Samuel A. Leiserowitz, a prominent citizen of Cullom (Illinois), and a member of the well known firm of Leiserowitz Brothers, general merchants of Cullom, Herscher, and Cabery , Illinois, was born in Sarle, State of Korne, Russia, June 21st, 1861. His father Mendel Leiserowitz, a rabbi and school teacher of that country, has been active in church work since seventeen years of age and for the past fifty-three years has engaged in preaching and school teaching. He is very well educated and is a well known expounder of the Hebrew faith. He has preached in Sarle, Moscow and many smaller places in Russia, and while visiting in this country preached and taught school in South Chicago for four years.
His father, Moses Leiserowitz, was also a rabbi and school teacher, and died while reading the Bible at his home in Yurgenborg, Russia, at the age of eighty-three. To the parents of our subject were born eleven children, six of whom are living, and one of the number is still in Russia taking care of the parents. Those in America are Tane L. , who is engaged in general merchandise business in Kempton, Illinois; L.L.(Louie ??) , who is engaged in the painting business in Chicago; Samuel A. , our subject; Wolf (called Billy), a partner of our subject, and a resident of Herscher, Illinois; and Simon, who conducts a store for his brothers at Cabery.
Samuel A. Leiserowitz attended school in his native land, but his early education has been vastly supplemented by reading and observation in later years. At the age of twelve years he began a business career, being employed in the office of a dealer in grain an d all kinds of produce until he attained his majority. He then entered the Russian Army, December 1, 1881, and served until August 1,1886. He was first a member of the Twentieth Foot Division, but on the first of August, 1882, was transferred to the brass band, his instrument being a French horn.
As a common soldier he received ninety cents pay every four months or two dollars and seventy cents per year, but being promoted to corporal his salary was raised to four dollars per year. In giving a description of the Russian army Mr. Leiserowitz says: "Besides their high salary the soldiers were given their clothes consisting of one overcoat made of material resembling horse blankets, an under coat of a finer grade of goods, a cap and trousers made of the same material. These were supposed to last two years with the exception of the trousers which were worn a year. Vests were not worn in the service.
Each Soldier received a pair and a half of leather boots each year , the leggings of the first pair doing service for the second. For under and over wear linen similar to coarse toweling was furnished. For hosiery the same kind of goods was used, and instead of being drawn on the feet was wrapped around. Mitten and neckties were black blanket goods, and the ties were worn as Catholic priest wear them.
Out of their salaries the soldiers have to pay for making their boots and underwear, buying blackening for shoes and belts and oil for guns. Each are given seventy cents extra for incidentals, but this with their salary does not half cover their expenses. They are given three pounds of rye bread a day and six cents in money to pay for other food, but when a company is stationed at one place the money goes into the general fund for cooking purposes, amounting to six dollars per one hundred men per day. Each soldier gets about a half pound of beef and soup, which is made of barley broken up and boiled with meat. This they have for dinner and supper, while for breakfast they have only bread, salt, and water-plenty of water but not always salt.
A mess of ten or fifteen men are given a wooden pail in which the soup is served. They carry a red wooden spoon in their boot leg and with these each dip into the bucket as they have no other dishes, knives or forks. After the meal however, they are generally as happy as larks, singing and dancing. The higher officers are treated as ours are.
When his term of service expired, Mr. Leiserowitz received a recommendation from his general testifying to his conduct, temperate habits, and general behavior and that should he desire to enter the army he was to be taken back at one hundred twenty dollars per year. Returning to his home, he remained there until January 1, 1887 when he sailed from Hamburg by way on Liverpool for New York. He proceeded at once to Chicago and on the train met a conductor who was a relative of his father and who took charge of him, seeing that he got to his brother al right.
He remained about twenty-four hours in Chicago. His money by this time was exhausted but he finally foud a relative who let him have enough to go to Danforth, Illinois, where his brothers Wolf and Tane were living. A week later the brother Wolf ordered for him a stock of goods amounting to a little over forty-nine dollars, and with this he started out as a peddler with his pack upon his back . His brothers drove a team and went a couple mile ahead toward Cullom, their destination. Our subject met with very excellent success from the start and at the end of three weeks was able to buy a horse from Frank Drendel, living east of Cullom, for which he paid eighteen dollars, to be taken out in trade. He then went to Danforth where his brother Tane was living and bought a wagon.
With horse and wagon he traveled for one year, and at the end of that time he and his brother Tane bought property in Cullom, where they successfully conducted a pool and billiard hall one year. On selling out in 1889, he and his brother Wolf started a store with a small stock of goods costing about two thousand dollars, and later took in another partner B. Brode, who was a member of the firm for about a year, but this venture did not prove a success, as three families could not live off the profits of the small store.
The brother then went to Herscher, where he has since prospered, but our subject remained in Cullom, where he rented a building of J. W. White for two years, and then of Walter Rider of Saunemin for five years, but at the end of five months he purchased the latter, which he subsequently enlarged. Later he bought a house and lot adjoining, sold the house and moved the oldest store, and erected a double store building, 40 x 120 feet, and half of which is two stories in height, the other half one story. He has steadily prospered and has never yet had occasion to regret his emigration to the new world.
In March 1899, he and his brother Wolf formed a partnership, and under the name of Leiserowitz Brothers have the largest stores at Cullom and Herscher, and also have a good store in Cabery, the building also being owned by them. To-day they are numbered among the most successful and progressive business men of this section. The Cullom store is use as a department store, having added hardware, paints, wall paper, and undertaking in addition the general line handled before. There is a special department of silverware, jewelry clocks and watches. A watchmaker of thirty years experience. Mr.Lawrence Holland, is in charge of this department. He for the past twelve years has been a resident of Cullom.
In August, 1886, Mr. Leiserowitz married Miss Golda Cohn, and to them were born seven children, but the three oldest died in infancy. The others, Joseph, Jane, Isadore, and Esther, are all attending school. In politics Mr. Leiserowitz is a Republican, and in his social relations is a member of the Saunemin Lodge, No. 728, I.O.O.F., and is a charter member of Star Camp, No. 1886, M.W.A. of Cullom.

One branch of the family, living in Chicago around 1913 changed their name to LASSER. One had a shoestring (literally) factory in Kankakee IL .

Samuel has a living descendant in R. Leiser of Illinois, who knows all of Samuel's living descendants. You can e-mail him at rleiser@midwest.net with questions and comments.