Remembering Young Meyer

Meyer Merwin Shapiro was born in New York City on January 1, 1889 and as an infant moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut with his parents and brothers Charles and Joseph. Meyer was always a good hardworking student and looked up to his older brothers for guidance. He was still in grammar school when his father died in 1902. By this time Meyer had a younger brother Louis Leonard and a sister Clara Gittel. Their mother Esther was a very strong woman and managed to move to New Haven and successfully raise her five children in a community where her "boys" could go to a good college. They all went to New Haven High School - The Hillhouse School. Below is a report card that we found from when Meyer was in his second year. It is interesting to note that he changed his name for a short time to Meyer Martin and dropped the Merwin. On the family tree posted earlier Meyer's middle name was originally Mendel. So it looks like the path was Mendel to Martin to Merwin.

When you take a close look at the signatures above you can see that the first two are different from the last two. From looking at other report cards of Joe's I have come to realize that the former are signed by Charles and the latter by Joe. They apparently signed for their mother.
Since the next letter is not until February 11 I will take the opportunity in the next week to fill you in on some history that we have about Meyer.