A Savvy Couple
Matthew Arkin and Mae Levine got married on November 13, 1916 in Pennsylvania. Mae was the daughter of Morris Levine and Rebecca Lieberman and was a first cousin of my grandfather, Louis Levine. May was born in Pennsylvania and Matt was born in the town of Lunna in what is now Belarus. Matt entered the USA in 1912.
I don’t know what enticed Matt to move to southwestern Pennsylvania but he ended up there and Married Mae Levine in 1916. Matt and May had two children. Sam was born in 1918 and Rosalind was born in 1923. I spoke to Matt and Mae’s grandson, Richard. Richard has fond memories of his grandparents. Matt died in 1956 and Richard was just a young boy but he remembers Matt having a beard and would give Richard a hug and rub his face with his beard. He said that he was a friendly man and it was easy to get him to smile and laugh. Mae, he said, was a bit more reserved and took care of the house but she became much more involved as a grandmother after Matt had passed away.
Matt was a businessman and a salesman. I’m not sure what he did when he first came to America but at some time during the 1920’s he was a real estate partner with my grandfather in Westmoreland County just east of Pittsburgh. They had only partnered for a couple of years and Matt moved on to other ventures. After that my grandfather partnered with someone named Lieberman and when looking at the deed records of the properties they sold, it looks like Lieberman had bought all of his shares of the properties from Matt Arkin for the amount of $1.00. I’m wondering if Lieberman was a cousin or an uncle to Mae because that was her mother’s maiden name.
Matt and Mae eventually open up Arkin Auto Parts in Weirton, WV. They moved from the Pittsburgh area and lived in Holidays Cove, WV not too far from Weirton. The business was very successful and when Matt died, Mae continued to manage the business. Even though she moved back to Pittsburgh, Mae would drive out to Weirton 3 days a week to make sure that the business was running well. She did this for thirty years taking that drive into her 80’s.
The business did well but Matt’s legacy was that he spawned several more auto parts businesses. He set up his son Sam with Arkin Auto Parts in Pittsburgh. Their daughter Rosalind married Bob Sugerman who opened an auto parts business in Richmond, VA. My own father opened Levine Auto Supply in Erie, PA and when I asked him how he got started in the auto parts business he said “Your Zayde’s cousin, Matt Arkin got me started.” There were other auto related businesses in the Pittsburgh area run by other cousins and family members. Izzy Friedman started Jeannette Auto Parts. The three Rogoff brothers had a car dealership and an auto wrecking yard. Mae’s cousin, Ben Levin and his brother Sam (sons of Meyer Levin) had a garage in Wheeling, WV. I wouldn’t be surprised if Matt had influenced all of these entrepreneurs.
Another story that Richard told me was that he used to go to lunch with his grandmother, Mae and even as a young teenager she told him how important it was to invest his money wisely. Most Jewish grandmothers would talk about finding a nice Jewish girl or perhaps getting into medical school. It seems as if Mae was a little more practical with her advice. And it seems that their business savvy was a good compliment to each other and important in the success of their business and marriage.
Matt passed away in 1956 at the age of 61. They were still living in West Virginia at the time. Mae died in 1991 at the ripe old age of 96. The longevity gene of the Levine clan makes another appearance.
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