Mary Schwarz

Mary Schwarz Gross of Nyíregyháza was Simon's wife and the mother of their four children. She was born in Hungary before 1903 — her exact birthdate is not yet recovered. She married Simon in Hungary (per the 1957 Selma obituary of her husband: "Mr. Gross was married in Hungary to Miss Mary Schwartz, and three of the couple's four children were born there").

When Simon left for America in May 1905, Mary stayed behind in Nyíregyháza with their one-year-old son Emile. The naturalization papers record what the obituary did not say in words: Annie was born in Nyíregyháza in January 1906 — eight months after Simon's emigration. Bessie followed there in March 1908. Either Simon visited Hungary, or Mary made the long ocean voyage at least twice in those years. Only their youngest, Mammie, was born in Selma in May 1910 — by which time Mary and the older children had finally crossed for good.

She made her American home with Simon at 509 Washington Street, Selma, Alabama, raising the four Gross children — Emile, Annie, Bessie, and Mammie — through the years Simon was building his Broad Street merchant firm. She lived to see her son-in-law Alex Cohen join the business in 1947, and the firm renamed Cohen and Gross.

Mary predeceased her husband by six years. Per the 1957 Selma obituary's framing of survivors and lost relatives, she had died in 1951. Simon would carry her memory the remaining six years of his life — including the 1952 trip he made from Alabama to Brooklyn, age about seventy-four, for the wedding of his great-niece Bobby Weisz to Laci Klein.

Simon Grósz's wife. Mary stayed in Nyíregyháza with their firstborn Emile when Simon emigrated to Selma in May 1905. Two more daughters (Annie 1906, Bessie 1908) were born in Hungary in Simon's absence — meaning either Simon visited home, or Mary herself made the long ocean voyage at least twice. The whole family was finally together in Selma by 1910, when their youngest Mammie was born. Source: Chapter 6.