Joseph Lisker met Fannie (who emigrated to the USA in 1913) and they were married around 1916. Joseph's part of the picture-frame business led him to Irvington, New Jersey. It was here that Joseph registered for the draft during WWI. Later that same year the couple's first son was born. He was Milton in the census records but Manny to the family. In 1919 a daughter, Evelyn, was born.
Sonia Bleichman arrived in 1913. After a four year engagement she and Hyman were married in 1915. Their son Bernard was born in 1916 and a daughter Jean (later Jeanne) followed. At left, Bernie (age two) is pictured with Zena Berg, a family friend.
One priority for the Lisker family was to continue to bring over family members to the USA. From 1921 through 1927 there was a steady stream of Liskers and Bleichmans all heading to Chicago. By 1930 Hyman's family was sharing a duplex on Grenshaw Street with Sonia's younger sister Ruth, her husband Meyer Hirst and family. Hyman's parents lived a little further up Grenshaw Street.
Minnie Lisker had married Abe Chazin in Proskurov. She and Abe were on their way to America when their first child's imminent arrival required a stop in Poland, where Clara was born. They completed their trip once they could travel and settled on Grenshaw Street. Later Abe changed the family surname to Chasen. A son, Milton, was born in Chicago.
Harry Lisker married Anne in 1927 and in a break with tradition lived just off Grenshaw Street on adjacent Karlow Avenue. Harry was a furrier. He and Anne had two daughters, Iris and Sandy.
The two youngest Liskers were sons Newman and Louis who lived with their parents Dora and Ike. Newman married Bessie during the 1930s; they had no children. Louis, also known as Leo or Leon, married Esther (pictured above at Shabbat dinner in the late 1930s); their daughters were Adelle and Shirley.
Photo: Maxwell Street, Chicago. Thanks to The City of Chicago for the image.
