Fannie Waronker Lemanowitz (Part 2)
Fannie's sister, Eva (aka Sheine Chava) Waronker, was born around 1863-65. She married Israel Alper around 1887 and they arrived in the US in 1891. In the years from about 1888 – 1905, they had 8 children. When I reviewed the 1910 census, she was listed as the head of the household and her marital status was “widow.” I was surprised at first when I could not find any indication of his death before 1910, where he was buried, etc. After discussing this with Ari, who also had been looking into this, searching Ancestry at length, including reviewing other family trees of Ancestry members who had a distant connection to the Warnoker-Alper family, we realized that Israel had not died at that time. He had left the family, possibly around 1905, and lived in different states before settling in Kentucky.
Eva ("Sheine Chava") Waronker Alper
One very detailed, extensive Waronker Family Tree on Ancestry is owned by Kim Cheryl Thomas. She included on her tree a letter written several years ago from her aunt, Helen Singer. Her Aunt Helen was a granddaughter of Eva and Israel. Helen detailed some of her family's history in a letter she wrote years ago to Kim.
The history I reviewed from Kim, as well as reading many articles about Israel, make it clear that the family was living together in Middletown, Delaware until 1905. Additionally, Kim shared on her tree additional history related to Israel's disappearance that had been passed on from one of Israel and Eva's daughters, Martha (aka “Marta”) Alper, to Helen Singer. This reported history, along with many newspaper articles and Israel's death certificate told us an amazing story about Israel Alper. I'm appreciative of Kim's willingness to message and email me with these additional details as well as pictures that I had not seen before. Kim describes how this history was passed on to her in comments on the profile page of Israel: “Aunt Marta (Israel's daughter) wrote this and gave it to Aunt Helen (his granddaughter) who gave it to me [Kim]:
FROM MARTA: "...Last time I saw my father in March 1905, [when Marta was 5 years old] he left the house (in Middletown) carrying a suitcase in each hand. My brother Al (Abraham) was 3 weeks old? It's anyone's guess as to what happened. I choose to believe he met with an accident, and as far as I know, he was never heard from again....”
Clearly Marta was not aware of his cause of death as described here. Israel was apparently an eye doctor who was trained in Europe. There were many articles and ads about the practice of Dr. E.I. Alper, as he was known. He also became very involved in companies involved in oil drilling and gold mining. His last two years were mostly spent living in a hotel in Kentucky. For reasons that are not clear, in August 1921, as confirmed on his death certificate, he committed suicide by ingesting Cyanide Chloride. There were some financial problems related to one of his companies, The Lick Creek Oil and Gas which were described in news articles at that time. It's possible his suicide was related to that, or perhaps related to his having abandoned his wife and 8 children. We may never know.
Israel Alper Kentucky Death Certificate (1921)
As various news articles described, he left two notes—one for the hotel manager apologizing for “this act.” The other note to a person he must have considered a friend, Joe Strull, who Israel told the hotel manager would pay his bill and make the final arrangements. Strull stated he didn't know Alper well. He said that to his knowledge, Alper had never been married. There is no indication that after leaving Eva and the 8 children that he had any other contact with them.
As one would expect, the impact of his leaving his family was profound. There are strong indicators that at least two of their children had to enter one of the Jewish homes for children in Philadelphia who were orphans or whose parents could no longer care for them. This would include The Jewish Foster Home and Orphans Asylum, The Home for Hebrew Orphans, etc. Kim Thomas' mother in law had reported that two of Eva's children--Rachel ("Rae") and Samuel ("Sam") had entered one of these homes. In addition, neither of those two children are listed with Eva and the other children on the 1910 Census Report. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or not, but in the Last Will and Testament that Simon Lemanowitz (husband of Eva's sister, Fannie Waronker Lemanowitz) left after his death in 1913, there was a donation made to The Home for Hebrew Orphans.
Over time, the impact on Sam's life was clearly even more severe. As I was reviewing Eva's information, I noticed that one of her children, Sam, who MAY have been born in 1897, had died in 1918. (I'm now unsure if that birth year is accurate since Rachel was also listed as being born in 1897.) My first thought was that maybe he died in World War I. As I began to look for more information, at first, I saw no documentation that he had even been in the service, let alone died in WWI. I also was unable to find anything showing he had died, such as a death certificate, etc. Then I stumbled upon a document called “U.S. World War I Mother's Pilgrimage, 1929 for Eva Alper; Pilgrimages of Gold Star Mothers, 1930-1923.” As you'll see on this document, Eva's name is listed as somebody who was eligible to go on a pilgrimage to see the grave of her son, buried at Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in France. Just when I thought I had found what I was looking for, I saw that her son was listed as “John A. Alberts.” I looked for days for an explanation without success. And then, ironically on Memorial Day 2024, I found this article from the Philadelphia Inquirer dated 9/6/1918 which explained it all. The article listed local servicemen who had been killed in action or were missing in action in France. It mentioned that Samuel Alper was missing, but had enlisted as “John A. Alberts”, after “failing to pass several times.” The news article went on to give additional information about Samuel.
In an email conversation several years ago between Kim Thomas and her family, it was told to Kim that Sam had enlisted so that his mother could get money every month via a ''Class Q Allotment." A simple post card that Kim's family had saved told quite a story. As you'll see the post card he sent (it's in the photos further down on this page provided by Kim Thomas), was sent from Samuel to his mother in July 1917. It's likely that he had managed to enlist in the military under the different name--with the purpose of sending her money on a monthly basis. Another post card (see below--also provided by Kim Thomas) was addressed to John Alperts in December 1917. I would imagine that by that time, Eva was aware of how Sam enlisted--especially if she was receiving the payments via something like the "Class Q Allottment."
Sadly, while Samuel was originally listed as missing in action, he was later identified as having been killed in action. He was buried at the Oise-Aisne Cemetery in France. Making this even sadder is that the name on the marker of his grave is “John A. Alberts” and not Samuel Alper. While the list of the Mother's Pilgrimage was put together in 1929, it was for a 1930 trip to that cemetery. It's noted that Eva declined both the trip for 1930—or for a future pilgrimage. Eva died on June 20, 1930.
-Robert Westle