Accession Number

2009-2-5

Material Format

object

textual record

Physical Description

30 cm of textual records

1 artifact

Date

1902-1981

Scope and Content

The records consist of material produced by Rabbi Saul Gringorten and his son I. M. Gringorten. They include certificates and identification for Rabbi Gringorten and his wife, along with his son I. M. Gringorten. In addition, the accession includes a great deal of correspondence in both English and Yiddish from the father and son during the 1940s, particularly during the period when the rabbi resided in the United States. Some material also documents I. M. Gringorten's involvement in the United Zionists organization during the 1940s. Finally, this accession includes a chuppah (marriage canopy) that was first used in 1910 by Saul Wolf Gringorten in Brantford, Ontario. The chuppah is made out of a tallis with embellishments sewn into the centre. The chuppah was subsequently used by various members of the Gringorten family.

Administrative History

Saul Wolf Gringorten and his wife Rachel Gringorten (nee Melnick) were born in Poland in 1876 and 1881 respectively. They moved to Canada in 1910 with their eldest child Morris. They subsequently had five more after their arrival. Their children included: Israel Morris (I. M.), Jennie, Jacob, Esther, Louis and Isaac.

Rabbi Gringorten served as spiritual leader, teacher, shochet and mohel for the Brantford Jewish community after his arrival for thirteen years. He would also be on call in northern and western Ontario where the communities were too small to support a rabbi. He then moved to Toronto during the early 1920s and became the principal of a Jewish school. The family lived at 26 Cecil Street at that time and then moved to 393 Markham Street during the late 1920s or early 1930s. He became active in the Jewish community, serving as vice-president of the Sons of Jacob, a board member of the Folks Farein and the first Trustee of the Old Folks Home.

Rabbi Gringorten and his wife moved to California during the mid-1940s in order to live in a climate that was better for their health. Rachel passed away in 1947 and the Rabbi followed in 1959.

Their oldest son, Israel Morris Gringorten, was born in Poland in 1904. He was educated in Brantford and later graduated from the University of Toronto. He served during the Second World War from 1943 until 1945. After his discharge, he spent his career working as an auto parts manufacturer with Canada Motor Products Ltd. He was an ardent Zionist who served as president of the United Zionists - Revisionists of America during the 1940s. He and his wife had four children.

Use Conditions

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA Director prior to accessing some of the records.

Descriptive Notes

Language: Records are in Yiddish and English.

Access restriction: One file contains medical information and is closed.

Subjects

Families

Name Access

Gringorten, Saul Wolfe

Gringorten, Rachel

Gringorten, Israel Morris

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions

Level

Item

Item

3594

Material Format

graphic material

Date

Aug. 1983

Physical Description

1 photograph : col. ; 13 x 9 cm

Scope and Content

Item is photograph of the cake at the seventy-fifth anniversary celebration of the Beth David Congregation and Brantford's Jewish community. The celebration was held at the synagogue.

Notes

Acquired in 1983.

Subjects

Anniversaries

Cake

Communities

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

1986-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

3595

Material Format

graphic material

Date

Aug. 1983

Physical Description

1 photograph : col. ; 13 x 9 cm

Scope and Content

Item is a photograph of the Beth David Congregation's rabbi speaking at the podium at the seventy-fifth anniversary celebration of the synagogue and Brantford's Jewish community. The celebration took place in the synagogue.

Notes

Acquired in 1983.

Subjects

Anniversaries

Communities

Rabbis

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

1986-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

3889

Material Format

graphic material

Date

Jul. 1983

Physical Description

1 photograph : col. ; 7 x 8 cm

Scope and Content

Item is a photograph of Sadie Stren speaking at the seventy-fifth anniversary celebration of the Beth David Congregation and Brantford's Jewish community. The celebration took place at the synagogue.

Notes

Acquired in 1983.

Subjects

Anniversaries

Communities

Synagogues

Related Material

See photo #3584.

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

1986-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

3891

Material Format

graphic material

Date

Aug. 1983

Physical Description

1 photograph : col. ; 8 x 5 cm

Scope and Content

Item is a photograph of Willie Siegler, president of Beth David Congregation, speaking at the seventy-fifth anniversary celebration of the Congregation and Brantford's Jewish community. The celebration took place at the synagogue.

Notes

Acquired in 1983.

Subjects

Anniversaries

Communities

Synagogues

Related Material

See photo #3590.

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

1986-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

3890

Material Format

graphic material

Date

Aug. 1983

Physical Description

1 photograph : col. ; 8 x 7 cm

Scope and Content

Item is a photograph of Dr. Melvin Wise standing behind the podium at the seventy-fifth anniversary celebration of the Beth David Congregation and Brantford's Jewish community. The celebration took place at the synagogue.

Notes

Acquired in 1983.

Subjects

Anniversaries

Communities

Synagogues

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

1986-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

3892

Material Format

graphic material

Date

Aug. 1983

Physical Description

1 photograph : col. ; 7 x 8 cm

Scope and Content

Item is a photograph of Dr. Moishe Zaltz and Ron Kanter standing behind the podium at the seventy-fifth anniversary celebration of the Beth David Congregation and Brantford's Jewish community. The celebration took place at the synagogue.

Notes

Acquired in 1983.

Subjects

Anniversaries

Communities

Synagogues

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

1986-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

3893

Material Format

graphic material

Date

Aug. 1983

Physical Description

1 photograph : col. ; 8 x 9 cm

Scope and Content

Item is a photograph of Lena Rothberg and Willie Ziegler at a podium at the seventy-fifth anniversary celebration of the Beth David Congregation and Brantford's Jewish community. The celebration took place at the synagogue.

Notes

Acquired in 1983.

Subjects

Anniversaries

Communities

Synagogues

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

1986-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

3894

Material Format

graphic material

Date

Aug. 1983

Physical Description

1 photograph : col. ; 5 x 6 cm

Scope and Content

Item is a photograph of Sam Resnick of the Canadian Jewish Congress standing behind the podium at the seventy-fifth anniversary celebration of the Beth Daivd Congregation and Brantford's Jewish community. The celebration took place at the synagogue.

Notes

Acquired in 1983.

Subjects

Anniversaries

Communities

Synagogues

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

1986-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Accession Number

2011-8-3

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

Physical Description

1 folder of textual records

4 photographs : b&w ; 24 x 20 cm on mat 34 x 39 cm and 21 x 20 cm

Date

1942-1993

Scope and Content

Accession consists of records related to the Hatikvah chapter of Toronto Hadassah. Included are speeches and a president's report as well as two photographs of the chapter's 35th anniversary. There are also two photographs of a presentation to Jack Maldaver form the B'nai Brith Lodge, Brantford. Individuals identified in the two photos include: Harry Solmon, Max Sherman, Dave Noble, Gordon Henkle, Harry Tulchinsky, Joe Poss, Itzik Sherman, Sam Sherman, Max Gazer, Lou Kwitko, Mr. Lipsy, Noach Zaltz, Harry Freedman and Louis Henkle.

Custodial History

The Hadassah records belonged to Kathryn Solmon, Arlene Gryfe's maternal aunt. She was at one point involved with Hadassah, but according to her son Kenneth Solmon, not the Hatikvah chapter and thus the reason for her possession of these records is unclear.

The two photographs of Jack Maldaver were in the possession of Dr. Cyril Gryfe. Indentification of individuals were supplied by Mr. Harvey Ross, a friend of Cyril's whose father is pictured in the photo.

Subjects

Women--Societies and clubs

Fraternal organizations

Name Access

Hadassah-WIZO Organization of Toronto

B'nai Brith Canada

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Brantford (Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions

Accession Number

2016-7-5

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

graphic material (electronic)

Physical Description

1 folder of textual records

41 photographs : b&w and col. (1625 kb jpgs) ; 21 x 26 cm or smaller

Date

1932-2013

Scope and Content

Accession consists of records documenting the Latchman Triplets. Included are family photographs of Donald, Marvin and Victor Latchman, a family portrait taken at the wedding of Philip and Sally Latchman, class photos, summer camp photos, and images of the triplets' 75th and 80th birthdays (5 November 2013).

Identified in photographs are: Donald and Annette Latchman, Victor and Rosalie Latchman, Marvin and Shirley Latchman, Philip and Sally Latchman, Morris Latchman, Vera Latchman Berrin, Mari Latchman Lipton, Irv Lipton, and Belle Latchman.

Textual records include Beth Sholom Bulletin June-August 1997, Beth Sholom Brotherhood Ball and Installation 1971, photocopies of news paper articles about the triplets, class photos and letter regarding payment of King's Bounty.

Administrative History

Philip and Sally (Sugarman) Latchman were married in 1932. In November 1933, Sally gave birth to identical triplets Donald, Marvin and Victor. In celebration, they were sent the King's Bounty of 3 British pounds. The boys were interviewed every year on their birthday by Toronto newspapers until they decided to stop the publicity. The family lived in the Bloor-Markham area until the boys were 11. The family then moved to Montclair Avenue where the boys attended Forest Hill Public School. They had their bar-mitzvahs at the Hebrew Men of England Synagogue. The triplets' father, Philip Latchman was a founding members of Beth Sholom Synagogue. Donald Latchman was on the board and Rosalie Latchman was active in the congregation.

Philip and his younger brother Morris Latchman started Federal Farms Limited in 1948 on 150 acres of Holland March in Brantford, Ontario. They grew vegetables: potatoes, carrots, celery and rutabegas. They also had a potato chip company Mad Hatter Snack Foods which was Kosher for Passover. Federal Farms Ltd. went public in 1961 and Loblaws bought 51% of the shares.

Donald attended Ryerson business school and founded Latchman Insurance Brokers. He married Annette Bachst, a Holocaust survivor who grew up in New York.

Marvin attended Ryerson business school then worked for Federal Farms at the Ontario Food Terminal. Later he became a real estate broker. He married Shirley Wolkofsky.

Victor worked on the family farm and at Federal Fruit Company at the Ontario Food Terminal. Victor took a business course at Shaw's Business School. In 1966 he bought Taylors shoes, a business at 2934 Dundas Street. West started in 1920 by Sid Taylor. Victor helped start the Junction Business Improvement Association and was twice pesident of Junction Gardens BIA. He retired in 2009. Victor and Rosalie Greenspan (d. 2014) were married at Beth Sholom in 1958 by Rabbi David Monson. Their children are Howard, and Faith and Mitchell Sherman. Their grand-children are Matthew, Jennifer and Russell Sherman. Victor and Rosalie were honoured at Beth Sholom Synagogue on 26 October 2013 for their 55th wedding anniversary.

In 2012 at age 78, the triplets believed themselves to be the oldest male identical triplets alive in Canada.

Use Conditions

Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the Archives to obtain permission prior to use.

Descriptive Notes

RELATED MATERIALS NOTE: Federal Farms Limited fonds at Simoce Country Archives. ASSOCIATED MATERIALS NOTE: See accession 2016-12\45 (Victor Latchman) and 2002-10\66 (Morris Latchman).

Subjects

Agriculture

Families

Name Access

Latchman, Donald

Latchman, Marvin

Latchman, Victor

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions

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Accession Number

2018-12-6

Material Format

graphic material

textual record

Physical Description

19 cm of graphic material and textual records

Date

1931-1999

Scope and Content

Accession consists of material documenting Brown family. Included are: business records, clippings, correspondence, eulogies, notes, an issue of the LIFE Institute's L.i.f.e.lines newsletter, photographs, résumés and cover letters, school records, and vital statistics. A significant amount of the material documents the donor's father, Jack Brown, a community leader in Brantford, Ontario, and friend of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Of note are autographed pictures of Former Prime Ministers Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Jean Chrétien.

Administrative History

The son of Rose and William Brown, Jack Irving Brown was born in Toronto on January 4, 1926. His family moved to Brantford, Ontario when he was a boy. Upon graduating from high school, Jack went to work at his father's retail store. When he eventually bought the store, he renamed it Brown's of Brantford. In addition to running his business, Jack held leadership positions with the Beth David Congregation, Brant Liberal Association, and the Rotary Club of Brantford. Upon moving to Toronto, he became president of the LIFE Institute at Ryerson University.

Jack and Joy Brown (née Greenberg) had four children: Andrew, Marlene (1952-2007), Holli (b. 1954), and Harriette (b. 1958). Later in life, Jack and Joy separated. For the final years of his life, Jack's companion was Rheta Rhosen. Jack died on September 23, 1999.

Subjects

Businesspeople

Families

Stores, Retail

Name Access

Brown (family)

Brown, Andrew, 1950-

Brown, Harriette, 1958-

Brown, Jack, 1926-1999

Brown, Rose

Brown, William

Chrétien, Jean, 1934-

Katzman, Marlene, 1952-2007

Trudeau, Pierre Elliott, 1919-2000

Verkade, Holli, 1954-

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions

Part Of

Sadie Stren fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

78

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

graphic material (electronic)

Date

[189-]-1997

Physical Description

15 cm of textual records

176 photographs : b&w ; 20 x 25 cm or smaller

2 photographs (jpg) : b&w

Admin History/Bio

Sadie Stren (1915-2014) was born on April 19, 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. Her father and mother had come from a small town in Russia. Samuel Goldberg, her father, arrived to stay with family in Brantford, Ontario in 1910 and began working as a peddler. He moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1912 where he worked for the Ford Motor Company and later owned a confectionary store. Emma, Sadie’s mother, came from Russia to reunite with Samuel after he began living in Detroit and the couple married and started a family there.

Sadie grew up in a predominately Jewish neighbourhood in Detroit with her parents and her sister Sarah. She graduated from what is now Wayne State University and worked as a social studies teacher in Detroit for approximately 10 years, until she married at age 31. Sadie first met her husband, Maurice "Maurie" Strenkovsky (1910-1995), while visiting relatives in Brantford. By the time the two had met, Maurie was going by the last name Stren, although it is not certain when he began to do so. He served in the Second World War and corresponded with Sadie during their courtship. The two married in 1947, five years after meeting. The couple initially lived in Detroit, where their son David was born on August 28, 1948, but soon moved to Brantford, where Sadie gave birth to a daughter, Patti, on August 8, 1949. Maurie became a manufacturer of surgical dressing and continued in this profession until his retirement.

When Sadie first moved to Brantford, she joined several Jewish women’s organizations, including Hadassah. She continued to be actively involved in both Jewish and non-Jewish community organizations for the remainder of her life. She ran and taught the Beth David Sunday school in Brantford for many years, and in 1976, was honoured for her work as Sunday school supervisor by the Beth David Sisterhood. During her time in Brantford, Sadie served on the board of directors for eight different organizations, and was the president of four. She was a member of the board of directors for the Family Service Bureau and was elected president in 1966. She was also a past president of the University Women’s Club and a former board member of the YM-YWCA. Her husband was quite active in the community as well. Maurie Stren’s commitments included serving as president of B’nai B’rith Brantford from 1965-1966 and as District Governor of the Lions Club from 1963-64, among other things.

Upon moving to Toronto, Sadie became a member of the Baycrest Women’s Auxiliary and volunteered at Mount Sinai Hospital and the Aphasia Institute.

Sadie was an amateur historian who served as the Brantford Jewish community's archivist and historian for a number of years. She had been collecting sources of Brantford Jewish history in her home since at least the 1970s in order to assemble the history of Brantford's community. Sadie was also an author who wrote about the history of the Brantford community, spoke at conferences, and was a contributor to the Canadian Jewish Historical Society Journal in 1981. She passed away on December 9, 2014.

Custodial History

The records were donated by Sadie Stren in five different transfers from 1976-2006. The first accession was received as a part of the small communities project in 1976 and included only photographs. Subsequent accessions included photographs and textual documents relating to both Sadie’s family and the Brantford community. Sadie is an author and she acquired some of the materials when researching the history of the Brantford community.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of material created and collected by Sadie Stren related to the Brantford Jewish community, as both a member of the community and an author researching its history. Among the records are newspaper and article clippings, correspondence, research notes, records of the Brantford Hebrew Association, miscellaneous printed and published material, Hadassah minutes, records related to Congregation Beth David and its Hebrew school and photographs.

The Brantford Hebrew Association records include 3 ledger books which span the years between 1909 to 1952, legal documents for the Association including the original letters patent incorporating the Brantford Hebrew Association in 1911.

Notes

Some of the photographs are modern copies of older photographs.

Some early accessions contained photocopies of orginal documents that were eventually donated in later transfers. These photocopies were culled.

Many photographs were described at the item level at the time they were accessioned, but there are quite a few photographs in the fonds which have not yet been described in detail.

Name Access

Stren, Sadie, 1915-2014

Subjects

Immigrants--Canada

Volunteers

Related Material

For additional material related to the Brantford Jewish community see also accession #1978-11-4, accession #2009-2-5, oral history #AC91, and accession #2004-5-71.

Creator

Stren, Sadie, 1915-

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

1976-6-9

1977-5-6

1978-11-3

2005-11-10

2006-12-1

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Congregation Beth David fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

88

Material Format

multiple media

Date

[ca. 1916]-1996, predominant 1940-1996

Physical Description

38 cm of textual records (9v.) and other material

Admin History/Bio

The Brantford Hebrew Association, Congregation Beth David’s precursor, was founded in 1907 when Rabbi Backer officiated Brantford’s first public Jewish religious service in an upper hall on George Street. Services had previously taken place in the homes of Jewish families, who had begun settling in the area around the turn of the century. By 1911, services had moved to the old Conservative Hall at Dalhousie and King Street. In 1915, the congregation purchased a building at 33 Palace Street and remodeled it into a synagogue. This building was also used as a community centre and for the Congregation’s Hebrew school.

On October 13th, 1911 the congregation was incorporated, and the following year it purchased land for a cemetery in the northeast corner of Mount Hope Cemetery. Due to increasing membership, a new synagogue was built at 50 Waterloo Street in 1948. In January 1950, the congregation changed its name to Beth David in honour of member David Axler, who died during the Second World War while training as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The congregation was at its peak in the 1960s with 150 member families. However, membership drastically fell after the children of this generation moved to larger cities and their parents followed after retirement. By 1999, only 28 families remained as members and services were reduced to being held on the High Holidays and special occasions, such as, b'nai mitzvah. Dwindling resources and membership forced the congregation to close around 2001. Throughout its existence, over 30 rabbis served the congregation, including Rabbi Saul Wolfe Gringorten (ca. 1910-1923). Its cemetery continues to be looked after by Allan Norris, a past president of the congregation.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of records documenting the acitivities, religious programs and services, membership, and finances of Congregation Beth David, as well as the recognition and honours awarded by and to Brantford's Jewish community. Included are meeting minutes, photographs, plaques, a key, a marriage register, general ledgers, ledgers and lists of membership dues and receipts, audited financial statements, budgets, correspondece, bulletins, office stationary, newsclippings, certificates, library book cards, bookplates, rabbi contracts, and surveys.

Fonds has been arranged into the following six series: 1. Meetings ; 2. Religious programs and services; 3. Finances & accounting ; 4. Administrative functions ; 5. Bulletins ; and, 6. Events.

Notes

Includes 10 microfiches of textual records, 5 architectural drawings, 11 photographs (4 negatives), 3 plaques, 1 mounted letter and 1 key.

Fonds was reduced from ca. 1 metre to ca. 45 cm. See accession 2001-10-3 for further information about the culled material.

Name Access

Congregation Beth David (Brantford, Ont.)

Subjects

Architecture

Communities

Synagogues

Physical Condition

The binding on some of the general ledgers is fragile and coming apart. They have been stored flat to reduce any strain.

The architectural drawings have some tears and should be flattened.

Related Material

Please see the Sadie Stren fonds 78 for other records documenting Brantford's Jewish community and the Beth David Congregation, including the synagogue's original letters of incorporation.

For other photographs documenting Congregation Beth David, see: accesssion 1976-6-5 (photo # 1133); accession 1976-6-6 (photos # 1138, 1137, 1136); accession 1976-6-13; accession 1986-2-2 (photos #3593-3595, 3856, 3889-3894), photo #918; and, photo #578.

For records related to Beth David's namesake, David Axler, and photographs of its cemetery, please see accession #2004-5-71.

For records of Rabbi Gringorten, see accession #2009-2-5 and 2008-11-3

For additional records related to Brantford families and other Jewish organizations, such as the Hadassah chapter and B'nai Brith lodge, please see accession #2001-10-3; MG 2J29a, #2009-7-1, 1978-11-4, 1977-8-16, 1992-8-3, 1980-1-14, 1978-1-2, 2008-7-1, photo# 109, photo# 755, and photo #758.

Arrangement

Fonds is arranged to the file-level, but only described to the series-level. Three file-level descriptions exist for files attached directly to the fonds. Photographs with existing item-level descriptions were also attached to the fonds.

Creator

Congregation Beth David (Brantford, Ont.)

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

2001-10-3

1978-11-4

1981-12-2 / MG3 B16

1976-6-8

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

3895

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1982

Physical Description

1 photograph : col. ; 10 x 15 cm

Scope and Content

This item is a photograph of Leonard Wise of Brantford, Ontario, with Marci Gilbert of the Canadian Jewish Congress, at a picnic organized by the CJC for members of the small Jewish communities of Ontario. There is also an unidentified man in the photo.

Subjects

Communities

Picnics

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

1986-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

3896

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1982

Physical Description

1 photograph : col. ; 10 x 15 cm

Scope and Content

This item is a photograph of Rabbi Moshe Yeres at a picnic organized by the Canadian Jewish Congress for members of the small Jewish communities of Ontario. He is standing with an unidentified man, woman and child.

Name Access

Yeres, Moshe

Subjects

Communities

Picnics

Rabbis

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

1986-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

3897

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1982

Physical Description

1 photograph : col. ; 10 x 15 cm

Scope and Content

This item is a photograph of a sing-along at a picnic organized by the Canadian Jewish Congress for members of the small Jewish communities of Ontario. The photo depicts a group of people seated in a semi-circle around a guitarist.

Notes

This photo is similar to photo #3900.

Subjects

Communities

Picnics

Places

Brantford (Ont.)

Accession Number

1986-2-2

Source

Archival Descriptions