Morris Sperber and Descendants

Adele and Morris Sperber, early 1900's

Morris (Moshe Mordechai) Sperber was born on March 7, 1881 in or near Sambor, Galicia. He was the youngest son of Mechel David and Rachel Weinbach Sperber. Little is known about his life in Europe, other than the fact that he worked as a cabinet-maker there. While in Europe, he met Adele Kurzbard, and married her there some time before 1906. According to my mother, they "fell in love at first sight".

Adele Kurzbard was born on March 28, 1884, in Lisiatycze, Galicia, near Stryj. She was the daughter of Blima Kurzbard. She had an older brother named Kalman. According to birth records, Kalman was the son of Israel Fassberg and Blima Kurzbard, while on Adele's birth record, no father was listed.  On her immigration record, she listed her birthplace as Sedlitz, Austria, but she lived in or near Stryj at the time of her emigration. During her early years, she lived on a farm near Stryj. (There were several towns named Sedlitz in Austria at the time, but there was also an area by that name near Stryj, so in all probability the "Sedlitz" on her immigration record is the area near Stryj). While she was young, her father died, and her mother married an older man when Adele was about 12 years old. According to Adele, her stepfather treated the family badly, and she often had to sneak food to get enough to eat. 

After Morris and Adele were married, Morris decided to come to the United States. His older brother Kalman had emigrated several years earlier, and was living in New York. Adele did not want to leave Europe, so Morris left alone, departing Hamburg on July 18, 1906 on the SS Amerika, and arriving in New York on July 29, 1906. Other information on his immigration record is as follows:

Shortly after his arrival in New York, Morris started a carpentry and cabinet-making business with M. Fogel. A card from this business is below.

On November 1, 1907, Morris filed a Declaration of Intention (to apply for citizenship), in New York. In March, 1909 he moved to Chicago, and filed a Petition for Naturalization in Chicago on August 30, 1911. At the time, he was living at 1459 W. Taylor Street. He was naturalized on February 13, 1912 in Chicago. At the time, he lived at 1021 Blue Island Avenue.

Meanwhile, Adele was still in Europe, and did not want to come to the United States. Finally, in 1913, Morris had his nephew Joseph take Adele to Hamburg, telling her that he was coming the United States. When they got to Hamburg, Joseph put Adele on the boat, and he stayed behind. She arrived in New York on the SS Ryndam on March 5, 1913. The following information is from the ship's manifest:

When she arrived in New York, she was met by someone from the Jewish Aid Society(?) and put on a train for Chicago.

Sometime between March 1913 and December, 1913, Morris and Adele moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where there was a thriving furniture industry. On December 10, 1913 (almost exactly 9 months after Adele would have arrived in Chicago), their daughter Vivian (Wittel) was born. (Adele had previously had a miscarriage while they were in Europe). When Vivian was born, they lived at 238 Summer Avenue, and Morris' occupation listed as "foreman" on her birth certificate. According to Morris, Vivian was named for "Bubbe Wittel", who was Adele's grandmother.

On November 9, 1916, they had a second daughter, Pearl. By the time Pearl was born, the family had moved to 806(?) Broadway, in Grand Rapids. The site of the house on Broadway is now occupied by the American Seating Company.

In 1917 or 1918, the family moved to Detroit, where Morris worked for either Ford or Dodge for about a year. In 1920, (according to census records) they were living in a rented house at 353 Hague, and Morris' occupation was "cabinet maker". A 1921 Detroit city directory lists "Ping and Sperber", 1133 (formerly 353) Alger. (Alger was one street over from Hague, so it may have been the same building as the residence).

In about 1921, Morris started his own furniture frame making plant (the Sperber Manufacturing Company) at 127 Woodbridge Avenue. According to my mother, he was very artistic; he drew very well and designed most of the frames himself. The factory on Woodbridge was very small--he started out making frames for a man who made upholstered furniture. The furniture maker took a liking to Morris and gave him a lot of business. Within a couple of years, Morris rented space from Mr. Aulsbrook at 1815 Trombly Ave. (between Orleans and Dequindre), and moved the Sperber Manufacturing Company there. By this time, the family had moved to 931 Alger, then to 987 Alger.

Sperber Manufacturing Company, 1920's

 

Inside Sperber Manufacturing Company
Morris Sperber is at far left

On February 12, 1925, their third child Milton David, was born. He was presumably named after Morris' father, Mechel David. (In fact, on some records, Morris lists his father's name as "Milton"). At the time the family was living on Alger, in an upstairs flat.

Over the next few years, as the business grew, the family moved several times. Some listings from the Detroit City Directory reflect their moves and business developments:

In addition to the Sperber Manufacturing Company, Morris also owned the Lawyer's Building in downtown Detroit. He sold it in the 1930's or 1940's and then bought property on Allen Rd. in Melvindale, which eventually housed a grocery store and cleaners).

By the late 1920's the Sperber Manufacturing Company employed about 50 people, and the family was doing very well financially. The business actually thrived during the Depression. By the early 1920's time they had a maid who did most of the cooking and cleaning. Most of the maids were Polish, but they had one black maid named Nunnie, who took Pearl for her first day of school--all of the children in the class thought that Nunnie was her mother! In the mid-1930's Morris joined the Knollwood Country Club. My mother played golf with him--once.

During the late 20's and early 30's the family began taking vacations to South Haven and Mt. Clemens, Michigan. Adele would go with the children to Mt. Clemens for 2 or 3 weeks in the summer; Morris usually dropped her off there and would visit, but he didn't stay there. In South Haven, they would stay at Mendelsohn's Hotel.

Morris was a member of Beth Abraham Synagogue. Around 1930, the sexton of the synagogue noticed that both Morris and Samuel Kalt (who was also a member) were from the same area in Europe, and introduced them. The families became good friends, and Samuel and Fannie Kalt tried to "fix up" their sons with Pearl and Vivian. They wanted their son Max to go with Vivian, but she was apparently not that interested in him. However, Pearl was interested in one of their other sons, Charles, and began dating him during the early 1930's.

In the mid-1930's Vivian met Milton Kushnir. Milton was originaly from Pueblo, Colorado, and was in Detroit doing business with the Sperber Company when they met. Eventually Milton came to work for the Sperber Manufacturing Company. They were married in Detroit, on December 12, 1935. They had one daughter, Carolyn (Cookie), born on May 31, 1939. Some time in the early 40's my brother started calling her "Mimi" because he couldn't pronounce her name--ever since she has been "Mimi" to the family.

Pearl continued to go with Charles Kalt for several years, and they were married in Detroit on December 20, 1936. More detailed information about Charles and Pearl can be found on the Kalt Family Web Page.

After Pearl and Charles were married, Morris bought a house at 3825 Sturtevant, and Pearl and Charles moved in with them. Milton Sperber lived there as well, until World War II. Milton and Vivian Kushnir bought a house two blocks away on Leslie.

Adele, Milton, and Morris Sperber, about 1943

In about 1943, Milton Sperber was drafted, assigned to the Army Medical Corps, and sent to Europe. After he returned from the war, he married Flodell King, and they had one son, Merrill (Mickey), born in 1948. They were divorced in 1952. In 1956, Milton married Rae Morganroth, and they had two children--Murray Andrew (Andy), born in 1958, and Caroline, born in 1961. Milton passed away in January of 2006.

During the 1940's Morris bought an apartment building at 821 W. 39th Street in Miami Beach. The family spent several weeks there each winter through the 1950's.

Adele and Morris Sperber in Miami Beach, late 1940's

After World War II, several relatives in Europe who had survived the concentration camps were brought to the United States by Morris. According to one story, two of his nieces (actually great-neices) were in a refugee camp in Sweden, and knew that they had a relative in Detroit, but didn't know his address. They sent a letter addressed to "Sperber--Detroit", which got to Morris and he arranged to bring them to the United States. (For more details on how this branch of the family came to the United States, see "Eleazer (Luzer) Sperber and Descendants".) Several of the nieces and nephews that came over (William, Piri, Henry) settled in the Detroit area.

On June 29, 1951, Morris Sperber died at the age of 70 at Harper Hospital in Detroit. Cause of death was listed as "Acute myocardial infarction" and had been suffering from angina pectoris (for 8 years) and diabetes (for 18 years). A month later, I was born, and named for him (Morris Frederick Kalt).

After Morris' death, the Sperber Manufacturing Company Co. was run by Charles Kalt, Milton Kushnir, and Milton Sperber. In the early 1950's they opened a factory in Montgomery, Alabama . Milton Sperber moved to Montgomery to run that factory (for about 2 years). About 1954-55, the Sperber Manufacturing Company closed, and assets were sold to Motor City Spring Company. Milton Sperber and Charles Kalt took the proceeds and opened Sperber Sofas Incorporated, a furniture store, in Livonia. Charles died in 1960, and Milton ran the store for a while, and eventually the store was sold. Milton worked as a furniture salesman after that, eventually moving to Houston, then to south Florida, and then back to Houston. Milton died in January, 2006.

Milton Kushnir died in January 1953. Vivian and her daughter continued to live in the house on Leslie until 1959, and then moved to an apartment in Oak Park. Vivian began working as a receptionist for a real estate firm and then for several doctors. Cookie married Arnold Zimmerman in 1965, and they have two children--Michael, born in 1968, and Richard, born in 1970. In the 1970's, Cookie and Arnold moved to southern California, and recently moved to Weston, Florida, where they currently are living.

Adele continued to live with the Kalt family after Morris' death, and they moved to Southfield, Michigan, in 1959. She lived there until her death on February 21, 1976, at the age of 92.

After Adele's death, Pearl and Vivian moved into an apartment in Farmington Hills. They shared an apartment until Vivian's death in 1992. Pearl passed away in April 2011.

Family Memories

As soon as grandchildren arrived, Adele and Morris were "Bubby" and "Zayda" for all of them, as well as for their children. To this day, nobody else in the family has ever been called by those names, regardless of how old they are or how many grandchildren they had.

Bubby was very shy and introverted. She wouldn't go on the streetcar, or in a taxi alone, so Pearl would go with her in a taxi. She rarely did anything by herself--her children always had to go with her. Before that, neighbors were running errands for her. Joe Rubin was one of the neighbor kids who ran errands--Bubby thought that he should go with Mimi, but she wasn't that interested.

According to family legend, during the 1920's when the family lived on Alger, Morris heard a noise in the house, and found a prowler trying to come in through a window in the bathroom. He shouted "Idel! Get the gun!", and the prowler took off. I suspect that neither of the two of them had ever seen a real gun, let alone have one.

Morris was a baseball fan--he often went to games and listened to them on radio. According to my mother, Bubby also listened to the games (but I'm not sure I believe that).

During the 1920's Adele made packages with clothing and food and sent them to her niece Salka in Stryj. My mother remembers that they had to wrap the packages in muslin.

After she arrived in the United States, Adele had a tutor come to the house to teach her English. According to my mother they usually spoke English in the house, but spoke Polish or Yiddish when they didn't want the children to know what they were talking about.

Mimi liked to party, and Milton didn't, so she would often go out with Pearl and Charles, while Milton stayed home.

The family was always very close, even after the children got married--through most of the 30's, 40's and 50's, everyone lived within a few blocks of each other (if not in the same house). In the late '50s and 60's, the families moved to different parts of the suburbs, but are still very close.

One of Bubby's favorite recreational activities was playing poker with her friends--Mrs. Heyden, Mrs. Rosenthal, Mrs. Schpeis(?) and others. She learned to play poker after she and Zayda joined Beth Abraham, and went there at night to play cards. Since Bubby didn't drive, one of the children or grandchildren would have to drive her to someone's house for the games. When the game was at our house, I remember the group of them always yelling at each other, and calling each other by their last names. Another favorite activity for her was watching bowling on TV on Sunday mornings. Her favorite bowler was Ray Bluth ("Bloot").

 

Go to Mechel David Sperber
Go to Eleazer (Luzer) Sperber
Go to Kalman Sperber
Go to Main Sperber Page

This page last updated 21 December 2014