Josephine Valentine Spitzer Lewis

Josephine Valentine Spitzer was the eldest daughter of Joseph S. Spitzer and Eda Rubinstein Spitzer. She was born in Chicago on Valentine's Day in 1880 and went by the name of Valentine or Valle (pronounced valley) for short.

Valentine Spitzer is standing in the back on the left. She is pictured with her brother, sister and uncle in the back and her parents and grandparents in the front (see Nov. 10, 2015 post).

According to one of her daughters, Valle Spitzer moved to Honolulu in 1898. She had finished normal school and taught in the Hawaii schools for a couple of years.

Honolulu directory, 1902

J. Vallentine Spitzer married Charles Tobias Lewis in Chicago on June 17, 1902, and the couple settled in Chicago. In 1911, when daughter Helen was eight, and daughter Rhoda was five, the family traveled to Hawaii to visit their relatives. Charles and Valle Lewis then decided to stay in Hawaii. Valle's father died shortly thereafter in 1913 in Hawaii.

Charles Lewis was a mechanical engineer and became a technical consultant for the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association. He also worked for awhile in the early 1920's (and possibly late 1910's) for the sugar industry in Talisay, Negros Occidental, Philippines, south of Manila.

In early 1920, Valle Spitzer Lewis is found on the census with her two daughters, ages 16 and 13, living in Berkeley, California, at 2214 Dana Street. Rhoda Lewis reported she had attended Berkeley High School.

Here is the passport of Josephine V. S. Lewis and her daughters who were planning a trip in July, 1920 to Japan, China, and Hong Kong. I assume they also stayed for awhile in the Philippines, where the daughters reported being enrolled in the American European School of Manila.

1920 passport, page 1

1920 passport, page 2

In 1923, Valentine Lewis applied for a new passport to visit Japan, China and Hong Kong on her own. In this passport, her husband is shown as residing in Talisay, Negros Occidental, Philippines.

1923 passport, page 1

1923 passport, page 2

And in the 1930 census, Charles, Valle, and daughter Rhoda, age 23, lived in San Francisco, California. Daughter Helen had already married and daughter Rhoda had already graduated from Stanford Law School and was working in San Francisco while living with her parents. Ship passenger records and city directories indicated Valentine Lewis resided in Honolulu in 1925, 1928, and 1957.

Daughter Helen Lewis, born July 2, 1903, in Chicago, attended Stanford University before marrying Myron Leroy Hyman, a sales manager in the salt industry. The couple settled in Buffalo, New York. They had two sons. Helen Lewis Hyman's residence during World War II was in Pasadena, California. After the war, she returned to live in Hawaii. She obtained a M.A. degree from the University of Hawaii, where she was on the faculty before retiring early.

The second daughter, Rhoda Lewis, was an attorney and appointed as the first female justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court in 1959. She is the subject of an upcoming blog.

Charles Tobias Lewis died in Honolulu on June 1, 1931. Josephine Valentine Spitzer Lewis outlived her husband by almost forty years, dying in Honolulu on September 29, 1970. Helen Lewis Hyman died on April 15, 1992, and her sister, Rhoda Lewis, died on September 12, 1991, both in Honolulu.


References:

California Passenger and Crew Lists, 1882-1957, Ancestry.com.

Honolulu, Hawaii, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1900-1959, Ancestry.com.

Husted's 1902 Directory of Honolulu, p. 402.

1920 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com.

1930 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com.

U.S. City Directories, 1820-1989, Ancestry.com.

U.S., Marriages performed by three Rabbis in Boston, Chicago and Massachusetts, 1861-1956, Ancestry.com.

U.S. Passport Applications, Ancestry.com.