Solomon George, oldest son of Helen and Aurial, began his independent life by going to university in California to study chemistry.
On 2 June 1921, Solomon Lipsett, age 20, applied for and received an “Alien Certificate” in preparation for the crossing into the United States from Winnipeg. This is almost illegible, but we can see that he is on his way to Ocean Beach, California (San Diego).
24 June 1921: Solomon Lipsett’s new life
On 24 June 1921, Solomon Lipsett crossed the border from Winnipeg to the United States, on his way to Ocean Beach, California (San Diego).
He says he will be staying with his father Aurial. However it is Helen who lives now in San Diego with young Samuel. His address of record in Canada is his sister Cecilia Moffat’s address in Winnipeg.
Solomon states that this is “Permanent”. We think he means he will be staying for several years while he attends university. He is the scholar in the family. He is certainly not interested in beach life. He has big plans and ambitions.
If he stayed in San Diego, he may have studied Chemistry at San Diego State University, in downtown San Diego. He could have lived with Helen and Sam and taken the streetcar to the University.
Below is a second idea of where and what his studies would be. If this was Solomon’s choice, he would have moved up to Los Angeles.
“When the Los Angeles State Normal School became the Southern Branch of the University in the summer of 1919, appointment of the first chemist with a doctoral degree, William R. Crowell, quickly followed and Chemistry 1A was established….
The chemistry department was not organized until 1920, when William Conger Morgan was brought in from Reed College as the first chairman.”
1924-1927 at McGill
After his studies in California, Solomon returned to Canada, to Montreal, where he obtained a PhD in Chemistry in 1927 from McGill University. (Information from the Amelia Does book. McGill records are not available on line.)
“McGill College opened its doors in 1843 as a small college primarily focused on the professional fields of medicine, law, and engineering. Chemistry was part of the medical school under the guise of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Only in 1908 did Chemistry gain departmental status, yet in 1909 the Department of Chemistry produced its first PhD Chemist: Dr. Annie L. MacLeod.” (McGill Dept of Chemistry website)
18 & 21 Feb 1927, Norma Goldberg
Meanwhile, meet Norma Goldberg.
Norma Goldberg will become, in 1931, the first wife of Solomon Lipsett. She is the mother of their children Arthur Lipsett and Marian Lipsett.
This unassuming little document below, dated 1927, is the only glimpse we have found about Norma Goldberg’s background. It is full of surprising new information.
In 1927, Norma is 24 years old (born in 1903). She was born in Poland. Her address in Winnipeg was 466 Pritchard.
She states that her father Joseph Goldberg had this address: “Mile Post 42, Hudson Bay RR.” What does that mean? We found out!
In 1927, Joseph Goldberg (age approx 45) was working on the construction of the Hudson Bay Railway from Le Pas to Churchill on Hudson Bay. From 1927 to 1929, the building of the railway line was re-activated after a long delay that included the First World War.
Joseph Goldberg would have been part of the management of the Hudson Bay Railway project, perhaps like the fellow with the white shirt and bow tie above.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/hudson-bay-railway-history-construction-1.4712287
“Some of the men would be bitten so badly that their eyes became infected [and] eventually they had to be hospitalized,” states an account by Leonard Earl, a Winnipeg Tribune reporter at the time…. They dug and picked and hauled wheelbarrows of rock to build the rail bed, lay the track and construct bridges.
And they toiled across “terrain [that] was the roughest in Manitoba.”
More information on Norma’s little card:
In 1927 Norma is going to visit “Uncle Ike Kharach“, her mother’s brother in Chicago, Illinois. His address is 3442 W. 13th, Chicago.
Norma’s mother was Mariam Kharach [or Kharasch].
Mariam died just before Norma’s wedding to Solomon. On the wedding document [22 Sept 1931], the words “the Late” are hand-written beside her name. (see below)
The last item on Norma’s little record provides the important fact that the Goldberg family arrived in Canada at Quebec in October 1920. Norma would have been 17 then.
(We have not yet found the Goldberg family’s landing document.)
The “Alien Certificate” below covers some of the same information as in the document above. Norma is from Canada, and is going to Chicago Illinois, via the border crossing south of Winnipeg at Noyes.
We have not yet been able to find more information about the Kharasch family
22 Sept 1931: Marriage of Solomon George Lipsett and Norma Goldberg
Note in the above record that one of the witnesses to the marriage is Norma’s sister Etta Goldberg (Aunt Etta to Arthur Lipsett).
2 Nov 1933: Helen and son Samuel visit
Helen Lipsett, age 62, accompanied by son Samuel, age 22, came to Montreal to visit their son/brother “Dr. S. G. Lipsett” at “4835” Queen Mary Road. (The address is actually “4935”.)
This is two years after Solomon and Norma’s wedding in 1931.
1935 Voters List, Montreal
The Lipsett family are living in Apartment 12 at 4935 Queen Mary Road, a large apartment building.
Mme S.J. Lipsett is Norma Goldberg. “Eva Goldberg” must be a sister to Norma, living with them.
13 May 1936: birth of Arthur Harold Lipsett
1939: birth of daughter Marian
Three years after Arthur’s birth, daughter Marian was born. We cannot find a birth record. In 1939 the family was living at 4970 Queen Mary Rd., an apartment building, not far from the previous address on Queen Mary.
1930-1947: S G Lipsett addresses in Montreal
From Montreal telephone books http://more.stevemorse.org/montreal_en.html:
•1930-32: Lipsett S G chemist apt 10, 3456 Shuter (now Aylmer Street, in the student neighbourhood east of McGill University
The next four addresses are all apartment buildings in the NDG (Notre Dame de Grace) area of Montreal bordered by Blvd Decarie and Queen Mary Rd.
•1932-34: Lipsett Solomon G, M.D. chemist apt 8, 4710 Blvd Decarie
•1934-36: Lipsett Solomon G, MD. chemist J T Donald & Co apt 12, 4935 Queen Mary Rd
•1937-39: Lipsett Solomon G, M.D. chemist J T Donald & Co apt 12a, 4970 Queen Mary Rd
•1939-40: Lipsett Sol M.D. physician, 5106 Lacombe Av
•1940-44: Lipsett Sol chem, J T Donald & Co, 5106 Lacombe Av (image below)
1930 on… Dr. S.G. Lipsett’s job
Dr. Solomon George Lipsett was working as an analytical chemist for J.T. Donald & Co., a large industrial and analytical chemical firm. The “MD physician” references are clerical errors. “SG Lipsett” was Dr. Lipsett because he had a PhD in Chemistry.
“James Thomas Donald was a talented and enterprising chemist, and he was soon persuaded to undertake consulting work, including analyses, for various fledgling industries. Two instances of such work were (i) samples of phosphate rock from the area around Buckingham, PQ …; and (ii) samples of asbestos minerals from the eastern townships of Quebec, (… Thetford Mines). He was also asked to do many analyses for several food industries. By 1889, the volume of such work prompted Donald to open a consulting company with its laboratory initially on St-James Street; and as time went on and the business grew, the firm relocated several times. … The ensuing expansion of the J.T. Donald Company would take us away from analytical chemistry but it is certainly the most famous Canadian enterprise of its kind, with roots firmly in analytical services.”
Image above is a view of the once-grand head office built in 1929 for the J.T. Donald Company, 1181 Guy Street, Montreal, designed by architect Harold Lea Fetherstonhaugh. The company moved to Toronto eventually and left this shell behind.
9 Oct 1943: Helen Lipsett’s final visit
Helen, mother and grandmother, age 73, came to visit Sol and Norma and their two children, at 5106 Lacombe Avenue. Arthur is now age 7. Marion is 4.
Later that same month, Helen returned to San Diego. She died soon after, on 31 Oct 1943.
[see her gravestone image in a sidebar of this blog]
1945: the Lipsetts moved to 4970 Hingston Ave
This house is evidence of Dr. Solomon G. Lipsett’s success. This is no longer an apartment in NDG. This is now in Cote St Luc-Westmount, in an area of detached single-family houses. The house, in this recent image from google, seems to have not changed since the 1940s.
In May 1945, Arthur was nine years old and sister Marian
8 Jan 1947, death of Norma Lipsett
In early January 1947, Norma Lipsett died by suicide.
Ten-year-old Arthur was in the house when she died, according to family stories. We have only second-hand suppositions about the cause of this crisis.
“Name: Norma Lipsett; Burial Date: 08 Jan 1947; Burial Plot: Line 9, Grave 11
Burial Place: Montreal, Québec; Shaare Zion; Cemetery: Back River Memorial Gardens Cemetery.
The family carried on, living in the house, going to school, and going to work.
The Montreal telephone book from 1945 to 1959 has the same listing: “Lipsett S G chem 4970 Hingston av”
1952: Solomon’s second marriage to Renee Schwartz
In 1952, Solomon married again. [Source: Amelia Does quoting Marian Lipsett]. The new step-mother was Renee Schwartz.
Renee Schwartz was born in Hungary 24 Sep 1906. She married Zoltan Kramer and in 1928 had a daughter Eva. During WW2, her entire family were imprisoned in concentration camps. In 1944, her mother, father and brother died in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her husband Zoltan died in 1944 in Dachau. She and her daughter Eva were liberated from Auschwitz-Birkenau at the end of WW2. In 1949 Renee and daughter Eva came to Canada, to Montreal.
In 1952, Arthur was 16 and Marian was 13. Their new step-sister Eva was 24. Eva married a few years later.
1952 onwards
Marian found this new family situation difficult, by her own description. Arthur was self-sufficient and busy with finishing high school and being his adult life (as told elsewhere in this blog).
By 1957, Arthur at 21 had finished art school and began working for the NFB. Marian, at 18, had married and left home.
In 1962, Arthur and Judith had met at a film screening.
In 1963, Arthur took Judith to the house on Hingston Ave to meet his father Sol and stepmother Renee. There were no other visits.
21 Nov 1986, death of Solomon George Lipsett
Arthur’s father Solomon died at age 86, seven months after Arthur ended his life.
We have no evidence that Arthur kept in touch with Solomon, or that Solomon knew of his son’s struggle.
