Yonah Schimmel 1866-1931

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Yonah’s first wife was Sofie Oster, who apparently had at least one child from a previous marriage. Though the manifest lists Yonah as "married," it is most likely that Sofie had passed before her husband and children immigrated to the United States. She does not appear on the same ship manifest as her husband and children, and there are no records of her living in the U.S. Yonah immigrated in 1907 and was remarried by 1908. Yonah and Sofie’s two children were Pauline and Louis. On the ship manifest, the children appear as Pepi and Aron. Aron was Louis's Hebrew name and it appears on his tombstone.

Pauline was born in 1893 and married Harry Kraus on March 26th, 1915 (in Manhattan). Pauline and Harry Kraus had two children, Syliva (1916-1945) and Martin (1919-1972). According to the 1930 Census, Harry Kraus was in the restaurant business. Both he and Pauline cited Austria as their place of birth and German as their mother tongue. By the 1950 Census, Harry Kraus was deceased, and Pauline was living with an unmarried 30 year-old Martin. It is unknown whether Sylvia or Martin Kraus had any children. 

Yonah’s son, Louis, worked at the knishery on 144 E. Houston and was listed as a manager of the establishment in the 1916 NYC Business Directory, He did not marry nor have children. Louis died as a 29 year-old in 1924 and is buried near his father at Mount Zion cemetery in the Stanislav section.

Yonah married his second wife, Gussie Rivkin (a nurse), June 28th,1908 in Manhattan. At the time, Yonah was living at 91 Suffolk St. in the Lower East Side. According to his marriage certificate, Yonah's mother was named Pesha Litchenberg. From the marriage certificate we get further confirmation that Yonah was from Galicia, Austria (not Romania). Yonah's father's name was Joseph. Gussie appears to have had a son from a previous marriage named Morris. Morris resided with Yonah and Gussie as a 23 year-old as recorded in the 1920 Census.

Yonah’s Naturalization document describes the knish baker as 5 feet 5 inches tall, 180 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, and possessing the distinctive feature of a beard. Schimmel resided at 168 E. 2nd St. in 1917 at the time of his Naturalization petition and lived at same address at the time of his death in 1931. According to the 1930 Census, Yonah paid what appears to be a very modest $18.00 monthly rent at his 2nd St. apartment.

According to his Death Certificate, his parents were Joseph and Lena Schimmel. The Death Certificate contrasts with his marriage certificate, which lists Yonah's mother as Pesha. Records from Bialy-Kamien suggest his mother's name was Pesha Lea. His tombstone's Hebrew inscription confirms his father's name as Joseph. Yonah had a sister Ruchel (who died 1899 in Bialy-Kamien) and a brother Mordechai, whose son Leo Schimel operated the “Famous Sunset” restaurant in Brooklyn from the 1930s through the 1950s. 

According to his Death Certificate, Yonah Schimmel suffered from chronic bronchitis and emphysema. He died April 6th, 1931 at Beth Israel Hospital, and is buried at Mt. Zion Cemetery in the Maspeth neighborhood of Queens, New York.