Isaac Ebenholz and Chaje (Eva) Ebenholz

Isaac Holz was born Isaac Ebenholz on August 7, 1874, in a small town near Warsaw. He met and married Chaje Blaustein in the "old country. The couple had four children: daughter Sarah and three sons, Abraham ("Arthur) and twins Jankel ("Jacob") and Schulem ("Solomon"). Leaving his family behind in search of a better life for all of them, Isaac came alone to the United States in February 1906, traveling from Liverpool to Boston aboard the S. S. Cymric, according to the ship's manifest. Chaje ("Eva") Blustain was born in "Schedletz"/Siedletz, Russia, on September 15, 1880, the daughter of Hayim/Chaim Blaustein and Hava/Chava Friedman. She traveled to the United States with her four children a year and a half after her husband's transatlantic journey. The young mother, then just 27 years old, cared for her seven-year-old daughter, five-year-old son, and three-year-old twins in third-class accommodations (steerage) aboard the Ryndam, a Holland America ship that departed from Rotterdam on October 26, 1907, and arrived at Ellis Island in New York on November 4, 1907. (See the ship's manifest, lines 9-13, and the immigration arrival report, lines 9-13.) Eva and the children joined Isaac in Boston, where he had been working since his arrival in America. In 1913, disillusioned by her experiences in "the promised land" (which included living in cramped, rat-infested quarters and contracting tuberculosis), Eva traveled back to her beloved homeland with her three younger children, leaving oldest son Abraham (Arthur), then 11, behind with his father. In an audio recording made years later, Arthur described the circumstances of his mother's departure:

... as my father's language improved and as the natives' perception improved, things started happening in the Holtz household. We started to have one meal a week instead of semi-monthly. This situation improved to the point that my father had accumulated enough wealth for my mother to decide that she wanted to leave all the illusion of the promised land. She set sail on April 1913 on the SS Camaronia for her beloved homeland with three of her children, leaving me as an anchor with my father to help him refresh his memory as to his responsibilities and that any thought he might have of straying would be caught up short as he looked at my benign face.

In February 1914, the family was reunited when Eva, Sarah, Jacob and Solomon returned to America (see S. S. Rhaetia ship's manifest, lines 17-20). Isaac's WW I draft registration card from 1918 shows him living at 23 Elmhurst St., Dorchester. At that time he was a self-employed junk collector. In 1920, according to the United States Census (lines 3-8) taken in January of that year, the family still lived at the same Dorchester address. Isaac and Eva's oldest child, daughter Sarah ("Susie"), was then 19 years old and working as a filing clerk at the State House while son Abraham ("Arthur"), age 18, was a fireman working on the railroad. Son Jacob, one of the twins who was then 16, was a seaman in the United States Navy; son Solomon seems to have been unemployed. [Question: When did Isaac and Eva move to Los Angeles? Did all their children come with them?] By the time of the 1930 U.S. Census (on Apr 9, 1930), Isaac and Eva had moved to California and lived at 2718 Fairmount Street in Los Angeles. Living with the couple were two boarders: Jack Bernstein (b. New York) and Eva's nephew (identified as a boarder) Saul Girhenberg [sic] (Sol Girshenberg), who claims to have arrived in the U.S. in 1910. By 1938, Eva and Isaac were living at 269 N. Rowan Avenue (according to the 1939 Los Angeles City Directory). Isaac Holz passed away at age 64 on December 30, 1938. Following Isaac's death, his widow Eva and their son Arthur moved to 3440 City Terrace Dr. in the Belvedere section of Los Angeles (per 1940 U.S. Census document). Several years later, Eva married Jacob "Yosh" Fagin on July 31, 1942, in Reno. Eva's second husband died July 31, 1951. Eva passed away on July 15, 1965. Click here to listen to Eva Holz speaking about her life (recording made c. 1958). Eva Holz (center) with grandsons Jim Holtz (left) and David Holtz (c. 1965)

Descendants of Isaac and Chaje Ebenholz (aka Isaac and Eva Holz)

Salomea Ebenholz, aka Sarah "Susie" Shapiro (b. Apr 10, 1900, in Warsaw; d. Nov 1, 1992, in Los Angeles) Spouse: Isadore ("Izzy") Shapiro (b. Jan 1, 1898, in Poland; d. May 11, 1948, in Los Angeles) Son: Harold Perry ("Heshel" or "Heshe") Shapiro (b. Jun 10, 1926; d. Sep 2, 2000) Daughter: Muriel Thelma ("Malke") Shapiro Muscato (b. Jan 5, 1929) Daughter: Joan Dorothy "Joanie" Shapiro (b. Jan 25, 1935) Abram Ebenholz, aka Arthur Holtz (b. Jan 4, 1902; d. May 24, 1976) Spouse: Pearl Caplan Holtz Son: David Holtz Son: James Zachary Holtz Daughter: Sara Holtz Jankel Ebenholz, aka Jacob "Jake" Holtz (b. Sep 9, 1904, in Warsaw; d. Jun 8, 1975, in Los Angeles) Spouse: Fay/Fannie Bercovitz Holtz (b. Dec 19, 1907; d. Feb 12, 1995, in Los Angeles) Daughter: Anetta Ilene Holtz (b. Mar 27, 1949); married Jeffrey Dale Sproul Schulem Ebenholz, aka Solomon "Solly" Holtz (b. Sep 9, 1904, in Warsaw; d. Apr 17, 1967, in Los Angeles) Spouse: Betty Dorfman Holtz (b. Nov 20, 1915, in St. Louis; d. Sep 20, 1981, in Los Angeles) Daughter: Elaine Beverly Holtz Daughter: Evelyn Diane Holtz Son: Mark Howard Holtz Eva and Isaac Holz are buried in Home of Peace Cemetery (4334 Whitter Blvd., Los Angeles). Their monuments are pictured below.