Abraham Abraham (March 9, 1843 – June 28, 1911) was an American businessman and the founder of the

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

Abraham & Straus Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company ...

, founded 1865. The chain, which became part of

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito ...

, is now part of

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

Early life

Abraham was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, the son of Judah Abraham, a native of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

who left in 1837 and married Sarah Sussman en route to the United States. Soon after arrival, Judah Abraham opened a store on Murray Street in New York. In 1843 Abraham Abraham was born. He had delicate health, and wanted to be a violinist. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, he ran away to Chicago to enlist, but was brought back by his father. At 14, he worked at Hart & Dettlebach of Newark, along with Simon Bloomingdale and

Benjamin Altman Benjamin Altman (July 12, 1840 – October 7, 1913) was a New York City department store owner and art collector who is best known today for his large art collection, which he donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Life and career Benjami ...

for $1 a week.

Career

Abraham opened Wechsler & Abraham in Brooklyn in 1865 at 297 Fulton Street. The company later became

. He became a Brooklyn philanthropist, establishing the Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, among many other causes. In 1890, he commissioned a house, now demolished, at 800 St. Mark's Avenue in Brooklyn.

Personal life

Abraham married twice. In 1868, he married Isabella Hyams; she died in 1875. In 1882, he married Rose Epstein; they remained married until his death. He had three children with his first wife and one with his second wife, Rose: *Lillian Isabelle Abraham Rothschild (married to

Simon F. Rothschild Simon Frank Rothschild (June 14, 1861 – January 5, 1936) was an American merchant and philanthropist who served as president and chairman of the board at Abraham & Straus. Biography Rothschild was born on June 14, 1861, in Eufaula, Alabama, t ...

); *Florence May Abraham Blum (married to Edward Charles Blum); *Lawrence Emanuel Abraham; and *Edith Abraham Straus (married to Percy Selden Straus, son of

Isidor Straus Isidor Straus (February 6, 1845 – April 15, 1912) was a Bavarian-born American Jewish businessman, politician and co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He also served for just over a year as a member of the United State ...

). His many notable descendants include grandson Donald B. Straus (son of his daughter Edith), an educator, author, and advisor; great-great-granddaughter Nina Rothschild Utne, a magazine publisher; great-great-grandson Peter A. Bradford, civil servant and nuclear power expert, and great-great-great-grandson

Arthur Bradford Arthur Houston Bradford (born November 19, 1969) is an American writer and filmmaker. He has published two books of short stories, ''Dogwalker'' (2001) and ''Turtleface and Beyond'' (2015), and a children's book, ''Benny's Brigade'' (2012). He h ...

, an author and director. Abraham died on Cherry Island, near

Alexandria Bay, New York Alexandria Bay is a village in Jefferson County, New York, United States, within the town of Alexandria. It is located in the Thousand Islands region of northern New York. The population of the village was 1,078 at the 2010 United States Census. I ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abraham, Abraham 1843 births 1911 deaths Businesspeople from New York City Jewish American philanthropists People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn American people of German-Jewish descent 19th-century American businesspeople Philanthropists from New York (state) Abraham family 19th-century American philanthropists

Early life

Career

Personal life

Further reading

References