Hessleberg, Myer

BORN LATVIA, 1898. MYER WAS FROM LIBAU, LIEPAJA, LATVIA. ELDEST CHILD OF HARRY HESSELBERG. LIVING AT 134, PORTER STREET, HULL. LIKE HIS FATHER, MYER WORKED AS A BOOTMAKER AND REPAIRER. MYER’S FATHER, HARRY, CAME TO ENGLAND IN THE EARLY 1900’S, LEAVING HIS WIFE, SHEINA ARONOVICH, IN LATVIA WITH HIS CHILDREN. THIS WAS NOT UNUSUAL. IT IS COMMON AMONG MIGRATING COMMUNITIES, FOR THE HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD, TO GO AND FIND WORK, AND SET UP HOME, AND THEN BRING THE THE REST OF THE FAMILY TO JOIN THEM LATER. HOWEVER, IN THIS CASE, THIS NEVER HAPPENED. CENSUS RECORDS SHOW, THAT HARRY WAS LIVING IN HULL, WITH A NEW, 24 YEAR OLD, WIFE OF FIVE YEARS, FANNY (NEE MYERTHALL). IN ADDITION TO MYER (13) AND HIS SISTER, FANNY (12) THERE WERE THREE OTHER CHILDREN – ALL BY HIS NEW WIFE.
RECORDS, SHOW THAT MYER’S REAL MOTHER, SHEINA, DIED OF PNEUMONIA, IN LATVIA, IN 1906. IF HARRY WAS NOT BY THEN ALREADY MARRIED TO FANNY, SHE WAS MOST CERTAINLY PREGNANT WITH MATILDA BY THEN. HARRY, WAS LEFT WITH LITTLE OPTION, BUT TO BRING HIS SURVIVING CHILDREN, MYER AND FANNY, FROM LATVIA TO HULL. BY ALL ACCOUNTS MYER’S FATHER, HARRY, WAS VERY ABUSIVE. IT WAS TO ESCAPE THIS HARDSHIP, THAT MYER LEFT HOME AND ENLISTED UNDERAGE.
SOLDIERS DIED RECORDS STATE INCORRECTLY THAT MYER WAS BORN IN HULL. PERHAPS HE STATED THIS TO FIT IN? MYER ENLISTED IN LEEDS. FORMERLY, EX 25770, OF THE YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. HE SERVED WITH THE 16TH NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS, AND WAS KILLED IN ACTION, ON THE 20TH SEPTEMBER 1917. AGED 19. UNMARRIED. HE LEFT SISTERS, FANNY, MATHILDA AND HILDA, AND BROTHER, HENRY.
HE IS COMMEMORATED AT TH NIEUPORT MEMORIAL; WEST-VLAANDEREN, BELGIUM.
A BIZARRE SEQUEL TO MYER’S DEATH, IS THAT ON 07/04/1918, HIS STEP MOTHER, FANNY GAVE BIRTH TO A BABY BOY, WHO WAS NAMED MYER, AFTER HIS RECENTLY DEPARTED HALF BROTHER.
MYER’S SISTER FANNY, ALSO ESCAPED HARDSHIP AT HOME AND ESTABLISHED A NEW LIFE FOR HERSELF. IN OCTOBER 1917, A MONTH AFTER HER BROTHER’S DEATH, SHE MARRIED RUBIN FAITELBERG, WHO HIMSELF ENLISTED IN THE 38TH ROYAL FUSILIERS, AND AS PRIVATE, J290, SAW ACTIVE SERVICE IN EGYPT AND PALESTINE.
MEANWHILE, HARRY TOOK HIS FAMILY TO AMERICA, SETTLING IN PHILADELPHIA. MYER (THE YOUNGER) FOUGHT FOR THE US ARMY IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR. SADLY, HE DIED AT THE BATTLE OF SALERNO, ON 18/09/1943, JUST TWO DAYS SHORT OF THE 26TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST MYER’S DEATH.
NOTE: MYER’S GRANDPARENTS (HARRY’S PARENTS) SAMUEL AND DORA HESSLEBERG, ALSO LIVED IN HULL, AT 5 MARY ANN’S PLACE, ADELAIDE STREET. ANOTHER FAMILY WITH THE SAME NAME, MINNIE AND JOSEPH HESSLEBERG & THEIR THREE CHILDREN, LIVED NEARBY, AT 19 ADELAIDE STREET, HULL. THEY WERE ALL SHOE MAKERS. (1911 CENSUS).
Thank You to stuartfield@sugare.co.uk for this information, sent on 08/11/2017.