Immigrant establishes a clothing store and leaves an early legacy to The Trust.
Abraham Oestreicher (1855-1924)
A hundred years ago, Abraham Oestreicher was among the first New Yorkers to request that a fund be set up in The New York Community Trust. Abraham, who was born in 1855 in what was then known as West Prussia, immigrated in 1875 to New York, where he began working as a tailor on Clinton Street in Manhattan.
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Salamonsky was born in Germany in 1867 and came to America with her family in 1876. She married Abraham in New York City, and they had two children, Martin, born in 1899, and Miriam, who joined the family in 1902. By then, Abraham was the proprietor of a men’s clothing store at 495 Eighth Ave. in Manhattan.
Lizzie died on November 9, 1919, and Abraham continued to run his clothing store until his death on January 13, 1924.
Miriam married Bertram Friedlander in 1923, but that marriage ended in divorce. She died January 5, 1949. Martin never married and died on July 15, 1972. Neither of Abraham’s offspring had children.
A January 1924 edition of Trust Companies, a publication of the Trust Company Division of the American Bankers Association, features Abraham Oestreicher’s 1923 will in an article titled “Community Trust Named Residuary Legatee.” Walter McMeekan, trust officer of the Manufacturers Trust Company, is quoted: “It was a source of satisfaction to us, and to him, that the Manufacturers Trust Company, as one of the sponsors of the Community Trust, could give assurance of the use of his funds for the common good, in the event of his own next of kin leaving no issue.”
The Abraham Oestreicher Fund was officially established in 1972 and has supported immigrants, improved the environment, help families facing eviction, reduced domestic violence, and many more causes.