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These are my great grandparents Yosef Baumwoll and Beile (Bella) Baumwoll. I am named after my great grandmother and their oldest son Samuel Baumwoll. They had four daughters and two sons. My grandfather Nathan was the second youngest of the siblings. Their youngest daughter was named Sadie. Next is Fela, then Adele and Anna is the oldest. Up until a few months ago I was never told what had happened to my grandparents or their daughters.  I didn’t even know if they had made it to America. I’m still looking for where they are. I don’t know when they died or where they are buried.  I’m looking for this side of the family.

I had been looking for the original street names of Edgemere for the longest time. So, In 1993, when the 100th anniversary collectors addition of The Wave, Rockaways newspaper since 1893, came out, of course I had to have one and inside was article about what had happened to the naming of the streets in all of Rockaway including Edgemere. Isn’t this interesting to look at the two columns and see the wonderful names of the streets that I knew by the numbers when I was young. Also just to add, if your into postcards from the early 1900’s, this would be a guide to help you find your street.

Bruce Baumwoll

One can never forget that the boardwalk played a major role in everybody’s life there. Skee-Ball was a staple. How many of us played this game over and over hearing that special sound when all the balls are released after putting in your change? My brother and I could play for hours.

The photo shown here is of my family in 1930. It is taken somewhere in the Rockaways. The small boy in front is my father, Jack. The other boy is his older brother, Joseph. Aren’t his horn rim glasses wonderful? With them are my grandparents, Nathan & Eva Baumwoll. The first thing I began looking for in my genealogical research was my great grandmother and great grandfather on my father’s side, who up until a few months ago I knew very little about. I didn’t even know if they had made it to America. I am named after my great grandmother Bella Baumwoll and my grandfather’s older brother Samuel Baumwoll.

While I was growing up and all through my life, people who knew my my grandfather would say to me, “You know he was a motion picture operator and he put the sound in the Roxy Movie Palace in New York”. It wasn’t until all of this started to come together that it all began to be a story that is so American. A small boy (my grandfather) comes off an ocean liner to meet his father who is waiting for him. The year is 1910. The boy is 13. Within a short period of time this young man is working for the one of the pioneers of the new era of the great movie palaces. His name was J. Fabin of Union Hill, New Jersey.

So this is how my blog has begun. To discover my family’s history in Edgemere of 50 years; of the people they knew on the boardwalk and all the merchants who they did business with and had friendships with.

Edgemere is really all of ours now in our memories. It’s a place that only lives with and through the people who wish to share their times in words and photos for all of us to enjoy. None of these times will ever pass our way again. The America that was Edgemere is long gone.