or fat she was and they would give him one or two dresses for me which my sisters would later wear. My mother was a wonderful laundress. She washed those dresses, hung them out to dry, ironed them and sent me to school all dolled up. I am dictating these stories for my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I am in my ninety-fourth year.
Estelle Oelbaum Cohen
1025 Fifth Avenue Apt. 10F S New York City, N. Y. 10028 (212)535-2503 Birthday, November 27, l897 Dictated to my daughter in 1990 |
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Middle row: Helen (Oelbaum) Rich, Rose (Kirschenbluth) Oelbaum, Moses Oelbaum and Henry Oelbaum Front and center: Rae (Oelbaum) Cohen |
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* Bottom row: Buddy Rich, Doris Rich, Jerry Cohen, Irma (Oelbaum) Davidson and Charles Davidson, Phyllis Oelbaum
* Second Row: Marcia (Rich) Landis, Sylvia (Dinhofer) Helfert, Marcia (Dinhofer) Teschner, Buddy Teschner, Millicent Oelbaum * Center: Rose (Kirschnebluth) Oelbaum (these are all her grandchildren!) * Third Row: David Oelbaum, Milton Landis * Back Row: Richard Brun, Marcia (Oelbaum) Brun, Alvin Oelbaum and wife Doris, Claire (Westheimer) and Milton Dinhofer. |