Friday, July 28, 2017

How wealthy was Morris Jarecki (d. 1881)?

Horse carriages on the Grand Drive in Central Park, c. 1869. Did Morris Jarecki's family have their own carriage
and ride through the park in this manner?  Source: New York Public Library Digital Collections
In my previous post, I described how I uncovered the parents of my great great grandmother, Kate Jarecki. I also mentioned family lore saying the Jareckis were well-off and upset that Kate married an immigrant. Now that we know who Kate's family were, does this shine any light on the truth of these family stories? In particular, what was the financial situation of Morris Jarecki and his family.

To recap, two letters from Kate Jarecki's grandchildren say that her family was somewhat wealthy. In a letter from my grandfather, postmarked March 2, 1978, he said, "[The Jareckis] were wealthy but when she married an immigrant from Austria she was disowned." This leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Maybe the Jareckis had a lot of money. Or maybe they simply were better off than the first generation Austrian immigrant she married.

My great aunt Harriet (Elters) Wilkins provided more detail in a letter to her grandchildren, dated September 3, 1996. In it she said, "Grandma Kate's... family rode through Central Park NY, in their own shiny, horse-drawn carriage. Their large financial contributions supported Montifiore [sic] and Mt. Sinai Hospitals." The image of riding through Central Park in the family carriage certainly suggests a level of wealth beyond the typical working class family.

Mt. Sinai Hospital, c. 1870. Lexington Ave between 66th
and 67th streets. This was the hospital's second location.
Source: New York Public Library Digital Collections
Both Montefiore and Mt. Sinai hospitals were founded based on contributions from the New York Jewish community. So it is possible that the Jareckis supported them. Of course, that support might have been large, as my Aunt Harriet suggested, or small. In the latter case, maybe it was spoken of proudly leading children and grandchildren to think the contribution was larger than it actually was.

Mt. Sinai Hospital was founded in 1852, and Montefiore in 1884. Kate Jarecki married in 1873, and her father, Morris, died in 1881. So any contribution to Montefiore might reflect the family's later fortunes, rather than their situation during Kate's youth.

But this is just speculation.  Based on the limited sources available, here is what I know about Morris Jarecki's finances:
  • In the 1860 census he was employed as a clothing "cutter" and reported having no real property and $500 of personal property. His neighbors were mostly German immigrants (like himself) and worked in a variety of trades including: leather cutter, seamstress, teacher, shoe maker, peddler, and cigar maker.
  • In the 1870 census, he was still employed as a "clothing cutter." As in the prior census his neighbors were predominantly German immigrants in labor-oriented trades.  The census taker did not collect information about his real and personal property (nor for anyone else).
  • In the 1880 census, one year before his death, he was employed as a tailor. Based on the jobs of his neighbors, he may have been living in a better neighborhood.  Their professions include: hatter, book sewer, lithographer, turner of wood, bookkeeper, printer, actor, grocer, dry good clerk, and banker.
  • The only assets mentioned in his will is a $1,000 insurance policy and a bank account with unknown balance.
  • New York city directories from 1870 through 1892 list Morris's profession variously as cutter, tailor, or musician.
Taken together, these facts don't suggest unusual wealth. But they don't entirely rule it out, either. One of the many things on my "to do" list is to track down the complete probate records for Morris Jarecki to see if it includes an estate inventory. That would provide a more definitive picture of his assets.

But if Morris Jarecki wasn't wealthy, why did my grandfather and great aunt think the family had money? One possibility is that some one else in the Jarecki family was wealthy and provided the source of these stories. Morris Jarecki's oldest son, fits the bill here. As mentioned in my last post William Jarecki was a dentist. He may have made a good living in this profession. But he also married well. His wife, Olga (Frank) Jarecki was the daughter of a successful gold trader and advertising executive. He left her a trust fund that, in 1916, was worth $140,000. Adjusting for inflation, that would be over $3 million today.

William and Olga Jarecki married in 1888. That was fifteen years after his sister, Kate, married. So regardless of how William's new wealth affected the Jarecki family, it didn't provide carriages for Kate to ride in during her youth.

Sources and Notes on William and Olga Jarecki

By 1916, William and Olga's marriage was on the rocks and she sued him for separation. He opposed the suit. A New York Sun article implied this was because he didn't want to lose access to the trust money. The same article says that the trust was worth $140,000. 
"Alimony Request a Blind, he Says," The New York Sun, March 27, 1916, p. 5.
In the 1920 and 1930 censuses, William and Olga were living at separate addresses.

When Olga died in 1933, her will made it clear that she still didn't want any association with her husband:
The Will of Mrs. Olga Jareckie, filed for probate yesterday [March 30, 1933], directed that her husband, Dr. William Jareckie, be prohibited from entering her home. Mrs. Jareckie also wrote: "I hereby direct that my executors will personally supervise all funeral arrangements at the time of my decease without permitting my husband in any way to interfere." Mrs. Jareckie left an estate of about $1,000 to be divided between two sons.
"Husband is Barred," Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, NJ), March 31, 1933, p. 16, via newspapers.com. 
Apparently, despite the separation and animosity they never divorced. Olga's will refers to William Jareckie as her husband. In the 1920 and 1930 censuses, they both gave their marital status as "married."


2 comments:

  1. Dr. William Jareckie and Olga (Frank) Jareckie were my great grandparents. I am enjoying reading your information about the family stories. My grandfather was their son, Eugene Albert Jareckie (mechanical engineer). His brother was Alexander Morris Jareckie, a musician and lawyer. Olga moved in with Alex upon separation from William. My father, David Spelman Jareckie met his grandfather (William Jareckie) one time. My father was quite young but at the time and got the impression that his grandfather had zero interest in meeting his grandchildren. He said it hurt his feelings that his grandfather would barely look at he and his siblings let alone say anything to them. Dave could also tell that William and Eugene did not have a relationship. They were cold towards one another. I am not sure where the meeting took place. I will ask my uncle if he recall the introduction. In the meantime, Olga's father, Albert Frank married a wealthy (but from what I can piece together) disowned member of the Russian royal family. Angelica Emilie Von Wurttemberg. Very little information can be found about her. Angelica died at the age of 29 years, the same time as her infant daughter, also name Angelica Emilie (she lived only 2 days). The mother and daughter were buried the same day. Albert never remarried. Anyway, we have some interesting ancestors, right? My impression from family stories is that William Jareckie and his son had a strain relationship, whereas Eugene and his mother Olga remained close. I do not think that William and his son, Alex had a good relationship either. Once again, Alex took in Olga at separation time. When Alex died in 1962 my grandmother told her children not to attend his funeral, but at least one of them attended anyway. Sounds dysfunctional, probably because of ill feelings somewhere along the way. My instinct, and I have nothing to found this on, is that Alex was a lawyer who used his profession in a non-professional way somehow clouded by practices that were disreputable. Again, something I can ask my uncle about. This may have been the point when the name of Jarecki changed to Jareckie. I am guessing that William changed his last name because he was embarrassed by his son, Alex and did not want to be associated with him. But his is speculation on my part. I could go on and on but do not have the time at the moment so I will spare you.

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    1. Thank you for the comment. I don't know much about William's descendants, so it's great to hear about your branch of the family. From the little I've read about William (mostly newspaper articles about his marriage and separation from Olga) he seems an odd bird. I've had more luck learning about his brother Max's descendants, some of whom I've written about here, and about his sister Kate's descendants. She was my great-great-grandmother. Eventually I'll get around to posting more of that.

      I'd by happy to hear more about your family, or to share what I've learned about the Jareckis. Feel free to email me at Keith.Smith@aya.yale.edu

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