Grayson County TXGenWeb

From about 1885 to around 1900, "L. Bernheim" was a store selling dry goods, clothing, boots, and shoes at 319 and then 315 West Main Street in Denison, Texas. The store's owner, Lazarus or Lazare Bernheim, was born in Epfig, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France, on May 16, 1850. Apparently he was Jewish and had a German heritage. He married his wife Marie in 1874. Ten years later, they arrived in the United States. Almost immediately, Lazarus established his emporium in downtown Denison.

By 1889, the couple had had four children. The oldest son, Lucien, or Leon (1879–1933), clerked in the store. Lucius, called "Max" (1880–1924), had been born in France and seems to have had certain advantages. Meline, born in 1881, died young, in 1889, and was buried in Denison's Oakwood Cemetery. November of that year saw the birth of the last child, Norma (1889–?), the only member of the family born in the United States.

Initially the Bernheims lived at 408 West Gandy Street (1887), then at 608 West Sears Street. The 1892 Denison City Directory lists the Bernheims at 608 W. Sears, next door to 614 on the east. Reports in the Gazetteer tells us the directory was compiled in September 1890 and delivered around the middle of October. The canvassers must have found the Bernheims living next door to their new house only days before they moved into it. Plans for the 2-story residence for Mr. L. Bernheim and family were drawn up by architect Samuel C. Dillery, who had just completed the Bloomfield Academy across the Red River. Construction began In February or March 1890.

By September 1890, the Bernheim ornate, comfortable, two-story home was completed at 614 West Sears. The Bernheim house must have been among Architect DIllery's last projects in Denison. The following February (1891) he purchased property in Galveston (from fellow Denisonian and soon-to-be Galvestonian, Amasa Stewart, whose home at Austin Avenue and Texas Street is featured in Glimpses of Denison, Texas in 1890).

[Editor's Notes: The address for the Bernheim home was No. 614 W. Sears St.)
A photo of the house was published in a fine pictorial book entitled Art Work of Grayson County.

L. Bernheim Residence
614 West Sears St.
Denison, Texas
Source: "Art Work of Grayson County" (1895)

The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, February 16, 1896

Arrested, Charged With Embezzlement
Early this week compalint was lodged in Justice Pearson's court against L. Bernheim charging embezzlement of property of the value of over $50. The complaint was made by G.L. Blackford and the preliminary trial began Thursday morning. The state introduced G.L. Blackford, Tobias Porter and S.T. Venable in behalf of the prosecution and in substance their evidence was: Mr. L. Bernheim purchased cotton on the street and would deposit with the bank the weigher's tickets for the cotton and would draw out currency against these tickets for the purpose of buying more cotton. This procedure went on until the bank held some 140 odd bales of cotton. On or about the 15th of October last these tickets were surrendered to M. Ulman, book keeper for Mr. Bernheim, or to Mr. Bernheim. The cotton was sold to Tobias Porter for the cash and all the money was not returned to the bank.
On the 16th of October 1895, Mr. Bernheim executed a deed of trust naming W.S. Nevins as trustee and in the trust the State National Bank was made a preferred creditor to the amount of about $8,000, but the trust did not carry with it the 145 bales of cotton. The attorneys for both the State and the defendant submitted the case to the court without argument and this (Saturday) morning the court announces for the original compalint and holds the defendant to the honorable District Court of Grayson count in bond of $2,500.

In 1898, the City Directory reported that Lazarus was vice president of the local Sons of Hermann lodge and treasurer of its Maennerchor. According to Wikipedia, "Maennerchor" (literally translated "men's chorus") was a name given to German social clubs, primarily in the northeastern United States. The earliest forms of these clubs were "singing societies" perpetuating traditional German and German American choral music and providing "Gemutlichkeit" (companionship) for new immigrants. Such clubs typically were attended by men and functioned as a restaurant and bar, serving German cultural foods and beers.

Records from Oakwood Cemetery in Denison indicate that, on January 5, 1898, a baby named Lucien Bernheim, six weeks of age, died and was buried. As it seems unlikely that Lazarus and Marie named a second child Lucien, perhaps this was Lucien's baby. It must have been a sad event. Perhaps this had something to do with the family's move, around the turn of the century, to Shawnee, Oklahoma, and then to Oklahoma City. On November 30, 1902, according to his obituary that appeared in the Sunday Gazetteer, Lazarus died in San Antonio and his remains were brought to Denison, where he was buried with his children. Marie lived in Oklahoma City until her death on March 19, 191 and was buried in Fairlawn Cemetery in Oklahoma City.
Note: Although there is a tombstone for Lazarus at Fairlawn Cemetery in Oklahoma City along with his wife, it is assumed from his obituary that he was either buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Denison, Grayson County, Texas and later his remains were moved to Fairlawn Cemetery and re-interred next to his wife or that he is still buried in Oakwood Cemetery in an unmarked grave and a monument was erected at Fairlawn Cemetery for him.

Son Lucien married Fayvorette Einstein, born in Nebraska, and they lived in Houston.

Max Bernheim graduated from Denison's Educational Institute (first DHS) in the Class of 1898 and became a mechanical engineer. In 1910 he married a girl from Austin, Texas, Leila Hirschfield (1886–1973); they lived in Arizona. Max died in Houston in 1924 and was buried in Austin.

Though the census of 1900 placed her in Shawnee, Oklahoma, Norma Bernheim's passport application (June 1908) stated that she had resided in Denison from birth for eighteen years, until 1907. In 1908, she was a student living in Oklahoma City. After her trip to Europe, she returned to Oklahoma City for a time. She was living in Houston in 1915. After that, records are scant.

Lazarus Bernheim House
614 West Sears Street, south side
Photograph by Mavis Anne Bryant, ca. 2005.