Charles / Israel Reizenstein

http://www.jewishfamilieshistory.org/entry/reizenstein-family/

Israel Reizenstein (c.1830-1898) immigrated to New York from Bavaria about 1849 and changed his name to Charles. He married Rose Streng (c.1825-1902), who had emigrated from Bavaria about 1851. According to military documents, he worked as a sugar maker.

Charles Reizenstein volunteered for a three-month tour of duty in the Union Army on April 19, 1861, exactly one week after Confederate soldiers fired on Fort Sumter. He was discharged after one month because he suffered from rheumatism. He re-enlisted later in the war and served in the 6th Regiment of the New York state militia from November 1863 until May 1864.

Charles and Rose Reizenstein moved to old Allegheny City about 1866, after a brief time selling lamps in Franklin, Pa. He opened the Charles Reizenstein Company on Federal Street and sold glassware. He travelled to Europe at least once a year for buying trips. “By thus buying direct the house keeps a finer and larger stock and at prices which cannot be rivaled even in New York or Philadelphia,” a guide to local companies claimed in 1890.

Charles and Rosa Reizenstein had a large family. In an oral history interview, their grandson Louis referred to “ten children, five boys and five girls,” although census records list only eight, Julius, Caroline, Louis, Isadore, Rachel, Samuel, Sophie and Henrietta.

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