Who was George Brody?

[Cubby]

From what I recall there is a decent ht difference between GB and Jack. IIRC Annasmom recalls GB at 5'3"-5'5" and Jacks listed ht was 5' 11.5". I know some shrinkage occurs with age and IRL I have heard .5" per decade... Did GB slouch enough to accomodate such a difference? Didn't Jack supposedly steal money from his church? I recall reading that, but unsure whether it was factual or speculation. Could Jack have had some reasons to have turned against his previous beliefs if he were in fact GB? They do strongly resemble each other....

 

[birdie74]

The part about stealing money from the church is speculation. He apparently had subscription funds for the church paper since he was editor. He just disappeared one day when he didn't show up for the July 4th church service, so speculation is that he ran off with the funds. It's hard to say without knowing why he disappeared.

I could be wrong, but from what I've read about Dalton, I just don't feel the same sense of evil that I do from Brody. I see Dalton's disappearance as more likely from foul play.

 

[birdie74]

I just read some articles from the Lowell Sun from Massachusetts that cracked me up. In Sept. 1915, a George Brody was arrested for stealing the pantaloons of Thomas J. Kennedy. Apparently, Brody had been staying at a lodging house for about a week, and Kennedy, another lodger there, had left his pants hanging in Brody's closet. After 4 or 5 days, Brody started wearing them himself until he was arrested for larceny. The case was continued for a day because of a lack of eyewitnesses.

I doubt this is our Brody, but I'd like to picture it being him in my mind anyway.

 

[Cubby]

I just read some articles from the Lowell Sun from Massachusetts that cracked me up. In Sept. 1915, a George Brody was arrested for stealing the pantaloons of Thomas J. Kennedy. Apparently, Brody had been staying at a lodging house for about a week, and Kennedy, another lodger there, had left his pants hanging in Brody's closet. After 4 or 5 days, Brody started wearing them himself until he was arrested for larceny. The case was continued for a day because of a lack of eyewitnesses.

I doubt this is our Brody, but I'd like to picture it being him in my mind anyway.

Cracked me up too. Any link or a pic of this brody? Annasmom and family had some speculation he was from "back east" and I do believe some of the notes indicated Mass!

 

[birdie74]

No pictures I'm afraid. I read it on newspaperarchive.com, so I don't think I can link it where non-members can read it. Anyone who knows- let me know if I'm wrong.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Birdie:

If you right-click the newspaper, it will save as a pdf. Then you can highlight the article, then cut and paste it into this forum.

It probably isn't our Brody, but sounds hilarious.

 

[birdie74]

Thanks Doogie. I've saved them, but I'm blond and not too computer savvy, so I'll wait til the morning to try to figure out how to cut and paste. I'm up too late to think anyway. I'll post them in the AM as long as Fay doesn't knock out my power or cable/internet then.

 

[SideKick]

Good Luck today in the search everyone!
I'm going north to see my daughter, expecting twins soon. I won't be online much, except if I escape and get on her laptop!! Thinking of all of you! xox

 

[birdie74]

I figured out how to post it. Am I allowed though? My only question is about the copyright.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

If the writer of the article from 1915 is still alive, he probably has bigger concerns than copyright infringements at this point.

 

[Annasmom]

I figured out how to post it. Am I allowed though? My only question is about the copyright.

I think copyright only lasts for 75 or 78 years. It has been 93 years since the story was published, so it should be OK to reproduce it.

 

[iNTERESTEDWOMAN]

Good Luck today in the search everyone!
I'm going north to see my daughter, expecting twins soon. I won't be online much, except if I escape and get on her laptop!! Thinking of all of you! xox

Wow...twins! How cool. Give our best to your Daughter and family, and drive safe!

 

[birdie74]

Sept 7, 1915:
For the alleged larceny of a pair of
pantaloons from Thomas J. Kennedy
on Sept. 4. George Brody, another
Lawrence resident, was in court and
pleaded not guilty. On account of the
absence of witnesses, his case was
continued until tomorrow.

Sept 8, 1915:
George Brody of Lawrence came to
Lowell over a week ago and hired a
room in a lodging house at 40 John
street. In the closet of the room hung
a pair of pantaloons belonging to
Thomas J. Kennedy, a roomer in the
same house, who was on his vacation.
After allowing the trousers to hang
there for four or five days, George
took them out and appropriated them.
for his own use. As a result he
appeared In court charged with larceny
of tho trousers valued at five
dollars. George thought that there
was nothing wrong in taking the
trousers as they hung In his room for
several days. He said that he could
easily get them, however, if given the
time. His case was continued until
tomorrow morning. This noon, Patrolman
Kenney, who made the arrest
and the defendant went to Lawrence
to recover the trousers. If the complainant
is satisfied the case will be
placed on file tomorrow.

 

[Julessleuther]

It sounds like he was not from Lowell, but was traveling though? I wonder what this George Brody's occupation was??

 

[birdie74]

Lawrence is less than 12 miles from Lowell. I tried to find out more about this man last night, but I haven't seen anything else about a George Brody from Lawrence. It's only about 25 miles from Boston, and I saw more than one living there. I just don't have any more info to tell me if one of them is the same George Brody.

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Somehow I can just see our Brody thinking that there was nothing wrong at all with taking someone else's pants. Sounds like the sort of amoral self-centered thing that he would do. :loser:

 

[birdie74]

Somehow I can just see our Brody thinking that there was nothing wrong at all with taking someone else's pants. Sounds like the sort of amoral self-centered thing that he would do. :loser:

I thought the same thing!

I did find some other Brody families living in Essex county, with a few right in Lawrence. A few are Scottish or other nationalities, but most seem to be Russian Jewish.

 

[shadowangel]

Someone touched on this much earlier in the thread...I dug a little deeper, so for what it's worth...

Reading the etymology of the name "Brody", I found that it has at times come to mean "from Brody", referring to a town in the present-day Ukraine. It is some 60 miles from the city of L'viv, near the present-day border with Poland--placing it close to most middle-European countries such as Hungary. It had variously been considered a part of Russia or Poland, until it was annexed into "Galacia" (a mountainous region encompassing the northern slopes of the Carpathian mountains and several river valleys) under Austrian control. From 1919 to 1939 (the period between World Wars 1 and 2) Brody was governed by Poland; after 1939, it came under Russian control as part of the Ukraine.
According to a Jewish genealogical site, Brody has a strong Jewish history. During the Russian pogrom of 1881-82, nearly 15,000 Jewish refugees settled in Brody. During the German occupation prior to and during WW2, there was a "major migration" to the United States (most likely the period 1933 to 1939).
As I understand what I've read, some immigrants from Brody would take the name "Brody". Researching immigration from Brody is sometimes difficult as, according to Immigration Passenger Lists, the nation of origin would often be listed as "Austria", "Galacia", or "Austrian Poland".

History class is now over.

 

[birdie74]

Kinda like the Corleones?

I'm glad you brought this up, because I didn't know about the city of Brody. I'm reading more about its history tonight, and it is very interesting.

 

[birdie74]

This link may be somewhere else since y'all had discussed the town of Brody before, but I'll post it just in case. It is very informative about the history of Brody. http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/brody/Brody.htm