In 1904 he moved her into a large new family home at 278 West 113th Street in Harlem. He considered her a 'Saint' and honored a deathbed promise made to his father to always look after her. Houdini was enormously close with his mother from childhood through adulthood. After Rabbi Weiss lost his job, the family move to Milwaukee and fell into poverty. It was here Cecelia gave birth to two more children Leopold David (1879) and Carrie Gladys (1882). Mayer Samuel had travelled ahead and secured work as a Rabbi in Appleton, Wisconsin. In America the spelling of the family name became Weiss. In 1878 Cecelia and her children immigrated to America aboard the German steamship Frisia, reaching New York on July 3 of that year. (Harry's sister claimed there was an earlier 'Erik' who died in childbirth.) Ferencz Deszo, a.k.a. Then on March 24, 1874, Cecelia gave birth to Erik, who would go on to become Houdini. Gottfried Vilmos (William) followed in 1872. Their first child died.Ĭecelia gave birth to Natan Josef (Nathan) in 1870. 1 in the Buda section of Budapest, Hungary. When she was 22, she married Mayer Samuel Weisz, who was 13 years her senior and had one son from a previous marriage. Houdini's mother, Cecelia Weiss (often misspelled Cecilia), was born Cecelia Steiner on June 16, 1841.

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