NYSUFFOL-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: [NYSUFFOL] A Jewish Pole Comes To Riverhead
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 12:28:24 EDT

Dear Suffolk-Rootsers, etc.,


In its (sort of) regularly scheduled Tuesday LI history segment, today's
NEWSDAY (page A28) has a story (the first 4 paragraphs appear after my
signature) drawn from the oral history of Isidore Scheinberg of the Hamlet of
Riverhead, Town of Riverhead.

Scheinberg was born in a shtetl in Austrian Poland in 1900, arriving in
America at age 9, where the family eventually settled in Brooklyn. He earned
bachelor of laws and master of laws degrees, summa cum laude, from Brooklyn
Law School, then part of St. Lawrence University. After an early career in
the clothing business in New York, he practiced law in Riverhead, where he
was the founding president of the Jewish Civic League.

Scheinberg, who died in 1986, was interviewed in 1978 by Norval Dwyer for the
Riverhead Free Library.

"When I came out here, I had two strikes against me. One was that I came from
the city, and people didn't trust city slickers. The second was that I was
Jewish and there were very few Jews in the area, and they were suspicious of
Jews ... "

"When I came here in the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan was very active in eastern
Long Island. They would burn the cross on various grounds, particularly the
Catholics. But they were not overly kind to the Jewish people,
either...Things were very bad. That is when the [German-American] Bund
established itself in Yaphank ... "

For those who have their copy of the 1998 or 1999 LI Population Survey or
have already downloaded the report from the Suffolk County Cooperative
Library web site (eMail me directly if you need instructions on how to access
and download the report), you'll find the Hamlet of Riverhead, Town of
Riverhead), Suffolk County on pages 15 & 26 (map) and 27 (population
estimate). (Note: The Town of Riverhead is the only town in either Nassau
or Suffolk Counties with no village within its borders.)

For all those Suffolk-Rootsers who wish to see the entire story but can not
access the web, please eMail me directly and I will then eMail the entire
story to you.


Sincerely,

Walter Greenspan



LONG ISLAND OUR PAST
A 'City Slicker' in Riverhead
Memories from a lawyer who left Brooklyn and took chickens in trade on the
East End
-- by George DeWan./Staff Writer

BORN IN a shtetl in Austrian Poland in 1900, Isidore Scheinberg came to
America at age 9, and the family eventually settled in Brooklyn. He earned
bachelor of laws and master of laws degrees, summa cum laude, from Brooklyn
Law School, then part of St. Lawrence University. After an early career in
the clothing business in New York, he practiced law in Riverhead, where he
was the founding president of the Jewish Civic League. Scheinberg, who died
in 1986, was interviewed in 1978 by Norval Dwyer for the Riverhead Free
Library.

After being admitted to the bar, in 1928, I still remained in the business.

But during my attendance at Brooklyn Law School...Harry Saxstien, a Riverhead
boy, and I became very close friends...He hoped that one day I would become
his partner if I ever decided to practice law. I learned law only for the
purpose of knowing law and because I was interested in law, since I had been
a Talmudic student as a child. Harry started out practicing in 1928 in
Riverhead. During the period that he and I were in school together, I would
come out to Riverhead very frequently...

In 1930, after having wound up my business affairs in Cuba, where I had
opened factories to spread out the business, I decided to leave the business
world, because I had an ideal. I bethought myself that, to be in business
meant to beat last year's figures. The whole objective of business was to
beat last year's gross and net income. I felt that that was not the reason
why I was born and put on this Earth. I wanted to be of service, and so while
I was making a lot of money in the business world, I succumbed to Harry's
requests to come and join him because he became very busy and couldn't handle
all the business by himself...I began to practice law here in 1930 with Harry
under the firm name of Saxstien and Scheinberg.

The income, at that time, consisted mainly of being paid for services by way
of ducks, chickens, eggs and now and then a dollar or two. Whereas I was
earning about three or four hundred dollars a week, besides profits, in the
business. When I left the business I earned approximately, in value of cash
and other articles, about $35 a week. I was very content, because I was able
to render the service.

This page appears on Tuesdays. Send queries or ideas to Long Island history
writer George DeWan at Newsday, 235 Pinelawn Rd., Melville, N.Y. 11747-4250.
Or send e-mail to .


06/20/2000 - Tuesday - Page A 28

Copyright © Newsday, Inc

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