Harry Singer

Other Events and Attributes:

• Social Security Number: 547-05-0205
• Biography: 06 Sep 2008; From an e-mail from Diane Milber dated 6 Sep 2008: The Harry you found must be my grandfather as he was born in 1896 and died in San Francisco. He came from Odessa, Russia, went to Hawaii first and then headed to S.F. He was a hearty man and worked as a butcher for most of his life, before unions, and that meant long hours. My grandmother always woke up around 4:00am, made him breakfast, got him off to work at around 5 or so, went back to bed and was up again 7:00am, fully dressed (no pants, always dresses, stockings etc.) and kept a perfectly orderly house all the time. My grandfather didn't get home 'til quite late in the evening, maybe 8:00pm. With so little time for leisure, he still managed to teach himself Spanish, a little guitar & piano, and knew several other languages. I remember he brought home a Hispanic man he met on the bus to converse with. I never remember him complaining about work. He once had his own butcher shop and nice house, but they lost it all during the depression, partially due to economic conditions, but also because he would give credit to all of the locals who never paid him back. His brother, Sam, was a bit of a rogue in ways, I was told. He also became a butcher but also was an inventor. He invented a lockable device for the plastic numbers that they used to put on the grocery shelves that displayed the prices of things. You might recall how those numbers always got displaced or flipped off the panel. So his numbers would stay stationary.

Harry married Sarah Winkler about 1921. Sarah (daughter of Philip Winkler and Rebecca Zusman) was born on 14 Oct 1898 in Glasgow, Scotland; died on 09 Jul 1984 in San Francisco, California. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Margery Singer was born on 13 Jan 1923 in San Francisco, California; died on 28 Apr 2006 in San Francisco, California.
2. Mercedes S Singer was born on 21 Apr 1928 in San Francisco, California.
3. Shirley Singer was born about 1929 in California.
4. Philip Singer was born on 16 Jun 1942 in San Francisco, California.

Morton married Betty Chernovsky. Betty was born in Odessa, Russia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]