Arthur Joseph Spitzer

Arthur Jospeh Spitzer was the oldest son of Joseph S. Spitzer. He was born in Chicago on October 8, 1876. For ten years he worked for a large cloak and suit manufacturer in Chicago, F. Siegel & Bros., before moving to Honolulu in November, 1900. In Honolulu, he was employed as a salesman of general wholesale merchandise at the Hyman Bros. store, which became I. Rubinstein & Co., Ltd. in 1902. Arthur J. Spitzer eventually took over that business after his uncle, Isidore Rubinstein, retired. Isidore bought out the business from his cousins, the Hyman brothers. See earlier post on that piece of history at http://spitzerancestry.blogspot.com/2015/10/early-jewish-merchants-in-hawaii.html. In addition to being the vice president, director and manager of the store, he also acted as a vice president and director of the Hub Clothing Co., Ltd., the store his father founded.

Arthur J. Spitzer acted as treasurer of the Honolulu Elks' Lodge for more than ten years.

A. J. Spitzer is in the top row, third from the left.

Arthur J. Spitzer wed Selma Hoermann of Watertown, Wisconsin, on June 1, 1915 in Honolulu. Selma Hoermann arrived in Honolulu on November 2, 1912, with her parents, Dr. Ferdinand Bernard Hoermann, a homeopathic physician in Wisconsin, and his wife, Caroline. They came to visit their daughter, Bertha, and son-in-law, Hartwig Harders, a Pabst brew master from Milwaukee, who operated the Honolulu Brewing & Malting Co., Ltd. Other Honolulu events were the 1914 marriage of Selma's sister, Adele, to Lawrence Everett Clark, an engineer with the telephone company, and the installation of her brother, Arthur Hoermann, as pastor of Honolulu's German Lutheran Church in 1916.

Wedding announcement, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 1915.

Arthur J. and Selma Spitzer had one son, Arthur Hoermann Spitzer, born on January 28, 1917, in Honolulu. The family lived in an historic house in Honolulu, which is the topic of the next blog post.

Arthur J. Spitzer died on February 17, 1956, and his wife died on April 19, 1966. His estate was valued at $500,354.

Grave at Oahu Cemetery, Honolulu.

References:

Hawaii Archives Biographies, http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/bios/spitzer566bs.txt.

Honolulu Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii), November 2, 1912, 3:30 edition, page 13, image 13. Image provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014682/1912-11-02/ed-1/seq-13/

Honolulu Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii), September 12, 1913, 3:30 edition, page 13, image 13. Image provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014682/1914-09-12/ed-1/seq-13/.

Honolulu Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii), June 5, 1915, 3:30 edition, page 10, image 10. Image provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014682/1915-06-05/ed-1/seq-10/.

Honolulu Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii), July 22, 1916, 3:30 edition, page 4, image 4. Image provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014682/1916-07-22/ed-1/seq-4/.

Officers of Honolulu Elks' Lodge, courtesy of Hawaiian Jewish Archives.