The Fisher Family
(Ethel Messinger and Jacob Fisher)
The details of the Fiszer (now Fisher) Family are based on conversations and letters from Herman Fisher and his daughter Linda Fisher and correspondence with Emily Gaal, Lainie Herman Fiszer and Janyce (Bunny) Herman Warrelmann. Herman Fisher is the last living child of Ethel Messinger and Jacob Fisher. Contact with the Fishers came through Herman Fisher's first cousin Irving Kwasnik, son of Cywia Messinger Kwasnik (now deceased).
Ethel Messinger Fisher, the oldest of the Messinger children, remained in Kowel while her husband Jacob (Yaakov) Fiszer made several trips to the US beginning in 1905. In Kovel, Poland, the Fiszers/Fishers lived at Ulica Listopadova. Ethel and her son Herman ran a kosher restaurant. Jacob Fiszer worked with his father, brothers and sisters as a tailor. Ethel (born Etia Sura Fiszer in 1880 according to her passport) and her daughter Estera (born ~1921-22) received their visas to the US at the American Consulate in Warsaw, Poland on October 5, 1928. Ethel came to the US with her two youngest children (Harry and Esther) passing through London (November 13, 1928) and finally arriving aboard the Cunard Steamship Franconia at Jersey City, New Jersey on November 27, 1928. Edward Herman, one of Ethel's grandsons, believes that the HIAS met Ethel, Harry and Esther at the boat in Jersey City and transported them to her sister Cywia Messinger Kwasnik's home in Passaic, NJ. Cywia, who'd only been in the country herself for about 2 weeks, put them on the train to Philadelphia where Jacob had already established residence. Ethel had naturalization papers so they were not detained at immigration. The family lived on Fourth and Washington Street in Philadelphia. Herman, who was old enough to be conscripted when Ethel and the rest of the family came to the US, arrived in October of 1928, having escaped Poland through Danzig (formerly Gdansk).
Ethel and Jacob had 7 children. Chava, Zalek, two boys that died during the global flu epidemic of 1918, Chaim (Herman), Harry, and Esther (also called Estelle and Etta). Jacob Fisher died in 1944. His wife Ethel Messinger Fisher died in June of 1953.
Jacob Fisher memorialized his parents, Haim and Menucha, in the Pinkas Kowel (Memorial Book of Kowel) published in Argentina in 1951. The date of Haim and Menucha's deaths is reported in that yisker book as 1942. According to his grandson Herman, Haim Fisher lived with the Fisher family in Kowel for some 10 years. Herman therefore was not named for his paternal grandfather.
Chava Fisher ______ (b.______ - d._______) did not migrate from Poland as she was married and had two daughters. She married ________, a ______ by occupation. Irving Kwasnik tried to find Chava and her family after the war (WWII). It is assumed they died in the Holocaust.
Zalek (b.~1912 - d.1991) migrated to Buenos Aires around 1925. He retained the family name Fiszer. He married Blooma __________ and had a son Bernardo and a daughter Esther. Zalek and Blooma visited Herman Fisher and his family in the US several times before their deaths in ______. Bernardo, migrated to the US around 1962 with his wife (m. ____ ), the former Kathy ______ . They have a son George and a daughter Karen. Bernardo passed away in 1991. His son George, a lawyer, is married to his second cousin Lainie Herman and he has a son, Justin (b. ) and a new daughter Stacy (brn 05/19/00). George currently lives in New Jersey. Kathy was married to _______ in July, 2000. Esther still lives in Buenos Aires where she is married to Jose Roszental. They have two daughters. Sandra, married to Dan Ochokovsky, has three children; Mariella, Carla and Javiar. Lilly, married to Ali Schulfman, has two daughters; Paula and Carolina.
Chaim (Herman) Fisher (b.11/22/07) immigrated to the United States around October of 1928. He has been married to Violet Mazer (b. 08/10/12) for the last 63 years. Violet was born in Philadelphia, PA. Her parents immigrated from Russia about 90 years ago. Herman and Violet have two children, Irving (b. 1941) and Linda (b. 1945). Irving married Sandy __________ in ______. Sandy passed away in _____. They lived in New Jersey (Irving still does) and had a daughter Susan (married to Jim _______) and a son Benjamin (married to Dianne). Linda lives in West Chester, PA. and is not married.
The Fisher Family in September of 1999. [Left to right] Herman (age 92), daughter Linda, wife Violet (age 87), son Irving Fisher and cousin Irving Messinger (age 72). Taken at Linda's apartment in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Harry (b. ~1911 - d. 10/77) married Rose of Philadelphia in _______. They lived in Philadelphia and had no children. Harry, who had aspirations of being a rabbi when he was young, became an upholsterer in the US.
Esther (b.~1921-22 - d.12/88) was 14 years younger than Herman and was known by several different names. The Fisher family called her Esther, the Kwasniks called her Estelle and her husband's family called her Etta. She married Morris (Moe) Herman, a butcher, in December of 1939 and they had three children, Edward (b. 1942), Janice (b. 1945; named for Jacob) and Ellyne. The Herman family lived in Philadelphia, PA and later moved to Fort Lee, NJ. Esther died in 1988. Morris died ten years later in 1998. The photo to the right is believed to be Esther's high school graduation picture.
Edward Herman married Marcia __________ in 19__. They had 2 daughters, Toby and Lainie. Tobi is unmarried. Lainie is married to George Fiszer (a second cousin), and has a son, Justin and a daughter Stacy. Ed later married Marlene __________ in _________. Marlene has two sons from a previous marriage, Marc and Justin. Marc is married ( ) to Wendy ________ and they have a son, Stephen. Jason is unmarried. Ed and Marlene live in New Jersey as do Lainie and George.
Janyce (Bunny) married Jim Warrelmann in 1979 and they have a son (Jason) and a daughter (Wendy). Jim owns a contract trucking business. The Warrelmanns all live in Wilkes Barre, PA.
Ellyne Herman Gaal, married Jeff Gaal, a physician, who died in 199? of lung cancer. She married Doug Green in 1999. Ellyne and Jeff had 2 daughters, Emily and Samantha. Ellyne currently lives in New Jersey.
Remembrances
Bunny Herman Warrelmann: I remember loving my bubbie [Ethel] alot because I was the only one who would sit on her lap and watch soap operas... Also, I was the only one who would eat her favorite meal with her - lettuce and sour cream. I thought it amazing that after an eventful life all she had to pass on to her daughter were some photographs and fake jewelry in an old black pocketbook she always carried around. She died when I was 8 years old (a few months before my sister Ellyne was born).
Bunny Herman Warrelmann: There's such a nice story about the boat passage [Harry and Esther arrived in the US with their mother Ethel at the tail end of 1928]- my Uncle Harry was evidently a girl catcher and met a girl on the boat. To pass the time, she croched on a beautiful silk scarf and gave it to him to remember her by in the hopes that he would find her once their new lives were underway. He never did and my mom gave me the scarf which I treasured. I've since given it to Linda to share with her a story of hope.
Bunny Herman Warrelmann: One thing everyone will tell you about her [my mother Esther] - she never ate. Not that she was ever skinny but she had this thing about anyone seeing her eat. My mom would sit down at the table and eat the perverbial cottage cheese and pineapple.
Bunny Herman Warrelmann: I have a wonderful story about Uncle Herman. When I was a kid, he decided to rent a pokerino (sp?) on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. I thought I had died and gone to heaven! My mom took us down to A.C. to spend the whole summer and I got to hang around Uncle Herman's with Linda. It was great. But what was really great was what happened at the end of the summer . Uncle Herman had not made out too bad, his premise of a good business was right on, but he took pity on those old ladies who would sit at the machines all day and lose their money and he would give them the money back that they lost so they could get home. So, by the end of the summer all the profits were gone. He's a good soul (obviously).
Bunny Herman Warrelmann: I never knew anything about my grandmom living with [her sister] Chana in Canada. I just naturally thought she lived with us forever because I don't remember any time she wasn't in the house with us. ...my mom was pregnant with my sister Ellyne and gave birth only a few months after my grandmom's death...in June of 1953. ...I was already 8 years old and vividly remember my uncles coming over the morning of her death and climbing those stairs, crying, to go see her. In those days, keeping the kids from those kinds of things was the way it was, so even though I wasn't involved with the death of my grandmom, I remember later being angry that I never got to say goodbye to her and tell her that I loved her. Also, I remember my brother Ed kicking up a fuss because my mom wanted him to have that room because she needed the third room for the new baby and me. We were both afraid to sleep in that room knowing she died there.
- Photo of Members of the Fisher & Herman Families -
The two seated people to the left are Herman and Violet Fisher. The woman standing behind them is their mother, Ethel Messinger Fisher, to her left is Ethel's son Harry Fisher (Herman's brother), the young Irv Fisher, and Aunt Sylvia (Cywia) Messinger Kwasnick. The woman to Cywia's left is unidentified. Young Linda Fisher stands to her left. The woman to the right of Linda is also unidentified (either unidentified woman might be Jacob Fisher's sister). Morris and Esther Herman are the first two people on the right side of the photo. The photo, from Linda Fisher, is labeled December 1944 Ann(?) Kagan Wedding.
Photo of the Messinger-Fisher-Herman Reunion at Herman Fisher's home in Philadelphia (July 23, 2000). In the photo are: Back row: Estelle Messinger Goldblum, Violet Fisher, Herman Fisher, Irv Messinger and Phyllis Schneider Messinger. Middle row: Linda Fisher, Bunny Herman Harrelmann and Jim Harrelmann. Front row: Ian William Messinger and Wendy Harrelmann.
The Messinger/Fisher/Herman Family Tree
This page was last updated on 20 January 2002 by DJM
