JULY 1 , 1941
The Jews of Dorohoi, Romania, where Sam is from, are systematically rounded up and exterminated.
EARLY 1950 S
Sam retires from the clothing business and moves to Golden Beach, Florida. He enters real estate, helps develop Sunset Isles in Hollywood, and acquires the Florida Vacuum Metalizing plant.
DECEMBER 1953
Issues of Sam’s citizenship arise again as he seeks to renew his passport.
A Washington attorney advises him to avoid raising questions that might provoke suspicions about his legal status.
JANUARY 1958
A passport is again issued to Sam Stone and again he lists his birthplace as Pittsburgh.
JULY 1967
Sam returns to his native town of Dorohoi, Romania, but makes no mention of what he finds, who he sees, or what feelings he has for the town.
JANUARY 29 , 1981
Sam Stone dies after crashing into a rising drawbridge in North Miami. He is buried in Canton’s West Lawn Cemetery.
JUNE 24 , 2008
The B. Virdot letters are passed to Sam Stone’s grandson.
Index
A., Mrs. Bessie (gift applicant)
Adolph, Elias “Al,”
Adolph, Minna. See Stone, Minna Cecilia
Alien Registration Act (Smith Act)
aliens
Jews in Romania
registration in United States
suspicion and deportation of
Allen, Lottie
Aman, Ruth
Anderson, Richard E.
Atwell, Zadock and May
Austin, Mr. and Mrs. C. W.
Bailey, Dan
Bailey, Deloris
Bailey, Denzell and Velma
Bailey, Fred and Ida
Bair, Florence (later Winters)
bank failures
American Exchange Bank
Dime Savings Bank
extent of
Harter Bank
loss of savings
modern-day prevention of
Reconstruction Finance Corporation assistance
barter system
Baum, Hazel
Bean, James Wilson
Beggs, Don
Beggs, Raymond and Ora
Bender’s tavern
Bennafield, Allen C., Jr.
Bennafield, Allen Chester and Emily
Bennafield, Donald
Bennafield, Leta
Berman, Hana Sure “Sarah” (formerly Finkelstein, Stone; later Shapiro)
Berman, Jacob
Berman, Zelda
Billings, Earl J.
Black, Brad
Blizzard Manufacturing Company (formerly Joseph Dick)
Blythe, Clarence
Blythe, Richard
Blythe, Ruby
Blythe, Sandra
Boyer, Margaret and John
Boylan, Clifford P.
Brenner, Clara
Brigham, Doris Jean
Brigham, Mary
Brigham, William Lewis
Brigham, William Lewis “Bill,”
Brown, Donavon and Mabel
Brown, Evan Jet
Brown, Ruth Stewart
Brownlee, James A.
Bunt, Delia
Bunt, Elizabeth (later Haren)
Bunt, Martin William
Bunt, Thelma
Burnbrier, Carl Joseph “Joe” and Maude
Burnbrier, Thomas
Burnbrier, Virginia
Burson, James
Canoyer, Rebecca J.
Canton, Ohio
Bender’s tavern
car dealerships
class distinctions
County Poorhouse
crime and corruption
decline
Dueber-Hampden watch factory
evictions
Fairmount Children’s Home
Family Services
Ford Motor Company
during Great Recession
Hercules Motor Corporation
History of Stark County Ohio
homelessness
Hoover Company
immigrant population
Jewish community
Joseph Dick Manufacturing Company (later Blizzard)
labor strikes
legacy of Great Depression
Mansfield Reformatory
medical services
Meyers Lake Amusement Park
misery and hardship
Palace Theater
population growth
prosperity
Republic Steel
scammers
scavenging for coal
Stone’s Clothes
suicides
Timken Roller Bearing Company
unemployment
vegetable gardening
Canton Poultry
Canton Repository
ad placed by B. Virdot
“Community Help” feature
on Dime Savings Bank failure
on donation of coats for wartime relief
on Minna Adolph’s academic achievements
on Stone’s generosity
Carlin, Donald
Carlin, George and Hazel “Tootie,”
Carlin, James
Carlin, Jean
Carlin, Lawrence Henry and Florence Maude
Carlin, Lheeta (later Talbott)
Carlin, Valerie
Case, Frank E.
charity, aversion to
Chiparus, Demetre Haralamb
Christmas Carol, A (Dickens)
Christmas gift. See gift distribution
Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Clark, Dorothy
Cleveland Plain Dealer
coal, scavenging for
Cohen, Meyer
Cohen, Shirley
Coldren, George D.
community, sense of
Compher, Betty Jane
Compher, Carol
Compher, Clarence Marion
Compher, Donald
Compher, Norma J.
Compher, Oscar and Harriet
Cooke, Edmund Vance
Couch, William S.
County Poorhouse
credit, purchases on
Crew, Shirley
crime
for access to security in jail
in Canton culture
desperation
Criswell, Hilda and Reuben
Cunningham, Florence
CWA (Civil Works Administration)
Davis, William and Elizabeth
DeHoff, Harold
DeHoff, Howard
DeHoff, Howard Ellsworth
DeHoff, Rachel
Dennison, Thomas
Depression. See Great Depression
DeWalt, Anna
Dick, Edward
Dick, Florence
Dick, Frank J.
Dick, Harriet
Dick, Joseph
Dick, Robert
Dick, Sally
Dick, Thomas
Dickens, Charles
Dickerhoff, Ethel
DiGianantonio, Felicia
Dime Savings Bank
Duca, Ion
Dueber-Hampden watch factory
economic downturn of twenty-first century. See Great Recession
Eger, Hersh
Evans, Willis and Minnie
evictions
Fairmount Children’s Home
family, appreciation of
Family Services
Ferruccio, Pat
Finkelstein, David (later Stone) Finkelstein, Gusta “Gussie” (later Stone)
Finkelstein, Hana Sure “Sarah” (later Stone, Berman, Shapiro)
Finkelstein, Hinde “Hilda” (later Stone)
Finkelstein, Isadore “Al” (later Stone)
Finkelstein, Janne “Jacob,”
Finkelstein, Moses “Mack” (later Stone)
Finkelstein, Tina “Esther” (later Stone, Moidell)
Finn, Samuel
First Presbyterian Church (Canton, Ohio)
Ford Motor Company
Fry, Geraldine Laura Hillman “Gerry,”
Fry, Romain “Bud,”
gift distribution
administration of
amount of
anonymity of donor and recipients
letters of request for
newspaper ad
spiritual aspect of
as tzedakah
Gipe, Lawrence
Gissiner, Betty
Gissiner, Evelyn
Gissiner, Jeffrey
Gissiner, John S.
Gissiner, Karl
Gompers, Samuel
Gray, Bill
business, “Gray the Painter,”
care of family and neighbors
family
letter of request
retirement and death
Gray, Gloria (later Hawkins)
Gray, Marjorie (later Markey)
Great Depression
bank failures
barter system
callousness toward suffering
charity and government aid, aversion to
Civil Works Administration
community, sense of
cost of goods
credit purchases
crime
evictions
family, appreciation of
hardships prior to
hoboes
homelessness
hunger
individualism and individual responsibility
New Deal
nomadic existence
pride and self-esteem
shame of poverty
small kindnesses
unemployment
vulnerability of wealthy
Works Progress Administration
Greatest Generation
Great Recession (twenty-first century)
assistance to needy
auto industry bankruptcies
in Canton
versus Great Depression
self-restraint and discipline
Troubled Assets Recovery Program
Grekin, Jacob
Griffin, Dennis
groceries
cost of
purchase on credit
Groves, James E. and Mary
Gup, Ted
discovery of appeal letters
New York Times story on letters
recollection of grandfather
research into grandfather’s history
search for descendants of gift recipients
study of history
Gup, Virginia (formerly Stone; later Sharpe)
Haas, Jeffrey Earl
Haas, Tom
Hammerstein, Oscar
Haren, Bernard
Haren, Elizabeth Bunt
Haren, James
Haren, William
Harter Bank
Hawkins, Gloria (formerly Gray)
Hay, John
Hensel, George
Hercules Motor Corporation
Hillman, Geraldine Laura (later Fry)
Hillman, Olive
Hillman, Paul
Hillman, Paul, Jr.
hoboes
homelessness
Hoover, J. Edgar
Hoover Company
Hopkins, Harry
“How Did You Die?” (Cooke)
Humphrey, Roger
hunger
hunger marches
immigrants to United States
Alien Registration Act (Smith Act)
in Canton
in Pittsburgh
quotas
from Romania
suspicion and deportation of
Jacob, John Raymond
Jewish Criterion (Pittsburgh)
Jews
biblical commandments
burial customs
in Canton
fear of deportation
housing restrictions on
Nazism
in Pittsburgh
Romanian, American prejudice toward
Romanian persecution and exile of
Jordan, Dan
Jordan, Sandra (formerly Winters)
Joseph Dick Manufacturing Company (later Blizzard)
Joseph W. Farwick & Sons
Jury, Charles
Jury, Charles, Jr.
Jury, Donald and Myrna
Jury, Elizabeth
Kelly, Dr.
Kendzora, Paul
Kimelman, Reuven
King, Bessie
Knight, Brigham “Brig,”
Lanese, Herbert J. and Martha
Lazarus, Emma
Lazorshak, Steven
Lean, Delbert G.
Liermann, August
Lindsay, James and Frances
Long, David and Nellie
Long, Jason
Long, Melvin
Lowell, James Russell
Mansfield Reformatory
Margo, Ann
Margo, Frank Nicholas and Louise
Margo, Mary
Markey, Jennie
Markey, Marjorie (formerly Gray)
Markey, William
Marsh, William
Martin, Rachelle
“Maud Muller” (Whittier)
Maxwell, Guy B.
May, Felice
May, James and Edith
McCort, Alwyn C.
McCoy, Mrs. J. D.
McLain, Lloyd B. and Florence
merchant credit
Meyers Lake Amusement Park
Miami Herald
Miller, Catherine
Minor, Charles and Mary
Moidell, Arnold “AJ,”
Moidell, Joseph
Moidell, Tina “Esther” (formerly Finkelstein; Stone)
Monnot, Alice
Monnot, Barbara
Monnot, George E.
Monnot, George W.
acquaintance of Stone
business
death
letter of request
portrait of
Monnot, Richard J.
Monnot & Sacher Ford dealership
Naef, Robert
National Emergency Council
Neiss, Ervin
“New Colossus, The” (Lazarus)
New Deal
New York Times
on Canton’s immigrant population
on Canton’s underworld
on Hay’s appeal on behalf of Romanian Jews
on letters of request for gift distribution
on Nazism
Nickles, John
nomadic existence
Ohio State Reformatory
orphans and foster children
Palace Theater
Palm, Helen
Palmer, A. Mitchell
Pittsburgh
cigar factories
Finkelstein family immigration to
Romanian Jewish settlement in
Plover, George
poverty, embarrassment over
prices of everyday goods
pride and self-esteem
Pryor, Georgianna
recession of twenty-first century. See Great Recession
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Republic Steel
Rhoads, Kathleen
Rhoads, Roy
Richards, Beverly
Richards, Donald Dale
Richards, Erma June
Richards, Joseph, Jr.
Richards, Joseph “Joe” and Mattie
Richards, Kenneth
Richardson, Nettie
Richman, Ernest W.
Rogers, Joe
Rogers, Joseph P.
Romanian Jews
American prejudice toward
immigration quota on
persecution and exile from Romania
settlement in Pittsburgh
Romesberg, Clyde
Romesberg, Nora
Roosevelt, Franklin D.
Civil Works Administration
National Emergency Council
New Deal
on stoicism
Works Progress Administration
Saal, George and Fern
Sabelli, Antonio
Sabelli, Susie
Sandusky, Hannah
Saunders, Edith Marie
education and career
hardships and loss of business
letter of request
wealth and status through marriage
Saunders, Minna
Saxton, W. G.
Schaub, Edna
shame
of poverty
of public assistance or charity
Shapiro, Hana Sure “Sarah” (formerly Finkelstein, Stone, Berman)
Shapiro, Hyman
Sharpe, Donald
Sharpe, Virginia (formerly Stone, Gup)
Sheffler, Samuel
Shingle, Dorothy, Bobby, and Martha
Sinclair, George
Smith Act (Alien Registration Act)
Soehnlen, Dan
Soehnlen, Joseph
Sommers, Howard E.
Stanley, Harry
Stewart, Charles
Stewart, Ruth (later Brown)
Stone, David (formerly Finkelstein)
Stone, Don
Stone, Dorothy
Stone, Edna
Stone, Eleanor
Stone, Ferne
Stone, Gusta “Gussie” (formerly Finkelstein)
Stone, Hana Sure “Sarah” (formerly Finkelstein; later Berman, Shapiro)
Stone, Hinde “Hilda” (formerly Finkelstein)
Stone, Isadore “Al” (formerly Finkelstein)
Stone, Jack
Stone, Minna Cecilia (formerly Adolph)
administration of gift distribution
British wartime relief
children
collection of letters
complicity in Stone’s deception
courtship and marriage
death
education
family background
feminism and social conscience
financial support of parents
grudge against brother-in-law
as Jew
social status
Stone, Moses “Mack” (formerly Finkelstein)
Stone, Sam
alien status in America
alien status in homeland
anonymity as benefactor
bankruptcy
British wartime relief
Canton, arrival in
children
cigar-rolling work
clothing business
compassion
control of others through money
courtship and marriage
death
education, lack of
as employer
father’s emotional coldness
fear of persecution and deportation
fictitious past
hardships
immigration to America
as Jew
as jokester
as judge of character
life timeline
military service
name change
passport documentation
personal qualities
in Pittsburgh
retirement years
Romania, visits to
Romanian childhood
sculpture, The Jumper
search for home
on second chances
secrecy concerning past
siblings, alienation of
Smith Act, failure to register under
social status with marriage
unlawfulness
wealth
wealth, insecurity concerning
women’s plight, sensitivity to
See also gift distribution
Stone, Tina “Esther” (formerly Finkelstein; later Stone, Moidell)
Stone, Virginia (later Gup, Sharpe)
Stone Brothers clothing store
Stone’s Clothes
