William Teiger was the son of Jacob Sol Teiger, the line of the family that settled in Liverpool. Jaccob was Mindel’s brother-in-law and it has not yet been proved who arrived in the UK first.
William went to America in 1923 and was listed as a Hebrew cook on the SS Adriatic. He seems to have sailed back and forth to New York several times in 1923 before deciding to settle.
SS Adriatic (White Star Line). Launched, September 20, 1906. Maiden voyage: Liverpool-New York, May 8, 1907. A very steady and excellent type of passenger ship. Sold to Japanese shipbreakers in December 1934. Dismantled in Japan, 1935. Sister ship: Baltic. Note: The top superstructure differed considerably from the Baltic. However they were quite similar in other aspects. The general appearance also was similar to the Cedric and Celtic. The four liners comprised the White Star Line’s “Big Four”.
It wasn’t until 1926 that William married Dora Reinleib who was a Russian immigrant into America. What William was doing in the intervening years I have yet to discover.
1940 finds the family (William, wife Dora and children Leonora and Jack) living at 710 Fairmont Place, Bronx, New York, as they were in 1935. The family still seem to be suffering from the effects of the 1937-1939 American recession (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession_of_1937) as William, a painter in the building trade, has been out of work for the past 16 weeks prior to the census being taken on 1st April 1940. Dora is presently in work employed in children’s clothing manufacture but she too has been unemployed for 8 weeks in the past 12 months. William only worked 20 weeks out of 52 in 1939, Dora worked 40. Their wages for the time they worked are not great. William earned $1400.00 for 20 weeks work, a mere $70.00 per week. Dora’s wages are even lower earning $600 for 40 weeks work, $15.00 per week (this may have been part time work). Their monthly rent was $36.00 per month so I am sure that money would have been tight for them.
1940 American census for William Teiger and his family (line 61-64).