Finding aid for the Joseph Hays Family Papers


Repository: Western Reserve Historical Society
Creator: Hays, Joseph Family
Title: Joseph Hays Family Papers
Dates: 1857-1987
Extent: 0.90 linear feet (3 containers)
Abstract: Joseph Hays (1838-1916) was the son of Abraham and Bertha Hexter Hays of Storndorf, in the German state of Hesse Darmstadt. After Joseph's mother died in 1844, he and other family members immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, Abraham and Joseph arriving in 1856. Joseph Hays started as a peddler and eventually became involved in the clothing, scrap iron, and real estate business. He married Rosetta Schwarzenberg, and had five children. His daughter, Bertha, married Charles Eisenman, co-founder of Kastriner and Eisenman, later Kaynee Company, a clothing manufacturer. Eisenman was also a founder and first president of the Federation of Jewish Charities (later known as the Jewish Community Federation). Joseph Hays' sons, Louis and Eugene Hays, later purchased Kaynee Company from Eisenman. Louis Hays, who had served as a vice president and trustee of Mt. Sinai Hospital, was president of Kaynee at the time of his death in 1918. His son, Robert, was president of Kaynee from 1937 until 1954, when the company was sold. Robert Hays was also a founding member of Suburban Temple. Louis Hays' wife, Jessie Seligman Feiss, was the niece and adopted daughter of Julius Feiss, owner of Joseph and Feiss Company, which manufactured clothing. His son, Paul Louis Feiss, served as chairman of the company, beginning in 1925. He was also a founder and first president of Mt. Sinai Hospital. The collection consists of correspondence, legal documents, an autobiography, a family history, speeches, genealogies, and miscellaneous materials.
MS Number MS 4595
Location: closed stacks
Language: The records are in English

Biography of the Joseph Hays Family

Joseph Hays (1838-1916) was the youngest of the six children of Abraham Hays and Bertha Hexter Hays of Storndorf in the German state of Hesse Darmstadt. After Joseph's mother died in 1844, members of his immediate family gradually moved to America and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. By the time Joseph and his father arrived in 1856, Joseph's siblings Rosa, Fanny, Kaufman, and Yetta were in Cleveland. Betty (Bella) and her husband, Rabbi Moses Oppenheimer, arrived between 1856 and 1859. Joseph Hays married Rosetta Schwarzenberg (1847-1914), daughter of Louis H. Schwarzenberg and Phoebe Bloch, and had five children including Bertha (1867-1941) and Louis Henry (1874-1918). Bertha married Charles Eisenman (1865-1923). Louis married Jessie Seligman Feiss (1881-1971) who was the daughter of Sigmund Seligmann and Maria Anna Feiss, and had been adopted by her uncle Julius Feiss (1848-1931) when her mother died in childbirth. Louis and Jessie Hays had two children, one of whom, Robert Jay Hays (1903-1984), who later changed his name to Robert Louis Hays, married Lois Charlotte Mendelson (1913-1987). One of the two children of Robert and Lois Hays was Michael Louis Hays (b. 1940), the compiler of the materials in this collection.

Members of the Joseph Hays family have played significant roles in the Cleveland business community and have also been active in Jewish and general philanthropy. Joseph Hays started his life in America as a peddler. Over the course of his career he was involved in various businesses including clothing, scrap iron, and real estate. He was also a founder of the Hebrew Relief Association. Bertha Hays' husband, Charles Eisenman was, in 1888, co-founder of Kastriner and Eisenman (K and E), a manufacturer of boys' shirts which underwent various changes in ownership and in name. In 1914 the company became known as Kaynee. Eisenman was also a founder and first president of the Federation of Jewish Charities (later known as Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland). Eisenman's brothers-in-law Louis and Eugene Hays later purchased Kaynee. Louis Hays, who had served as a vice-president and trustee of Mt. Sinai Hospital, was president of Kaynee at the time of his death in 1918. Louis's son, Robert, was president of Kaynee from 1937 until the company was sold in 1954. Robert Hays was also a founding member of Suburban Temple. Louis Hays' wife's uncle (and adoptive father), Julius Feiss, from Mussbach, Bavaria, joined the clothing manufacturing firm of Koch, Levi, Mayer and Company in 1865. By 1889 the company was known as Goldsmith, Joseph, Feiss and Company, and then by 1907 as Joseph and Feiss Company. Julius's son, Paul Louis Feiss (1875-1952), became chairman of the board of Joseph and Feiss in 1925. He was also a founder and first president of Mt. Sinai Hospital, a position he held for ten years. At the time of his death he was Mt. Sinai's 2nd vice-president.

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for the Joseph and Feiss Company

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for Charles Eisenman

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for Mt. Sinai Hospital


Scope and Content

The Joseph Hays Family Papers, 1857-1987 and undated, consist of correspondence, legal documents, an autobiography, a family history, speeches, genealogies, and miscellaneous materials.

The Joseph Hays Family Papers are of value to researchers interested in tracing the history of German Jewish families in America (specifically Cleveland, Ohio), from the second half of the nineteenth century to the 1980s. Researchers specifically interested in the German-Jewish immigrant experience will find the Joseph Hays autobiography of value. The annotated Hays family documents (principally personal correspondence) will enable researchers to study several generations of family dynamics. In addition, researchers studying Jewish marriages in nineteenth century Germany, will find the 1868 pre-nuptial agreement between Sigmund Seligmann and Maria Anna Feiss of interest.


Statement of Arrangement

The collection is arranged in three series.
Series I: Family Records is arranged in five sub-series (chronologically by generation). Each sub-series is arranged alphabetically by name.
Sub-series A: Abraham Hays and Bertha Hexter Hays
Sub-series B: Joseph Hays and wife, Rosetta Schwarzenberg Hays
Sub-series C: Bertha Hays and husband, Charles Eisenman
Sub-series D: Louis Henry Hays and wife, Jessie Seligman Feiss Hays
Sub-series E: Robert Hays and wife, Lois Mendelson Hays
Series II: Annotated Hays Family Documents is arranged in two sub-series.
In Sub-series A: 1870-1964, annotated typescripts precede original documents.
In Sub-series B: 1968-1987, annotated typescripts precede original documents.
Series III: Miscellaneous is maintained chronologically within in one folder.

Restrictions on Access

Access to Container 2 is restricted. Consult curator of manuscripts.

Related Material

Additional information concerning the lives of individuals documented in the Joseph Hays Family Papers can be located in the following WRHS manuscript collections: MS 4516 Ante-Bellum Cleveland Jewish Immigrants Database: MS 3682 The Joseph and Feiss Company Records; MS 4563 The Jewish Community Federation Records; MS 3753 Suburban Temple Records; and MS 3669 Abraham Lincoln Nebel Papers.

Separated Material

All photographs have been removed to PG 503 Joseph Hays Family Photographs.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Clothing trade -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Eisenman family.
Eisenman, Charles, 1865-1923.
Feiss family.
Feiss, Paul Louis, 1875-1952.
Hays family.
Hays, Joseph, 1838-1916.
Hays, Louis Henry, 1874-1918.
Jewish businesspeople -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Jews -- Ohio -- Cleveland -- Charities.
Jews -- Ohio -- Cleveland -- Genealogy.
Jews -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Jews, German -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Joseph and Feiss Company (Cleveland, Ohio)
Kastriner and Eisenman Company.
Kaynee Company (Cleveland, Ohio)
Lehman family.
Richman family.
United States -- Emigration and immigration.

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4595 Joseph Hays Family Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Michael Louis Hays, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, and 1991.

Processing Information

Processed by Nancy F. Schwartz in 1992.

Detailed Description of The Collection

Series I: Family Records 1857-1986 undated

Sub-series A: Abraham Hays and Bertha Hexter Hays 1986

Box Folder
1 1 Hays, Abraham and Bertha Hexter Hays, a genealogy of their descendants, compiled by Michael L. Hays 1986

Sub-series B: Joseph Hays and wife, Rosetta Schwarzenberg Hays 1867-1917

Box Folder
1 1 Hays, Joseph, autobiography 1916
1 1 Hays, legal documents 1873-1917
1 1 Schwarzenberg, Louis H., legal documents 1867 1871

Sub-series C: Bertha Hays and husband, Charles Eisenman 1895-1980

Box Folder
1 1 Eisenman, Charles, notice of dissolution of Kastriner, Eisenman and Company by Charles Eisenman of Charles Eisenman and Company 1895
1 1 Eisenman, Charles, newspaper clipping re: Kastriner descendant 1980
1 1 Eisenman, Charles, dinners honoring him, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C., and University Club, New York 1918
1 1 Eisenman, Charles, documentation of distinguished-service medal for service as vice chairman of committee on supplies, Council of National Defense, Washington, D.C. 1919

Sub-series D: Louis Henry Hays and wife, Jessie Seligman Feiss Hays 1868-1975 undated

Box Folder
1 2 Feiss, Edith Lehman (Mrs. Paul), family history. Includes information about trip to German towns of family origins, and about Lehman and Richman families (including origins of Richman Brothers, clothing manufacturers) undated
1 2 Feiss, Paul Louis, The Feiss Collection, catalogue of exhibit of books from collection of Paul Feiss acquired by Kent State University 1975
1 2 Feiss, Paul, newspaper clipping, with photograph of earliest classes of University School, among whose members were Paul Feiss and Louis H. Hays ca. 1958
1 2 Feiss, Paul, The Sentiment of Book Collecting, speech delivered at Rowfant Club, Cleveland 1908
1 2 Hays, Jessie, S. Feiss, obituaries 1971
1 2 Hays, Louis H., card announcing 10th wedding anniversary event 1912
1 2 Hays, Louis H., correspondence and notes written principally on European vacation 1913 undated
1 2 Hays, Louis H., passport 1895
1 3 Hays, Louis H., testimonials upon death of (originals and typescript). Tributes are by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, Kaynee Company, Manufacturers' Co-operative, and Mount Sinai Hospital 1918
1 4 Seligmann, Sigmund and Maria Anna Feiss, pre-nuptial agreement (original and typescript translation) Mussbach, Germany 1868
1 4 Seligmann, Otto, report card, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1881

Sub-series E: Robert Hays and wife, Lois Mendelson Hays 1857-1986 undated

Box Folder
1 5 Hays, Lois Mendelson Family documents, family genealogy (Cohen/Lederer/Ettinger), compiled by Michael L. Hays 1986
1 5 Hays, Lois Mendelson Family documents, Charles Lederer/Lodie Weidenthal marriage license 1857
1 5 Hays, Lois Mendelson Family documents, Henry Cohen/Sophie Lederer marriage license 1881
1 5 Hays, Lois Mendelson Family documents, Henry Cohen prayer book, photostatic copies of pages from undated
1 5 Hays, Robert, captain's commission, United States Marine Corps 1942
1 5 Hays, Robert, business-related materials, McDonald & Company and J.M. Smucker Company 1978

Series II: Annotated Hays Family Documents 1870-1987

Sub-series A: 1870-1964 1870-1964

Box Folder
1 6 Hays Family Documents, annotated typescript and originals, primarily personal correspondence. Principal correspondents are the following four generations of Hays family males: Joseph, Louis, Robert, and Michael Hays 1870-1964

Sub-series B: 1968-1987 ( Hays Family Documents, primarily personal correspondence. Principal correspondents are Robert and Lois Mendelson Hays and their son Michael) 1968-1987

Box Folder
2 7 Hays Family documents, introduction to documents and annotated transcripts 1868-1979
2 8 Hays Family documents, annotated transcripts 1979-1984
2 9 Hays Family documents, annotated transcripts 1984-1987
2 10 Hays Family documents, original documents 1968-1979
2 11 Hays Family documents, original documents 1979-1984
2 12 Hays Family documents, original documents 1984-1987

Series III: Miscellaneous 1910-1954

Box Folder
3 13 Materials relating to Kaynee and Joseph and Feiss. Of particular note is 1934 notice of Kaynee plant closings following strike. Also included is one 1944 item relating to Mendelson family friend, Dr. Alfred Maschke 1910-1954