My family name used to Sedersky. I was told by uncle Saul when he was ninety-two that I had the social activist Emma Goldman to thank for my shortened name. Here’s the story he told:

In 1892, My grandfather, Sam, and his four brothers owned a factory that made women’s dresses. In the spring of that year, Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman and his cousin, Modest Stein - three militant anarchists - sought to create a garment workers union at my grandfather’s dress manufacturing factory and organized a strike. My grandfather and his brothers hired scabs. A fire broke out in the factory and the building and dress inventory were burned. Insurance paid for the losses, but when my grandfather tried to get a new insurance policy to restart his business, the insurance companies refused to insure his new business.

My great uncle said that my grandfather got a “good Yankee lawyer” who told them if he changed his name from Sedersky to Seder, then he’d be able to get insurance for his business.

The three Russian born anarchists did live in Worcester in 1892. They did operate an ice cream store. They believed strongly in the rights of laborers and were active in trying to organize workers at many factories. Indeed, in May of 1892, when they heard about the union busting activity at the Homestead Steel Mill near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, they were so enraged they closed their Worcester ice cream shop and headed for Pennsylvania.

The steel workers at the Homestead Steel Mill were members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. The union had negotiated excellent wages and work conditions. Andrew Carnegie, the steel mill owner, and his management team led by Henry Frick, decided they were paying out too much in wages and needed to save money. The best way to saved money was to bust the union. They hired hundreds of armed Pinkerton thugs to break the union’s picket lines. Tempers flared and weapons were fired. Seven Pinkerton guards and nine union members were killed. In July of 1892, Alexander Berkman, angered by Frick’s evil tactics, decided to assassinate Frick. He posed as a New York business agent and rushed into Frick’s office and shot him. Frick survived. Berkman served fourteen years in prison for the crime.

What about the name change? I did find that my great uncle, Joseph Sedersky, shortened his name in 1898 and that my great uncle Barnett Sedersky changed his name in 1900. I also found evidence of shirt factory owned by several Seder brothers, but no evidence of a dress factory. My uncle Saul didn’t live long enough for me to ask him if he had any idea who first invented the story and why, but I doubt he would’ve known. He was born decades after the time in question. My best guess is my ancestors wanted a shorter, more American name, and that someone along the way concocted the story of anarchists burning down their factory.