Clarion
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
Ya’akov Gdansky and his wife lived in Serey, Lithuania. They had five children, Meyer Tzvi Hirsch (c1866), Malka, (1868), Aryeh Leib “Harry” (c1871), Shimshon Baer “Samuel” (c1878), and Eliezer Menachem “Louis Mendel” (c1885). The children took the surname Harris.
The four boys all immigrated to the United States in the late 19th century, settling in towns around Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Meyer settled in Steubenville, Ohio. Harry settled in Newport, Ky. near Cincinnati. Sam settled in Lawrenceburg, In. Louis settled in Pittsburgh.
Meyer and his wife Ida Yetta Rosenberg Harris had a child that died young and five children that survived to adulthood, Anne (1888), David (1889), Mayme (1894), Kate (1895), Morris Leib (1897), and Sol (1903). The family relocated to the Hill District of Pittsburgh by 1900, living on Fulton Street and later at 1707 Center Ave. The family relocated to McKeesport in 1910.
Morris Harris worked at clothing stores in McKeesport, Braddock, and East Brady before marrying Sara Wein of Clarion, Pa. in 1924. They settled in New Bethlehem, Pa. and had three children, Jerry, Miriam, and Charlotte.
Kate Harris married Benjamin Olender in 1915. They had seven children, Tevyeh (1916), Marvin (1919), Ruth (1920), Racille (1922), Doris (1924), Edith (1927) and Bettye (1928).
