Notes for DAVID GOODMAN:

Son of ? and ? Goodman.
Born: April, 1870 in Russia.
Alternate Place of Birth: Warsaw, Poland.
Died: December 9, 1926 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
Buried: December 13, 1926 in Plot: Rosemont Park, Section L, Lot 58, Grave 8, Zion Gardens Cemetery, Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois.
Immigration: 1892.
Naturalization: 1902.
Occupation: Tailor.
Census:
1905 - Mahattan, New York.
1910 - Ward 10, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
1920 - Chicago Ward 13, Cook (Chicago), Illinois.
1930 - Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California.
Residence:
March 3, 1902 - 552 Sangawan, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
August 14, 1906 - 489 W 14th Street, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
May 31, 1909 - 508 14th Place, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
January 28, 1916 - 1300 Albany Avenue, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
August 9, 1916 - 1140 Francisco Avenue, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
Member of Drohitchin synagogue in the late 1920's (Chicago).
Married: Dora Grinsky 1893 in Baltimore, Maryland.

1920 United States Federal Census For the Goodman family:
Name: David Goodman
Home in 1920: Chicago Ward 13, Cook (Chicago), Illinois
Age: 47 years
Estimated birth year: abt 1873
Birthplace: Russia
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse's name: Dora
Father's Birth Place: Russia
Mother's Birth Place: Russia
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Sex: Male
Home owned: Rent
Year of Immigration: 1892 Na in 1902
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Household Members: Name Age
David Goodman 47 a tailor
Dora Goodman 45
Minnie Goodman 22 a clerk
Louis Goodman 21 sign painter
Ida Goodman 18 stenographer
Etta Goodman 16
Harry Goodman 13 1/12
Fred Goodman 11 9/12
Ben Goodman 10 8/12
Issie Goodman 5 8/12
Eugene Goodman 3

Left Russia to escape the pogroms (attacks on people of Jewish heritage). Had a career as a tailor in Russia but had to do hard labor in Chicago's stockyards and slaughterhouses.

David Goodman was a tailor from Warsaw. He met Dora Rezinski, who was from Kaunas in Baltimore, Maryland and moved to Chicago before Benny was born. A working-class immigrant about whom Benny said (interview, 'Downbeat', Feb 8, 1956); "...Pop worked in the stockyards, shovelling lard in its unrefined state. He had those boots, and he'd come home at the end of the day exhausted, stinking to high heaven, and when he walked in it made me sick. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand the idea of Pop every day standing in that stuff, shoveling it around".

David Goodman was killed in a traffic accident shortly after Benny joined the Pollack band and had urged his father to retire, now that he (Benny) and his brother (Harry) were doing well as professional musicians. According to James Lincoln Collier ("Benny Goodman and the Swing Era", Oxford University Press 1989): "Pop looked Benny in the eye and said, 'Benny, you take care of yourself, I'll take care of myself.'"

Collier continued: "It was an unhappy choice. Not long afterwards, as he was stepping down from a street car - according to one story - he was struck by a car. He never regained consciousness and died in the hospital the next day. It was a bitter blow to the family, and it haunted Benny to the end that his beloved father had not lived to see the enormous success he, and through him some of the others, made of themselves. It is, truly, a sad story."