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Abraham BinevitzFrom The Peopling of New York CityAbraham Binevitz was one of my victims whose name was probably spelled in so many different ways that it was very difficult for me to find much information about him. In David Von Drehle’s book Triangle The Fire that Changed America I found that Binevitz was twenty or thirty years old. He had a fractured skull, I thought maybe after he died people step all over him and broke his bones and skull. He lived at 474 Powell St. Brooklyn and Isaac Weisman whose relationship was unknown identified him. David Von Drehle also notes that Binevitz’s name is given in various sources as Benowitz, Benowich, and Robinowitz. He was reported in multiple newspapers on March 27. In Von Drehle story he mentions, “Kline was last seen struggling with the Washington Place door, alongside Abraham Binevitz, another inside contractor.” [1]
My first day at the New York Public Library, I went through the 1910 census which were printed in books there were so many names that look just like Abraham Binevitz that I did not know which one was the one I was looking for. Under the name of Abraham Binevitz I found absolutely nothing. There was no one in 1910 that had such a name. However, I went to the other names that Von Drehle had suggested and found that there was a Benowitz, Abraham who was thirty five and he lived at 23-pct 34 Ad Bronx. There was also a Benowich, Abraham who was forty-six and he lived at 22-Wd Manhattan. Looking at the address I assumed that none of these are the Binevitz that I was looking for. Than I look into the very last name listed in Von Drehl’s book, Robinowitz, Abraham. If this is the same man who died at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory than the following information pertains to him. In the census it was listed that he is twenty-eight years old, he is a white male who is Russian and he lives at Kings 26-Wd Brooklyn. I also saw this information but I do not know what it is “Series Roll 978 pt-1 pg 85 B.”[2] Unlike the 1910 Census Abraham Binevitz had his name spelled on the death certificate the same way as it is in Von Drehle’s book. According to his death certificate number 10020 he was thirty years old who was single and worked as a shirt maker at the Triangle shirtwaist factory. This was different from what Von Drehle had said (inside contractor). He was born in Russia as well as his parents, his father’s name is Sam and his mother’s name is Marian Grossman. He lived in the Untied States and New York City for six years. He died at 29 Washington Place and he was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery on March 26, 1911. His undertakers name is Wolf Breber who lives at 78 2nd Avenue. When I went to the cemetery’s website I found that he was buried on Path 10 L and his society was Judah-1.[3] The previous three paragraphs were my only successes in finding information about Abraham Binevitz. The other websites, newspapers etc. that I went thorough I couldn’t find any information on him. In the “New York Times” articles that I found he was not listed with his name but I think he was there as one of the unidentified ones. Leon Stein’s The Triangle Fire had nothing pertaining to Binevitz. Heritage Quest Online gave me a result that said, “Your search retrieved no results.”[4] At the Castle Garden website I failed to gain any information once again. “Your search criteria have resulted in no result.” The Report of the Red Cross Emergency Relief Committee of the Charity organization society of the City of N.Y. had information about Russian families but I did not have enough information about Binevitz or his family so I can go thorough the book which, has no names to find information about the Charity his family received. And last the New York City Directories at the New Public Library, Brooklyn College Library, and the Directories on the NYPL research databases had names but I did not know how to use them. They were very sloppy in organizing the lists.[5] [6]
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